The Priest by Chris Eisenlauer

Author:Chris Eisenlauer [Eisenlauer, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2017-09-06T23:00:00+00:00

LORD MURDER

Despite the hour, the streets were noisier than when Phaeax had set out. Chaos and panic continued to prevail, and the bodies went unnoticed or ignored. There could be no question that the Lunatic God would snap his chains very soon now. Phaeax didn’t care. It didn’t matter. It changed nothing. And, more importantly, it had no impact on his mood, darkened by what he could not have.

He pushed through the temple gate, closed it behind him to silence the clamor, and passed through the open foyer into the yard that housed the mana tree. On a stone bench beneath the softly creaking boughs, he found Tenes with his bottle.

Tenes perked up at Phaeax’s presence. “You still want that drink?”

“If you can spare it.”

“I can.”

Tenes held the bottle out. Phaeax took it, drank from it.

“Never seen numbers move like they did today,” Tenes said.

“Well, these are the Last Times.”

“Yes, yes they are. Still, not sure exactly what I saw in Karm’s temple.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re awfully good at what you do, Phaeax.”

Phaeax snorted. “You trained me, Tenes.”

Tenes’s eyes sparkled. “Did I?”

Phaeax scoffed. “You’re drunk, old friend.”

“Who are you?” Tenes said.

“What do you mean? Tenes, you’ve known me since I was twelve years old. I’ve lived inside these walls ever since, learning everything you’ve had to teach.”

“It’s true,” Tenes said. “You entered this temple fifteen years ago. You devoted yourself to your training and advanced quickly and believably because of that devotion. Even so, no one in the history of the priesthood, besides you, ever received the black cassock in ten years. No one has ever done what you did today. So tell me: Who are you?”

Phaeax shrugged, shook his head, but couldn’t bring himself to break away from Tenes’s penetrating gaze.

Tenes just stared, his eyes still sparkling enigmatically. Finally, he started again. “A long time before you were . . . born there was an adjunct god who served death. He had a cult of killers who were a match for any priesthood. He was called Lord Murder and he operated according to his own code or to flippant whim, no one ever knew which. Maybe they were same. I guess it doesn’t matter.

“Lord Murder was legendary. Unbeatable. But one day, he just disappeared. All his cultists turned up dead. As he was an adjunct god, there were no tallies to check with the Divine Accountants, so there was no way to confirm one way or the other if he was really gone. Eventually, people forgot about him. His legend faded, just like everything else once we entered into the Last Times.”

Phaeax shook his head again. “Tenes, why are you telling me about Lord Murder?”

Tenes chuckled, reached for the bottle in Phaeax’s hand, retrieved it, and took a drink.

“Why . . . When I was a boy, twelve, just like you were when you entered the priesthood, I saw him once. This was before the Six Gods of War ruined everything, when just about everybody felt about Nox the way Kesh did.

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