Fire and Gold (Sisters of the North Book 1)

by Mara Amberly

  The temple was vast, its exterior constructed of white marble that had been transported from the mountains and crafted into as much a work of art as a building. The Temple of Solitude had stood on the banks of the Silverkell River for 118 years and had lasted through earthquakes, cyclones, uprisings and thousands of visitors. It was one of the landmarks of the city and it was Cassia and Alexa’s home, but that didn’t stop Cassia from kicking Alexa’s derriere beneath its hallowed ceilings.

  “Seriously though, don’t leave me to go out there on my own or with Lara. I can’t stand her,” Alexa implored.

  She was the older sister and in many ways wiser, if a poorer combatant. She knew that quite well because Cassia kept reminding her.

  “We would be helping people,” Alexa explained. “We’d be giving them a chance to make peace with the gods before they’re executed. They can’t come here. Were you in their place–”

  Cassia gave her a tired look. “I’m not in their place and I wouldn’t be. They’ve brought this on themselves.”

  “You could’ve been and we both know it,” Alexa replied.

  Cassia looked around – of course the training room was empty, but there were certain subjects she did not like brought up and this was one of them!

  “Just leave it please, Alexa. I don’t want to go. Isn’t that reason enough?”

  The blonde-haired priestess thought of stopping there, but she wanted Cassia to come with her.

  “I know you’ve been sneaking out,” Alexa admitted, her voice quiet but serious.

  Cassia hung her practise sword up on the wall and turned around. “Do you?”

  Alexa answered, “Yes, for quite some time. I know you’re visiting someone on the outside.”

  Cassia looked uncomfortable with this but she didn’t deny it. “Why are we discussing this? Are you going to tell someone? Is that it?”

  Alexa shook her head. “Of course not, you’re my sister. I wouldn’t do that.”

  Cassia sighed. She knew she was being manipulated now, but she could understand Alexa’s curiousity.

  “So who are you visiting?” Alexa asked, putting her sword back on the rack as well. “A man?” Alexa spoke in an especially hushed tone that wouldn’t be overheard.

  “Yes. Is that the answer you’re looking for? Before you lecture me Alexa, let me remind you that I didn’t ask to be here. I came here because – you know why. We’re in love.”

  Cassia saw Alexa’s expression of surprise, but her sister’s immediate reaction wasn’t as intense as she’d feared it might be.

  “Cassia, that’s crazy. Sorry, but it is. What about the future? Are you going to see each other in secret for the rest of your lives? What if you’re caught?”

  Cassia raised her hand, “please don’t, Alexa. In some ways this is home, but what I want doesn’t seem to matter here. What I have with Josef is something real, something that I want – for me and for him. Don’t you understand? It’s a decision I made for myself and that wasn’t decided by circumstances beyond my control. That’s important and he’s important to me.”

  Alexa could tell this was about Cassia reclaiming her own life and living it her way. It just wasn’t that simple, was it?

  “You know what punishments you face if you’re caught? You’re both taking an awful risk.” Alexa wondered if it was an act of love to pursue their forbidden romance or to let it go for the sake of each other. It was a decision only Cassia and Josef could make.

  “So why didn’t you want to come with me if it would give you a chance to leave the temple?” Alexa asked uncertainly.

  “I knew I wouldn’t get to see him if you were with me,” Cassia answered, sadness in her eyes.

  Alexa could tell this conversation was delicate, especially because Cassia looked up to her. She was Cassia’s older sister and the only close family she had now.

  “Cassia, I can’t promise not to lecture you, because I care about you. If you want to meet with him, perhaps we could find a way. It will seem less suspicious if we’re together and it will give me a chance to see what I think of Josef. I want to know if he’s worth it but if you care so much for him, perhaps he already is to you.”

  Cassia was more than a little surprised at the offer from her sister, but she nodded. She trusted Alexa more than anyone in the world. She wouldn’t have told Alexa about Josef otherwise.

