Respectant

by Florian Armaselu

  That’s why you are hiding, Dochia thought, and from that moment she fully trusted the girl. “Thank you, for trusting me, Ai. I will tell no one about that. And how long have you been in the Sanctuary?”

  “I was born here.”

  Should I ask about her parents? Are they still here? Or alive? I can’t ask. “There were too many bad things to see today,” Dochia sighed. “I will go to meet Umbra, Mira and Irina.” Her guards were living in a small rented room at the edge of the city, where they took care of Umbra, who was not allowed in the Sanctuary, not that he would have liked it. Umbra never went in a room without windows, and the Sanctuary was build underground. There was an old pine in the backyard of the house where they were staying, and the house was close to a forest that entered in the city like a protuberance. The place was not overtaken by buildings; not because some rulers felt the need to have a park in the city, but because in spring it became a swamp. The forest and the old pine helped Umbra to fly in and out of the house without being seen.

  “I wish to meet them too. Umbra especially.” There was a childish eagerness in Ai’s voice that made Dochia smile.

  “You can come with me.”

  “I can’t leave the Sanctuary, Dochia. Would you trust me enough to bring Umbra to a room here, far from Meriaduk?”

  “I will ask Umbra; it’s his decision to make. He is a friend. Well, he is more than a friend to me.”

  “I apologize; I should have thought about that, but a talking bird... It’s so strange. Exciting. A bird which thinks and talks, not one which simply parrots human words. I did not know that such birds exist.”

  “You can open and close walls, but you are puzzled by a talking bird,” Dochia laughed. “I will pass your invitation on to him.”

  The Sanctuary was built deep under the city, and there were several ways to leave it. All the stairs led up inside recently built structures, domes which protected the exits. One of these exits was close to her guards’ house, a small one, with a sturdy wooden door and an iron lock. Several keys always hung on pegs inside the structure. Thirty feet underground, there was one of the magical doors which had greeted Dochia on her first journey inside the Sanctuary. This magic she could understand better. The door was there, visible for anyone to see, and when the priest who greeted her waved his hand, the door opened. Dochia learned that she could master that kind of magic too, though she did not understand how. She simply waved her hand, and the door opened. This door looked no different to the others, yet there was something different about it. When Ai revealed the door to her, she found that no one had used it for a long time; there were no footprints in the dust covering the floor.

  “Apart from you, no one has the blood to open this door,” Ai told Dochia, when she first ventured out through the door. “Keep this to yourself.”

  “Then why did they build this exit? Dochia asked.

  “Mordanek, the Great Priest of the Serpent, had the full blood of the builders. He was able to open all the doors. It was him who reopened the Sanctuary after almost four thousand years.”

  What can be opened, can be closed, Dochia thought. This place is too large to destroy.

  It was cold and sunny when Dochia went out, her mind still invaded by images of the poor boy on the table. Lost in her inner world, she walked through the streets and arrived at the house without realizing it. When she opened the door, the real world returned.

  Why did Ada sent me here? Killing Meriaduk and Baraki will not solve the Fracture, others will take over. And it’s an impossible task. I will never be able to kill them both. Ai talked about closing the Sanctuary. Is this the solution? Mordanek opened the Sanctuary; others may come, as strong as him, and do the same. But it may not happen soon. Is this the key? Delay the Fracture until someone can close the Sanctuary?

  Chapter 10 – Kasia / Dochia

  Thin and small for her sixteen years, Kasia could hide in many places. She sat quietly in one of the watch-holes – a hidden niche built into the thick walls on the front of the house, facing the street. All the houses in Nerval had thick walls, to ward off both winter’s cold and the frequent attacks of the robbers. From the niche, a child could watch the street for signs of danger. Kasia wasn’t on duty; the watch-hole was simply one of the few places where she could find solitude. She liked solitude – it felt safe. The cold autumn rain continued to fall. Sometimes, Kasia imagined she was like the rain or the wind, free to go anywhere. Free of danger. She started when a hand grabbed her shoulder.

