Book 1: Youth of Delarn

Chapter 25: Nowhere to Hide

For Delarn, things were quiet for many months. She continued to train and to go to the library. They spoke of war to come in the training grounds, but they varied in eagerness. Though they called themselves servants of a chaotic god, it was clear they were waiting for a reason to attack. Some of them acted alone, but they were arrested or killed. Some took the crackdowns to be enough and caused inconveniences for the guards hunting them. They too failed to be successful, and the tension grew.

Throughout, Delarn expected her stepmother to order her to attack or for the head librarian to either expose her or try to send her away again, but neither happened.

She was 14 when it happened, only a month after her birthday. In the slums, there was an old Salvikan church the old and poor often went to. The church offered food and drink for those who suffered and offered encouragement for the future. A young man, not knowing better, came to a guard and demanded respect after coming from the church. He intended to ask for a job to help his ailing mother. The guards, the moment he came forward claiming his affiliations with the mad god, beat him into submission and used what he said as an excuse to return to the church and chase them out. During this raid, Salvikans weren't only punished, but many of the homeless there as well. It was said even the homeless hiding huddling in their hovels and alleyways were chased out.

It wasn't clear if it was true they did that to those who weren't in the church, but it was when a harsh winter had set in. There was little hope for those who came from the church with little to shelter them. It was proven they had burned the church out from the inside. Some said some people refused to leave and were burned alive with it. Some say that wasn't true. It was true it was a tragedy and catalyst for those who had any doubts left.

It was enough to raise even the most hesitant into battle for the cause they were presented. It was enough to send the Salvikans that practiced in the training grounds into a bloodthirsty frenzy. Delarn had little reason not to be as well. She saw no sense in what happened. She had little time for discerning fact from fiction. She just knew it was happening, and she was going to be pushed whether or not she liked it.

A month had passed. During one of her trips to the library, Castral asked her, "What do you think of what happened, Delarn? What is your take on all this?" The skirmishes were becoming more frequent and evident. Battles would occur in the night even as the daylight streets seemed the same as always.

She answered, "I've witnessed those claiming to worship Danterst kill innocent people during a time when Salvikans were responding to their acts of violence with pranks. I don't know what you think about what happened, but you shouldn't ask me something like that. Ask me literally anything else, and if you ask me if I want to leave the city again, the answer is no."

"I just want you to know I hold nothing against you as long as you're doing your research and handling it as you believe is right," the head librarian told her.

She nodded. By now, she had grown to trust he was a neutral observer. She considered herself logical and reasonable.

She studied by day and was fighting by night. Castral had grown used to seeing her fall asleep in his library. He knew it was likely the only safe place she had left to sleep. Each day, he considered another method of convincing her to leave, but knew none of them would ever be good enough. His lips pursed. He knew one, but he knew she was a volatile substance. He couldn't afford to give her a reason to throw herself more into this while attempting to get her to let it go. He also couldn't ignore there was little that could make what happened right.

One night, Delarn and Solene were traveling with a group of seven other Salvikans. They had gotten word a great number of soldiers were gathering, and Delarn knew especially there would be knights there. They intended to send a small group that could sneak in and steal some of their weapons and ruin their food. They considered her stepbrother and her the fastest.