The robed figure beside her glanced toward the door and then began talking quickly. “Now please, listen. I don’t want to be here too long. I wanted to talk to you about...well, two things really. First, I wanted to be sure that you’re all right.”
“Me?” Lynn looked back at the disguised Ranger, fighting with the sense of unreality that was threatening to run away with her.
“Yes. Your confession was read out at the court-martial. It saved my life, but I’ve been really worried about what might have happened to you because of it.”
“Oh...um...” Lynn struggled for words. “As I told Coppelli, the Sisters weren’t going to risk harming me. You needn’t have worried. I wasn’t in any danger, not like...” She stopped again. “You. Are you all right? I saw what happened to you. I...I’m sorry. It was my fault. I didn’t—”
Kim cut her off. “I’m fine. Honestly. As long as you’re all right, the rest doesn’t matter, and we haven’t got time to talk about it now because there is a lot I need to tell you. It’s hard to know where to start. Did you hear that the whole 23rd Squadron deserted last autumn, me included?”
“Deserted?” Lynn said, confused. “No, there’s been nothing said about it.”
“I’m not surprised. The Sisters are probably quite anxious to keep it quiet.” Kim’s voice sounded amused. “We’ve joined up with a group of heretics. They’ve got a small farming community way out in the western mountains, beyond the reach of the Sisters and the Guards. It’s a bit basic there at the moment, but we’ve got plans for the future. That’s the other reason why I’ve come to see you. At the moment, we have a Cloner at the farm, but she’s very old. We need someone younger who can take over the work, and when we were talking about recruiting another Cloner, it occurred to me that an Imprinter would be better, because then we could have children at the village. I know it’s a big step to take, but you’d said you didn’t like living in the temple, so I’m here to see if you might be willing to come and— “
“Yes.”
“...join us at...” Kim trailed off, in obvious surprise at being answered so quickly. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Lynn felt not a trace of doubt.
“It’s not very comfy there at the moment. We’re virtually living in mud huts.”
“I don’t care.”
“There’s no proper heating. We may not finish the bathhouse for a couple of years.”
Lynn fixed Kim with an ironic frown. “Aren’t you supposed to be trying to talk me into it?”
Kim shrugged. “They always said I’d never earn my living as a shopkeeper, but I don’t want you to commit yourself before you know what the score is.”
“You said it was in the mountains?”
“Yes.”
“And I’d be allowed to stand outside from time to time and look at them?”
“Of course. Whenever you wanted,” Kim answered, although she sounded uncertain as to whether Lynn’s question had been meant seriously.
“Then that beats anything the Sisters have ever offered me.”
“But isn’t there anything else you want me to tell you?”
“That I’m not dreaming.”
“No, you’re not.” Kim gave a soft laugh. “I hadn’t expected you to agree quite so quickly.”
“Did you really think my answer was in doubt?”
“I...er...I didn’t know quite what to think.” She drew a deep breath. “Okay. So the tricky part is how to get you out of the temple.”
“Can you bring me another set of Sister’s robes? Then I could just walk out with you.”
Kim shook her head. “It was hard enough getting these.”
“The trouble is that every time I leave the sanctum I get a little entourage of Guards, and even when I’m inside, I’m not supposed to just wander about. Sisters, on the other hand, are allowed to come and go pretty much as they please.”
“Is there no other way out of the sanctum? A high window or something? I could leave you the clothes and climb down.”
“No. There are Guards on every possible exit, and if they see you leave the sanctum not disguised as a Sister...” Lynn did not bother to finish the sentence.
“You don’t have access to anywhere else?”
“At night, when the main doors to the temple are locked, I’m allowed to go into the central hall to pray. If I get permission first.”
“The Guards search the temple before the doors are closed. I know because our first idea of getting to see you was to hide in there until after dark. We can’t meet you that way.”
“But you don’t have to,” Lynn said in sudden eagerness. “I think I know how to work it out...”
