by Drew Wagar
Kiri and Rihanna got to their feet, looking at her.
‘Of all the priestesses I depend upon you two the most,’ she said. ‘Your service has been exemplary. We stand now on the threshold of greatness. We can take all of Esurio and bend it to our will. You will both have an important part to play in that plan. I require your obedience.’
‘Yes, high priestess,’ both replied, exchanging a look with each other.
‘Good. You will accompany me back to Daine with the others. Kiri, you may go. Rihanna, wait for me outside.’
Nerina watched as Kiri and Rihanna exchanged a look before bowing and walking away.
Nerina walked back to the throne atop its dais in the midst of the room and lowered herself into it, placing her arms on the armrests. She closed her eyes.
Merrin!
There was pause, before the answering voice came back across the mental link.
I hear you, high priestess Nerina.
We will be returning to Daine soon, I will leave the lesser priestesses here to keep order. What news from the borders?
All remains secure, nothing has been heard from the shaderight, but we entertain an emissary from Taloon. He seeks an audience with you on behalf of the King of that realm.
Taloon has much within its borders that will serve us well. We must proceed cautiously. Keep him entertained and promise that I will see him as soon as I return, it will be three stretches, no more.
It will be done. Is there something else?
Nerina paused. Merrin lacked imagination, but she had a shrewd ear and eye for detail. That was what made her such a good administrator.
We have captured the Queen of Scallia, she who had the power to resist us … but her powers are gone.
Gone?
Yes, gone. The queen’s mind is addled. Either the powers have been lost, or they have been already taken.
By whom?
There are only two it could be. Kiri, and your daughter, Rihanna.
This time there was a pause from the other end of the link.
Do you suspect their loyalty?
I have tested both and found nothing, but an explanation does not present itself. One, or both, is lying to me. We must watch them both closely. If necessary we must move that aspect of our plan forward more quickly than anticipated.
We will be prepared here in that case.
Make sure you are discreet!
Always, high priestess!
Nerina dissolved the link and concentrated her mind back on what she had seen. Rihanna had been compliant as expected. Nerina had little suspicion of her, it was Kiri she wondered about.
Perhaps you have learnt how to keep secrets from me, young one. That is both wise and foolish. The question is, if you do have the queen’s powers, what do you intend?
Nerina smiled. She had seen the strength of Kiri’s gift from their first encounter, after Charis had found her, just a slum-girl living in the gutters of the city. Even then her gift had been extraordinarily strong, and it had grown in the intervening rounds under Nerina’s guidance. The girl was still young and raw, but not to be underestimated. Rounds of living on her wits in the slums had moulded a mind that worked on survival at all costs. She was a fearsome fighter and Nerina had opened her mind to all the possible uses of the gift, not just the ones that tradition taught.
I have seeded the ground, the crop is almost grown. Harvest time approaches …
Kiri and Rihanna left the throne room at a run.
‘She doesn’t believe us,’ Rihanna gasped. ‘She forced her way …’
‘Shhhh, not here,’ Kiri answered. She nodded her head towards the stairs that led away from the elevated mount of the city down to the lower levels. ‘This way.’
In silence they made their way down several steps at a time until they were able to access one of the passageways that ran around under the circumference of the walls. Here it was cool and shaded amongst the pillars and arches that supported the walkway above.
Both of them looked around searching for other people, but it was quiet, dank and hidden away. No one else was about.
They looked at each other for long moments.
‘I can’t stay long,’ Rihanna said. ‘She’ll be wanting to …’
‘Won’t take long,’ Kiri answered.
‘She becomes more paranoid with every passing stretch,’ Rihanna said, rubbing at her head. ‘And we’re supposed to be her most favoured? I’d hate to see what she does to those she despises.’
‘You’re right,’ Kiri said, satisfied they couldn’t be overheard. The pain from Nerina’s forceful interrogation was subsiding. ‘But she hasn’t found what she’s looking for. The queen’s power, it’s gone.’
