Hesitation

It was late afternoon when Malav reached the entrance to the shrine of roots. He took the time to wash himself in the frigid pool ringed by trees and filled with reaching roots as was the custom, being careful not to get his legs caught in them. Then he dressed in clothes of state and took up his staff and his offering. As he descended into the cavern below, lit by smoky torches, he lifted his hood from his face. In the presence of the gods covering a man’s face was seen as an affront.

The priest that stood at the mouth of the inner cavern, the roots of the mountain above, lifted his hand and the ritual began. Sweet smelling smoke, followed by bitter, was exhaled from the vents at Malav’s feet. His staff warmed in his hand.

“You have come to bend your knee to the unyielding. What do you offer, what do you ask?”

“I have come to bend my knee in thanks. I offer the blade of a Light Bringer, and I ask that the war I will undertake to claim my wife be pleasing in his eyes.”

“Enter, favored of Malies. Lay your offering upon the highest altar.”

Malav smiled as he stepped proudly forward. Favored of Malies was the meaning of his name, but at no time before had a priest called him that. It had always been Black Prince, or Prince of Cearazon. Inside the inner cavern were altars bedecked with bones, some fresh and some ancient. There were bundles of flowers both dried and fresh, and some rotting slowly. Gems and wealth were scattered across every altar save the highest that stood close to the feet of a seated figure, unilluminated. Reserved for weapons of war and the bones of the Kings of Luzoron, men who had been dedicated to Malies in life and death.

The Kings had sought too long and too hard for Malies' favor and had become monstrous in the eyes of men. They were reviled and the images of their faces and the sounds of their names struck from memory. Their kingdom had crumbled and their line had withered but it was not permitted to perish utterly. The gods had demanded his grandfather marry the daughter of the last of the Kings in the name of peace.

The Light Bringers had not been pleased. Their order had risen to combat the spreading darkness. Their god ruled the dome of the sky and they believed him to be greater, and yet they all ended beneath the ground. Malav smiled grimly with that thought and balanced his staff in the crook of his arm as he bent his knee and laid the blade on the highest altar.

The whisper of the staff returned bidding him to unwrap it. Malav did so, scowling as the blade burned brightly, hurting his eyes in the darkness. He could hear soft laughter echoing in the cavern. From his own lips, words came.

“A worthy offering, indeed, from a son of Luzoron. Favored of Malies.”

It seemed to him that the darkness that shrouded the statue was untouched and his staff rose unbidden from his arms. Reaching from the darkness it touched the bright blade and the cavern was once more dark.

“I will allow you to take up both sword and staff if you will do but one thing upon the eve of your marriage. There is a beautiful bird that my brother has, I would have its carcass upon the altar from which you took your staff. Let all of them see your devotion to me. This war will be pleasing.”

Malav could feel the heaviness of the air, this was a test. He could devote himself here to Malies and the other gods would strike him down as they had the Kings of Luzoron and every wretch who had ever claimed him unfit to rule would be proven right. Or he could anger the greatest of the gods, the one for which he held the greatest amount of respect and reverence. He hesitated.

“Disappointing. This war will still be pleasing. Your offering is still a worthy one, Prince of Cearazon. Go. When you have claimed your wife, bring her before me. Fail this, and you will not have her long.”

Malav bowed his head and stood. His staff had been returned to the crook of his arm and he was thoughtful as he made his way out of the inner cavern. He would bring his wife here from Gaelel. They could take another road home to Cearazon.

Author's Note

I may have given the better name to the Prince. How does Malies sound? Any better ideas starting with Mal? I originally had Maleth but I'm not sure that's any stronger.