I left the temple, passing by the ever-sighing Sorgwyn. The sun was already covered by a hill and tinted everything in a shade of orange. I walked through the village, thinking about the bishop. Would he be dressed all in gold and jewels? Would he wear a hat or something similar? How would I address him?
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a dark rusty voice calling my name: "Dentro!" I turned to see Grostar, holding his basket of tools, sweating and black spots covering his face and chest. I took a small step back.
Does he want to fight me personally now?
He put down the basket: "Lucky me that I catch you here. I wanted to talk to you about something important."
He seemed calm compared to his usual demeanour. "G-good evening Grostar. What did you want to talk to me about?" I asked. I remained cautious.
"Two things, actually. First things first, I want to apologize for Torin's and Regil's behaviour yesterday. I know I'm not the calmest fella, but I hate violence. Had enough of that in my younger days. And don't worry. I'm not angry at what you said about me. I've been mouthing off at those monks all the time, I know that I'm not the most popular guy around, and it doesn't bother me." he said.
Seeing how calm Grostar reacted to the whole thing, I felt a sense of guilt: "Thank you very much, Grostar. Sorry for what I said about you. I guess I just don't understand you that well."
"Of course you don't. This monk got into your head like no other. You're a lost cause as far as I'm concerned, son." he chuckled a bit. "But I'm not here to berate you on that anyway. Maybe another time."
I smiled. I knew that he meant what he said, and it was funny that ranting about monks was almost a hobby to him.
Grostar folded his arms in front of him: "So... Dentro. I've been thinking of what to do about our food problem, which will happen sooner or later. I think it's time that we stepped up. If the monks will not help us properly, we should go to the higher authority and ask for real solutions. I'm preparing to travel to Mustira to meet the bishop so he can give us permission and resources to expand our lands into the forest southeast from the village. And I want to ask you if you'd like to join me."
I hesitated for a moment. "Why would you want me for that?"
"You're very dedicated to your religion. If you show the bishop how loyal our village is to Rathun, he will definitely consider it." Grostar peeked at the temple briefly: "I damn sure don't want to ask them. You're obviously the next best option. You're young, energetic and faithful. Bishops love that, or so I've heard."
I raised an eyebrow at him: "So you want to use me to get what you want...."
"Not what I want. What the village needs. I got a few villagers backing me up. I'm preparing to depart the next few days." He put a hand on my shoulder and looked at me, almost pleading, but not to pressure me.
"Dentro, I know we have our differences, but this is not between you and me or me and the monks. This is for the sake of our village. I would owe you a great deal if you helped me."
His genuine demeanour really moved me. I rolled the thought through my head a few times. But it felt like I would betray the temple. And since I knew that the bishop would most likely be visiting the village, it would make no sense to visit him anyway. The abbot or Tharmik would probably announce the bishop's arrival in a few days.
I gently swept away Grostar's arm with my hand: "I'm sorry Grostar, I can't help you. I can't act behind the temple's back if I want to be a monk. I commend you for doing this for the village, and I wish you Rathun's blessings on your journey."
Grostar sighed deeply: "I knew you would say that. A damn monk to the bone already. Fine, I won't force you. You still got some time to change your mind though."
Grostar turned around and picked up his basket. "You're soon turning 25, right? So be prepared, as soon as you become a monk, I will mouth off at you without any mercy!"
I laughed: "I know. Don't worry, I'll be ready. May Rathun smile upon you, Grostar."
A bit annoyed he just responded with: "Yeah, yeah, have a good night...."
I watched Grostar disappear around a corner and walked back to the orphanage. On the way I started to feel a wave of exhaustion taking me over, it had been a busy day and now that I was relaxing, it hit me quite hard. When I arrived, dinner was already finished. As I walked into the dining room, Nora approached me. Her long, chestut-brown hair were tied back and adorned with a headband. Her apron and her dark yellow scales were dirty all over from working in the kitchen.
