Legend of the Priestess

By: Angaril Posted on: March 03, 2004

I grew up in a small village south of Delos where a handful of migrant farmers tilled the earth to scratch out a meager existence. Very few of them were educated and those who were educated were not exactly renowned thinkers. Intellectualism held little power in that town, really the only thing that was of any importance to the farmers was how hard you worked in the fields.

Books were a rarity although the town did keep a record of its own history. The record was kept by the village elder, Sullin, the only person who could both read and write. There wasn't an enormous variety of ways you could spend what little free time you had but the best way by far, was to join in around the fire in the village plaza for the nightly story-telling. Despite our lack of education, all of us in the village loved to hear and tell stories. Sometimes the stories would be taken from the village history, other times we would hear of foreign names and places; stories that had traveled a long way to reach our little home. Most of those stories were grossly exaggerated or misinterpreted, and not a few times they were almost entirely rewritten to fit the prevailing prejudices and beliefs we had.

The only large city I remember hearing about was Hashan and the villagers spat when they spoke its name. "It's a filthy pot of refuse, filled with all manner of treacherous conjurers and perverse snakes," Sullin was fond of saying. Please understand, we were simple people, superstitious to a fault perhaps but we clung to our suspicions and traditions like grim death.

I remember being around the fire one night, Ourania's lamp hanging low in the sky, and listening to Sullin's brother spin out a story that left a deep impression on my mind. This is what I remember:

The fire was large and popping loudly as sparks intermittently sputtered forth. The whole village had turned out tonight making quite a gathering.

"Let's hear about Sullin and the time he killed the bear!" Called one voice.

"No no, I want to hear about mister Carnivalis!" Cried out one of the older children.

Gareth, Sullin's brother, stood up then and called for silence. He was a big man, held in high esteem among all the villagers.

"I have a story for you all, its been a long time since I told this story and most of the little ones here have never heard it before. Now kindly give your attention." He said.

The circle drew a little closer as Gareth cleared his throat a bit and sipped dark ale from a small wooden cup.

"A very long time ago, back when I was very young and before sir Belino built old Sullin's home," Gareth paused and nodded at Belino who was sitting on the front row. Belino lifted his glass and gave a loud grunt of appreciation.

"And back before any of you little ones were born, I was working the fields out past my home. The corn used to grow three times the height of a man so the work was much harder then, but that didn't stop me, oh no, I worked hard and did very well for myself. Well, one day I was out in the cornfield alone and suddenly there came a terrible bright light from out of the sky. It startled me so much that I fell straight onto my back!"

Gareth leaned forward and put his face close to the children. A few of them giggled and hid their faces. Gareth smiled and continued.

"When I opened my eyes again you'll never believe what I saw." Gareth took on an exaggerated expression of solemnity.

"What did you see Gareth?" A little girl shyly asked.

"Why it was a woman, no, an angel! She was dressed all in flowing white silk and had dropped right out of the sky!"

The children laughed and Gareth leaned back again.

"She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my life even if she did fall from the sky. She reached down to me and helped me to my feet and well, naturally, I asked her name. Do you know what it was?" Gareth paused.

"Parvati!" A voice called from the back of the crowd. A few of the adults snickered quietly to themselves and Gareth stretched onto his toes trying to locate the shouter.

"Now don't think I didn't recognize your voice Paulos! Hush up before I come back there and teach you your manners!" And then he spoke to the children again.

"Yes her name was Parvati, and I remember well that first time she spoke to me to this very day. Well, she saw how nervous I was and smiled that sweet smile of hers and began telling me about who she was. I couldn't make heads nor tails of what she said though, something about being a pilgrim of some sorts perhaps. Anyway, she told me she had to go but that she'd be back again to speak with me. And then poof! She was gone again, just like that! Suspicious business that disappearing trick and all but oh, my heart was hers." Gareth put a hand to his heart and fluttered his eyes in mock ecstasy, naturally accompanied by much giggling of children.

"She came back more and more always meeting with me in the cornfield. I saw her do things that would scare the teeth right out of your head! She could call up power from the air and the dirt and she could make fire out of nothing! She tried teaching me how to do that to cure simple ailments but I wasn't good at it. I don't hold with no conjuring and that was too much for me to bear.

"Once though, I did call up power from the earth. Made my crops grow ten times higher! I thought, if all this magick business just makes more work for me than I don't want no part in it!"

Taking a sip of ale again he continued. "Time came once that I needed to run up to Delos to get wood for the new houses we were building. I ran up there as fast as I could, didn't have a cart so I was going to have to carry all the wood back home on my back! Of course, I was young then so that didn't bother me, but when I got to Delos, they told me they were all out and that I'd have to go to Hashan to get any wood at all."

The crowd erupted in violent shouting, many people spitting at the ground.

"Doll-stabbers!" Cried one voice.

"Urchins and conjurors all of them." Sullin said quietly, nodding his head in earnest contempt.

Gareth quieted them again with a raise of his hand.

"Yep, that's what I thought too! But we needed the wood so I summoned up all the courage I could and started right then for that hole of a city. Took me two days before I found it and I was sorry I did!"

