Read Online Temple of the Traveler: Book 02 - Dreams of the Fallen by Scott Rhine - Free Book Online
Authors: Scott Rhine
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happily when the maid came in after sunrise.
Chapter 7 – Question Two
Tashi felt disoriented. Once again he stood on the plateau in the City of the Gods. He could see faint outlines of objects in the dim, silvery-blue light coming from the top of the staircase. Archanon now stood to his right. Sensing his confusion, the archfiend, in the form of his mercenary friend, explained, “One answer per day. I’m asked to remind you that, at any time you wish, you can elect to leave the Mountain.” He seemed colder, more reserved.
“What aren’t you telling me?” asked Tashi.
“Quite a lot,” remarked Archanon. “Most of it would melt your brain.”
“By my calculations there should be at least two more kingdoms. What happened to them?” said Tashi.
“Is that your second question?”
HNo. But you didn’t specify your crime. Its nature would be highly relevant to my ability to trust you. I was wondering if it had anything to do with killing off all the people in those kingdoms.”
“Why should gods care about killing humans?”
“You claimed to be our friend. I’m just checking the consistency of your answers. The two concepts don’t jibe,” Tashi pressed.
“You’ve no idea what Eutheron did to them, the forbidden biological experiments she performed. Some would count my actions a mercy.”
“But what did killing her kingdom do to the immortal?” Tashi asked.
“Limited certain higher functions,” the archfiend said, clearly uncomfortable. “Do you wish to select another representative from the Council?”
“No,” the sheriff said immediately. “What does a mortal care what gods inflict on each other?”
They sat in tense silence while Tashi pondered. The necessity for indirection hampered him. His mind kept returning to what he learned from his encounter with the goddess Semenos. He wanted to find out more about why Kiateros had been allowed to ascend.
Archanon squirmed uneasily as the sheriff thought. As if compelled by another, the archfiend said, “The stairway before you, as you must have guessed, leads to the other realm.” He looked at the silvery light for a moment and added. “If you stop now, the gods will allow you to cross the threshold and reside with them as one of the lesser Ascended. You’d have no need to ask about what you could see plainly for yourself.”
Tashi shook his head. “I’ve gone too far to turn back now.”
Had the fiend answered his unspoken question about the service performed by Kiateros? Had the dwarf artificer built the Stairs? Could the fiend hear his very thoughts?
Archanon paused until the last question and replied, “Precisely.”
The clarity of the reply startled Tashi. He struggled to make sense of previous word choices in this context. What did the shape-shifter want him to see for himself? How could the silent communication channel be used to his advantage?
After a dizzying examination of the possible wheels-within-wheels, he decided to put his fate in Archanon’s hands. If this didn’t work out, Tashi still had one more question. “My master has long suspected that the Traveler’s kept a secret from us about his own origins. Question two: tell me everything you think I need to know about why and how Calligrose is different from the other immortals.”
The archfiend pretended to examine a hangnail as he replied. “Calligrose’s told you all he wishes you to know in his writings. The rest is probably both personal and irrelevant.”
Tashi warmed to the game. There was something obscure in the sacred writings, a clue. “I’m a religious zealot; we thrive on the personal and irrelevant.”
“Calligrose has loved and protected your kind more than any of the Dawn race. To us, he is unique because of his incredible instinct for the flow of mana. He can detect it, disrupt it, harness it like no other. One day, Calligrose let slip as a casual observation that when Osos made the first gate, he accidentally created all the
Chapter 7 – Question Two
Tashi felt disoriented. Once again he stood on the plateau in the City of the Gods. He could see faint outlines of objects in the dim, silvery-blue light coming from the top of the staircase. Archanon now stood to his right. Sensing his confusion, the archfiend, in the form of his mercenary friend, explained, “One answer per day. I’m asked to remind you that, at any time you wish, you can elect to leave the Mountain.” He seemed colder, more reserved.
“What aren’t you telling me?” asked Tashi.
“Quite a lot,” remarked Archanon. “Most of it would melt your brain.”
“By my calculations there should be at least two more kingdoms. What happened to them?” said Tashi.
“Is that your second question?”
HNo. But you didn’t specify your crime. Its nature would be highly relevant to my ability to trust you. I was wondering if it had anything to do with killing off all the people in those kingdoms.”
“Why should gods care about killing humans?”
“You claimed to be our friend. I’m just checking the consistency of your answers. The two concepts don’t jibe,” Tashi pressed.
“You’ve no idea what Eutheron did to them, the forbidden biological experiments she performed. Some would count my actions a mercy.”
“But what did killing her kingdom do to the immortal?” Tashi asked.
“Limited certain higher functions,” the archfiend said, clearly uncomfortable. “Do you wish to select another representative from the Council?”
“No,” the sheriff said immediately. “What does a mortal care what gods inflict on each other?”
They sat in tense silence while Tashi pondered. The necessity for indirection hampered him. His mind kept returning to what he learned from his encounter with the goddess Semenos. He wanted to find out more about why Kiateros had been allowed to ascend.
Archanon squirmed uneasily as the sheriff thought. As if compelled by another, the archfiend said, “The stairway before you, as you must have guessed, leads to the other realm.” He looked at the silvery light for a moment and added. “If you stop now, the gods will allow you to cross the threshold and reside with them as one of the lesser Ascended. You’d have no need to ask about what you could see plainly for yourself.”
Tashi shook his head. “I’ve gone too far to turn back now.”
Had the fiend answered his unspoken question about the service performed by Kiateros? Had the dwarf artificer built the Stairs? Could the fiend hear his very thoughts?
Archanon paused until the last question and replied, “Precisely.”
The clarity of the reply startled Tashi. He struggled to make sense of previous word choices in this context. What did the shape-shifter want him to see for himself? How could the silent communication channel be used to his advantage?
After a dizzying examination of the possible wheels-within-wheels, he decided to put his fate in Archanon’s hands. If this didn’t work out, Tashi still had one more question. “My master has long suspected that the Traveler’s kept a secret from us about his own origins. Question two: tell me everything you think I need to know about why and how Calligrose is different from the other immortals.”
The archfiend pretended to examine a hangnail as he replied. “Calligrose’s told you all he wishes you to know in his writings. The rest is probably both personal and irrelevant.”
Tashi warmed to the game. There was something obscure in the sacred writings, a clue. “I’m a religious zealot; we thrive on the personal and irrelevant.”
“Calligrose has loved and protected your kind more than any of the Dawn race. To us, he is unique because of his incredible instinct for the flow of mana. He can detect it, disrupt it, harness it like no other. One day, Calligrose let slip as a casual observation that when Osos made the first gate, he accidentally created all the
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