[coronatiger]

Khordak’s Inn

Who I am? Didn’t you expect to see a strange young woman in your basement, at ease among your snakes? You shouldn’t be surprised I’m unharmed. My greeting gesture identified me as an initiate, and by your response, I know you’re one, too. Like the snakes, we are Ashtar’s children, so why should I fear them? I expect you’re the caretaker of this chapel, and responsible for the snakes, but you needn’t worry. Like the snakes are my brothers, I am their sister, and they will not suffer by my hand.

I am a Fang, and on a holy quest, and thus you should know I’m under no obligation to share information with you. However, I come seeking aid, so it would be prudent for me to divulge a little. I’m traveling east, and thought that here in Byblos, the capital, I might be able to get passage with a trade caravan going to our neighbors in the Prince’s Cities.

On the other hand, our faith encourages us to share stories, that we may grow in wisdom. I will tell some of mine at the Meet, when your friends get here tonight, but since you identified yourself as an Ashtarite of relatively high rank, I assume you can hear more. May the Divine Mother of Snakes fork my tongue so I speak only according to Her will.

Orphaned at a young age, I have no recollection of my family. Their faces are gone, their names are gone. Even my own name is lost to me. My features tell nothing of my heritage; having brown eyes and hair is fairly common in Arland, and while my skin is fairly dark compared to most of our countrymen, my natural tan, as I call it, doesn’t imply foreign roots.

I was taken in by an innkeeper named Khordak, but it was not an act of kindness. I had to work long hours helping out at the inn, and for my efforts, I only got a blanket in the attic, and scraps and leftovers to eat if I’d been good. Khordak always said I should count myself blessed I wasn’t a slave. I quickly learned to follow orders and to be polite to the staff and customers. I still got regular thrashings in the alley whenever he felt the need to remind me of my place; he had a stick in the kitchen, leaning on the wall next to the back door, just for me. I would have run away, but I thought that would make me a slave, and I’d be even worse off.

I know the inn is in the vicinity of the city Sam, but while I’ve prayed to Ashtar to let me pay him back, I haven’t tried to find the place, afraid I’d collect an unsanctioned bounty if I ever lay eyes on Khordak again.

After a few years, a rich man entered the inn. Escorted by three guards, he was finely dressed, not the usual patron at this run-down place. I served him his meal, and afterwards he beckoned Khordak to approach. He pointed at me and asked if I was for rent. I didn’t understand, but coins changed hands, and Khordak came over to tell me to follow him upstairs and be good to him. I still didn’t understand, but it didn’t seem like the rich man would hurt me. Oh, how wrong I was! I’ll spare you the details.

As I mentioned, the inn was rather shabby. There was something wrong in every room, be it a drawer that wouldn’t open or a dented chamber pot. This room had a cracked bedframe from before my time, when something heavy had dropped on it. Sharp splinters protruded from beneath it, and I managed to break one off. The sound startled the bad man, and I punched the splinter into his neck. He collapsed on top of me, blood gushing out of the wound. I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t shift the body. A cold tingle, like the chill of death, crept over me, and darkness took me.


Initiate

I dreamt of the creaking of axles and the clomp-clomp of hooves, and then a wheel hit a hole in the road and jolted me awake. Someone had wrapped me in a blanket and stuck me among coarse sacks in the wagon bed of a cart. A faint scent made me guess they contained vegetables. Although my head stuck out of the blanket, the rest of me was trapped, and I started sobbing quietly. Khordak hated the sound of crying, and the threat of his stick loomed large in my mind. To my surprise, it was a woman’s voice I heard, asking how I was feeling. I was afraid and trembling and didn’t answer. She tried to soothe me with assurances that everything was all right, that the bad man would never hurt me again.

The cart stopped soon after. The woman lifted me out of the cart and helped me out of the blanket. We had stopped at a small creek, and the woman instructed me to wash. My chest was covered in dried blood, except where it had stuck to the blanket and been torn off. While I washed, the woman emptied a sack and cut three holes in it, providing me with a makeshift dress.

We traveled for a couple of days. I spent most of the journey crying or sleeping. The woman’s name was Rhuk, and she knew I had no family. From what she’d heard, there was nobody I cared about that would miss me if I didn’t return. She did offer to turn the cart around and bring me back, just in case. The look of terror in my face said all that needed to be said. She asked for my name, expressing doubt that my mother had named me “Girl”. I whispered “I don’t know” and started crying again. “There, there, we’ll get you a new name, to go with your new life.”

Rhuk began teaching me about Ashtar, and I found comfort in her tales. A higher power watching over her was just what a terrified child needed. We arrived at a large but nondescript building in Sam as the sun was setting, and an old man came out to meet us when Rhuk parked the cart in a dark alley behind the building. Rhuk told him, “This is Nuur-Karif, who wants a new life with us. By Ashtar’s will, I delivered her from evil. I also bring your cargo.”

The man went inside, and I asked why Rhuk called me that. She explained that it meant “Red Twig” in the ancient tongue, and reminded me of the splinter I had used to defend myself from the bad man. There’s also an insect that’s called a twig because it looks like one, seemingly harmless, but with a deadly sting. Also, I’d been as red as the splinter when she found me. She thought the name suited me. She told me that the truth behind my new name was a secret between her, me and Ashtar, and if I wanted to share it, I could, but she swore she’d never speak of it again. “A mentioned secret is no secret,” she quoted.

The old man came back with two younger and stronger men. Rhuk gave specific instructions for unloading the cargo, and left the younger men to it. The rest of us entered the building and descended into the cellar. We washed our feet and hands, and entered a chamber with snakes all over, but the grown-ups didn’t seem afraid of them, so I determined that they couldn’t be dangerous. They sat down on the floor, facing each other, and Rhuk directed me to sit in front of her, between her outstretched legs. Whenever a snake came near us, she gently pushed it away. Maybe there was some danger, after all…

Rhuk was mostly silent while the old man spoke of Ashtar. Some of it I had heard from Rhuk already, but much was new. He asked what I thought of these things, and I answered honestly that while there were some things I didn’t understand, I had a feeling deep inside that told me that this was right and good. After a while, other people came inside to listen, all grown-ups. They sat down, but said nothing. Eventually, the old man told them my name, that I had come here to dedicate my life to Ashtar, and now it was time to see if Ashtar would accept my offer.

He taught me how to pray, that I must formulate words of praise or supplication. I didn’t have to speak out loud; Ashtar would hear my prayer as long as my tongue shaped the words. This would come with practice, but for now, I should speak the words clearly. He gave no instructions regarding any specific words I should use, so I just said, “Ashtar, I want to live here with your people and learn from them. Please, can I?” A surge of relief washed through me when the old man nodded, and I smiled. He told me to put my belly to the ground like the snake, and let the snake throne above me. If Ashtar accepted me, no harm would befall me.

I lay down on the ground, and it didn’t take long before one of the snakes approached me. It climbed up on my back, hissed, and continued on its path. The old man said some ritual words, and the congregation answered, then everyone came over to me to congratulate me and wish me welcome. I was now an Ashtarite, too.