Chương 348: 7.4

Leo Haeborne stood guard in front of his liege lady's tent side by side with the count consort himself. The man was dressed fully in heavier, bulkier armour then he'd ever seen before. Still flexible, still allowing the noble's figure to move with a supple grace you'd not expect from so much black steel. But there were no open portions of flowing red cloth now.

Leo for his part had been forced into an ill fitted leather covering of some kind with an underlayer of wool cloth that despite its bulk and weight left his skin cool and dry counter to his attempts to sweat in a panic. He had no idea how to wear even this armor as effortlessly as the Countess' husband. He didn't know how to hold or wield a sword like the Count Consort either. Leo was a priest, a decent worker of medicine and a skilled diviner. He was not a warrior. But here he was. Standing guard.

He'd been awakened by the bellowing call to arms of the Countess. He'd stirred in a panic and then tried to find her, to take up his position in case there might be some divine action called for in what he'd thought was a bandit ambush or maybe some beastly attack. He'd not eaten as indulgently as some that evening, and for that he was thankful.

However he was still too slow to catch the Countess before she tore off into the night towards what he now could hear were the desperate cries of panicked men and women and chilling sharp shrieks that left his blood chilled in his veins. That's how he'd been found by his 'student'. Gem showed the commendable spirit of her line and shouted him into action and marched Leo to join Paul at the Countess' tent, and most importantly according to her, to guard the clutch of her three unhatched siblings.

Which was almost as absurd as the protection she'd thrown at him to put on over his nightwear. What was Leo supposed to do?! Well now here he was, tensely standing in the night, trying to catch sight of whatever horrors were in the dark. Torches slowly flaring to life all through the encampment as the entire soldiery of the Countess of Viznove was rallied and formed up into patrols of the camp. Occasionally a messenger would run up to Paul to inform him of the goings on and activities of the camp.

Sometimes that messenger was the Nurse Knight Smithson. But their words were always in a clipped rush that fell out of Leo's head almost as soon as he heard them. It was too late and he was too distracted. The tension in the air, the sound of screams and monstrous terrifying wailing in the distance. It just continued. There were flares of divine light in the night, arcing flares swirling into the heavens. A sure sign of some contract with the gods, possibly being broken or perhaps invoked wastefully?

That was a very bad omen. If this was bandits they almost certainly were working with a rogue diviner. Some escaped apprentice at a guess, learned enough to be terribly dangerous but not experienced enough to know how horrifically this sort of behavior would eventually end. Likely they had called interventions and miracles to fashion god beasts into the service of the outlaws. It would explain the screaming inhuman calls.

If Leo had to guess the constructs or starborne things were poorly controlled and overly violent. Worrying. The possibilities there were dire indeed. He tried to focus, to not let his nightmares fill his heart. Then over the horizon a blinding white light. It left his eyes stinging and remained in his vision with a searing red-green mark tracing the intervening tents and posts. The sound of thunder washed over him almost immediately after.

Leo struggled to clear his eyes by rubbing furiously, the Count Consort beside him shifted and breathed in sharply." Wyrmdoom?! it... it must be dire if she's using-" Even with his eyes clenched shut, even trying to rub out the seared in spots from having seen it before he could practically feel on his skin the next three sharp and sudden flashes of that same searing white light. The Countess' husband hissed in horror." Stars above, what is going on over there?!"

Then there were two, three, four more flashes on his skin, stuttering sharp bursts one after another. Intermittent and random pauses between. Leo risked squinting into the black, feeling like he'd been dropped into a cave or a lake of ink for how dark the rest of the night, even lit by torches and clear skies now seemed. Beside him the consort continued to gape.

"I... I've never seen, nor heard, not even during the war did she need to use so many -" Definitely some kind of heaven made horror then. The Count Consort was shaken, by tone alone Leo guessed he must be going pale but he had no way to confirm with his eyes still so blinded. The rest of the actions in the distance were impossible to miss. The flares of white 'wyrm doom' from the Countess continued to spear out and burst in the distance.

