Chapter 15
It was already mid-day when Joshua, Rose and Jirah finally arrived in the capital city of Jeru. Rose was more than a little surprised to see that there was a great wall surrounding the city, and a large iron gate guarding the entrance.
“This place looks more like a fortress than a place to live,” Rose said with a mocking voice. “Are the walls made to keep people in or to keep enemies out?”
“This wall was built many years ago when there was still a king ruling the land,” Joshua answered. “King James the Holy was the last ruler of Bethal that followed the ways of Ya. It was built as a last defense against the hordes of Belial that came from the north.”
The travelers were now approaching the main gate and two shabby looking guards came out to stop them before the large open doors.
“Halt,” a particularly fat guard called out. “What business do you have in Jeru?” Joshua got down off his horse and approached the man, pulling back his hood. When the guard saw the Cleric up close, he shuddered in fear and stepped back quickly. No more words were said as the guard waved them through. Joshua got back up on his horse and they all made their way through the gate and into the city.
“You have such a great way with people brother,” Jirah mocked with her crooked grin. “That poor sot looked like he had seen a ghost.”
Rose laughed at the comment and Joshua responded with a smile of his own. “Many of the folks in this town are very superstitious and I use that to my advantage. The less people I tell about where I am going, the better.”
As they rode on through the city, Rose was still curious about its history, so she inquired further, “I don’t remember hearing about any great war when I was growing up. Did this King James fellow really defend this city from attack?”
Joshua shook his head and answered, “I said that he built this wall to protect from the hordes of Belial, but the armies never came here.”
“The king was killed in his sleep as I remember from my limited schooling,” Jirah noted. “The Dark One ended the war before it even started.”
“It was never proven,” Josh responded, “but most believe that the king was poisoned by someone in his household. With the godly king out of the way, Belial was able to use fear and intimidation to keep the people under control.”
“What about the great cathedral and the priests?” Rose asked. “Couldn’t they do anything to stop it?”
“I am sorry to say that the priesthood also was overtaken by fear. With no great leader to inspire them, they resorted to hiding in the shadows and keeping to themselves. Even the knights of the thorn kept themselves holed up in the cathedral courts away from the trouble in the land.”
“As long as the enemy can keep us afraid, then he has won already,” Jirah noted. “He doesn’t need an army if there is no one to fight against his schemes.”
Rose took a moment to think about what Jirah had just said. There were not too many things that scared her, but the few times she was there to see Joshua fight the Taints, she froze in terror. She could fully understand why anyone would be scared out of their wits when it came to Belial and his followers.
“This war will not be won by armies Rose,” Joshua said. “We are fighting for the hearts of men and women. Our aim is to help these poor folks overcome the fear that rules them and give them hope for the future.”
As Rose looked around at the people roaming the streets of this huge city, she began to understand what the Cleric meant. Everyone around them seemed to be walking around in a daze, with no direction. She could relate because most of her life was lived that way. Until she met Josh and Jirah, she had no purpose in life either. Without the hope of better things to come, life was meaningless. Rose could not help but feel an overwhelming sense of compassion as they made their way past a brothel full of women caught up in the life that she had so recently left behind. If she could just reach out and help one of those poor girls, then she would feel like she was starting to make a real difference. Soon the three travelers reached the center of Jeru and Rose looked up to see their destination. The cathedral of Ya was by far the most beautiful building around and its great steeple rose high into the sky. As they got closer, Rose could see signs of wear and tear such as broken windows, but it still was the most magnificent building she had ever seen.
“It is so sad that such a wonderful place is left nearly empty,” Rose said with a frown. She pulled her horse around and followed Jirah in behind the great building and they all were glad to finally get off the horses.
Jirah tied up her horse and came over to take the reins of the other two, saying, “You two go inside and see if Logan is here. I will be right in after I tend to the animals.”
Rose took some time to brush the dust from her white dress and shook out her hair. This would be her first time meeting a knight and that made her more than a little nervous.
“Come along Rose,” Joshua said with a reassuring smile. “You look fine.”
“I was hoping for a little better than just ‘fine’ brother. I want to make a good first impression.”
“You will find that Logan is a very accepting individual,” responded Joshua with a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “All will be well.”
As Rose and Joshua entered the hallway, they could hear a commotion coming from what must be the kitchen. Joshua gestured to Rose to keep quiet and then slowly crept around to see what was going on. The sight was not quite what they expected. There was a young boy, running around in a panic, trying to keep from burning the kitchen down, or so it seemed. Pots were boiling over and a haze of smoke filled the room. The young man nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the stoic cleric coming around the corner.
“Back off mister,” the wide-eyed boy exclaimed, all the while waving a long cooking knife in front of him wildly. “The master of this place is a really big guy and he will rip you limb from limb if you try to take anything.”
“We are here to see Logan young man,” Joshua said in a gentle voice with re-assuring hands extended. “We are his friends. Do you know where the knight is son?”
“He went out shopping and should be back soon,” the frantic kid exclaimed. “I was trying to cook up some lunch as a surprise but I ain’t doing so good.”
Rose came into the kitchen from around the corner and was laughing quietly to herself at the sight of the mess this young boy had created. Jer froze in place at his first glimpse of Rose as she moved in to help him by taking a boiling pot off the stove.
“My name is Rose. What’s yours?” The boy just stood there with a blank look on his face. After what seemed like a minute or two, the stunned kid finally shook his head, put down the knife and answered back. “My name is Jerhard, but you can call me Jer for short.”
