Angus Wells - The God Wars 01 by Forbidden Magic (v1.1) Page B

But
I do not expect insults from you! When you're ordered to attend a banquet I
expect you to remain. I do not expect you to disappear. Nor to return looking
like ... like ..."
                 "Some
common brawler?" Tobias suggested, then sniggered as he added,
"Though Calandryll is hardly the type to seek a fight."
                 "What
happened? Where were you?" Bylath roared. "Who was that mercenary? Do
you prefer the company of freeswords?"
                 Calandryll
saw that an answer was expected. He licked his lips.
                 "I
went to the Sailors Gate," he said. "I went to a tavern, and when
they found out I had no money they set upon me. Bracht stopped them. He
..."
                 "What
in Dera's name did you think, going to the Sailors Gate?" By lath
interrupted, the notion of his son mingling with commoners fueling his rage.
                 "I
was . .." Calandryll faltered, reluctant to admit his reasons, reluctant
to give Tobias that further satisfaction, unwilling to admit his visit to Reba.
"I was ... upset."
                 "By
all the gods!" fumed Bylath. "You were ? My son insulted me because
he was upset?” He stepped a pace closer and for a moment Calandryll
thought he would lash out. Instead, his voice dropped ominously. "What upset you, boy?"
                 The
diminutive was offensive. Tobias's smile was offensive. Calandryll shrugged.
Bylath raised a hand. Dropped it as Calandryll took an instinctive step
backward.
                 "What
upset you,
boy?"                                     
-
                 "I
love Nadama," he blurted.
                 His
father stared at him, dumbstruck, face purpling. Tobias laughed out loud.
                 "What?"
asked Bylath, as though the idea was ungrasp- able.
                 "I
love Nadama. I thought ..."
                 "She's
to marry your brother." Bylath shook his head.
                 "Still,
I love her."
                 "What
have your feelings to do with this?" Bylath asked, and somehow that
unfeeling question cut deeper than his anger: Calandryll stared at him in
silence.
                 "You're
to enter the priesthood."
                 "No."                                                   
„                 
,
                 He
was surprised to hear himself say it; almost as surprised as his father.
                 "No?
What do you say, no?"
                 "I
do not wish to become a priest." Now the words came in a flood, fear
banished by resentment, by the unfairness of it all, by his father's lack of
feeling, by Tobias's mocking grin. "I feel no calling. Why must I be a
priest?
                 I
want to study. Why can't I study? Why should I be celibate? I want ..."
                 Bylath's
hand punctuated the sentence, cutting it snort, sending Calandryll staggering
sideways, crying out as the force of it drove his damaged lips hard against his
teeth. Something broke then, not physical, and at first he did not realize what
the blow had shattered or what it , strengthened by its breaking. He felt
involuntary tears moisten his eyes, heard, dimly through the ringing in his
ears, Tobias say casually, "He weeps. Poor little brother.
                Bylath said, "What you want has
nothing to do with this. You will obey me. Do you understand that, boy? You will
obey me!"
                 He
shook his head, less in negation of his father s demand than in dismissal of
his tears, in chagrin. Then he gasped as Bylath clutched his dirtied shirt,
snatching him upright, drawing him close enough that spittle landed on his
face.             
,
                 "You
will obey me," the Domm repeated. And I