Malachi swallowed hard. They were getting louder. :It sounds like footsteps. But why am I hearing them here? Where are they coming from?:
Darvin had no answer for him.
The sound of footsteps kept growing in volume. Then they abruptly stopped. Malachi strained his ears, trying to determine what was happening. He heard something –
His eyes widened in recognition and he crouched down beside a cabinet. He didn't make a sound as the door to the priestess's suite opened. Ever so carefully he reached out a mental probe, trying to detect the identity of the intruder. It touched and – he relaxed.
Malachi stood up and walked to the doorway. "Care to explain what all that was about?" he asked, leaning casually against the wall.
He was pleased to see he had startled her. She had certainly tossed enough shocks at him! He was not surprised, however, to see the speed at which she recovered her composure.
"I suppose you are referring to my proximity detector?" the Black Robe Sunpriestess replied. "I like to have warning before someone comes to my door. So I have it set up that sounds in the hallway within a certain distance to my rooms can be heard by those inside who are keyed to the spell."
"What do you mean by keyed to the spell?" he responded, trying to keep the apprehension out of his voice. What other magics had she worked on him while he was unconscious?
"It means the spell recognizes you. I would prefer ordinary visitors and servants not be made aware of the multitude of spells layering my rooms. Especially when most of the spells are tricky, subtle things that would advertise the strength and control of my powers."
"So, I am not an 'ordinary visitor'?" he asked straight-faced.
The corner of her mouth twitched. "Hardly. Ordinary visitors tend to enter through the door. They also typically don't sleep in my closet." She paused. "I would also have to add that ordinary visitors usually don't have the entire priesthood trying to kill them."
"Well," he sighed dramatically, "I wasn't given much choice in the matter for either the door or the closet. And I would have avoided that whole deal with the Sunpriests if I could have. Of course, if I had managed to avoid the Sunpriests, I would not have needed to worry about your door and closet, because then I would have been able to maintain a proper distance from them both." It was difficult not to smile.
"Should I thank them then? For enabling such a distinguished guest to grace my presence?"
"I generally consider it bad manners to thank people for trying to kill me. Although, I do suppose, had it not been for that, I would never have had the opportunity to have made your acquaintance otherwise. So in a way, I admit, they may have done me a service."
:Oh for goodness sake, Malachi, stop flirting with the Black Robe Sunpriestess already!:
He burst out laughing.
Her eyes were twinkling. "Might I ask what is so funny?"
Malachi tried to catch his breathe. "My Companion – he said – he told me – to stop – stop flirting – with a Black Robe – Sunpriestess. It was just – just too much." He shook his head and kept laughing.
Her eyes widened. Then she started laughing too. "Oh – oh my. A Companion – telling his Herald – to stop flirting – with a Black Robe. Instead of – saying run – or fight. That's just – wow." She couldn't stop laughing either.
:Oh, get a hold of yourself! It wasn't that funny.:
That set him off again. :Yes, it was.: He needed to lean on the wall for support; the priestess was holding onto a chair. They just kept laughing.
:Alright. I suppose it was a fair bit amusing. But only because it is so absurd; she had a point. "Run" or "fight" would seem to make to sense. "Stop flirting" is just so out of place for a Herald and a Black Robe that it is funny.:
:So glad you agree, Darvin.: He was laughing again, which set her off too.By the time they finally settled his sides were sore.
"Oh my," she said, catching her breath, "I haven't laughed like that in a very long time."
"Neither have I," Malachi replied. "My sides hurt from laughing so much." A thought occurred to him. "Speaking of which, what did you do with my ribs? They don't hurt at all. It's amazing."
"I splinted them," she said with a little smile as his eyes widened. "With magic." His eyes must have been as big as saucers. "I needed to pour a lot of magic into you in order for you to heal." Her eyes darkened. "You were in pretty bad shape."
"Thank you," he told her solemnly. "I would be dead twice-over were it not for you."
:Give her my thanks as well.:
Malachi relayed the message. "My Companion Darvin also thanks you for your aid."
The priestess blinked in surprise. Then she smiled faintly. "This is all a bit stranger than I am used to." She shook her head. "I don't think a Black Robe has ever been thanked by a Companion before."
