Kingpriest [3] Sacred Fire by Chris Pierson

Author:Chris Pierson [Pierson, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, General, Science Fiction, High Tech
ISBN: 9780786930364
Google: hS9vGwAACAAJ
Amazon: 0786930365
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Published: 2003-12-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

The MarSevrins supped together in the courtyard of Wentha’s manor, the night before the Kingpriest was due to leave for the Vaults. The food was sumptuous—shrimp and squid and rice spiced with saffron in the Pesaran style—but they ate little and barely tasted what they did. The servants smiled when they cleared away the leavings, for the leftovers were more than enough to make a good evening meal for themselves. Wentha dismissed them after they brought wine and water. The four conspirators sat quietly, staring into their goblets.

“You know,” said Rath, “this could well be the last time we ever sit together, all of us.”

“Rath!” Wentha exclaimed reprovingly.

“You shouldn’t speak that way,” Tancred insisted. “We’ve planned this out well. Idar’s sent his best men to help us. Nothing will go wrong.”

Cathan chuckled, grimly. “Those are cursed words. Men have spoken them all through history, and history is filled with failure.” He sighed. “Something always goes wrong, Tancred. We must hope it’s nothing big.”

Tancred looked about to argue, but instead glanced up at the stars shining down on the Lordcity. Cathan followed his gaze, picking out Ariddo the Valiant Warrior, Fino the Great Book, Croino the Vulture, Carno the Horned One… constellations patterned after the gods’ signs.

“I do wish you weren’t all going,” Wentha said. “I know Cathan has to, but—”

“Mother, we’ve been over this before,” said Tancred. “Even Idar’s best men aren’t completely trustworthy. Gods, Idar himself might put a dagger in the Kingpriest, first chance he gets. Rath and I need to be with them, if for no other reason than to keep them in line.”

Wentha bowed her head, sighing. “I understand that, Tancred. But I still don’t like the risk.”

Tancred shook his head, looking to Cathan, who leaned close. “She’s sending her sons and her brother off into danger,” Cathan whispered. “She’s allowed to worry.”

There was another silence, none of them wanting to speak, nor wishing to leave the table. Finally, Rath drained his goblet and set it down with a loud clack.

“We should go over the plan again,” he said. “Just to make sure.”

They’d done nothing but discuss the plan, it seemed to Cathan, in the day and a half since the Games. They knew what had to happen and when. There was precious little reason to discuss it again. But Rath was earnest, and Tancred willing, so Cathan let it go and finished his own wine with one long swallow.

“Beldinas and I are traveling to the Vaults, with an armed escort,” he said tonelessly. “Twenty Scatas and knights, according to Revando. Only he and I will enter the Vaults, and then we will do whatever we must to get the Peripas. Once we have the Disks, we’ll come out again, and you’ll be waiting ”

“We’ll already be there when the entourage arrives,” Tancred continued. “Idar and forty of his best men, as well as Rath and me. The land around the Vault is heavily wooded, and well also have these to help us stay out of sight.

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