He scrambled up to the summit of the narrow ridge. Looking back, he could see the twisting path he had been travelling on for the better part of the day. He then glanced towards the eastern horizon. The dense forest he had emerged from looked like a vast, green floor from this vantage point. He then remember to look north. About a mile away, the forest thinned out and the rough canyons lead to a steep drop off. Below the cliffs lay the sea. Squinting, He was able to spot an impressive structure at the precipice just before the ocean. A shimmer of the setting sun revealed a glittering white temple replete with starlight–snowy marble pillars, golden domes and silver arches.
Kalan had never seen anything quite like it, even in some of the larger cities and stranger cults he had come across in Aquilonia. He stood atop the small summit for a while longer. After a long journey, weeks from Kashan, his eyes lingered on that the striking example of civilization. She had called the it 'Yakun' and it was exactly as the priestess described. Surrounded by wilderness, it was like something out of a dream. Outside of the frontier, Kalan had not ventured much but the prospect of employment had brought him to the inner kingdom from time to time.
His hands started to tire from clinging to the side of the rocks. He let himself down on the shelf below, frowning in disbelief. He was never entirely convinced she was lying about Yakun but he instinctively knew something was amiss. Kalan had been jilted at the end of a job before. He certainly didn't expect to see his full payment after she died half-way. After the excitement of her snake bite had turned to the stillness of death, Kalan felt the anticipation of his reward drain away. Nothing good ever worked out for him. Yet still, in her death throws, she made every last effort to tell him how to finish the journey. It was the only thing Kalan had to work with now.
He was quickly back on the path, recalling what she said as best he could. "Follow this ridge, until it leads to an impassible boulder with a dead tree atop it. Climb along the left side and you will see another path that follows far above the edge of the sea." Soon, he was walking north with the brisk east wind blowing from the sea. As the trees faded as he got closer to the coast, rays of the fading sun started to obscure his view. The sun sank like a dull-glowing copper ball into a lake of fire as he started his ascent up the jagged hills where the temple lied.
Kalan's muscles ached from avoiding any sudden falls. The steep vale he had travelled alongside offered very little stable ground his feet could tread without caution. He had been on this path since dawn's first light. Now with the sun was in the far west and the destination was in sight, he could do little to keep his mind from wandering to the prospect of a good night's rest.
Aquilonian men rarely traveled this far into the hinterlands. Those who did usually had some fiendish understanding with the brutish Pict tribes loosely scatted throughout the area. Even Kashan, the border town where Kalan usually called home, was too much for most of the civilized men that came from the inner kingdom. The steady employment that Kashan was once know for grew more uncertain every year as emphasis on Aquilionia's expansion into the frontier diminished. Within the first month Kalan had been Kashan, he had been a carpenter, jailer, and lumberjack. His independence that had once been an asset was particularly hit hard from this recent downturn. He was down to his last few coins when the foreign priestess approached him.
He should have known better than to trust a pretty face, especially one as tight lipped as her. All he could make out before they left is that it making it to the west coat was important to her. He surmised that as one of the few of her kind in Aquilonia, she had an obligation to go when summoned there. Unfortunately, Kashan was one of the worst places to leave there from. If she was farther South or East, she could have easily taken a vessel along the coast. However, the priestess made it clear she was in a hurry.
Kalan thought it odd a woman would be in Kashan by herself, let alone want to go into the hinterlands with just him to guide her. Apparently, discretion was just as important to speed in this journey. The prospect of venturing further into the hinterlands assuaged any lingering reluctance he had around the circumstances that lead to this journey. That and the prospect of enough coin to buy ale for years.
The blue of the sea merged with the blue of the sky, and both turned to soft dark velvet, with the first hints of stars coming out. Soon darkness would be upon him. The prospect of the first night of sleep indoors for weeks was enough to quicken his pace. The hill the temple was perched upon was the highest point the lone traveller could see for miles amidst the tangle of rocky sea-cliffs. While the slope was not sheer, it was broken by ledges and boulders, he it still found himself short of breath after a few moments since starting his ascent. His slim, wiry frame had become grizzled in the rough wilderness and was unaccustomed to feats requiring great exertion.
