The window I had commissioned showed Hessa, dressed as in the traditional image, but bent back in the embrace of a huge man-beast. One bare leg caressed his thigh, the flowers fallen from her hand, while the other clasped an antler which sprang from the head of the Beast Lord. Her torn tunic rendered her bare to the waist and pressed against Mikos’s chest as he kissed her. Mikos towered over the goddess, his legs ending in taloned feet and clawed hands that dimpled, but dared not pierce, his lover’s flesh.
The artist named it, and none could have done better. He called it ‘The Ravishing.’ He said it was the best work he had ever done, and now he would retire, turning over his workshop to his senior apprentice. He claimed he had been taken by fever and constructed the leaden frame overnight while his workers slept. I was not one to call him a liar. I had merely described what I envisioned. He was the artist.
“So what are you going to do?” Shani asked.
“I’m going to set this brazier so Willem can fill it.”
The iron bowl for the brazier was two finger-widths, thick and large enough for Shani to lie in seductively. My eyes silvered over when I drew, and I grasped the edges of the monstrous bowl. I grunted as I lifted it from the cart. I set it on the stand and turned my gaze to Shani. She shivered at the sight of my eyes.
“Is it level?” I asked.
Shani stared at me, still caught in my eyes and their faint glow. She shook herself and looked at the bowl. “That side is a little low,” she said, pointing.
I gave the bowl a push, and it settled.
“Better,” she said. My eyes returned to their normal shade as I released my draw. “You know what I meant. What are you going to do about the girls?”
“I am going to take them back to Arul. I swore an oath that I would see those girls safe at home.”
“Did it ever occur to you they might not want to go?”
“Yes, actually. It did. A few times.”
That admission caused Shani to balk. “And you are going to take them away because of some promise you made to yourself with no regard to their feelings?” Shani asked.
I looked closely at her. She stood in an aggressive stance. It was not like her, but I supposed me abducting three three young women, and returning them to their home, against their will no less, would affect her in such a way.
“If it were just me, I wouldn’t force them to do anything. But I made a promise to a grieving mother that I would bring her daughter home, if she lived, and I will see it done if I have to carry her on my shoulders.” I sighed. “Honestly, I don’t think I can break my oath. When I merely stated I would leave them here if they wished, I had a reaction, or rather my Aspect did. I thought it would kill me. So, no.”
“Just ask them if they want to go, and if they say no, then leave them alone,” she said.
“I don’t have a choice, Shani,” I sighed. “Once she is there, she can do as she pleases. The same goes for the other two.” I paused, thinking. “My oath was just for Merey, or Tessa, whatever. The others technically don’t have to go. But they may have families that would wish to see them. Besides they say they don’t wish to be separated, anyway. I will try to convince them to go of their own accord, but I will take them. The girls will go with me when I leave. I don’t want to force them. I will if I must, but not before I kill the Prince in answer for whatever it was he did to them.”
“What gives you the right to kill the Prince?” Shani demanded.
“I don’t need the right, only the ability.”
“What of all your noble talk about following lost girls to rescue? Where is your nobility now?” Her tone was hostile. I was running out of excuses for her behavior. There was something she wasn’t telling me.
“Shani, I don’t know where you got the idea that I was noble, because I assure you, I am not. The Duchess has been mourning the death of her daughter for a decade. I promised to bring her home. I am going to do just that.”
Shani had tears in her eyes. She tried to compose herself, but her control slipped one last time.
“Promise me you won’t hurt those girls,” she said. “They have to be innocent in all this, right?”
“They are innocent in this, Shani,” I said. “I only want the best for them.”
She seemed satisfied with that, for the time being, at least.
She and Willem helped me fill the brazier and light it.
Brother Balinar entered, his arms draped in heavy bags, and saw the work we had done to prepare for the sanctification.
“Just in time. Good,” he said. He carefully set the bags on the altar, then retrieved a large book from an alcove. He opened the book to a marked page and began unpacking the bags, using the book as a reference. He had four bags, each filled with clay tablets bearing the inscriptions necessary to conduct the dedication ritual. He took a tablet, consulted the tome, and then placed it against a wall or pillar, as necessary, to define the boundaries of the ritual space.
He had been working on these for days. They were necessary inscriptions that named the temple as a place of worship and dedicated it to Hessa. Each of the tiles carried an inscription from the Holy Books and held special significance to the ritual. The intention for the tiles was to channel the temple’s connection to the goddess. After we concluded the ritual, we would hang them from the walls and pillars to symbolize the sanctification and formalize the temple’s dedication to the Great Queen.
I could feel the atmosphere of the sanctuary change as he placed each tablet. It was eerie. Everyone spoke more softly as he progressed. A deep quiet, a near palpable solemnity, settled over the sanctuary and made the situation more real somehow, like this was an actual temple deserving of reverence.
“Is it time?” Willem asked in a whisper. His eyes were wide with excitement. I wasn’t sure if he believed all that Brother Balinar and I had been telling him, just like I knew that Shani wasn’t a follower. It was clear, however, that they were as caught up in the preparations as Cedric and me.
“It’s time.” I smiled, and we took our places.
