Just for you, Richard. 
Chapter One, Part Four
“You are a cleric of Enlil?” Abrina asked Ruphus. The Church of Enlil, Kevur had told her, was a significant religious force in Cauldron, and was to where she was deliver her message. She had not considered that there might be others from Cauldron that did not want the message to be delivered. Though what the orphans had to do with it she still could not fathom. She was already on the road, on her way here, three days ago. There was no way Kevur, or Helena of the Church of Ea, could have known about them.
“Yes,” replied Ruphus, sliding his mace into his belt at his side, “I am.”
“I have a message to deliver.” Abrina gestured to the scroll case, still cinched to her back. “I must see high priest Sarcem Delasharn.”
“I can take you to the temple, but
Delasharn is currently on an extended visit to Sasserine. Urikas is his second, and my superior. She is the head of the order during Delasharn’s absence and is in charge of the temple while he is gone. I can take you to her, if you seek her.”
Abrina nodded. “Of course.”
The two clerics climbed the inside of the volcano cauldron in the drizzling rain to their destination, the Church of Enlil. No one could have miss the large two-story structure, even in the gloom of night and rain,
its white marble walls suffused with veins of vivid blue, standing in stark contrast to the buildings of bare black stone that flanked it on the north end of Obsidian Avenue. A pair of white marble statues depicting armored warriors, sleek with rain,
stood on either side of the temple’s heavy oaken door. Each of the statues raised a large pick to the star-studded sky.
Above the door’s marble architrave were boldly inscribed the words: [smallcaps]Within Law Lives Hope.[/smallcaps]
Ruphus motioned her through the imposing oak doors of the church. Abrina gladly stepped through, into its safe and warm confines. An acolyte rose from a nearby seat in the entrance hall and approached, her young face carrying an unhidden expression of worry. The acolyte and Ruphus spoke quickly in hushed tones, and after a moment the acolyte disappeared through a nearby door.
“She will return,” he said, “with some blankets and warm tea. You are free to stay the night, and I offer you my thanks.”
“But, my message,” Abrina replied as Ruphus began to turn away. Her voice echoed in the empty hall and Abrina shied back, unused to the vaulted ceilings, the cavernous hall.
“I must first relate to Urikas what has transpired,” Ruphus said without turning. “She will be out to see you, if she gets the chance. If not, rest well, and you will meet in the morning.” He opened another door, opposite the one the acolyte had used, and left the entrance hall.
Grumbling, Abrina tried to wait patiently and piece together the pieces of information that Ruphus had tried to relate to her. He did not know anything about the men with the painted faces or why they had sought to attack him on the way back from the orphanage. At first, he had thought they were going to rob him, but it soon became clear they were trying to intimidate him. No further light had been shed on that mystery, but Ruphus did explain why a cleric of Enlil was interested in the orphanage.
“Three nights ago,” Ruphus had explained, “four children were kidnapped from the Lantern Street Orphanage. Urikas sent me to console the distraught children and some of the staff, to let them know that Enlil would be watching for them. In the absence of our high priest, Delasharn, Urikas
has publicly vowed for the Church to locate the missing children and bring the kidnappers to justice.”
How the painted faces were involved, and why they were concerned about her, still eluded Abrina.
The acolyte returned soon with blankets which Abrina used to swiftly scrub her hair and skin, patting down her clothing and armor as well. Hot tea followed soon thereafter which Abrina sipped carefully. She hated tea, preferring the thicker brews of spiced mead, but wanted to remain polite in the sister temple.
“Hopin’ you’ll enjoy your night, here,” the young acolyte mentioned, refilling Abrina’s tea and not noticing the grimace. “Jenya will bein’ out to see you shortly.”
“Jenya?” Abrina questioned, blowing on her tea.
The acolyte blushed, averting her gaze. “I mean, Urikas,” she said. “She is the high cleric, after all, while Delasharn is gone. Must show our respects, and all. She don’t mind her first name, but twouldn’t be right, I say.”
She stepped backwards. “I’ll just go warm you up some more tea.”
“No, that’s not necessary,” Abrina tried to reply, but the acolyte had already fled.
