Chapter 13.

  Shame

  Lester’s eyes burned with the promise of tears as he ran. Ran from the priest. Ran from the shame. Soon his broken stride led him beyond the town, out to the hill where his sanctuary stood.

  Lester threw himself down upon the dry pine needles that covered the floor of his shallow cave. Only then did the rage and shame finally spill over from his eyes. Snot and tears commingled on his face as he beat and screamed into the floor. He howled curses to the sky. He cursed the priest, he cursed the townsfolk, and he cursed himself for being stupid enough to hope.

  All of this he screamed to the silent sky. Unheard and uncared for, there was no one to witness his wails. No one, except for the party of inquisitors drawn to the keening of a broken man.

  ***

  “What in Weaver’s name is that sound?” Complained Theina, as the party of inquisitors neared the hill. Two of the Cardinal’s guards slid from their mounts and stalked up the hill toward the mouth of a small cave.

  Hardwright pulled his horse to a stop, silently observing his men. A squawk of surprise and the sound of muffled struggle preceded a dazed Lester being dragged from his refuge.

  A cruel smile spread across the Cardinal’s face. “That, my dear acolyte, is our dinner guest.”

  Lester returned to consciousness with pain radiating across his face. As focus returned to his eyes, he was greeted by a modest campfire, seven unfriendly figures and one with a smile far too wide for his face.

  “Cut my hand on the damn kids snaggletooth.” Grumbled the guard as he rubbed at the cut on the back of his hand. Sparing Lester an irritated look while stomping over to join his compatriots. Lester eyed them warily as he returned to his senses, his face still stinging where the guard had struck him.

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  The guards themselves wore armor that while functional, spoke of a quality long since eroded by time and use. These men were not cruel. They simply lacked the necessary care to be cruel. Lester gave a glare to the guard still shaking his hand from the sting of Lester’s errant tooth who merely grinned in return. “That’s a mighty big glare from a gimp like you.” Chortled the smaller guard. His taller companion snorted. “Careful Boris! The boy might cry at us again and then we’ll be in a right pickle!”

  Lester’s ears burned as he prepared a retort, but the Cardinal was faster. “Silence both of you.” Hissed Lusis. Divine Thread slithered out from beneath his black cloak, lashing the two men’s mouths shut. The men froze, eyes glazing over into a palid golden color. “That’s no way to treat a guest. Be gone and see to the horses.” Both guards rose to their feet like puppets pulled from the ground. They dreamily wandered away to where the horses were tied and began brushing the bedraggled creatures.

  “Y-you’re a priest!?” blurted Lester. Hardwright grinned, his attention snapping back to Lester. “A Cardinal in fact. My lovely protege and I were on our way to your lovely little town when we heard your distress.” Lester’s eyes darted to Theina who sat cross legged on the stump of a tree that seemed to have been cut down only moments ago. Her haughty demeanor was only equaled by the unexplained mirth in her eyes.

  “Indeed, I thought we had perhaps found another possum in dire straits.” A dainty hand rose to cover her lips as a grin teased at the edge of her mouth, and a scowl threatened at the edge of the Cardinal’s. Lester eyed their cloaks as he failed to understand the one sided joke that seemed to play out before him. A proud looking seal comprising a set of golden shears closing on a thread sat upon Both of their chests.

  “My apologies Cardinal, I was unaware that I was in such prestigious company. Pray tell, from what sect do you hail?” Lester delivered his most polished greeting he could manage through the rapidly swelling lip where the guard had struck him.

  “Ugh, here.” Theina’s Thread flew from her fingertip fast as a whip lighting on Lester’s swollen lip. A gentle touch, it ordered his flesh to heal itself and so it did. Lester held a hand to the spot where she had touched him more gently than any woman had before. “We’re with the Golden Shears, we’re here for… what was it?” She turned to the Cardinal who had managed to school his face back into the practiced grin it was in before Theina’s teasing.

  “We are here…” He answered, glaring over his smile. “To bring Order.” he turned back to Lester. “So tell me boy. Have you noticed anything out of Order?”

  A grin cracked wide across Lester’s face. The faces of Theodren, Eleina, and the many laughing townsfolk streamed across his mind's eye.

  “As a matter of fact, Cardinal. I believe I have a great deal to tell you.”