Confessors Choice
(based on the stories of Terry Goodkind)
Chapter One.
The Midlands were a land of Magic.
Alysson lived in the Midlands.
Alysson was the Court of last Resort for convicted felons in the land.
Alysson hated dungeons.
They were sometimes hot, sometimes cold, but…always filthy.
Those that worked here…were not known for their housekeeping skills.
Those sentenced here, had more serious concerns.
She stepped carefully down the carved stone steps.
Avoiding the cobwebs hanging from the low hanging ceiling.
Her appointment, her client….lay ahead.
Alysson was a Confessor.
One of the chosen….chosen by birth.
Her mother had been a Confessor, as her grandmother and great grandmother before.
Women of her line back into the dark past had all been Confessors.
The magic passed down on the female side, generation to generation.
Confessors were loathed, hated, despised……and feared.
Confessors were born with a gift, a gift that came with womanhood.
The touch of a Confessor was the gift of love.
Complete, total, unconditional, unreasoning, unthinking……love.
One touched by a Confessors power, no longer had a will of their own.
They were the Confessors, body and soul….mind and will.
Once touched by a Confessor, they ceased to exist as a separate entity.
They became only an extension of the Confessors will, a devoted loving shell of their former self.
Dedicated to the Confessors every whim. The Confessors touch was irrevocable, it could not be undone.
Everyone feared a Confessors power, and the living death of their touch.
Being a confessor was a curse, a life of loveless devotion.
It was also a …..Profession.
For they were the ultimate judge of life….and death…in the legal system of the land.
When criminals, maniacs, madmen, sociopaths of any ilk were captured, and tried by what ever court held sway and ultimately sentenced to their just reward….the Confessor was their final appeal. They were given the last choice of their misbegotten life….. Death….or the Confessors touch.
Most knew the Confessors judgment would not reverse their fate, and chose to end as they had begun.
If they chose the Confessors hand, the Confessor would reach out and lightly touch them to the clap of a silence that rang like thunder.
Their will gone, the Confessor would then question them about their crimes.
All concern for self preservation gone, they would then eagerly tell the truths they had long denied. Confess to the deeds they had been sentenced for.
The Confessors last duty, was to direct the guilty miscreant to one last effort. To die.
Those touched by a Confessor would joyfully comply, their hearts stopping…with love.
The Confessors power was not on the surface, it was held in….only released at the Confessors need.
Constantly held in, day and night so as not to accidentally do harm.
Like a raging river held back by a mighty dam, the power constantly pushed to be released.
Confessors were taught by their mothers to harness the power, hold it tight.
And now, once more Alysson was called to pass final judgment on a condemned man.
He waited at the end of the row of dank stinking cells.
A man she did not know, that had asked for the Confessors judgment.
A man who claimed he was…..innocent.
Chapter Two.
Edward led a simple life, at least it had been a simple life.
Until he had been accused of the murders.
Edward had been a doctor with a small practice on the edge of town.
His practice treated colds and broken bones, lanced boils and delivered babies.
His patients were from all walks of life, the people that lived around him.
As were the victims of the heinous series of murders that had started six months ago.
Women butchered in the dark of night, women from the neighborhood.
Edward was aware of the atrocities, had certified the deaths.
He heard the gossip, the leaks from investigating authorities.
The papers had been full with fact and….speculation.
What he had not heard…until the last moment was the accusation.
That he had known all the victims.
That they had been patients of his.
That the murders had all been done with….surgical precision.
These things he did not know….until he had been arrested.
His home searched….and the incriminating evidence…uncovered.
His protestations of innocence fell on the deaf ears of those needing a conviction.
A quick conviction and an end to the fear oppressing the citizens of the town.
The trial had been….expeditious. The jury nodding to the prosecutors pronouncements.
The defense had been….transparent in its ineptitude.
The sentence had been…predictable.
Edward had waited in this dark deep corner of the keep.
Waited for the arrival of his last hope.
The Confessors rounds of the country’s criminal repositories took time.
Time most of the state’s guests preferred to extend, delay as long as possible.
Edward had been waiting with anxiety, waiting ….patiently.
He knew little of the Confessors, as a man of science…he was dubious of their powers.
He waited now, sitting on the small cot in his cell….back to the wall, facing the door.
He heard the sounds first…steps in the distance...the jailers shuffling gait.
Other steps….hollow leathery steps coming closer.
And…among those sounds…one set of clear ringing taps….of hard…feminine heels on stone.
The doors lock scraped, the jailer led in the small troop.
Himself, two burly armed guards, a stooped elder male and……
A woman in white, long curly red hair streaming down her back.
His first impression was of…sorrow….pity….she looked at him as a mother to an injured child.
