“Yess,” Grimya growled softly. “I believe it takes the form of this cr-reature they call the Ancestral Lady.” She showed her teeth in an uneasy gesture. “I also think she was the one who came into your mind when you sat in the stone chair. I smelled death, like rr-otten meat, and she is very closely concerned with death.”
The thought that such a being might have gained control of her mind, however briefly, made Indigo shudder. “By the Mother, this is some kind of insanity,” she said, softly but with feeling. “I’m not an oracle!”
“The women here think that you are.” Grimya hesitated, then added ominously, “It would seem that the Ancestral Lady thinks so, too.”
Suddenly, unbidden, an image of dark eyes fringed with silver flicked momentarily through Indigo’s mind. She was startled by it, and Grimya’s head came up sharply as she caught the momentary disturbance in her mind. “Indigo? What is wrr-ong?”
“I don’t know.” The image had gone, and Indigo shook her head. “I thought for a moment that some memory from that night was coming back to me, but I must have been mistaken.” She glanced toward the cave’s entrance. “I wish I could talk to Uluye. If only I could speak her language, I might make her understand that I am not what she thinks me.”
Grimya remembered the spear-wielding priestesses who had subtly but emphatically reinforced Uluye’s will during the ceremony. “I am not s-sure if that would be wise,” she said. “Uluye has great power here—worldly power, that is; I don’t know about any other kind. If you tell her that you don’t want to be her oracle, she will not l-like it. She would make a dangerous enemy. It would be safer to do what she wants, at least for now. Besides,” she added, “there might be other rreasons for saying nothing. If this Ancestral Lady is the demon, what does that make Uluye herself?”
Indigo looked at her in chagrin. “I hadn’t considered that—I hadn’t even thought of it!”
“I’m not s-saying that Uluye is evil. I am saying that we do not kn … know.”
“And until we do, we’d be very foolish to risk telling her anything like the truth. Besides, even if Uluye isn’t directly connected with the demon, I doubt that reasoning with her would achieve anything.”
Indigo looked around at the well-furnished cave, at the growing heap of gifts and offerings brought by the citadel’s inhabitants during the past two days. “These women may fete us and bestow every luxury on us, but that doesn’t change the harsh fact that we’re prisoners here; and that effectively means Uluye’s prisoners. The priestesses may revere their supposed oracle, but whether they know it or not, their first loyalty is to Uluye herself. The oracle speaks, but Uluye interprets and acts, and as the oracle’s mouthpiece, she has absolute power over everyone.” She smiled grimly and without humor. “When she proclaimed me as the new oracle, I became the cornerstone of that power. She won’t let any dissension from me jeopardize her position, and she has enough warriors at her beck and call to ensure that I don’t dissent. So it seems, doesn’t it, that I’ve little choice but to bow to her will.”
Grimya dipped her head. “That might not be such a bad thing though, m-might it? If we are rright about the demon, then as the oracle, you at least have found a way to come close to it.”
“True; but in many ways that troubles me more than anything else. Remember the Bray curse and what came of it? I wouldn’t want to risk opening myself to a power like that a second time.” A small, sharp frown knitted her brows. “I don’t think I could bear to go through something like that again.”
Grimya whined softly. “I am sorry. I didn’t mean to bring back painful memories.”
“No, no; you were right to say what you did. It’s just that…” She sighed. “Don’t mistake me, dear Grimya. I know how loyal you are and how strong you are, and that means more to me than I can ever say. But even with your love and your help to support me, I still wish I had another ally here. If there were someone in the citadel whom I could trust to help me in what I have to do, I’d feel less vulnerable.”
Grimya was silent for a few moments. Then she said: “Perhaps you should talk with Shalune.”
“Shalune?” Indigo looked at her in surprise.
“Yess. I don’t wish to be rrr-ash, but … since you fell ill again, I think I have begun to like her. Also, my instinct tells me that all is not well between her and Uluye. I thh-ink they disagree about many things, and that Shalune would like to be leader here in Uluye’s place. I don’t know the proper word for it, but I think she is … a better person.”
