by Shannah Jay
expression that he understood what that meant. He’d been married to Merryan for over thirty years, after all. The husbands of Sisters learned many things.
'Aharri, my friend, it's all part of the pattern. Even your daughter's pain, perhaps. Slowly but surely our Brother is forging new weapons to fight Those of the Serpent. With their help we shal put an end to Discord. People who have gone through the fires of agony and survived become very strong. We of the Sisterhood aren’t immune to the need to change, you know. I believe we've gone too far along one path, become too gentle - gentleness is not wisdom and isn’t always the right way to behave.' As a Healer, she should know that better than anyone.
Aharri bowed his head. 'What must we do, then? I’m yours to command, Elder Sister.'
'First, Aharri, you must acquire the uniforms of one of Benner's captains and of two guardsmen, as well as the services of another man, a strong man, to wear the other guardsman's uniform with you and maybe fight at our side.
Then we shal go into that place to find Carryn. An escape route must also be planned. Once we come out again, we must get away swiftly. They'll leave no stone unturned to avenge such an insult.'
'I can arrange the escape. And if we succeed, it'll put new heart into those who still serve the God.'
'We shal succeed. The God is with us. I feel his presence very close to me today.'
Within the hour Herra had been transformed into a smart captain, and had acquired a guard of honour in the persons of Aharri and a taciturn giant of a man named Benjan, whose borrowed uniform stretched tightly across his muscular shoulders. When he was presented for Herra's inspection, she frowned. 'Do I know you, my friend?'
'No, Sister. We’ve never met.'
'Strange. I thought I recognised you. Well, there's no time to pursue that now. Let's leave. The sooner this is over, the better.' She led them swiftly and openly through the streets towards Tenebrak's main shrine, where Carryn was being held.
Once there, they entered through the main doorway with all the arrogance of Inner Shrine Initiates, and the common people fell back before them. Herra was a consummate actress and looked magnificent in black and silver. She strode forward to the altar, and if the other worshippers thought they saw her and her escort make the writhing gesture of obeisance to the Serpent, it was a simple enough illusion to create.
Being inside such a place was far worse than Herra had expected. Great waves of anguish seemed to wash from wall to wall, and the agony that had been inflicted there seemed embedded in the stones. The screams of countless victims echoed silently in her head and the sickly smell of the incense made her feel as if she was choking.
Aharri and his companion, although cushioned by her aura, still felt the vibrations of agony and had to endure them as best they could. The effects of the incense were minimal, thanks to Herra.
As they walked across the grey marble floor they saw a woman being pushed towards the main altar by her husband.
They were country folk, by their clothes. It was not yet the hour of the Evening Sacrifices, when all the side altars would be in use. A bored Servant stood by the largest altar; another guarded a rear entrance.
At the sight of the shrinking woman, the Servant's jaded eyes brightened a little and he shook free the thongs of the whip he carried. He stepped forward and began admonishing her for her reluctance to remove her clothes and do her duty in public.
The husband, anxious not to be taken at fault, pulled at her clothes. When the wife began to weep and plead for a little privacy, the Servant rang a small gong. She screamed for mercy then and tore the rest of her clothes off, but it was too late. With a gloating smile the Servant ordered a light whipping and an hour's public service. He himself chained her trembling body to the altar tripod and began to make the first sacrifice while the husband, white to the gills, whipped her back, knowing it to be the only way to save both their lives.
The sounds of the lash and the woman's screams fol owed Herra and her companions as they pushed through the red velvet hangings behind the long black altar. Herra made sure that the Servant on duty at the rear did not notice them pass.
Once they were out of sight, Herra paused for a moment to drain her own and her companions' pain. 'I can do QUEST Shannah Jay 152
nothing for that poor woman without betraying our presence,' she said, white-lipped. 'All I can do is dull the pain and make sure she faints soon.'
'She's only one of many,' Aharri said through gritted teeth. 'We manage to save a few of them afterwards, but not enough.'