A few moments later, a short woman with
premature streaks of gray in her rich brown hair, pulled back into an elaborate bun, arrived with hand outstretched in greeting. She
wore a brown robe with golden trim and the recognizable symbol of Enlil around her neck. Although several inches shorter than Abrina, the woman seemed somehow taller. She walked with purpose, each step firmly placed in the exact, desired location, her back straight and her eyes firmly fixed on her objective, no matter the distance. Now, those eyes fixed upon Abrina, and she wanted to flinch from beneath that intense gaze.
Abrina held, locking her eyes with those of this commanding woman, and straightened herself to her full height, not in hopes of intimidating the woman, but in an effort to match the woman’s impressive stature.
“Good evening,” greeted the woman. “I have spoken to Ruphus and have learned of his harrowing ordeal, as well as your remarkable heroism. Thank you for interfering when you did. I had not realized the danger Ruphus might have been in when I requested he comfort the children.”
Abrina shook her head. “Ninurta led me. I could not just leave him to the ruffians.”
The woman smiled, a genuine smile that reached her eyes and lit her face. “Well, you have my thanks, as well as that of the Church of Enlil. I am Jenya Urikas, the acting high priest, and I am in your debt.”
Abrina shook her head again, but did not respond, unaccustomed to such praise.
Jenya led her to a private room, down a hallway leading off of the entrance hall, with a warm fire and several plush chairs. Jenya sat in one, inviting Abrina to seat herself in another opposite Jenya.
“I am told you have come to deliver a message for me?” Jenya asked, her penetrating gaze resting on Abrina.
Abrina forced herself to draw her eyes back from the dancing flames, return herself to the present time and place. “Yes, I have,” she responded and withdrew the scrollcase. “It comes from the temple of Ea, in Haven. You know the head cleric there?”
Jenya’s eyes widened as she reached out to take the scrollcase from Abrina. “Yes, I do. But for what pressing reasons Helena would send me a message by Ninurta, I do not know.” Jenya withdrew the scroll from the case and began to read as Abrina sat across from her, sipping the bitter tea.
Abrina did not know the contents of the letter. She had been tempted to unfurl the scroll many times on her journey, but she had never once opened the case. Doing so would have been an affront to Ninurta, betray the church. Now, she hoped Ninurta would reward her for her strength and Jenya would reveal to her the portents of the message.
After several moments, Jenya sighed and slowly curled the scroll and tied the ribbon around its center. She turned to gaze out the window into the night, remaining silent.
Abrina coughed.
Jenya turned back to Abrina and smiled wanely. “I believe Ruphus explained to you what has happened at the orphanage?” Jenya said, whisking away the scroll. Abrina’s eyes lingered on it as it disappeared into a desk drawer. Perhaps later, she would learn what message she had delivered into Jenya’s hands.
“Yes,” she answered, returning her attention to the high cleric. “Something about a kidnapping?”
“
Four children, only three nights ago.” Jenya continued, “
Deakon, Evelyn, Lucinda and Terem. I have vowed to bring their kidnappers to justice, but I fear that these are only the most recent in a long string of strange disappearances. I believe they are all somehow connected.
“I have requested Enlil’s aid directly, and received a cryptic response. One of our own has already begun his own investigations into the kidnappings, but has found nothing as of yet. Our city is not small, but all of our clerics are still easily recognized. Perhaps you, Abrina, might be able to discover something.”
Abrina hesitated. She desperately wished to return to Narim. She was happy, encouraging the crops, mending broken bones, playing in the games. She was content with that life, and had been hoping to return to it after a single night’s rest in the city of Cauldron. Her gaze fell on the corner of the desk where Jenya had secreted away the scroll. Abrina’s thoughts returned to the knot in her gut she had felt when those men had accosted Ruphus. Painted faces still leered before her in her memories, and she did not know why. She imagined the children: scared, cold, and beaten by hulking men with faces of white and black….
“What can I do to help?” Abrina said abruptly, interrupting Jenya’s proposal, and something about a reward.
Jenya stood. “Thank you,” she said, opening the door and leading Abrina out into the hall. “Let me take you to Handel.”
