Quest (41 page)

Herra nodded, satisfied. 'Even to take that decision makes you stronger, my friend. Now, tel me where I must go to find the girl.'

He did not meet her eyes as he said, 'To the shrine. But - you're too late.'

'Too late? What do you mean?'

'They've made an example of her already. They knew who she was, you see. Someone recognised her as Aharri's
QUEST Shannah Jay 150

daughter. My kitchen drudge told me what happened. He even boasted of what he’d seen. It was - it was Benner himself who did it first.'

'
First!
' Herra controlled the fury that surged through her. Her expression was grim as she asked, 'Is the girl still alive?'

'The lad says so. She's to be offered for public use every evening - until they tire of the game - or kill her with overuse. That's one of their newer tricks.'

Herra found it difficult to slip back into character and her attempt at a smile made Harrol shiver. As he escorted her to the door, with much bowing and flourishing, he muttered, 'There's a little-used side entrance to the shrine on the Shambles side. Not many know of it, and it's not as well guarded as the main entrance. You might find it easier to get in

- or out - that way.'

'Thank you for that information.'

'Aharri will have me killed. I know it. I don't blame him, either.'

'No - he'll just have you watched carefully. Until you've earned his trust again, my friend. And I think you’ll do that, will you not?'

'I'll try. I really will.'

'No one can do more,' Herra said quietly, then slapped him on the back, commended his wine in a loud slurred voice, and told him to clean his steps properly in future. Whistling tunefully, she swaggered off.

#####

Aharri and his men were waiting for Herra at the corner of the street. They led her into a nearby building and as soon as the door had closed, he clutched her arm, forgetting all the respect due to the Elder Sister. 'What did you find out? Tell me!'

It was another unpleasant task. Aharri had suffered so much already. The God was testing him to the limits - or perhaps strengthening another soul to help win the fight against Those of the Serpent.

When she finished speaking, he was silent for a few moments, then looked at her bleakly. 'I must go there tonight and try to kill her!' His voice broke on the words, but he drew a long, shuddering breath and continued. 'At least she shall be spared further pain and public humiliation! They are bestial savages! I would that I could burn that festering sore of a shrine to the ground!'

'You shall not kill her! We don't kill.'

'
You
, of all people, would have me leave her there?'

'No. I’d have you rescue her. And I'll help you.'

'She will be - damaged - insane, perhaps. Some lose their minds under their savagery. Carryn's just a child, a child who’s been dearly loved.' He caught back a sob but it turned into a groan of agony.

She grasped his arm. 'If her mind isn’t damaged beyond repair, I can heal her body, and time will heal her soul. We must allow her that chance. Your daughter is no weakling. And besides - would not Merryan wish us at least to
try
to save her?'

Hope flickered briefly in his eyes, then faded. 'We couldn't get inside, let alone bring her out again.'

'I can get us in. And out again, I think. It will be unpleasant for me - but I shall survive.' Her eyes became unfocused. 'A week ago, I couldn’t have done it. Since then, I have attained Enhancement.' She saw by his awed
QUEST Shannah Jay 151

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 altar 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.

#####

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.