Chương 37: 36. Pentagon

Soldiers cheered as Tavian and Valliroth headed for the gate. Tavian had to prevent all of them from coming with them, making them stay behind to defend the gate. He added two more men to their group, making six in total: A complete Fist. Not enough to defend the temple, but when added to the Half Squad Braun had with him, enough to perform an extraction. Valliroth beamed as Tavain joined him.

"I knew you'd support me!" he declared. Tavian felt a sinking feeling in his gut, but Braun had to be rescued. Alisa watched them nervously.

"Shouldn't you bring more men?" she asked, and when nobody answered her, muttered "Please come back." The streets were clear between the fortress and the temple. Any sensible citizens of Tar Corinath were still sheltering inside, and all of Anarvia's attention seemed to be focused on House Tiren at the moment. Tavian and Valliroth lead their men from cover to cover, hoping to get as close to the temple compound as possible before the ghouls detected them.

If they couldn't get close enough to one of the side gates to slip inside, they might be forced to turn back. Much of the temple grounds were already overrun. The sacred gardens of rare agriculture had been trampled; a shame because many of those plants were rich with Essence. A wall separating the living quarters of House Tiren and the priests of the temple appeared to hold. The main door of the temple was destroyed, but the ghouls didn't seem to have broken through the antechamber.

Smoke still curled up from the entrance, blackening white stone and stained glass. Another wall wrapped around the backside of the temple; only the front of the structure was exposed. Hundreds of ghouls milled around there, and small packs of them roved around the wall, searching for an opening. Many of the ghouls appeared to be recently deceased Anarvian men, but more of them were skeletal creatures that may have been dead for much longer. Tavian mapped out their escape route in his mind.

If they couldn't make it back this way… but no, it wasn't worth the risk of going back into the dungeon without a guide. Valliroth directed them toward a small portal in the wall. Fifty meters of open space separated them from the opening. Tiren banners snapped in the morning breeze; a silver pentagon on a black background.

"Ready?" Tavian said.

"Go!" They ran across the ground. When they were half way across the open stretch, ghouls spotted them and howled. A pack of undead sprinted to intercept Tavian and his men. Both forces reached the door in the wall at the same time. Tavian's men linked shields and fell into a wedge, shielding each other as they hacked down the undead. They formed a semicircular defense, protecting the gate. Undead bodies flopped to the ground; immobilized once their heads were removed.

The sounds of fighting attracted more enemies, though, and ghouls were coming faster than they were being dispatched. Valliroth pounded on the door, shouting at the priests within to grant them access. They would be overrun if they couldn't get through. The door opened, and a pair of gray-clad priests admitted them, leaping out and battering down ghouls with their maces as Tavian and his soldiers entered the compound. The priests dropped back into the temple, and slammed the gate closed.

Furious screeches and loud battering on the door showed the ghouls' frustration.

"Where is my brother?" Tavian demanded. One of the priests, bald head shining in the sunlight, pointed toward the temple. The temple dome reminded Tavian of the bald-headed priests. He headed toward it, pushing past a stream of priests carrying things out of the temple, taking them deeper into the compound. Many of the relics they held could produce dense yields of Essence if [Extracted]. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Tavian realized with a pang that the priests were still trying to preserve their history. Lord Anarvia was going to overrun these grounds and sift everything for Essence, if they couldn't stop the ghouls. He stepped into the huge interior of the temple. One massive room opened up before him, capped by the huge dome. An oculus overhead let in a shaft of midmorning light, which shone on the far wall.

In the center of the room stood the tomb of Kusa; a massive pentagonal structure dedicated to the life and works of the priestess, one of Ishtoran's original disciples. Within the mausoleum her bones still rested in a stone sarcophagus. Tavian had seen them, once, when they'd held a special celebration to honor 400 years since her death. Even Kusa's famous griffin rider cloak was folded up and stored beside her body.

