Cap. LXXVI

  Adar sits down next to the fire, letting himself fall to the ground, exhausted from the day’s walk. It's the third day since Nero appeared at the camp, decring that there was no need to wait for anyone else and that the three of them, along with the two priests, could proceed toward the so-called Path of Trials.

  Apparently, the strange girl who had appeared at the inn and offered to join them had given up. The whole thing was strange, and in the end, Adar suspects that Nero simply used her dey as an excuse to leave her behind.

  Not that Adar disagrees with the necromancer’s decision. After all, the girl and her companions would’ve made this journey much harder. Hiding the mule with more people around—or worse, with more animals—he doesn’t even want to imagine how that would’ve gone.

  Fortunately, the two priests, Mira of Fontar and Whit Ganat, are easily distracted. And, thanks to the time they traveled with Ulma and Aden, they’ve gained some practice and strategies for traveling with people who don’t know their secrets.

  Like saying the mule has a difficult temperament and it's best if Nero travels behind with it. That’s been tricky since the priests want to talk to him about the Temple.

  Unfortunately for them, Nero has no patience for listening to them, simply stating that they should walk and not waste time, leaving Adar and Seres to entertain them. This forces them to either answer a series of questions they have no answer to—or make idle chit-chat to distract the priests.

  Which wouldn’t be so bad, except Seres sometimes doesn’t think about what he says. Like when he tried to amuse them with fun stories about hunting giant spiders.

  Not the worst story, right? Something that would surely keep the priests entertained for a while—at least, that’s what Seres said. Of course, if his friend had thought a little more, he would’ve realized giant spiders are known to be from Dantar—a region that, when they left, was full of stories about necromancers. Exactly what they don’t want to be associated with.

  Which ultimately means Adar has to be careful both with the priests and with Seres’ mouth. He’s so tired he’s starting to miss when the three traveled alone.

  True he’d have to put up with more of Nero’s comments in that case. But thankfully, Nero is usually silent, thinking to himself. So it can be tolerable.

  Now sitting, trying to enjoy a bit of peace while Seres starts to cook dinner and the priests gather some more firewood, Adar remembers another reason for his exhaustion.

  The mule is currently missing somewhere in the bushes—allegedly grazing. Although the priests expressed some concern about the animal disappearing or being attacked, multiple reassurances that it’s used to this seem to have worked.

  What didn’t work was trying to expin why standing guard at night isn’t necessary. Something they’re not at all used to. After all, between the mule and Nero, it would be unbelievable for anything to attack them. But how do you expin that the pack animal they don’t see is more than enough to guard the camp?

  Result: sleepless nights, taking turns guarding something that doesn’t need guarding. Because even if unseen, the mule is surely keeping watch. And most animals won’t come near the undead.

  That leaves Adar hoping to get either the first or st watch, so he can at least sleep a little without having to wake up in the middle of the night.

  A loud bang sounds beside him when Mira drops the firewood she gathered.

  “I don’t understand why he won’t give us more details about the temple,” she compins, clearly frustrated. Adar just rolls his eyes, thinking, “Oh great, someone frustrated with Nero—what a surprise!”

  “Oh, don’t worry Mira. Nero’s just like that, but you can trust him,” says Seres calmly as he watches the pot over the fire.

  “Just because you have blind faith in him, Seres doesn’t mean everyone else does,” she retorts. Making Adar conclude that in the short time they’ve been together, she’s gotten a pretty accurate read on Seres.

  “Mira. Seres isn’t wrong. From what Nero has told us so far, there’s no way to deny that his knowledge about the Temple of Divine Trials is real. We’ll just have to trust him—after all, we don’t have much time before the Ascension of Neka!” Whit decres politely, pcing his pile of firewood on the ground much more gently.

  “You know, I get that this Temple of Divine Trials is something like the Temple of Divine Blessings. But I still don’t get what this Ascension of Neka is. Something to do with your goddess?” asks Seres. This makes Adar wonder whether his friend asked on purpose to change the subject from Nero—or just coincidentally. Either way, changing the subject from Nero is always a good idea.

  A slight ugh comes from Whit. “No, no! Look,” he says, pointing at a spot in the darkening sky.

  “You see that star starting to appear? It’s called Neka…” Whit begins expining, as Adar strains to see what looks like a small speck of light in the sky. Right now it’s hard to spot, but when night fully falls, he has no doubt it will be easy to recognize.

  “Supposedly, the name comes from a minor deity in service to Medishe,” adds Mira, prompting a nod of agreement from Whit.

  “Once every eighteen months, the star begins to shift to the region it’s now in and becomes slightly brighter—that’s why it's visible now. This is called the Ascension of Neka,” Whit concludes, earning a collective “Ohhh” of understanding from Seres—and honestly, from Adar too.

