Herald of Steel

Tepin very well understood what his childhood friend was trying to say by the phrase, '....if you stay out of trouble.'

This was a clear warning on behalf of MM- Tepin was to either clean up his act or he would be dealt with accordingly.

The words cut the man deep, especially given it was uttered by his close friend.

However, he also knew this was Tayaca's last favor to him- ignoring this ultimate warning would not end for him.

"...." Tepin left his friend's house with a silent, thankful nod, and stepping out onto the streets, suddenly looked up into the sky to find that it was nearing dusk.

Darkness was beginning to fall like a rapidly descending curtain and people were hurriedly pacing across the roads, eager to return to their abode before they were plunged into complete darkness.

This was because the Helvati, like almost all other people of the time, did not have street lighting.

So at night, it became pitch dark and too hard to navigate without a light source if one did not want to bump into something every few minutes.

And Tepin too joined the 'fleeing' masses.

However contrary to what was expected, he was not rushing towards his home where his wife and children lived with his mother.

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Rather, possessing a sharp gaze that radiated a level of ambition unlike any time before, Tepin sped with hurried steps towards one of the main gates of the tribe, intent to cross it before it was closed off for the night.

'I must leave the tribe before the nighttime curfew sets in! There is no time to waste!' He said to himself with a clenched fist.

That's right!

Unlike his mother, Tepin was yet to throw in the towel.

He was instead determined to fight for the throne till the day he died, and no one was going to stop him.

But before he could keep his revolution going, Tepin first of all needed to flee.

The Helvati tribe was no longer a sanctuary for him.

His only hope was to take refuge in one of the other tribes that had supported him and hope they granted him asylum.

But even then, given the Helvati's power, this would be a big ask from those tribes.

Yet, Tepin was willing to gamble on that small chance.

Because as they say- it's not over until the fat lady sings.

Tepin tried to cross the fenced perimeter as soon as he could, hoping to leave before MM could wake up to his intentions.

Thus with dusk rapidly closing in, Tepin sped across the road with a brisque gait that nearly rivaled a running man.

The only reason he did not outright start running was because he was afraid it would alert others.

After all, as a senior shaman and one of the twelve supreme judges, he was quite a well known figure.

This clearly showed at how multiple people stopped to greet him while he was on his way to escape, with some even asking him why he was in such a rush. Ȑ𝓪ꞐǒᛒÊ𝘴

Tepin managed to brush these people with a polite smile and used the excuse he was following orders from the chief to explain his hastiness.

But even then, the time used to disengage these nosy people ate up his precious reserves.

Time appeared to be rapidly running out for him and he knew once the tribe's huge wooden gates were closed for the night, the only way to open them was for the sun to once again rise or obtain a written order from MM himself,

Hence Tepin cursed the typically friendly and helpful attitude of his people and commanded his leg to move faster, his heart beginning to pound faster and faster.

He breezed past the rows and rows of homes dotted on each side like a passing gale, and then,

'Dammit!' suddenly cursed under his breath when he began to notice the various small lamps and torches lights peeking out from the side houses.

These were being hastily lit by blurry shadows, mostly likely slaves or servants, who were working under the orders of their masters.

And the lightly worked as a kind of clock for him

This was because households would typically wait till the last rays of the sun melted out of the horizon before lighting their artificial light sources because of how expensive it was to use them.

Candles were out of the question for the regular people as even the lowest quality one was worth as much as their daily salary if not more.

They only dared to use oil lamps or torches made of wood and perhaps coated with a biofuel like dried animal dung.

But even those were expensive to operate and so would only use them for around half an hour after dusk, just enough time to get all their things in order before hitting the bed.

Thus unlike filthy rich nobles like Alexander who delayed their supper until 8 o'clock or even 9 and ate under the illumination of hundreds of the highest quality lamps, normal people would make sure to finish eating before the sun went down.

This meant that the more soft glow of the fire began to appear before Tepin, the shorter the wick of his time candle got.

And once these glows disappeared, so too would his chance to escape, as the gate would be ordered to be closed by then.

Thus nearing the last stretch of his destination, the man could not help but break into a full fledgged sprint.

It was good that by then the streets had been basically abandoned.

"Wait! Wait! Under orders from the chief, halt! Do not close the gate!"

It seemed the gods were at last willing to smile at bit on the down and defeated man, as he managed to reach his destination just in the nick of time.

The soldiers were just undoing the mechanisms that locked the door in place, and about to push the door close when Tepin let out this alarmed shout.

" 'Our father' Tepin! What are you doing so late?" Seeing the recognizable man, the guard captain naturally halted his men and then went up to personally greet the powerful man.

He found it very unusual for someone as high as Tepin to be out here given the time.

It was an unwritten law among the Helvati that nighttime was a curfew.

Pragmatically it was because it was too dark to see or go anywhere. The curfew also effectively stamped out a lot of the crimes like thievery, robbery, murder, and even illicit relations. As a matter of fact, the crime rate among the Helvati was surprisingly low given its size and the time period.

While religiously it was thought that night and day were divided into the two opposing divine forces.

Daytime was said to be when good spirits amicable to the humans were active, while the night belonged to the evil and malicious avarice of the world, foul and degenerate, intent on bringing everlasting harm to living things.

In fact, the Helvati believed the sun to be the father of the 'friendly' spirits, while the moon was the mother of all chaos and filth.

When 'She' ruled, only selected people blessed by the shamans and carrying specially anointed torches could move around without being tainted by her corruption.

And these selected people were of course the guards on sentry duty up on the walls and those scant patrols on the streets.

Now, the guard's captain did not expect anything foul from Tepin despite not being one of them. After all, the man before him was the highest ranking shaman after 'Our Mother- Atzi'.

He was one of the main people who would bless others for their night duty.

So how could there be anything to suspect about him? The captain was only curious given it was so unusual for Tepin to appear here.

"Orders from the chief. Let me through!" Tepin only repeated this monotone sentence, before quickly brushing the man, not willing to extend any opportunity to chit chat.

Given their difference in status, there was nothing Tepin needed to explain to the man.

"Ahhhhh! My father... You are going out of the tribe all alone? At night?" However, before Tepin could shake off the man, the guard's caption once again called out from behind, this time out of the goodness of his heart.

And then without asking for an explanation simply offered, "Take a few of my men with you 'my father'. These roads are not safe. Especially now!"

The offer appeared very much resonate with his men too, as the chance to accompany such a revered figure was the opportunity of a lifetime.

Many were driven by pure religious zeal, simply wishing to be wishing to be in service of such a great man.

While others hoped this would given them an opportunity to form an impression on the man.

They could not even imagine where their careers would go if they could.

Perhaps they would be able to even get a post as one of the grand temple guards, the most prestigious position attainable to them, and usually reserved for the children of nobility and powerful families.

Thus they quickly took their captain's side and began to offer themselves as potential bodyguards, hoping to be chosen.

Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!

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