Chapter 7

Emma and Emir walked for several hours before stopping for the night. Emir looked around, and then set his pack down. “This is a good place to set up camp for the night.”

            She looked around, and found herself agreeing. It was well hidden by surrounding landforms, and if they needed a quick place to hide, caves were nearby. “Alright, then let’s set up the tents and get a fire built.”

            “Tents?” He asked, “I didn’t grab tents…”

            “Oh…then what are we supposed to use for shelter?”           “Well, we can just sleep under the stars, I have blankets.” He said, shrugging. “Tents were too heavy and there weren’t any lying around.” She nodded, it made sense, and they had been in a bit of hurry.

            “Well, I’ll start building a small fire.” Emma said, starting to gather some of the dried up plants that were around.

            “I’ll go hunt really quick.” He said. Grabbing his bow and quiver of arrows. “Don’t leave the site, and if you hear someone, hide in the caves.”

            “Alright.” She said, taking a flint out of the pack. She started building the fire while he took off. It wasn’t long until she had a flame started. She felt rather proud of herself for getting the fire started, especially after her failed attempt the last time.

            Emir loaded an arrow into the bow, looking for something he could hunt. It wasn’t going to be easy, this landscape was so desolate and food was scarce. He kept his eyes and ears peeled, walking as silently as possible. He stopped, hearing something rustling behind some bushes, he waited to see what it was.

            A small rabbit jumped out of the bush. Emir smiled slightly, and loosed his arrow, skewering the rabbit. He walked over and grabbed it. It wasn’t much, but it would have to do for now. He pulled the arrow out, and started walking back to the camp. He saw the fire blazing and walked over.

            “Good work.” He said, “I had my doubts that you’d get it started.” He sat down with the rabbit, taking a knife out of his belt. He started making quick work of the rabbit, preparing it for cooking.

            She looked over, and almost gagged. “That’s disgusting.” She said.

            “Disgusting, but necessary.” He responded, continuing, “Especially if you want to eat tonight.”

            She made a face, but didn’t respond to that. She sat down, poking the fire with a stick. “How long will it be until we reach the city gates?”

            “I would say at least a day or two, depending on the weather.”

            “The weather? What weather?” She asked, assuming that it was always sunny and overly hot. He laughed at her.

            “You really are new to the outskirts of the city! Sandstorms, meteor impacts, volcanic activity, and don’t forget the earthquakes.”

            “Earthquakes? I think I would know about earthquakes. The city walls don’t prevent us from experiencing things like that.”

            “Wrong again princess.” He said. “The city is protected from such things. Those living within the walls are protected from the devastation and destruction the rest of us are experiencing.”

            “Why would they do that?” she asked.

            “Well, to protect the city for starters, but I think the main reason is so people don’t know what’s going on.”

            “Why wouldn’t they want the people to know?”

            “If they knew, they might start thinking the gods were displeased.”

            “Displeased….with what though?” she asked.

            “You really are naïve…aren’t you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Displeased with the government and clergy and how corrupted they are.”

            “They aren’t corrupted.” She said as she crossed her arms.

            He gave a sharp, short laugh. “They are princess…why do you think you were banished?”

            “I know why I was banished…it was blasphemy.”

            “How exactly did you blaspheme?” He asked.

            “Well…I…I….I stated that I didn’t want to take rule of Pasiva or get married to one of the nobles.”

            “That wasn’t blasphemy…you were banished because they knew if you took rule as Queen they wouldn’t be able to control you. If you were easily controlled, you never would have said that.” He said, stopping what he was doing.

            She frowned at that, that wasn’t true…it couldn’t be true. “Why would they want to control me?”

            “Who do you think rules Pasiva? The king or queen? Wrong. The high priests and priestesses rule the kingdom. They claim to be to the voices of the gods and goddesses, but they haven’t paid heed to the words of the gods for ages…and now the gods are showing their displeasure.” He said.

            “How could you possibly know that?” she snapped, refusing to believe that. If that were true, then everything she thought to be true was wrong.

            “I know because I was supposed to become a high priest. When I learned the truth about what was going on…I was devastated…I refused to go through with it and was banished for blasphemy as well…the only reason I wasn’t put to death was because I convinced them that I wouldn’t tell anyone.” He said, going back to work on the rabbit.

            “You…you were supposed to be a high priest?”

            “Yes.”

            “I never heard that story…”

            “I’m not all that surprised. After all, a high priest committing blasphemy? That wouldn’t look too good for them. No, they wanted to keep things quiet.” He said.

            She looked down, “oh…” she said. “So…everything that I thought I knew is a lie…”

            “Not necessarily. The gods are there, it’s just the setup of the clergy and the kingdom has been corrupted and no longer follows the gods as they were meant to. The laws they created were put in place to give them more power.”

            “I see…” she said. “Does this change things then?”
            “What do you mean?”

            “About what we do. Do we still warn them that Caleb is coming?”

            “That’s up to you.” He said, “Just remember, Caleb won’t stop at trying to change the kingdom and clergy. He won’t stop until he’s killed all those with power and taken it for himself.”

            “So, what you are saying is that I have to make the choice as to which is the greater evil?”

            “Exactly.” He said, finishing what he was doing. He skewered the rabbit, and put it over the fire.

Reviews

[jjwilbourne]

Way to ramp up the tention!
That's a great setup. I'm stoked to see how it plays out.

[NoelHC]

Again just the little errors
taking a knife out of his belt. He started making QUICK work of the rabbit, preparing it for cooking.

A few more of the He saids She saids to fix

corrupted and no longer follows the god’s should be corrupted and no longer follows the gods

I now understand the system of government better as well.