Quest (25 page)

And in the meantime, I would like very much to research the topic of love with you - my Mak.' She used the words of Sunrise deliberately, and he echoed them.

'I too, my Soo.'

#####

It wasn’t until early in the morning six days later that Herra began to show signs of recovery, by which time her attendants were extremely worried. It was Davred who first noticed the change in her. 'Katia, come and look! Herra's breathing has speeded up, and she's got some colour in her cheeks. Is she going to wake up, do you think?'

Katia came rushing from the back of the cave to join him, her hair still dripping wet. She knelt by Herra, felt her pulse and checked the Elder Sister's body signs carefully. 'I think it'l be at least an hour before she regains consciousness. She has to speed up her body functions first, and exercise her internal muscles.'

What the Sisters thought normal would be considered miracles of self-control by the scientists of the Confederation, thought Davred. One day he hoped to pass on this rich fund of knowledge to Confex. He felt no disloyalty about his dual allegiances, either to his old col eagues or to his new allies. He now considered himself a part of both worlds and he intended to unite them both in the struggle to stamp out violence. He
knew
that was his destiny. As Herra would say, the God within him had spoken. 'How shall we tell her about us?' he asked.

'I think she'll know without telling, my Davred.' A week of enforced seclusion had made them grow together more quickly than ever they ever could have done under normal conditions. Briefly Katia's hand went out to touch his. 'So, there is time for your leg exercises while we wait.'

'You're a hard taskmistress.'

'First exercise. We have a long walk ahead of us.'

But as Herra's muscular movements became more marked and some colour returned to her face, Katia went to sit by her with water and glowberries ready on a big leaf. Davred fidgeted around, first looking out of the cave, then coming to stand by Herra, then fiddling with his pack.

Eventually Herra's eyes fluttered open. She saw Katia, looked around for Davred, and sighed with relief. 'Ah, you're both safe! Well done, child.'

Katia helped her to sit up and drink the water, then proffered the fruit. As Herra began to eat slowly, she beckoned to Davred. 'Come and sit with us, Lord Davred.'

QUEST Shannah Jay 92

He sat down next to Katia and the look that passed between them made Herra's hand pause on its way to her mouth. Katia flushed under her searching scrutiny and Davred automatically put his arm round her shoulders.

'The prophecy is being fulfilled quickly, Elder Sister,' he said with quiet confidence. 'It was the right time.'

'You're able to feel such moments, Lord Davred?'

'It seems so. Since I came down to your world, I am, at any rate.'

'It isn't usual for a man to possess that Gift, even here.'

'Davred is different from other men, Herra. He's long been practising the simpler Disciplines, after watching us do them. I've begun correcting his efforts and teaching him the next steps. He learns quickly and has a distinct aptitude.'

'I used to try out your exercises in my quarters on the satellite,' Davred admitted, 'but you really need someone to check your breathing for you and correct the tiny details of posture and muscle control, especially in the early stages.

And the pseudo-gravity would probably have made a difference, too. I didn't make progress then the way I'm doing now.'

'Satellite?' queried Herra.

Together Katia and Davred explained about Davred's people, taking over smoothly from each other at points one was better able to explain than the other, in a way that astonished Herra. Already they were a couple, rather than two separate people. The tale led inevitably to a ful explanation of all that had happened since Herra began the Discipline of Renewal, including the confession of how Davred had killed Katia's attacker. This left Katia in tears, as usual.

'Stop! Why have you not Cleansed your Spirit?'

'I didn't dare leave Davred alone. I - I estimated that it would take me at least a day, if not two.'

'You were ever the most tender-hearted of my Sisters. Well, now that I'm awake and feeling in excellent health again, we shall attend to your needs. Do you also feel burdened with guilt about the killing, Lord Davred?'

'No. It was the only thing to do. We couldn't have kept a man like that prisoner with the few amenities we have here. I hated to do it, but it was necessary.'

'The minor Discipline, then, will be enough for you. You shouldn't leave a killing to stain your soul, however necessary it was. Katia, how do we stand for food?'

'I'll need to gather more before I begin.'