  “I could join you to visit the guard headquarters even though I hate that place,” Cassia said. Her thoughts were more on Josef than the prisoners now.

  “The walk there will take us down near the woods and perhaps we could meet him on the way. I could try and get a message to him and then we could all talk,” Cassia continued, and Alexa nodded at her suggestion.

  “Are you sure you can trust the messenger?” Alexa asked.

  Cassia smiled, “yes. I believe so. The messenger isn’t exactly a person.”

  Alexa wasn’t quite sure what to make of that. “Sure. I’m confused but I’ll let you keep your secret.”

  Cassia grinned, “That’s kind of you. We’d better get breakfast first before we’re too late.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Arch-Magister Calla Orelle was sound asleep. Her chamber was silent but for her breathing, as her chest slowly rose and fell. It was located in the tower and looked much as the one had where she’d first stayed as a novice. Arch-Magister Orelle had turned down the lavish in favour of the Spartan for all of her twenty-five years in the post. She was well into her 80s now, and while not exactly stern, she was highly-disciplined.

  A young woman’s voice carried from the hallway outside, but it wasn’t loud enough to wake the sleeping priestess.

  “Who is he? Did he say why he’s come?”

  A woman with sandy blonde hair and a deeper, huskier voice answered her. It was Sister Lara, known throughout the temple for her haughty manner. “He claims a politician from Haledor gave him a message to bring to her. The messenger said it was urgent that the message reaches her soon.”

  Marie, who was one of Sister Calla’s carers, looked unsure about waking her up. “Haledor? That’s odd; such a faraway place. These messengers always say it’s urgent. Everything is important when it’s about their time. Sometimes it can be, I suppose. Did he say what the message was about?”

  Lara shrugged uncertainly. “He wouldn’t tell me much. Only that harm would befall us if he doesn’t meet with the Arch-Magister, but it’s possible he’s exaggerating. He wouldn’t be the first to claim as much. He’s waiting in the gate house if you want to talk with him.”

  Marie glanced at Calla’s door, sensing that she still slept. “Calla is still recovering from her surgery. Find out more, Lara, and bring the information to me. If it’s as important as he says, let me know please. If it’s not so grave a situation, Calla may be well enough to meet with him tomorrow. It depends on how she’s feeling and how serious this is.”

  Lara bowed her head respectfully and made her way back down the tower stairs.

  ***

  The gate house was situated where the temple grounds met the main gate. A messenger, scruffier than the male guards and plainly dressed, waited impatiently inside. The only detail marking him as a messenger was the red, scroll-shaped pin on his coat. The gate house was small and built of unadorned timber; even alone in the room, Luke found it stifling. He tapped his fingers on the bench as he waited, sighing softly to himself. He’d been waiting for around an hour while Lara was speaking with Sister Marie and doing gods’ know what else. The seating wasn’t particularly comfortable and he thought this might have been intentional.

  It had taken him some effort to pass through the gate in the first place. Luke knew patience was part of the job, but the fact he was paid per message, combined with knowledge of the message’s content, only frustrated him more. The customer – Governor Arani of Haledor – had refused to put the message in writing, insisting that he deliver it verbally instead. Remembering it wasn’t a problem – the message was practically burned into
his memory. There were details you didn’t forget.

  Luke’s employer had given him the job, but there was fear in the man’s eyes when he’d ordered Luke into the room with Cerus.

  “Get it done,” he’d said.

  It was those words that made Luke think they were dealing with something dangerous, and when the message was given to him, he knew without a doubt he was right. He couldn’t enter the temple grounds because Sister Lara had bolted the door closed behind her.

  The door finally creaked open a few minutes later. Lara returned alone without the Arch-Magister. She looked as if she anticipated Luke’s annoyance.

  “Please, where is Arch-Magister Orelle? It’s very important I give her this message.”

  Lara raised her hand, silencing Luke in a vaguely arrogant manner. “I have spoken with Sister Marie and the Arch-Magister is unfortunately unable to see you today. If you come back tomorrow...”

