Book 1: Gospel: Flee Your Homeland

Book 1: Gospel

Chapter 12: Flee Your Homeland

Steelwilds, Fourth Age

Book of Roots, Ember Canticle, Leaf 27:6

“Flee your homeland, and the soil will mourn you. But the wild shall know your name. For exile is not punishment—it is pilgrimage for the soul brave enough to bleed into new ground.”

The lines of the marks left on me by Fernweh still stung, and the blood was just clotting. My shirt hung over one shoulder, and the pelicorn of the stag antler bumped my chest from where it hung on a leather string.
I walked out of the grove with new determination, but if I were to be honest with myself, I had no real idea what I was supposed to do with it.
My fingers traced the raised wounds that wound from each side of my ribs underneath my chest to the outside and finally meeting in a cross between my collarbones.

I brushed aside some low branches of duskthorn wincing as the leaves brushed the markings. My mind flashed back to what had happened.

Nairos the Black Stag stood witness as I knelt before my grandfather, Fernweh, the man who rediscovered magic and began the path to free us from the clutches of a curse that was ages in the making.
He had just finished sharpening his pocket knife and stood before me.

“ Are you ready, Ezekiel?” He said the knife point a mere hair’s breadth away from my skin. “ This decision is going to take you on a path that will place you in opposition to everything you have ever known. Family, friends, your religion, and maybe even yourself.”
I looked at him and breathed deeply, “ I am ready, Grandpa.”
I looked at his own bare chest, mottled with scars and spots and how it too bore the marks of antlers except his were filled in with golden ink.

He conjured a small tea set out thin air. I blinked, “ How did you do that?”
Fernweh smiled as he poured me a cup of tea, “ Well, son, I’m dead not done. Just because my body has passed back to creation, it doesn’t mean that I cannot still enforce dominion over it.”
He handed me the cup and poured himself some as well, “ Besides, I made this cup as part of my Trials of Balance. It’s as much a part of me as my pocket knife, my staff, my scimitar. Which I see you still carry on your person. Tell me does it still produce the fire foxes?”

I took a sip and smiled. The mixture of herbs reminded of the scents and tastes of breakfast at mother’s table. My eyes closed I could remember it vividly. Fernweh smiled over the lip of his cup. I noticed and set the cup down, wiping my lip.

“ I haven’t seen the foxes yet, Grandpa,” I said. My shoulders sagged a little, “ How do I know this is the right thing to do? That I am choosing the right path.”

A serious look came over him as he too set his cup down, “ The fact that you are asking that should reveal to you that this is worth pursuing. So do you still want to proceed?”

I looked at him, his body covered in scars, spots and tattoos, but I noticed the life that was lived to earn all that.
“ Yes, Grandpa, I’m ready.”

He smiled and pressed the tip into my flesh, “ Good, let’s begin.”

The early morning breeze wafted in my face as a grim moth buzzed past my ear seeking shelter from the coming dawn. Even though I walked with my shoulders hunched from the pain of the marks on my chest, inside, my spirit was white hot with the thrill of the unknown, the potential for discovery, for continuation of my lineages work, and the strange thrill of possibly being called a heretic. I came back to the real world and looked up to see Tenshi standing in the shadows of the blackwater oak.
“ Zeke!” He said as he walked down towards me, “ You were in there a while. That must mean you either got a really good nap and made me wait all night like a fool, or you saw something.”

I looked up into his eyes, as his traced the antlers etched into my chest, “ I saw him. The Black Stag Nairos of the Silverlight Falls….”
I paused not knowing how to tell the man I had seen his own father as a spirit. I decided for the truth, “ I saw him, Tenshi. I saw Grandpa Fernweh! He is the one who marked me.”

Tenshi paused for a bit then noticed the pelicorn hanging around my neck, “ You made a pact?”

He howled and laughed and clapped me hard on the shoulder, “ Creator’s light, it feels so good to hear the Old Ways again!”
He turned and faced me placing both hands on my shoulders.

“ In time we will have to see what role you will fulfill,” he grinned “ Ranger or Druid. My bet is Ranger.”

I looked at him quizzically as we stared walking again. I idly plucked a stem of sweet everlasting and chewed on the syrupy sap inside, “ Why only two choices, Uncle? Besides, wouldn’t you say I’m already a soldier? Wouldn’t that be my role?”

He chuckled and plucked a stem for himself, “ There are only two because in the eyes of the Creator there have only ever been two roles: the caretaker or Druid and the protector or Ranger. You see this in his natural laws around his Creations. Though set at times one may be called for the other.”

The stables behind the inn loomed on the horizon. Every now and then a Gloamling would skitter by us on their various errands.
I could hear the grunts and bugles of the mirestags as they waited on the stable boy to bring their grain.

I looked at Tenshi, “ I think.”
I paused. A warrior missionary was everything I had been bred and trained to be. The idea of leaving that behind for something else felt terrifying.
I stretched as we entered the back gate grimacing as the wounds cracked open fresh, “ I want to follow in Grandpa Fernweh’s footsteps. I want to see the spirits and all those other beings he spoke of.”
I turned again to Tenshi, one hand in my pocket on Fernweh’s pocket knife, and the other on the pelicorn, “ And maybe even one day meet the Creator face to face.”