‘You didn’t take it?’ Rihanna asked.
Kiri looked away and shook her head. ‘No, I didn’t take it.’
Rihanna frowned. ‘Tasha, maybe?’
Kiri nodded. ‘Could be I suppose, though little good it did her. I guess it wasn’t you?’
Rihanna gave her a look. ‘Nerina would know. None of us can resist her strength, except you maybe.’
Kiri shrugged. ‘No, I’m not that strong.’ She laughed. ‘If I had it, maybe I’d tear Nerina and be high priestess myself!’
Rihanna smiled. ‘Reckon you would too.’
Kiri shrugged. ‘Well I don’t, so that’s that. But Nerina is fearful of us, I think she worries we might have plans to do something like that.’
‘Testing us, maybe,’ Rihanna answered. ‘She’s suspicious of everyone. And then there are the secrets between her and my mother.’
Kiri’s heart leapt. ‘I remember, you said before. Something to do with Charis?’
Rihanna nodded, lowering her voice to a whisper. ‘Charis always preached a path of peace, not war. It was she who mostly gave council to Launa before she died. I know my mother always voted against her …’
‘You think they schemed to get rid of Charis?’
Rihanna shrugged and looked away. ‘There was something odd about how you and Charis were sent to Varda the way you were. Almost as if …’
‘Someone knew that Torin would attack us,’ Kiri finished. ‘Someone wanted the war with Scallia.’
‘But my mother isn’t that clever,’ Rihanna said. ‘If there was a scheme …’
‘Nerina,’ Kiri mouthed.
A flash of memory crossed her mind. Charis’ words echoing in her head.
Nerina always gets her way.
Kiri’s mind raced for a moment. The high priestess was clever enough, but could she have manipulated all of those events to a particular end? Was she responsible for Charis’ death at Torin’s hand?
‘But there’s no way to prove that,’ Rihanna said. ‘It was Torin that burnt the treaty wasn’t it?’
Torin said he’d encountered a witch at the Scallian tithe … a witch who had caused him and his men pain …
Kiri nodded. ‘We’ll be back in Daine soon, there is something we must promise each other.’
Rihanna frowned. ‘Promise?’
‘Listen,’ Kiri leant in close and whispered in her ear. Rihanna’s eyes widened as she listened. Kiri stepped back a pace.
‘Yes, or no?’ Kiri asked after a moment.
‘This could be dangerous,’ Rihanna said.
‘Yes, I know.’
Kiri held out her hand. Rihanna looked at it for a long moment.
‘All right, promise,’ she said, grasping Kiri’s hand in hers. ‘You and me.’
‘You’d better go back,’ Kiri said. ‘She’s expecting to see you outside.’
Rihanna nodded. ‘Be careful.’
‘You too.’
A chime later Kiri walked down through the city streets, noting how the inhabitants moved out of her way as she did so. The Scallians were terrified of the priestesses, having seen what they could do. Kiri had heard that Nerina had killed one of the Lords by crushing his mind as he stood before her.
And she might have done that to me if she had discovered m
y secrets! I did it once myself … back in Varda …
Kiri had always relied on her physical prowess to deal with her foes. She was strong and quick, now fearsomely skilled with her kai. In her hands it was a brutal weapon, dealing death when she so desired, cracking bone and bruising flesh. Yet, after Charis had died and her rage had consumed her amidst the villagers of Varda, she had struck out, killing with her thoughts. She had been enraged, incensed, out of control.
Her mind was still awhirl. She needed somewhere quiet to sit and think; somewhere where she wouldn’t be disturbed.
She walked out of the courtyards of the city, idly wandering down the road beyond until she came to the river that ran out from underneath a mighty series of dams and weirs. It was quite the construction even to her untutored eyes. Fresh water cascaded down from above the city, being funnelled through it to fill reservoirs, pools and fountains within, until it found its way out once more and continued on down the valley to the sunward.