Accompanying that statement came a mental image that combined rationality, common sense and a willingness to reason without dogma. Indigo, who had thought that choosing between the two priestesses was a matter of deciding the lesser of two evils, was both surprised and intrigued. She’d surmised that Shalune was second only to Uluye in the cult hierarchy; if, as Grimya implied, Shalune was dissatisfied with Uluye’s leadership, then it was indeed possible that she might prove to be the ally they needed. Indigo didn’t want to become embroiled in a power struggle between the two women; it would involve too many complications, perhaps even too many risks. But if she could win Shalune’s trust, while keeping herself apart from any quarrels that might be brewing between the woman and her leader, at least the worst of the risks might be avoided.
“I would not say that you should trrr-ust her,” Grimya said. “Not yet. But I think she might be ready to be our frriend, and my instinct tells me that would be a good beginning.”
“Your instinct’s rarely wrong, Grimya, and I’m inclined to rely on it. Shalune’s as unlikely an ally as anyone might think to find, but I’ll try to befriend her.” Indigo glanced again toward the cave’s entrance. “It may be only a small step. But if the Ancestral Lady is the demon we’re seeking, it could be a vital step.”
•CHAPTER•VI•
Indigo watched as Shalune deftly hooked a pot from the fireside and began to ladle the contents into two clay bowls.
“This is the first time I’ve been able to tell you how grateful I am to you, Shalune,” she said in the Dark Isle tongue. “I should have expressed it before now, but I didn’t know how to say it properly in your language.”
Shalune looked up and grinned at her. “There’s nothing to be grateful for. I only did what the Ancestral Lady told me; anyone else would have done the same.”
Indigo listened while Grimya silently translated unfamiliar words and phrases. These were few now; they had been in the citadel for fifteen days, and with the wolf’s help, she had made very rapid progress in learning the Dark Islers’ speech. She returned Shalune’s smile, wondering if she might venture to ask her some questions that Uluye, it seemed, wasn’t prepared to answer in any detail.
To begin with, she hadn’t yet been called upon to perform the oracle’s duties a second time. She wouldn’t deny for a moment that she was glad of that, but she also found it strange. However, when she had tried tentatively to ask Uluye about it, Uluye’s only response had been to shrug and say that that was in the Ancestral Lady’s hands.
Shalune, though, might be more forthcoming, and so Indigo said: “Shalune, may I ask you a question?”
“Ask.” Then Shalune chuckled. “Though it should be me asking you, eh? You’re the oracle, after all!”
“So everyone says. But since that first night, I’ve not been expected to speak again.” She paused. “I’ve been wondering when the next occasion will come.”
“We can’t predict that,” Shalune told her. “It’s for the Ancestral Lady to choose the time and the place for her next revelation, not us. She will speak through you again when she has something to say, and not before. But don’t worry,” she added, again giving Indigo her startling, ferocious grin. “When the time comes, you’ll know of it before anyone else!”
Encouraged by the woman’s good humor and her willingness to speak freely, Indigo asked, “But what if the time doesn’t come? What if you’re wrong, and I’m not an oracle after all?”
Shalu
ne looked blank. “That’s not possible. You are.”
“How can you be certain?”
“Because the signs were clear, of course. Uluye surely told you about the signs?”
Indigo shook her head. “No. I tried to ask, but … well …”
Shalune hesitated for a moment, as though not sure of how frank she dared be, then shrugged. “Uluye maybe had her reasons for not saying. But I haven’t got any reasons. The Ancestral Lady’s last words to us through her old oracle were that we should travel southwestward on our search and we would find the chosen one taking shelter from a great storm. The chosen one, the oracle said, would have an animal for her companion, and our first test would be the saving of her life with our healing and our magic.” She shrugged again. “How could the two we searched for have been anyone but you and Grimya? Unless you were a hushu trying to trick us, and we’d have found that out by now!“ She chuckled throatily.
Indigo stared at her. “A what?”
