The soothing effects of the bogweed eventually turned and intense paranoia revived. Once again he heard the soft voice. This time it sounded like his son. “Daddy?” it asked. But, Elmer thought, Fervan should be sleeping. He went to bed hours ago. And he hadn’t called him ‘daddy’ since he was five.
“Hello? Who’s there?”
“Me,” the voice responded.
A vision flashed before him in the puddle in front of his home, a memory he’d tried to forget; one of the boy king screaming in the fire.
Elmer closed his eyes, hoping the illusion would vanish.
“Please, you need to see this,” the voice said.
He licked his finger and pushed the tip of his lit bogweed against his saliva, putting it out, and set the tobacco wrap on the table next to him. For a moment, the speaker, a priest of The Temple, thought the voice was of his Nekrum god. And how could he deny his lord master? He opened his eyes to see a bright fire in the puddle. He could even feel the heat. Except now the boy in the fire wasn’t Rayne Volpi. It was Fervan. And he was burning alive, screaming in agony.
“Dear God, please stop!” said Elmer.
“God? There is no god here.”
“Then who are you?” Elmer said, looking around in all directions for the source of the voice. “What do you want?”
“I’m the one who determines whether you live or die.”
“Let me guess, you’re just another junky I sentenced to prison, seeking revenge for an unfair judgment. Well, let me tell you something—”
“Sentenced to prison?” the voice said. “No. I wasn’t that lucky. But I am seeking revenge.”
Elmer felt his stomach turn. “Please, I am a servant of our lord, Gabriel. I simply carry out his will. I’m a priest!” he said, lying about his allegiance.
“Another one who doesn’t take responsibility for his actions. So, Gabriel personally speaks to you? He gives you instructions?”
“It doesn’t work like that,” Elmer said.
“Then tell me. How exactly does it work?”
“Ikarus has laws, and these laws are created to protect the people and their faith. Our faith is embraced by The Temple where divine judgment is made. Representatives are elected to interpret God’s will as it is written in The Book of Volpi. Then, the Ikarus council carries out The Temple’s orders.”
A dark mist appeared before the speaker. It slowly amalgamated into a tall shadow-figure. “Does The Temple endorse murder?”
Suddenly, Elmer had an epiphany. He recognized the face that formed in the shadow.
“My god,” he said, almost losing his breath. “Seeing you now I—” Elmer paused, realizing his hallucination. Too much bogweed. He became firm and reacted, “I’m proud of what I’d done, or attempted to do. I knew then you were a sorcerer, a curse sent to destroy us!”
Elmer thought of his lord master. He had never seen him; none of the priests had. But he knew firsthand how powerful the lord master was. He knew that Alexandal was under his control. And The Temple, along with all the armies that were devoted to it, followed the lord master’s will. “You have no idea of the powers that you are interfering with.”
The shadow that Elmer now knew was Rayne Volpi just stared at him in silence.
“What do you want?” the speaker cautiously asked.
Rayne’s voice, now loud and angry, shook Elmer’s bones. “I want you to feel the pain that I felt. Maybe I should hang you from the top of the temple so your fellow priests understand that their corruption is at an end.” His angry tone suppressed. “As for your boy, I am truly sorry for the pain I have inflicted on him. I hope he lives a long and happy life.”
The shadow of Rayne Volpi retreated to the puddle in front of the speaker’s home and fell into it without splashing any of the water.
The speaker ran to the water’s edge, fell to his knees, and looked into the shallow puddle. Again he saw only his reflection, but this time moving differently than his own physical movements. He watched his reflection reach up and light the tip of the tobacco wrap, hanging out from the reflection’s mouth. But Elmer didn’t have a tobacco wrap in his mouth. When the wrap in the reflection was lit, it immediately ignited. The reflected fire erupted out from the puddle’s surface and caught the cuff of Elmer’s coat, igniting the rest of his clothes into a fireball.
The speaker ran out into the street, screaming. He felt the fire melting his skin before he dove into the wet street and rolled back and forth until he no longer felt the flames.
Elmer could smell his burning flesh in the smoke.
Word of the attacks spread fast. Indrid Cole, five other council members, two maids, and two guards were summoned by King Alexandal for an urgent, secret meeting in the castle basement. It was strange to meet here instead of the council room where all matters of importance were handled.
Upon entering, the fisherman, Lief, was sitting at a table with the only candle in the entire room. There were spots of blood on the floor under the wooden bench on which he sat. One maid washed his limbs. The other held a mug for him while he drank wine to help ease his pain. He drooled all over himself, huffing and moaning.
Alexandal circled the fisherman. He waited while the maids tried to make Lief comfortable enough to talk.
Indrid realized that the speaker wasn’t included in the gathering. Mongs was always by Alexandal’s side. “Where is Speaker Mongs?” he quietly asked the dungeon master.
“The speaker is being treated at La-Rose’s chambers, lying bandaged. The only victim who appears sane enough to offer testimony is the fisherman. But along with being denied the use of his limbs,
