Thorn
The Shepherd, Book III
A Novel by Jeffrey B. Linn
All Rights Reserved

Chapter I

The gatekeeper stood reflecting for a moment. He stared at a little alabaster lamp sitting on a sill.

"I think he could go by 'Nabi', though the prophecy came in the Southern language. It means 'seer', just as the name of the mountain." He stroked his blondish beard and paused again. "Do you think there is some connection between he and it?"

Yet before he could elaborate we were started by a sudden shout, "To the walls!" In the doorway, out of breath, stood a youth whom I recognized as a tower sentry.

The gatekeeper moved as if a plan were already laid. "mentor and Nebiah, convene the intercessors. Bebaios, summon the archons. Emunah, ready the infirmary staff with Cassia in waiting. Nabi will attend myself and errand as needed." Each moved as soon as called, leaving me to stumble after the gatekeeper with my innards tarrying. Swiftly we trotted out the door, across the courtyard, up the rampart steps and into the gate tower.

What we beheld from there fully justified my trepidation. On the plain were three figures standing in a row with the outer two holding torches. In the dimness their posture could yet convey the characteristic insolence of the 'corrupted princes', the enemy's eparchs. Behind them stood a creature which at first I mistook for a tree. As tall as a large man and half as much again; his limbs were as thick as beams.

The hills behind them glowed red.

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