  “Your brother wants to see you.”

  That was exactly what she did not want. Iovon, her brother, was both a robber and a merchant, but when he bought something, from time to time, it was more extortion than buying. And he always used her when he wanted to obtain a cheaper price. Kasia had the White Light, though she would not have called it that – she did not know what it was – and she was able to feel if the other merchant, who was being forced to sell, would accept the deal or not. Iovon needed a façade of respectability. During the night, his men would rob a merchant of his money, and the next day, he would offer a deal to the man they had robbed, buying his merchandise at the lowest possible price, and Kasia would nod to him when that price was reached.

  Mesko, she thought. Why is Iovon doing this? Mesko was a friend of their father, and Kasia had played with his daughter until a year ago, when she vanished without a trace. She was a beautiful girl, and everybody thought that she had been kidnapped to serve as a concubine, or a whore for some rich man. Half a month later, they found her dead, and Kasia cried for many days for her friend. How could Iovon do this? She waited in the doorway until her brother nodded to tell her to sit in a corner of the room, behind Mesko, who could not see her.

  “I offer you fifty galbeni for all the packs of cloth in your storehouse. You cannot sell them, and you know it, and you need money to pay Krisko.” Fifty galbeni was less than a tenth of the merchandise’s value.

  “I can’t sell at that price,” Mesko growled.

  “Fifty-five?”

  “No.”

  “Sixty.” This time Iovon was offering what he really wanted to pay, and he looked discreetly at Kasia. She shook her head. “Sixty-five. I am doing you a favor.”

  “The cloth is worth more than five hundred galbeni.”

  “If you sell it in time, certainly, but Krisko will come to collect your debt in a week. How much will you sell in a week? Ten galbeni’s worth? Twelve? If you can’t pay the debt, Krisko will take everything in your warehouse, and in your house too, and never bring you cloth again. You will be bankrupt. He will also take your daughter into his bed. It does not matter that she is to be married in a month. Sixty-seven.” He glanced again at Kasia, who shook her head. She knew that Mesko was ready to accept, but she wanted to help him. “What do you think, Kasia? You are a fair girl. Give him a price.”

  Mesko turned, startled to see her in the corner.

  “Seventy-five galbeni.” In her Vision, she saw that Mesko had to pay Krisko eighty galbeni.

  “Eighty-five.” Mesko wiped the perspiration from his face.

  “Eighty,” Kasia said, and nodded at her brother,

  “That’s my last offer. Take it or leave it.” Iovon extended his arm toward Mesko, who grimaced, but clasped the hand. “Good. Bring the cloth to me and collect the money from Gresha.”

  “Why did you rob him?” Kasia asked when she was alone with her brother. She realized her mistake when he slapped her.

  “I have the feeling that you cheated me. Without me, you would be selling your skinny body in the street. Mesko is fair game, as everyone is these days. He was Father’s friend, not mine.”

  “He helped us when we were almost bankrupt.”

  “He helped Father, not me. Cheat me again, and I will throw you out in the street.”

  “I did not cheat you. He owes a hundred galbeni to Krisko.” Well, only a little.

  “Get out.” He slapped her harder this time, and she fell to the floor.

&n
bsp; She rolled away and scrambled on all fours through the door. Iovon’s kick missed her bottom by a thin inch. In the hall, she jumped to her feet and ran out of the house, into the street. She slowed down beside Mesko. “Your future son-in-law told the robbers where you kept the money.” Before he could answer, she was already gone.

  “I am sure that she cheated,” Iovon muttered to himself, looking after her through the window until she vanished from sight. He didn’t see her speak to Mesko.

  “Iovon,” Gresha said from the door. “You have visitors.” He turned as two priests entered the room.

  “The Serpent be with you,” one of them said, and Iovon bowed deeply. “We have a proposal for you,” the priest added, before he could give the standard answer.

  “Yes, priest, how can I help you?”

  “You are a merchant. Not like the others, but still a merchant. In a way. We want to buy something from you.”

