Chapter 255

Bella and I left the Temple of Velenthel together while Nelly and Kal'daeryn stayed behind to prepare for Nelly's priest training. Bella hadn't let go of my hand this entire time, she was probably still worried about me. Her comfortable presence made me feel a lot better. I would talk to all of my lovers about what happened today, I was sure, so I felt like leaving those complicated feelings alone until then. For now, we headed to the castle. Since it was still early enough in the day I decided to see what Nathaniel wanted to meet with me about.

One of the guards near the gate waved to me as I approached. "Miss Lilith. It's nice to see you again. Do you have business in the castle?" the guard asked. I vaguely recognized him as one of the people I cleared the castle with, but I didn't recognize him beyond that.

"Nathaniel left an open invitation to meet with me when I returned to Goldenhearth, can you tell him that I'm here?" I asked.

"Of course, please follow me this way and I'll inform him you're here." He pulled the two of us off to the side where we could wait on a bench in the courtyard.

The atmosphere of the castle felt quite a bit different since we had been here last. It was still hard to ignore the memories of the zombies we had fought. Most of the decorations had been changed and some of the statues and benches had been rearranged just enough to make things look a bit different. I'm probably not the only one with strong memories of this place and some of the people that had helped us clear it now work here on a regular basis. Some of the guards recognized me and gave me polite nods or waved as they continued on their business, but none of them approached us while we waited.

A short while later the guard returned. "Nathaniel sent me to fetch you. He's taking lunch in his office if you would like to join him."

I stood up. "Of course, lead the way."

We followed him to the second floor and to a collection of offices that bordered the outside wall. Like the courtyard, this place had been redecorated but some of the more valuable looking art pieces remained. Making it, unfortunately, more familiar than the courtyard had been. The office the guard stopped at was the one closest to the rear stairs. I remembered having gone through this office the last time I was here. He knocked and opened the door for us and closed it behind us as soon as we stepped inside. Nathaniel was standing to greet us when we entered.

"Ah, Lilith. I heard you were back in the city. I'm fortunate you chose to come visit me so soon," Nathaniel said. The older priest of Morkinnen looked the same as the last time I had seen him though he was no longer wearing his priest robes. His current outfit looks like some sort of suit that nobles typically wore.

"Nice to see you again, Nathaniel. Your clothes look different," I pointed out.

He nodded and sighed as he sat down at his desk. "Unfortunately, I was forced to officially leave my position in the church of Morkinnen due to these circumstances. Sera Faelyn Morrister is already on her way back, but her father's advisors insisted on me staying on permanently as her chief advisor, and from our correspondence, she wishes that for me as well."

"She's coming back from the Northern Greens so soon?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yes, though apparently, she's traveling with a detachment of elves that will continue to serve as her 'honor guard' for the time being. I'm not sure what to make of that yet, but I worry that the elves will exert some influence over her future decision-making. That will be fine if our goals for the city align, but I don't know what their aims are yet. The entire situation is making me quite anxious." He sighed and shook his head. "Do you have any news to share from the Capital? I've heard some troubling reports coming from there."

"Do you mind if I bring up a [Zone of SIlence]?" I asked.

"Please do. I would hope no one is eavesdropping on us here in the castle but history has shown that you never know."

I cast the spell and the slight din of the outside noise was cut off leaving the three of us isolated. "The capital city has completely fallen," I told him directly.

The man's eyes went wide. "Can you explain?"

"Will you promise to keep everything I tell you in confidence? A majority of what I'm going to tell you happened 'after' I left the city."

His lips pursed and he nodded. "Very well, I will keep your name away from anything you inform me of."

"The first thing I should tell you is that the King of Torlimal is dead and left no heirs. I was able to confirm this because my two former pantharian slaves had their collars removed when it happened. When I left, the city was still keeping it quiet," I told him.

"That is troubling, though the young king was not liked."

I nodded. "The young king was liked so little, no one has ever bothered to even tell me his actual name." That retort got a bit of a chuckle from Nathaniel.

"What else can you tell me?" he asked.

"You were right in your assessment that the Cult of Amphores was active in the capital. They were experimenting with magic that disrupted slave collars and I believe they intentionally used it to instigate riots. I got that information from the guards of the Library of Sorsette, so I imagine it was accurate. During one of their riots, they summoned a large demon between the market and beastfolk districts of the city and apparently commanded it to destroy the slaver's guild. The entire building collapsed, presumably destroying everything inside including any records."

"Were there survivors? What of the people they held there?" he asked.

I grinned. "From what I'm told, a group of beastfolk infiltrated the slaver's guild and helped all of them escape to the elven embassy before the building collapsed. I have been given reassurance that the elves intend to take all of them in or help them relocate to the Zarcuda region or other nearby countries depending on the situation."

"That's a relief. And the demons?"

"The demons killed a lot of people in the southern quarter of the city but large amounts of the demons were mysteriously killed before they could completely overrun the city."

