Join the new world

This is a scene from a sci-fi epic I've been working on for a while. Feck-all to do with eRepublik (well, maybe just a tiny echo here and there), but thought it might be entertaining... xoxoxox PQ






Allane entered the hut without saying a word. Illuminated by the light of a single candle, he shuffled to a stool, dropped his bag and sat down, staring at his muddy boots.

Kaharan poured a teaser of evening s'lah and handed it to him. "Where have you been, friend? I expected you soon after Third Watch. It's nearly Fourth. I was getting anxious."

"It happened tonight," Allane whispered.
"What?", she asked, "What happened?"

"What you saw in your sleep time." Shaking his head, taking a sip. "It happened to me."

"You were pursued by a long-haired phantom of the darkness?"

"Yes. But, Kaha, but not a phantom. It was a candlemaker."

She peered out the cabin's little window, scanning the dark forest for a sign of her nightmare. Turned back briefly to demand, "Tell me exactly what happened." Then resumed her vigil.

"They've been watching me since I left the Scribes of Heliohan to become a propagator. Sending runners to my father's tannery, to my mother's brood house. Inquiring as to my whereabouts. Claiming I'd requested candles to be delivered. Asking about my health.

"They've been spreading rumors that I'm not loyal. That I've shamed the light of the Great Candle. It's how they operate. In the shadows. Spreading lies. They put it about that I was consorting openly with Flowlanders. "

Kaharan failing to suppress a laugh, blurted out, "Well hello friend! That part is true! Here I am."

"Yes. Yes it is. But this is serious, Kaha. The Center has called for the Holy Fire to be ignited. They're coming for me. They'll come for you too. When I went into town at Third Watch to get our travel supplies, a candlemaker -- a black robe, not just one of their runners -- a black robe candlemaker followed me back into the woods. I tried to lose him. Took to the lesser-known paths. Doubled back into Town. Five or six times. In and out of inns and temples. He cornered me in an alleyway near the Builders Union, behind the market. The one where herders from up north pile their pelts.

"I tried to hide. He pursued me, calling my name. Beckoning. Commanding me to come with him. To cleanse myself. To return to the light."

Kaharan left her post at the window, sat and looked steadily at Allane. Reached out to calm his trembling hand. It was moist and sticky. "That does sound like my dream time. I see it now. But not a phantom of the darkness was it? A slimy dark-cowled creature of the night, wasn't it? One of Romperando's agents."

Allane let a nervous giggle slip out. "'Creature of the night?' No. No. Heh! Sorry. That's what they call you southerners."

"Oh puh-lease. Have you ever seen me sneaking around in the dark trying to frighten people, Allane? Good rivers! I can't wait to get out of here. This place is so creepy.”

She gasped, “Holy Setta!", as it sunk into consciousness that the stickiness on his hand was blood. "What?..."

"It's a bit fuzzy. I had my small sharp blade with me. I always carry a tanner's blade gifted me by the paterbek. All I remember is... me and the candlemaker, there in the dark, in the moonslight. Face-to-face. I suppose I must've been drawn towards him by his voice. Telling me to step into the light. Calling on me to leave the darkness, to come with him. And..."

Kaharan moistened a cloth in the waterbasin. Wiped her hands, then his. "And?"

"I ended him." He made a slow wave-like motion with his right palm. "Just like that. Four, five, slices to the neck. He just slumped down, then fell backwards. The blood spilled onto his cloak. There was a gurgling sound. When it blotted out his candlemaker's sigil, you know, the glowy sigil on their robes?" She nodded. " Then I hurried away."


"So you've killed one of Romperando's agents," she said. Not a question.
"Yes."

"We have to get out of here."
"Yes."

"Tonight."
"Yes."