  “Of course.” Iovon’s voice was suddenly hoarse, and a bead of perspiration ran down his face. They know…

  “You will receive two hundred galbeni.”

  “Thank you for your offer, but what do you want to buy?”

  “Your sister. She will serve the Great Serpent.”

  “My sister?” She will serve in your bed, but I can’t refuse you. Why should I, anyway? That little whore cheated on me. “Yes, priest. When should I bring her to you?”

  “Tonight. Here is the money. There is a vial in the bag too. Get her to drink the content. After that, you should forget that she ever existed.” The priest put the bag on the table, and both left the room, and then the house.

  “I told you that we don’t need a Maletera to convince Iovon; he is a greedy coward,” the older priest said. “Kasia’s mind will be more receptive to the Serpent and the Maletera once she knows that her own family sold her. We still don’t know why that happens, but who are we to question the Serpent’s ways?”

  Kasia woke up the next morning in a place she didn’t recognize. She moaned; she felt sore all over, and now she started to remember. She felt strange after dinner, like she was sleeping with her eyes wide open. She saw Iovon carrying her to the carriage, then to the Temple. She remembered the priest undressing her, and… He raped me… Tears ran down her face, and she tried to stand, the pain made worse by her shame and anger.

  “You are awake,” a man said, and she recognized the voice of Meriaduk, the High Priest. “Your maidenhood was offered to the Serpent this night, and you will serve tomorrow. You will receive food, and you will be purified. Stand up.”

  She obeyed, even as she realized that she was naked under the blanket, and he stood in front of her, raising her chin. Then he kissed her. She wanted to resist, but realized that she could not do it.

  “Good, you know now the power of the Serpent. Dress yourself.”

  ***

  The next morning, another priest came for her, and she followed him through the Sanctuary until they arrived in a great hall build like a dome. For all her sorrow, she gasped at its size. Meriaduk was already there, in front of a long table, with four priests.

  “Ah, Kasia,” he said, “it’s time to serve the Great Serpent. Take off your dress.”

  She wanted to protest, or to run. Instead, she pulled up her dress, which was all she wore; everything else had been taken by the priests during her ‘purification’ which had all taken place in one bed or another. I did not fight them. I just obeyed them and let them have me. Why?

  “Lie down on the table,” he ordered, and she obeyed.

  The priests tied her hands and legs, and placed a restraining strap across her waist.

  “There is strong magic in her blood,” Meriaduk said, examining the scale on the Blood Sniffer. “The Serpent brought the girl to us, and we can use it to activate two Maleteras. Or maybe I should open one of the rooms we can’t access. No,” he shook his head, “she does not have strong enough blood to open the room I want. Bring me a Maletera.”

  Too numb to feel fear, Kasia looked at the small sphere the priest held in front of her eyes.

  “Serpent, hear the prayer of your humble priest. Help us to activate the magic of the Maletera.”

  Kasia’s eyes widened, and she felt pain like nothing she had felt before. And she screamed.

  When Meriaduk loosened his grip on Kasia’s mind, she was almost unconscious, and blood ran from her nose and her eyes.

  “It is done. The Great Serpent answered to my prayers.” Meriaduk took the sphere in his hand, looking at the pulsating colors on its metallic skin. “We have a new Maletera. Take the girl to the Healing Room. She is strong; in a few days, we can use her to activate a second Maletera.”

  “Can we have her?” one priest asked, staring at Kasia’s naked body.

  “Not today,” Meriaduk said, thoughtfully, “and not tomorrow, but then she’s yours to soften up for the next opening. I need her here in a week. Go now, I have duties to attend to.”

  ***

  “Wake up, Dochia,” Ai said and a burst of light chased the darkness from the room. “Dress yourself. You need to leave the Sanctuary.”

  I can’t leave. I need to stop the Fracture. “Why?” she asked as she struggled into her clothes.

  “You will see. Please hurry. You need to return before the morning.”

  I misunderstood... “I am ready. Can I leave the room now? What time is it?”

  “Yes. It’s a half hour after midnight. Turn to the right.”

