[IRP] Beginnings of Change

[WyvernSlayer]

Yuri sat cross-legged on the ground inside one of the staging tents.  His mind raced ceaselessly, agonizing over his actions that day.  Surely I will be expelled from the Church if I’m ever found out… but somehow I do not feel as though I have wronged.  Heaving a big sigh, he reached behind him for his Keepers’ robes, which were folded neatly in a pile on the cot behind him.  He stared at the insignia on the collar.  Maybe my faith isn’t tied to you.  Maybe it lies… elsewhere.
 
Just then, a messenger entered the tent.  “Yuri… Lumenic, am I correct?”
 
“Yes?”  Yuri acknowledged the young woman and got to his feet.
 
“Alice Richter,” said the messenger.  “My mother used to work alongside yours during some of the Elimine Church events back in Ostia.”
 
Yuri gave her a hard look.  She looked a bit young to have worked with his mother.  Instead he only nodded and began to put on his robes.
 
Alice paused in the middle of her introduction and peeked outside the tent.  “Sorry, that’s not why I’m here,” she continued.  “I come bearing a message from your mother, Cassandra about your friends the red head, the bookish boy, and the archer,"
 
“My mother’s name isn’t –“ Yuri started.  Alice held up her hand to stop him.   Yuri waited for her to interject, but she only stared back at him.
 
“…oh.”  The strangers from the forest were trying to contact him.  He nodded in understanding and let Alice continue.
 
“They’ve gotten themselves into a bit of trouble and she'll need your help in getting them out of it.”
 
“Elimine knows I’ve put myself in enough hot water helping spellcasters and their ilk,” Yuri replied.  “What could they possibly want of me this time?!”
 
“Before I say more, I would prefer an answer.”
 
“No.”
 
“What?!”
 
“I can’t.  I’ve put myself in too much danger as it is.”  Yuri finished fastening his robes, tucked his prayer book into its belt slot, then walked out of the tent, leaving an exasperated Alice.  Yuri laid a hand gently on her shoulder as he walked by.  “Tell them I am sorry.”
 
He hadn’t made it but a few steps when a sharp cry pierced through the rumble of noise in the camp.  “Yuri!”
 
Yuri whirled around and was met with the captain’s glare.  “Pack up and get ready to march.  They need reinforcements in Pherae.”
 
“By your word,” Yuri said blankly.  The captain gestured behind him, to the wagon that was being steadily filled by Keepers.  Yuri started towards it.  The captain stopped him.
 
“Listen,” he said coarsely.  “Oates says he saw you in the forest.  Says you were walking free with the heretics.”
 
Yuri could feel the color just drain right out of his face.  His stomach somersaulted.
 
“The penalty for conspiring with black magicians-“
 
“-is death by public hanging.” Yuri recited.  “I know, sir.”
 
“You had best reconsider your faith, Yuri,” the captain warned.  “There’s no place in Lycia for the weak-hearted.”
 
Yuri stood, frozen, as the captain walked away.  His words sank like a knife into his heart.
 
There’s no place in Lycia for the weak-hearted…
 
“No place in Lycia…”  Yuri said aloud.  He picked his head up and surveyed the camp.  Towards the gate, he could see Alice weaving her way past a couple of men, making for the checkpoint.
 
He hurried after her.  “Wait!” he shouted.  Both Alice and the guards near her stopped and watched him slide to a stop in front of her.
 
“Tell…my mother…”  Yuri eyed the guards.  One of them appeared to stifle a laugh.  “…that I will grant her request.”