Jonah’s Plan
“What does the priestess like about you?”
“Good question. Whatever her reasoning, this presents a very important opportunity,” Jonah said.
“Exactly. This way, we’ll be able to get more information for the knights,” Gabriel said.
“Not just that,” Jonah added. “We have the opportunity for you to stay here.”
Seth and Gabriellooked at their older colleague in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Look at it this way. One of them could kill a wyrm near single-handedly. We don’t know how they gain their power, but it’s a lot of power. If you stay here,” Jonah continued, turning to Gabriel, “we get on their good side. Direct that power. Wherever that wyrm came from, there’s a good chance it wasn’t the only one- and if more monsters that powerful start manifesting, I personally would prefer to have these people on our side.”
“And how do you propose we go about getting them ‘on our side’, exactly?”
“Well, the first step would be to get to stay here. Now, we don’t know why that priestess likes you, but it’s a fact we can take advantage of. If you can talk to her, make up some excuse for needing to stay- maybe you want to make sure that more monsters don’t appear. Whatever that reason is, stay here- get them to trust you.”
“And what if more monsters do appear?” Seth questioned.
“Well, if they’re nearby, I assume those two could take care of it. Otherwise, we’d need the nobles for at least the first one. If that does happen, though, we move on to step two.”
“Which would be getting them to work with the knights?”
“More than that. If their magic does have some source- which you can tell us if you find out- we use that source. Get our own magic.”
After a pause, Gabriel spoke up. “So, if I stay here, what do you do?”
“Return to the knights, and keep you updated on what’s going on out in the world. Get a few other trustworthy people in on the plan.”
Seth’s voice took on an edge. “‘A few’?”
“Well, we can’t just let everyone know. They might be angry at us.”
It was then that Gabriel realized what Jonah was truly proposing. “You intend for us to commit treason.”
“Far from it! Think of it like this- currently, it’s only the nobles who can use magic. That’s what keeps them at the top of the pyramid- so how do you think they’d react to the possibility of that changing, let alone the living proof this village provides?”
“They’d want it gone,” Gabriel reasoned.
“Bingo! That’s why we don’t tell them, at least not yet. We observe the village, see if we can use it to our advantage, and if it turns out we can’t, then we tell the nobles and let them raze it to the ground.”
“No matter your reasons, treason is still treason.”
“My oath was sworn to the Goddess and to the kingdom- not the nobles who control it. And unless they’ve changed the words in the last forty years, the same applies to you two.”
Seeing Seth move his hand to the hilt of his blade, Gabriel elected to leave. “I’m going to go get my answers from the priestess. Once I return, we decide what to do next. Wake up Pender while I’m gone,” he said.
“All right. See you soon.”
- - -
As he made his way back towards the gates, Gabriel agonized over what course of action to follow- and what to tell Seth and Jonah. He thought that he could trust Jonah, but the past conversation had thoroughly shown him that he didn’t understand Jonah anywhere near as well as he thought he did.
Alright, let’s think things through. Everything I know.
First: Lilith gets her power from a goddess. This power can be given to other people.
Second: The process by which this happens involves sex.
Third: It has the side effect of bodily transformation- The other one was growing fur, and both of them supposedly had ‘both genders’- whatever that means.
So, it might be possible for anyone to gain magic- as long as they’re fine with those side effects. But do I tell that to Jonah? He mentioned his oath being sworn to the Goddess- how would he react to a village of heretics? How would Seth?
One question I should definitely ask is about that transformation- how thorough is it? What exactly does it consist of?
Not- not that I’m interested.
This train of thought came to a stop when Gabriel realized he had made it back to the gate- with Milo and the furry one standing nearby.
“So, where’s the priestess?”
“In the old church,” the furry one said. “I’ll take you there.”
“Thanks.” As the furry one walked away, Gabriel followed him into the village.
- - -
Meanwhile, Seth had just succeeded in waking up Pender from his panic-induced fainting, through use of a technique known as ‘taking off his helmet and slapping him across the face.’
“What was that for?” Pender whined, sitting back up.
“You fainted. I needed to wake you up.”
“And you couldn’t think of any better ways to do so?”
“No, I could, I just felt like you deserved to get slapped.”
“What? Why?”
“You fainted for no reason and made an embarrassment of yourself and the rest of us. Honestly, you should be glad I took my gauntlet off before hitting you.”
“Oh, thank you so much. So, what happened while I was out? Where’s Gabriel?”
“Apparently, he was let into the village to ask some questions. For some reason, the priestess likes him.”
“Huh. Do we know when he’ll get back?”
“No. However, we can use the time to get you up to speed on Jonah’s plan.”
“‘Jonah’s plan’, not ‘our plan’- implying you’re opposed to it.”
“Quick on the uptake, huh?”
“That’s why they made me a knight.”
“Well, it certainly wasn’t for your courage.”
“Can we go back to discussing the plan, instead of insulting me again?”
“Fine.”