His second look took in the slightly tilted eyes, the full lips…the tender smile.
For a moment…he forgot why she was here….he just stared up at her slender form…enthralled.
She spoke his name, “Edward…You asked for a Confessor…I am here”
He had to close his eyes to bring his mind back to his need.
“Yes, I need you to confirm my innocence!”
She looked back at him with a steady gaze.
“You understand what it is you ask, you understand that whether innocent or guilty…you will be gone…either way….you, Edward….will be no more.”
Edward stared up at here….voice steady….it doesn’t matter. I have been convicted wrongly, but convicted none the less. All that remains…all that matters to me now is that everyone know I was innocent. That there is still a murderer out there. That the search must continue. That my name be cleared of this shame”
Chapter Three
Alysson stood outside the cell as the jailer unlocked the heavy door.
She stood aside as the protective wardens stepped inside.
Let her scribe enter ahead of her, then followed them all into the cramped space.
The others moved to the side, letting her stand in front of the prisoner.
He sat on the bunk, and slowly turned to set his feet on the floor.
Looking up at her with soft brown eyes in a firm featured face.
It was a face of compassion; he did not have the haunted look she so often saw on men in these last minutes.
There was intelligence in those eyes, firmness in the stance of his body….even while sitting.
She was momentarily lost in thought as she looked down into his clear steady gaze.
She called him by name, told him she was the one he had requested.
He made his formal request as required.
She tried to make him understand the consequences of his request.
Innocent clients, as much as the guilty mostly preferred to go to their last day…whole in mind and spirit.
Few would put their reputation, their honor before the preservation of their self, even in last extremity.
Only two in all her past experience had made that choice.
Both innocent of the crime of which they were convicted, though one confessed to other similar offenses.
They had both then become guests of the state, but died shortly after when they could not be with her.
The stress of being separated from her became unbearable for them….and they found ways to end that pain.
She carried that pain inside her, that she could not relieve them of their agony.
She tried to explain this to Edward, but…..he insisted that he must be proven innocent.
That a terrible mistake had been made, but…that his final act must be to protect the innocent still out there from whoever had actually committed the atrocities of which he had been accused.
Alysson looked at him, told him…there would be pain….but it would pass.
That, she would see that his final words were made known. That if innocent, his reputation would be…exonerated.
He nodded his understanding….and watched her eyes as she reached out her hand to him.
Chapter Four
Edwards’s thoughts had been clear up to this moment.
His one desire to see justice done, for himself and the victims of the crimes he had not committed.
But, for just for a moment….looking into Alysson's eyes, he hesitated….his thoughts strayed to her lips, the tip of her sweet tongue he could glimpse between. For a moment he felt the desire for future days pull at him.
But, at the last he acknowledged hopelessness, smiled up at her and again accepted his role…asked her to speak for him after he was gone.
Edward watched as Alysson's hand approached him, anticipated what would happen…the pain she had mentioned.
He… was not… however prepared for what happened, he never knew if he were the only one to feel the implosion of light, hear the roar of the silence, smell and taste the ozone tang as the pain scorched through his body.
His veins filled with liquid flame that coursed from his heart to his extremities.
His nerves burned then froze with the sting of a thousand scorpions along their length.
The smell of ashes filled his nose, the stench of brimstone, the smell of loss and decay overwhelmed him.
His vision strobed with blinding white, bright as the noon day sun, the blackness of the void at night.
Lava flames burned his sight, deep black water depths froze his consciousness.
At the end of eternity he floated up, the physical pain gone.
He found himself on the floor, on his knees gasping, breathless with a need….a need.
His muscles were locked as the need filled him, as awareness surged through him.
It was her, she stood before him…his head snapped up….he looked for an instant into her eyes.
He immediately regretted his impertinence, looked back at the floor, instantly thought that maybe he had offended her by looking away…looked back up and gasped at her radiance….cringed inside that he had drawn the breath...what if the sound had offended her….what should he do…he held his breath so as not to further displease her. He closed his eyes so that his stare could not offend.
Tears ran from his eyes and down his cheeks as he contemplated the loss of her he would suffer as he suffocated for her, but realized that to please her by his respectful silent death would be reward enough.
As the vestiges of breath in his lungs waned, as dizziness and blackness began to enfold him…he heard her ask. “Edward, can you hear me”
He had to gasp again….as quietly as he could to fill his lungs to answer. “Yes Mistress, yes I can.”
He thought he had never heard a sound so beautiful as her voice; his thoughts focused on it to the exclusion of….all else.
She began to ask questions, he answered immediately, facts and dates and circumstances all pouring forth…no thought to dissemble….only truth, whole, complete truth for this radiant creature whose very breath gave him unutterable joy. To answer her questions became his purpose, his life…..his existence.
