Chelsea and Swindle by James K Pratt

Author:James K Pratt [Pratt, James K]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-10-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11 Home

When we got back to the orphanage, the strangest thing happened. Dirk got better. Dirk only said, “Swin visited me, and I woke up feeling well.”

I smiled and prepared food for him. Later, I got Swindle alone.

“So, Dirk wakes up better without help of a priest?” I asked.

“He’s just lucky, I guess,” Swin said.

“You spoke to Ash while I got ichor from the undead creature.”

Swin nodded.

“You knew she might have something that could help Dirk.”

He nodded again. “It was a guess actually.”

I felt there was more to this. “You’re the reason Dirk got sick, right? The words of the priest who came said Dirk was cursed because he ‘helped a follower of an illegal god.’”

“Yes, I think I’m the reason Dirk got sick.”

“But why didn’t the gods make you sick and not him?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they can’t.”

“But then why are you a big deal? What did you do?”

“Nothing…I’ve done nothing, yet.”

I stared at him. Swindle said nothing for a while. “Has this God shown any interest in you?”

“Something came to me one night. It told me it wanted to return to its people, but first the other fake gods had to be taken away. Whatever it was glowed like the sun in my room.”

“That’s not just one of the illegal gods but the illegal god.”

“I think the gods are evil. This God is not.”

“So, you should have turned it down anyway.” I sat down on the floor and chose my next words carefully. “If something were to happen to you…”

Swin nodded. “I wanted to turn it down, but it said it saw the good in me.”

“Good in you? I’ve seen you pick your nose. Swin, you have to think this through. Other people still might get hurt. And what does it want from you?”

“To bring about the destruction of the usurpers—the gods.”

“Get out of this relationship.”

“I can’t do that.”

I looked in Swin’s eyes and saw he was serious, but I hoped he’d see reason. The gods cursed Dirk, but not Swin. That I found strange, but the gods never made full sense.

But I also had other worries. Tuk. He’d been leaving the orphanage. I wondered what he was up to.

One day I saw him sitting in Philosophers’ Square listening to the men debate one another. These were mostly old men in their retirement years, such as generals and logographers, with a few young students in between.

Tuk was the only goblin who sat and listened. There were other goblins, but they were working in the square. One was selling dried fruit, and none seemed to be paying attention to the philosophical discourse.

I sat there as I always did, but I did not invade Tuk’s space. It was Tuk who came to me. “My father would speak like them. Speaking is a weapon too. Speak right, speak smart, and you can make an enemy look silly.”

“Is everything about fighting to you?”

“With the right word you can get everything you want. So yes, it’s a fight, especially if you’re a goblin.

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