Gorinthians (58 page)

“
If you ever attack me
again, you will not live to repeat the mistake,” Thistledown
instructed him in the same conversational tone. “While we are
communicating so well, I will explain exactly who I am and where my
authority came from. You are a member of a very secret society, one
that I started to avoid this kind of confusion. When I give you a
certain sign, you invite me to your councils, listen to my
suggestions and do your best to accommodate me however possible.
You obviously did not take your vows very seriously. Normally, I
would kill you, but because we need you so much right now, you are
going to live. However, if you continue to suffer from this
incessant stupidity, I will find someone to replace you. Is that
understood?”

“
Yes!” Captain Kerns
gasped, his face contorted in pain.

“
Good,” Thistledown
released him and he crashed to the floor. He lay quivering for a
moment before pushing himself up and sitting in his chair. Princess
Sentina sat white-faced, glancing back and forth between Morindessa
and Thistledown. Lendel wondered what Morindessa had said to her
the previous night.

Lochnar had a faint smile on
his harsh face. Lendel was sure the tall Talon would have killed
the belligerent Captain had the man attacked him. Riah also had a
faint smile on her face. He wondered if he were missing something.
Morindessa just looked coldly satisfied.

There was a polite knock on
the door, followed by a servant in palace livery. “The nobles are
assembled, my lady,” he told Princess Sentina with a
bow.

“
Shall we?” Riah asked with
a small smile. “I would hate to keep the Lords and Ladies
waiting.”

Thistledown grinned his
feral grin. “Oh no, definitely not.”

Lendel rose slowly, sharing
a glance with his sister as they began making their way to the
large hall next to them. The two of them seemed almost contemptuous
of nobles. Lendel had thought people held nobles in great
respect.

The throne room was full of
loud echoes as the nobles, who now filled the large hall, chatted
loudly with each other. Lendel made his way to his seat in the
honorary guest section beside the throne. The nobles slowly stopped
talking as the strange group sat down as honorary guests. Lendel
studied them with as much interest as they studied him. Their eyes
were cold and calculating and studied the strange group with a
predator’s curiosity. Lendel scanned the front row of nobles, his
eyes trying to take in all of the strange clothing. Most of the
nobles wore velvet slippers with bells on the tops. The lords were
decorated in finely stitched coats with emblems of their houses on
their chests. The ladies were covered in lacy dresses that cinched
beneath their breasts to fan out to their feet.

Lendel jerked his eyes back
to a man he had just scanned on the first row, staring at him hard.
The man was dressed much the same as the other nobles around him,
but his eyes were a light brown color, tinged with orange. His face
was clean-shaven and completely untouched by age. Lendel recognized
the man. He was the same man had been in his dream that
morning.

Chapter 31

Celdic watched the growing
cluster of nobles with a certain sense of unease. There was a
dissonance in the room he could not put his finger on. It was
almost like an itch on his back he could not reach. Glancing at his
companions, Celdic tried to determine if he was alone in his
discomfort. Thistledown’s face was taut with concentration, but it
had been for the past several days. Li and Cha’le seemed completely
mesmerized by the bright display of aristocrats arrayed before
them. Jalorm was preoccupied with Seranova, trying to engage her in
a conversation she seemed unwilling to support. She was more
interested in studying the large marble colonnades that supported
the domed ceiling above them to pay any attention to Jalorm. Lendel
was staring intently at one of the nobles in the front row, his
eyes alight with recognition. He turned to study the man who
appeared to fascinate Lendel. The man was tall, even sitting down.
He had powerful shoulders and a clean-shaven face. His dark hair
reached just above his eyes. Celdic frowned as he studied the man’s
strange eyes. They were a light brown color, with a strong band of
orange around the pupil. He could not tell how old the man was. The
sense of dissonance seemed to be originating from him. It almost
seemed that the dissonance was between the two of them. There was
also something familiar about the way the man’s resonance
felt.

