Chapter 16

The sparring continued through more rounds. Borner was not going to admit that he needed to halt for a moment’s respite and apparently, neither was the princess. She was red faced and her clothes were doused with sweat. Each time he raised his staff to start again, she raised her sword, crouching slightly in her starting position.

“Exalted excellences,” Timmaus began when the princess told him to spare the pomposity. Borner took in the amused look on the Left Hand’s face and added his approval of the princess’s statement.

“If everyone agrees to dispense with the bothersome dignities of peerage, I present the High Priestess Andela of the Temple of Denarah, goddess of...”

His words were interrupted by a throaty call of “Holy Mother of All!”

Andela was swiveling her head between Borner and Princess Salomet. Back and forth she went, disbelieving what she gazed upon. “Sonofabitch, you can raise the dead too.”

“He is doing his best to put me back in the grave if you want a true accounting, priestess,” Salomet said.

Borner wanted to throw his head back and start laughing maniacally but he had a new and immediate problem. His pants were suddenly tight in front. He moved his staff to hide his embarrassment as best he could.

“Lady Andela, I am pleased...” Borner began but stopped as the woman in question stormed up to him and, without warning, slapped him across the face.

“O Goddess Denarah, thank you for your gift,” Salomet said loudly with her arms wide open. “I’ve wanted to slap him for hours.”

“You cast a spell on me amongst your damned oracles,” Andela said.

“I cast a spell? Your goddess,” Borner said and then stopped himself as he considered the implications of her words and her goddess, of whom he questioned. “I have missed you too. Your kisses still give me comfort in my dreams.”

Andela opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Closing her mouth, she pursed her lips and turned to the princess, “Your majesty, it is a surprise and pleasure to welcome you back to Gemma. All of us thought you were dead. Priestess Hursuth is no longer, but I hope I can provide for you as she did.”

The princess stared at the prophet and priestess without saying a word. She let the tip of her sword touch the ground as she relaxed her arm. “The world has moved much more rapidly since I was abducted than I could have imagined.

“May Hursuth rest comfortably in the bosom of the goddess through eternity, Priestess Andela. Congratulations on your election. What happened to Hursuth?”

“It was Urutu, my princess,” Andela said. “We assume that it was a poison of some sort. One evening she was alive and the next morning she was dead. There was nary a mark on her body. We are not the only temple to have lost a high priest who at one time had the blessing of your father or of you.”

“May I suggest that the princess be given a few minutes to freshen up before we continue this conversation,” Timmaus more ordered than asked. “The prophet and the princess seem to have continued their strenuous conversation while I was gone.”

“Yes, I stink to the high heavens and ache in new, interesting places,” Salomet said. She walked to the door and disappeared with her sword still in hand without a further word.

“Painful oracle,” Borner said to Andela. “Circumstances forced me to beat some sense into her. She is not in the best form one would hope for a queen-in-waiting.”

“Is that why you have a bulge in your pants’” Andela said.

Timmaus sniggered. They shot him a dirty look to which he shrugged. With a wave of his hand, he departed the room, shutting the door behind him and leaving them alone.

“I...” they both started to say and then stopped. Borner cycled through frustration and anger to bewilderment and onto embarrassment in a seamless moment of uncertainty. He wanted to scoop her up in his arms and hold her to his chest and then he did not. He had no right, he had only had a few hours of her time that he could claim as their history. He needed to know from her what she felt about him.

He took her hand and gently squeezed. She returned the gesture, giving him a soft smile. They stood staring at each other.

“I feel like we are the walking caricature of a joke,” Borner said, breaking the silence. “A prophet and priestess walk into a tavern and take a seat at the bar. Yet there is no joke and no punchline. Standing with you I don’t want to be anything other than Borner, a man. Even more, I don’t want you to be high priestess of Denarah but Andela, the woman.”

She dropped his hand and brought her fingers up to the top of jawline below his ear. “I am the high priestess, and you are the prophet, though not the one of my goddess. Whatever are we to do?” She began to walk in a circle around him, letting her fingers trace the length of jaw and then the back of his skull.

“Attempting to beguile me?” Borner said as he enjoyed the sensations.

“I am attempting to block your beguilement of me,” Andela said, coming around to face him again.

“Shan’t” happen,” Borner said, taking her by the waist and pulling her to him. “My enchantment is your goddess, herself.” He kissed her, and her lips parted. They stayed that way for several minutes.

“About time.” The words were a mere whisper coming from the door but Borner heard them easily enough. His so-called disciple, Kanner, was a voyeur, as well as a scold. The man’s words brought him back to his senses, which he did sorely need.

Borner broke the kiss and leaned into her ear. “One day we will share a bed as man and woman. That day may not be today, though. Every strand is coming together while we stand here.”

“Is that an oracle or a promise?” She said, resting her chin on his shoulder.

“Only a promise I’m afraid,” Borner said, despising another revealed truth of his gift - it was not for him. “We have guests waiting at the door.”

They walked through the doorway and stepped into the hall. A small contingent of onlookers gazed at them without the slimmest shade of guilt for their spying. Borner withheld a witty retort about thieves, grabbing back Andela’s hand instead, and leading her to the Master of Lies’ study and his readily filled decanter. The owner of the decanter was waiting for them, already reclining in his favorite chair with a crystal glass in his hand. After announcing that the reunion of two godly people should be toasted with a mellow whiskey aged in the northern caves, they all downed a good swallow. He pressed the word “godly” a little harshly. Andela and Borner sat next to each other on the couch after refilling their glasses.