“You don’t know about hushu?” Shalune paused with her ladle in midair and a peculiar expression on her face.
Grimya, too, was nonplussed, and Indigo shook her head. “I’ve never heard the word.”
“Ah. Well, better maybe that it stays that way; save you from a few bad dreams. Anyway, you don’t need to worry about hushu now that you’re safe here.” She showed her teeth again. “I’m proud that I was the one to find you. The Ancestral Lady is pleased with me, and that gives me plenty of ches.”
Grimya supplied silently: I have heard that word. It means that she is more greatly respected than before by the other women. Sagely, she added, Uluye is not pleased about that, I think.
Uluye wouldn’t be…. Indigo suppressed a smile.
Unaware of the exchange between them, Shalune set a bowl in front of Indigo and another on the floor before Grimya. “Enough questions for now,” she said firmly. “Eat, or there’ll be no time to enjoy your meal before we must start to prepare for tonight’s ceremony.”
She rose to leave, and Indigo said, “Shalune—one last question. What will be expected of me tonight? I know nothing about the ceremony, or even why it’s taking place.” Hoping she didn’t sound glib, she added, “I don’t want to make any mistakes and let you down.”
Shalune frowned and her mouth quirked briefly in a small moue of irritation. “Uluye didn’t tell you that either? Ach … well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. This is Ancestors Night, the night of the full moon. A lot of people from the villages hereabouts will come to the lake to take part. All you must do is go to the lakeside and be seen. Nothing else. Don’t talk, just look, and let the people we bring to you touch your robe for good luck, the way they did on our journey here.”
“I understand.” Indigo was relieved, though still deeply curious about the ceremony’s nature and meaning. “Thank you.”
Shalune grinned. “Eat now. We will be back soon.”
The curtain fell behind her, and Indigo turned her attention to her meal. It was one of the many odd quirks of this cult that no one was permitted to dine with the oracle, or even to watch the oracle dining. Indigo’s food was prepared for her—she wasn’t, as she had discovered early on, allowed to do more than the absolute minimum for herself—but to witness her eating her meal was taboo.
Other taboos included stepping over the threshold of her cave quarters if she were not present or were seen to be asleep, speaking the names of any of her predecessors in her presence, and touching her, in however small a way, without the express permission of a high-ranking priestess. High rank, Indigo had learned, was reserved for a very exclusive few, who included Uluye, Shalune and a bare two or three others—among them, Uluye’s own daughter.
When Yima had been introduced to her ten days ago, Indigo had been astonished, first by the extraordinary physical resemblance she bore to her mother, and second, by the revelation that the High Priestess should have a daughter in the first place. It surprised her that while the women of the cult disdained all but the minimum of contact with men, there was no taboo among their ranks against the bearing of children. Grimya, after a little judicious eavesdropping, had found out more. It seemed that if they wished to, the women were permitted to leave the citadel and to take and live with a mate for a short while. Any daughters of the union were welcomed into the cult when their mothers chose to return; sons, however, were fostered to families grateful for such a privilege, and thereafter forgotten.
It was hard to imagine that Uluye had ever borne a child for the sake of love, or for even a passing passion, but easy enough to see another and more pragmatic motive. Yima was sixteen years old and destined to be the image of her mother in more than the physical sense, for she was training to become, one day in the future, Uluye’s successor as head of the cult. A little to Indigo’s surprise, Uluye’s intention seemed to have the approval of all the priestesses, even Shalune’s. The only one who apparently had not been consulted was Yima herself, but that, it seemed, was an irrelevance. Yima would obey her mother in this as in everything else, and when the time came, she would take up her role without demur.
Despite the fact that she was Uluye’s child and Uluye’s puppet, Indigo took an immediate and intuitive liking to Yima. Though she had inherited her mother’s physical qualities of lean, rangy frame and strong-boned features, two more different temperaments would have been hard to find. Where Uluye was quick-tempered, authoritarian, and suspicious of all around her, Yima was quiet, modest, and trusting almost to the point of naivety. It was a pity, Indigo thought, that her life both now and in the future should be so circumscribed by her mother’s rigid demands, for she had a suspicion that Yima was not cut out to be a natural leader. She also suspected that Shalune privately shared her view, though the fat woman never broached the subject. But it was not Shalune’s place—as Uluye had made quite clear—to question the decisions of the High Priestess, or even to express an opinion of her own.