'I'm sure you do your best, my friend. But we mustn't linger here. Your daughter is a Key Life at this stage of our Quest. We can't afford to lose her.' Eyes unfocused, Herra tried to cast her consciousness ahead to sense where Carryn might be held, but she had to desist almost at once. Not only were there a great many people in the shrine, but the emanations of misery were too much for an unshielded mind.
Determinedly Herra led the way forward until they came to a long hallway. Here they saw one or two of the black-clad Servants going about their business, but none of them accosted the little group, or seemed to notice anything amiss in their presence there at the very entrance to the Inner Shrine.
Herra waited until the corridor was clear of all but one man, then, as he moved towards them, she snapped her fingers. He froze for an instant only, then began to squirm, as if able to fight her Compulsion. His dark silver-edged robes were damp with fresh bloodstains and there was a smear of blood across his forehead. With reluctance Herra reached out to touch his brow, and he stopped struggling, but the hatred in his eyes was unquenched.
' Take us to the girl Carryn! ' she ordered, and her voice was harsher than Aharri had ever heard it before.
The man's lips mouthed a refusal, but he was unable to give voice to it, and his limbs began to obey the command of their own accord. Jerkily he turned and led them along a dimly-lit side passage. Like a badly-controlled puppet, he staggered to a halt outside one of the heavy doors.
' Open it! '
'No - key.' For a moment triumph replaced the hatred in his eyes.
Herra turned to the lock, and as her attention focused on that, her control over the man slipped enough for him to make frantic gurgling noises and lurch away from them. Without hesitation Benjan chopped him very hard in the side of the neck, and he fel to the ground unconscious.
Herra whirled. 'You haven't . . . '
'No, lady. I know you don't allow killing. Pity to lose such a good opportunity, but this one will live to harm other innocent folk.' The hatred in Benjan's voice was undisguised.
Herra laid a hand on the door. As it swung open a girl's voice screamed from inside. 'No! No! Not again!' and a chorus of pleas and protests joined her from the nearby cells. The Elder Sister slipped inside the chamber and Carryn's screams stopped. Aharri followed her, motioning to Benjan to remain on guard outside.
As they vanished into the darkness inside the doorway, Benjan grinned and went over to the prone figure in black.
He kicked it hard, several times, in the groin. 'You may still be alive, but you'l have difficulty playing your part in the sacrifices for a while,' he murmured with a look of fierce satisfaction.
Inside the cell Herra stilled Carryn, who had become hysterical at the mere opening of the door, and who was half insane with fear. She gestured to Aharri to carry his daughter out.
'Wait!' she said, and moved swiftly up and down the corridor, touching every lock on the cell doors. 'They'll open of their own accord just after second moonrise,' she whispered softly to the inmates. She turned to Aharri. 'Let us hope some of those poor women manage to escape. Can you have men waiting outside to help them, just in case?'
'It'll be our privilege.' He showed no sign of impatience now, merely stood cradling his daughter close and waiting for Herra's instructions.
She set off again, taking a route which led towards the side of the building, trying to find the entrance Harrol had spoken of. The shrieks from the alta
r in the public shrine grew fainter behind them and cut off abruptly as Herra made a sign with her hand. The darkness of this passageway seemed impenetrable. As they waded through the fetid air, a white-haired man in the robes of a Master Initiate stepped out from behind a pillar and stopped dead at the sight of QUEST Shannah Jay 153
them.
'Who are you?'
Herra snapped her fingers and he stumbled, but didn’t freeze. Never before had she encountered people able to resist her powers. Again her fingers clicked, to focus her will. Slowly he struggled to move away, only partly held by the mesh of her Compulsion. As he opened his mouth to give the alarm, she could only watch in horror. Just as it seemed that they must be discovered, a knife flashed through the air and sank into his chest. Still he defied death for long enough to mouth a hoarse curse at them as he fell.
Herra stood like a tree struck by lightening. 'How could he?' she whispered. 'How could one of Evil resist the power of Good?'
