such a union were staggering. The resources of Petra made freely available to the innovations of the Zo all fueled by the extraordinary land cultivation of the Botann. All the current walls of progress would effectively be torn down.
None of that seemed likely to happen now.
At least, not without help.
-
Valance’s black carriage arrived outside an old stone Botann Church. The home of his old friend Bedic. He knew the search for the Token would come back to him eventually. He was actually a bit surprised that Bedic ended up being the first target. They’d been watching him for almost his entire life. And yet, after all this time, he’d never led them anywhere useful. He’d almost given up, figuring, if Bedic was going to find something he would have found it by now.
That brought him back to the second target. It must have something to do with this Raj Handers gentleman. What he needed to find out was what Handers and Bedic had to do with one another. Why did they meet recently, and what was the nature of the visit? His guess was that Handers found something and brought it back to Bedic for some sort of consultation. But how he’d know to bring it to Bedic was a mystery.
-
Bedic sat at his desk, his mind deep inside the pages of a large book opened in front of him. Sinesh, sitting on her knees, shifted a puzzle piece back and forth trying to fit it into a half assembled puzzle spread out across the stone floor.
An unexpected knock on the door snapped Bedic’s attention away from the book. He and Sinesh both looked over at the door.
A young Cleric poked his head in, “Master cleric, you have some visitors. They're rather...” He looked over at Bedic's granddaughter with raised brow. “Insistent.”
Bedic closed his book. “Hun, I think its time for Bed.” He waved the young Cleric into the room. “Would you take her back to my quarters?”
“I'm not done, Grandpa.” Sinesh protested.
The young Cleric knelt down by the girl. “Come on sweetie.” He gestured towards the door as he tried ushering her out of the room.
“I’m not done, its gonna get all messed up!” She repeated her protest.
“I’ll make sure no one touches it. Good night dear.” Bedic said with a smile.
She made a frustrated grunt then followed the young cleric out of the room. He waited for her then closed the door behind them. A moment later the door opened again. Three large, well dressed, Zoen men entered. They looked like the type that came to discuss potential investments to add to the churches portfolio. Only, Bedic knew that wasn’t why they’d come.
The man in the middle stepped forward.“Good Evening Master Cleric Bedic. I hope we aren’t catching you at an inconvenient moment. We were looking for someone and hoped you might be of assistance.”
Bedic didn’t get up to greet them.
“I am the House Lord Valance and these are my associates Lord Barnus and Lord Whiting. I won’t…”
“I know who you are.” Bedic interrupted.
Bedic’s mind flooded with memories. Flashes of a struggle. Book shelves knocked to the ground. Swords drawn. Blood. His father! A dark pressure swelled inside him. It felt as though his skin was stretching, boiling from the inside. His brow began to bead with drops of sweat. The old man’s body twitched uncontrollably as tried to regain control. In that moment, there was nothing he wanted more than to see the three men in front of him die.
“It would appear that you do.” answered Valance.
Bedic’s frail body began to tremble more violently. He tried to control his thoughts, thoughts where his hands wrapped around Valance’s thick neck, or where he took the dagger from the top drawer in his desk and ran it through Valance’s heart. The images came, and he could do nothing to stop them.
Valance stepped further into the room. “Might I offer that we did not kill your father? He threw himself off a cliff in order to prevent us from retrieving what he had stolen from us. We had no intention of depriving him of his life. Killing would not have served our purpose.”
Bedic spoke, slowly, trying to steady the tremble in his voice. “And my grandfather? Did he throw himself off a cliff as well?” More memories of that day flooded his mind. He was just a child, but he could still remember the day his father was killed, the day his grandfather was killed, the day his mother took