"Dentro, you're late! Were you at the temple again?" she asked, visibly annoyed.
"Yes, sorry Nora. I kinda forgot about the time. I hope you could manage dinner without me." I said.
"Of course I could. But it would've been nice to get a head's up, you know..."
Mona complained. "And since you're late, there is no soup left today. I only got some bread and cheese for you."
She handed me a few slices of bread and a chunk of cheese. Not as delicious as Nora's cooking, but my hunger made up for it. She was the caretaker in the orphanage and had been taking care of me ever since I was a baby. She could be harsh sometimes, but her motherly love knew no bounds.
"Thank you for the food. I'm glad I don't have to sleep with an empty stomach." I said.
"I know that I'm nice. As thanks you can take the kids to bed. Have fun with that. I will finish up in the kitchen and call it a day. May Rathun smile upon you."
"Will do. May Rathun smile upon you."
Though that was easier said than done. Getting all the 12 children to get ready and actually putting them to sleep was a challenge even for two adults. But alone...
I still somehow managed to get it done with a bit more time and bribes of sweets for the next day. After that, I basically fell into my bed too. I took another look at the marking and thought about the magical things I maybe could do if I tried. Soon my sleepiness catched up to me.
I woke up the next morning to a cloudier sky outside the window. Getting ready for a day on the field again, I filled up my water bag and took a sickle with me. But as I walked out of the orphanage, I noticed some noises further up the village. It sounded like many people talking chaotically
A gathering in the morning, in the middle of the street?
I walked to where the voices came from to see many villagers standing gathered around something. I asked a man standing at the back: "What is going on here? Did something happen?" He turned around with a serious look: "It seems that Grostar...he is dead!"
My mind flashed into the nightmare again and panic set in. I pressed myself through the crowd in hopes of proving to myself that it might have been a misunderstanding. But when I arrived in the middle, I saw the horrific scene right before me as my stomach turned upside down.
Grostar was lying on the ground, his body streaked with branches which grew out of and through him. There was even one which sprouted out of his mouth. His eyes were wide open, you could see from them how terrifying and painful his last moments must have been. My vision started to get blurry from this sight. I looked away to catch my composure.
From beside me, the crowd opened and Ordenna, Torin and Regil arrived to find Grostar. Ordenna screamed in agony as she fell to her knees, crying. Torin screamed in tears as he approached his father's lifeless and deformed body: "FATHER! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?! WHO DID THIS?!!"
Regil cried as well, but he just stood there. I could see that he was clenching his fist, probably trying to stay composed. He kneeled beside his mother to comfort her.
Soon the village chief arrived. He looked at the corpse: "By Rathun, how could something like this happen?"
The chief approached the corpse and examined it. I glanced at Tharmik who had just arrived as well. We both knew what that meant. The nightmare was indeed a bad sign.
The gathered villagers kept mumbling all sorts of things.
"Hm, what is this? This looks like some kind of writing." the chief suddenly commented as he turned Grostar's wrist.
On it was the exact same rune as the one on my hand. Yesterday's conversation flashed back to me as I realized that I must have touched him with my left hand when I swept his arm away. But could that really be the reason or his death?
All of a sudden, I felt many eyes staring holes through me and from somewhere in the crowd a voice remarked. "Dentro has a similar marking on his hand, no?"
"Yes, I saw it too. He said it was a kid from the orphanage, but that already seemed weird to me."
"It must be some kind of magic spell."
"It's dangerous."
The mumbling got louder and louder. I looked at Tharmik again in panic as the mumbling got cut by Ordenna: " YOU!!" She glared at me with eyes of pure hatred, almost manic.
"YOU DID THIS! YOU KILLED HIM! YOU LITTLE FANATIC PEST!!!"
I was petrified and could not get many words out: "I-I didn't...I could not...."
