The Lilliad 32

After spending all that time going up, Lilli was dismayed to be heading down. Inside the mountain temple, the air was surprisingly dry and cool. It felt much better than outside. There was that.

Lilli jumped, whipping around to look behind her.

Nothing.

She slowly lowered her dagger, and avoided Arelt’s eyes as he did the same. “Thought I heard something,” she mumbled.

The guard patted her shoulder. It felt warm and paternal. “Don’t mind it,” he said kindly. “You might have heard rocks falling, or air movement, any little thing. It’s better to overreact than underreact.”

She bit her lip and nodded.

The inside of the temple was familiar. It mirrored the temples she had known all of her life. There was a well, where worshippers would draw water to carry inside as an offering and for cleansing. There were multiple tracks of hallways, for worshippers to separate according to age and social status. The arches above head grew gradually larger to convey a sense of grandness as they approached the inner sanctum.

She half expected to see a priest waiting patiently in the antechamber. There was a stone alcove that ought to have had incense, and the suggestion of what had been a bench before time rotted it away.

“I hate this,” Lilli breathed.

The anticipation was terrible.

Clap.

She jumped at the sound.

Benk was standing with his hands together, face upraised. He gave her a guilty look after a moment. “Can’t come and not pray,” he said in an undertone. “This is the patron of travelers.”

Lilli looked back up at the stone figure, bowed head covered in a wide hat to protect from the elements. It had a staff- a walking stick?

“Oh,” she said. “I see.” Lilli frowned, then she sheathed her own dagger to take her turn greeting the god.

She heard an irritated hiss from someone, but didn’t look to see if it was Arelt or Ser Alcuin.

When she bent her head, a wave of peace washed over her. She felt a connection to the whole sanctuary: and it was a sanctuary. No evil had touched the inside.

‘God,’ she thought. ‘Thank you for sheltering us. Thank you for feeding us and housing us, in the city, and for protecting us on the road.’

She opened her eyes and stepped back. The statue was glowing slightly blue. White light crept out of the eyes, giving the impression the God was actually waking up.

Arelt yelled and backtracked. Ser Alcuin was staring intensely, eyes shining in the darkness.

Lilli gave them an odd look and clapped to end her prayer. The light cut off, as it always did.

“I don’t think anyone else is in here,” Lilli announced. “That thing is outside. It just wants in.”

“...I didn’t know you were religious,” Ser Alcuin said, guarded.

She shrugged. “No more than anyone else,” Lilli dismissed.

Benk huffed. “So we came in here for nothing?” He asked, businesslike. “We need to go look around the mountainside some more?”