Rite of Exile: The Silent Tempest, Book 1 Read Online Free PDF

wondering if he should say what he really meant; then another burst of guilt destroyed the fantasy, and he shrugged. “Hopefully that won’t be a problem.”
    “Well, tomorrow you’ll meet more people than you probably care to.”
    Though he knew it was only a jest, he sighed. “Now you’ve done it.”
    She smiled again and tossed him an apple, its skin wrinkled a little by winter storage. “Stop worrying! You’ll do fine.”
    Caleb’s apprehension faded in a burst of pride. Even after all those years with Karla, it still amazed him how a woman’s smile—or rather, the absence of one—held so much power over him.
    He studied the apple in his hand, noticing the faint variations in shape and color that set it apart from the familiar cultivars of Earth. “You call this a relmandya ?” he asked, and she nodded. “Everything I’ve seen here is almost exactly like we had back home—fruit, animals—even the people!” He scratched his head as if to eke the answer out of his brain. I was told that’s impossible.”
    “How else would it be?”
    He wondered if colonizers had terraformed the planet; there was no telling how long he and Warren had slept through the stars, perhaps since before Ada’s earliest cultural memories. Yet even the most thorough effort would have left greater discrepancies than a slight difference in apples.
    “It doesn’t matter,” he replied. “I’m just glad it turned out that way.”
    A shout turned their heads. A man was running south along the crest of the dam directly towards them.
    “Yoté!” she cried.
    The runner stopped. He was a young, fair-haired fellow with broad shoulders, his pleasant features flushed with exertion. “A message from the Overseer, my lady,” he blurted between gulps of air. “Caleb Stenger is to be escorted to Wsaytchen at once. He’s to be Judged within the hour.”
    Telai blinked in the sunshine. “Now? Why?”
    “I don’t know. But she made herself quite clear.”
    Caleb sat numb. The event he had anticipated for so long now felt like a rock in his stomach.
    “So typical of her,” Telai muttered, and glanced at her student as if to weigh his readiness. “Rest here, Yoté. Then take the relleté and return the basket to the kitchen at the inn. I’ll walk Caleb Stenger to Wsaytchen.” Yoté lowered himself to the stone.
    She stood, glanced down at her wet clothes, and shrugged. “There’s no reason to postpone this, anyway, not even for a day. The sooner you’re accepted into Adan society, the better.”
    Caleb took a deep breath and rose beside her, feeling much less confident about the outcome. But she was right: he would have tormented himself half the night, only to arrive at the Judgment weary from lack of sleep.
    Warren grasped his hand. “Let’s go, son—this is it,” the Falling Man murmured in English.

4
    Judgment in Wsaytchen
    Secrets foul the soul.
    - from Besir Orand’iteé
    THE VISION OF the fair-haired Telai among the vibrant blossoms and slender birches of Wsaytchen’s gardens almost erased Caleb’s foreboding. He wanted to stop, forget the Judgment, and lose himself in her company.
    The paved walkway ended at a set of shallow marble steps leading to a tall portico at least forty feet across. The main tower of the palace rose high above; its stained glass windows gleamed so bright in the late morning sun that Caleb could barely look at them. Crossing the portico, they came to a pair of massive, ornate doors nearly twice his height, each illuminated by silver mirrors embedded deep in the surrounding columns.
    His hand drifted instinctively towards the small bulk of his laser pistol hidden in the pocket of his trousers. Then he silently chastised himself for his paranoia. In all his time here, he had never seen any sign of advanced technology. Yet he knew it was foolish to underestimate these people. Besides, Ada was his home now. A demonstration of his superior weaponry, for whatever reason, would remove all hope of a