Zotikas: Episode 1: Clash of Heirs by Rob Storey, Tom Bruno Read Free Book Online

light brown eyes, usually the color of sun-ripened grain
common to those of Govian descent, shone with the sphere’s light. He looked
down at Kieler. “Suffice to say I was treated horribly. I went from prophet to
pariah, shunned.”
    Though he said no more,
Kieler could read deep pain in Movus' light eyes, a pain he felt keenly himself.
Never could Kieler forget the deaths of his parents, or the highborns who
caused it. The reflected orb-light danced with the intense fire of revenge. The
look frightened Kieler, though he was already a savvy young man.
    Nodding, Kieler returned to the present, and realized
he’d memorized every detail of the plan on the papers in front of him. It was
the first major step of revolution; a revolution designed to end his world's
pain and bring purpose to his own suffering. Obviously it would bring some solace
to his mentor's hidden grieving as well. That the smelly, arrogant farmer Zroom
wasn't a privileged member of those making things happen—that was just as well.
    Kieler turned and once again stared into the warmth
and swirling luminescence of the unique red lamp, visualizing in his mind
exactly how their plan would manifest.
    The civilization of Avertori was ruled by the prime
houses, dynasties that had hoarded power for generations. Kieler and Movus had
worked out a plan to gain Kieler a strategic position amongst them, a position
to strike from.
    When House Ortessi had been destroyed twenty years ago
in a “mysterious” fire, one body was never found: that of the child Orlazrus,
the youngest son. Movus had used his contacts to drop hints that the now grown
Orlazrus was planning his return.
    Kieler picked up the sigil from the table and twisted
it in his hand, his fingers between the points of the star. The Ortessi Sigil
would give his claim great credibility. Only Feleanna Cortatti would know the
truth and she wouldn’t be able to say anything without incriminating her own
house.
    Once rumors had spread, it had been relatively simple
to get the other houses fighting over the “privilege” of introducing Orlazrus
at court. But spreading rumors had been much simpler than his next task:
showing up to the party alive.
    “So where’s Movus?” Bags asked groggily, not opening
his eyes.
    “I never know,” Kieler replied. “Running the largest
spy network on the planet; it’s probably best he stays invisible.”
    “Even to you? But he practically raised you.”
    Kieler shrugged and walked back to the spinning globe
of Zotikas. “I never even saw much of him growing up. He showed up to guide me
and teach me: how to observe, how to fight… to dance.”
    Without turning, Kieler saw Bags crack open one eye.
“To dance? Why?”
    Kieler smiled. “If you’re a good spy captain, maybe
he’ll teach you someday too.”
    Letting out a grunt, Bags closed his eyes again.
Within moments his breathing evened out into a light snore.
    “We're doing something, Bags,” Kieler whispered
excitedly, not really wanting to wake him. “I'm actually point man for
something that will make a difference in our world.” He reached out and put a
hand on the globe to stop it, but the slippery sphere just kept spinning.

Chapter
Four
     
    It was a pit.
    The nethercity was a big, dark hole in the ground
where people had thrown the junk of an entire ruined civilization. Kieler stood
alone atop an ancient mountain of debris and looked out over Karst. From this
vantage he could see the dim outlines of the scattered dwellings below,
thousands of hovels of arranged rubble lit by the faint glow of luminescent
lichen. Very few were lucky enough to own even a splinter of luzhril. Jars of
light lugs bobbed in lines indicating the movement of people through the
ever-dark city.
    Rising up from amongst the faint lights of humanity
were darker shadows of various shapes and heights. Some of these “mountains”
reached all the way to the underside of the Plate and indicated a portal
through which those above had