The Seeds of Dissolution_Dissolution Cycle by William C. Tracy

Author:William C. Tracy [Tracy, William C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: space wizard, science fantasy symphony, dissolutionverse, space opera fantasy
Publisher: Space Wizard Science Fantasy
Published: 2017-12-18T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

An Unexpected Prisoner

-So little is known of the Aridori’s abilities that a thousand cycles after the last one was seen, people still ascribe new stories and powers to them. Examples include telepathy, moving through shadows, impersonating leaders, and disrupting transportation between the homeworlds. There is, of course, no evidence for any of this.

Excerpt from “A Dissertation on the Ten Species, Book XII”

Origon checked on Rilan several times the next morning, but she hadn’t gotten out of bed. Each time, she told him to go away, in a small, sad voice, like nothing he had heard from her before. He strained for some way to help.

It was nearly lunchtime when he knocked once more on the door to her room—Sam’s room.

“Go away.” The growl was still quiet, but this time it had a little of Rilan’s usual force behind it.

Coaxing was not working, and he tried a different tack. “We must be going back to find the apprentices.” Rilan’s sense of duty had dragged her through much over the cycles. It might get her through this.

“They’re lost. Dead,” Rilan said through the door. She sounded dead too, and Origon’s crest spiked in shock. This was not like her. He had never seen her so helpless.

“We will not be knowing until we look.” There was still a chance.

There was a heavy thump, and slow footsteps. The door creaked open enough for Origon to see one bloodshot eye.

“I’m through, Ori,” she said. “I have no power to make these choices any longer. The Council and the Effature made sure of that.”

Origon snorted. “When has their opinion ever meant anything to you?” Rilan was strong enough to have been Speaker for the Council, instead of Jhina, if its members hadn’t been arrayed against her.

Rilan’s eye considered him a moment. “The other councilors, yes. I can do without those blowhards.” The one eye squeezed shut. “But the Effature, Ori. He was there. He has never shown such disapproval. He thinks my tenure on the Council was a mistake.”

Origon almost spit out the first thing on his tongue, stopped. Then he cocked his head. Why not say it? It was true, or at least he had always believed it, and an angry Rilan was a Rilan in motion.

“Maybe it was.”

The eye indeed grew angry. Ah. She was still in there. He could get her moving again, get her out of the self-loathing she was trapped in.

“You are knowing my original opinion on your nomination.”

“You said I wasn’t ready.”

“I am proved correct.”

“For eleven cycles I have been on the Council, Ori.” The door opened more and Origon kept his crest neutral. “Some maji say I’m the best councilor for the House of Healing in two hundred cycles. I’ve proven again and again I know what I’m doing.” The door opened farther and Rilan took a step toward him. Origon suppressed a toothy smile and took a small step back.

“Were you simply proving yourself, the entire time?” he asked.

Rilan growled, stalking toward him, and Origon wondered if he might have gone a little too far.

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