*
Nobody paid any attention to Kim in her borrowed robes as she walked through the gardens on the south side of the temple. Dusk was falling, and most people had already left the temple grounds in search of a hot meal and a warm bed for the night. Only a few dawdlers still wandered the maze of gravel paths amid the trees and bushes.
At one corner of the garden was a narrow alleyway running between the wall of the temple and the back of an outlying building. Kim walked toward it at a dignified and unhurried pace. The heretic, Mirle, stood by the entrance, as if idly viewing the scene while waiting for someone. She nodded respectfully to the bogus Sister but made no other attempt to move. The far end of the passage was guarded by Carma, the squadron’s healer, also in the costume of an ordinary bystander.
Kim walked sedately along the alley until she reached the halfway point, where a blocked doorway stood at the back of a deep recess in one wall. Both sentries signaled the all clear. Kim ducked inside, already reaching to draw the white robe up over her head. The swift action also removed the cowl and mask and revealed the normal civilian clothes underneath. It took seconds to lay the robe flat on the ground and roll it into a neat bundle, by which time the sound of footsteps told of Carma’s arrival. The other Ranger handed a small rucksack to Kim, who pulled out her jacket, put it on, and shoved the white robe into the pack. Then the two Rangers strolled casually back up the alley, to make a show of being reunited with their friend Mirle before heading off to the town, talking quietly among themselves.
“Did you find her?” Carma asked.
“Yes,” Kim said.
“And?”
“She wants to come.”
“Great,” Mirle said. “Did she have any idea of how we could get her out?”
Kim smiled. “Yes, in fact, she did.”
*
The central hall of the temple was a different place after dark when the crowds had left, and it was peaceful enough to draw on the beauty of the images that adorned the shrines and altars. Lynn knelt and set her basket down, then raised her eyes to the painting above her in the alcove, shimmering in the light of a dozen candles. The serene faces of five Elder-Ones looked down on her, with their multi-colored hair and skin.
The representation was taken from the book: Their skins were diverse in tone, and their hair was yellow and red and black, and all the shades between. Artists and theologians had spent centuries arguing over the exact interpretation, but whatever the true appearance of the Elder-Ones, Lynn had a liking for this particular picture. The central figure reminded her of a talisman her grandmother had of the patron of livestock breeders, Simon Hunt, with her deep brown skin and flowing green hair. This shrine had been the first to come to mind.
In the basket was an offering, a garland of spring flowers to adorn the shrine. Lynn removed the cloth cover and lifted out the gift, then reached forward and arranged it around the low altar, weaving it between the candles. She moved slowly, methodically, letting her actions camouflage her inspection of her surroundings. No one else was nearby. Two Sisters were deep in conversation before the main altar to Himoti, and a group of Guards stood at attention by the entrance to the sanctum, but no one was looking in her direction. Lynn slipped her hand under the mantle draped over the altar and found the tightly rolled bundle of white fabric hidde
n beneath. Still trying to keep her actions smooth and innocent, she transferred it to the basket and pulled the cover across.
Lynn settled back on her heels and looked again at the painting. Her strong urge was to leave as quickly as possible, now that she had what she came for. However, a hurried departure might cause comment, and all things considered, this might be a very good time to pray. Lynn bowed her head and began to softly recite the mantra of supplication.
*
Lynn’s heart was pounding as she closed the door of the meditation room. All it needed was for Sister Dunsin to decide that another lecture was due, and the game would be over, but it was a chance she had to take. That morning was Lynn’s turn to be released from duties in the imprinting chapels to spend a few hours in private meditation and revitalize her spiritual energies. Lynn suspected that many of her fellow Imprinters used their meditation time to catch up on sleep or to daydream, but of course no one would admit it, and the use she was going to put the time to was even more unorthodox. It was her opportunity to escape.