He looked up at her and felt the bliss of fulfillment as he answered her questions.
Chapter Five
Alysson knew the signs, knew the pain he felt, knew the loss he could no longer comprehend.
She knew he was now hers….for any purpose she desired….any use up to death she decreed.
She began the questions that needed to be answered with the first and most basic.
“Edward, did you kill those women as you were accused”
His answer did not surprise her; she knew it was not in him to have committed the crimes.
She had known his soul to be pure when she entered the room and saw his face.
Only the confirmation required by the law and his conscience had made his confession necessary.
She continued the questions as the scribe made his notes, she clarified the confusions, verified his innocence and signed the documents which would be distributed about the town….and most importantly…to the authorities that had committed this travesty.
Their’s would be the task to reopen their investigations and find the real killer.
Much of what Edward had said would be useful…he had known many things he had not been consciously aware of that she was sure would eventually lead to apprehension of the true culprit.
He had obviously been framed and a reexamination of the facts would lead to the true villain.
But for now, questions answered…he kneeled before her...eyes wide…and blank.
An empty shell awaiting her command.
She gazed down at his beautiful, now vacant expression…reached out and ran her fingers through his fine hair.
He moaned and closed his eyes, leaning into her hand.
She did not really know him…had not known him before today…
But….looking at him….having listened to his story….she felt she knew him…and missed him.
Confession over, the jailer and guards were anxious to be off….off to tell their friends of the mistake.
That an innocent man had almost been executed….but now lived on as a breathing accusation of incompetence.
Even her scribe watched her with a questioning glint in his eye.
She just stood and looked down at her latest…..victim.
One that would still be around to haunt her dreams, hidden away in some state asylum.
As she gazed down, a feeling filled her that she thought never to experience.
Not this one she muttered softly to herself….not this one....not this time.
It was an oft stated fact that the Confessors touch was irrevocable….and like many facts…It was untrue.
It was a fact that many confessors married. It was a fact that Confessors had children.
All of this required the prolonged and intimate touching of another.
Some where, somehow….that possibility had been programmed in to the magic that filled a Confessor.
Among Confessors, known only to Confessors was the other fact…..the fact that it was possible to be immune to the Confessors touch.
One person in a Confessors life could be made immune to her touch.
That one she carefully chose for her mate, the one that would provide her with the daughter to carry on her line.
Alysson had met many…despicable men in her life…enough that she had thought she would…forego marriage….let her branch of the gift die out.
Looking down at this man though…..brought stirrings of a different feeling.
He was kind, he was intelligent, he was….handsome….and he was gone.
No one had ever applied the touch after a client had.......confessed.
After the mind had been.....blanked
It had never been done before as far as she knew….it might not work…..but before she could change her mind Alysson reached out and with a hand on each side of Edwards face, whispered the silent words of warding.
The words that made one immune to her touch, the one time she would be able to speak them.
She watched…..stared into his eyes….held his face….closed her eyes in silent prayer.
Chapter Six
Edward was in the void, in the center of the glow of her affection.
Nothing else existed in his world but her, no sun, no moon….no tide pulled but hers.
He kneeled and basked in the warmth of her attention, no thought to the future…he had no future that was not directed by her.
As he stared up at her, he saw her hands reach out, saw her sway toward him…he shivered as she put her hands to his face...quivered with joy at her touch.
He heard her whisper words he didn’t understand as she looked down at him.
He felt her fingers tremble on his cheeks.
He felt time…..stop.
There was momentary chaos….a swirling in the blankness of his mind.
There was a coalescing in the ether, mists of thought gathered…stray images flashed.
There was a sound of rushing air…a clank of parts setting….resetting….shelves refilling with….knowledge.
It took a century at least to fill that moment of time.
He felt the warmth like a summer breeze blow through him….he felt himself flood back from he knew not where.
The light came back into his eyes...he blinked….and realized he was on his knees…on his knees in front of the Confessor.
She was above him…eyes closed in concentration.
Time started up again….in the seconds it took him to take his next breath….he realized …..all.
He understood the sacrifice she had just made…..knew the truth of his life.
Knew that he owed this woman his life, knew that a life time would be needed to repay her.
Knew….that his deepest desire was to stay here on his knees by her and fulfill her deepest desires.
Edward knew that all his pain of the last few months had been worth it if it brought her to him to serve.
To serve by conscious choice, to serve with love….and to be loved back.
Chapter Seven
Alysson opened her eyes….saw the tears running down Edwards cheeks…knew it had worked.
Knew without speaking that she had found her life's mate, that they would leave here together.
Knew that she no longer had to hold back her touch….for at least one man.
The end…and…a beginning.
