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k_a_webbA candle provided the only light in the room. It was the morning of the winter solstice and Trey was awake well before sunrise. Most days he was awake well before sunrise, but for once he had a reason. He knew it wouldn't be long before the new High Priestess of Persephone arrived at the Residence and he wanted to be the first person to meet her. Sighing, he put his quill down on the desk. Aisling was meant to be the right person, a true priestess who would do what needed to be done, but that didn't stop him from worrying. Every time he thought of the change that was coming he knew that they needed strong people in the position of High Priest and High Priestess, but they didn't seem to exist.
Of course, she couldn't know about Trey, about who he really was, just in case she turned out to be the wrong person. It was unlikely, but he knew that if someone who knew his father found out about any of the things he'd done since he because the High Priest of Herne something bad would happen. He shook his head. There was no chance of his father ever understanding why he had made the choices he had, especially if it was ever made public knowledge that he wasn't actually the High Priest of Herne, so everything was a secret.
There were days, more than Trey would like, when he wished he could tell someone about everything, but he didn't know who could be trusted and who couldn't. When he thought about it he knew there was only one person he really wanted to talk to. Bree, unfortunately, was still in the village they had both grown up in, and he didn't want to drag her into her problems. Sighing again, he looked down at the piece of paper in front of him, which held another letter he would never send her, and tried not to worry that something would happen to her before he could get her somewhere safe.
Bree was mixed blood, and didn't know it, which automatically put her in danger. The Dorma supremacist movement, which was led by Trey's father, talked of mixing blood being the same as diluting the Dorma blood from the veins of pure blood Dorma's. It never crossed their minds that mixing blood might be a good thing, but then no one had ever taken the time to work out why the number of children being born each year to Dorma families, as well as Uisdro and Tein-Igni, might have something to do with pure blood not being a good thing.
Trey had spent a lot of his time researching family trees. It wasn't as though he really had anything else to do, even though he was a High Priest, and to him it was proof that he was right while his father was wrong. Like everyone else he couldn't get further back than the day all the records had been burnt, but it was easy to see where the main problem lay. Most of the families that were pure Dorma, or Uisdro, or Tein-Igni, seemed to have trouble having children. Some didn't have any problem and he wondered if that was because they had mixed blood somewhere in their heritage, but it was impossible to find out.
A book had been left, by the High Priest of Herne who destroyed the entire history of Thear, about the reasons behind his choice. Trey had read it several times, and he still couldn't understand why any priest, especially a High Priest, would do something like that. It didn't help that no one knew what had happened before, and it was Trey's belief that something a High Priest had done, probably something a High Priest should never do, was the reason for the fire and for the Dorma supremacist movement being the way it was. However it was something he would never know about and that had originally filled him with rage, but slowly he was getting used to the fact he would never understand Thear in the way that people before him had.
Slowly, Trey stood up. For one long year he had spent most of his time alone, because he didn't want to get close to anyone in the Residence, and acting like he should do as the son of the leader of the Dorma supremacist movement. With every day that passed he felt as though he was losing some of himself and becoming someone he had always believed he would be, up until the full moon just after his tenths birthday. He picked up his cloak, trying not to think too hard about the child he had been before he found out that the truth was not what his father told him it was, and wrapped it around himself.
Carefully, Trey left his study. He knew that the servants would be preparing for the winter solstice ceremony, and the celebrations that followed after, so he didn't want to walk into one of them. The Residence felt the way it always did, like a stone building full of secrets. Due to his father's beliefs that there should only be one High Priest or Priestess, preferably a priest, the High Priest of Herne, two of the other Highs had gone missing. The High Priestess of Bast had been gone since just after Logan's, the High Priest of Anubis, arrival, while the High Priest of Loki had disappeared during the celebrations for the autumn equinox. Trey was just thankful that his father didn't know that neither of them had been the true High Priests, but pretenders, just like the High Priest and Priestess who had come before them, because so few people really connected with the deities of Thear. Only two other true Highs were known to him. Logan, who disliked Trey because he had to keep up the pretence that he was his father's son around the other Highs, and Aisling, who would probably end up disliking him for the same reason Logan did.
© K A Jones 2011
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. This entry was originally posted at http://kajones-writing.dreamwidth.org/38283.html. It currently has
comments.
Of course, she couldn't know about Trey, about who he really was, just in case she turned out to be the wrong person. It was unlikely, but he knew that if someone who knew his father found out about any of the things he'd done since he because the High Priest of Herne something bad would happen. He shook his head. There was no chance of his father ever understanding why he had made the choices he had, especially if it was ever made public knowledge that he wasn't actually the High Priest of Herne, so everything was a secret.
