Son of Truth (Follower of the Word)

by Morgan L. Busse

  Crackers, crackers!

  No use hiding now. Nierne slowly walked out from behind the screen. Her face felt as though it were on fire. She was sure her skin now matched her hair.

  Caleb turned to her, and his face brightened. “Nierne! Ailis, this is Nierne. She is a servant I bought from my cousin Lady Meira.”

  Ailis stared at her, looked her up and down, and smiled. She turned her gaze back toward Caleb. “Come now, Caleb. You can’t be serious. Since when did you start taking women slaves?”

  A dark look fell across his face. “That, Ailis, is none of your business. Nor is my room.” He opened the door open. “I did not invite you in here. Now leave.”

  Fury twisted Ailis’ face, changing her beautiful visage into something cruel. “Are you turning me away?”

  “Yes. I told you: It’s over.”

  “After all this time? After all I did for you?”

  “I am sorry.” And to Nierne’s surprise, Caleb actually looked it. “But I’m a different man now.”

  “And why should that change what is between us?”

  “Because I can no longer give you what you want.”

  Nierne wished she could duck back behind the screen. Or better yet, that the floor would open up and swallow her. She had no desire to stand here and hear this.

  “Yes, you are a different man now, Caleb Tala.” Ailis spit his name out. “The man I knew had better taste than to take a slave to his bed.”

  Nierne felt the blow of Ailis’s words. She clenched her hands so hard her fingernails dug into her palms.

  Caleb held the door open, his face hard as he stared at Ailis. “Leave. Now.”

  Ailis’s eyes went wide. Caleb took a step back, his hand still on the door. Nierne could see the struggle on the woman’s face. She wanted to say something. But Ailis held her tongue. Instead, she turned and walked out the door.

  Caleb shut it firmly behind her. He kept his back to Nierne. He placed his hands on the doorway and leaned forward, his shoulders rising and falling as though he were breathing deeply.

  Nierne stared at his back. Not one blemish or scar marred his skin. Long, lean muscles moved with each breath. His waist narrowed to the white linen wrapped around his hips. His legs and feet were bare and stood slightly apart.

  He was nothing like the men from the Monastery, with their long brown robes, cropped hair, and pale skin. His very essence seemed to exude heat and power. She had never met such a man before.

  Nierne gasped and turned away. Revulsion filled her. Dear Word, what was she thinking! She would be taking her vows soon.

  I’ve got to get out of here!

  Nierne kept her gaze away from Caleb and started walking across the room. She had to get out the door and run! She couldn’t stay here, not with—

  “Nierne, wait!”

  Nierne held her gaze on the wall and kept her legs moving. “What?”

  “Nierne, what are you doing?” He sounded closer. A hand touched her arm.

  Nierne flinched away.

  “What is it? Did I do something? Or—” his voice grew darker—“did someone come in here while I was away?”

  His question surprised her. She turned around. “No, no one came in.”

  Caleb stood before her, his arms folded. “No, no…” She averted her eyes and backed away. She couldn’t think straight. This is wrong, this is all wrong. She turned and stumbled toward the entryway.

  “Stop.”

  Nierne stopped, but every nerve in her body strained against his command.

  “You’re acting strange. Turn and face me.”

  Nierne slowly turned, keeping her eyes to the right and away from his body.

  “Look at me,” Caleb said, his voice ringing with authority.

  Something snapped inside Nierne. Her face grew hot again, but this time with anger, not embarrassment. She turned her gaze and boldly stared up at him.

  Caleb looked taken aback. “I just want to know what is wrong.”

  “What is wrong?” Nierne bit out. “You want to know what is wrong?” The tension, the embarrassment, and the confusion of her emotions ripped through her. So she directed them at Caleb. She raised her hand and pointed a finger at him. “Do you have any sense of modesty?”

  “What?”

  “Look at you.” Nierne gestured at his body. Doing so made her blush more, but she was determined to continue.

  Caleb looked down, confused. “What?”

  “You have no…no clothes on!” There, she’d said it. Nierne turned away, certain she would melt like wax.