Lynn tugged her blue tunic free of her belt. Carefully wrapped around her body was the set of Sister’s clothing. She wondered if any at breakfast had noticed her apparent overnight weight gain, although fortunately the Imprinter’s tunic was loose enough to conceal a suspicious outline. Her lips pursed thoughtfully as she shook out the robe. The hem had been raised, allowing for the difference in height between Kim and herself. She hoped that the modification had been correctly estimated, but there was only one way to find out.
Lynn pulled the gown on, dropping it over her suit and then looking down. The length was not too bad, maybe a couple of centimeters short, but acceptable. Her soft leather sandals would show, but that did not matter since they were the same style as those worn by the Sisters. What would be dangerous was if a flash of blue should show at her ankles as she walked. Lynn bent down and rolled up her leggings until they were above her knees, then she tied the mask about her face and pulled the cowl over her head.
A mirror for her to check her appearance would have been comforting, but such vanities were hardly the thing for a meditation room. Instead, Lynn stood for a short while, adjusting the way the robe hung from her shoulders and the lie of the mask over her nose. But this was merely a way of delaying her exit from the room, when the disguise would be put to the test, and Lynn knew she did not have time to waste.
It took an effort to pull the door open confidently, rather than edge it ajar and peer out first, but her escape relied on bluff, not caution. Lynn was so tense that it was an anti-climax when she found the corridor outside the meditation room empty, although the absence of people was hardly surprising. Most Sisters would still be at their prayers after breakfast. The temple day had not yet begun. The exit of the sanctum was in sight before Lynn encountered anyone else. All her willpower went into maintaining the stately tread of a Sister, confident and dignified, but she could hardly believe it when the other white-clad figure walked past with only a polite nod of acknowledgment.
The curtains shielding the sanctum from the view of the public hung in heavy folds across the exit. Lynn pushed them aside and stepped through. The eyes of the row of Guards on either side flicked in her direction before returning to their forward stare. The curtain dropped back into place and Lynn proceeded across the main hall of the temple. Few people were in sight, just some devout citizens stopping off to pray before beginning their day’s work, three junior Sisters removing dead flowers from the altars, and one nervous family, so worried by the risk of being late for their appointment in the imprinting chapel that they had turned up far too early.
At the doors of the temple, Lynn stopped, temporarily overwhelmed to have the sky above her head once more. The time was just before sunrise. Bands of pink cloud lay on the eastern horizon, the air was chill and fresh, and birds screeched their song from the rooftops. The gates of the wall around the temple complex were less than fifty meters away, and through them the whole city of Landfall lay stretched before her. However, her route did not lead in that direction, not yet. Lynn walked down the steps and followed the path to the side.
Kim’s directions had been explicit. Soon she was in the deserted gardens, and ahead of her was the entrance to the narrow alleyway. A young woman stood idly at one side. The unfamiliar civilian clothes meant that only as she was walking past did Lynn recognize Carma, one of the Rangers she had known at the mountain fort. The walls on either side of the passage enclosed her. The blank faces of stone seemed to stretch out, devoid of feature from one end to the other, but midway along, in the space of a few steps, a shadow on the right hand wall split open and revealed itself as a deep recess.
“Everything okay?” Kim had been waiting inside.
“Yes.”
Lynn slipped into the alcove, ripping the mask off her face. With Kim’s help, the white robe followed, pulled up and over her head. Then, while Lynn undid the buttons at the neck of her blue tunic, Kim knelt by two rucksacks on the floor and produced shirt and trousers in neutral homespun colors, a sheepskin jacket, and finally a sturdy pair of boots.
“We had to make a guess at what size your feet were.”
Lynn’s tunic was off and she had both arms in the shirt as she spared the boots a quick glance. “They look about right.”
Kim was about to toss the discarded Sister’s robes into a corner, but Lynn stopped her.
“Don’t leave them. When the Sisters find I’m missing, they’ll start by searching the grounds. If they find my clothes, they’ll know I had help and will look further afield.”
