Adept (The Essence Gate War, Book 1) - By Michael Arnquist Page 0,112
or foe, and further, if you can be trusted to know which, yourself.”
“Perhaps the results are the same,” she snarled, causing the men around the fire to glance up toward her. “His enmity is boundless, as we know from the tales. Lesser known by history is how his purported friendship is no prize to covet either. Is that not true, foul one?”
“Ah good, we come to it at last,” Bellimar said. “How fares your father, dear girl? You were but a wisp of a child when last I saw you, in that light green cotton dress of yours.”
Thalya reeled as his words churned to the surface a flood of images from a more joyful time she had thought long and well buried. She clenched her fists until the knuckles whitened to conceal the sudden trembling. When she was certain she could speak without tremors in her voice as well, she said, “He died years ago, demon.”
The vampire studied her, his eyes searching her enraged expression. “He was a good man, Thalya. I am greatly aggrieved to hear of his death.”
“Empty words,” she said as she turned her head and spat in the dust of the cave floor. “You know nothing of grief, or loss, or guilt. To you, he was just another pawn to be used and then discarded, and his death lies at your feet just as surely as if you had slain him with your own hand.”
Bellimar gave a slow shake of his head. “I can see that my familiarity with this tale is incomplete, but I will begin it nonetheless, with the hope that the young lady will supply the ending.”
The huntress said nothing in reply, maintaining a level glare at the old man. Bellimar sighed and began speaking.
“Over twenty years ago, my wanderings brought me once more to the beautiful city of Hyaxus. I trusted that enough time had passed since my last disastrous visit there, and no one would recognize my face, unaltered by the years as it was. One can only lose oneself in the remote corners of the world for so long, after all, before the need to return to true civilization becomes unbearable. It was in that elegant city’s academy that I met Thalya’s father, a jovial fellow with an honest face by the name of Drothis. He was a devoted scholar of the arcane and a middling talent at alchemy, as well as being a recent widower with an infant daughter.”
“He was a renowned professor of the academy,” Thalya gritted, “and a gifted alchemist.”
“He had an unusual aura,” Bellimar said, continuing as if she had not spoken. “Erratic, unsteady, somehow incomplete. Having learned of the recent loss of his beloved wife, I had a clinical curiosity as to whether profound grief and depression might be the cause of his flawed essence. My studies were hampered, of course, by my not having had the chance to observe him before the loss.”
“How dare you speak of my father thus?” Thalya demanded, rising to her feet. Behind her, Shien shifted and gave a nervous whicker. “He was a good man, not some specimen in a jar!”
The old man favored her with a look of mild reproach. “I have already admitted that he was a good man, Thalya, but these are my memories, given forth unembellished. It may not be flattering to you or to me, but these were my initial motivations for making your father’s acquaintance. Now, please sit down and lower your voice, as the countryside out there is veritably crawling with things that would like nothing more than to find so many beating hearts trapped in this small cavern.”
Thalya paled, throwing a glance over her shoulder and out into the darkness. She knew his words to be true, for in the days of lying in wait for the return of her prey she had witnessed a multitude of things skulking through the night, misshapen things that turned her flesh to ice. Always she had been able to give them a wide berth, at least until earlier that night when she stumbled across the strange black man-creatures on the trail outside. No, it would be foolhardy in the extreme to remain out in the open night, or to draw its denizens to them now. And since she refused to allow her target from her sight now that she had tracked him down, she was forced to share this cave with him until she determined how he could be slain.