Elysium

Chapter 20: The Arrow

At dusk, the river was covered by a layer of mist, which appeared to flow in reverse direction to that of the stream. We sat again in Dovakin's boat, approaching the opposite bank, where the Temple of Upe rose from the mist in its pale shape of multiple domes. We were six now – Brynhilde had insisted on joining Max, Roland, and myself on this trip, and Zoria was helping Dovakin with the boat.

In those patches of the river where the mist had given way to the eerie light of the moon, we saw many bats sweeping the water surface in their nightly hunt for insects. Thousands of frogs were croaking in the vegetation near the riverbank. As we approached the bank, Dovakin switched the engine off, and we then floated on graciously, until the boat came close to a small jetty.

"This isn't the official jetty of the temple", said Dovakin. "But I'd better leave you here. You head along the path that way." He nodded ahead with his head. "And you'll come to the path taking you to the temple."

He let us step out to the jetty, one by one. Zoria remained in his boat.

"You don't need her over there", Dovakin noted. "Better not show her face there right now. And Bry will have to stay outside, too, unless she wants to go to the women's side where the public services are held. But you're after Master Toth, and only initiated women are allowed in those parts."

"I think we saw one of those initiated women", I said. "Riding in a horse cart with a Templar. She had this snake emblem in her hat."

"Oh you saw her?" wondered Dovakin. "The priestesses seldom appear in the public, outside the temple grounds."

"What's that boat over there?" asked Max, pointing at a large shape with hanging lanterns, floating towards another, much bigger, jetty, downstream from ours.

"It's the ferry", said Dovakin. "That's the official jetty of the temple over there. The ferry brings the passengers over from the town centre."

The ferry was just about to arrive. If we hurried, we would pass them on our way to the temple before the new passengers would come. Perhaps we could just follow the group and avoid attention.

*   *   *

That's what we did. Inconspicuously, we slipped after the small group of walkers who came from the ferry. They seemed to be mainly elderly people. Some of them were murmuring in low voice to each other. They paid little attention on us.

Some men were hanging around the official jetty. We could only see their dark shapes in the mist. Sentinels of some kind, probably. That's why Dovakin had wanted to leave us aside of it.

At the gates of the temple, we saw there were still people going in and coming out. A few beggars were squatting around and displaying their injuries or mental problems for the passers-by, some of whom gave them coins or food items. We had nothing to offer – broke as we were – so we received disappointed and hostile glances from their part.

"Miserly, young masters are, miserly", complained an old, legless man.

"Wasn't all money supposed to be controlled by the Palace?" asked Roland.

Brynhilde shrugged first. She was the only one supposed to know Elysian customs, so finally she replied: "They use the old coins, from the time the government didn't own all the money yet. It's tolerated for petty trade. Places where they don't have the ID readers. But you won't be able to buy anything bigger with it."

It reminded me of the sight of piles of silver coins on Babin's desk. Had they arrived in the chest the subordinates had carried in while we waited?

The guards of the temple, however, did have ID readers. We had the ones Shato had provided in Anay – the ones that corresponded to the identities of three students named Marvin, Dixon, and Tom. My heart still beat like crazy when the fiery-eyed, white-gowned figure checked mine with the reader.