A Place Among the Fallen (Omaran Saga Book 1) by Adrian Cole

Author:Adrian Cole [Cole, Adrian]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Published: 2014-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

14

THE HIEROPHANTS

Wargallow had never felt quite so vulnerable in his life before, and yet he had anticipated this shift in power. It was as if he had been dismissed by the two men of Ternannoc, commanded to remove himself from the debate that was to follow. But he had already made his mind up not to accept that. The Preserver’s fear, something he had only dared hope might exist, was going to unhinge him, and if it did, Wargallow would not be caught up in the fall. Yet he still had certain motions to go through.

‘Remember the girl,’ he told Korbillian. ‘My instructions to my men were very explicit.’

Korbillian’s expression did not change. ‘You see me as an enemy, one who has come to destroy you. I hope to show you otherwise. Grenndak, how much of your past have you told Wargallow and your servants?’

‘Very little,’ said the Preserver softly. ‘But if you have not come to destroy me—”

‘Then it is time to disclose the history of what happened to our world.’ Korbillian sat down again, apparently at ease. He was expecting no attack, no rush of guards. ‘Well, Wargallow, you hold Sisipher’s life in your hands. I have no wish to see her die. But will you listen to the story of Ternannoc?’

This was what Wargallow wanted to learn above all else, but he turned to Grenndak. Suddenly the old man’s eyes widened and a wild gleam came into them. He sat up, pointing. Fire flared around his hand. ‘No!’ he hissed. ‘Silence him, if you can. He speaks against the Abiding Word.’

Wargallow turned with caution. Which of them would prove the stronger? He had to know. ‘The girl dies if you harm us.’

‘If she dies, I will raze this tower and all in it,’ said Korbillian acidly, ‘and every Deliverer that draws breath will die before the next dawn breaks.’ Wargallow was surprised by the venom in a man who had until now seemed far too mild to make such a threat.

Grenndak’s mouth worked almost imbecilically. ‘Is this the man who stood before us and preached peace?’

‘Your master,’ Korbillian told Wargallow, ‘is from my own world, Ternannoc. Unlike Omara, Ternannoc was a world where everyone had power. The high and the low. Everyone. Even the animals and the growing things. Is that not so, Grenndak?’

Grenndak did not answer and so Wargallow gently prompted him. If this was true! A whole world!

‘Yes,’ admitted the Preserver at last. ‘All had power.’

‘Most powerful of all were the Hierarchs,’ went on Korbillian, and he explained something of their great powers and of their workings. ‘There were no gods on Ternannoc, and no rulers in the usual sense, although countries had their leaders and their councils. The Hierarchs and their powers were available to everyone, in spite of their independence. It was their first law, to help those in difficulty. They considered themselves above the rest of the world, and there were those of Ternannoc who whispered that the Hierarchs had assumed the role of gods.

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