After a few frustrating misplaced feet and some bloody knuckles he stood on the ultimate pinnacle. His unkempt hair immediately started stirring in the unbroken gales blowing from the sea. He could now see that the temple lay on a sort of plataeu. It grew wider as it moved back father into the hills where the temple lay. However from where he climbed up, it was only a short distance for Kalan to walk and peer over the side facing the sea. North and east, stretched the blue waters as far has he could see. Still and placid, they faded into dreamy hazes of distance. Peering down closer to the shore, he could vaguely make out the jagged rocks that lead up to the precipice. With the last of the fading sun's light, he saw a small path that started a strip of sand on the shore and wound up through the cliffs to close to the temple.
With the destination so close at hand, he could feel his aching muscles yearning to rest. He made his way across the rest of the plateau to what seemed to be the lateral side of the temple. The temple seemed to take on a different aspect when viewed up close. The entire temple looked like it had not seen any human presence for years. No sign of any activity stirred as he walked around the base of the temple. He was looking for some way in and found no obvious entrance. The sheer size of the structure mean it took Kalan a few moments just to walk around it. Kalan was instantly reminded of the forts near Kashan in winter. The were only manned during the summer when raids from the Picts were regular and locked up tight at all other seasons. He started to regret not asking the priestess why she was coming here before she died.
The chill of the night had started to seep through his the light furs Kalan wore. The surprise at the strangeness of the temple was starting to become annoying. He became determined to find some way in before the sleep he was fighting overtook him. Walking around to the side that faced north, he spotted something that was could be maneuvered like a large door. He pried at the marble but it wouldn't budge. Subsequent kicks and shoves at the door proved just as fruitless. Worn out and forsake his efforts, a quick glance to his right reveal a crack in a low shelf in the structure. Kalan had seen something like this on a mausoleum before. He cursed himself for not noticing this when he first inspected it but he was glad to have any sort of lead. A man would have to duck to enter it but there was no doubt he could fit into it. A quick nudge at the panel the covered the entrance and he was soon hunched down and working his way into the inside.
Inside the small service tunnel, it was pitch black. After a few feet, he felt the tunnel going left at a right angle and he could see the tunnel give way to a moonlit room in a couple dozen feet. Eagerly shuffling through the tunnel, he emerged into the room head still ducked down from habit. He could barely notice the swift bludgeon that fell on the backside of his lowered head as he emerged into the room. Kalan dropped to ground like a ragdoll and soon got the long rest he desired.
The room was dim where Kalan awoke. A sharp pang from the back of his head immediately reminded him of his conscious memories. This was coupled with a dull pain that emanated through every inch of rest of his body. The weeks of hard travel had made him used to waking up sore but, even in the grogginess of the morning, he could tell this felt oddly different.
With a careful turn of his head, Kalan stared dully around. He could see the only source of light was coming from a torch place in a niche in the stone wall. The dim semicircle of light around the torch revealed the same greyish-white stone the exterior of the temple was made of. He could see he was in a large room. The light barely reached the top of a few of the heavy stone pillars that supported a ceiling of the same material. He surmised that he must be deep inside of Yakun now. A weird unreal atmosphere hung over all. The dampness of the air and dead silence all around him told him that he was most likely underground.
He was lying on a pallet of mismatched cloth blankets which provided little insulation from the cold stone floor. A tangle of the motley cloth was bundled together to provide a sort of crude, uneven pillow. His senses were finally roused sufficiently for him to rise. Mechanically, he sat up from his makeshift bed. An odd sensation of his chest brushing against his clothes caught his attention. A scanty undertunic appeared to be his only garment now. His fingers twitched convulsively at the source of the discomfort.
When his hand unexpectedly ran into a pair of breasts, he immediately stood. His extremities were made feeble from being so sore and he staggered up against the wall for support. His back to the wall, he peer down at his body. His form had greatly diminished in statue. His once bony and grisled frame had become soft and lithe. In the dim light, it looked as though his skin had become as white as ivory and as supple as fine leather. The small undergarment did little to obscure his disbelieving eyes. His hands quickly confirmed what now seemed painfully obvious.
Her naked feed scuffed nervously on the bare, stone floor. Her mind was now reeling from the implications of this sudden transformation. The tension was suddenly cut from the sounding of a metal latch from the unseen far side of the room. The door opened and a bald man entered carrying a bright lantern. She instantly recognized his clothing and light bronze skin tone as the same as priestess she had traveled to this temple with.