  For a few minutes, she walked along familiar, empty corridors, then she had to ask Ai to open a door, and went into an area she didn’t know.

  “It’s here,” Ai said as Dochia stood before a door she had never seen before.

  “What’s inside?”

  “A girl. Her name is Kasia. She was used two days ago to activate a Maletera, and she survived the ordeal because of her strong blood. They will use her again in five days. She will die.”

  “I am a good healer, but I don’t have my pack with me.”

  “This is the Healing Room, it’s better than any healer.”

  “Do you want me to take her out?” Dochia asked, a trace of hope in her voice.

  “Yes. This is a secluded area, and very few people know about it. I know a corridor which leads from this one to the gate you use to go home.”

  “How do we open it?” After testing the knob and finding it locked, Dochia eyed the sturdy metallic door, knowing that there was no way to force her way in. She still hadn’t got used to the waste of steel. There was more of it in the Sanctuary than in the whole Frankis.

  “You have to ask me.”

  “Why?” To underline my weakness? “Unlock the door,” Dochia said when it was clear that Ai would not answer.

  “First you have to ask me to stop seeing you. As you know, I can remember everything and put it in someone else’s mind. You don’t want Meriaduk to know that you entered the Healing Room.”

  “Ai, stop seeing me.” Meriaduk can force her too...

  “I am blind now, and the door is unlocked.”

  Tentatively, Dochia touched the knob, and the door opened without a sound.

  After two days in the Healing Room, Kasia was conscious again. She was still in pain and a bit weak, but she felt her will returning, and she knew she would try to defend herself.

  Such a young girl and they want to rape her. They have already raped her. Dochia shook her head.

  “There are some white pills in the box on the table,” Ai spoke inside her mind, and Dochia went toward it.

  “Did you come to use me for your pleasure, priest?” Kasia rasped.

  “No,” Dochia said and sat on the edge of the bed, close to the frightened girl. “I think that you are in pain.”

  “Ah, you want to be sure that I can stand the next torture session. To make that ... thing work.” She knew the name of the Maletera, both from Iovon’s and Grehsa’s stories and from the priests, but she was unable to remember. Her mind closed on itself and refused to do it.


  “No, Kasia.” Dochia stroked the girl’s hair.

  “You like women,” Kasia spat. “You are no different to the men who raped me when they purified my body.”

  “I am sorry if I frightened you. I have come here to free you. Please take this pill,” she put it in Kasia’s hand. “It will help with the pain.”

  “By killing me,” Kasia said, but she swallowed the pill. “I guess it’s better to die than be raped and tortured.”

  “In a few minutes, you will feel better, and we can leave.”

  Kasia looked at the strange woman in front of her and, for the first time, she saw a woman, not an instrument of the evil Meriaduk. “But you are a Serpentist Priestess,” she said hesitantly, pointing at the metallic brooch on Dochia’s chest.

  “Yes, I am an apprentice priest, but I am also more than that. Lie down, and tell me when you feel well enough to walk.” She took Kasia’s hand in hers, and the girl answered by gripping it. Gently, Dochia stroked her hair with her free hand while the girl stared at her from wide blue eyes.

  “I am ready,” Kasia said after a while. Can I trust her? I have no choice. I prefer to die than be purified and go on that table again.

  “Walk around the room.”

  The girl obeyed, under Dochia’s close scrutiny. “I can walk,” Kasia said. “I think I can run too, if needed.” She arched an eyebrow, and a pleasant grin flashed across her tense mouth.

  “She seems fine,” Dochia said to Ai. “Do you think we will need to run?”

  “Perhaps. On the streets. They can be dangerous at night. We will see how she is when she walks through the corridors. She can rest in the small room by the gate, if she needs to, before you go out.”

  “If we can leave the room, open the door.”

  “The corridor is empty. Turn to the right.”

  Day or night, Nerval was a dangerous place, but journey to the house was short and uneventful. Two days later, Kasia became an apprentice Wanderer; Dochia felt the girl had a strong Light and tested her.