  Caleb was quiet for a moment. “I am… I am sorry, Nierne. I did not think…” She heard him sigh. “I’m not used to those kinds of thoughts and ideas… modesty and such… I did not know.”

  It wasn’t just modesty. Nierne knew that. She has spoken from her own humiliation: that she had found herself attracted to Caleb. Even now, she could see his well-muscled chest and arms in her mind.

  She brought her hands up to her face and pressed her palms into her eyes until all she could see were flashes of color behind her eyelids. But she could not erase the feelings now coursing through her body. Something had awakened inside her, and she could not turn it off.

  This was what the fathers had warned her and the other scribes about: the temptation of the flesh. She had seen other scribes succumb to it and leave the Monastery. But not her. It would not happen to her. She would rise above it with discipline and focus. Yes. Slowly, Nierne brought her hands back down. She took a deep breath. Discipline and focus.

  I can do this.

  She looked over her shoulder. A shuffling sound came from behind the changing screen.

  A moment later, Caleb stepped out, dressed in a dark tunic and pants. He looked up and smiled at her. “There. That’s better, right?”

  Nierne gave him a small nod.

  His face fell, and he glanced away. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry about what Ailis said. She and I have known each other for years, but now, well, my life has taken a different direction and…” His hand fell to his side, and he stared at the wall.

  Nierne waited for him to continue. Seconds ticked by. Caleb didn’t move. She tapped her fingers nervously against her leg. The silence dragged into minutes. Nierne stopped and frowned.

  Something was wrong. She hesitated, then took a step toward Caleb. He still didn’t move. “C-Caleb?” Nothing. She reached out and placed a finger on his arm. He didn’t react. The hair on her neck rose.

  Nierne stepped around him. His gaze was transfixed and unblinking, as if his mind were elsewhere. She waved a hand in front of his face. “Caleb?”

  Again, nothing.

  Her breath caught in her throat. Was he dead? She placed her hand near his mouth and felt warm air across her fingers. She let out a sigh. Thank the Word, no. Nierne looked back into his eyes. But then what was wrong with him?

  “Word, what do I do?” she whispered. The words came unbidden to her lips. Desperate, she clung to them. “Please, what is wrong with him?” Nierne grabbed his hand and tugged on it. “Come on, Caleb. Snap out of it—”

  His fingers suddenly closed around her hand. Nierne jumped. His eyes came back into focus. “Nierne?”

  “What happened?” She tried to pull her hand away.

  Caleb didn’t let go. He looked over her head. “Something is wrong.”

  “Something’s wrong? Yes, there’s something wrong!” Nierne tried to pull her hand away, but his grip was like steel. “You were in some kind of trance for minutes! What happened to you?”

  “I was?” He shook his head. “I don’t know. I… I feel something. In here.” He rubbed the area above his heart with his free hand.

  Nierne stared at him in horror. It was just like in the Temanin camp. He was going crazy again.

  “I felt it in the bathing pool, as well.” He looked at her then. Nierne shrank back. He didn’t seem to notice. “I need to go find…whatever this is. Stay here.” His fingers tightened aroun
d her hand, and he pulled her close. He stared down into her face, his nose only a couple of inches away. “Don’t go anywhere. Do you understand?”

  Nierne nodded, unable to take her eyes away from his.

  Caleb gave her hand a quick squeeze and let go. Nierne rubbed her hand and watched him cross the room toward the entryway. He opened the door and stepped out, closing the door behind him. Nierne just stood there. She could still feel the heat from his fingers, and his words echoed inside her mind: Something is wrong. And the look on his face…

  What should she do?

  28

  Caleb stood just outside his door where he had left Nierne. The hall was empty. Shadows spread across the white marble floor where the candlelight did not reach. Nothing stirred, not even the tapestries that hung along the walls. But there was something here, a person or thing he could not see.

