Nightlord: Orb by Garon Whited Read Free Book Online

to build any temples for her elsewhere.”
    “I can’t imagine why,” I replied, heavy on the sarcasm.
    “I think it’s because the Mother doesn’t like him.”
    “That’s fair.  She doesn’t much care for me, either.”
    T’yl radiated an aura of shock and surprise.
    “What?” I asked.  “You don’t think so?”
    “Is that what you really think, or am I failing to interpret your sarcasm?”
    “Of course I think that.  I’m really good at sarcasm,” I replied.  “I tried to pressure her into answering questions about my son’s sacrifice and she tried to incinerate me.  I responded by trying to eat her and almost succeeded.”
    “She loves you,” he said.  “Or so I am told.”
    I responded with one word that strongly implied disbelief.  T’yl took his hand from the wall and faded somewhat from my perception.
    “What?” I asked.  He either didn’t hear me or ignored me.  Instead, he performed some sort of spell; I wasn’t exactly in the best position to watch the details.  The next thing I knew, a light appeared in the middle of what was recently my containment diagram and a fiery presence lived within it.
    “Father?” I heard.
    “Amber?”
    “It is you!”
    “Well, of course.  A trifle petrified, perhaps, but present.”  It was a little eerie, talking to a living flame.  It reminded me far too much of talking with an incendiary goddess-thing.  I didn’t like it.  I couldn’t even tell if the form of living flame was a raw blaze of elemental power or if it still had a well-defined human shape.  My current sensory apparatus, whatever that might be, was less than perfect with material reality.  Worse, I couldn’t tell if T’yl had summoned up my daughter like summoning up a spirit, or if he had called for her and she chose to come.  Either way, at least she wasn’t upset about it.
    “T’yl tells me you still have some questions about Beryl’s death,” Amber went on, “and about the time you bit the Mother of Flame.  He also says that time is running short.”
    “Well, I don’t know that I have questions , exactly,” I admitted.  “I mentioned those two topics and he immediately called you up.  I’m not sure why.”
    T’yl came back into relative focus again for a moment.
    “Please tell her what you told me,” he suggested, then faded again.  He also left the room in what I thought might be considered unseemly haste.
    “Uh?  Okay… All I said was, um… I think I mentioned Sparky doesn’t like me much after I pressured her to tell me about Beryl.  Um.  What else?  Oh, and because I almost ate her when she tried to incinerate me.  I think that’s it.  I can think of other reasons, but none I mentioned.  I’d ask T’yl what he wants me to repeat…”
    Amber was silent for several seconds.
    “Dad?”
    “Wh—yes?” I asked, taken aback.  I’m not used to being called “Dad.”  I suppose I should get ready for it, though.
    “Mother loves you, despite your pique at Her.”
    “She has a damned funny way of showing it!” I seethed.  My tone might have been a trifle more angry than I intended.
    “She did not destroy you when you pressed Her on the subject of my brother,” Amber pointed out.
    “She couldn’t,” I snapped, “but she tried.  I chewed my way up into her spirit enough that she didn’t have the strength.  Was that first attempt at incineration just her temper?  Did she love me enough to not sacrifice my only son?  Did she feel like a snack?  Or was she afraid of a boy born of a fire-witch and a nightlord?”
    “I don’t think you understand what really happened.”
    “Oh, this should be good.  What possible circumstances could justify what she’s done?  Never mind that she used me to get the children she wanted.  Never mind that she cursed a whole city for daring to presume to have freedom of religion.  She demanded your mother sacrifice your infant brother in the fire!  What ‘circumstances’ did you have