The sun had set, and the full moon shone through the stained-glass windows and cast a soft glow on the statue of the Queen and Her altar. Flickering shadows from the brazier danced across the stained glass. I stood between the brazier and the altar. With the altar at my back, I looked upon the statue and the window depicting the twenty-foot-tall image of my goddess. The Queen of Death and Life.
I raised my arms, my sleeves falling back, and stared into the fire, chanting in a tongue that I didn’t have a name for. None of the Priests knew its origins, as far as I was aware. The Keeper even said that the language had not even been taught to him, only the general meaning behind the words. I learned them through my studies in the priesthood and had to recite them at least a hundred times before Master Gwynn accepted my performance. As I raised my voice in chant, joined by Brother Balinar, I sent a small, separate prayer to the Queen that I would get it all right.
My Aspect rattled in its cage of magic deep within my breast. It roared and howled as if it wished to be free. I noticed, however, that its cries oddly mimicked my own. It was as though the disjointed roar spoke the same words, in the same timbre, the same pitch. I couldn’t decipher the meaning, but, to my surprise, it seemed it lent its voice in prayer to the ritual.
The earth shook as I drew on my spirit magic, the Blessing of Hessa.
I untangled my power and sent it throughout the hall, seeking the tablets Brother Balinar had so carefully etched. I found one, then another as tendrils of shadow snaked from my body and probed the periphery, seeking to connect to the tablets and bind them to the temple, in service to the Queen and Her people.
I had to be cautious. If I burned through too much power, I could inadvertently loose my Aspect. It was my magic that kept it bound. I searched the room, the pillars and walls, and found the tablets containing the ancient script. I found them, and so much more besides.
As my spirit probed for the tablets, I became aware of ol
der etchings and symbols, only hints of which I’d seen before. I could feel them in the walls, in the floors, in the very bones of the place I sought to make a haven for the Hessian Order here in Trular. In my mind, it was to be a place of respite for all in need of the Queen’s comfort. It was a place of birth, of death, of life, and loss. It was a place where mothers could deliver their babies in safety, and those facing their ends could do so in dignity and comfort.
This is a Palace for Her.
All this I thought as I searched out the inscriptions, old and new, and poured my power into them. My Aspect joined me in full, our call to the Queen.
I drew a dagger and cut the palms of my hands, dropped the blade, and squeezed a few drops of my blood into the brazier.
The room exploded in light and shadow.
Centuries of dust lurched into the air and halted as though time had stopped. Etchings worked into the walls, pillars, ceiling, and floor suddenly lit with black shadowy vapor, ringed in white fire. It burned, and the smell of smoldering dust suffused the newly sanctified temple.
Lines that were previously unseen suddenly became visible and were lit with the fire of the Blessing. The entire sanctuary glowed with arcane light. I felt faint and staggered and spun, placing my hands on the altar to keep from falling. My bloody handprints stained the altar of the Great Queen, and my mind erupted in song and silence.
A presence invaded my thoughts. My skin burned. My head, chest, arms, and legs ached. Every part of me screamed to stop this, to end the madness and flee, but I could not. I was no longer in control. She was. I could feel her as she entered my mind, and my thoughts flew backward in time. Back to nightmares and lullabies.
“Who has the will to reopen this First Place?” the voice in my mind boomed. It wasn’t a voice I heard with my ears, but felt in my soul. The sound reverberated throughout the very bones of this new temple. I had never felt anything like it before, so complete—so close—was I to my Goddess. “You have grown strong. I approve. You will need that strength in the times to come.” She paused, as though searching. “Who attends me? The Son, the Brother, the Other, the Child…” She paused again “…and the cursebound Sisters. This is unexpected, but not entirely surprising. What do you ask of me, in this holiest of places, my son?”
“Great Queen,” I dragged from my throat when I finally was able, “I ask only that you accept this place as your holy sanctuary and grant it your protection as you see fit. We dedicate this space to you and seek your guidance and intercession, such as you will bestow.”
I said the words, and it surprised me to discover that I understood their meaning. These words were similar to the chant I had memorized. It was not the language of Arul, nor was it Trulari. My Aspect screamed in accord with my voice. The odd harmonics that I had grown so accustomed to filled the room as I sang the responses to my Goddess.
“There is little I would not grant my own,” the voice said. “It is done. This temple shall stand as a holy place once again. I had thought my first home a relic, forgotten in time. Leave it to you, willful child, to see that memory renewed and my heart rejuvenated once more for the First Temple of Hessa.”
“Thank you, Great Queen,” I said in the ancient language.
“Ask you no boon?”
“I can think of naught for myself other than the protection of those I seek to save.”
“You always were a good boy,” the voice crooned. “Very well. None may come to harm within these walls from without. I will shield all from violence and influence. The blessings of the Mother be upon you. But heed: this First Temple holds secrets. You can discover them should you have the need, but not before.” And my Goddess fell silent. The fire in the walls and pillars died to a dull glow, and I collapsed to my knees from the sudden loss of her presence.
Brother Balinar rushed to my side. “Evan, are you alright? What happened?”
“Hessa happened, Brother,” I said as I toppled over in exhaustion.