She walked on for a couple of marks, heading down to the river bank, enjoying the warmth of Lacaille and sparkles upon the surface of the water. There, in a copse hidden from view, she sat for a while, still lost in her thoughts, wondering what to do.
Nerina pushes for more power, for more tithes, but in recent times we have been in decline, ever fewer priestesses are found. Our powers stretched thinner and thinner. Nerina is fearful.
She took a deep breath.
From within her robes, Kiri pulled an old and tattered book. It was called the sixth element; one of a series of books that documented the religion of the priestesses. A religion she followed to the letter.
The first five books concerned themselves with the nature of Lacaille, the star above, their goddess. Then it talked of how the religion came to be, emerging from the horror of the past when men had thought they could master the world. How priestesses should use their gifts to heal, to communicate and to administer the people under their care.
But this sixth book was different to the others.
It was concerned with war, the use of the gift to cause pain and inflict harm, how to bend people to your will, how to torture, how to kill. At first such knowledge had been hidden from her, and she now knew why. Her gift was one of the strongest gifts to have manifested in many generations of priestesses.
Since returning to Viresia Kiri had been studying the book, looking for any detail she might have missed, now more focussed on Elena herself and how she had become the first high priestess.
Much of it makes sense now …
There was one particular passage early on in the sixth book which had caught her eye. Kiri had read it and re-read it. It was brief, but it talked of how Elena began her journey to becoming high priestess. Kiri read it back to herself again, the words echoing in her mind.
‘I was smote by pain; fire burned my body and my mind. A refiner’s fire it was, cleansing me of foulness and impurity. I cried out, but there was no respite. Lacaille desired a pure vessel into which to pour her will. Then the vision came, my purpose defined. It was vouchsafed by her pureness, Lacaille, and delivered by her servant, the Obelisk; my task was appointed and my road laid before me. I was anointed that stretch, my destiny to be high priestess of Drayden.’
Kiri fingered the pendant that hung from her neck. It was a small metal triangle, elongated to a point. The mark of the priestesses; so she had been told.
To hear direct from Lacaille, what a privilege that must have been! And this Obelisk, what is it? A messenger on behalf of Lacaille?
She sighed and tucked the book inside her robes. She’d found no further answers.
Kiri looked about her. She was alone; no one could be eavesdropping on her thoughts. Lacaille blazed above, warm and unchanging. The heat was soothing and she closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation. She continued running through the events in her mind.
I have kept this secret so far, but what am I to do?
She shivered, despite the warmth about her.
The Scallian girl … I didn’t even dare bring her to mind in front of Nerina!
Kiri had thought her no more than a maid of the royal household, but she had been confronted with a power the equal of her own, untempered and untrained, but potent beyond any other she had encountered, save the high priestess herself, Nerina.
Nerina doesn’t know about her …
The maid had a name now.
Zoella.
Kiri took a deep breath. The old man, Guerrun, had revealed much.
She’s my sister! Separated at birth and never knowing of each other. We are both daughters of Myana Tiamoi, sister of the dead King Ioric. He who I fought … and am responsible for his death. He was my uncle!
She replayed that fight in her mind, its ferocity and conclusion seen in a different light now that she knew who she had been fighting. She swallowed. A sister, an uncle …
I fought against my own people … I am of Scallia, not of Drayden!
Her thoughts whirled in disarray, her stomach clenching. Only she was aware, she’d retained presence of mind to keep her secret from everyone. None in Drayden knew save herself, perhaps not even Zoella, since only Kiri had the mental connection with Guerrun before he died.
I sit here in the city of my ancestors, a place I attacked … Guerrun hid me and Zoella, hoping to keep us safe from the priestesses, knowing our power would be desired by them. Our mother Myana, she was killed by the priestesses! I am of a royal line. This Queen we have captured … Liana is my cousin!
There was no one she could reveal this to, none who she could turn to for advice.