Not questioning Uluye’s decisions was a matter that Indigo suspected would become a bone of contention between herself and the High Priestess before long. Uluye demanded absolute obedience from all the women about her—and that included the oracle, whom she theoretically served. So while in most respects Uluye accorded Indigo all the reverence given the oracle by the other priestesses, she nevertheless expected her every command to be instantly obeyed, reinforcing Indigo’s feeling that despite her outward pretense, Uluye looked upon her as little more than a tool with which to implement her own will. Indigo disliked that intensely, but bearing Grimya’s earlier caution in mind, she kept her resentment to herself as far as was possible. Only to Shalune, and even then with great diplomacy, did she occasionally hint that she was not satisfied with a situation that suited Uluye’s will to the exclusion of all else.
Her relationship with Shalune had changed a great deal in the past few days. Now that they were able to communicate, Indigo found herself liking the fat woman more and more; as Grimya had predicted, they were becoming friends. There were still barriers of caution and uncertainty, complicated further by the gulf of Indigo’s status in the cult, but Shalune was both a realist and a pragmatist; Indigo behaved toward her as an equal, she therefore responded in kind and without awe. Why should even a goddess’s avatar not have friends if she so desired?
There was, of course, a degree of self-interest involved, for to be the oracle’s confidante earned Shalune still more ches among her peers, and it also ensured that Indigo did not fall too far under Uluye’s influence. As her language skills improved, Indigo realized that there were indeed areas of major disagreement between Uluye and Shalune and that, as Grimya suspected, Shalune would have liked to be head of the cult in Uluye’s stead. Observing the two women together and separately, she came to the conclusion that Shalune would have been the better choice, at least where secular matters were concerned, for she would have tempered Uluye’s rigid adherence to law with a modicum of common sense and compassion, qualities that Uluye either did not possess or was unwilling to sho
w.
Under other circumstances, Indigo might have felt some sympathy for Uluye, for she had an intuition that the High Priestess’s unbending attitude sprang from the insecurity and loneliness to which absolute rulers so often fell prey. But however hard she tried, she couldn’t bring herself to like the tall woman. Shalune, for all that her friendship might have an ulterior motive, at least presented a human face to the world.
Grimya had already finished her food, licking the bowl to savor the last drops of liquid. Indigo had eaten enough—Shalune’s portions were more than generous—and she set her own bowl on the floor, urging the wolf to finish it. As she poured herself a cup of water from an ewer, she asked, “What did Shalune say was the name of this full moon ceremony, Grimya? Ancestors Night?”
Grimya licked her muzzle. “Yess. But I don’t know what that means.”
“Some rite of remembrance, perhaps, to honor the dead.” Indigo spoke casually, but at the same time, she repressed a small inward shiver. What kind of underworld, or otherworld, was the Ancestral Lady’s realm? Did she truly have dominion over the souls of the departed? The priestesses had explained very little of their religion to her, but she knew that they believed the Ancestral Lady had the power to grant joy or torment in the afterlife. Joy or torment … an old, old memory stirred in Indigo’s mind, and with it came a dull, aching grief that over the years had become as familiar to her as her own features in a looking glass. A name in her thoughts, a face before her inner vision. Fenran….
Grimya, sensing something amiss, looked up. “Indigo? What’s wrong?”
Indigo made to dissemble, not wanting to share her thoughts—not even with Grimya—at this moment, but before she could speak, they heard footfalls outside the cave and the sounds of several voices. Grateful for the interruption, Indigo called out that she was ready to receive visitors, and as the curtain was moved aside, she saw Uluye on the threshold, with Shalune, Yima and two other women behind her.
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