Read Online The Warrior Returns - Anteros 04 by Allan Cole - Free Book Online Page A

delight
    "By the red-arsed fires of the Hells," she growled in a low smoky voice, "if it isn't Rali Antero." She shot a guilty look at the stone, grimaced, then shrugged. "Sorry, O Great Lord Te-Date," she said. Then, to me, "Oh, well. I know He's heard worse."
    "If not," I said, "I promise He will very soon if you don't fly away with me instantly to some place where the wine is strong and the will is weak. It's in the bylaws of the Soothsayers' Guild, don't you know? You get time off to sin every hundred years whether you need it or not."
    Daciar laughed and embraced me. "You are a devil, Rali ," she said. "And by the gods whose names we take in vain, I'm glad to see you."
    unfortunately, it wasn't possible, much less seemly, for the Holy Mother Oracle of Pisidia to adjourn to a tavern, low or high. Instead we climbed the several flights of stairs that led to the privacy of her rooms, where she had a good supply of strong drink.
    Daciar was an innkeeper's daughter who'd been chosen for her current duties when she was a child. The Pisidians believe that when their Mother Oracle dies, her spirit lingers in the ethers until a suitable child comes along, then the spirit takes up residence in the infant's body shortly after birth.
    Daciar was "discovered" by the Temple Elders when she was only ten summers old and was fully invested into office after two years of testing and training. She'd held the post for many years when we'd met, and was so hale and hearty that only accident or plague would keep her from reigning many more. Her people had gotten the best of the bargain, for not only had she proved to be an able soothsayer, she was also skilled in wizardry of all sorts. Among other things, she cast defensive spells to shield the entire city from evildoers. On my last visit we'd worked together to improve on those spells and had become fast friends in the process.
    "I suppose it's a great honor to be the Mother Oracle," she'd confessed to me then. "But I still pine for the simple life I led at my family's inn. Those were great times and I was everyone's darling. I was dandled on knees, given sweets and gifts, and delightfully spoiled by one and all.
    "I love people, Rali, I really do. And I miss meeting them as an equal on common ground. People look at me now and see the Holy Mother Daciar. When at heart I want to be nothing more than a bawdy wench with a jug to fill up your cup."
    This is what she did soon as we'd retired to the privacy of her rooms and I'd sunk into the welcome softness of her old sofa.
    The small chambers we were in were slightly shabby but quite comfortable, with all sorts of homey decorations and touches that showed Daciar's common origins: little idealized busts of her parents, such as the kind one has made by a market artist in a brief sitting; scraps of unfinished needlework from the times she felt she'd lost her way as a woman and so got her fingers busy doing "useful things to fill idle time," like her mother'd said was a good matron's duty.
    An odd-shaped metal implement kept the pages open in her great Book of the Oracle, which was big enough to kill small demons, if necessary. The metal object, Daciar said, had been her father's favorite keg-broaching tool and she kept it to remember him by. There were dried flowers and herbs both common and magical poking out of pots and hanging by threads from the rafters. Incense burners of all sorts of sizes and shapes squatted here and there, with little sacks of incense of every variety to burn in them. A few pictures of pretty scenes, hung just a little off kilter since she had a weak eye on one side.
    A few of her distinctive, wide-sleeved yellow robes were hung from hooks within easy reach of an old porcelain hip bath. And there was a nearby shelf littered with vials of perfumed bath oils and sudsy additives. Next to the tub was a stool pushed up to a mirrored stand for her brushes and cosmetics. On the opposite side of the room was a large fireplace with a