Celdic glanced behind him
when he heard a low, growling sound. Lochnar was staring around the
large hall with hate burning in his eyes. A moment later, he
vanished completely. There was a gasp from the assorted nobles.
Riah stood up, her eyes as hard as agates, staring straight at the
man with the strange eyes. There was nothing beautiful about the
way she was glaring at the tall noble.

Princess Sentina glanced
toward the honorary guest section nervously as the tension in the
room began to escalate. She made an impatient gesture to a
bluff-faced servant that stood at the dais with a tall, wooden
staff. The servant immediately pounded the staff on the floor
several times. The nobles slowly quieted, half of them staring at
Riah as she continued glaring pure hate at the strange-eyed
noble.

The man with the
orange-tinged eyes seemed oblivious to any tension in the room, and
instead watched Princess Sentina attentively. The dissonance was
beginning to make Celdic feel queasy.

“
What’s the matter?” Li
whispered in concern. “You’re as white as a sheet.”

“
I’m not sure,” Celdic
replied uncertainly. “Something feels strange.”

The servant with the staff
pounded it against the floor again before stepping forward to
address the audience.

“
My lords and ladies,” he
began pompously, “we are honored to have her Highness, Princess
Sentina, as our first speaker today.” Turning, the bluff-faced
servant bowed deeply. “My lady.”

Princess Sentina slowly rose
to her feet, hiding all traces of the nervousness that she had
shown earlier. He was impressed with how well she maintained her
emotions. He felt as if his skin was stretched taut around his body
as he searched the crowd before them. Why had Lochnar disappeared
like that? Was it because of the strange-eyed noble? Celdic could
only think of one person who might cause Lochnar to react that way;
Jerard.

“
My fellow lords and
ladies,” Princess Sentina opened grandly, “I am honored to address
you. It brings me great sorrow to announce the death of his grace,
the late Duke Teran. He served this great nation with honor and
integrity. His presence will be missed.”

There were many gasps and a
few cries in the audience at Princess Sentina’s announcement.
Celdic wondered how many people had known his father. The
orange-eyed man wore a small smile, as if he found something
amusing.

“
Duke Teran’s son will be
assuming his father’s responsibilities,” Princess Sentina
continued. “I hope you can welcome him to this court with the same
warmth with which you welcomed his father.” She finished with a
grand gesture toward Celdic.

The nobles turned as one to
stare at Celdic in a mixture of curiosity and interest. Thistledown
had warned Celdic about this part of the ceremony. Trying to hide
his nervousness, Celdic stood up and slowly walked over to the
golden circle from which Princess Sentina had addressed the
audience. When he looked down at the audience, he found
orange-tinged eyes filled with hate, staring up at him. Celdic
unconsciously took a step back from the sheer animal fury in the
man’s eyes.

The man slowly rose to his
feet, his hate-filled gaze locked on Celdic’s face. “My lord’s and
ladies, I must intercede, on humanity’s behalf,” he declaimed in a
loud voice. “The youth you see standing before you is not even
human, but a filthy mixture of another race. As you can see from
looking at his companions, he is not alone in his impurity. He has
surrounded himself with half-breeds and mongrels of other races.
Would you have one of your own, a noble of this great nation, make
a mockery of our court? As a noble of this great nation, it is my
duty to stand and denounce such an act. Do any of my fellow nobles
have the courage to support what is right?”

There was an instant uproar
in the great hall, with almost every noble shouting in outrage.
Celdic stood uncertainly in the circle of light, glancing
questioningly at Thistledown. The little man stood and casually
walked over to stand next to Celdic. “I did not expect to see you
here, Jerard,” Thistledown said loudly, his voice drowning out that
of the crowd. “I see that you are still the puritan that falls back
on racial slurs when a real purpose eludes you.”

“
And I see that you are
still the same ignorant fool, Terrance,” Jerard stared at
Thistledown with a burning hate that made his earlier perusal of
Celdic seem friendly. “I can’t tell you how much I have looked
forward to this moment, but I am sure you will understand
soon.”