  Luke shook his head in frustration. “You’re going to send me away? Someone’s going to attack your temple. I was told to speak only to the Arch-Magister, but since you’re going to send me away, you should know! I need to speak with her while there’s still time.”

  Lara’s expression was confused. “Why would someone attack our temple? If this message is going to reach the Arch-Magister, you need to tell me everything.”

  Luke glanced back out through the front door. The guards hadn’t let anyone else in, which meant he and Sister Lara still had some privacy to talk alone.

  “I can tell you some of what I know. The message is from Cerus Arani. He said the Nemorans are going to attack your temple. It may be today or another day soon, but it’s close at hand. He said to me, ‘before the moon is full’.”

  Lara frowned, “it’s full in two days.”

  “Yes it is,” Luke said, hoping Sister Lara would understand the urgency. “Governor Arani said they mean to attack not just this temple, but your temples in other cities as well. They’re intending to wipe you out. Governor Arani knows that time is short but he has just arrived in the city. He has urged you to act on this information and increase security while you have the chance. He said there may still be time to save lives.”

  Lara didn’t know what to make of this man. Surely a man like Cerus Arani could’ve relayed the information to us through different channels if it’s genuine. She assumed the messenger would expect her to rush straight off and talk with Marie or ideally Calla. I don’t see that I have any choice.

  “Is that the whole message? Did Cerus Arani say why we’re being targeted by the Nemorans? What it is we’re supposed to have done to earn their hatred?”

  Luke wasn’t expecting this response. “He – he didn’t say. I’m just doing my job delivering this message.”

  Lara wasn’t acting on the information quite as he’d hoped. He rose from the bench, wondering what Sister Lara’s problem was. If she wouldn’t listen then perhaps he could speak with someone else. Janna, his wife, would be annoyed with him if she knew he’d walked away when he held information of vital importance.

  “Is everything alright in here?” One of the guards leaned in to the gate house through the open front door. He was a tall man, slightly balding. Luke had spoken to him briefly on the way in.

  “Yes, of course,” Luke instinctively answered. Had he raised his voice at Lara, trying to get through to her when she wouldn’t listen?

  The guard glanced away out the door and Luke turned to see what had caught his attention. As Luke moved, he noticed a quick glint of silver in the man’s hand. The guard swung back around and tried to stab him in the chest. Luke was unprepared but he managed to fend off the guard’s attack with his quick reflexes.

  “What the hell do you-?”

  Luke’s mind hardly had time to grasp the fact he was being attacked before the guard shoved him back against the wall. Luke had an impression of Sister Lara stumbling away from him, leaving him to his fate. The guard struck him in the face with the knife’s handle, which was gripped in his fist. The world went dark for a moment, before quickly returning to stark focus. Luke tried to push the guard back but he knocked Luke’s arm away and slid the knife between his ribs.

  Luke cried out in pain but it wasn’t as bad as the grief and fear he felt inside. He was afraid that he might not get to live his life. The message wasn’t at the forefront of his thoughts; he worried about Jenna. He’d only been married a year and he didn’t want to hurt her. He didn’t want Janna to be alone without him.

  “Please don’t,” he said. He didn’t want to be a man who begged for his life, but Luke wanted to live. He began to feel it might be too late for that. He was dying. The light seemed to fade from the world around him as he reached out to grab the knife handle. His reach fell short and he slid to the floor, collapsing unconscious at the guard’s feet.

  The guard pushed him over on to his back. Luke was dead or very close to it. His attacker pulled out the blood-stained knife and wiped it on his victim’s shirt. A second guard had stepped in through the open doorway of the gate house, but did nothing. Both of the guards looked at the priestess and Luke’s killer smiled. It was as ugly and predatory as he was.

  Lara backed away toward the inner door, reaching out to push it open.

  “You don’t want to do that, love,” Luke’s killer insisted.

