TheConfessionPart5

Of course had got Brother Mo, all of the Erule would have known about the Grass Leopard Clan. It was bad enough that General Overon knew of them. I feared that if I told any one about them at this point, that they would be slaughtered due to their deformed figure.    I had not known what their sickness was. I thought of all of Mo’s teachings as I walked around and tried to see what their ailment was. It was hard to tell a hangover from a diseased patient. Most of the adults would drink until they felt no more suffering. It seemed the only way to tell if some one was sick, was when you heard a female’s scream, but that was only after someone died.

I figured that the children wouldn’t be drunk so I studied them.   The were all whiney and fussy. They kicked and screamed and wouldn't let me near them. It was either the child, or one of the adults would chase me away. I found one child leaning agains an oak three he was too weak to fight me and his parents weren't around. I felt his forehead and realized what it was . . . fever. They all had a bad case of the fever. The whole tribe would die if I didn’t do something. I knew of the herbs that grew by the Monestary of Oriam. I would have to steel them if I were to save the tribe.

I went to the Monestary and I waited for the monks to get done caring for the herbs and stole about ten of them, that’s all that was needed at that time. After returning to the Sha'ahoul Village, the fever was much worse. Only about two days had passed since I was last there. There were carts hauling the dead into the volcano and dumping them into the lava. And there were the maurners that were singing and swaying their hands in the air. Some threw flowers down the crator.

I first needed a larg fire, then a larg pot. With my hand full I wandered the streets frantically searching for a place to brew the tea. Once again I had found my self infront of the temple. Some of the dyeing Sha'ahoul were trying to crawl into the temple. As I ran I nearly tripped over a dead elite guard. There were flies already gathering on his body. I continued to head toward the temple. I was stopped by an elite guard who wouldn't let me in.

“You can not enter this temple!” He shouted.
I replied, “Well I know of a way to heal your people, and I need to use the fire in the center of the temple!”
The guard protested, “That fire was created by the Lady of Fire, it can not be used (cough)”
“You are sick, I can help you!”
“You (cough) must never ente (cough) r the temple!”
I saw that his eyes were bloodshot. And he nearly collapsed. The spear that he was holding kept his balance. Chances are that he manned his post instead of sleeping. I knew that he was too weak to fight so I then forced my self into the temple. He was about to unleash a spell when, due to him being weak, backfired and destroyed him. It was a fireball, which blew him to pieces. Well I had no time to worry about him. And I left the body parts burn to dust. I found a pot that was made out of clay. I would much rather a kettle made of pig iron but that is all I had.

I hung a large pot over the fire and poured water in it. I waited for it to boil. As I waited I removed the husks from the herbs and piled them by the kettle. When the water started to boil I threw the herbs in. I stirred them so they wouldn’t burn on the bottom, for some reason these herbs sunk in water.

After the tea was finished I had one of the healthy Ahoul gather the sickly and bring them there. He started from the sickest and worked slowly to the healthiest. He found a couple of other men to help. Quickly the tea was being used up. I had one of them find the herbs and gather some. I gave him one of the herbs so he could see what they looked and smelled like.

Then two elite guards carried Mithras in. As he drunk the tea he said, “Thank you, you are truly a friend, I shall not forget this.” He then drank the tea. As he stumbled out of the temple, I felt relieved. I felt that things would get better. But I was worried about Overon. What will he do when he becomes jealous? Will he tell all or Erule about these people? Will he try to kill me? And similar thoughts raced threw my mind.

There were so many Sha'ahoul that it was really hard to believe that we haven’t ever known about them. I gave them tea all that evening and until the dawn of the next day. Needless to say that I was well tired. I had remembered seeing a cave on the side of the volcano. I figured that I would sleep all day in that cave where I wouldn’t be disturbed. That was when I got to know the Sha'ahoul all too well.

SOA-4

I found the cave and entered it. I saw that there was some light up a head. As I walked down the tunnel I saw that there were torches in the cave. I grabbed a torch and followed the path. Then I started hearing the weirdest of sound. It sounded like strong winds. I entered a huge cavity of the cave. And there was some sort of swirling mist in the air. Well needless to say, this fascinated me. I had to climb up the side of the cavern and see what this was. As I climbed I looked at it. It was some sort of portal that lead to another dimension. A dimension of fire. I felt no heat. And that explained for there never being any eruptions or smoke. And sure enough, I was looking up at the crater of the volcano.

I didn’t know if this was a hoax or not. I decided that it would be best to leave the cave. When I saw her. The Lady of Fire. But this time she was wearing cloths made by humans! “Who exactly are you?” I asked. She tried to run off, but I caught up with her. “So you are the Lady of Fire. A mortal human! And I bet you don’t even know of any spells!" She answered me, “I . . . I am human . . . Mithras . . . well he had abducted me when I was a child." She began her story, a rather dark story.

