Sacrilege

Chapter Twenty-Six

TWENTY-SIX

Night finally came in Pearu giving the citizens a chance to rest from the long day. Gain got the

children ready for bed. Dyos and I stood on the wall watching Grethen and Bahmel converse

with Os' mar. Staring at Os' mar I tried to figure out whom exactly was controlling this creature

that was pretending to be Os' mar. My mind had already convinced me it was Lilith, but there

were other players who could have taken him. I thought about my father and the prisoner on the

side of the cell when I'd been captured. I had thought it to be just one of the other citizens, but

now that I think about it, why would my father hold an arrested citizen in the palace. It could

have been Os' mar's body he was holding hostage. My father had been practicing spells lately.

Maybe he'd learn how to take control of a creature's body. I wouldn't past him.

I then thought about the third player in the game. The God. I couldn't remember seeing Os' mar

the day the Gods came into Belham. He could have still been alive, and could have been one of

the ones who fled. Maybe one of the Gods that came, had chased him and killed him. He was

the keeper of souls, and since the God was working with Eris, he could have needed some

information from him. But Os' mar wasn't the type to run from the Gods. He worked for them,

so why run?

Grethen got up from his seat and made his way over to us. He sipped something from his clay

mug as he stood beside me, his body facing the wall, his back to Bahmel and Os' mar.

"There is something off about your friend."

"You've picked up on it as well."

Grethen nodded. "There's a humming sound coming from him. He also keep shifting and

glancing over at you every few minutes. At first I thought because he did not know us well and

you were the only one he was comfortable with. But the glances he is throwing you aren't

friendly, they're sinister."

"So how do you want to handle him?" Dyos asked.

"Give me a moment alone with him."

Dyos and Grethen nodded. They walked over to Bahmel and Os' mar as Dyos clapped a hand on

Bahmel's shoulder. "Say Bahmel, you got any more of that seaweed drink?"

Bahmel headed to the kitchen to fix Dyos a drink as he and Grethen followed, leaving me alone

with Os' mar.

"I tell ya Aristaeus, it sure is good to be back in Pearu. I almost forgot how great the air smells

here."

I chuckled. "Why don't we go outside and get some of that fresh air?"

"Um, sure."

I led the way out the door as Os' mar followed. My hand gripped my demos as I led him a few

feet away from Bahmel's home. I didn't want to jeopardize waking his children or attract any

attention from the neighborhood barters. We walked into the forest as the sound of night