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At the exact sa sound of their screa around the cramped officer’s cabin In the darkness, Sister Ulicia could hear the others gasping to catch their breath She sed, trying to slow her own panting, and immediately winced at the raw pain in her throat She could feel wetness on her eyelids, but her lips were so dry she had to lick them, for fear they would crack and bleed
So on the door She are of his shouts only as a dull drone in her head She didn’t bother trying to focus on the words or their ; the man was inconsequential
Lifting a tre hand toward the center of the coal black quarters, she released a flow of her Han, the essence of life and spirit, directing a point of heat into the oil la on the low bea a sinuous line of soot that traced the lamp’s slow, to-and-fro sway as the ship rolled in the sea
The other wo up as well, their eyes fixed on the feeble, yello, as if seeking from it salvation, or perhaps reassurance that they were still alive and there was light to be seen A tear rolled down Ulicia’s cheek, too, at the sight of the flaht of damp, black earth shoveled over her
Her bedding was sodden and cold with sweat, but even without the sweat, everything was alet in the salt air, to say nothing of the spray that sporadically drenched the deck and trickled into everything below She couldn’t reainst her She hated this ship, its inter and pitching that turned her stoerly, she sed back the taste of bile
Ulicia wiped her fingers at the etness over her eyes and held out her hand; her fingertips glistened with blood As if emboldened by her example, some of the others cautiously did the same Each of them had bloody scratches on their eyelids, eyebrows, and cheeks fro desperately, but futilely, to claw their eyes open, to wake themselves from the snare of sleep, in a vain attempt to escape the dream that was not a dream
Ulicia struggled to clear the fog frohtmare
She forced herself to look away from the flame, at the other women Sister Tovi hunched in a lower bunk opposite, the thick rolls of flesh at her sides see in sympathy with the morose expression on her wrinkled face as she watched the laray hair stood out in disarray, her incessant smile replaced by an ashen mask of fear as she stared up frolanced at the bunk above Sister Armina, not nearly as old as Tovi or Cecilia, but closer to Ulicia’s age and still attractive, appeared haggard With shaking fingers, the usually staid Armina wiped the blood from her eyelids
Across the confining ay, in the bunks above Tovi and Cecilia, sat the two youngest and ed scratches marred the flawless skin of Sister Nicci’s cheeks Strands of her blond hair stuck to the tears, sweat, and blood on her face Sister Merissa, equally beautiful, clutched a blanket to her naked breast, not in , dark hair was a tangled mat
The others were older, and adeptly wielded power tee of experience, but both Nicci and Merissa were possessed of rare, innate, dark talents—a deft touch that no amount of experience could invoke Astute beyond their years, neither was beguiled by Cecilia or Tovi’s kindly s and self-assured, they both knew that Cecilia, Tovi, Ar them both apart, piece by piece, if they so chose Still, that did not diht, they were two of the most formidable woular resolve to prevail that the Keeper had selected them
Seeing these wo, but it was the sight of Merissa’s unbridled terror that really shook Ulicia She had never known a Sister as composed, as unemotional, as implacable, as merciless, as Merissa Sister Merissa had a heart of black ice
Ulicia had known Merissa for close to 170 years, and in all that ti ever seen her cry She was sobbing now
Sister Ulicia drew strength fro the others in a condition of such abject weakness, and in fact it pleased her; she was their leader, and stronger than they
Theto knohat the trouble hat the screaer toward the door “Leave us! If you are needed you will be summoned!”
The sailor’s eway The only sound, other than the creak of timbers as the ship yahen struck abea
“Stop your sniveling, Merissa,” Ulicia snapped
Merissa’s dark eyes, still glazed with fear, focused on her “It’s never been like that before” Tovi and Cecilia nodded their agree Why has he done this? I have not failed him”
“Had we failed him,” Ulicia said, “ould be there, with Sister Liliana”
Armina started “You saw her, too? She was—”
“I saw her,” Ulicia said,her own horror with an even tone
Sister Nicci dreisted skein of sodden blond hair back off her face Gathering composure smoothed her voice “Sister Liliana failed the Master”
Sister Merissa, the glaze in her eyes ebbing, flashed a look of cool disdain “She is paying the price of failure” The crisp edge in her own tone thickened like winter’s frost on a“Forever” Merissa almost never let emotion touch her smooth features, but it touched her face now as her brows drew together in a murderous scowl “She countermanded your orders, Sister Ulicia, and the Keeper’s She ruined our plans This is her fault”
Liliana had indeed failed the Keeper They wouldn’t all be on this cursed ship if it weren’t for Sister Liliana Ulicia’s face heated at the thought of that wolory to herself She had gotten what she deserved Even so, Ulicia sed at theseen Liliana’s torment, and didn’t even notice the pain of her raw throat this time
“But what of us?” Cecilia asked Her setic, rather than merry “Must we do as this… man says?”
Ulicia wiped a hand across her face They had no time to hesitate, if this was real, if what she had seen had really happened It htmare; no one but the Keeper had ever before come to her in the dreahtaze suddenly rose
“This man? You did not see the Keeper? You saw a man?”
Cecilia quailed “Jagang”
Tovi raised her hand toward her lips to kiss her ring finger—an ancient gesture beseeching the Creator’s protection It was an old habit, begun the firstEach of the, without fail, upon arising, and in times of tribulation Tovi had probably done it by rote countless thousands of tiht was sy the ring finger was a ritual renewal of that betrothal
There was no
telling what the act of kissing that finger would do, now, in view of their betrayal Superstition had it that it was death for one who had pledged her soul to the Keeper—a Sister of the Dark—to kiss that finger While it was unclear whether it truly would invoke the Creator’s wrath, there was no doubt it would invoke the Keeper’s When her hand was halfway to her lips, Tovi realized what she was about to do and snatched it away
“You all saw Jagang?” Ulicia regarded each in turn, and each nodded A small flame of hope still flickered in her “So you saw the E” She leaned toward Tovi “Did you hear hi?”
Tovi drew the coverlet up to her chin “We were all there, as ays are when the Keeper seeks us We sat in the se who came, not the Master”
A soft sob came from Armina in the bunk above “Silence!” Ulicia returned her attention to the shivering Tovi “But what did he say? What were his words?”
Tovi’s gaze sought the floor “He said our souls were his now He said ere his now, and we lived only at his whim He said we must come to him at once, or ould envy Sister Liliana’s fate” She looked up, into Ulicia’s eyes “He said ould regret it if we ave me a taste of what it would mean to displease him”
Ulicia’s flesh had gone cold, and she realized that she, too, had drawn her sheet up She pushed it back into her lap with an effort “Armina?” Soft confirmation came from above “Cecilia?” Cecilia nodded Ulicia looked to the two in the upper bunk opposite The co back seemed to have settled in “Well? Did you two hear the same words?”
“Yes,” Nicci said
“The exact saht this upon us”
“Perhaps the Keeper is displeased with us,” Cecilia offered, “and has given us to the e back our place of favor”
Merissa’s back stiffened Her eyes were ainto her frozen heart “I have given ar beast in order to return to our Master’s graces, then I will serve I will lick this man’s feet, if I must”
Ulicia re, just before he had departed the se Merissa to stand He had then casually reached out, grabbed her right breast in his powerful fingers, and squeezed until her knees buckled Ulicia glanced at Merissa’s breast, now, and saw lurid bruises there