"Oh, good. You've woken up," the man flatly said as he shone the lantern across the room. She remained in still confusion as he shuffled over to her in silence. He stopped within a few paces of her and examined her.
"Who..." She paused for a moment at the unfamiliarity of her own voice, "..are you?" She tried to summon up as much defiant authority as her dazed mind would allow, "And what have you done to me?"
"I am Guldre, priest of Yasmina," the man said proudly, as if hearing it would strike some respect into the listener. "And you are now a servant of the goddess as well."
"Servant? What the hell are you talking about?" she desperately exclaimed. Her new voice still sounded strange to her own ears which dulled some of the temerity she forced on it. "I never asked for any of this!" She motioned haughtily to her new form. She growled, "put me back in to my old self, now."
The priest stared down at her sternly, unmoved by her displays. "Asked? You were the goddess' to do with as soon as you entered these sacred grounds." He dug into a fold in his robe and brought out a silver amulet. "I would ask how you came to this sacred place but I see you already met Sister Pasha." As he dangled the amulet in front of her, she immediately recognized it as the one valuable he was able to salvage from the priestess after she died. "No, I am more interested in how you forced her to into revealing this place to you." His expressions grew flat and accusatory, "Did you promise her riches? Or did you just torture it out of her before you robbed her corpse?"
She was caught off guard being put on the defensive so easily. She stammered, "No... Nothing like that." She paused, thinking of the most believable way she could phrase what really happened. "Pasha hired me at Kashan to guide her to the west coast. In the deep forest, she got bitten by a snake and died. She told me about this temple just before she passed. I only took the amulet because it was the only significant thing of hers I could carry this far."
Guldre's face remained as plainly stern as when he accused her. He continued in his austere tone, "Whatever story you wish to tell me now will not change anything. You say you were hired to guide Pasha? And died while she was in your care? If so, you are just as responsible for her death as if you thrust a dagger into her heart." The priest stared intently at her, "A servant of Yasmina is now lost because of you. You are now in her debt."
"Debt? If it wasn't for me she would have gotten lost a few hours after she left Kashan! It was too bad she died but I can't be held accountable for the will of the gods. I, at least, gave her respect and buried her when she died. If it wasn't for me she'd she be a rotting carcass for the scavengers of the jungle. I risked my hide to get as far as I did to honor Pasha's last request. To hell with your goddess if she thinks that..."
She was abruptly cut off from a swift backhand that landed on her face. A stunned silence now overtook her as her mind reeled. His stern face had grown into a look of angered indignation and his had was ready to strike again at any moment.
"Do not dare insult the goddess!" He let the words sink in with the sting of the blow for a moment. "You are lucky to be alive in any form. Foreigners are not to know of this temple. The mere suggestion Pasha would willingly divulge its secrets to an infidel is an insult to her memory." The priest dwelt on his rage for what seemed to be an eternity to Kalan. "You are in Yasmina's debt. You will serve the goddess."
The sting of the prior blow now fueled her own anger. She summoned up her defiance once more as she growled, "Fuck you and your 'goddess'." She stared intently into his eyes and steeled herself as in anticipation for a fight.
He returned the intensity of her stare with a look of indignant amusement. When her hand lunged up at he face, he caught it with ease and swiftly delivered a blow to her gut. She fell to the stone floor on her knees after losing her breath. He slapped her face with a force that almost knocked her over. He towered over at her and waited of her to return his gaze. Her eyes were staring to tear up as the sting of the blow settled in, yet when she returned his stare it was fiercer than before.
He dealt her another blow, on the other side her face. She let out a yelp of pain as the blow forced her back against the wall. The watched disinterestedly as, in a daze, she gathered herself once more. Her arm move to stop him as he slapped her again but the force of it was too much to over come. Blow after blow fell thereafter, moving her quickly to sobs. Soon, all resistance that was once in her had been washed away by the tears.
Her face still shied away in anticipation once the thrashing stopped. A trickle of blood from her nose fell steadily onto her tear-stained undertunic. The priest leaned down to her and grabbed her chin, moving her head to look at him. His wrathful gaze down at her disheveled and scantily clothed body suddenly made her feel a weakness she had never felt before. The shift of power was complete and they had both felt it.
She knew the words before he asked them, "Whom do you serve?"
She knew there was only one response that would stop him from hitting her. She meekly stammered, "the goddess."