Page 38 of Infala: The Priest's Temptation
“Elder Soparosuggested our guest familiarize herself with our texts,” he replied, putting special emphasis on their leader’s name to eliminate any possible push-back. “I know the way. No need for you to cease your work.”
The man seemed a mix of flustered emotions and confusion, but he knew better than to go against the elder’s wishes. “Of course. Please, do not hesitate to ask if you are in need of anything.”
“I’m sure we will be fine, but thank you,” Draikis said, taking Ella’s hand and leading her past the gatekeeper. “Come, Ella. I will give you a brief tour before you decide where you would like to begin your studies.”
The archivist noted the contact between the priest and the outsider woman with surprise but didn’t comment. Whatever was happening, the elder had directed them here, and he was not about to open that can of worms.
Draikis led his guest deep into the structure, passing digital terminals used to study the rules and laws, vast rooms full of original artwork depicting all manner of events in the Dotharian Conglomerate’s history as well as that of the order, and interactive study halls with impressive projected immersive stories of worlds across the systems.
But it was a decorative scroll mounted in a protective stasis field hanging on the wall of a smaller, secluded room that caught her eye.
“What does that mean? ‘From the far the near is understood’?” she asked.
Draikis’s eyes widened. “You can read that?”
“Yeah. Why? Am I not supposed to? I thought my translation runes were supposed to be healed.”
“They are. But that is an ancient tongue, and those older dialects are often difficult, if not impossible to read. Not even our archivist can translate with ease. And yet somehow you seem to be able to do what he cannot.”
“I’m just reading what it says.”
“It would seem so.Fascinating. I’ve heard of the occasional quirk of physiology from a few rare races whose particular genetic structure gifts them the ability to do precisely this. To translate these ancient tongues. But I have never seen it personally, nor did I believe I ever would.”
“So, you’re saying I’m a freak?”
“You are an anomaly, for certain, but I don’t know that I’d put it quite like that.”
Ella leaned in close, an electric shock of something between them sparking as she brushed against him. She did her best to push the delightful sensation aside, at least for the moment.
“Suuuure, buddy. Youaresaying I’m a freak,” she countered with a grin. “And apparently I can read stuff you can’t because I’mawesome.”
“I suppose you are,” he said with a grin and a little shrug, almost as if indifferent.
She could tell he wasn’t though. In fact, he seemed anything but. A wave of heat abruptly radiated from him as he watched her perform her translation trick with an impressed look, and a whiff of his sweet and spicy male scent hit her sinuses hard.
Did he always smell like that before?she wondered, her body reacting with a surge of its own, an unexpected heat flaring in her belly. She glanced down and noticed a slight movement within his trousers. Not an erection, but the beautiful beast hanging there seemed to no longer be entirely dormant.
Draikis moved back, stepping to a table upon which a large format and very old book rested, open to an ornately drawn page. It was bigger than a coffee-table book in length and width, but it was not terribly thick. Apparently, the ancients had simply written in large script but hadn’t yet fleshed out their rules to the vast set of standards the disciples now abided by.
“Hey, I can read that too!” Ella realized, though the text was obviously a different and even older script.
“You can?” he asked, truly surprised. “This is one of the earliest translations of the four original texts to the common tongue of the day. These are the foundation of all that came after. The laws upon which our entire society was built. Even the most skilled among us has an incredibly hard time with them, though we are all tasked with the attempt when we enter the brotherhood.”
“Is it okay to touch them like that?”
“Do not worry. We have long ago affixed a protective nano-film to the pages of the delicate ones, keeping all oils, dirt, and other contaminants from damaging them. The ancient texts are quite safe.”
“And you’re sure I’m allowed to read them?”
“While Elder Soparo did not expressly say you could or could not, he did seem quite open to your studying whatever you could. So, with that in mind, I would argue that yes, you are welcome to study them if you so desire, though the concepts are likely outdated.”
“But also the foundations you built on, right?”
“Exactly.”
“Then I’d like to start with these. I can always expand out from there, but it seems like the logical place to start.”
“Are you sure? These are quite difficult.”
