The Memory of Darkness (on hold until October)

1 - The Stranger

I'm being watched. I know it.

The young nun carefully surveyed her surroundings. The only people she could see were a number of her fellow sisters, sent to investigate a cave that had been exposed by a recent landslide. No, it was someone else. Someone hidden.

A tap on her shoulder startled her. She turned to see Sister Monica, the convent's Novice Mistress, eyeing her quizzically. "Is something wrong?" asked the older woman. "You seemed miles away."

"Just... nothing," she lied.

"Well, don't just stand there," said Sister Monica, brightly. "I presume you've been sent to help."

The girl nodded, silently.

Before Monica could respond, another woman emerged from a tent that had been set up to provide shelter from the unrelenting drizzle. It was Sister Bridget, the convent's Treasurer. She glared at the newcomer. "Sister Arianna, what are you doing here?"

"Whatever Sister Monica needs me to do," said the young nun, biting down on her irritation at the woman's presence.

"I have a list," said Monica, trying to intercede. "Now, if you'll follow me."

The cave entrance itself was further down the small, steep valley. Arianna could see where the fallen earth had been dug away, and hoped that the ground was stable. They rounded a corner, and Monica stopped, pointing to the rock face. "There it is!"

"Well, it's certainly a cave," said Arianna. She took in the intricately carved arched doorway that had been cut into the rock itself. It wasn't a style she recognized, but that wasn't saying a great deal.

"Not just a cave!" said Monica. "A temple. Or that seems to be our best guess. Look at the doorway. Isn't it just marvellous?"

"It's very... nice," said Arianna, still feeling too uneasy to match her superior's enthusiasm as they entered the cave.

The doorway led to a large antechamber. A series of life-sized statues lined the walls, and at one end a passageway led further under the hillside. Lanterns left by the nuns indicated a number of chambers either side of it.

Arianna was more impressed by this. "Did they carve this whole thing out of solid rock?" she asked.

"I don't know yet," said Monica. "But it's old. Extremely old."

"Too old," said Bridget. "This could predate our Divines! It could have been used for worship of the Elders. It sickens me just being here!"

"So you've said before," sighed Monica. "You didn't have to come back."

Sister Bridget continued her rant. "If this was an Elder temple, then we should not be here. I am opposed to this whole endeavour! The carvings are utterly scandalous! Blasphemous!"

"Your opposition is once again duly noted," said Sister Monica, pleasantly. "Though I wouldn't call anything here scandalous, and it wouldn't have been blasphemous to the people that carved it."

"The Reverend Mother will hear about this!" declared Bridget. "You shouldn't have Novices in a place like this, especially that one." She jabbed a scrawny finger towards Arianna.

"You could be right," said the young nun, her voice taking on a mocking graveness. "Something here could inspire me to go on a mad rampage across the land, throwing lightning bolts and singeing off the eyebrows of all and sundry."

Bridget stood, her fists clenched, and her bottom lip trembling with impotent fury. "I'm going back to the convent!" She turned to leave, muttering about "a complete lack of respect," as she stumbled over the tree roots that snaked in through the doorway.