The next morning, Edmund said farewell to his daughters. The twins hung on to him sobbing even as the caretaker pulled them away. After a reassuring kiss on their foreheads, they left 13th Sternen Road. They walked along the street circling the spire high above the city, the other skyshattering towers casting shades on the smog-filled streets of the Lows.
Astrid was dragging along a bag twice her size. Wretch walked behind with just a suitcase in hand. Round hat pushed down and sunglasses over his eyes.“I have never been to the train station,” Wretch said.
“You’ll like it, though we should stop by one of the Saints’ churches before leaving.” Edmund said.
“Didn’t take you for the religious type, Captain.” Elenya said. each of her steps clattering with the metal weapons in her pack.
“My wife liked to do it before leaving the city.” Edmund said.Wretch knew what was out there beyond the wall. A scattered few strongholds connected by rail. Each desperately clinging to life in a wilderness that wanted them dead. “What’s that on your neck?” Elenya said, squinting her eyes and leaning over to peer down his collar.
He gave a toothy smile, “That’s my new skin. It doesn’t feel as good, but it’s a lot thicker.”
“Is that from that crab-eel thing we fought?” Elenya said with a pondering expression.
Wretch shrugged his shoulders. “It is.”
“Well, aren’t you working hard but don’t hold that nose too high, I’ll be a fireling in no time.” Through the conversation, Astrid was huffing and puffing under her massive backpack, struggling to keep pace.
They walked along the walkways and bridges between the spires. The dizzying heights revealing miles of the city below when the smoke-clouds from the industries didn’t blind them.
Wretch let his thoughts drift.
Ember, Fireling, Blaze.Then somewhere above, Pyre. Like one of the monsters in my book.
A gust of wind pulled at his hat, breaking his line of thought.“Isn’t it kind of strange how little knowledge there is about being Blessed and how it all works?” Wretch said. “We don’t even know more than the first tiers?”
“Maybe no one knows how it works?” Elenya said.
“Or it’s kept a secret for good reason!” Edmund answered
Wretch held on to his hat.“When my flame gets too low it starts whispering, Is that the flame speaking.” Wretch trailed his eyes over the railing to the Lows down beneath. “And why did it choose me?”
“Dont listen to it,” Edmund said with a nod. “I’ve seen a man drain it all. He screamed until his vocal cords split.”
Elenya turned to Astrid. legs trembling over the walkway. “Alright lill scholar, you have suffered enough.” She put a hand on Astrid’s shoulder and slung the oversized pack onto her broad back. In the hands of the red-haired warrior, it looked to weigh nothing.“Thanks,” Astrid said with a heavy breath. “Actually, I have a theory about that.”
“Of course you do…” Elenya mumbled.
“Well, I was always a great cultivator up in the Emerald Spire. The one that grows crops and food. You can recognize it from all the glass and greenery. My powers kind of reflect that. So what did you excel at, Wretch the Rat-Eater?” Astrid asked.
“That’s not my name anymore, but I guess surviving, climbing and… crawling through tight pipes,” Wretch said with a shudder.
“See, that fits.” Astrid said, pulling her coat tight. “How about you Edmund the selfless?”
“I am a good leader. Perhaps I have a tendency to put myself second, though.” He said with a smile.
“So It seems if you are talented or become specialized at something you may become blessed,” Astrid said. “The chance increases if your life’s on the line, but it’s not mandatory. I became Blessed after making a rare orchid bloom in captivity. The first recorded domestication of the plant.”
Wretch and Edmund nodded as a carriage sped by. “Wait, what about me?” Elenya said.
The trio looked at her in silence. They stepped off the walkway onto a curved road, spiraling down a minor spire.
“What?” Elenya said with a glare.
“Elenya…” Wretch said, reaching up to pat her on the shoulder. “I have seen you do things that would make a serial killer blush. We all know what you are good at.”
She looked down at him with squinted eyes, and her white cheeks took on a hint of red. “You become a fireling, carry sunglasses and suddenly you’re hot stuff huh? Little guy, you better show off those powers or I am throwing you down the spires, for real this time.”
Wretch just flashed her a toothy grin.
They approached a pair of stairs leading up to an imposing stone church, crammed between churning industries and housing. Soot and pollution stained the reliefs, each depicting the Saint or martyrs of ages past.
“Thank you for the insight, Astrid,” Edmund said, casting a glance at Wretch and Elenya as they ascended the rough, blocky steps. “Now you two, be on your best behavior. No bickering, cursing, chasing, climbing or biting, understood?”
“Yes, Captain” They sighed in unison.
They walked up to an open gate. Above it, a round window of painted glass displayed a four winged woman in white. Her eyes covered.The Saint has never helped me before.Maybe she prefers the strong?
He had memories of being in a church with his mother, muddled recalls of benches in rows and a booming voice, praising something he didn’t understand. All while a hunger gnawed at his stomach. He hadn’t entered one since.
Second time for everything. Keep going forward or someone will use you to move forward themselves.
They entered the church. It was early morning and there were just a handful of visitors in a chamber that could fit hundreds. A path of white stone split long rows of wooden benches, leading up to an alabaster statue. The stone depicted a woman with four wings unevenly wrapped around her thin frame. She had no clothes, only feathers piercing her stone skin in patches. One wing covered her face, producing a slit for eyes trained on the entrance.The Saint was never depicted with exposed eyes, much like her servants obscured by clinging white veils.
Wretch looked at her as he followed the others up to the altar. A knot appeared in his stomach.
A veiled priest made them kneel before the statue. A rough voice betrayed his old age and unlike the statue he was round. Appearing like a half-melted candle in his white veil and robe. “Oh holy Saint, hand of flame and protector of man. Please help these hunters who will leave your perfect city for the cursed wilds beyond your walls.”
Wretch’s hair stood up. He looked up at the statue, and the statue looked down at him. “What is going on?” he thought.
The priest produced a golden inlaid bag with a metal rim. “A gift given willingly can go a long way to the cause of the church.”
“Coins chimed as each of them offered something. Wretch dropped a single pence.
Edmund took out a handful of coins and clutched them in his hand. Because he reached deep into the bag, the coins’ amount and color remained unseen as metal clinked against metal.
Edmund thanked the priest, and they walked back the way they came.
Wretch cast one last glance at the statute. It was unmoved. Yet he couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling. There was something else there, something he couldn’t see. And that something was watching them. Out of the door, Wretch drew a deep breath of polluted air, sighing in relief.
“First time in a church?” Astrid asked.
“Kind of.” Wretch answered. “I didn't like it. You felt like something was watching us?”
“I always find them serene, calm.” Astrid said with a smile as they walked down the steps to the busy street below. “Maybe the Saint gave us one last look.”
Edmund tucked his wallet deep in a pocket. “Enjoy the city while you can, folks. We are leaving it for a while.”
“Time to see what is outside this cage,” Astrid said, fidgeting with the buttons of her dress.
Time to find some Gulschaks, Wretch added in his mind.
Author note: Shorter chapter today and I apologize for that. Tomorrow's will be longer in redemption. Merry Christmas to all of you and the gift you've given me just reading and commenting on the story is a better gift than I deserve. Thank you. PS, Things are about to pop off in just a few days.