The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure (69 page)
Read The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure Online
Authors: Storm Constantine
‘You and Thiede are so alike. It’s obvious why you could never be friends. The world isn’t big enough for both of you, is it?’
Opalexian laughed. ‘In some ways, you are right, but I won’t be like him. I won’t be holding the strings of power and tweaking them on a whim. If I wanted that, Thiede would have been dead years ago.’
‘Will he die now?’
‘Go home, Flick. You have made your feelings clear and I have nothing else to say to you.’
Flick left Kalalim in a daze. He wanted to speak to Seel about this. He
should
speak to Seel, but Opalexian had made sure that was impossible. None of them had the power to make a difference. It was already done. ‘Aru help you, Pellaz,’ Flick murmured aloud. ‘Aru help us all.’
When he reached the market quarter, he almost didn’t notice the two hara talking to a Roselane har at one of the stalls. But their unusual attire and the fact that they were obviously outsiders commanded his attention. He noticed first the bright gold hair and came to a standstill.
Cal was already here.
Flick felt faint and had to reach out for support to the wall beside him. There could be no mistake. He knew that face, that hair, that
being
. Flick ran into a side street. If he ran fast enough, he might escape the present and leap into the past, the day before yesterday, some time last year. Any time but this.
No more
, he prayed to whichever dehar might be listening,
I beg you. No more.
He kept on running all the way home.
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