It was Benjan who urged her forward through the doorway into the side alley. Not until they were outside did she regain her colour and begin to think more clearly.
'Hurry!' Aharri urged. 'We must be off the streets as quickly as possible.'
'You lead, now.' Herra fell back, Benjan gently lifted the girl's motionless body into his massive arms and they set off at a run.
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Chapter 25: BENJAN
Aharri's people led the fugitives swiftly away to yet another hiding place, this time in the Shambles. The route led through narrow terraced houses in the central district, over roofs and across an occasional patch of bare earth. At one stage the group had to wade through a muddy underground drainage tunnel, ankle-deep in slimy, stinking water. Even if someone had noticed them passing, the trail would soon have been lost again, for at every change of direction a watcher waited behind them to check that no one was following.
Eventually they were led by a side door into a lean-to hovel that sprawled along the side of a cookshop. The wood of the hovel's walls was warped, and its two small windows were stuffed with rags where the glass had been broken.
Traces of light showed at one of the windows, but there was nothing unusual in that. Folk who lived in the Shambles didn’t usually go to bed at dusk. The roof of the lean-to was of mouldy grey thatchgrass, sagging and trailing rotten fibres. It was the sort of place a farmer would hesitate to use to house a milk nerid, but which poorfolk were often glad to call home.
Waiting inside their new refuge were Davred and Jonner. Aharri slipped some money into their guide's hand and the woman left quietly. The inside of the hovel was lit by two smoking candles. By their flickering light Benjan saw a pile of rags in a corner and laid the unconscious girl down on them. Aharri knelt beside his daughter and smoothed the matted hair back from her forehead. Herra joined him.
'Can you help her?' he asked, his voice breaking. 'Look what they've done to her back! And - what about the other -
thing?' He could not bring himself to put into words what had happened. 'She's so young!' He rubbed a hand across his tear-fil ed eyes. 'You will be able to help her, won't you, Elder Sister?'
'Of course we will, Aharri. But I can do nothing now. Best we keep her asleep until I have more time and can form a healing circle around her. Can you get me some slumberbane?'
'Yes, of course.' He grimaced. 'You can get anything in the Shambles, as long as you have money, and of that at least I have plenty.' He went out of the room and was back very quickly. 'It's on its way.'
Herra laid a hand on Carryn's brow. There was fever there. Well, she could remedy that easily. The girl's temperature came down so rapidly that it took Herra a moment to realise that the Enhancement had also improved her powers of QUEST Shannah Jay 154
healing.
Aharri stood over them like a pillar of anguish. 'Can you - will she recover, Herra?'
'If our Brother wills it.'
A man came in and handed Aharri a bottle filled with a thick, oily liquid. More money changed hands. Herra managed to coax Carryn into drinking some of it without al owing the girl to regain full consciousness.
'Don't tear yourself apart with worrying, my friend,' she said to Aharri as they waited for the slumberbane to take effect. 'If anyone can help her to accept what has happened, we can.'
He sighed and put aside his worries about his daughter by concentrating on what must be done. 'So, Elder Sister, how may I serve you?'
'My companions and I must leave the city. For the moment, Tenebrak is too much under the control of Those of the Serpent. Besides, our next task doesn’t lie here. My Brother has whispered into my ear that we must leave the Claim of Tenebron completely and travel a long way, though he hasn’t said where. We of the Sisterhood must prepare ourselves, change our ways, so that we may win this struggle.'
Her eyes were veiled and she spoke in the tones of prophecy. If they’d been in the temple, the Sisters would have written down her words. Aharri didn’t dare to prompt her when she fell silent, but exchanged awed glances with Davred as they waited for her to speak.
'Ah, Brother, you stil walk with me,' Herra said after a moment or two. She blinked and looked at Aharri, standing patiently by her side. Filled with compassion she laid her hand on his arm and pressed it gently. Never before, in all her long life, had she felt such an overwhelming need to touch other people, to exchange comfort with them.