  The sandy-haired priestess didn’t scream, but she knew to stay would be to die. She bolted through the door but came to an unexpected halt when the guard grabbed her robe’s hood and yanked on it. As soon as the guard had her on the ground, he killed her with the same knife he’d used on Luke. He seemed not to care that the door swung open. Sister Lara bled out on the floor, and with her any chance of passing Cerus Arani’s warning to the Sisters of Destiny was lost.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Alexa and Cassia walked down the road overlooking the Bay of Kalle Demorre, which glittered blue in the morning sun. They appeared as quiet and reserved as priestesses were expected to be. Their official titles were ‘Sister’, but they were often called ‘Priestess’ by the people of the city. It was a nice day and wispy clouds drifted calmly in the sky. Houses of white and dark brown flecked stone were a familiar sight, many decorated with rocks found on the ocean’s shore. The two sisters were now almost half an hour away from the temple, and both were enjoying their walk.

  Cassia wore a red robe and Alexa wore blue. There were meanings associated with the robe colours that Sisters of Destiny wore. Any initiate could wear dark blue and this was the most common colour at the temple. As the priestesses trained, some attained mastery in one or more elements. Mastery in each element required training in its magical and non-magical skills. Cassia wore red because she was proficient with fire. Priestesses skilled with water could wear aqua and those with mastery in air, as Alexa had, could wear yellow. Sisters with Earth mastery sometimes wore brown and the Arch-Magister alone wore purple.

  On this day, Alexa and Cassia wore their traditional three-part dresses. Their long sleeved blouses were worn tucked into their ankle-length skirts. They wore matching hooded robes, embroidered with silver runes, which were belted at the waist with plaited cords.

  “We have about an hour before Elio Terell is expecting us,” Alexa explained as she soaked up the sunshine.

  “Who’s that?” Cassia asked. She didn’t look any the wiser about who this person was.

  “His Majesty’s Minister of Justice. He’s new. You’ve met him before, Cassia. He’s the angry looking man who’s losing his hair.”

  She giggled, “oh, him.”

  Alexa smiled sideways at her sister. “I’m afraid so.”

  Cassia grimaced and walked over toward a paved path that led up from the bay. The water glistened temptingly in the early autumn sun, and they could easily make out the nearest island in the distance, sitting askew from the shore. It housed the palace of the King, though they couldn’t see the building itself from here.

  “Oh, to go for a swim again,” Cassia said, smiling.


  Despite Cassia lingering, she and Alexa had a different location in mind. The execution grounds were in a clearing near the guard headquarters and the prison. In the past, certain offenders had been executed or left in stocks in the centre of the city, but this had led to trouble and discord. King Merrion was considered a civilised and merciful ruler by many. Alexa preferred that these killings were out of the way instead of in the city where people were expected to watch them, but it would’ve been better still if no one was executed.

  “I hate that prison,” Cassia said, her discomfort growing as they drew nearer the execution grounds.

  “Not as much as the criminals do, I’m sure,” Alexa replied.

  It drew a quiet murmur of agreement from the red-haired priestess. “Josef has agreed to meet us on the way. I always get nervous when I’m going to see him, in case anyone notices us.”

  Alexa paused in her step, her long honey-gold plait swinging to a stop. “I assumed we’d meet him after?”

  Cassia shook her head, a knowing smile on her lips. She was still guarding her secret means of communication. “We’ve got an hour before the Minister is expecting us. In the message I sent Josef, I asked him to meet us soon. He knew it would take us time to get here, but he might be in the woods already.”

  “So he knows I’m here with you? What do we do if we’re seen?” Alexa asked.

  “Yes he does. I’m sure we can think of something, Alexa. They might just assume we’re on temple business. Most people would.”

  Alexa considered what kind of excuse she could come up with. “That seems logical. We’re on temple business and had to relieve ourselves in the woods...”

  Cassia laughed and nodded, “for example. Maybe we just decided to take a walk. People do that all the time! I suppose it helps to be more dishonest like me. When you think about it a bit, the gods have no higher law than free will. By honouring that, we honour the gods.”