A bustling dwarf with a neatly trimmed beard and the flowing robes of Enlil hunched over a desk, pouring over various papers and jotting down notes in quick, spasming strokes, as Jenya and Abrina stepped through the door. Handel glanced up briefly as the two entered and dismissively returned to his work, leaving Abrina’s mouth open in a greeting she did not have the chance to give.
“Handel, this is Abrina, a cleric of Ninurta,” Jenya introduced, though the dwarf did not look up from his papers. Jenya continued, unfazed. “She will help you in the coming days, she has offered her help to find the missing children and bring the kidnappers to justice.”
“Indeed,” replied Handel with the characteristic dwarven grumble. “I doubt there is more that she can glean, but she can sort my notes, if she likes.”
Abrina’s eyes narrowed, insulted, but Jenya simply ignored Handel’s comment and turned to her.
“Only last night,” she said, “I consulted an artifact of our temple, and asked a simple question of Enlil:
Where are the children who were abducted from the Lantern Street Orphanage? I received a reply, though a cryptic one. Handel has been studying the riddle ever since, as well as the little information we have gathered about the kidnappings. I’m afraid he has so far made little progress.”
At this, the dwarf looked up from his desk and straightened. “Nonsense!” he blustered, waving his notes in the air. “Enlil has provided us with a great deal. Here, here, allow me to show you.” He reached over, scattering various drawings, diagrams, and scraps until he found a parchment with six lines of small, precise letters.
“This,” Handel exclaimed, waving the paper in Abrina’s face. She flinched, backing away from the accosting dwarf. “This is Enlil’s riddle.”
Jenya neatly plucked it from Handel’s fingers, to his chagrin, and began to read aloud the words she had written the previous night.
The locks are key to finding them.
Look beyond the curtain, below the cauldron,
But beware the doors with teeth.
Descend into the malachite ‘hold,
Where precious life is bought with gold.
Half a dwarf binds them, but not for long.
Handel grabbed it back from Jenya, clutching it in one hand. Abrina wondered for a moment why Jenya, obviously a cleric of high standing and the current head of the temple, accepted such treatment from the dwarf. The thought quickly fled, however, as Handel loudly proclaimed his conclusions.
“We know
the orphanage has barred windows and excellent locks on all the doors. The orphanage has two large bedchambers on the second floor, one for boys and one for girls, and two children from each were kidnapped. No windows were broken, no doors damaged, and no one at the orphanage, including the staff and the other children, heard anything. They simply disappeared.
“But this,” he continued, holding the parchment in the air and returning to his scattered notes, “This gives us some clues. The riddle says,
Look beyond the curtain, below the cauldron. This must refer to some place beyond the city walls, the curtain, and below the cauldron of the mountain. The doors with teeth obviously refer to the portcullises of the wall, so one of the guards either knows something or is part of the kidnappings.”
“What about this malachite hold? Or the locks? Or the half-dwarf?” asked Jenya.
Handel waved away her questions as he sat at the desk. “I am not sure. Yet. I will get to that, and will notify you what it means when I find out.” With that, he bowed his head over his notes, retrieved a quill pen, and began to write some more notes on another scrap of paper. Jenya gently touched Abrina’s arm and pulled her into the hallway.
“I trust Handel, but I think it might be better for you to inquire at the orphanage yourself. Someone had to have gotten into the orphanage, and if they bypassed the locks on the bedchamber doors then I am afraid it might have been someone with access to the keys. If that is true, then the children are still in danger.”
Abrina nodded, remembering the first line of Enlil’s riddle,
The locks are key to finding them. That would be her first question at the orphanage. She would have the rest of the night to think of what her second question might be.
“First thing in the morning, Jenya,” said Abrina confidently, “I will go to the orphanage, and find out what I can. With Ninurta’s strength, I will bring the kidnappers to you.”
“Thank you, Abrina.” Jenya nodded, appeared to relax, and led Abrina to a small private room. She had long since dried off and the bitter taste of the tea had thankfully retreated. Exhausted, Abrina collapsed into the spartan bed and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
That's what I get for trying to write from memory. I have also revised it to include some of the descriptions from the Path hardcover.
