As a Seeker (The Eternal Dungeon: Rebirth #5)

"'You thought I had gone mad. Well, I haven't. Not yet.'"

If the High Seeker wants something, no power in life or death will hold him from taking it. What he wants now has brought danger to the Eternal Dungeon.

As the Eternal Dungeon's head torturer slowly spirals into the darkness within his mind, two men strive to bring Layle Smith back. One is the High Seeker's love-mate, using all his gifts of gentle stubbornness to keep Layle alive. The other is Layle Smith's second-in-command, Weldon Chapman, who must find a way to breach the wall between himself and the High Seeker. He must also find a way to end his resentment against the love-mate who took the place of Weldon at Layle's side.

This suspenseful novelette (miniature novel) can be read on its own or as the fifth story in the "Rebirth" volume of The Eternal Dungeon, an award-winning speculative fiction series set in a nineteenth-century prison where the psychologists wield whips. Friendship, family, gay love, and rebellion are intertwining plotlines in the series.

EXCERPT

Weldon fingered the wine bottle for a minute before asking, "Do you believe he is a danger?"

"Do you?"

Weldon did not have to think before shaking his head. "He has been a Seeker for nearly twenty years, and in all that time he has broken from his duties only twice – both times under circumstances that anyone could forgive. If he hasn't lived out his dark past during all these years, I see no reason why he should do so now."

Elsdon did not look up from where he sat, hunched over the counter. "If you asked Layle, he would say that he asked the Codifier to suspend him from his duties because he believes that he can no longer control his actions. He believes he is in danger of torturing and raping and murdering every person in the Eternal Dungeon."

"That's what the High Seeker says. And the dungeon healer?"

"Mr. Bergsen says what I say: Layle's only danger is that he is retreating more and more into the dungeon of his dreamings. He is losing his mind, Weldon."

Elsdon's voice ended in a choke. Weldon laid his hand upon the junior Seeker's arm. After a long while he said, "He has you. That's the best guarantee that he won't leave us altogether."

"He has me only half the day. The other half I spend with my prisoner, or doing work connected with my prisoner." Elsdon raised his head and took a deep breath. "I'm planning to ask the Codifier to relieve me of my duties to my prisoner."

Weldon felt a chill enter him. He tried to ignore it for the moment, saying, "I thought your searching of the prisoner was going well."

"I think it is. I know that Layle will be angry with me – he assigned the prisoner to me because he thought I was the best Seeker for the job. But Weldon, I can't let Layle slip further into his dreamings. If putting my prisoner aside can help him . . ."

The chill increased. Weldon reached for the cheese on the counter and said, "Elsdon – did Layle ever tell you how it was that our friendship ended?"

Elsdon was silent a long moment, and then, with the devastating directness that he had shown in his training as a Seeker, he replied, "No. Nor how your love-bond ended."

Weldon swallowed back his next words. He stared down at the cup, dark with wine and with his memories.