I won't post too much of Lifebringer, especially since it's still rough as hell due to a lack of editing. Still, I'm excited about it, and I want
you to be excited about it too.
So here's chapter 4. The previous 3 can be found in the 'Lifebringer' tab here and there.
Just a warning, it's another short one.
Chapter 4
Planned Luck
Wrin stood stunned, but only for a moment. It had worked,
exactly as it should have. At the end of his luck and the beginning of his
courage, his masterful plan had worked.
He stood no longer. Hurrying out of the room, Wrin strode toward
the table to check the abandoned ledger left by the first speaker. His guess
was it would have some record of who was admitted and who wasn't. But his guess
proved wrong as he found it full of administrative details. There were columns
of names, names, names. Mothers' names, fathers' names. His name at the bottom.
There was nothing else to imply a granting of admission to the Academy.
Wrin left the table then, heading out the room's second door in
the direction of the second chapel. The newly admitted Priests would gather
there to say a brief prayer while their families watched from above. This was
the plan's biggest danger. For the full 30 seconds of his feigned prayer he
would be exposed. If any of the four Priests from the admissions room came to
look for him, he'd be caught and the jig would be up. But he had planned for
more damage than they could handle in 30 seconds.
There was a ledger inside the entrance to the chapel. Wrin
checked this and saw a list of names all in the same handwriting. Maybe it was
intentional, to stop forgery. Or maybe it was just tradition that one man wrote
in the ledger. Either way, it wasn't enough to stop Wrin. With no hesitation
and showing no signs of cautious penmanship, Wrin wrote his own name in a
perfect imitation of the ones above. Wrin smiled to himself. Beside each name
was a number, counting upward to eleven. Wrin added the number '12' beside his
name.
Taking a seat shortly after that, Wrin bowed his head and began
to count, distorting the shape of his mouth as he did in case anyone turned his
way. It would be a stupid thing to be caught for, counting when he should have
been praying. The seconds crawled by, and Wrin fought to keep his pace steady
as the numbers grew bigger.
'28, 29, 30'
Then he rose and strode out the archway opposite to the one he
had come through. Here, he assumed, most new students went off instructions
they were given as to where dorms were and where they needed to report to. Many
would in fact loop around and meet family out front to receive their packed
belongings and exchange final hugs. Wrin had nothing to take with him, so he
took the direct route. He'd had something the other students hadn't: the Cathedral's
blueprints.
'Where would Khol be now?'
he wondered. The thought was matter-of-fact, lacking all remorse.
He'd still be by the Paladin's quarters, Wrin guessed. Or maybe
already wrangled in the arms of a half-dozen Priests. He would have been
standing in the hallway, against the wall that separated him from the Paladins,
and over the floor that concealed something none of them were meant to know
about. He would have placed the charge, counted the seconds, set it, primed it,
and run. By the time it went off he would have slipped through a dozen passageways
and pipelines, taking the routes the greasemen had opened up. In the end he
would have come out behind the fleeing Paladins, right where Wrin should have
been standing...
The dormitory building loomed before Wrin, just off to the side
of the outdoor walkway he was walking along. To his left was a well-groomed
field of pruned flowers and trimmed grass. It was glorious. He could get used
to living here.
He reached the dorm building, a large grey mass of stone in the
same style as the Cathedral. The only difference was the shape. Where the Cathedral
was shaped like an even-armed cross with its top all spired and buttressed, the
dorms were a long, three-storey rectangle. The adornment was minimal, but still
present in a few places. On the front wall was a large window of stained glass.
While those inside the Cathedral depicted the great Priests and Paladins of the
world, this one was simply the red form of the Protector's cross suspended in a
disc of milky white.
The Academy grounds were enormous, he realised. Sure, he'd seen
the blueprints and maps, memorising the layout of buildings sprawled behind the
Cathedral. But as with most things it was something else entirely to see it
with his own eyes. Those two-dimensional boxes with all their careful lines
were real, tangible objects out here. It was awe-inspiring, seeing those
diagrams realised. Out behind the dorms would be the lecture halls, and beside
that was the Medicum. A long corridor linked that back to the library, and then
onward to the Clericum that stood streetside beside the Cathedral. In between
them all were massive greens, all adorned with flowers. Way out to the western
edge, somewhere on Wrin's left, was the Apothecarium. Why they would need
something as crude as herbal remedies in a place like this was beyond him, but
nonetheless it constituted the largest apothecarial garden in the Five Nations.
The dormitory was upon Wrin now, and he was pleased to find the
great oaken doors were wide open. Once inside his eyes took a moment to adjust
from being in the sunlight, but he already knew this floor anyway. He was in
the mess hall, and backing on to that was the study hall and commons. He strode
across the mess hall, passing by the kitchens on his left and a series of long
tables that could sit 24 men each on his right. Passing through another open
door, he emerged into the common room.
He stopped for a moment, taking in the lavish comforts of the
room. There were two long tables for study, not unlike those in the mess hall.
They were behind a partition that seemed all too thin to damped the noise from
the commons. The common space itself was adorned with couches and chairs of
bright red velvet, framed by a fine, varnished white wood. The colours of the
Protector. All around there was enough to seat maybe 30 people in each area,
far less than what the mess hall could accommodate.