  He placed a hand over his chest. It felt like invisible feelers were coming from his soul and probing the palace. He felt darkness and malevolence…and cold. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

  The hallway disappeared. A warm fog filled his mind. Life flowed around him, each presence he sensed as a wisp in the fog, barely distinguishable from another. Around him and through him these lives surged, touching a place deep inside his heart and melting away. But there was one presence, like a black boulder caught in the stream. It was strong, forcing the current to move around it. It was even drawing him to itself. Pulling, tugging…

  Caleb opened his eyes, and the fog evaporated.

  What in all the Lands was happening to him?

  He drew his hand away from his chest…and stopped. Caleb inhaled sharply. He brought his hand to his face and stared. The mark he had found on his palm a couple of weeks ago now glowed like a white-hot ember across his palm. What the sands?

  He closed his hand into a fist and glanced both ways. The hall was still empty. He let his breath out and sagged against the wall. No one had seen the light emanating from his palm.

  Word, what are You doing to me?

  Caleb waited. No answer came.

  He stepped away from the wall. The dark presence tugged at him, stronger. He glanced again at his hand, now in a tight fist. He did not believe in coincidences. Somehow his mark and the dark presence were connected. Perhaps were even being drawn to each other. Which meant one of two things: Either he followed the pull or he walked away from it. But he could not simply ignore it. The pull was too strong.

  Caleb closed his eyes and focused on the dark presence. He made his way mentally through the fog, past the lives surrounding him, past the other things clamoring for him. There, to his right.

  He let out his breath and opened his eyes. The hall came rushing back. He turned and looked down the hall in the direction he’d felt the dark presence. Investigate or run?

  He had never run from anything before. And he wouldn’t start now.

  With determined steps, Caleb followed the corridor. Small flames flickered in golden sconces, casting a soft, orange light along the marble floor. The air was warm and almost stifling. The black shirt he wore began to stick to his skin, and a bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face.

  The pull he felt now reminded him of the drive he’d felt months ago to find the woman with the glowing hand up north. However, this time the pull was different. Instead of warm and caressing, the tug almost overwhelmed him with its intense chill.

  What would he find at the end this time? Another woman with a glowing hand? Caleb laughed darkly. He highly doubted it.

  As he approached the corner to the next hall, the dark presence grew inside him: cold, stifling, suppressing, almost like a heavy stone had been laid across his chest. He rubbed the area and continued forward.

  Caleb turned at the corner and walked another twenty paces, passing by two doors, one on either side. He was nearing the private quarters of his cousin Corin. The presence was overwhelming now, pulsing unseen in the air around him. Somewhere nearby, in one of the rooms just beyond…

  Caleb frowned. He stopped and stared at the door ahead of him, seeing it for the first time. It was red, trimmed in gold, with a guard on either side of it. No, it couldn’t be. The presence couldn’t possibly be here—

  “Lord Tala, can we help you?”

  Caleb turned and looked at the guard who stood beside the door. “I’m…sorry?”

  “If you are looking for your cousin, his lordship Corin Tala is not here right now.”

  Caleb looked again at the door. There was no mistaking it—the dark presence lay just beyond his cousin’s door.

  But why? And how?

  He had to find out.

  Caleb nodded toward the guards and kept walking down the corridor. He had never broken into Corin’s quarters before. He’d never had a need to do so, and the risk had always been too high. But now he had a reason.

  At the end of the hall, he took the stairway down. A door to the gardens lay at the end of the corridor on the first floor. Caleb hurried to the door, bypassing a servant and another guard. The dark presence diminished in his mind the farther he went, and the weight across his chest lightened. He wrenched open the door and ran outside.

  The lights from the torches along the ramparts lit up the gardens. Gravel crunched beneath his boots as he followed a narrow path between the bushes and cypress trees. The air was warm and stagnant, pressing against his face and body.

  Caleb slowed as he approached the eastern side of the palace. He ducked behind a tree and studied the outer wall. Tall, arched windows lined both stories. All were dark, save two windows to the far right.

  Between the windows on the second floor stood a balcony. A faint light shone from the doorway that led inside from the balcony. The presence grew strong again, frigid and forceful.