He grinned. "I suspect you're probably right. But then I also don't think a Herald has ever survived the Fires of Cleansing before, especially having been saved by a Black Robe. How did you manage to do that by the way? Darvin asked me, and I couldn't answer him because I didn't know myself."
"At least I know I modified the shields properly, since you seem to have no problem contacting your Companion." She smiled, then continued. "As for how I saved you – it is a bit complicated. Why don't you have a seat while I try to explain," she replied, sitting down in one of the sitting room chairs.
He took another chair, not next to hers, but not across the room either. They may have just been joking together, but now they were returning to serious matters. "I know you said you used magic, but I don't understand how that would have worked. We don't have any Gifts – or even combinations of Gifts – that could have done that. One of the Herald-Mages of legend, maybe, but Vanyel was the last of them, and he died nearly two hundred years ago."
"For all that magic is supposedly anathema is Karse, an extraordinary number of Sunpriests could be considered mages." She spoke slowly, as though choosing her words with care. "Our abilities are no more 'gifts of Vkandis's grace' than yours are. We may have different abilities, but not that different. Had Vanyel 'Demonrider' been born in Karse, he probably would have ended up in the priesthood. The only ones who actually have dealings with demons are the Sunpriests. And I personally know that to be true." The words chilled him. She was a demon-summoner. To know that she was one because of her Robe was one thing, to hear her say it was another completely.
"For all that I am the youngest to wear a Black Robe, I am one of the strongest in the priesthood. If I wasn't – I don't think I would have been able to manage as I do." She paused, trying to find words. "I think of it as a web, but it's really more like a tapestry. I weave multiple functions together into a big working and release it as one. It took me such a long time to get it all to work correctly. I spent years planning it, long before I was fully trained, even before I had my full abilities. I practiced it whenever I could, working up to where it is now. I started with shielding." She smiled grimly. "I was ten. I think I have the tightest shields in Karse. I have to; those shields are my life. Once I trusted my shields to hide all other traces of magic, I began to weave. I started working with candles and bits of paper, trying to keep the paper from burning, then trying to imitate the quality of the flames.
"Part of what I do is illusion; nearly all the flames are either illusionary or under my control. There is also the illusion of burning, so real it extends to all the senses. That was hard; I practiced with mice. A lot of the early ones didn't make it. Once I got that working, I started adding in other bits, as I thought of them and as I obtained the ability to perform them. I spent all my time studying back then. I still do actually. As soon as I could read proficiently, all my spare time was spent in the library, trying to learn everything I could, even before it was known how strong I would be. My Gifts didn't manifest as fast as I would have liked, even if they did come fairly early, and then they took so long to train. There were so many times I didn't think it would work, that I wouldn't have the power, or the control, or that what I wanted to do simply wasn't possible." She closed her eyes and was silent for a time. "Then they would have another Cleansing, and I would try that much harder."
"How old were you?" he asked quietly when it became apparent she wasn't going to continue. The silence was startling after her flood of words; it was almost as if she was babbling.
She pressed a hand to her temple. "Eight, I think when I got the idea. It was months after the first Cleansing that I thought of it. Or rather, before I thought of something that stood a chance of actually working. The first time I field-tested the web was nearly two years before I received my Red Robes. I was so terrified it wouldn't work, that I'd be caught, that someone would notice something was wrong. I was surprised no one saw how scared I was. There I was, seventeen, and trying to do something so complex, something that accomplished Sunpriests who had their Robes longer than I'd been alive would balk at. But no one noticed. Marcie turned up in my room confused, but unharmed. I bribed a merchant to take her to the border. And I had hope. I saw a future where I didn't have to become a monster or else be killed by them. For the first time in a decade, despair lost its foothold in my heart."
Malachi sat in silence, trying to process her story. It was truly an extraordinary tale. He wasn't sure he wanted to know just how powerful she was. To be able to do something as complicated as her – web – was, to be able to hide it from the fearsome Sunpriests – at seventeen? At seventeen he had been a year away from getting his Whites and still not well-trained in the use of his Gifts. It is a very good thing she is one of the strongest Sunpriests; many more with that kind of power and Valdemar wouldn't stand a chance! Heraldic Gifts don't lend themselves to quite such complex endeavors. Certainly nothing of that complexity and magnitude!