'And I'l need better exercise for my larger body muscles than is possible in this cave. I'll come with you, in case of trouble, and we shall leave you here, Lord, in the minor Discipline of Cleansing the Spirit. This is how . . . '

They left Davred semi-conscious. He was breathing slowly and looking very relaxed. Herra set further wards across the entrance gap to keep him safe, then breathed in the air with great appreciation. 'Ah, the air never smells this good in Tenebrak!' As they walked down into the woods, she began a series of exercises using the trees and running across level stretches until she was glowing with health. She looked ageless again.

The gathering of food went smoothly, and although Herra sensed the presence of other people in the woods, none came near them.

'Shal I be able to sense such things one day?' asked Katia. 'Is it a Discipline or a Gift?'

'Both. All Gifts can be enhanced by the correct training. You'll be gifted in many ways, but your Gifts won't ripen all at once. They never do.'

'Yes.' Katia raised troubled eyes to the Elder Sister's face and took a deep breath. 'Herra - before we go back - you must tell me. Have I done wrong to become Davred's wife? Wil it affect the Quest and my duties to the Sisterhood?'

'Of course it will affect them . But it will also enhance your contribution to the Quest. If you were a fully-committed temple Sister - like Cheral, for instance - you couldn't love him as you do. I think, child, that you will spend the greater part of your life outside the temples.'

QUEST Shannah Jay 93

'I don't want to - to shirk my responsibilities.'

'It won't stop you from serving our cause, or from being a true Sister. I think - no, I
know
that it's vital for you and Davred to have children. That's very important. In your descendants lies the future of our world.' She scrutinised Katia, then gave a little nod, as if satisfied at a correct prognosis.

'He said we'd created our first daughter - the first time we shared love,' Katia confessed.

Herra studied Katia's face and body carefully, then nodded again. 'It could be so. Time will tell.' She nodded. 'He is indeed the Manifestation of the God, if he can sense that. And
first
daughter,' she repeated with satisfaction,

'means you'll have others.'

Katia's sigh of relief echoed across the clearing.

Herra touched the younger woman's cheek briefly in a caress. 'Child, why do you worry so? Trust our Brother to help you find your path.'

'I'll try. But it feels selfish to have found such joy at a time of trouble.'

'Revel in it! Our Brother doesn't ask us to be miserable when we serve him. And now that you've rid your soul of part of its burden, and gathered some food as well, we can return to our cave and complete your healing.' She suddenly froze in her tracks. 'Wait. Someone's coming.'

A few minutes later a man entered the clearing and paused to pick some fruit. At the sight of him, Katia turned a ghastly white. 'It's the man we killed! How can that be?'

Herra's hand came across her mouth too late. The man turned towards the sound. He pulled out a dagger with the swiftness of long practice. Carefully he moved towards the bushes behind which they were hiding and reached out to pull them aside.

Herra stood up, but to Katia's surprise, she didn't
still
the man. 'What are you searching for, friend?'

'Such as you!'

'And?' Herra's voice was compelling.

'And my twin brother, who vanished several days ago. Have you seen him, you witches? He looks very like me.'

Katia drew in a painful breath that was more like a sob and the man's eyes narrowed. 'Your young companion would seem to know something. If you've harmed him, you she-devils . . . '

'
Put away your knife
, friend, and we shall discuss the matter.'

As his hand moved of its own accord to sheath the dagger, sweat stood out on the man's brow, but he couldn’t stop the movement, or even slow it. When he looked back at Herra, fear was behind the loathing in his wide brown eyes and his tanned face had taken on a paler tinge. 'Serpent watch over me!' he exclaimed. 'I didn't believe their tales of what you devil's spawn can do!'

'Shall you sit down of your own accord, or do you require my help?' Herra asked, her voice more menacing for its sweetly reasonable tone. Katia remembered that voice chastising novices who had committed misdemeanours, and the way they had writhed under it. Cheral's loud scolding had been as nothing compared to Herra's soft reasoning.

The man sat down reluctantly and the two Sisters followed suit.

'What's your name, friend?'