"Don't you lie you murderer. You wanted him gone. I heard you say it. Tharmik also knows it! My sons should have beaten you to a pulp! Then maybe my dear Grostar would still be here!" her voice shook.
Tharmik stepped in: "Ordenna, please calm down...I know what he said, but Dentro is not someone-"
"Of course you would cover for him, you probably made him do it, right? Because Grostar was insulting you, hmm? I always apologized, didn't I? But he was a thorn in your side!"
The chief turned towards me: "Dentro, is it true that you have the same mark on your hand?" And when did you see Grostar the last time?"
I was trembling with anxiety and fear. But I knew that I did not kill Grostar. So I decided to just tell the truth and put my trust into Rathun. I prayed in my head over and over as I took a deep breath.
"Yes chief, the marking on my hand is the same. I don't know how I got it. Grostar talked to me yesterday about something. But I swear in the name of Rathun that I didn't do anything!"
"LIAR!" Ordenna screamed once again. "It's clear that you did it! You used this... this thing to kill him! You murderer! I will..."
"No! I didn't...I swear I-" I stuttered.
Ordenna took a stone from the ground and tried to attack me, but Regil stopped her. She started screaming again: "NO, let me go! I will kill this bastard! No one will cry over him! He should rot in the abyss!!"
Regil held onto her, still in tears, as he said with a shaking voice: "Mother, stop! Please! I know you are angry, but please... don't do this. I don't want you to also be a murderer."
Ordenna sank to the ground once again as all energy seemed to leave her body. The stone fell out of her hand. Regil hugged her, crying.
But just as it seemed that things would deescalate, Torin, who was gone for a moment, came back, an axe in his hand, running towards me and screaming: "I WILL KILL YOU!!"
I put my arms over my head, stepping back, preparing for the axe to hit me with full force. But all I felt was a slight hit on my forearm as the axe's head broke off the handle and flew onto the ground. My eyes widened in surprise, just like Torin's and probably everyone else's too. For a moment everyone just stared silently at the axe and then at me.
Torin, still full of rage, stepped foward to punch me right in the face. I put my arms up again but instead of feeling much of an impact, I just heard a scream of pain coming from Torin as I realized that branches were sprouting from his arm.
He cried in pain and horror as he fell to the ground: "Aaaaah! Make it stop!"
I was thinking the same thing. Make it stop. Please, somehow make it stop!!
The branches reached to is upper arm and then stopped. I fell to the ground, sweating and panting in fear and confusion. What had just happened? Did I do that? But I just touched him. And how did it not hurt?
My head was spinning as my vision got blurry again. Then I saw Tharmik in front of me.
"Dentro! Come on, stay with me! Dentro, look at me, look at me. Keep breathing!"
I slowly began to get a grip of myself again. But when I looked around me, I saw the fearful looks of the villagers around me. I heard them talking about me being dangerous and a murderer. I saw several people kneeling next to Torin, who was still lying there, crying in pain.
The chief approached Tharmik and me: "Tharmik, I suggest for the time being that you take Dentro with you to the temple. We need to take care of Grostar's family first."
Tharmik nodded: "Yes chief, I will. Come on, Dentro, let's go." He wanted to help me to get up. But I pulled away: "No, don't touch me. Don't...touch me..." I stuttered quietly.
We started walking towards the temple as the villagers made a big path for us, obviously out of fear.
I still panted heavily: "I didn't do it, Tharmik. I swear I didn't do it..."
"I believe you, Dentro. You had no intention of hurting Torin. Let's go to the temple and calm down. This will need some time to be resolved."
When we arrived at the temple, the abbot and a few monks were waiting in the courtyard: "Tharmik, what happened? The commotion was visible from the tower."
"Something terrible happened, Father. Let me take Dentro to my room first. I will tell you after that."
Tharmik led me to his bedroom where I laid down and tried to sort out my thoughts. I was scared and anxious. My head kept replaying what just happened over and over again. I looked at the rune again and I realized: I just killed someone.