While loading the injured into the carriages Commander Stan took count of the dead. In the end nearly one third of his troops had perished in this battle. All of them were carried back to the church afterwards.
High priests and high priestesses filed out to begin reviving as many of the dead as they could, but it would be a long time before those men had recovered enough to fight again.
A tall woman wearing the black robes of the death head of the dragon God came out to meet them. Her hair was graying and she wore half-moon glasses but squinted her eyes so much that it was hard to see them. Chronos thought that might be for others' safety as he had heard that a powerful cleric of the death head could cause horrendous nightmares just by glaring at you.
She was being followed by four others in the robes of the other five heads of the Dragon God. With their hoods up he couldn't tell much about them.
"It is good to see you, Commander Stan. I was worried we might have lost you for good after you went missing in the swamp." Her voice sounded hollow and distant, like wind passing through a chimney, yet it was clear and easy to understand.
"Matriarch, I never thought I would be so happy to see you. I have an extensive report to give you. Also, this is Chronos and Captain. if not for them I don't think so many of my paladins would have been able to make it home."
Brynn saw them meeting and came over as well. He gave the matriarch an ingratiating smile.
"Ah Matriarch, I thank you for coming out to personally greet us. I very much look forward to our future collaborations together. It is a true honor for my Harthrow trading caravan."
The Matriarch interrupted him before he could start outlining whatever collaboration he was talking about.
"A pleasure to meet you but at the moment I must tend to the paladins. We can discuss this collaboration tomorrow. Slania, please show our guests to the spare rooms in the western tower."
"Understood Matriarch." A woman in the green head's robes came forward to guide them. "Please follow me." She said as she greeted the drivers and guards of the caravan.
She didn't move like she was walking; it took him a moment to realize that she was slithering. As she turned Chronos saw a long vibrant green tail trailing behind her. She was a naga from the tribes in the swamp.
Most followed her in hopes of a decent bed, but Boruk insisted on staying with his beasts in the caravan over having a comfortable bed. He gathered the firebleats together, ushering them back into his expanded carriage.
Chronos would have to purchase at least one of the firebleats for his carriage. He had seen some of them stomping and biting to death the goblins and beasts that got too close to them before the shield wall was up.
Such a fierce creature would only be helpful to him in the future.
Captain also stayed behind as the clergy assured him that they would revive as many of his men as they could. Normally mercenaries would not be able to afford the price of a resurrection, but apparently there was an exception for those who died while fighting a dark beast.
It took them nearly fifteen minutes to reach the guest hall. Throughout the short journey Chronos felt off, like his balance kept shifting, but he couldn't understand why. And he was certain that they had turned around at least twice but nearly every hallway they had gone down was straight.
"Here are the guest chambers. There is not much inside them as dragon clerics do not need much. If you have requests, please make them to the acolytes in the morning." Saying this she turned to leave while hissing to herself in vesseth. "I need to check on my tribe. If the world really is tearing again, it won't be safe for them in the swamps."
That got Chronos' attention, but it didn't look like anybody else could understand vesseth, the language spoken by serpent and lizard type beastkin. He would have to ask Gregory to look into it in the morning.
The room was simple, having just a bed, a desk, and a chest at the foot of the bed for personal items. This was definitely a room for an acolyte, being the lowest rank in the church they didn't have much in their rooms.
The next morning Chronos was awakened by the 5 am bell signaling to gather for breakfast. Leaving his room, he saw several others stumbling out while rubbing the eye crust from their eyes. There was an acolyte coming down the hall to greet them as well.
"Good morning, I am Stella and I will be your guide to breakfast this morning."
"Good morning, Stella, if you will give me just a moment, I will get my companions up now."
Saying this he went to knock on Gregory and Sariah's rooms. Gregory responded immediately but Sariah took a few minutes to get ready. The dragon church in Gra Ulv city didn't start its activities until 6 am.
Everyone else chose to sleep in and have a late breakfast after all of the excitement yesterday.
"Miss Stella, could you answer a few questions for me?" Chronos asked as they walked down another hallway that threw off his balance.
"Of course, and there is no reason to call me miss. Within the church we call each other by name unless they are a high-ranking priest or priestess."
"Then Stella, can you tell me how the paladins and mercenaries who died are doing? We didn't get the chance to see their resurrection."
"Un, nearly all of them have been revived and are going to rehabilitation starting today. There were only 5 who couldn't be revived due to the mutilation of their corpses. Three mercenaries and two paladins passed away last night." She said with a sad look in her eyes. "The burial ceremony will take place later today, if you want to join them."
"I see, then can you tell me why this place seems to keep changing at various points? It keeps throwing off my balance."
Her eyes widened as she heard this. "You feel differences too?"
He nodded "I'm not the only one?"
Stella nodded as she responded to him. "Yes, some of the naga's and lamias swear that it feels like their tails are in different locations from their bodies when they slither through certain hallways, but none of the acolytes can tell what is going on in them. It is one of the great mysteries of this church along with the whispering pew and the changing saint glass."
Sariah cut in "What are these mysteries?"
She always loved new magic, and a mystery is just new magic waiting to be explored.
"Well, the whispering pew is a pew in the main hall where at certain times of the day everyone in the hall can hear what you say even if you whisper as quietly as you can, but nobody can find any magic tied to that pew. As for the changing saint glass, it is a stained-glass window that regularly changes who is depicted in it. We don't know most of those depicted and are unable to stop or replace it."
Gregory chuckled "I bet the changing saint glass is in the green heads tower."
"That's right. How did you know?"
"The green head of the dragon God is all about life and having fun. Can you think of a better prank than to change a single window several times a year."
Stella pondered on this and came to the conclusion that he was likely correct. The green head would definitely play a prank like this on the acolytes.
At this time, they reached the main courtyard and were able to see the church in the light for the first time. There were five towers in front of a main church building built to look like a dragon's body while each tower looked like a head with a different color for each. In the distance they could see a tall wall with guards patrolling on it as well as various other buildings spread around the main church.
"I know this is a bit late but welcome to the Dragon Church. The main building is set up to represent the Dragon Gods body. The tower we just left is the red head of the dragon god representing destruction and balance and is on the leftmost side of its body. Going down the line to our right is the black head, representing death and punishment. In the center is the white head, representing morals and order. To the right of it is the silver head, representing creativity and magic. On the end there is the green head, representing life and fun.
We would have put you into the silver head tower for Miss Sariah's sake but the mages and priests there don't really like visitors."
"That is fine. I don't think anyone wants to wake up to an explosion after yesterday."
Sariah responded while being annoyed. "We aren't that bad. Our experiments only occasionally blow up."
She would have continued but an explosion resounded in the courtyard from halfway up the silver tower. Embarrassedly, she turned away from the others, refusing to look them in the eye.
Laughing, they made their way to a detached building that was used for meals. It was bound to be a good day when it started out with an explosion.