So what do I do? The priestesses raised me out of the slums, they have trained and tended me. Charis taught me their ways and they are right and proper. Lacaille’s will must be done, surely? I have believed that, I still believe it! Yet, they killed my mother! If I had grown up here, I would see the priestesses as an evil force, taking our lands, taking our women … I was hidden away in the hope I would not be found … I would have fought against them. Now I know, should my loyalty to be Scallia because of birth, or Drayden because of upbringing? What is Lacaille’s will for me?
She had no answer to those questions, but as she considered them another thought occurred to her. Kiri felt a warmth rush through her as she considered it. She licked her lips.
Him … Meru …
She had saved his life, intervening to make sure he and Zoella could make good their escape, frustrating the priestesses, but keeping it all secret from Nerina.
I want her and I want him. And I shall have them both!
She remembered the last thing she had said to him amidst a heady cocktail of lust, desire, fear and worry. The feelings buzzed within her, submerged for now.
You are mine now, Meru of Amar, mine!
She could sense him, even at great distance, her thoughts and desires imprinted upon his mind. It was disturbing, unsettling. The feelings were strong and powerful, lurking in her mind and interrupting her thoughts when least desired.
My heart burns for a sworn enemy! But an enemy of Drayden, not Scallia – what does that mean for me?
She was startled from her reverie by short sharp squeaks from nearby. She looked up to see a small furry face. It was a marsip, inquisitively sniffing her out and wondering why she was there, its small rodent features twisted in a grimace and its tiny, but folk-like, hands grasping the air before it.
Kiri remembered how she used to hunt them for food; they made for good enough eating if you were starving.
The marsip squeaked again.
‘It’s all right,’ she said, holding out a hand. ‘I won’t eat you this time.’
The marsip approached, hesitating and running back and forth for a moment, before ducking its head under her hand. She reached down to touch it.
‘You’re very tame, why …?’
The marsip snarled and teeth flashed. Kiri yelped in surprise. It had bitten her! She pulled her hand back and the marsip fled.
Blood flowed from her f
inger. Red. The colour of pain, anger and fear.
Her own lips curled in a snarl and she looked up as the marsip fled, seeking the shelter of the longer greening along the shore.
Without thinking she stretched out her hand. She felt the marsip’s presence, felt its tiny mind. Panic, the urge to flee …
She caught it.
How dare you bite me!
She clenched her thoughts. The familiar metallic sense of power grew within her. A tang she could almost taste.
She heard the marsip shriek for a moment, before it fell and thrashed on the ground. She could feel its terror now, the struggle to survive. She clenched her thoughts again. The marsip shrieked louder, its body contorting and writhing in the dust.
Like this? Yes, like this!
She watched, fascinated, for long moments, enjoying the animal’s pain and distress, payment for the blood flowing down her fingers.
The metallic sensation throbbed within her. She closed her hand into a fist with an imperious mental command.
The marsip froze and then lay limp. She could feel it no longer.
She opened her hand, blood was splattered across her palm. She moved to the bank of the river and washed it away. Then she walked across to where the marsip lay, prodding the animal with her foot. It was dead, its body already cooling.
I killed it. So simple! Is that all it takes?
She felt dizzy and lowered herself into the greening until the feeling passed, staring at the corpse of the unfortunate animal. It wouldn’t be long before the nargs discovered and made a meal of it.
So easy, just to snuff it out like that … like a blowing out a candle.
She wrinkled her nose and got back to her feet. She’d been away for chimes now. She needed to get back before she was missed.
Am I strong enough for what lies ahead? The choices … all are dangerous!
CHAPTER TWO
Straithian Sea, Shaderight of Amar
Round 2307, First Pass
It was no good.
The bile rose in her throat and her stomach heaved. She hung over the side rail of the Mobilis and retched again.
Zoella couldn’t remember feeling so ill before. She had long since vomited up her last meal and now was reduced to hanging over the edge of the ship clutching her midriff and spitting the foul taste from her mouth. Her insides ached and her head spun.