Of course, Heralds were Chosen at an older age than children entered the Cloister in Karse. Heralds also didn't spend as long a period in schooling, and their Gifts were not strongly focused on. A person needed to have a Gift for a Companion to Choose them to become a Herald, but many had weak Gifts, and some Heralds had barely more ability than the unGifted. No one understood why Companions Chose as they did.
He had a strong feeling that if this priestess had been born in Valdemar, she would have been Chosen. Her dedication to her work, her concern for others, the raw pain in her voice when she mentioned the Cleansings – all were traits that spoke of a strong character, a good heart, and a strength of spirit. She was an anomaly in Karse, almost as much as he was, except his presence in Karse was merely transitory. She was a rose that had taken root in a field of weeds and against all odds had flourished; a scarlet jay among crows, who draped her bright feathers in black to protect those the crows would mob.
He was amazed she had been determined enough at eight to conceive an idea and spend the next nine years trying to carry it to fruition. Most children outgrew such ideas, or eventually gave up on them. Especially in an environment like the one cultivated by the Karsite priesthood. She had been taken from her family when she was eight and brought into the harsh atmosphere of the Children's Cloister. And then proceeded to resist the yoke of indoctrination that most people merely bent their heads to accept. She had resisted so long she managed to grow up, still fighting. He could hardly believe she had survived as long as she evidently had – the Sunpriests killed people for far less than she had done.
"I have a question – actually I have a lot of questions – but, why did you have to wait two years before you received your Red Robes? I would think that if you could do something like your web, you would have been eligible for that rank then." He had so very many questions for her.
"I probably could have gotten the Red Robes at seventeen. But I didn't want to. Attaining such a high rank at such a young age would advertise how powerful I am, and then I would have had far more attention than I wanted. When you're doing things that could get you killed if anyone knew about them, a lot of attention is never a good thing." She gave a humorless smile. "So I hid my power. I fumbled higher level workings, struggled with them, pretended I wasn't so far ahead in my studies. And when I finally was given Red Robes, I had even more reason to not show my power. I knew by then that I had the ability to wear the Black Robe, and I wanted to delay the coming of the day I would. I did not do as well as I might have liked, it was only four years later that I became a Black Robe. I am the youngest priestess to ever wear a Black Robe, and then, few priestesses ever reach that rank. And priests very rarely receive Black Robes so young. So much for not drawing attention, right? I don't think the privileges and authority are worth the summonings. I don't think anything is." Her voice cracked.
"How long have you worn the Black Robes?" he inquired hesitantly.
"Just over a year. Since last Midsummer."
Midsummer. She was granted her Black Robes at Midsummer. Only the strongest, most powerful priests (usually the ones with powerful connections) took vows or were given rank on that holy day. The longest day of the year was given special consideration in a kingdom that worshiped the Sunlord. And if she had received the Black Robes only a years ago – he did the math – she was just twenty-four years old. She was a year younger than him! She had spent the past sixteen years hiding herself from those who surrounded her, had spent two-thirds of her life in a hostile environment where the wrong word would get her killed. He doubted she had ever spoken about this to anyone. She had isolated herself out of necessity.
She was alone. She had no one else.
No wonder she was rambling a bit, no wonder her nerves were cracking. He could scarcely imagine the strain she had lived under. She had lived the last two-thirds of her life behind a mask, from behind walls that would put a fortress to shame. He wouldn't want to play cards with her, because he didn't doubt she had an inscrutable poker face. She must have; she'd worn it every day for more than a decade, in a dangerous game where the stakes were her life. But here, now, the mask was off, the walls were lowered, and she was opening up to someone for the first time since she had been brought into the Children's Cloister after being wrenched from her family. By the very fact virtue of what he was, what almost gotten him killed, she could talk to him. He was a Herald, an extreme persona non grata in Karse; who could he possibly tell all this to? This was all so much to take in.
"How have you managed to survive all this time?" How could no one have noticed what she was doing? Or considered her a threat?
