Free Lord of the White Hell book Two lotwh-2 by Ginn Hale Page B

maintained his expression of earnest indifference. Then the holy father moved on to the next student. After that the rest of the history lecture floated past Kiram. He tried to focus on the Treaty of Crown Hill but memories of that creeping darkness invaded his thoughts. He had to fight to keep from staring at the holy father's shadow as it moved across the classroom floor.
    Once the class was over Kiram bolted from his seat only to be called back. Habalan took Kiram aside while the rest of the students filed out of the lecture room. His calf began to ache in hard pulses, echoing the tempo of his speeding heart. His palms felt clammy.
    "I understand that you have been working quite hard on a project for the Crown Challenge." Holy Father Habalan's expression wasn't sympathetic, though he clearly intended it to appear that way.
    "Yes, I have, sir. I want to make the academy proud."
    "I'm sure you do. But with things the way they are, you would do well to refocus your time and energy on your work for this class and let the Crown Challenge wait until next year." Holy Father Habalan hefted the stack of papers in his pudgy arms and gave Kiram a limpid gaze. "Considering your recent setback and the winter conditions, I feel that it would be wholly unwise and most likely unhealthy were you to return directly to your mechanist work in that drafty shed."
    Dull malevolence showed beneath the holy father's bland expression.
    "Yes, sir. I've locked the shed up and I don't think I'll be returning to work there anytime soon." Kiram's mouth felt dry and his words came out in a kind of rasp.
    The holy father smiled and excused him.
    Kiram rushed from the lecture room. Nestor raced after him with a concerned expression. Kiram didn't slow down until he reached the library. There he laid his books and papers down on one of the heavy wooden desks and flopped into a worn chair. Nestor sat down across from him.
    "So, what did he say?" Nestor asked.
    "He wants me to take some time off from the Crown Challenge to focus on my history papers"
    Nestor rolled his eyes. "If he thinks you're not focused enough the man doesn't know what the word means. You usually have your papers and mine written days before they're due."
    "I'm not taking him seriously," Kiram replied, though the threat of the curse coming for him once more chilled his bravado. "He's just an old bigot."
    "You're probably right. He's certainly not fair to you," Nestor said. "All the papers you've written for me he's given higher marks than the ones you've handed in for yourself, but they're all your papers."
    Kiram simply nodded. He could vaguely remember a time, early in the summer, when nothing could have worried him more than receiving low marks on his history papers. But now it seemed trivial.
    Nestor began sketching, as he always did when Kiram was quiet. Kiram himself picked up a book but couldn't bring himself to read any of it.
    Instead he thought of the threat that Holy Father Habalan had made. Men like the holy father had once brought King Nazario's edicts down against the Haldiim here and throughout the kingdom, even as far as Anacleto. Facing terrible danger many Haldiim had fled with the Irabiim into the Mirogoth forests or sailed south to the Salt Islands. But Kiram's ancestors had remained, despite their fear-and Kiram now had a sense of how terrible and real that fear must have been. The thought of them made him proud.
    He couldn't do less than they had. He couldn't give up on his engine. But he wasn't going to be a fool about it either. No great wall or battalions of archers stood between him and the shadow curse. He would have to keep his work in the infirmary secret.
    Briefly Kiram wondered if he should warn Scholar Donamillo about Holy Father Habalan, but he decided against it. If the scholar had not been attacked for the work he had already done, then it was unlikely that he would be. Telling him now would only make him a threat to the holy father and put him in