"How bad was the damage to the capital?" he asked.

I shook my head. "It's hard to say, the capital was already unstable with the King's death. The Tamin church had stepped in to support them but nearly all of the priests died fighting the demons which likely left a power vacuum in the city. Now this next part, you absolutely did not hear from me, understand?"

"Of course," he said with a nod.

"By now the elves of the Northern Greens have taken over the city and are holding it with their soldiers. While all of this was happening the Duke of Torquin was also assassinated. The elves aren't trying to take over the country though, they are waiting for Marquiss Saffadder to come and take over the city as the only noble likely to do so."

Nathaniel sat back in his chair. "I see... So all of this has been orchestrated then?"

I shook my head, "Not by a single party, no. The cult, the Tamin church, and one other party have been playing a game and the result is one where the only true loser is the Tamin church in this situation."

"One other party?" he asked curiously.

"I would rather not say."

Nathaniel sighed and took a sip of tea. "Lilith, be honest with me. I swear I will not betray you, I trust you too much for that. Who is this third party?"

I frowned and scratched the base of my horn. "Fine. While I was in the city, I made contact with The Order of Lilith. They are real. Your friend who had formerly been in the Tamin church had been right about a lot of things but I now know for a fact that there are three gods supporting the Tamin church. The Order of Lilith is acting to destroy slavery and disrupt the Tamin church directly whenever they can. They are the ones that killed the demons and helped the slaves that escaped the slaver's guild reach the elven embassy."

"And the Order of Lilith worships an unknown goddess?" he asked.

"Like the Tamin church, they mostly worship a prophecy. An alternative version of the same one the Tamin church is obsessed with. The elves also have a version of the prophecy and at this stage are working with the Order of Lilith indirectly, mostly to ferry slaves out of slave-holding countries. The Order of Lilith assassinated the King of Torlimal, the Duke of Torquin, and killed many of the priests and paladins of the Tamin church that didn't fall to the demons. I'm led to believe they minimized casualties and killed many of the remaining demons in the city as well but I was not there to confirm that part."

"Are the Cult of Amphores and the Order of Lilith working together?" Nathaniel asked.

"No, the person I met in the Order of Lilith claimed that the Cult of Amphores is trying to push this country into a civil war and they forced the Order of Lilith's hand. While the cult's actions look like they are in support of freeing slaves, they were about to drop a building on all of the slaves in the capital and caused many more deaths by instigating a riot right before they released their demon. I don't think it's wise to lump them together."

"Does this mean that the elves intend to turn Torlimal into a puppet state of the Northern Greens?" he asked.

I shrugged. "That's out of my area of expertise. If that's something you want to avoid, then it's up to you to try and guard against that. I believe the elves are acting opportunistically to put someone agreeable to them in power rather than a direct attempt at taking control, but I don't truly know enough about the situation. Protecting Sera Faelyn Morrister seems disconnected from their plans directly, but I wouldn't be surprised if they chose to take advantage of that influence in some way too if it was advantageous to their goals. When I talked to the elves, they seemed keenly interested in disrupting slavery in Torlimal since many of their own people were often kidnapped and taken as slaves, but having an amicable country on their border seems more important to them in general."

"I see. I never thought I would be thrust into the world of politics like this. I had thought that my dabbling would stay confined to the day to day arguing within the Church of Morkinnen. But the attack on Goldenhearth forced me into this position and none of the people around me want to let me retreat from it now that I'm involved. I greatly appreciate your council, Lilith. You have given me a lot to think about. You say that politics is not within your area of expertise but I am forced to disagree. There's a difference between being unskilled at it and not liking it. I believe we share the latter in common."

"Did you want to discuss anything else?" I asked.

He sighed and rubbed his brow. "I would have liked to spend some time merely as friends but I'm afraid I am too busy for that. Where are you planning on heading to next? I am surprised to find you back in the city again after you intended to receive training in the capital."

"I actually became a certified journeyman in the cartography guild. My instructor was that impressed with my work," I said.

Nathaniel laughed. "You don't say."

"I'm planning on heading back to Traehall soon. I need to settle things with the adventurer's guild and something tells me that the increased demon activity in Traehall is happening there for a reason. I didn't get any leads on the cult of Amphores in the capital even after everything that happened there, so I intend to poke around Traehall more when we return."

"Very well. I will continue to look out for signs of them or other cults here and write you in Traehall if I find anything. Would you do the same if you find anything pertinent to my position here?" he asked.

"Sure," I agreed.

The old ex-priest looked over at Bella. "Your girlfriend there looks quite happy. Do you intend to get married soon?"

"M-married?" I said, caught off guard.

He nodded with a big grin. "I can see the way she's looking at you and I remember her from before as well. I may be retired from the Church of Morkinnen now, but I would be happy to introduce you to someone who could help plan a marvelous wedding for you both."

I looked over at Bella who looked quite bashful.

"Perhaps we could have one before anything starts to show..." Bella said rubbing the space below her belly button.