The Temple by Cameron Mitchell

Author:Cameron Mitchell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Publication Consultants

He awoke feeling strange. It couldn’t be called better, but it was certainly less bad. He found he could sit up. “I think I preferred the girl, honestly,” he said. It hurt to speak. “Hello?”

His corner was large enough for maybe six people to lie side by side. What had the man called it? The sicky corner. Seems appropriate. The man in question pulled open the curtain a moment later. “Ah, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“Wondrous what a good night’s sleep does for you. Can I have something to eat?”

“I’ll get you something here in a bit.”

“Thank you. Where are we?”

“Common house. My name’s Leon. Yours?”

“Nolan.”

“I’ll get you some food, Nolan.”

He left. Nolan didn’t like Leon; the niceness he exuded seemed very artificial.

Leon brought soup, and Nolan ate it. He wasn’t as badly hurt as he’d thought the previous night. He could eat, he could move, he could bathe and dress himself. On the second day Nolan decided to try and walk, and found he could, albeit with a limp. He hobbled across the commons and asked Leon for lunch.

So Nolan spent the next week in the common house, getting better little by little. He devoted a few hours each day to walking, working out his injured muscles. At the back of his mind there was always a plan. Or the beginnings of one, at least. Dar had had him beaten within an inch of his life, and he would pay for that.

Somehow. Nolan was still a bit fuzzy on the details.

On the fourth day, as Nolan made his way from one end of the house to the other, he met Leon in one of the back hallways. “What’s the matter,” he asked, “no customers?”

“Funny,” Leon said. Since Nolan had been brought to Leon’s care, he’d seen two actual patrons. Both had since left.

Nolan winked at him. “I thought so.”

“How are the legs?”

“Better, thank you. Still painful. Have you ever been set on fire?”

“Regretfully no.”

“Ah, shame. It feels a little bit like that.”

“Is that what happened to you?” Leon asked. “Did someone set you on fire?”

They walked into the main living area. Leon steered their course toward the kitchen, something Nolan found he approved of. Walking was hungry work.

“Something like that.”

Leon looked at Nolan, his eyes full of disapproval. That was irritating. What did this man have that made him think he could be disapproving? Leon owned a second rate inn that made less money a day than the beggars working the Cordalis slums. Nolan decided then and there he wasn’t going to pay him his money.

“Nolan, you can tell me.” Leon coughed into his hand. Nolan frowned.

“I lost a fight. That’s all there is to the story. Can we just drop it?”

“All right, fair enough.” The proprietor reached into his pocket and withdrew a packet of self-rolled cigarettes. Nolan declined his. He didn’t feel like smoking.

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