At the far end of the common room was a staircase. Up these
stairs would be the dormitory floor, and above that was a series of private
rooms for studying when one needed isolation. Wrin had seen that floor on the
blueprints, had seen 30 spaces all surrounded by paper-thin walls. What people
needed to study in that room was a mystery to him. But then, that's why he'd
come here, to learn things like what that room was for.
Wrin climbed the stairs and exited them on the dorm floor. There
were beds, again about 30. A heavy-looking trunk lay at the foot of each bed,
and simple wooden desk sat beside them. On each desk was a lamp, but they
looked nothing like the tickers Wrin was used to.
"Afternoon." came a voice from beside him, startling
Wrin. He suppressed a frightened jump. He was better than that sort of thing.
"And yourself." said Wrin all cordial, turning to face
the voice.
It belonged to a boy who looked about the same age as him. His
hair was a sandy blonde and his face was clean shaven.
"Lorsem, but call me Lor." he said, extending a hand.
"Wrin, short for Wrinlett." Wrin replied, taking the
hand in a firm shake, "I wasn't expecting anyone else to be here."
"Neither," said Lor, "but then I'm always willing
to make a friend."
'This fucks up
everything...' thought Wrin. No-one was meant to see him just yet. All the
other students were supposed to be off fetching belongings so they could move
in.
"You've moved in already?" Wrin asked.
"Wasn't much to move, all told. Looks like you're about the
same." said Lor with a dripping smile.
This was it, the one tiny thing that could unravel all his
plans. Here Wrin could no longer play the game, now he had to play the man. He
was good at it normally, but this time the stakes were higher. This time he
actually wanted something.
"Listen, Lor," Wrin began. There was something crucial
Lor had said, a broadcast of weakness. Friend.
"I need to go clean myself up." Wrin motioned to his beard and
scruffy hair. "Don't tell anyone you saw me like this, yeah? You'd do that
for a friend?"
Wrin's eyes were soft as they'd go, practically begging for
sympathy. Inside, Wrin smiled as he watched Lor's face light up.
"Sure thing! I know how it can be, looking all odds and
ends!" he proclaimed with a grin.
Wrin replied with a smile that creased the corners of his eyes.
He'd long since learned that creasing the eyes made you look kind and honest.
"Thanks." he said, keeping his smile as he turned and
left the dorm.
As he headed for the washroom his smile changed. Normally he
wouldn't risk giving himself away, but here alone on the landing he indulged
himself. His eyes uncreased, his cheeks rose and his smile pulled inwards on
his jowls. Crosses Lor was easy.
At the top of the landing, right by the stairs, was the door to
a washroom. It was in here that Wrin procured the only belongings he'd taken
with him: a straight-edge razor and a small pair of scissors. Standing over one
of the sinks in the row of washbasins, he looked into the reflective glass and
brought the razor to his cheek. For a moment he mimed the motion of shaving,
making sure his hands would stay steady. Then he filled the basin with water,
splashed it on his face a few times and began to cut away his great bushy
beard.
When he left the bathroom his face was clean and his hair was
short and neatly trimmed.
"Crosses! You look like a whole new man!" exclaimed
Lor as Wrin came through the door.
"Yes, and no-one can know what I used to look like."
Wrin said again, voice stern but not chiding.
Lor mimed a zipping motion across his lips, and Wrin turned from
him and headed down the room. He made for a bed down the far end, on the inside
of the stained glass window. Kicking off his beaten up shoes, he lay on the bed
and started at the ceiling. In truth, he had nothing to do until the commotion
over in the Cathedral was sorted, and he had no choice but to hope he didn't
end up implicated in the whole affair. Maybe he should go back and talk with
Lor for a while, he had nothing else to do now that he'd claimed a bed.
Just as he was thinking it, Lor piped up.
"So what brings you here?" said Lor, already on his
feet and wandering over to Wrin.
There was a good chance Lor could become a nuisance, but he was
at least earnest and friendly, Wrin decided.
"Same reason as anyone I guess." Wrin replied, turning
to face Lor so as to not seem dismissive. Lor nodded his head, taking a seat on
the bed opposite Wrin.
"I had an uncle become a Priest, and he'd always been my
grandfather's favourite because of it." said Lor. Wrin didn't make any
expression of disgust, but Lor continued with, "It's mean to say, but it's
true."
Wrin raised his eyebrows, as if to say 'fair enough'. He didn't
make a response though, so Lor continued. "My dad resented me for my
gifts, I think. He kicked me out when I told him, and it's taken me two years
to get here and enrol."
As he spoke, his eyes looked away and his head bowed a little.
It was slight, but Wrin knew how to read a man like a book. Lor was hurt,
deeply.
"That's terrible." said Wrin.
And it was. That didn't mean Wrin felt bad for Lor, mind. If he
knew the first thing about what Wrin had been through he'd probably cry. All
the same, Lor's tale was unfortunate.
"But really, what about you? Why act on the gift and learn
to be a Priest? Protector knows we all had a choice when he chose us."
asked Lor, all the sadness gone from his voice as though it had never been
there.
Wrin paused for a bit, meeting Lor's eyes at first, then looking
away.
"I don't know, I guess I've just always wanted to be one."
said Wrin.
And it was the first honest thing he'd said all day.
