Read Online The Heresy Within by Rob J. Hayes - Free Book Online Page B

had been made around him. Perhaps it had, the man sat unmoving and looked like a statue of some great hero from ages past.
    “You kept me waiting, Arbiter,” the Emperor said from the throne, his mouth moved but the rest of him kept as still as stone. Thanquil realised he was the only other person in the room. It seemed strange but all the Emperor's guards, all his servants had been ordered outside.
    “My apologies, your majesty. I thought it best to present myself properly,” Thanquil responded with a bow of his head.
    “My man tells me you stopped to bathe while he waited. I didn't invite you here to smell you, Arbiter.”
    “Invite,” Thanquil mused aloud. “It felt more like an order.”
    “It was.”
    The silence that erupted into the room was horrific. Thanquil could hear his own breathing, could hear every creak of his leathers underneath his coat, could hear the scuff of his boots on the floor as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other and all the while the Emperor stared at him. Thanquil glanced around the room again. There, no more than five foot away was a small table with black cloth on top and one of the largest and most impressive collections of runes Thanquil had ever seen. Each one was carved into a token of brittle wood ready to be snapped at a moment's notice to release the power contained within the rune. Thanquil had to resist the urge to walk over and take one. Stealing from the God-Emperor was bad enough but to do so right in front of the man would be considered horribly rude.
    “I've heard a lot about you, Arbiter.”
    “I doubt much of it good.” Thanquil could feel his hand shaking in his pocket.
    “No indeed,” the Emperor continued. “Most of it was quite damning.”
    Thanquil couldn't think of a response to that so he just kept quiet.
    “I hear you were the one that found my sword.”
    That much was true. Thanquil had recovered the sword known as ' Siege Breaker '. A sword forged of magic and metal, with blessings inscribed into the steel. A sword fit for an Emperor the Inquisition had decreed and had gifted it to Emperor Francis on his inauguration.
    “I would very much like to hear the story of how you came upon it, Arbiter Darkheart.”
    “Not much to tell, your majesty. I bought it from a travelling merchant.”
    “Did the man realise what it was he carried?”
    “Yes, your majesty. He specialised in such items.”
    “Where did you find this merchant of curios?”
    Thanquil winced. “The Land of the Dead.”
    The Emperor smiled and the atmosphere in the room seemed lighter. “Interesting,” he said as he stood and turned, moving to stare out of one of the huge glass windows.
    Thanquil took the opportunity to pad across to the table holding the runes and pocket one before returning to his original position. He felt better, the shaking stopped and he could concentrate again.
    “Must have been an interesting man indeed to be travelling those lands unmolested,” the Emperor continued.
    “In truth, your majesty, I can't be sure he was a man at all. Not sure what it was but it sold me the blade all the same.”
    “Heh,” the Emperor grunted and then fell silent for a while. Thanquil kept quiet also. He was now well aware that he was in a room with one of the two most powerful people in all of Sarth and Thanquil didn't trust himself not to anger the Emperor somehow.
    “I'm going to ask a favour of you, Arbiter Darkheart but first I think you have a question for me don't you?”
    Thanquil felt it then. The compulsion was tugging at him, trying to tear the words from his mouth. It was a physical need to answer the question. His mouth opened and his lips began to move, forming the words. But Thanquil was no commoner without knowledge of the compulsion; he was an Arbiter of the Inquisition, trained in the use of magic and with twenty years of experience. He forced his mouth shut, swallowed the words back down and forced his mind to calm.
    “How did you do that?”