William Wilde and the Stolen Life by Davis Ashura

Author:Davis Ashura [Ashura, Davis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DuSum Publishing, LLC
Published: 2018-06-18T06:00:00+00:00

Choices.

In nine-year-old Selene’s mind, the notion of choices, of choosing for herself, was as foreign a concept as a cow with hands. It might be funny, but what would a cow do with hands?

Maybe it would make it easier for them to shove grass in their mouths?

Selene mentally shrugged. She didn’t know, and she didn’t care. Choices were for big people, like the Servitor. Little girls like her could only do as they were told, like fetch William Wilde, the new raha’asra.

Madam had asked Selene to bring him to Village Bliss to help her restore the dhow. Of course, Selene had done as she was told, and the two of them rode the rusted bicycles the Servitor maintained for such journeys on the Great Way. While they traveled, she tried to study William, eyeing him sidelong and hoping he wouldn’t notice.

What a strange man, she decided. Not a mahavan or drone. Maybe a shill or a bishan?

Selene frowned, trying to figure out William’s status. On Sinskrill, status meant everything. Those with greater status were better people, and those with less were obviously worse people. It was the core of Lord Shet’s teachings.

Selene continued frowning, and eventually decided that William must be an enigma.

She drew herself up in pride.

Enigma. A word Selene had discovered while sweeping the Servitor’s Library as part of her duties, serving the holy man who was also her father. Enigma. A good word. It described William Wilde perfectly.

She gave a firm nod. Yes, that’s what he was.

“How old are you?”

William’s voice startled her, not because he’d spoken but because of its curious, friendly tone. Only Madam ever spoke to her like that. “I’m nine. Sir,” she added a beat later in case she was wrong about his status.

“William,” he said with a smile.

Selene’s puzzlement deepened. Whenever there was no one else around, Madam smiled at her like that. Warm and kind. Every time she did, it caused Selene’s belly to tremble and made her eyes blurry with tears. She didn’t understand what her reaction meant, but she knew the smile was something between only her and Madam.

William was someone else. He was a stranger, an enigma. Again, she puffed with pride at knowing the word. Selene’s bike hit a pothole and almost sent her over the handlebars, but she quickly regained control of it.

“Are you okay?” William asked.

Selene flushed and gave a brief bob of her head. She’d have to be more careful with her riding, but thankfully, she and William were alone. No one had witnessed her near disaster.

Moments later, despite her decision to pay more attention to her riding, Selene’s thoughts drifted again. She stared at the strange raha’asra, wondering what he wanted from her. Everyone wanted something—another of Shet’s teachings. Everyone other than Madam.

So what did William Wilde want?

“Your name is Selene, right?” he asked, still wearing a smile.

Selene nodded, still puzzled by his behavior. He spoke to her like Madam, like she meant something to him even though she was only a drone.

Why?

“Yes, sir,” she said in reply to William’s question.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.