  Caleb moved closer to get a better view of Corin’s balcony, using the trees and bushes to mask his presence. As he drew near, he realized there were no tree branches near the balcony. They had been cut away. Corin’s guards had done a good job. That would make reaching the balcony difficult, but not impossible.

  Caleb studied the wall, and something occurred to him: He hadn’t used his assassin skills in a couple of months, not since he had met the Word. He’d thought he was done with that life. And yet now he was going to employ some of those same skills against the very person who used to send him out on secret missions like this. Oh, the irony. He smiled.

  Caleb brought his mind back to the task. The wall was made of stone with small grooves in it. It looked like he could grab the edge of the balcony where it connected with the outer wall of the palace. He checked the ground. Clear. Good, he didn’t want to trip.

  Caleb took a deep breath, eyed the spot on the wall he would spring up from, and ran. His foot gripped the spot, and he pushed off the wall. His fingers found the edge of the balcony. Without losing stride, he lifted his other leg, caught the wall, and scrambled higher. He used the momentum to grab the railing with his free hand, brought his boot onto the balcony floor, twisted toward the railing, and was over it before he’d taken another breath.

  Caleb leaned against the wall, letting his heart return to its normal beat. A cool breeze rustled through the trees and bathed his face. He waited a moment longer then carefully turned and looked inside.

  The room was three times the size of his own quarters. Tall ceilings arched overhead. Thick tallow candles burned in lamp stands set on two low tables, casting a soft light on the long narrow red couches and gold trimmed sitting cushions gathered in the middle of the room.

  Behind the sitting area a fountain trickled gently into a round white marble pool. War banners and pictures of horses, encased in elaborate frames, hung on the walls. Two arched doorways stood on either side of the room. One led to Corin’s bedchambers and the other to his study.

  Caleb double-checked the room, studying the shadows and corners, but could see no one. Perhaps the pull he felt was not toward a human, but toward an object? Some talisman or artifact here in the r
oom? He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Could it be in one of the other rooms? Or maybe it was supposed to look ordinary. How would he find whatever this was? He closed his eyes. He felt no wisps.

  Only fog…and the dark presence.

  The faint swish of fabric brought him back. Caleb opened his eyes. A figure walked into the room. Sands, there actually was a person here! But why hadn’t he felt the person?

  He ducked back outside and listened. The swishing of fabric stopped. A moment later water splashed in the fountain. The heavy weight across his chest grew. The fabric rustled again.

  Should he wait or take a chance and walk in? He knew the figure was not Corin. But if it wasn’t his cousin, then who was in his rooms? One of his women, perhaps?

  “I know you’re there,” a feminine voice said. “You might as well come in, before I call the guards.”

  Caleb cursed softly under his breath. He could outrun the guards, but he might not have another chance at finding whatever this was. And he needed to know. Besides, he could handle any of Corin’s mistresses.

  He turned and held his hands up as he walked through the archway. “Fine, fine, you caught me—”

  Caleb stopped and stared at the couch. A woman slowly rose. He took in her slim form, the slits along her scarlet dress shifting, revealing long, beautiful legs. Her hair, the color of ebony, cascaded down to her waist, and her lips were full and red. She was stunning. He had never seen a woman like her.

  Wait. Yes, he had. Caleb narrowed his eyes. He had seen her with Corin that night, almost a year ago now, when he had returned from his assassination of Delshad.

  She slowly walked toward him. “Caleb Tala, what are you doing sneaking into Corin’s rooms?” Her gaze roved across his body.

  He looked into her face and lost his voice. Heat swirled throughout his body. Oh, yes, he remembered her now. She was the kind of woman a man would never forget.

  She gave a small laugh. “Forgive me, we have not been properly introduced. I’m Velyni, consort to your cousin, Lord Corin.” She stared at him with eyes so dark they looked black in the candlelight.

  Caleb worked his mouth. “Forgive me, Mistress Velyni. I came here looking for—” He stopped. The dark pull had become so strong he felt as though he were suffocating beneath it. His lungs constricted, and he could scarcely draw breath. A chill ran down his spine.