'I'd like to leave the city disguised as traders, Aharri. For that, we'll need wagons and trading goods. And could you find some deleff to draw them, do you think? We have far to travel.'
'I can find you some deleff. They come to me for temporary refuge during these troubled times. They're unhappy where there's violence, and it often makes them return to the wildwoods. I can't guarantee that the deleff will draw the wagons for you, however. You must meet them and ask for their help. Have you any experience of deleff?'
'No, but Jonner has travelled with them before. He's a trader.'
'Ah. That may be all right, then.'
'Yes, the God guided him to us. I have access to plenty of coin if you need it, Aharri.'
'I don't need your coin, Elder Sister. I'll help you gladly. I'm still a man of power in this city, although I shall have to work in secret now.' A wry smile creased his face. 'Fortunately, I haven’t done all of my trading openly. There can be great profit in certain goods and Benner's city taxes have ever been excessive. That smuggling will stand me in good stead now. And I shan’t be working alone. There are many others upset by this senseless mayhem.'
His expression grew sombre again. 'Elder Sister, will you take my little Carryn with you? You could leave her with one of her brothers or sisters. They're scattered about the various claims. Once you're away from Tenebrak, there should be no difficulty in finding a trader going near one of them. Or you could keep her with you and train her - if she's worthy of being chosen. Merryan would have liked that.'
I've known for years that she’d join the Sisterhood. Merryan's is a prime line and your own line enhances its Gifts.'
'I thank you for that comfort. We shal continue to serve our Brother here in Tenebrak, doubt it not. Benner shall not have things all his own way.' He looked down at his daughter. 'The God knows,' he said harshly, 'that I would rather keep her here with me, but I dare not! I can’t bear to think that they might capture her again.'
'They won't. I shan't let them touch her again. But I agree it's best she leaves. Her destiny doesn't lie here; it lies with us. We'll teach her the Disciplines and see that she doesn't fret too much.'
He fixed eyes burning with pain upon her. 'Elder Sister, tell me the truth! Am I making the right decision? Should I not rather leave Tenebrak and make a new home for Carryn myself? Is my desire for vengeance against Benner wrong?'
QUEST Shannah Jay 155
She clasped his hand and closed her eyes for a moment, then spoke very softly, for him only. 'You've made the very best decision, Aharri. No one else could do as much here as you will. But don’t act
for vengeance and try not to kill except in self-defence. Do what you must do for the sake of justice. For truth. Or simply to help those whom Benner oppresses. The God will walk with you every step of the way.'
She paused and nodded at him. 'Our Brother has need of you in Tenebrak at this time, Aharri, but if it makes you feel better, I can promise that you won’t die without seeing your daughter again, and holding her children in your arms.'
She could feel his pain lighten as he clasped her hands.
'Thank you for that comfort, Herra. You’ve given me hope, a beacon in this time of darkness.' His voice faltered then he became businesslike again. 'The first thing is for you to meet the deleff. If you're acceptable to them, we'll get you and your companions out of the city one by one, using people I trust. Benner has set up barriers on all the roads, but we have our ways. How many of you are there?'
'We are six, with Carryn. I might be able to help you when it comes to getting out of Tenebrak, but I must rely on you to find a wagon - no, two wagons would be better - and trading goods.'
Jonner, who had sat down on the floor with his back against the wall and his eyes on the door, watched them.
Deleff, eh? He’d missed travelling with deleff. Nothing as reliable as them, once they'd made up their minds to help you. He sighed wearily, glad to sit and rest.
Benjan, who’d been standing near Carryn, looking down at her, came and sat down, closing his eyes with a tired grunt and leaning his head against the rough wood of the wal .
Jonner looked across at Herra, still engrossed in her planning, and nudged Benjan. 'They don't tell you much, do they? Just, "We'll go and fish her out of the shrine. You stay here." Then it's "Come here!" and "Go there!" and "Wait around for your next orders". They'll be telling us when to fart next!' He looked at Benjan. 'What happened tonight?
How did you get her out of the shrine?'