There were days, more than Trey would like, when he wished he could tell someone about everything, but he didn't know who could be trusted and who couldn't. When he thought about it he knew there was only one person he really wanted to talk to. Bree, unfortunately, was still in the village they had both grown up in, and he didn't want to drag her into her problems. Sighing again, he looked down at the piece of paper in front of him, which held another letter he would never send her, and tried not to worry that something would happen to her before he could get her somewhere safe.
Bree was mixed blood, and didn't know it, which automatically put her in danger. The Dorma supremacist movement, which was led by Trey's father, talked of mixing blood being the same as diluting the Dorma blood from the veins of pure blood Dorma's. It never crossed their minds that mixing blood might be a good thing, but then no one had ever taken the time to work out why the number of children being born each year to Dorma families, as well as Uisdro and Tein-Igni, might have something to do with pure blood not being a good thing.
Trey had spent a lot of his time researching family trees. It wasn't as though he really had anything else to do, even though he was a High Priest, and to him it was proof that he was right while his father was wrong. Like everyone else he couldn't get further back than the day all the records had been burnt, but it was easy to see where the main problem lay. Most of the families that were pure Dorma, or Uisdro, or Tein-Igni, seemed to have trouble having children. Some didn't have any problem and he wondered if that was because they had mixed blood somewhere in their heritage, but it was impossible to find out.
A book had been left, by the High Priest of Herne who destroyed the entire history of Thear, about the reasons behind his choice. Trey had read it several times, and he still couldn't understand why any priest, especially a High Priest, would do something like that. It didn't help that no one knew what had happened before, and it was Trey's belief that something a High Priest had done, probably something a High Priest should never do, was the reason for the fire and for the Dorma supremacist movement being the way it was. However it was something he would never know about and that had originally filled him with rage, but slowly he was getting used to the fact he would never understand Thear in the way that people before him had.
Slowly, Trey stood up. For one long year he had spent most of his time alone, because he didn't want to get close to anyone in the Residence, and acting like he should do as the son of the leader of the Dorma supremacist movement. With every day that passed he felt as though he was losing some of himself and becoming someone he had always believed he would be, up until the full moon just after his tenths birthday. He picked up his cloak, trying not to think too hard about the child he had been before he found out that the truth was not what his father told him it was, and wrapped it around himself.
Carefully, Trey left his study. He knew that the servants would be preparing for the winter solstice ceremony, and the celebrations that followed after, so he didn't want to walk into one of them. The Residence felt the way it always did, like a stone building full of secrets. Due to his father's beliefs that there should only be one High Priest or Priestess, preferably a priest, the High Priest of Herne, two of the other Highs had gone missing. The High Priestess of Bast had been gone since just after Logan's, the High Priest of Anubis, arrival, while the High Priest of Loki had disappeared during the celebrations for the autumn equinox. Trey was just thankful that his father didn't know that neither of them had been the true High Priests, but pretenders, just like the High Priest and Priestess who had come before them, because so few people really connected with the deities of Thear. Only two other true Highs were known to him. Logan, who disliked Trey because he had to keep up the pretence that he was his father's son around the other Highs, and Aisling, who would probably end up disliking him for the same reason Logan did.
© K A Jones 2011
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. This entry was originally posted at http://kajones-writing.dreamwidth.org/38283.html. It currently has
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Feedback
Date: 2011-12-01 08:14 pm (UTC)>>since he because the High Priest of Herne<<
That should say "became" above.
>>he didn't want to drag her into her problems. <<
I think that should say "his problems" above.
>>probably something a High Priest should never do<<
*LAUGH* Yeah, that's behind a great many obliterations of history.
>>his tenths birthday. <<
That should say "tenth" above.
>>The High Priestess of Bast had been gone since just after Logan's, the High Priest of Anubis, arrival, while the High Priest of Loki had disappeared during the celebrations for the autumn equinox. <<
This is awkward. I recommend something like:
"The High Priestess of Bast had been gone since just after the arrival of Logan's, the High Priest of Anubis. The High Priest of Loki had disappeared during the celebrations for the autumn equinox."
>> Only two other true Highs were known to him. Logan, who disliked Trey because he had to keep up the pretence that he was his father's son around the... (to be continued tomorrow).<<
Gaahh ... no. Ending a segment in the middle of a sentence is horrid. It is much better to break between paragraphs.
Re: Feedback
Date: 2011-12-01 09:43 pm (UTC)Under any other circumstances I wouldn't have done it, but for once I have actually managed to stick to a word count, so I don't have much to play with. When I put up the next part tomorrow I'll probably either move that paragraph over to the other post or end that paragraph and then put the next 990 or something words into a separate post.
Next time I do this, if there is a next time, I'll attempt to plan ahead.