"The Sha'ahoul invaded my parent’s farm when I was small. They burned down the crops. The servants held their ground and all of them died! They set fire on our barn. Killing all the cattle and horses. I hate to even remember the animals screaming as they bruned to death. One of the Sha'ahoul threw a hatchet in my father’s back. And my mother, her garments were stripped off of her. She was then drug around on the ground until they slit her throat!   I tell you to get away from here. I can not leave, but you, have your humans come hear and destroy these people! They are evil!”

“ I will not leave without you! I will get you out of here. First I will scout out the village and see if the area is clear.” I said as I ran out the cave. I now knew for certain that the Lady of Fire was a hoax . . . but I didn't know what to do after that. I left the cave and saw that the streets were clear. The Sha'ahoul were probably in their houses resting. I gathered some of my belongings that were in the temple. I looked at that pot and that is when I regretted on what I have done. “Oh, how foolish I was to have trusted these, things! Just because they don’t keep well organized documents, maybe they do...” I then remeberd seeing General Overon useing a secret passage. And finding a cloth that was caught in the passage door.

I walked over to where I saw the secret passage. I felt around for a lever. When I had finally found a lever, which was a stick sticking out between two rockes. I heard a click sound. I was able to push the door open. When I was in the passage way and closed the door I noticed that there was a metal lock. “So these people are not as primative as they look! I had to climb down a set of stairs and found an armory full of metal schimatars and brest plaits that were metal. “These, people. What are they up to.” The metal wasn't as fine as it is now, but it wasn't all leather. Most of it showed sighns of rust. I followed the passage way until I entered another room. There were books on certain spells. I saw a maps of the villages surrounding Oriam and Fornax. “They must be ready for attack! I followed the corridor, this time I had my bow drawn. I ented the cave. Which eventrually lead to the vocano. I saw Mithras and several other Shamen standing around. I heard their voices loud and clear. The, so called, Lady of Fire spoke. “Yes Sha’Mithras, those fools in Erule wont suspect a thing. When they are slayed that will be a great victory. We desperatly need that land. There are valuable minerals under that town that the people don’t even know about it. I shall have a heroic rescue and make up a story then the tropse shall make an invasion. There won't be many at first. And chances are there will be camps set up. We can then learn how to make better armor. It is only a shame that Overon isn't a blacksmith, but he has helped us so far. Can't have everything. And the what we shall do is...”

I was then upset. Well betrayed. I drew my bow. If I had shot Mithras, the tribe would still live on, although I had a very good head shot. It would be useless to kill any of the other guards. I aimed at the so called, “Lady of Fire’s head” and released the arrow. The arrow hit her in the temple and came out the other side of her head. I then ran. I heard Mithras shouts. I ran threw the dark corridor and in the room where there was the maps. I consentrated hard, I had to use the fire spell to burn all the documents in that room. I had never successfully casted a firespell until that day. The force of the fire ball smashed the table in half and the papers went up in fire. Glass gars exploded and the armor's brittle metal started to instantly melt. I ran and opened the secret passage way. When I ran out of the temple I was greeted my General Overon and all the elite guards. Mithras and his men came into the temple from behind me. I kicked the pot over which still had some tea in it. And the fire went out. I was then taken up in arms and had a stone dagger at my throat ready to kill me.

“It was not to long ago that I had warned you about betraying my trust Ben. It seems that we made friedns in this room. And now we shall depart. You shall leave this plain of the living!” Genreal Overon interuppted. Sha’Mithras, wait! There is a better punishment. I told you when I first met you that I wanted revenge on my people. Well my people are the same as his.” Mithras then replied. “Why haven’t you told me about this? I had trusted him!” Overon the stated tratorus plot against me. “Well I was going to eventrually make it look like he was responsible for the the mishabs at Montegerm when we shall claim that land and work our way into all of Oriam! Well now he is to be prisoner and watch all of Erule collapse. Even the great Fornaxian Kingdome shall fall! First he will see Montergerm, Then all the villages that will lead to the Capitol of Oriam, and then he will die!” Overon stood infront of me and smiled, then spat on my face. He snaped his fingers and the guards started to take me off.

"Well come on Ben MOVE!" Shouted Overon at me as I was taken into the depest cavern in the volcano. Fortunatly the Lord of Winds shall come soon and the Sha'ahoul will worship him and won't need to see the Lady of Fire. We shall just simply capture a villager and brain wash her. Nothing much, they are drunk when they see her anyway." I was thrown into a sturdy wooden cage.

"You shall see all the destruction with this artifact". Said General Overon. I saw two Naga's bring in a mirror. It then showed me the Sha'ahoul prepairing for battle.

Well now I was captive and I would remain captive for years to come and watch the slow fall of Oriam....

The end of part 5

In Part 6 Imprisonment. you shall read of the most historical of events and what Old Ben goes threw in his torture. The next part shall go threw the first years of the war and end with the destruction of Castle Oriam.

The Confession Part V
Revelations III

For those of you who have been reading this story. I made a mistake. The Citadel of Avalon was created DRUING the war. When Old Ben met Mudam in Avalon, that was changed to Castle Oriam which is very similar to the Citadel of Avalon. And the town of Montegerm is where Old Ben would stay when he first me the Sha'ahoul, and where he met General Overon for the first time.