Fields of blue

Chapter 4-Cards delt

At first it wasn't so bad, Adaline encountered a small clearing of wooden dummies with knives stuck in them all over the place, along with some barrels full of who knows what and wooden crosses. What stood out was a large standing stone slab with more moss and engravings in its foundation "Entering the lands of the bishop Leshy. Those who do not follow the ways of the old faith will be destroyed" is what was there. Adaline wonders if she should back out now, that maybe there's other ways around this but she knows that she is in to deep now to back out. People need her help, she cant leave them to die...

The crown suddenly hops off her head and forms a sword in her hands just like before, she almost dropped it when it did so. Right, followers of Leshy will come after her head...and will not stop until they die, she doesn't even know if she can do this in a pacifist like way. as much as she hates the thought of seeing blood on her hooves again...she may not have any choice at all. Especially when Leshy realizes she is still alive and in his domain...Adaline grips the blades handle tightly until her knuckles hurt, she will have to face this one way or another, when she likes it or not. She ventures forward deeper into darkwood, not at all expecting the fights she will encounter.

Many blade wielders, worms, bats, and archers attacked her at every turn, never getting any sort of break from the battles. She tried to go past peacefully, she really did, but no matter what she'd do, more kept coming more powerful then the last, she will die again if they continued their attacks, so with fear gripping her heart of facing death again. She attacked them back and killed every last one of them...not a single one begged for mercy and whenever she hesitated they only stricken her with their weapons and abilities. Even though they are possibly not good people and they was trying to kill her, her heart and soul still felt crushed by committing something so horrible...whenever the battle fields become silent, she picks a camellia flower and place one on each corpse, with a simple prayer of helping their souls rest. She would like to bury them but she thinks that eventually someone else would find them and tell their loved ones, so they may have proper funerals instead of them never being found.

This was all she could do...a small apology for all creatures she killed with hope that they rest peacefully.

Keeping herself strong from not breaking down in tears again she continues her journey, coming across many forks in the paths and more encounters, until on one path of these certain forks. She noticed stars and moons made of gold dangling from small strands of rope from tree branches, a smell of smoke and the sound of humming coming from that area... with curiosity and a open mind that maybe this won't be another fight, she goes down that small trail to find a lone owl in red feathers sitting in a opened tent. Many rugs lay underneath where he sits and is surrounded by crystals and lit candles that looked like it would have taken hours to light them all.

He seemed to be rather glad to see her approach, like he had expected her arrival "Praise the lamb, conduit to great power, promised liberator of the one that waits below....So as the cards showed me once. So many lifetimes ago." he speaks in a wise tone with a slight knowing expression "or has that yet to be?" he says to himself, gesturing to the wounded lamb to sit and rest. Adaline can see he is peaceful, albeit rather strange, but she wouldn't mind a small break with the owls company. Adaline walks over with a small limp by a follower hitting her leg with the blade of a dagger, her vision also a slight blur as her eye has started to swell from a new black eye. She takes a seat across from the strange owl, a slight jolt of pain in her legs as she rests them like she had walked a thousand miles "i have always drawn your cards, little lamb. And yet, this is the first." he speaks up, like he was talking to a friend he has never spoken to in years, a warm welcome comparing to the troubles Adaline faced so far.

The owl places a stack of tarot cards in front of him, the back covers of the cards was something she had never seen before, like they was made by scratch from a wise fortune teller. "Take these cards, and i will draw another each time we meet. When drawn by me, they will grant you power." he then placed 2 cards facing down as he spoke "but chose what the cards say little lamb, as the cards only allow one to be picked from two" he then flips the 2 cards over. One card has the name 'divine strength' printed at the bottom of the card, its picture shows of a bottle of dark liquid with a sword inside and the other, has the name 'all seeing sun' printed at the bottom of the card just like the other, its picture shows of a shining dark sun with 2 red eyes and a faded pentagram. Adaline looked at the cards and then back up at the owl "what power do these have...?" she asked softly, as if at any moment she will say something wrong that would offend the kind owl.

The owl thinks for a moment before replying with "that is both known and unfathomable. the cards, they shall decide" those words made Adaline believe that either he does not know...or just does not wish to tell her. But something deep in her soul tells her this is a good thing, nothing bad would happen, she's sure of it. Looking back down at the 2 drawn cards before her, she decided on picking up the 'divine strength' card "I'll take this one" she answers with slightly wavered confidence as the owl puts the 'all seeing sun' card back in the deck "then you may keep that card little lamb, for the cards have chosen your way" he speaks as he puts away the deck of cards.

"thank you um...what is your name?" Adaline asked the strange owl, he gives no hesitation to answer the simple question "my name is clauneck, little lamb" he introduced himself, with a slight bow of his head in respect "oh...thank you clauneck. I'm Adaline" she also introduced herself, feeling it rude not to even if he has spoken about meeting her before which she is still slightly confused about.

They then sit in comfortable silence for a while, clauneck not at all minding her presence and even offered her some tea, which she politely declined. Eventually Adaline will have to continue the crusade, but she was glad she finally took a break with nice company, she stands up with a slight struggle and looks back at clauneck "thank you again for the card clauneck. I'll try and visit again! goodbye!" she knows she will see him again by how he spoke, like he was a traveling fortune teller in every area of the old faith "goodbye Miss. Adaline" he says in return as she makes her way back through the stars path from once she started.

She did not know why but ever since she got that card she felt...stronger?

Maybe she just gotten her strength back after a rest, who knows?

The next few hours was surprisingly calm, no follower, or anything for a while. It was easier for Adaline to find more resources and even some gold coins in long abandoned crates and barrels, it was just enough to create a shrine and temple and now all she needs is to save anyone who is in these parts of darkwood. The crown was surprisingly a storage place for her items, shes not exactly sure how but once she had picked something up the crown, or now sword, absorbed the item within its single red eye, like it has a mini pocket dimension inside.

She almost dropped her sword in surprise when she heard a scream, a plea of desperation "PLEASE!! LET ME GO!!" the voice said, she ran towards the sound as fast as she could. Only to run up at a sacrificing ritual at a stone alter "oh mighty bishops of the old faith! we ask you to accept the sacrifice of this wretched soul-" one cultist speaks in prayer with a dagger pointed above the chest of a tied up hedgehog that's begging for their life. "Hey! Who interrupts our ritual and trespasses on sacred ground!?" another shouts when they noticed Adaline's presence. The cultists look at her, completely forgetting of their tied up sacrifice, and began to come forth to fight her...

Adaline grips the swords handle in her hand...and raises it in defense.