I saw the lines, the script of Shael. I knew that was what it was, though I didn’t know how I knew. It lined the ceiling, walls, and floor. The inscriptions pulsed and glowed with the power of the Goddess. Willem gasped in awe, and Balinar fell to his knees in prayer, hands above his head and facing the stature of Hessa in supplication.
My power restored, my Aspect was eerily silent while the throbbing in my temples subsided. The tiles that Brother Balinar spent so much time on had moved. They had risen and embedded themselves into the structure to become part of the living mosaic, forever ensconced in this new, yet ancient temple.
What a letter I would have to construct to the Keeper. Uncle Zai would have questions. I couldn’t say I had any answers for him.
The Other
A chorus of anguished screams resonated from deep inside the temple and shattered the stunned silence that had settled over the newly sanctified sanctuary. I threw off Balinar’s attempt to help me stand and sped down the passageway to the storage wing. I was not the first to arrive.
When I burst through the door, I saw Shani on her knees frantically tearing at the Sisters’ bonds while the three girls cried, wailed, and writhed in obvious pain. All three, eyes wide in shock and panic, clutched to Shani as she tried to calm them.
“He's gone, Shani!” Tessa cried, clawing at her. “I can't feel him. He’s gone! What do we do?”
“Papa, Papa,” Marjory repeated over and over.
Litha, wrapped her arms around Shani's neck. Shani did her best to hold all three as they cried.
The girls clutched to Shani desperately and sobbed ugly, shuddering tears. Shani stroked each girl’s hair, shushing and trying to comfort them. After several minutes, their sobs and pitiful whimpers eased.
Shani held the girls close to her and rocked back and forth, humming a soft lullaby. When they settled sufficiently, she disentangled herself and they instinctively grasped one another, holding each other tight and seeking comfort.
Shani rounded on me with fire in her eyes and her fists clenched at her sides.
“What did you do to them?” she demanded. “You said you wouldn’t hurt them.”
“I did nothing to them.”
“Liar,” she hissed, stabbing an accusatory finger at me. “You did this!”
My mind raced at what could have caused their distress. I tried to imagine what had changed. With the ritual and the words of the goddess so recent, I was beginning to understand.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
“So you could take the only family I know?” she scoffed. “I don’t think so!” Her outburst caused the Sisters to flinch and cry harder. She sank to the floor and hugged them and told them that all would be well, that they would get through this together. Her tears fell on them as she stroked their hair. I saw the sincerity and the anguish in her face, and even as accomplished a liar as Shani was, I knew this was no act.
“I only want to do the right thing,” I said.
“Promise me you won’t force them to go with you.” I shook my head sadly.
“I can’t do that,” I said. “It was a careless promise that got us into this mess to begin with. I have promised not to hurt them. All I can say now is that I will do all in my power to help them and I will make things as easy on them as I can, but I can’t do anything unless I know more.”
Shani looked down and smiled through her tears. That was the only way I could describe it. She ran her fingers through their hair, and they calmed once again, seeming to drift off to sleep. Shani’s whisper was small, barely audible even though I was close.
“Prince Kaden didn’t get three children from the Archduke,” Shani said. “He got four.” I blinked as realization set in.
“The ledgers only mentioned three girls sold to the Prince.”
“That just it,” she said through an angry sob. “He didn’t buy me. Atroscine threw me in for free. I was getting too old, see? And I was too scrawny, all knees and elbows. He even said I was too tall. Me, too tall. I haven’t grown a
n inch since I was thirteen. He was afraid he couldn’t sell me. Kaeden said he took pity on me.” She huffed at that. “If he truly pitied me, he would have cut my throat.”
“What did they mean when they said they couldn’t feel him?” I asked.
“When we arrived here in Jerea, we were miserable. We had no idea what was going on, and it terrified us. I was older, more jaded even at that age, and had a little better understanding of what was going on. I tried my best to comfort them. It wasn’t long until a man came. I think he was a priest, but not like you. He was creepy. He did something to them and to the Prince, too. I don’t know what he did, but the girls changed. It was like all at once they would finish each other's sentences, or one would know when another was about to walk into the room. It was strange and frightening. They said they could feel the Prince and sense his moods. They loved him suddenly, where before they had trembled in fear whenever he was near. It made me sick to see them fawn over him and jealous to see him paw at them, because he didn’t care about me as he did them.”
“The priest didn't do the same to you?” I asked. Shani shook her head.
“He said I was too old for it to work properly. I don't know why that would be, but no. Kaeden broke me the old-fashioned way.” Shani shuddered. “I was stronger than they were, and I tried to shield them from him as best I could. I tried to protect them and teach them.”
Shani gave a sad laugh.
“The Prince didn't come for me, he came for them. I wasn’t worth selling, I wasn’t worth saving. You didn’t even come for me. You came for them.” Shani started crying again. It all came together in a crash, and my heart broke.
That’s what she meant in the grove. Oh Hessa, have mercy on this girl who has suffered so.
“I tried to protect them, but now all I can do is beg you to help them. They are all I have; all I have ever had.”
Oathbound: The Emperor's Conscience, Book 2 Page 23
