Vengeance of the Dragon Queen

Chapter 2

The room was cold, dark, dank and musty; the only source of light came from a small spluttering candle on the desk. The man sitting behind the desk wore a thick woollen habit, at one time it had been white, however over the years it had turned an off greyish colour, and had become misshapen. Around his neck he wore a gold chain at the end of which hung an amulet depicting the god Marduk, around his head, holding his thick white hair away from his eyes, a gold circlet; in the centre of which is yet another, smaller symbol. Though no one remembered what the symbol meant anymore, all of the priests wore one.
    The only sound coming out of the dark was the hurried scratch of quill on parchment, briefly interjected by silence as the man collected his thoughts, or renewed the ink on the nib from the ink well to his right. During one such pause, he re-read what he had written...
    Towards the end of the Temple War, Tiamat the Dragon Goddess was slain in combat by the God Marduk. Marduk having completed the task set by the other Gods gained the reward they had promised, and was given dominance over all the remaining Gods.
    The legend states that Marduk used the remains of the Goddess, that he had slain, as well as that of her consort, Kingu; to form this world of Tharin'sar. Her bones were used to make women; the blood of Kingu was used to create the seas. Knowing that women are not to be trusted as guardians of this new world, Marduk took two of his lower ribs, and created two men. The first he placed in the temple and gave dominance of all things religious, the second he entrusted with armour and sword and placed in command of his heavenly army. To both he commanded that they should secure and guard this world against the women created from Tiamat. For while they are innocent, they contain her foulness, and in time it would always surface. Thus man was given dominance over Tharin'sar.
    However, in other versions of the story, man was fighting alongside the gods in this war. There are also hints to an entire nation devoted to the Goddess Tiamat, lead by a Queen, with a highly matriarchal stylised government. This contradicts with the teaching of my own Temple, which teaches that women were created for the sole purpose of serving man.
    While travelling to one of the older Temples close to the Forlorn Lands, I happened across a ruin, since it was late and I would not be able to reach the temple, I decided to spend the night there. It was inside this ruin that I found a series of books written in an odd archaic language. Using the skills I learnt in the Temple, and my not so insignificant skills as a master translator and linguist, I've been able to translate some parts of these. The books alone would cause a stir in the Conclave, as all our books these days are parchments tied together. These are actually bound with protective covers, something we lost the knowledge of after the Temple War.
    The first book seems to be nothing more than a child's story book, the stories it contains are short and highly rhetorical. However, inside the cover was written a small inscription: "To my darling Daughter on her 7th name day, may these stories open your mind to the possibilities of the world, and guide you to the future." It ends with an odd word I've yet to decipher, but given the 'daughter', I'm guessing it means either father or mother, or a derivative.
    The second, and one that will most likely lead to me burning for heresy, is a religious text. It's by far the thickest of all the books and contains many religious writings, rituals and prayers. Though translating it is time consuming, since it's written in the Forlorn Tongue, the contents are showing a different story to what I have learnt.
    The third, a journal written by the owner of the books, and seems to cover a period of about two years, their calendar is different to ours, so it's hard to match the two together.
    The fourth, and most unusual, is a military text. Again it's taking time to translate, but so far I am finding some shocking similarities between this text and the texts given to the young officer cadets. In truth they could be mirror copies of each other, except for the focus shift.
    I must confess that as a Priest, I am interested more in the religious texts, and have been focusing more on this. During my noviciate I learnt that Tiamat was a demonic goddess that rebelled against the other gods and started the war. Marduk who was one of the younger gods was offered dominance over all gods so long as he could end the war. When the war finally ended with the death of Tiamat, several other Gods refused to accept his dominance and tried to overthrow him. They were however swiftly silenced and imprisoned as punishment.
    However this religious text, says something entirely different. It talks of a loving Goddess who did not like the path that some of the other Gods were taking. Her consort, Kingu, was murdered by Marduk, and thus caused the war. Growing tired with the war, and the loss it was causing her followers, she cast of her mortal shell and returned to the heavens. However before she left she gathered together what remained of her followers and carried them to Cari'el Hasar, (despite my efforts I have yet to successfully translate this name into the Common Tongue) which is somewhere deep within the Forlorn Lands, and set up her own nation. When she finally departed Tiamat infused into the Queen a portion of her powers, saying it would be her guide in the darkness to come...
    There are many other elements of this text that are confusing as I do not speak the language fully yet. However a number of questions have been raised in my mind, some of which undermine the very foundations of my beliefs.
    The man pauses in his reading, places the Quill in its holder and rises stretching, "study should carry a health hazard." Chuckling to himself he leans over to extinguish the candle, briefly his face is shown clearly. No more than thirty years old, his hair is thick and long, the circlet keeping it from covering his face. At one time he would have been considered handsome; however his face is 'pudgy' showing that he eats too much in the way of sweet meats and drinks too much wine.
    A noise outside catches his attention and he moves to the window looking out, at first nothing appears amiss and is just about to move to his bed when the glint of moon light on steel catches his eye. Watching from the shadows he sees some thirty shapes coming through the gate, a sudden sense of danger washes over him; as the shapes move past the guard house one of them enters the light, "Royal Guards.....here......why?" Muttering to himself he edges further back into the shadows and watches. The Captain of the Temple Knights moves from the guard house and talks with one of the Guards, then points almost directly to him. The danger that was swamping over him changes to a cold chill that sets him shivering.
    "Impossible, how can they be here for me, they can't know about the books...can they" Looking around his sparse room he weighs his options..."They can't know of my studies...but then I have been in the Royal Archives a lot, looking into the older texts. Damn, they're probably suspicious because of that and want to question me." Looking out the window again he just catches the Guards leaving and heading for the main doors of the Temple. To get to him would take ten minutes, probably a bit longer since it requires coming up two very narrow spiral staircases. In a daze he moves to the table and looks at the parchment he'd been writing on, "Damn...I can't be caught 'till I know the truth..." Gathering up the parchment some ten pages of writing, he moves to the fire. It was starting to burn out, but flares up after the first page is thrown on.
    A few minutes later he is moving down one of the older stairways, hidden behind portrait on the floor below his room. Very few even with the Order know of this stairway, or of the passage it connects to, as only the older priests have residence up in the towers. At the moment, he is alone in this tower.
    When the guards enter his room some fifteen minutes later they find nothing there but the half burnt pages of parchment. However, those remains and the writing they contain are enough to start the hunt for him.
    Meanwhile Ma'Shen leaves the monastery by using the hidden passageways, and moves out into the night. He stops by a small abandoned cottage a few miles from the monastery and picks up the things he'd prepared only a few days ago. Supplies he hoped he would never have to use including a set of normal travelling clothes, his robes, despite their shabbiness, stand out to much. A small pouch of coins that had taken him many months to save, a tattered back pack bought from one of the guards, and his treasures; the books in their own waterproofed and protective bag.
    Packing everything into the back pack he sets off on his journey, heading east towards the Forlorn Lands, only there will his questions find the answers he desires, and only there will he find the time he needs to decipher the texts.
    The next morning the Criers begin shouting their message, "Brother Ma'Shen of the Temple of Marduk has been found guilty of heresy and treason after being caught trying to commune with the Demon Queen. He has been stripped of his rank, status, and executed at sunrise. His corpse burnt in a purification fire until nothing remained.
    Meanwhile six men set out from the monastery, their job to find and kill Ma'Shen, recover anything he's carrying and return them to the High Priest. These men are Wraiths, zealots of the faith who will do anything the High Priest orders them, without thought or question...However they are also something else, something not quite mortal.