Metamorphosis by Decree by Brian Pigg

Author:Brian Pigg [Pigg, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781491799499
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 2016-10-17T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

Kate rode into the castle to significant fanfare. Men lined the gatehouse. Trumpets sounded. It all made Kate feel small and dirty. Her normally unruly hair had been tied back for the last two days and all of her robes were dirty.

As they rode to the castle’s main entrance there was a man in silver lined armor and black hair waiting for her, but the man was over shadowed by the regal woman standing next to him.

Kate felt frumpy as she compared herself to the tall dark haired woman in her beautiful red dress and the silver woven into her dark hair.

She wished she hadn’t agreed to come immediately. She wished she had at least had a bath. There was only one thing that surprised her as she dismounted: the priest attending the royal couple wasn’t from the Temple of Val.

“Holy Priestess!” The lord of the city called out. “Welcome to Chryselles.”

“The honor is mine, my lord,” Kate said as she made a perfunctory bow.

There was some question whether priests were supposed to bow to lay people. It was a long running argument, but Kate didn’t want to be arrogant. A bow wasn’t important. The duke’s support might be.

The duke turned to the lady in red, “My wife, Lady Athella.”

Kate bowed to her also.

“Holy Priestess, we are so excited to welcome you and your quest into our home. The market speaks of little other than your visitation and quest.” Lady Athella’s voice was perfect too; smooth and musical.

“Please call me Kate, my lady,” Kate said, “all my friends do.”

Athella looked like she had something else to say, but the duke turned Kate to the priest. Grand Priest Darrin was grinning impishly.

“I believe you know the Grand Priest?” The duke said.

“Yes, my lord,” Kate smiled happily, “Grand Priest Darrin was my selector at seminary. He taught me everything I know.”

The older man stepped forward and hugged her.

“My dear,” Darrin said, “I knew you were destined for something great.”

Kate blushed and turned to Athella. “I apologize for my appearance. I wish I had the ability to appear appropriately dressed for the occasion, but the exigencies of travel have made that difficult. I never expected to be received so grandly.”

“Why wouldn’t you be received grandly?” The duchess said, “You’re on a holy quest. I can’t think of anything more important. Please bring your friends in-there will be time before dinner to bathe.”

“Thank you,” Kate bowed again.

The duke led the group into the presence chamber and waved them to chairs. Bear seemed distracted by their reception, but Kate could tell there were a lot of women interested in him. She wrote off his distraction to that.

“We’ll wait here a few minutes priestess,” Lady Athella said, “as your rooms are being prepared.”

Kate introduced the others as they entered, “Bear you know already, this is Hestal, our mage, and T’azula, my bodyguard and friend.”

“T’azula? You’re southern aren’t you?” The duke asked conversationally. “I didn’t expect a southern to take on a holy quest.”

“No, my lord,” T’az shook her head.

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.