Chapter 14: At the Mercy of the Holy

CHAPTER 14

By the time we arrived at Tobermory village I had gotten as much information from the two siblings as possible. From what I understood, magical abilities suddenly awakening in children without any prior practice or initiation was possible but had been extremely rare. That is why the sudden emergence of so many magical children had been a surprise to the villagers.

The stranger part was that following the magical awakening, the children would suddenly go missing without any trace. furthermore, the elders of the village are superstitious and believe that magic is a thing of evil and that the children who developed these abilities were also marked by evil.

The elders start spewing some old tale about holy guardians removing the wicked children from the village before they can harm anyone, the parents offer pushback and want their children to be saved, the elders put in the low effort request for help. I was still unfamiliar with the mechanics of the world but all of this seemed extremely suspicious right from the get go.

Even with all the information gathered I still didn’t know what to do, I realized that I had walked into something much greater than myself and the skills I had in my possession. Despite the realization I still continued walking forward.

Tobermory village was larger than I expected. I would have easily mistaken it for a smaller town otherwise. There seemed to be at least fifty different houses from what I could see from the hill we were standing on. The houses did not seem too simple in build, either.

“Come on,” Moirah said to us as she began descending the hill.

“Don’t tell mom and dad I was crying.” I heard Bran whisper to his sister.

“Don’t worry,” she said as she petted his head.

“Well, the village hall is over there,” Moirah said, turning to me and pointing to my left, “our house is in the opposite direction. See you later!”

“Bye bye,” Bran waved at me.

“Thank you, both of you and please,” I said, remembering the stories of the missing children, “be careful and stick with your parents from now on, okay?”

“We will,” Moirah said; she seemed to understand my concerns, she was a bright child.

She took her brother’s hand and they went on their way.

I walked towards the village hall and even though I had just arrived I could notice the gloomy atmosphere in the village, which was no surprise considering what has been transpiring here recently. A few of the villagers noticed me, some of them looked nervous, others a little relieved, perhaps they could guess why I was here.

A tall building, which I guessed to be the hall, had a group of people right in front of it. They were talking, or I should say arguing, with one another.

“Hello there,” I interrupted their passionate conversation.

“Yes,” an old man with a gray beard turned to me.

I pulled out my questing necklace from underneath my shirt.

“You put in a request at the questing center in Larkesh?” I said.

“Oh, that’s why you are here!” the old man continued. “I am alderman Firrosta, welcome to our village.”

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His enthusiasm seemed painfully put on. Behind him was a tall man with brown, almost orange, slicked back hair and a green cloak that reached the ground. His smile at me appeared more genuine.

“See,” the alderman turned to the other two people that were there, a man and a woman, a married couple perhaps, “I told you I was doing my best, I am not just sitting here twiddling my thumbs. Now get out of here and let us do our job.”

“Please, help us.” the woman pleaded with me as she and her husband walked by.

“You stay with our guest here, I will convene a meeting right now.” Firrosta said to the tall man.

“As you wish,” he replied.

“Greetings, we are pleased to welcome you. My name is Regan, alderman Firrosta’s personal advisor." The tall man introduced himself with an elegant smile.

“Pleasure to meet you, my name is Oren.” I spoke.

“Ah, you must be from the eastern corner.” he beamed.

“Excuse me?”

“Your accent just now, I could have sworn it was Tritechtian.”

“You have a good ear.” I simply replied.

I had no idea what he was referring to or whether it was a good idea to answer in the affirmative or not. I cursed at myself, wishing I had spent more time learning about the history and geography of this world before thrusting myself into the realm of questing and adventures. Let’s get this over with, I reassured myself and then I will use some of the coins to buy a few books and learn more.

“We appreciate you coming here if I may speak on behalf of all the villagers,” Regan continued, “are you a strong fighter?”

“Depends on who I’m going up against but this dagger is not just for decoration, suffice to say.” I laughed. “Do you think I will need to fight here?”

Regan’s face darkened slightly at my words.

“To be completely open with you, I am worried. This situation has left us all blindsided and it is hard to see an end to this struggle. We still have no word of the poor children that have gone missing, we have no clue who the enemy is, let alone if he can be fought.”

“The enemy is no enemy at all and needs not be fought, is the belief of some folks around here, from what I’ve heard.” I said, remembering what Moirah told me about the superstitious beliefs of the village.

“Ah, it is shameful to even stand close to such ignorant convictions. I try to exert as much influence over the village council as my position allows me but the elderly are hard set in their beliefs, heavenly lords are likely to fall from the sky before any of them change their ways.” Regan explained.

“The other elders are gathering as we speak,” alderman Firrosta announced, coming out of the doors, “I am sure Regan has shared the intricacies of our unfortunate situation.”

“He has, indeed.” I nodded.

“You know, I’ve held this position for nearly thirty years,” Firrosta explained, “I am quite proud of what I had accomplished, but if there is one fault I may find in my conduct as an alderman, it is that I didn’t get an advisor like Regan much sooner.”

“Thank you, lord alderman,” Regan said with a slight bow.

“You, adventurer, once all the elders have gathered you will have to sign a paper to confirm your arrival and your mission here and then we shall let you do your job. How does that sound?”

“Sounds perfect,” I said.

“Alright then, I will call on you once everything is settled.” Firrosta said and then disappeared back into the tall building.

“Seems like your influence is no joke.” I whispered to Regan.

“Please, it’s empty air wrapped in gold, men like that have mastered the artform better than any of us.” Regan huffed.

“What has actually been done to ensure the safety of these children?” I asked.

“Not much, we went through most of the houses here and had a beginner cleric cast a protection spell on the families. As you can guess, it hasn’t proven very effective thus far. By the time we know it all the children will be gone from this village and those who don’t care now won't care then, either.”

“If you wish for a different outcome,” I said, leaning closer to Regan, “then give me a hint, something more helpful than frogs and ravens.”

Regan looked around as if to check if there were any curious eyes on us.

“On the other end of the village there is a large cave, we call it the Dragon’s mouth. A necklace belonging to one of the missing children was discovered there.” Regan told me.

“Thank you,”

“If you end up going there and if something happens to you, you have no one to blame but yourself.” Regan added.

At the alderman’s behest, I went inside the meeting hall and signed the papers I was offered. Once that was done I excused myself and was headed for the Dragon’s mouth.