Sometimes into the air, sometimes in wide bulbous flashes obscured by intervening tents, other times searing down from above. His vision was too blurry to resolve if it was even possible to see the countess amidst the flashes. He was tearing at the eyes from it, even glimpsing them through his lashes. The percussive and deep booms, like thunder from far FAR too close! The flashes like the divine strikes of lightning but far too wide and encompassing.

The same piercing white but smeared like a brush somehow painting over the world in flowing strokes of oblivion. Leo nearly leaped from his own skin and had to clutch his chest in a panic when a far louder and too close burst of sound struck from directly in front of them. The Count Consort jumped, sword at the ready before recognition stilled his blade. Even through blurry half blinded and squinting eyes Leo recognized the figure.

The Court Wizard of the High King himself, the highest ranked Wizard in all the realm, was facing him intently." You, the Countess' god minder? Are you learned in the ways of Asherah?" Instinct and instruction took over his tongue where all sense and thought failed him. Leo recited what he had read and been drilled on for years as an apprentice. Calling up what he could know by name alone.

"Asherah, a mother goddess, she who walks the sea, an obscure option to call on for protection of a woman suffering complications in pregnancy if no wise woman is available. Also feasible for a ritual of safe passage for river barges or-" The man silenced Leo by shoving a metal object into his right hand. Some kind of talisman? An instrument? It was wrought dark metal with a length of straight textured length just tall enough for Leo to grip one handed.

There were two hoops at the top, ending in a vaguely leaf-like shape. At the bottom below where his fingers gripped it there were three prongs that ended in rounded bulbs.

"This is her symbol of authority, hold it before you and call upon her protection. The compact has already been made by a sanctified and sacred priest of her temple. Use it in defense of the Countess' family. I am needed elsewhere in the camp if we want to minimize losses." And then in a crash of steel on steel and another if less blinding flash the Wizard was gone and Leo was left gripping the symbol of a god he barely knew like it was a shield. Actually... protection... symbol of authority.

Leo clenched down on the terror that threatened to overcome him! Then it truly was a rogue diviner! And whatever horrific miracles he had called upon? He took heavy steadying breaths. He could not let his fear overwhelm him, he needed a clear mind. Desperately he spoke to the Count Consort, to anyone, something to draw his attention away from what he had just been asked to do. Protection, a symbol of authority.

That meant that whatever they were facing was something beholden to a mother goddess associated with water? Not a lot to go on.

"My lord count, keep your eyes on the dark and away from the lights and listen closely, the countess and her men face godbeasts and if we are very unlucky starborne called down for wroth by the truly depraved." He said the words even as he heard how the grip tightened and then loosened on the Count's sword. It was what his role as advisor in the divine called for. It helped him ground himself. Then the fool man opened his mouth.

"I have a blessing against harm by acts against me in battle." Leo bit his lip to keep it from drawing more fear into his heart. That just made the situation worse! Overconfident fools assured in their blessing often fell faster than unaided but cautious men. Wait, no! He needed clarity and a mind without fear! Leo focused on breathing smoothly and evenly, he turned inward as he held the symbol of Asherah aloft and forward, presenting it so that its distinctive features were as clear and visible as possible.

Any creature of hers would have nothing keeping them from recognizing the symbol if he could help it. Also held well away from his body and gripped in his left hand just in case a divine intervention ignited the metal. Steadily, speaking to calm himself and hopefully forestall disaster Leo advised." Do not depend on it, in matters of one divinity against another they can clash unpredictably. Furthermore, depending on the word of the blessing, what we may face tonight could fail to qualify for your protections."

Asherah, Asherah, Ashrerah just what horrible star wrought did Leo know of that could have been called into being by some idiot of an apprentice that might serve the needs of brigands? Stolen story; please report. What could possibly be out there shrieking like that which would be beholden to a mother goddess? They were not near any large body of water, so unless it was something so far beyond anything a mere symbol could stall and protect against that was not the cause of the danger.

But that left Leo with only the dubious dominions of motherhood and what kind of monsters that could possibly entail? Ugh he was a man! He wasn't supposed to even be involved in rituals of childbirth or their gods! Maybe an invocation of Pazuzu or Lamashtu placed upon an idol or beast? Some mother guardian invocation twisted into a weapon of violence? Possible and very terrible if true but likely not that fast. Yes, that could make sense.