Tenshi smiled and said, “ That is good. He would be proud.”

We walked through the rear courtyard and were greeted by my wife and Aggie. Izzy gasped and walked up to me.
“ Zeke!” She said as she tenderly ran her fingertips over the cuts , “ What the hell happened to you?”

Aggie’s eyes flicked between me and Tenshi, “ Aye, wot did happen to the man, Tenshi? What sort of heresy are ye dragging’ his soul through now?”

I took up Itza’s hands in my own and looked deep into her eyes, “ Love, I saw them! I saw the spirits! Or rather THE spirit. The one who Grandma and Grandpa met in the Silverlight Falls. I even saw him, Izzy.”

She looked at me like I was a madman, “ Who, Ezekiel? The spirit?”

I shook my head, “ No, Fernweh. I saw Fernweh.”

Her eyes grew wide, and she was about to speak when Aggie interrupted us, “ Mister Ezekiel! You are a missionary of the Creator, surely you must know that consorting with anything outside of the Creator is wicked and not allowed.”

I looked at her the awe and excitement of what I had seen bubbling up, “ How can it be heresy when I saw the very spirit of the man who is responsible for the very religion you follow today?”

Her eyes flashed in anger and the brogue slipped from her voice, “ How dare you elevate the creation above the Creator? If it was images of His light that you saw I would be ecstatic and call this a miracle. Instead you rave about Silverlight Spirits and dead saints and come dripping blood from some vile masochistic ritual.”

She turned to Itza, “ My dear I am afraid that for the sake of the Godspark bead and child, I must implore you to come with me to the Cathedral at Thornmarch. Your husband must be sent to the Wombweavers and be cured of his apostasy or for the sake of your souls, you cannot see him again.”

She took Itza’s hand, “ Please think of the soul of your child and yours. Do you really wish him to be influenced by these talks?”

Tenshi firmly but politely took Aggie’s hand off of Itza’s, “ Aggie, dear, please do not force anyone to make a decision by threatening engagement of souls. Especially those who cannot speak for themselves.”

He opened up the front of his shirt, “ Besides, you forget that I too have seen and spoken with spirits. Aelen the White Stag of Brackenreach to be truthful.”

Aggie snatched her hand away, “ I knew it. Deep down I knew it, Tenshi Flame-Tail. I knew you were still locked in those ugly dirty Druidic customs still. I thought I could change you. With enough prayer and time.”

I stepped between her and my family, “ Be careful how you speak to one of the Nine, Agatha Flame-Tail. You forget who watches over the church from the Tower in the Grovelands. Who commands and grows the Treestride. Once again the family who created the church you now revere.”

Agatha coughed and took a step back smoothing out her mission robes, “ Well, I see that apparently Dark Hollow isn’t the only thing that is need of redemption around here. Good thing that I’ve already taken some precautions to ensure the safety of one of the Creator’s most valuable assets.”

Tenshi’s eyes grew wide, “ Agatha… What did you do?”

A horn blew off in the distance. A slow smile began to creep across the woman’s face as she crossed her arms, “ I took a stand for the Creator and His will, and the Church says that any miracle of the Light belongs to his chosen. I am making sure that happens. Whether or not your are with me, husband.”

Tenshi turned towards Itza and I, “ She’s called for the Thornmarch. You have to leave and leave now.”

Agatha reached for Itza’s arm but Tenshi grabbed it and pushed her away, “ You are aiding this heretic in kidnapping a miracle? I would’ve never thought that I’d see you stoop this far in the muck. Just wait until Baron Yrthwylde hears this. You will be dragged in chains to the Synod.”

Tenshi snarled, “ So be it. Zeke, Itza go now head south of here to start. Once you leave the gate, shift, and stay in that form until either Yoru or I find you. He has your daughters. They are safe.”

Another horn blew. This time it was closer.

“ Go!” He said pushing us back towards the gate, “ Hurry!”

I grabbed Itza’s hand, and we bolted out the back gate. Once we reached the treeline, we paused for a second looking back towards the inn. Banners flew around it bearing the Thorned Circle of the Barony of Thornmarch.
Itza looked at me and squeezed my hand, “ Whatever this path leads us towards, I am with you until the end.”

Our bones contracted becoming smaller and denser as our bodies shrunk then double over. Our skin itched as fur sprouted the length of our bodies. The base of my spine burned as my tails sprouted.

Scents became brighter. Colors shifted to become less vibrant. Sounds louder and almost achingly clear. This is the first time I had shifted in years, and it showed. Itza had completely shifted for nearly ten minutes by the time I had turned into my full fox form.

I pointed my nose southward and sniffed. The coast was clear. We began to run.

Book of Saint Fernweh, Purity Edicts, Canon V, Verse 13

“Those who stray from the Circle must be called back with fire. For mercy is only mercy when it scorches the unclean and leaves the faithful unburned.”