  Returning his gaze from the sky to Adar and Seres, he finishes, “When the star’s light begins to fade, the Ascension ends, and the temple becomes inaccessible until the next one.”

  Expining the priests’ and Nero’s urgency to reach the temple before this period ends.

  “So, this temple is dedicated to Medishe?” asks a curious Seres.

  “Well...” Whit begins, exchanging looks with Mira, “...we don’t really know. What we found in the Codex of Trials doesn’t mention anything about that.”

  “But if the Temple of Divine Trials really is, as we suspect and Nero said yesterday, like the Temple of Divine Blessings…” Mira continues, recalling the fireside conversation from the night before where they got a bit of info out of Nero, “...then the temple isn’t dedicated to any specific god. It’s more of a pce where any god can reward the ‘worthy’.”

  And Adar can’t help noticing how she says “worthy.”

  It reminds him of the expression on her face yesterday when it was revealed that Whit had received a blessing from the Temple of Divine Blessings. She quickly shifted to a smile, but Adar—used to reading people—caught the momentary look of displeasure or frustration.

  Maybe it was nothing more than a touch of envy for her friend’s good fortune. After all, not everyone gets to enter the temple and receive a divine blessing that could greatly benefit their life.

  And again, Nero was just being Nero when that fairly common knowledge left him in shock. His reaction was as if he had never known someone who hadn’t visited the temple.

  As if forgetting that the Temple of Divine Blessings is by the coast near Great Harbour, and not everyone can go there. And even if they could, access to its interior is restricted. Adar suspects that even if everyone wanted to go, the pce couldn’t accommodate them all.

  Or Nero’s criticism of the priest when he found out Whit had received the blessing of The Student. Something many would sell their children for—and all Adar could remember was Nero’s expression as he shook his head and said, “A few intelligence points... There are at least a dozen better bonuses.”

  Which, as usual, left everyone wondering what Nero meant by that. He quickly pretended he hadn’t said anything important and decred he was going to bed, typical Nero.

  Almost as if he’s thinking the same thing, Adar hears Seres ask, “What blessings do you think we’ll be able to get at the temple?”

  A good question, which gets Adar thinking about what he might gain from this opportunity. Because it would be completely impossible for him to set foot in the Temple of Divine Blessings.

  “Blessing. Singur.” Adar hears Nero’s annoyed voice say. The necromancer must be bored with his ‘meditation.’

  That’s what Adar and Seres call Nero being alone and muttering to himself. Something he does from time to time. Unfortunately, those times tend to coincide with him being more irritable—as if frustrated and tired about something he can’t accomplish.

  Lately, since this journey started, Nero seems more and more focused on his ‘meditation.’ Right now, he’s tolerable. But Adar has no doubt that soon…

  “What do you mean?” Whit asks, clearly intrigued by what Nero said.

  “Exactly what I said—blessing. It should be in the book. As a rule, when the temple grants its blessing to someone, it essentially shuts down until the next time.” In response to the necromancer, a chorus of loud “WHAT?!” erupts.

  Among them is Adar, watching his dreams of retiring and building an inn near this new temple crumble. If this temple, was like the Temple of Divine Blessings, not only could he receive a blessing—but the influx of people, especially important ones, would’ve made him rich!!

  But now? A temple that only works once every eighteen months?!

  “That’s not possible!!” Mira excims, shocked, confused, and apparently furious.

  Nero just shrugs and replies casually, “If you think so, that’s your problem.”

  “It doesn’t matter. What’s important is that we’re about to find a temple that’s basically been lost for centuries. That alone will be huge for the whole world,” says a still-optimistic Whit, seemingly unconcerned about who might receive the temple’s blessing.

  A conclusion that causes Adar and Seres to exchange looks—also reasonably unconcerned. It was nice to dream about that opportunity until now, but they’re not stupid enough to argue with Nero about the blessing.

  As Adar starts thinking about how to steer this unexpectedly tense conversation elsewhere, he sees movement in the corner of his eye. Turning, he sees the mule has reappeared on the path they’ll take tomorrow.

  The sight is surprising but not arming—until he hears his friend’s voice put his thoughts into words. “What’s the mule doing there?”

  With that question, Adar realizes the mule would never reveal itself in front of the priests without a direct order from Nero—or if something potentially dangerous had appeared. That realization makes Adar jump to his feet and move closer to the necromancer.

  He hears Nero’s quiet murmur: “I see it. Hide, and don’t do anything unless there’s trouble.”

  And as the mule disappears off to the side of the road again, Adar has no doubt who the order was for—just as the st rays of sunlight begin to fade, he sees figures moving in the distance, approaching.