Even before Lynn had finished speaking, Kim had nodded and was folding the white robes and Imprinter’s suit so they would fit in the rucksacks. The pair finished their tasks almost simultaneously, Lynn tying her laces as Kim pulled the drawstring on the second rucksack.
“How do they feel?” Kim asked, pointing to the boots.
“A bit loose,” Lynn said after an experimental waggle of one foot.
“Not a bad thing.”
“True. When we have more time, I’ll take some strips from the robe to make padding. It will save blisters.”
Lynn stood up straight, and for the first time, took a serious look at Kim’s appearance. Seeing the Ranger in civilian clothes was more than a little strange, and her hair was even more disconcerting. It was still short, but instead of the close military crop, it had been allowed to grow into a fringe, and a parting was discernible. I can probably get to like it, Lynn reflected to herself, a little amused by her own reaction. Kim was also treating her to a quizzical stare.
“Do I look sufficiently ordinary?” Lynn asked.
Kim gave a wry smile. “So so. But we must do something about your hair.” She pulled a long knife from her belt. “Turn around. I’m afraid this will be rather untidy. Something else to sort out when we have more time.”
Lynn gritted her teeth as the knife snagged once or twice, but within seconds, she had been shorn of her heavy braid. She twisted her head from side to side, feeling the strange absence of weight, while the twisted plait of hair was also stuffed into a rucksack, then Kim helped comb Lynn’s hair forward with her fingers.
“How does it look?” Lynn asked.
Kim grinned. “Like a Ranger has hacked at your hair with her trail knife. You can borrow Mirle’s hat to cover the worst of it. It will do, and it changes the shape of your face quite a bit.”
The entire transformation had taken less than three minutes. Kim picked up the two rucksacks, swung one over her own shoulder and held the other out for Lynn. Then they stepped out of the alcove and walked back up the alley toward the garden, falling into an unhurried stroll. As they got close to the end of the passageway, Lynn heard faster footsteps catching up behind, and a few seconds after reaching Carma, they were joined by a fourth woman.
Kim gestured to the newcomer. “Lynn, this is Mirle, one of the heretics. She volunteered for the mission since she knows the safe houses in the homelands. And I think you pr
obably remember Carma.”
Lynn nodded and said earnestly, “Yes. And I don’t know how to start thanking you all.”
Carma’s lips twitched down at the corners. “I’m enough of a healer to know that you saved my life back in the mountains. If we all get home safe, we can call it even.”
“Make that when, not if,” Kim interrupted. “But the polite exchanges can wait until later. First we need to get to the horses, and also, Mirle, I think Lynn should borrow your hat.”
The heretic smiled and handed it over, then the four of them strolled through the gardens to the temple gates. By now the traffic in and out had increased to a steady flow. Three Guardswomen stood stiffly at attention on either side of the arch over the road. Lynn was terrified that she would be recognized without the mask, but the glazed expressions of the Guards were oblivious to the people going by, and no challenge was issued as she passed the iron-bound doors and emerged onto the street outside.
“They didn’t even look at us,” Lynn whispered.
“Why should they? How would anyone dare to make off with an Imprinter when they are on duty and their uniforms look so pretty?” Kim’s voice was full of amused irony.
The temple gates opened onto a wide thoroughfare lined with well-stocked shops, already busy with the commerce of a new day. Not far away, a young street urchin held the reins of four horses. She looked at them with a hopeful expression and gave a yelp of thanks as she caught the coin Kim flipped in her direction, then turned and scampered off, disappearing into the jumble of activity on the road.
The sight of the horses gave Lynn another moment of panic. Such a long time had passed since she had ridden seriously; the two brief occasions at the mountain fort had been only a game. But it was not the sort of thing you forgot how to do. The second her foot touched the stirrup, her body took over, remembering the actions as she swung into the saddle. Her horse fell in line with those of the other three women, winding through the early morning traffic that filled the streets of Landfall. By the time they reached the edge of town, the sun had cleared the horizon and its rays fell on their backs as they headed west.
The Temple at Landfall Page 19