A mis-used guardian beast could be called for and directed easily by the right situation. It's simple if crude to direct. It could also fit with the nature of the brigand's diviner. If she was a mother who had suffered a stillbirth? Or some other matter that lost her a child? Yes that kind of grief would make calling a great number of normally rare beasts and sending them into a frenzied attack simpler.

It also would mean that Leo had an avenue to not only use the symbol bequeathed him but empower and extend its reach. Especially with his placement as a guardian for the Countess' own child and her clutch. Leo Haeborne took the first easy breath since he had been jolted awake that night. This was a ritual that he could perform, a power he understood. A mechanism he could fashion and hold clearly in his mind's eye to direct to a problem he could safely intervene against.

A precision that was the bare minimum for invoking a ritual. Something he could do to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt his worth to the Countess. He opened his eyes and then turned them up to the heavens, unfocused, without direct or specific intent. He did not know which star or stars were claimed by this particular Mother Goddess. He could make a guess at the zodiac she would likely reside in but such a mistake was more risk then the clearer direction gained.

No Leo let his eyes and mind grasp and take in all the sky and all the heavens. His lips found the words to speak and more importantly the place in his heart to feel what was called for. He shaped the ritual in his mind before a single word was spoken, before he had even a complete thought to begin. He drew up his memory of the three times he had attended a childbirth to work the warding beside the wisewomen or make a clear and precise opening for a pre chosen family divinity.

He built within himself and felt and stared into the divinity above. holding the symbol of her office out to the screaming darkness of the Night. Then he breathed. Only then when he had found the stillness, the assurance, the pristine and exact surety and had chosen the steps beforehand did Leo Haeborne open his heart to what he was seeing and who he would call." Asherah, Mother who walks upon the waters, guardian of children, protector of birth.

I hold your symbol of power and beseech you for your care and safety this dark night, for those not yet born and those yet to come into the fullness of their lives need your aid." He could see the interest in the sky, the stars shifting in their luminance- There! That one shone brighter! He did not know it to be hers but it was steady when he spoke her name. And more importantly when he stated his desired invocation it grew in prominence to his eye."

Asherah, Asherah, Asherah, I call upon you and the compact that was made in this your symbol by those you made sacred." He didn't know the god but for the scant brief he had read. Nor did he deeply recognize her name and thus did not know the proper tongue to address her in or the exact rhythm of the words to offer her. But he already had a sanctified artifact imbued to her. At least Leo would direly hope the Wizard had been telling the truth, otherwise this would all go- Calm. Do not dwell on fear or the future.

Only the now and the act he would call for. Yes, that particular star flared with each calling of her name and shone even stronger when he invoked the compact that was already present upon the metal in his hand. This would work. There were monsters out in the dark. But he had an idea of how to protect from them. Now to make certain that he had the right thrust of the arrangement they found themselves in." Asherah, those called by your will are-" Oh, no! Nonono! He'd made a mistake! He had it the wrong way around!

The star dimmed, not just dimmed, it sunk away to his eye, it glowered down upon him from a rapidly growing distance! The symbol in his hands began to feel uncomfortably warm! It wasn't misused child guardians out there in the dark! Calm, he had to remain calm, he had to keep his breath steady and his heart beat even. Don't even think about what could happen from this. Only correct, adjust, apologize." Pardons! I beg pardon Asharah!

I am but mortal and blind, pardon me please and give me the mercy and benevolence you hold for all your children." Leo did not hope this would work. He focused with sweat on his brow on only how it would. Not a single thought did he dare let drift towards how he could have just failed. He only stared without blinking at Asherah's star, keeping his breath steady. In and Out. In and- He exhaled in relief and gratitude. The star was shining brighter."

Thank you Asherah for your Forgiveness, but I still call upon you-" The light was steady, it was sinking into his eyes, filling him up in that way familiar to any diviner. He just had to keep his vision of this ritual clear. His words concise, his mind exact. An intervention was close, a miracle. The touch of the heavens on earth. He just had to use the price already paid and not even a whiff more."

