Clouded Purity - Book 2 of The Trial

Clouded Purity - Chapter 10

Prism lounged in Kaeral's room, tired from a day of hard labor. Master Vinh had made good on his promise, working him from dawn to dusk every single day since Prism had sneaked out. Prism refused to tell the Master the nature of his visit and bore his labors in near silence.

Today afforded him a rare moment of respite, as Valkean had called the Masters to council several hours earlier, and once Prism completed the tasks Master Vinh had already assigned him, he finished a few more for good measure, then went to find his friend.

Kaeral had recently taken to returning to the city again. Winter had receded, and the sea waters had warmed once again. Prism longed for news of the outside world, as his chores often kept him cloistered.

As soon as he finished exchanging pleasantries with Kaeral, he asked, "What news do you have from Kobinaru? I know you went down last night."

Kaeral, who knelt in front of his mirror, shaving his head with a straight razor, turned to Prism with a grin. "Did you hear a man spat in President Caliphar of Oligan's face?"

Prism leaned forward from his place on Kaeral's bedroll, eager to hear about this strange, and likely untrue, rumor. Most of Kaeral's stories were exaggerated big fish tales, but this one held the promise of at least being inventive. "No. Master Vinh doesn't leave enough time for me to catch up on the news. What happened?"

"Apparently one of the engineers—some guy named Neredos—behind Oligan's new rumored weapon?" Kaeral paused to gauge Prism's recognition of the name or the technology. When Prism didn't react, Kaeral sighed and continued. "He didn't like that they made his designs into a weapon, apparently he hoped it would create technology for the people, not the military. When Caliphar held a ceremony to honor the scientists behind it, Neredos spat in the president's face." He laughed fondly at that, as he always did at anything anarchic in nature. "It gets weirder though."

"How could that get weirder?" Prism asked. "Did they decide not to imprison him? Because that would be weird for Oligan. They imprison people just for speaking their mind, I hear. Though I guess that isn't much different than here."

"They say Neredos is currently in Gor territory, so I guess he escaped or something," Kaeral replied. "He's the entire reason we know about the weapon. Who knows how long the Ultakan government has known."

Prism shrugged. Government secrets didn't constitute weirdness, and this story lacked Kaeral's usual exaggeration. No fantastic elements or supernatural beings appearing from nowhere—that's what usually constituted a Kaeral story. "But what's the weird thing?" Prism asked.

"Oh," Kaeral said, his eyes lighting up as he lowered the razor, flicking off the bit of lather from the end and dipping it in the bowl of clean water to rinse it. "Apparently a huge bird swooped in on the ceremony and stole the rag the president used to wipe his face." He turned to Prism and grinned. "It just came out of nowhere."

"That is weird. Do you think it's true?" Prism asked, glad Kaeral hadn't lost his touch.

Kaeral chuckled and said, "I don't know. I mean, it sounds at least more believable than the brain thing."