Deryni Rising by Katherine Kurtz

Author:Katherine Kurtz
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3

CHAPTER EIGHT

Things are not what they seem.

UNBELIEVINGLY, Morgan leaned down to inspect the face of the corpse more closely. But even without closer scrutinization, it was obvious that the body was not Brion's. The face he had uncovered was that of a very old man, bearded and grey. Some long-dead king or relative, perhaps, but not Brion.

Considerably shaken, Morgan straightened and pulled the silk back into place, then leaned both hands against the edge of the sepulcher and shook his head uncomprehendingly. He still could not believe what he had seen.

"Well," he finally said in a flat, dull tone, "what we've just seen is impossible, but there it is. Kelson, are you certain this is where your father was interred?"

Kelson nodded slowly. "I watched them seal the body into this sepulcher. It is the right one."

Duncan folded his arms across his chest in concentration and brought one hand up to rub his foreheadwearily. "Well, it looks as if we're going to have to accept the fact that we now have the wrong body. Does anyone recognize this man?"

His companions both shook their heads.

"AH right, then," he continued, half thinking out loud. "Let's try to approach this from a slightly different angle. Given: Kelson saw Brion's body being sealed into'this sepulcher, but now that body is not Brion's. Given: guards have been posted outside the crypt around the clock since before the interment. Hypothesis : it would be very difficult, given those circumstances, to have taken the body out of the crypt without someone noticing. Does that suggest anything to you?"

Morgan nodded. "I see what you're driving at. Possible conclusion: Brion's body is quite conceivably still within the crypt somewhere, but hidden-in another sepulcher, one of the wall niches, perhaps. We just have to find it."

Kelson had been following the exchange with rapt attention, but now he shifted uneasily, "I don't mean to be pessimistic, but suppose someone did take him out. I mean, if we got in and no one will know we were here, maybe someone else has already done it."

"He's right, you know," Duncan sighed, leaning dejectedly against the next sarcophagus. "If Charissa's responsible, for example, she could have done it.

And if she did, you know where that leaves us."

Morgan pursed his lips in concentration, then shook his head. "No, I don't think Charissa had anything to do with it. She'd have no reason to suspect the body was important to us. We didn't even know until this afternoon. But, Jehana-now, there's another story altogether. She's so worried over my alleged hold on Brion, she might have had the body moved just on the chance I might try to influence him after death. I must say, she overestimates my powers considerably."

"Then you think the body is still here, in the crypt somewhere?" Duncan asked.

"I think we'll have to operate on that premise," Morgan replied. "Other than that, we haven't got any alternatives. So I suggest we get to work."

At Duncan's nod of agreement, Morgan took a lighted taper from the candelabrum Kelson had brought and handed it to the boy.

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