Welcome back!
For those of you reading The Runesmith Chronicles for the first time I recommend going back and starting with the first book The Runesmith Chronicles (it's actually Oni and the Farmer but it's too late to change it here :P). Mostly so you have a better understanding of how things like the magic system works and what's going on as I often reference earlier chapters.
I update my Bio with the latest Chapters and projects I'm working on each time I put up a new post.
As always votes and feedback are greatly appreciated!
Enjoy!
Blu
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Edited/Proofread by: oldfart and 2muchdiggity
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Chapter 10
It wasn't long before Kal and Sandy discovered that their activities while traveling were impractical for such a long journey. After a few stops, he pulled his pants up and respectfully declined the golem's offered rear end, for now.
Though disappointed, Sandy accepted the promise of pleasures to come. The golem then secured him in the harness once again before dropping them into the floor of the small cave. After a quick pause to get her bearings, they continued their way north.
Later on, Kal was glad for the pleasant distractions as he took her up on her offer a couple more times. The three days with Gerda had been relatively dull, except for the run-in with the mushroom girl. The first half of his week with Sandy was turning out to be worse. If he could see through rock like the golems could, perhaps the trip might have been more enjoyable. It wasn't long before hours of darkness became boring. The occasional breaks for resting and emptying his bladder soon felt like small havens for Kal's sanity.
By the end of the third day, he was longing for the surface and running alongside Daxas and her pack.
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It took almost three days for Elta to make all of the preparations necessary after Perra and the wolf sent her back to town. The oath had done little to disrupt her daily life as she continued to preach about the dangers of magic from a source other than the Goddess and the abomination that monster girls were. Since her experience with Perra and Daxas, those sermons felt empty and weak.
On the third day, she finished her prayers over the large magic circle she had drawn onto the floor of her home. She went over the large circle she had drawn on the floor, carefully making sure not even a single line was out of place. 'Commune' was a spell reserved for priests and priestesses who had been in the church far longer than she. Even so, the cleric had come to the conclusion that this was the only way out of her oath to the wizard's woman. Only a God or Goddess could dissolve an oath of this nature and the only way they would do that was to ask them.
Bolting the door to her house, she washed herself in water she had boiled, filtered, blessed and infused with scented oils. Without drying herself, she stood naked in the middle of the circle, being careful not to drip on any of the symbols within. She began the spell's chant while summoning two magic circles in front of her outstretched hands. She pressed one to her chest between her breasts and the other over her womb as the chant ended.
The circle on the floor lit up, beginning as a faint glow and growing in intensity until it became blinding. Elta's eyes closed against the glare and a moment later she felt as though her entire body was violently jerked to the side. Unconscious, the cleric crumpled to the floor.
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Perra looked to the south towards Telsin. While unintentional, something in Elta's oath let the farmgirl sense where the woman was. Frowning, she wondered what the implications might be of the cleric suddenly feeling like she was extremely far away. Mere seconds ago, the woman had been in town.
Experiencing a small burst of pride, Perra couldn't help the smile forming in the corner of her mouth. That Elta had somehow managed to get around all her safeguards was mildly impressive. At the same time, she worried about what troubles this might bring for her and her family.
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As the light faded away the cleric found herself in a small field. A hundred paces or so in every direction the grass and wildflowers faded into a shining white mist. As she looked about, a voice called out from behind her.
"Ho, there child! I must say, I'm surprised you were able to get here so soon."
Letting out a small shriek of surprise, Elta whipped around, covering her breasts and sex protectively with her hands.
"No need for all that little one, you'll come to no harm here." The speaker was an older woman who appeared to be closer to her mother's age. Long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail held in place by a strip of leather. Small wrinkles formed on the woman's kindly face as she smiled at the cleric. The motherly visage was marred only by her piercing, otherworldly, crystal blue eyes. A loose tunic hung from her shoulders, the neckline of the large shirt falling off of one shoulder and threatening to expose one of her breasts. Elta stifled a frown as she noticed the woman wearing a man's slacks. "I-I came to speak with the Goddess," stammered Elta.
"So you did," replied the woman. She waved a hand and a tree sprouted next to her growing to full size in a matter of seconds. "Sadly, the Goddess is a busy woman and you are here far earlier than expected." The woman sat down in the shady area provided by the tree and patted the ground next to her. "Come, sit. Tell me what questions you had for the Goddess. Perhaps I can give you the answers you seek."
The cleric shook her head as she walked the short distance to the tree. She let her hands fall to her sides, the lady before her had just made an entire tree but hadn't given her clothing. Apparently, she was to remain naked. "Only the Goddess can help. I've been trapped in an oath and she's the only one who can remove it."
Still smiling, the woman shook her head. "She won't."
Elta's face fell, "Why not! That whore of a woman threatened to kill me if I didn't accept!"
The woman nodded, "And you chose life instead of coming to join us here."
The cleric was appalled, "You would have rather I chose death?"
"Absolutely not. I'm saying that you had a choice. You chose to live under the terms of the oath. The Goddess will not free you from that."
Crestfallen, Elta sunk to her knees, "That makes sense, I guess."
The woman raised an eyebrow. "This is a pleasant change, I'm used to more pleading and bemoaning of one's fate. What else did you wish to ask, child?"
Giving her a weak smile at the compliment, she asked, "Are monster girls evil?"
"Some are, but I think the question you were trying to ask is if they are evil in nature and the answer is no." The woman sighed, "I hate answering that question. So often it means that the one asking it will be lost to us shortly."
"Then why does the High Priests and Priestesses say that they are abominations?"
"Because they are. You know already that they were created by a wizard's spell and not by a god or some natural process. Some of the nature deities are petitioning the rest of the gods to see the monster girls as part of the new natural order. However, the first generation was born of magic and not a womb, so the Goddess's opinion is unlikely to change."
"Then why allow the church to lie to people?"
"She doesn't care about monster girls, how the humans decide to deal with them is entirely up to them. Laying waste to the soulless creatures would be no more than restoring balance.
"They truly don't have souls?" Something about what the woman said felt very wrong. Elta had traveled and bathed with the wolf and dog girls. If they didn't have souls it seems she should have been able to tell.
"The new ones may have them but that's only after hundreds of years of stealing small pieces from human men and passing them on to their children."
The woman's words could have been copied from one of Elta's religious texts. Still, something didn't settle right with her. "'One shall not punish the son for the father's transgressions'," she quoted, "is this phrase not true? If previous generations were the ones to steal parts of men's souls should this generation of monster girls be vilified for it? What about the immortal ones or those with very long lives who have only seen a couple of generations? What about them? Do those not have souls?" Elta put a hand to her head, feeling a headache coming on.
"All of your questions are irrelevant," said the woman. "No monster girl worships the Goddess. Therefore, she has no interest in them. Change that and she might hear you out on changing the decrees of the church. Show her there is some benefit to making changes which could damage the foundations of her church."
Elta blinked rapidly in surprise, she hadn't considered the consequences of such a declaration. There was no nation or demon army standing against the church. Monster girls were touted as the biggest threat to humans. Men came to the church believing that it would save them from kidnapping. Women often joined to get back at monster girls because one stole their man.
The church's attitude towards monster girls propagated through this constant litany of fear and hatred. She was actually one of the few in the capitol who found solace in the Goddess's teachings without having some monster girl related tragedy. How many would be lost if it became known that the Goddess now accepted what had been previously declared demonic and evil?