'I'm no friend of yours, you . . . '

Herra raised one hand and he flinched. 'We haven't offered you insults and we don't merit them from you. If you prefer, I'll put a compulsion upon you to speak to us with respect . . . '

'My name's Berno,' he snarled.

'And you are . . . ?'

QUEST Shannah Jay 94

'A gamekeeper. On Lord Benner's estate. Brought here recently to help the search for you.' Sweat was standing out on his brow and his fear was like an aura. His shoulders were hunched as if to protect himself.

'My name is Herra. I'm Elder Sister at Temple Tenebrak.'

His breath hissed inwards in shock.

'My younger Sister's name is of no concern to you. And it's my sad duty to tel you, Berno, that your brother is dead.

May he find a better path in the next life.'

A spasm of anguish twisted the man's features briefly, to be replaced by a look of hatred. 'So you
did
kill him. I felt a sharp pain in my back and knew he was hurt. I'll make you pay for that one day.' He spoke hoarsely, forgetting his fear for a moment, then shrank back as he realised how rash he’d been.

'I think such retribution will be beyond your power.'

'I suppose you're going to kill me too, now.'

'Of course not. Why should we?'

The quiet certainty of her response made him goggle in astonishment.

'We killed your brother only because there was no alternative. And the pain of having to do such a thing is still with us.'

'You surely don't expect me to believe that! Everyone knows how you Sisters torture and pervert the girls you steal from their families. Yes, and worse! Else why would normal women give up the company of men?'

'An interesting way of twisting of the truth. But we neither torture them nor make them give up men. My younger Sister here has a husband whom she loves dearly.'

Grief and desperation made him reckless. 'I don't believe you! It's well known that you Sisters deny your normal instinct of satisfying men's needs. The Serpent knows why women were created, and it wasn’t to live away from the world and tell men what to do! And a
normal
woman wouldn't kill herself at the prospect of making a sacrifice to the Serpent, like those Sisters did in Setheron. No, it's plain that you do something to those girls you steal from their families. Something disgusting. But we're putting an end to this Choosing of yours, ending it once and for all. I'd kill my daughters, rather than have their minds and bodies warped by such as you!'

He spat on the ground to emphasise his disgust and Katia flinched. 'How did he die?' he flung at her abruptly.

'Did kill him?'

'Tell him, little Sister. Tell him exactly how his brother died and with what he threatened you. It will help you both.'

In a low voice, using Recall, Katia did as she was bid and Herra ensured that the man didn't interrupt her.

When Katia had finished, Berno said angrily, 'I don't believe you! Metz wouldn't even threaten such a thing, let alone do it! Not to a dead woman! He was just trying to frighten you.'

'I won't use my arts to make you believe us, Berno, but I will assure you that my young Sister isn't lying. She's just told you precisely what happened.'

He swallowed. He would rather not have believed the young whore - except that she had used words and phrases that rang so clearly of his brother. Even her facial expressions had parodied those of Metz in the telling. And his brother had lately been admitted to the Inner Shrine. Metz had hinted at sexual perversions in which Berno, with straightforward tastes and a well-behaved wife who suited him, would not have wished to participate.

Those who were admitted to the Inner Shrine gave up wife and family to serve the Serpent - a very laudable thing in the battle against those hell-spawned witches of course, but Berno would not, could not have done it. He had five sons to rear, of whom he was very proud, and two daughters, who gave him no trouble, and who were responding well to his wife's training in women's duties and skills. They would be worthy mates for men of his choosing one day, when they were older, and he meant to make sure that they made their first sacrifice to the Serpent with the most adept of the Servants of the Shrine, the ones trained to deflower decently-raised virgins, so that they were not
QUEST Shannah Jay 95

damaged or spoiled for pleasuring their husbands. No, he could never leave his family like that to serve the Serpent in the Inner Shrine. He looked at Herra. 'It was just a threat,' he repeated lamely. 'Metz didn't mean it.'

'You will know the truth of that better than we can,' Herra said, stern and unsmiling, awesome as no woman had a right to be. 'But my Sister and her friend believed him. And such practices have been known. How do you think men become Initiates of the Inner Shrine?'