Forged In Flame (In Her Name: The First Empress, Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

T’lar-Gol to fight in the wars back then.” He smiled, but she could see in his eye that there was neither humor nor pleasure in the recollection. “Our army was destroyed and my lord killed. The few of us who survived were scattered, and rather than declare my honor for the victor — the one who started the last war we had with the Settlements, I might add — I found myself standing at the threshold of the temple. It was either that or become an honorless one, and I would have rather taken my own life. It is strange, though. I had never really thought before then about becoming a priest. That was simply where my Way led me.”
    “I am glad it did.”
    He snorted. “You are in the clear minority in that, my dear, at least if you were to know the thoughts of my peers.” 
    “That is not true! They all respect you.” She fell into step with the elder warrior as he walked toward the opening that led from the clearing, although she still had no idea where it led to.
    “They respect my sword, child, but little more. I am a heretic, and I suspect that if any other than T’ier-Kunai were high priestess I would be stripped of my collar and banished to the Great Wastelands.”
    Keel-Tath was stunned. “They would not dare!”
    He eyed her carefully. “It is a rare, rare thing, but such has happened before. Remember, child, our people, our entire species across the Homeworld and the Settlements, is held in stasis by the priesthoods. They were formed as a check against our self-destructive nature, to hold us in a balance that would allow us to fight like the animals we are inside, but never let any of our worlds become so powerful that they could destroy the others.” His blood-covered face twisted into an expression of sadness and frustration. “They believe that what we are now is all that we ever will be, and that to deviate from the path we have taken since the end of the Second Age is to court our doom. There is nothing but blood for the warriors and toil for the robed castes, forever until the universe itself dies.” He spat again. “The old gods were cast down and forsaken when we nearly destroyed ourselves in the Final Annihilation, but no one ever thought to put anything in their place. Since then have we been lost. We have nothing but kings and queens, wise or foolish, in which to put our faith. There is nothing for our souls but emptiness.”
    “I have faith in you,” Keel-Tath told him softly. “And in Ria-Ka’luhr. And the high priestess.”
    “The faith of which I am speaking is spiritual, child. It is not something that is taught anymore, but only read about in the Books of Time, should one dig deep enough. Most of us believe we have souls, and that there is an afterlife. But without faith in something higher than ourselves, there has been no way for us to bridge the gap between this life and the next. We hope. We wish. But we have no faith that there is truly anything but darkness beyond the veil of death.” 
    “I do not understand.
    “I know.” He put his hand on her shoulder as they neared the opening to the clearing. “Few do, even among the priesthood, for to contemplate such things is to stray onto questionable ground. Those of the priesthoods are too busy focusing on their sword craft and powers to wonder what awaits them beyond the funeral pyre. Yet to me, it is an important subject, and yet another aspect of my heresy.”
    “I wish you would not say such things,” she said, fear taking root in her heart for him as the two of them stepped through the opening between the trees. The ground changed from dark loam to white rock, and the sound she had been hearing grew much louder. “You shouldn’t… oh .”
    They had stepped out onto a great ledge of rock, beyond which lay the ocean that surrounded Ural-Murir. And rising from the water were dozens of tall rocky spires, with more of the strange tall trees clinging to them. 
    Beyond the spires was nothing but the ocean itself,