"Tho I treadeth upon shadows, I beg Ahl beith mine torch. Companion to me past such darkness. Tho I stumble from thine road, I beg Ahl beith mine sun. May light shineth upon thy path. Tho I walk solus and with fear, I beg Ahl beith mine friend. I shant be lost to wander alone. Tho I harbor sins upon mine soul, I beg Ahl beith thine mercy. In calm waters shall the blood.... .... Shall the blood leaveth thy hands. Ahmen."
It had been.... some time since the transfer. Days? Weeks? Counting the hours lost it's importance. Garrim remembered the harsh familiarity of being once more binded with iron and fastened against stone. How foolish to think the sun would last. Perhaps this would be it. This place serving as a ground of summary execution, and this promise of freedom merely another ruse from the mouth of the Deceiver. Had the Gods led him here solely for the demand of blood? Perhaps they had lost faith in him as well.... It mattered little. His fate has and always will lie in their hands. He swore oath to be their vassal, a weapon to be used and dispensed as they desired. For now, he could do naught but wait and give thanks for what few blessings had shown here. The Rats.... these were thankfully of a different sort than those he had grown to hate. They still had fear of larger beings, and had yet to develop such insidious cravings as their voracious kin. Sounds, such a lost sensation after so long. Better the rattle of chains and iron than that bleak abyss of stagnation. But of course, the greatest mercy came in a single, barred window. Well beyond his reach, but a sacred thing nonetheless. Rain was.... such a beautiful thing. When the winds deigned it, he could almost feel it's caress through his visor. No matter the filth that flowed freely from such a deluge, blessed be rain and the mercy of it's grace.
Ripples of light at the edges of his mind, the Eye of Ahl bestowed him a vision of visitors to come. No sooner had the light faded did their boots echo upon the cobbles. There would be five, as foreseen. Four guards well-clad in armor, two with blade and two with crossbow. Behind them a great blackness. A figure in darkened garb, devoid of sympathy or compassion. Iron scratched upon stone as the door gave entrance to them, with Garrim raising his head in silent acknowledgement. These soldiers held no hesitation, acting under orders to undo the manacles clamped upon Garrim's arms. Once more, he felt the burden of his own weight nearly driving him to a knee before steadying himself. He rose, shakily at first before at last with confidence. Crossbows leveled their sights on him as.... she entered. Black and silver betraying her allegiance, Garrim felt fire began to claw at his heart. Under black hood and through steel visage, their eyes locked with the intent to flay the other alive with but a glare. The hostility rose in the room to a palpable degree, with the guards finding common sense in standing back and readying arms. Though no movements were made, the Inquisitor could read the Paladin's intentions as tho scrawled upon parchment. His fists clinched, leather and battered steel creaking in complaint. Hushed invocations woven from the Inquisitor's lips, causing small wisps of anima to gather betwixt her fingers. A whirling pool of reality shaping energies forming within her palm, ready to be called forth.
The tension was finally cut when a single beam of sunlight had parted the clouds, if only for a moment. Peering through the barred window, dividing the two with a barrier of light. To these Godless heathens, such things held no importance, but to the devout of Ahl this was providence. The word of Ahl that this was not the path; that Garrim risked straying from such light. His posture relaxed, signalling no confrontation from here on. Though the guards took ill notice and remained on edge, the Inquisitor was quick to glean such and gave a silent order to lower their arms. The air, once hot and vibrant, now gave way to a deathly stillness. "Garrim Udain of former Miriand", she addressed him. Her voice was cold and slack, the words she spoke as impersonal and meaningless as a simple number to be recited from a list. A stark contrast to those she would give next. "It is your time..." she stated, her intent slithering with the hiss of malediction. Under armed guard with the cocked-and-readied bolts of crossbows at his back, Garrim was guided to the courtyard. The downpour of rain played a percussive cacophony within his helm, washing his body and agitating the many small wounds he'd begun to harbor over time. It had been long since Garrim was last reminded of what lay underneath his armour. Of the silken cloth which had likely decayed into moldy rags, held together by mildew and the scant few seams of cord which managed to stand the test of time. His chain mail possessed several links which seemed to have found teeth over the years, biting and nipping at his flesh in various places. It was almost as if the rats had never truly left him.
There in the shower of rain and mud, he saw the gathering of others who would be offered to whatever unknowns lay beyond these ancient walls, of few he took note. A warrior of Pradus, marked well by such thickened plates of master crafted steel. Garrim had never learned of what befell Pradus, and was often left to wonder. How could they have fallen so swiftly? Were they befelled by some grand deception or witchcraft? Had they been taken by such surprise that not even they, the only force which even Holy Miriand envied, could not recover? ....Had they chosen subservience? Another face caught him as familiar, less so by person as by the heraldry he bore. The Knights of Oros were well known for their aptitude and fervor in combat. In old Miriand, the Knightly orders took drafts from those who lacked the magical aptitude to join the Paladins of the Great Church. Where Paladins were deemed of too great an import to send on quests to aid the common people, it was the Knights who would take up the cause. Though Paladins were always the heralded heroes of the realm, it was truly the Knights that served as champions of the people. Their skill and strength of arms stayed a constant rival, and none more so than those under the banner of Oros himself. Perhaps if his tenements had been heeded over that of Ahl's.... Maybe Miriand could have been saved if, for perhaps only a moment, they had allowed themselves to stray from the Road of Peace and listened to the council of Mighty Oros.
Then came the image Garrim had no sooner recognized as he would have spat upon. For there are, nor would ever be, such a figure as familiar and hated as that of a Mage. Be alert, be vigilant; for your enemy, the black-hearted of Yulia, roam about as a roaring lion, seeking whom they may next devour. To have such a thing accompany him, there were scant enough curses in any tongue to fulfill such a need. Then came another.... stranger thing. Small, weak, and frail. She appeared barely able to stand, and even through the haze Garrim could make out the telltale marks of manacles and bindings upon her arms. Even among such God forsaken ranks as these, Garrim struggled to imagine what such a tiny girl could have done to garner such a fate. Rabble rouser, perhaps? No... there was something in her Garrim had learned to recognize. Even through such years of torment written upon her form, there was still this sense of the faintest touch of regality. A servant girl, or perhaps some Noble's daughter, taken away as punishment for some grievance he had caused? Regardless, she was not some humble villager. No one, not even a girl of her size, could afford to be so defenseless outside the watch of several armed guard. Whatever her origins, she most certainly had lived a cloistered life.
Finally beckoned to step forth by name, Garrim was greeted by two familiar grins. A pair of guards he had seen in service to the Warden. Behind them, a pair of soldiers hefted his Stave in presentation before the Paladin, before letting the burdensome weapon fall to the mud. Garrim gave them no satisfaction of a response as they treated the rest of his wares similarly, before finally bending knee to retrieve them. "Oi, holy man!" one beckoned just as he'd turned away. "Warden Oltson gave us word ta give ya fer you go off 'yond the walls." Garrim turned at this, offering the vaguest of acknowledgements. "He says 'may all yer Gods go with ya...." the man quipped as a rancid yellow grin claimed his face. "So's ya can all go die t'gether!" his partner added, before the two strode off bellowing in laughter. Their taunts rarely found purchase, but perhaps they held some truth in them. There were no other Paladins left. How many believers had been spared? How many faithful? Beyond the walls, Garrim knew nothing of the world under Yulian Law. Were there none left outside of prison cells?
.....Would the Gods truly die with us?