Prologue

Nemo liber est qui corpori servit.

No one is free who is a slave to his body.

X.x.X.x.X

Ally felt the prodding of the Brother Jeremiah within her mind, felt him will her to continue. In her hand she held a small silver dagger. She was seated at a desk in the Archives within the Silent City. Behind Brother Jeremiah stood a few others - Nathaniel, Malec, Shiloh - observing.

Before her, on the desk, her arm was stretched out, the inside of her wrist facing upward. Carefully, slowly, she drew the blade of the dagger across the inside of her wrist. It was a perfect, straight cut, and deep. Blood welled up immediately. Ally looked up from the wound to the Silent Brothers standing around her as blood ran from her wrist onto the desk. It pooled there, forming a small, crimson puddle. Ally's face was expressionless, unaffected.

The Brothers prodded at her mind, pushing gently at the walls there. But they remained strong as she drew the blade across her wrist a second time, and the pain did nothing to distract her. Her mind remained strong, powerful. Her body was separate from herself, and therefore the pain did nothing.

The Brothers withdrew their presence, nodded, and left, leaving Ally alone in the Archives with Brother Jeremiah. Not so long ago, before Valentine had came in and slaughtered so many of her friends and family, the library had been filled with Brothers, always for they did not sleep. Now, however, it was empty. Just as silent as it had been because the Brothers made no noise, but different. The emptiness could be felt even though it could not be heard.

Ally smiled, and she could feel Brother Jeremiah's approval. She had mastered her lesson, and mastered it well. He smiled too, the stitches in his mouth stretching slightly. It didn't bother her though. She'd known the Brothers since she was 8 years old. Their appearance had never perturbed her.

You did well, Brother Jeremiah commented in her mind.

"Thank you," she said, grinning now as she bandaged up her arm. "You were a good teacher."

He nodded. Pain is not easy to overcome, many a Shadowhunter are crippled by it. Many fail to protect their fellow warriors because the pain is something they cannot move past. One of the first lessons a Silent Brother learned was to overcome the body and its impulses. They would starve themselves for days, go without sleep for as long as they could, mutilate their bodies. Training them to no longer be slaves to their bodies. The training honed the mind, preparing it for the runes it would later take on.

She'd just completed one of the rights of passages only a Silent Brother would ever take: the mastering of the mind over physical pain.

Ally smirked. "Well then, I'd probably make a fantastic Shadowhunter. After all, I know all the runes. You know, if I wasn't a mundane or anything."

Brother Jeremiah shrugged. You are still valuable, even if you are not a Shadowhunter.

"I know," Ally whispered, her smirk falling away. "I just feel so useless. I've been in this City for years, learning all these things, but... I'll never get to use any of it. I can't even hold a seraph blade - it would kill me."

Brother Jeremiah nodded. Knowledge is more powerful than any blade will ever be.

Ally snorted. "Right. How is knowledge supposed to help me kill a demon?" She frowned, remembering some of her botany lessons. "Never mind. Don't answer that."

Ally got up from the desk, slipping the dagger into the sheath attached to her belt. Before Valentine, she'd never needed to carry a weapon. But after so many had died, after Valentine had - She stopped the thought there, pressing her fingers to the scar at the base of her throat. The scar Valentine had left.

Since then, Brother Jeremiah had insisted she carry weapons on her. He'd even hooked up a gun holster to the headboard of her bed. She was never to be unarmed, never to be so defenseless again.

Are you hungry? Jeremiah asked, as he led the way out of the Archives.

Ally frowned, pressing her hand to her tummy. While the Silent Brothers never had need for food or sleep, she did. Her body demanded it, more often than she liked. She hated food, hated the taste, hated the feel of it in her body. Often, she would refuse it. She'd nearly killed herself once, doing that. Since then Brother Jeremiah had been quite insistent about regular meals.

Ally shrugged. "Am I allowed to say no?"

Yes. However, then I will be feeding you anyways, Brother Jeremiah replied. Ally thought she could hear a little bit of laughter in his brain-voice.

Ally stuck her tongue out. "Fine. Whatever. Lead the way, oh silent one."

Ally could definitely hear Brother Jeremiah chuckle in her head then.