Seeing that Rose had a handle on things in the kitchen, Joshua left them to look into the condition of the cathedral.
As Rose did what she could to save lunch from its inevitable demise, Jer continued to stand like a statue and stare at the tall redhead who had come to save him.
Rose smiled and did what she could to reassure the boy. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Jer. I have just recently started learning to cook as well and it’s not as easy as it looks.”
“You got that right lady,” Jer said, finally breaking away from his stare. “It looked so easy when Logan was doing it.”
Just then, Jirah also entered the kitchen, shaking her head.
“We may need you to give us a hand for a second sister,” Rose said to Jirah. “I think we are in a little over our heads.”
At the sight of another woman in the kitchen, Jer now dropped the pot he was holding and froze.
Rose waved her hand in front of his face and said with a laugh, “Jer, this is my cooking teacher.”
“It is nice to meet you Jer. My name is Jirah. How about if you just take a seat over by the table. Rose and I will see what we can do about this lunch.”
> Jer was too stunned at the sudden influx of females in the kitchen to think straight, so he sat down in submission. The young squire watched carefully as the two ladies worked together and soon the smells started changing from strange to savoury. Jirah very quickly noticed that Jer was focusing most of his attention on Rose and she could understand why. Rose was working hard and was getting hot from the heat in the kitchen, so she had loosed a few of the top buttons on her white dress and rolled up her sleeves. The buxom red head was going out of her way to be talkative and friendly with the young man so his attention was fixed on her and would not be torn away by anything. Jirah thought to herself that she would need to remind Rose of the impact she could have on males of the species. The huntress began to ask the boy some questions, hoping to draw his attention back to the cooking rather than the cook.
“So, how long have you been here in the cathedral Jer?”
“Only a few days,” he answered quickly. “I kinda just got a job being Logan’s squire. He makes me do a bunch’a work around here and I get a warm place to sleep and food to eat.”
Jirah was sure that there was more to this story but that answer explained things good enough for now. The ladies were pretty much done with the preparation of lunch and were already cleaning up when Josh entered the room with the master of the house. Rose had just looked up from setting the table and was in the process of tying her long hair back from her flushed face when she first saw Logan. The first thing that she noticed was that he was very tall, nearly a whole head taller than she was. His long hair was chin length, had a slight curl to it and was a sort of dirty blond color. Before Rose could finish looking this handsome man up and down, he introduced himself with a strong and deep voice that seemed to resonate off every window in the building. As he spoke, Roses gaze was immediately drawn to the knights deep blue eyes.
“I am Logan, Knight of the Thorn, and I welcome you all to the cathedral of Ya.”
Joshua stepped into the kitchen and made some more formal introductions.
“Logan, you remember Jirah the huntress I am sure.” Logan nodded and smiled.
Joshua motioned for Rose to come closer before saying, “This, my good knight, is Rose. Chosen healer of Ya and his holy priestess.”
Rose was not one to be shy around men, but this man was different than any she had ever met. She found herself blushing furiously as the gentle giant bent slightly, pulled her hand out and kissed it gently. It was rather unnerving how he then looked directly into her eyes when he spoke to her.
“I am blessed on this day far above any other to meet the answer to my prayers.”
It was then that Rose looked down at herself and realized the condition she was in from all of the hurried kitchen work.
“I am glad to meet you,” she said quickly and turned away to button up the front of her dress and wipe the glow of sweat from her brow. This was not how she had pictured first meeting a knight of the church.
Sensing how uneasy her sister was, Jirah stepped up to shake the knight’s hand.
“Good to see you again Logan. It’s been a while but I remember you well.” She moved over to shake his hand but he chose rather to give her a firm embrace.
“I was so saddened to hear of your loss dear sister. Justus was a good man and we will miss him.”
Jirah smiled slightly back at Logan and said, “Thank you brother.”
“There is one very important introduction that I will have to make myself,” Logan said. “I would like to introduce you all to my new squire, Jerhard.”
The young boy waved shyly as every eye was now on him. “I see that you have met Jirah and Rose already Jer, so all that is left is for you to meet the Holy Cleric of Ya. This is Joshua, and I will need you to show this man the same respect that you are to show me, perhaps better.”
Jer slowly approached the gray robed man, doing everything he could to avoid looking into his glowing white eyes.
“I am not going to bite you boy.” the Cleric said firmly but gentle. “Come over here and let me see you up close.”
Jer came up close to Joshua with his head still bowed down and the Holy man gently placed his hand on the back of the boy’s head. “Bless you my son. I can feel that you have a great strength inside you but also a very mischievous nature.”
Jer shuddered slightly at Joshua’s touch and quickly returned to the table to sit down. With all of the introductions out of the way, the new friends all sat down around the large table and began to eat some lunch. The conversation around the table was only between Logan and Joshua as the Cleric informed the knight of what had happened over the last few weeks. Joshua was careful to leave out any details about where he had found Rose and the state that she was in. She would tell her full story if and when she was ready. Rose was very grateful to Joshua for using his discretion and it made her appreciate the Cleric all the more. One thing she could tell for sure as she listened to the man talking was the loyalty and honour of the great warrior. Joshua had not even asked him to go with them on the quest to retrieve the Staff of Ramah, yet she was sure that he would be going with them from this day forward.
***