《The Cursewright's Vow》Chapter 7: The Cursewright's Failure, Part 1
Advertisement
Khozar El-Nalrah, Archdeacon of the Sacred Archive of Othillion in Munazyr, had held his position for over fifty years. Now, nearing his ninety-seventh Yearsend Festival, he felt quite comfortable in his duties, which he did not neglect from the highest rites to the meanest chores. Khozar El-Nalrah was grateful for his high position, but more grateful that he was permitted to serve Most Wise Othillion of the Book, even after the Sultan had chased him from Q'Sivaris at the points of his janissaries' blades. But the Sultan's moods were fickle, his ire toward the Deacons of the Book shifting from century to century, and had been almost agreeable of late, ever since his hunger for Munazyr and the Straits of Twilight had been quelled in the Archdeacon's sixty-sixth year by the Yellow Death and its jaundiced fever-fires, in which so many Munazyri burned. Khozar El-Nalrah, however, knew he would never again see the sun-blessed streets and cool oases of Q'Sivaris before he died, and so not only observed his duties but took pleasure in them. From the most intricate readings of the Scrolls of Wisdom conducted in the Western Auditorium every Graceday morn (more onerous since his eyesight had begun to fail) to rebinding well-loved tomes in the Central Library (almost beyond his abilities when the rheumatism swelled his fingers), Khozar El-Nalrah thanked His Wisdom and never complained.
Until, at least, he was forced to act as disciplinarian, and despite their reputation as meek and pleasant scholars, the Deacons of the Book could be as petty and vicious as any group of people forced to spend too much time together. So it was with no small sense of disagreeable agitation that he heard the tumult of voices, one young and one old, from beyond his office door, followed by a furious rapping.
Khozar El-Nalrah sighed and extinguished his pipe of kossun smoke (which he had only lately lit, opening the windows onto the afternoon sun to air out his chamber, and which his aching joints would sorely miss). With a trembling slowness of the body that belied the power of the brain it hosted, the Archdeacon rose from his chair, glanced down at his habits to make sure he had not soiled them (sometimes he had accidents since his ninetieth year, and so he disdained the chore of laundering his own clothing least of all), and called out in a voice still remarkably strong for its age, "Come."
Advertisement
The door to the Archdeacon's office slammed open with a crash. Khozar El-Nalrah winced at the sound of the mellowly polished seretto wood chipping against the wall. In stormed Deacon Pell, his habits torn and his thinning brown hair half-askew (but then Khozar El-Nalrah had told him more than once he would benefit from a shaven pate like his own), a haphazard collection of scrolls and quills crushed under one arm. In his other hand he was dragging by the scruff of the neck a small and very angry boy in simple but well-cared for clothing. The boy's face was outraged but handsome, his skin darker even than the Archdeacon's, though he sported nothing so fine and long as the Archdeacon's thick white beard, and his eyes were an exotic blue to the Archdeacon's mild brown.
"Yes, Brother Pell?" Khozar El-Nalrah said in what he hoped, futilely, to be a polite tone.
"This little urchin," Pell snarled, glaring down at the boy, who stared back fearlessly into the deacon's eyes with equal fury, "was prowling the History Wing, Archdeacon. Again. I'm removing him from the Archive."
"Are you indeed?" Khozar El-Nalrah inquired, offering the boy a thin smile and a lift of his eyebrows, which were still as black as coal, though thicker and more wiry than in his youth.
"Yes, Archdeacon," replied Pell, still glowering. "I have removed him before. He was just here this morning, and he absconded with the woman Mari back to that fraud down on the Old Godsway. And he had the temerity to return here! I will return him to the streets where he belongs, Archdeacon, but before I do wanted your leave to flog him. Three lashes should teach him his lesson."
"Brother Pell, let go of that boy, if you would."
"Archdeacon?"
"If I was not clear, Brother, I would be obliged if you would remove your hand from that young man's neck and let him come into my office."
Advertisement
Brother Pell did as his superior asked, but the ugly look didn't leave his face, and as he stamped forward the boy never dropped his infuriated glare from the Deacon, either.
The Archdeacon smiled and invited the boy forward with one gnarled hand. "Come, boy, I won't flog you. Nor will Brother Pell."
"Archdeacon -- !"
"What is your name, boy?"
The boy looked up at the archdeacon with deepest suspicion (merited, Khozar El-Nalrah feared, for too many priests of the Ninefold Vow seemed to neglect certain of their vows when in the presence of handsome children), but the fury in his eyes seemed to have diminished a trice. "Casimir, sir."
"Boy, this man is Archdeacon of -- "
"Casimir. Did you know there was a King Casimir of Nythel? He is most revered, for the library he dedicated to His Wisdom is among the most beautiful in the world, even more than our own, which I should never think to call humble." Khozar El-Nalrah considered hunkering down to be on the boy's level, but his knees were in far too disagreeable a mood to oblige him.