-those touched by your grace-" The light in his eyes grew stronger, the white shine blinding him, taking on hints of warmth, his thoughts trying to drift to memories of a presence, a person, some one he had no memory of. Then settling on something he'd felt before. The smell of the straw that he had been left in as a child. He was on the right track! So it was some kind of blessing?! Horrors above and below what kind of blessing could make something that sounded like that wailing?

Leo very solidly did not let that thought complete." -besiege us, I call upon you to grant your protection so empowered in your idol, to make safe this home. For this night." It was a stretch but what was a shelter one kept their own children safe in but a home to a mother goddess? And the single night contingency was always a good bet. Never ask for more than you precisely need if possible. Paired with his focused vision it was also best to stay as simple and direct as possible. Ah! There it was! That rush!

That sudden unfathomable presence! Every god felt different, distinct, all encompassing and yet narrow. But the exact moment when a ritual became a miracle? Leo always thought it felt like a key catching in a latch inside him and then finally clicking home. The heavens were around him and within him. Asherah felt warm, encompassing, familiar. That was how mother goddesses always were for Leo. For him in particular they also always smelled intensely of straw. But that was the only clear memory for him of a mother.

Otherwise maternal divinity was vague in his soul, with a wordless voice that was somehow a great deal like the Keeper Bitta while also simultaneously like all of the matrons that taught him as a child. He rode that feeling but offered nothing more of himself to it. Just the order and plan he had already set in motion. No distraction. No deviation. No extra blessing or offering. Just the one thing he wished to enact and nothing else.

It was so much harder than just the words on a page in the books he'd studied suggested. More difficult than any teacher could prepare you for. With the direct and all consuming presence of the divine coursing through you? It was always so easy to slip up. Apprentice diviners and the untrained could be lost in it and fret away a spurious wish in the moment. The unprepared could be utterly washed away. If he was a novice this moment would be perilous beyond all reason.

The gods chosen for a first contact to prospective disciples and the rituals they first invoke were practiced and vetted by generations of trial. Every word, every thought known and tested beforehand. But even so some still found a way to lose themselves despite the rigor and safeties afforded. An impromptu ritual? Unsanctioned? Untested? With a divinity he barely knew the specifics of? Horrors were made of such from inexperienced diviners. But Leo was not a novice!

Young he might be, but he was trained and honed and perhaps just a bit more practiced then he should be in improvisation. He could do this! He would do this! Leo laughed as the light of the Ashurah's passing filled him and then finally moved on. Spread out behind and before him. Filling a circle around the Countess' Tent and the idol in his hand. He was still smiling with the symbol held in front of him. Opening his eyes to see it was glowing brilliant white in his hand and yet not blinding at all.

He could feel as much as see the faint shine of a warm hearth's glow on the tent behind him. A home made safe. The Count Consort spared him a glance before turning back into the darkness.

"So then Priest Leo? Are the heavens now with us?" The giddiness of the goddess' passing through him left his lips far looser than Leo wanted. He couldn't stop himself from belting out his words with a chortle.

"As a priest I can tell you truly, that's the worst part about the gods my lord!" He was drunk on the heavens but as always happened he couldn't stop himself now. Leo turned out into the dark and with the presence of the goddess still hot behind his eyes he could see the barrier behind him but also out there before him, like knowing like. Miracles were being called home to the heavens out there.

The divinity having been cut out of the world presumably by the lashing spears of a Wyrm's fire but also the violence of Viznove's warriors and whatever it was that wizard was doing. Free and broken miracles spilling up in the night. So clear to him now drunk on the star's touch inside him. They were being called back to Asherah's Star of course! Leo could see the touch of the mother goddess out there in the dark, a teeming mass of her presence. Hundreds of beings touched by her will.

He could hear her in their horrific tormented and hungry voices. And he saw they were moving. All coming right towards Leo and Paul and the Countess' Tent. Oh that was not good. Despite it Leo giggled manically even as he started to shake. Finally with the divinity no longer staring down upon him eager to hear his prayer Leo could let the doubt and fear rise up. And if he was not floating on the presence slowly seeping off him like smoke he would be drowning in it. Leo may have made another mistake.

But so full of life he was it was just impossible to stop grinning." The heavens are always with us." Hopefully the protection he had bargained for would hold. His cheeks were starting to ache.