Free Book of One 04: A Child of Fire by Jordan Baker Page B

particularly enamored of the man, she was curious to find out what he had been doing, so she invited him to accompany her and ordered that some refreshments be brought while they waited for Cerric to finish whatever he was doing in the cavern beneath the throne. Calexis had not expected much from Dakar, but she was pleasantly surprised when their conversation took an unexpected turn.
    "It is most strange," Dakar said "It must have happened during the battle when Cerric used his magic to link himself to the soldiers. Such a feat would have required great power, and when I felt the drain of it, I was almost undone, and my connection to the one became very tenuous. It was a terrible feeling, as though I was lost."
    "That must have been very upsetting to you, Dakar," Calexis said with a hint of sarcasm. "I know how fervently you worship my husband."
    "I worship the one," Dakar said. "The god who walks among us, the one foretold in the book."
    "Yes, and I make my bed with him. Your slavish worship grows tiresome."
    Calexis sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, disappointed that Dakar appeared to be just as mindless as the rest of Cerric's followers. However, when she opened her eyes again and looked at the man, she saw that his eyes had turned black as night, filled with power and, for a moment, she worried that he might intend some harm to her but he simply sat in his chair and stared at her. She felt the twitch of something in her mind and the small powers she possessed told her that the mage priest was prying at her mind.
    "What would you like to know, Dakar?" she asked. "It is considered rude to scry into someone's mind without asking."
    "You fear him," the mage said.
    "Cerric?"
    "Yes, you fear him, and you are right to fear him, for he his terrible and would kill you in an instant if it suited his whim."
    "What's this?" Calexis was shocked to hear Dakar speak so plainly of such things, one moment worshipful and the next, critical. "You would say such things about your god?"
    "I do not have much time, Calexis, and I am taking a great risk to speak to you now," he said. "When Cerric used his magic, death magic, on the soldiers of Maramyr, the link that binds me to him was broken for a short time. I managed to separate a part of my mind, the part that knows the truth, the part that speaks with you now."
    "What truth, Dakar?"
    "Cerric is not all powerful. While he may be a god, his power grows weak with distance and when he focuses it elsewhere. There are limits to his power, though he seeks to expand them. I believe he is searching for ancient weapons from the second age, called godswords, used by the gods of that time when they warred against one another."
    "I think you are right, though you are late to the ball," Calexis said. "Cerric has plundered the treasure of Kandara, and I believe he has found more than a few of these godswords of which you speak."
    "If that is true, then his power will only continue to grow."
    "Why did the gods use these weapons and not regular swords?" Calexis asked, intentionally not mentioning axes or daggers, thinking of the short blade tucked against her thigh.
    "In a book I found, a kind of prophecy by a lost race of seers called the Mistrani, there is mention of the godswords being hidden by the few gods who survived the wars of the second age."
    "How can it be a prophecy if it is about the past?" Calexis asked.
    "That is what they called it. The Mistrani were seers, who could look not forward, but back through the sands of time. According to various records, they wrote many histories, but most of them are believe lost. The book I did find was only by chance, for it was misplaced on the wrong shelf by a foolish young mage, long ago. Luckily, I remembered where I had left it, for all of the other books on the subject appear to have been removed by someone."
    "Someone? Who would hide all the books related to these weapons?"
    "I do not know and it matters not. What matters is the knowledge I have