At that time the priests had opened up the sepulcher, and even lifted the dusty lid of the sarcophagus. Tavian had been nine at the time, and was surprised by how intact the 400 year old bones had seemed. They had honored Kusa for many weeks, celebrating her achievements, and even reconstructing calcuations of the world hexgrid. Tavian would never forget that the surface of any sphere could be tiled with hexagons, so long as twelve pentagons were included in the pattern.

Kusa had helped Ishtoran create the hexagonal world grid, riding on a griffin to the Corinath Isles to place one of the twelve pentagonal grid anchor points. The situation now created a strange contrast with the reverence of the celebration. Ghouls pounding on the doors, men shouting and dying as priests looted the temple. Tavian couldn't help for stop for a split second as he neared the sepulcher. Kusa's crypt was supposed to be centered on one of the twelve pentagons of the world hexgrid.

Tavian activate his Hexsight Perk, and the world grid of hexagons was outlined in his vision. To his surprise, and his consternation, he discovered that the monument was badly misplaced. It wasn't even inside the true grid pentagon, but was inside a nearby hextile. The ancient craftsman must not have placed it right, hundreds of years ago when they built it. Or they misplaced it on purpose? Either that, or the temple had moved, but Tavian found that idea unlikely.

How could the sepulcher be off by more than a dozen meters? Tavian scanned the chaos, searching for his brother, but didn't see him." Lea, are you seeing this? Is it a problem that the sepulcher is not on the pentagon?"" That doesn't look right to me,"Lea said." I would have guessed the sepulcher would be the anchor point. I guess that it could be something else, underground…" Tavian couldn't be the only person to have noticed this. The coresmiths certainly would know about it, but they must have kept it a secret.

He wondered if Lady Tiren knew. The temple was chaotic. Smoke trickled in through the antechamber doors and swirled up along the curve of the dome, staining the frescos and escaping through the oculus. Priests braced the doors as ghouls hammered at them. More priests and priestesses were gathering relics and valuable ornaments, hauling them out of the temple in search of somewhere safer. Tavian noted grimly that not all of the salvage had historical value. Some of it was simply expensive.

Lady Tiren stood in the midst of the chaos, directing the evacuation. Her daughter, Anella, stood beside her, as did the elderly high priest of the temple. Anella looked frightened, but drew courage from her mother. Lady Tiren stood confidently in the middle of the chaos, utterly unphased by the fighting. As the patron House of Ishtoran, Lady Tiren was responsible for the physical needs of the priests.

This certainly qualified, and Lady Tiren's small but loyal force of men-at-arms were dispersed through the temple desperately leading the fighting. Anella kept glancing toward the front doors. When Tavian followed her gaze, a splash of green against the gray defending the doors caught his attention. He strode with his men to where Braun shouted commands, coordinating the defenses at the front doors. A few silver Tiren men-at-arms mingled with the gray of the priests and monks. Tavian crossed the large room.

As he passed the sepulcher, his wound throbbed with a kind of resonance. He glanced at the ornate structure, then pressed on to find Braun. Tavian grabbed his brother, startling him.

"You can't hold the temple!" he shouted over the chaos.

"There are too many ghouls out there."

"Tavian?" Braun blinked and looked again. He looked relieved, and, seeing the anger in Tavian's face, he said, "I know, I'm sorr—""We'll deal with it later," Tavian said.

"We have more urgent priorities at the moment." He looked back to where Valliroth was being embraced by his mother.

"Understood," Braun said, wiping his brow.

"We need holes plugged. More men to carry in bracing timbers..." He gestured tiredly, and Tavian guessed that he hadn't slept all night.

"No, Braun," Tavian said.

"You don't understand. Gather your men. I came to get you out of here! Get Anella, whoever else, and let's go before it's impossible to escape." Braun frowned.

"They're not going to go for that," he said.

"They… they're convinced that Ishtoran will save them if they don't waver."

"They're all going to die," Tavian protested. Braun looked miserable.

"Anella won't leave," he said.

"She'll never abandon her mother." Braun turned to Tavian, serious.

"And Tavian. I won't leave her." Tavian looked back to where Lady Tiren and Anella were greeting Valliroth. They hugged him, and he drew his sword, gesturing as if to ask where he was needed most.