“That is enough for today,”

  the priest said, snapping the book he had been reciting from closed,

  “tomorrow I will administer an exam of what we’ve covered so far.

  I will allow you to have your texts for that so that you can record

  exact quotes and such. Though it will still be an impossible task to

  complete successfully if you don’t know where to look for things,

  so you must make sure to spend some time tonight reviewing the

  sections we’ve covered so far.”

  There was no a window in the

  dank study, but judging by my level of hunger and exhaustion it was

  still fairly early to be ending our study session. I couldn’t

  remember if the dark room had ever been used prior to my father’s

  death, I had always assumed it was just some sort of storage room by

  the fact that I had never seen anyone go in or out of it during the

  day, though I supposed that I had never had reason to take much

  notice of it before.

  Perhaps it had been a study

  prior, it was located fairly close to the castle library and the room

  smelled deeply of old books and the soot of long extinguished

  candles. My father was not one to sit down with a good book or take

  the time himself to research anything, if I had to guess it might

  have been used sometimes by my mother. She was known to disappear in

  and around the castle for hours at a time, always returning with a

  contemplative look on her face.

  “Is there anything wrong?”

  the priest asked gently.

  He had always been friendly

  and kind to me, at least as much as anyone else ever had been, but

  ever since my breakthrough and the methods through which that was

  attained, he had softened his interactions with me and even pretended

  to feign distraction when I closed my eyes for a second too long and

  drifted off.

  “Normally you pack up and

  leave as soon as I give the go ahead.”

  “It’s very early,” I

  said with a wince

  The woman had focused on my

  upper body today, some of the blows falling on my face and jaw. I

  didn’t think it was broken, but chewing was going to be an

  experience for a few days. This would likely be the only time I would

  find myself happy to know that liquid porridge would be my only food

  for a while.

  Won’t my trainer be upset

  that you’re letting me slack off on my studies?” I suggested

  uneasily.

  The old man’s face fell

  slightly, but he quickly corrected and leaned back in his chair, jaw

  moving subtly in thought. He took his eyes off of mine and trained

  them instead on the wall behind me as if mulling over some deep

  question.

  These days I felt lucky to end

  my day in his presence, he was not quite as old as my father had

  been, but he couldn’t have been far behind, and that elder male

  presence brought a bit of comfort. Despite a boy being expected to

  look up and idolize his father, I couldn’t say I fit that

  expectation exactly. I was sure my father had loved me enough in his

  own way, but he was someone much more interested in running a kingdom

  or in his own leisure pursuits than dealing with children old enough

  to be toddling around on their own. I could remember him gathering me

  to his lap at night when I was very small and telling me snippets of

  stories he could remember or exciting parts of battles from

  historical wars, but that had ended once I had grown enough to talk

  and have my own opinions.

  “It is not my place to say

  what is best for whatever sort of training it is you are doing with

  the cleric,” he began, drawing out his words slowly as if he was

  afraid they might spill out and say something he shouldn’t, “but

  I can’t help but notice that you are not quite yourself as of

  late.” He paused, the corner of his right lip twitching beneath his

  mustache like he felt it was almost funny that he couldn’t plainly

  say exactly what he meant. “Children need nourishment of the body,

  mind, and soul,” he continued, “and I’m worried that you might

  be lacking in those categories.”

  A weak part of me wanted to

  toss myself onto his lap and weep, cry out the physical and emotional

  pain I was feeling, but I was certain that it would only led to a

  messy outcome for myself and him. The woman had made it very clear

  that a painful situation would befall me if I acted like I was

  anything but grateful for the opportunity she was giving me. In fact,

  I should be joyous and singing to the heavens my gratitude for the

  good fortunate that was being trained and ascending towards glory in

  the Great Church. What exactly what glory there was to be had and

  what I was destined for exactly was not something I was allowed to

  inquire about, that was all part of the grand plan in the glorious

  path that was supposedly laid before me whether I walked it of my own

  volition or not.

  “I am following the path

  laid out for me.” My voice sounded fake and practiced, but I agreed

  to say the words, not say them with passion. “It is mine to walk

  and any hardships only aid in my development towards the powerful

  monarch and fixture of the Church I’m destined to be. My journey

  should be unimpeded and left to the hands of my trainer, the divine,

  and my own developing fortitude.”

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  The priest made a deep,

  grumbling sound in his throat and waved away my statement with his

  hand. “Yes, yes, that sounds exactly like what you’ve been told

  to say, but I wasn’t asking you to recite to me some line you’ve

  been given. You’re barely old enough to start being considered not

  quite a child, but you certainly are not a man yet. Your needs and

  well being should be attended to and made sure that you are healthy

  and well. I’m not sure I could twist what you look like is

  happening to you as you being happy and well.”

