Chosen by Ted Dekker

Author:Ted Dekker
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3, epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Inc.
Published: 2010-03-19T07:00:00+00:00

fifteen

The valley of the Horde, deep in the western desert, lay silent in the morning light. Qurong dipped his fingers in a bowl of porridge, sucked the slop from his hand, and wiped the residue on his white bed-robe. Purple drapes divided his eating chamber from the cooking tent. Bronze statues of the winged bats called Shataiki occupied every corner—at the priest’s insistence. This religion of his gave Qurong a chill, and truthfully, he didn’t know why.

“Take this away,” he growled. He took a swig of beer—the only drink he trusted anymore.

The cook came in with his head bowed, took the bowl off the table, and shuffled off into the adjoining room. Qurong had left Barok, his regular cook, back in the city and brought this slug, who was better fit to feed horses than humans.

The traitor had made good on his word, beginning with the insertion of spies into the forests: Horde who were forced to bathe in the lakes so that they looked like the Forest Dwellers until their mission was over and they could turn back to a more agreeable Horde state. And if they had any doubts about returning to the Horde, they would have to contend with the deaths of their families. This insurance had been the traitor’s idea, and it worked well. Evidently a man’s appetite for his family strengthened after bathing in the cursed lakes. Weakness, but weakness that played to Qurong’s favor.

One such spy had watched the game Thomas had forced on his people—something called “football,” played with a Horde-hair ball. The spy had informed them that four recruits had been sent on a mission. But he was interested only in the marked one, and then only because the traitor and that cursed priest had insisted that this one runt could play an important role in the war against the forests.

A rap sounded on the frame of his tent.

“Come.”

The traitor stepped in first, followed by Tulong, the colonel he’d placed in charge of the prisoner who’d escaped during the night. The traitor preferred to wear his hood over his head at all times, in part because he was still growing his hair long enough for locks.

“You called us,” Tulong said.

“What is this? You have no respect for authority?”

“Forgive me. This new order is just . . . new.”

The new order he was speaking of was something the traitor had suggested, putting the army under a system not so different from the way the Forest Guard ran things.

“Yes, well, get used to it.” Qurong spit. “I was told you lost our prisoner in the middle of the night. Tell me I’ve heard wrong.”

Tulong hesitated.

“One simpleton in your grasp and he’s gone?”

“Yes.”

“Sir.”

“Yes, sir,” Tulong said.

“And have you discovered who took this young fighter?”

“Not yet.”

“And why not? There’s no trail?”

“They dragged the body. But then the marks vanished.”

“Just vanished? I would guess it’s your investigative skill that has vanished.”

Tulong didn’t react. His heartless demeanor makes him a good officer, Qurong thought. No reason to expect any feeling from him.

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