The boy shook his head, the fire in his eyes dimming. "No, sir. My master said there were kings named Casimir, and angels too. But we haven't talked about any in my history lessons."
"'History lessons,' as if this little -- " sneered Pell.
The Archdeacon focused solely on Casimir. "And quite right he is, Casimir, quite right." Khozar El-Nalrah's eyes, their whites yellowed with age but no duller in intelligence for that, peered up from Casimir to Deacon Pell. "Young Casimir does indeed have a master, Brother Pell. He is apprenticed to the cursewright Ammas Mourthia. That 'fraud on the Old Godsway,' though I would be obliged if you did not refer to him as such in my presence." Again he smiled down at the boy, who returned the smile with a hesitant grin of his own.
Deacon Pell's jaw dropped in mingled astonishment and outrage. "Since when did the Doge decide to allow that?"
The Archdeacon shrugged. "He did not, so far as I am aware. But it seems agreeable to me that we should let the boy use our halls for his studies. It is what His Wisdom commands us to do, is it not? To facilitate the needs of those who would learn?" A whispery chuckle rattled from his narrow chest. "Cursewrights may be many things, and yes, Brother Pell, some are disagreeable things, but they respect knowledge like few others from the old fellowships."
Now Deacon Pell was as furious as he had ever been, all the more so because there was no way before all the gods, Ninefold or beyond the Vow, that he could express his anger before the Archdeacon. "Very well," he said stiffly. His face became suddenly crafty. "But even our most accommodating commandments don't permit theft."
The Archdeacon frowned. Casimir looked at Pell, bewildered. "Theft? What is this theft?"
"Parchment. Quills." Pell threw them onto a delicate tea-stand where the Archdeacon's favorite kettle rested. Casimir's jaw dropped open, bewilderment turning back to outrage. "And this." He slipped from his habit a careworn, chapbook-sized volume: D'Nel Teraz. The Archdeacon studied the little book with arthritic slowness, carefully turning the frail pages.
Advertisement
The Ghost's Girl
"I know who I was. I was Aevlin, raised by Callily, wife of Alaric, son of the mad king," she said the words as if they belonged to someone else. Not her name, not her story. "I was a woodcrafter's apprentice, a strict woman's daughter, a selfish girl's sister. But you know that already. And she's dead." the girl's eyes glistened with tears that would not fall. She would not let them. "Does it matter?"The descendants of the last king have lived in hiding since before his death, but through a series of premeditated coincidences, Aevlin Saliz finds herself in her cousin's palace. There she faces the trials of mental labor, the allure of magic, and the stirrings of rebellion, all while doing her best to hide her identity as both royal and mage. But the desire to belong puts her independence to the test when a plot to overthrow the king in her name is uncovered. Aevlin must choose between quiet submission and taking control of her own destiny. [cover photo by Alice Alinari on Unsplash]
8 127The Man and His Pup (On Hold)
Waking up in a strange place Thomas Allen is told hes been chosen by someone to do something in another world. He dosent know why, the strange old man whos supposed to guide him to the new world doesent know why. Not having much back home to cry over he decided why not, hes read enough light novels and manga, why not go and see another world.
8 134Softly They Fall
A normal, quiet high school life is all Yuta Hiragi wants. He enjoys his gray lifestyle of going to school normally and going home normally at Ichigano High School in Sapporo, Japan. He keeps to himself at school, has a best friend, and even someone he likes. But what he doesn't know about himself could be the end to his desired lifestyle. What lurks within this normal high school student and how will it affect him and everyone around him forever?
8 192Earthside Consortium
Gaston Hardy is a Freelancer currently under the supervision of the United Earth Defense Force. He acts as a Courier, Messenger, and Adjutant to those who acquires his services. His recent contract takes him to Neo-Tokyo's Consortium Branch to act as a third-party mediator for the Earthside Consortium and the Babaika Company in order to take on the role as their Contracted Adjutant. This is the tale of a world that had long experienced the end of the world.
8 211The Taboo Entity
Within the vast universe, a single cell appeared out of nowhere. An asteroid flew by and carried that cell as it travel through the universe. Ten million years later, an asteriod entered the atmosphere of a planet, accidently landing within a green lake. Ten thousand year later, the green lake turned into an azure lake. A hundred years later, an enormous flower bud appeared at the center of the lake. Ten years later, the flower bloomed. Schedule: Indefinite. When I'm bored or not busy.
8 101twelve crows | haikyuu x reader
Y/N never expects anything to come through the window. So she didn't really expect to see twelve crows on her bed sleeping. "Y/N what is this?" Y/N's dad, Keishin, asked her."Dad I can explain-" The crows were lowkey really cute too.Well, highkey really cute."Dad, can we keep them?"
8 184