"Did you get the wood ok?" A young girl asked. Gareth grinned and tussled her hair.

"I'm getting to that Ariana. Now, when I got to the market you'll never believe who I saw."

Gareth once again assumed his solemn look and pursed his lips.

"Why, the king of all those snakes, Crotalus himself!" Much more spitting by the adults.

"I tell you he's old as the dirt on your shoes and all the hills and mountains together. Twenty feet tall he was and shortswords for teeth! I'm not ashamed to tell you I nearly had to go buy new undergarments right then when I saw him, that's how scared I was!"

"He looked at me and laughed and made a joke to one of his doll-stabber friends and then snapped his fingers at me. I don't know what manner of conjuring he used but when he snapped his fingers why, I lost all control of myself. He made me dance around like a damned fool in front of those fork-tongued Hashanites! When I finally got hold of my senses again I picked up my pitchfork and I threw it right into his eye!"

The children gasped and cringed at that. I have a vague memory of feeling very ill at that point.

"Well that stopped his laughing something quick but then he and his doll-stabbing conjuror friend roared and started chasing after me."

"Did you die Gareth? Did the snake man get you?" Ariana asked, her hands whitened with fear.

"Bah, don't be a fool girl, I'm here telling you this story aren't I? No they didn't catch me, I ran faster than a deer all the way back home. Hid myself in the cornfield naturally, since it was the only thing tall enough to hide me from Crotalus' doll-pricking eyes."

"I thought it was his friend that was the doll-stabber?" Belino interjected, suddenly confused.

"You don't think I know who he was? You think I'm making this up? Of course I know what I'm talking about, I was there!" Gareth snapped, incensed that he was interrupted.

"Well like I said, the corn was the only thing that could hide me from that fork-tongues eyes." Belino rolled his eyes but didn't bother interrupting again.

"So I was hiding there and who should appear but my own precious Parvati! Dropped out of the sky again and goodness was I glad she did! I told her that Crotalus was coming after me and she got very still. It was the only time I ever saw Parvati afraid and I tell you, that got me being afraid too!"

"Just then I hear Crotalus' voice calling out at the village plaza. He was standing right here where I am now in fact. He started screaming for me to come out or he'd burn the whole village down."

Much whimpering and crying from the children then.

"Parvati though, she called up her power and somehow got a big white mace in her hand and shouted back. She said, ‘Crotalus you won't burn nothin' down here but if you want a fight I'll give you one!' Only she spoke with a much more refined manner of speech, pardon me."

"Crotalus burst into the cornfield then and started spitting horrible sticky something-or-other everywhere. He was swinging his sword and gnashing his teeth and screaming all sorts of horrid things! Parvati and he got to taking swings at each other and they made quite a mess of my corn. That's when I saw her leg give out from under her. She cried out with pain in her eyes and out of the corner of my eye I saw that conjuror, that doll-pricker, with a doll looked just like Parvati. Well I didn't stand for none of that and I chased him off back down around the village. We got to wrestling about and he was muttering curses at me the whole time but I got that doll away from him. Also did a fine job of knocking his face about too." Gareth puffed up his chest a bit here and his lip curled slightly in a bit of a smirk.

"And right then is when it happened. I heard a great rushing sound like a hundred windstorms and Crotalus and Parvati both screamed out. The doll-stabber yelled something out at me and my legs went totally dead, couldn't move ‘em at all. He ran back to Crotalus and I didn't see him again." Gareth stroked his beard and then went on.

"A light came up in my head then and I saw a vision of sorts. I saw Parvati fallen to the ground, a poison from Crotalus' spit had gotten into her and she was in terrible pain. I heard a word that I didn't understand. Voria, voya, no it was voryam. Right, voryam was the word. I knew I had to help her, to fix what that spit was doing to her but my legs were all cold and dead still. I screamed out her name and then like lightning realized I was calling up that power she had taught me before, only it was stronger than ever I had felt! And there was something else too, another power that I felt, but well I just thought of Parvati and screamed her name again and sort of passed out." Gareth reached for his cup again, a slight tremor shook his hand as he remembered the experience.

"When I woke up, she was there with me and she had fixed my legs. I asked her what had happened and she said she had judged Crotalus and killed him but the shaman man had run off with his body to bring him back to life. She said Crotalus had bitten her before he died and put in her a very strong poison. Then she said that I had healed her and she was very proud of me. I was blushing and stammering a bit and I couldn't see how in the world I had healed her but she said I did it with my spirit or what not. It's all a mystery to me is all I can say. She told me then that she'd have to leave because Crotalus would be coming after her again and if she was here, the village would be in danger. I might have shed a little tear then and I begged her to stay. I even begged her to marry me." A clouded distant look fogged Gareth's eyes as he choked back his emotion.

"She just smiled the way she smiled, all soft and sad and touched my chest with her hand. And then she was gone. She disappeared before me and I haven't ever seen her since." Gareth concluded as he knocked back the last of his ale.

The crowd murmured approval of the story and a few began wandering off to their homes. Gareth smiled a little to himself and whispered, "She must have been an angel."