  I looked over his outfit and

  the way he sat as I considered what I should do next. He wore a

  simple, plain outfit of pale yellow trousers and a matching,

  high-collared, long sleeved shirt along with a small silver pendant

  around his neck depicting the sun. The priest had never been one to

  wear official Church garments on a daily basis. Typically he dressed

  like any other low level noble and blended in with the castle

  populace, but since my father’s death I had only ever seen him in

  the same outfit or a slight, I’m assuming approved, variation. I

  could only assume that he was being pressured to assume a more pious

  observation of his religious garb and I had a good guess as to whom

  was applying the pressure.

  The best I could give him was

  a shrug in return, I simply couldn’t risk the trainer catching wind

  of me saying anything that she would consider out of line. The

  treatment she was giving me while she supposedly was pleased with my

  progress was quite enough, I didn’t want to know what she would end

  up doing if she wanted to punish me. I didn’t think she would

  intentionally permanently maim or kill me, but I was pretty sure that

  it wouldn’t weigh on her mind or conscious if she accidentally did.

  No, it was best to let things ride as they were even if they were

  absolutely miserable until there was a more clear and safe path out.

  “I see,” he said with a

  long huff and a shake of his head, “this stays between us my son,

  but I do not like any of this business at all.” His eyes darted to

  the door like he expected it to burst open at any moment. After

  nothing happened following a long pause, he turned his attention back

  to my face. “I am just a low level priest and not some expert in

  how royal court works, but any fool could see that it appears you’ve

  been usurped by the Church. Far be it from me to say that’s

  necessarily a bad thing, I have devoted my life and livelihood to

  serving the divine, but I have never quite seen or heard of anything

  so… intense as the changes that are happening before us.”

  I wanted to ask questions and

  get him to expand on just what all the Church was and had to do with

  what was happening to me, but I knew better and kept my mouth firmly

  shut. I certainly wasn’t going to stop him from telling me what he

  would say unprompted, I felt reasonably certain I couldn’t be held

  at fault for that.

  “I have been living here,

  being the religious resource for the castle since before you were

  ever born, I even oversaw your mother and father’s marriage

  nuptials and blessed their union. I don’t think there’s been a

  baby born in a several mile radius in and around this castle that

  hasn’t had the touch of my hand for their baptism and I feel that I

  have been a very pious man.” He stopped again and watched the door,

  his hands fiddling with the cover of the book sitting in front of

  him. “However, I do think there can be such a thing as being a bit

  too pious or confusing being pious with a lust for power.”

  There was a far off cry of a

  young child in the castle, a wail that spoke to just how unfair the

  child thought the world was horribly unfair in that moment. It was

  not something out of the ordinary and usually would have gone

  unnoticed as part of the background noise of living in the stone

  fortress, but the sound made the priest jump in his seat and his eyes

  widened. Once it dawned on him that it was just a child in the

  distance his shoulders dropped once again and he let out a little

  laugh.

  “I perhaps say too much,”

  he said, voice now barely above a whisper, “but I think there is a

  lesson that all young people should eventually learn, perhaps it’s

  even more important for someone such as yourself who has the throne

  to look forward to. Please remember that there are people who despite

  following everything to the letter of righteousness fumble on the

  spirit behind the guidelines. There are dark and dangerous people in

  the most glittering of cathedrals. They lurk among the truly good and

  though they appear to be pillars, they are actually undermining the

  very foundation they claim to glorify. It is even more dangerous when

  they can’t comprehend that they are the snakes slithering through

  their flocks that they warn others about.”

  My eyes widened as I realized

  what he was saying without directly saying it. I couldn’t imagine

  anyone being out to harm a priest of the Church, but I got a chill up

  my spine about what exactly might befall him if she found out. I

  hoped that it would just be a removal from being my religious tutor,

  though I suspected it would be much worse if the dread on his face

  was anything to go by.

  “I won’t say anything,”

  I managed to whisper out.

  He nodded his head and looked

  at me gratefully, then opened the book before him once again.

  “Perhaps you were right and it is a bit too early for us to wrap

  up, there is so much more about the Church for you to learn and your

  studies have been neglected up until recently, open your book and

  study with me in contemplative silence.”

  Taking

  his cue, I opened the book we had been focusing on for the past few

  days and turned to a random page. I half-lidded my eyes so that if

  someone walked in it would look like I was deep in reading and let my

  mind and body rest somewhere between sleep and waking. The aching in

  my body mercifully dulled and I let my mind wander the space on the

  edge of dreaming.