Celdic felt a surge
of
yara
so
powerful his knees buckled from the concussion. He could sense
millions of hair-thin tendrils shooting out from the ground beneath
all of the nobles, wrapping themselves intricately around the
Tramnel of the stupefied aristocrats. The same tendrils shot up
from the ground beneath Celdic and his companions, but they seemed
unable to grasp anything. There was a deafening roar from where
Ferrich stood, followed by a channel of devastation that blasted
through the stone floor until it connected to Jerard. The blast
died abruptly when it hit Jerard. Celdic could sense the invisible
barrier that Jerard had erected.

Jerard shook his head
disdainfully. “Your teacher would be disappointed.”

Ferrich let out a scream of
pure agony. Celdic realized he had his sword in his hand, though he
did not remember unsheathing it. Ferrich’s scream abruptly cut off
and he dropped limply to the floor. Celdic had not felt anything
from Jerard or Thistledown, but he could tell by the intensity on
their faces a battle was waging beneath what he could sense that
dwarfed what his eyes revealed. The very air around them seemed to
dance with energy. Morindessa ran toward Ferrich when he fell. As
soon as she saw that he was still alive, she vanished. Celdic could
still sense her with his
yar
. She was using a Light
Curtain.

The hall filled with
complete pandemonium as the nobles screamed in panic, unable to
move. Several of the ladies were slumped, having fainted where they
stood. Celdic almost envied them. Where had Lochnar
gone?

A shrill scream rent the air
and Morindessa suddenly appeared behind Jerard, thrashing wildly as
if she were a rag doll being shaken by a giant. Almost immediately,
however, Jerard flew backward twenty paces, his face covered in
blood. Riah had materialized where he had been standing, looking
like a great vengeful cat. She bent over Morindessa for a brief
moment before continuing her advance on Jerard. Thistledown’s face
was haggard from the unseen struggle. Celdic had a feeling that if
Thistledown died, the rest of them would soon follow.

“
Lendel, we need to do
something!” Celdic said urgently. “If we all attack at once, it
might distract him enough for Thistledown to finish
him.”

Li and Lori walked over to
where Celdic stood, their faces resolute. Cha’le passed Lendel,
grabbing his hand as she made her way toward them. Her eyes widened
in surprise when he did not budge.

“
Lendel, come on!” Cha’le
said insistently.

“
What if we are wrong?”
Lendel said slowly. “What if we are on the wrong side?”

“
How can you say that?” Li
demanded in exasperation. “Look what he is doing to your
friends!”

“
He is defending himself,”
Lendel replied calmly. “He has not attacked any of us that have not
first attacked him. I know this sounds crazy, but I do not think he
will attack us if we don’t attack him.”

Celdic stared at Lendel in
astonishment. What was the matter with him? Had he lost his mind?
Or was Jerard somehow controlling him? Celdic shook his head
roughly to clear his thoughts. “Fine then, we will fight him
without you.”

Turning toward Jerard,
Celdic started walking slowly toward his father’s enemy. Questions
kept racing through his mind as he closed in on the orange-eyed
man, though. Why did he call Thistledown by the name of
Terrance?

Riah stood in front of
Jerard, her face covered in sweat, neither of them moving a muscle.
Celdic could sense some of the things Riah was doing to Jerard. One
moment, a harmonic note would begin that Celdic could feel rather
than hear, only to be squashed by Jerard. A white-hot flame burst
beneath Riah, but somehow she remained unharmed. Jerard’s eyes
widened in surprise, however, when the flame failed to affect her.
The moment of surprise was all that Riah needed. Before Jerard
could back up, Riah buried a dagger in his chest to the
hilt.

Jerard gasped and blood
rushed out of his mouth. A moment later, he straightened, glaring
in fury at Riah. The knife was no longer in his chest. He had not
pulled it out of his chest; it was just no longer there. Celdic was
halfway between Jerard and Thistledown. He looked down at the sword
in his hands doubtfully. If a dagger to the heart did not kill him,
what would a sword do?