Chapter 6: 6, The family heirloom

Irin acted without thought. They were in a temple of Alesseja. Irin’s first, and most important, oath as a cleric was to protect the temple and the people within it. As they were on the goddess' sacred ground, she barely needed to use a prayer to summon the power. The dagger flew from the cloaked figure's grasp, and the figure went crashing into a pillar and slid up it, almost all the way to the roof. Still in full protection mode, she drew the sword from her back. It was one of the few heirlooms her family had, enchanted to stay concealed until drawn. The longsword reflected the light and then ignited with the power of her magic. Irin stepped in front of Koth and the priest, without taking her eyes off the squirming figure that was still pinned against the pillar.

“This is a temple of Alesseja; the people in it are under her protection. Who are you?” she asked in a strong voice.

“I surrender, I’m sorry, I didn’t know the temple had a cleric,” the figure said. From the voice, it was definitely a man. Irin scoffed but didn’t let go of her magic. “Come on, brother. Tell her to let me down,” the figure said. Brother? Irin didn’t know what to think. She glanced over at the priest, who looked as confused as she did. She shifted her eyes to Koth, and he looked annoyed.

“This is your brother?” she asked him.

“I hate to admit it, but yes,” Koth said, sounding unhappy. Irin lowered her sword and sheathed it, but she didn’t release the figure.

“What will happen if I let him down?” she asked.

“I will knock some sense into him about drawing a blade on temple grounds.” Koth shrugged.

“Hey, I’m still stuck here,” the figure called.

“I can live with that, as long as you take it outside the temple,” Irin said, releasing the magic. It caused the man to slide quickly down the pillar and hit the ground with a heavy thud. He let out a loud, agonising groan.

“Serves you right, you little idiot. You could have been seriously injured,” Koth told him, not moving to help his brother up from the ground.

“Geez, Koth, here I was thinking you would be happy to see me,” the prone man complained.

“Yeah, yeah, get yourself together,” Koth told him.

“Language, gentlemen,” the priest reminded them. Irin raised an eyebrow; of all the things that had happened, he remarked on the word ‘shit’. Priests were a special kind of people, she thought. She walked over to where the dagger had landed and carefully picked it up, trusting nothing in this town, not even Koth’s brother.

“Could you give that back? It has sentimental value,” the man said, standing up and straightening himself. He wasn’t as tall as Koth, nor did he have the same broad build. As he lowered his hood, Irin was surprised to see he was human. His dark brown hair was cut short, allowing the natural curls to hang down on his forehead and frame his nut-brown eyes, which twinkled with mischief and humour.

“You’ll get it back when you leave the temple area, along with the rest of them,” she told him.

“The rest of what?” he asked. Irin gestured and all his numerous weapons appeared in a pile by her feet.

“These,” she clarified.

“Wow, neat trick. Are you interested in coming to work for me? I would pay you good money,” the man said with a smile.

“No,” Irin and Koth said at once.

“Fine, I get it. No need to be testy about it,” Koth’s brother said, raising his hands. Irin looked at him. She saw no resemblance to Koth, neither in looks nor demeanour, and didn’t trust him at all.

“Jasper, why are you here?” Koth sighed.

“Can’t I just stop by to say hello to my big brother? It’s been years since I saw you. I was hoping the grumpiness had worn off by now,” Jasper said, walking over to Koth. The two embraced and slapped each other on the back.

“The grumpiness is part of me,” Koth told his brother.

“I can see that, too bad. But never mind, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”

“No.” Irin almost smiled at Koth’s blunt reply.

“Fine,” Jasper said, walking towards Irin, who watched him closely. “My brother seems to have lost what little manners he had. Let me introduce myself. I am Jasper, of the house of Kornid, and the unfortunate younger brother of the ogre over there,” he said, his eyes seeming to fix on something. “My lady,” he then added with a bow. Irin raised her hand and felt her riuon had slipped out. She tucked it under her tunic again.

“Hello,” she said.

“May I enquire as to your name?” he asked. Irin saw no way out of it.

“Irin,” she said.

“A lovely name. I can understand your coldness. I did draw a weapon in the temple of your goddess, and for that I apologise. It’s a rare occasion I can get the drop on my older brother, and I let my excitement get the better of me. Please forgive me,” he said with another bow.

“Please stop bowing,” she said.

“But it’s my duty as a loyal servant to the empire to bow to a lady, and especially a formidable lady such as yourself, Lady Irin.”

“Please don’t call me that. I’m not a lady; I’m a cleric of the temple,” Irin told him.

“I did not know one had to relinquish one's titles to join the temple of Alesseja.”

“You don’t,” the priest informed him. Both Irin and Koth gave the priest an annoyed look.

“Just drop the title, or I will keep the dagger,” she told him.

“Your wish is my command,” Jasper said, holding up his hands in surrender.

“And stop flirting with her; she is not one of your girls,” Koth added.

“You, dear brother, don’t get a say in that.” Jasper smirked at Koth. Irin just shook her head.

“Father, can you ask the young trainee to make sure these weapons are collected and left at the gates?” she asked.

“Of course, and thank you for your quick action. I know it wasn’t needed, but it was much appreciated. We could need a cleric with your strength here,” the priest said.

“Don’t mention it; I was doing my duty.” Irin turned to Koth, ignoring his brother. “I will turn in for the night; I will see you in the morning.”

“Sleep well,” he said.

“Lay… Irin, why don’t you join me and my brother? We have some catching up to do, and I can tell you some interesting stories about him from when he was younger.”

“No, thank you; I prefer to catch up on some sleep,” Irin told Jasper. In reality, she was more than a little tempted to listen to stories about Koth as a kid, but she felt it would give Jasper too much amusement, so she reluctantly declined. “I’m leaving this with you; I hope you know what to do with it,” she told Koth, handing his brother’s dagger to him.

“No, don’t do that,” Jasper whined. Irin raised an eyebrow at him. “Now he has it. It took me almost ten years to get it off him the first time.” Irin looked to Koth, seeking an explanation for his brother's despair.

“This belonged to our father. When we were young, he placed it atop a high pole and told us that whoever owned the dagger would get the deciding vote amongst the siblings. I was the first to manage to climb the pole and get it. I held it for almost ten years until this brat stole it from me. Thank you for returning it to me, Irin,” Koth said with a grin.

“Happy to help,” Irin said. “Have a good night, and keep an eye on that one.”

“Not fair,” Jasper protested. As the priest showed Irin to her room, she could still hear him arguing with Koth, saying it shouldn’t count as Koth wasn’t the one who had taken the dagger from Jasper. Irin smiled as she closed the door behind her. The two men were so different that it was hard to believe they were brothers. Before bed, she decided to take advantage of the hot water bath the temple offered. Once she was done, she felt like a new woman; every muscle that had been tortured by the three-day ride and sleeping on the ground had relaxed. As she walked back to her room, she could hear drunken singing from the garden. She shook her head with a smile; the brothers seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was nice to know Koth could relax like that; the tough attitude and grumpiness were just a shell. Irin crawled into bed and sighed as she felt the soft mattress cradle her body. Her mind drifted to the problems that lay ahead of them. If they couldn’t buy the item from its owner, how could they get it away from him? They needed to do it before he decided to use it on a larger scale, or more regularly. But no solution came to her; sleep was far more likely than a brilliant idea, so she let sleep claim her.