Again the grim smile. "Mainly because I spend all my time studying. I don't put myself forward, ever. I don't like the so-called privileges of rank. I show no interest in politics, no interest in the nobility, no interest in anything outside of scholarly pursuits and prayer. I believe in Vkandis. I spend a great deal of time in prayer and meditation. Sunpriests who show great power and a penchant for independent thought tend to meet with unfortunate accidents, or sometimes they are said to fall victim to the White Demons. I have little doubt they did fall victim to demons, but I think it more likely the demons were of the night-walking variety. I certainly had great power, so I took care not to demonstrate anything that could be construed as independent thinking." She shrugged unhappily. "I make sure I am not seen as a threat to anyone. I may currently be the youngest Black Robe Sunpriest in Karse, but I rarely use my abilities, I rarely exercise my rank. I have not shown interest in anything besides my studies and religious dedication since I was very young. I was a quiet child. I knew I needed to be."
And she had lived basically her entire life like this? No wonder she was so strong, she didn't have anything else to engage herself in! But – "How did you know? That you needed to be quiet as a child. How could you have planned all this from such a young age?"
A sad, solemn look crept over her. A look that spoke of loss and pain. "I had some advice. One of the other girls at the Cloister. She was just a couple of years older than me, but she knew, she knew so much. She helped a lot of us." He wanted to ask what happened to the other girl, but he was afraid he already knew the answer. The expression on her face indicated there was more to that particular story, but he didn't want to push too hard. Not yet anyway. Perhaps after he got to know her better, then if she was willing he might ask, but not now. He didn't want to hear an unhappy ending at the moment.
It was not such a stretch to presume that tale did not end happily. Few stories involving Sunpriests had happy endings, especially in the recent past. This Sunpriestess was probably responsible for most of the few. He hoped her own story would end well, but he doubted she could hide her activities or her beliefs forever. That thought deeply saddened him. He was filled with an urge to protect her, which he knew to be irrational. After all, how could he possibly protect her? The mood in the room was dragging him down with it; it was hard to believe they had been laughing not too long ago. He needed to change the subject, and fast.
"You said earlier that I was keyed to your proximity detector, how does that work exactly? When did I become connected to your spell?"
She took a deep breath and smiled, understanding why he was changing topics so abruptly. "You aren't quite keyed to the proximity detector itself. You are technically keyed to my shields, which the alarm system is part of. That is also part of how you are able to reach your Companion. I needed to make some modifications for you to communicate with him, but it still would not have worked if you were not keyed to the shields. All it really means is that you can pass through the shields I have around my quarters without being stopped. It happened when I transported you through them. The shields recognize that I brought you in with my power, and therefore you have the right to be here." She let out a breath, not quite a sigh. "My shields are just as complicated as everything else I do."
Malachi grinned. "Well since it was something complicated that got me in here alive, complicated certainly works well enough for me."
She answered with a chuckle. "That is true."
He was pleased to see she no longer seemed on the verge of tears. He was not known for an ability to handle emotional women well. And to see a Black Robe Sunpriestess about to cry – it boggled the mind. Although he wasn't sure he would be able to keep thinking of her as "a Black Robe Sunpriestess," not after hearing how she had lived, what she had been through. It was as if she had ripped the scab off of a wound that had never fully healed so he could see it. And the wound was a gaping one. No one should have to live so alone, especially in such a harsh environment.
"I was looking around before you returned, and your quarters are very nice. I noticed they were perfectly set up in such a way that your ah – more irregular guests – would go unnoticed. As an irregular guest myself, I give my full approval," he finished airily.
She laughed. "It is an extremely good arrangement. That's why I chose them. This is one of the nicer suites. It was one of the few times I took advantage of the privileges of my high rank."
"I am very grateful you did. In the meantime though, how long should I expect to stay here?"
She mock-scowled. "So eager to leave already?" Was there an undercurrent of real hurt in her voice? He couldn't tell for certain.
"When I planned my fabulous Karsite holiday, I had not been counting on such a strange series of adventures that even a Bard would blanch to sing about. I mean really, how many people would believe a tale in which an evil Sunpriest rescues the hero? No Bard worth his lute would perform it."
She raised an eyebrow. "So you are the hero, I take it," she responded in a voice so flat he almost could not restrain his laughter.
Instead he gave his best smile. "Of course. The Herald is always the hero."
"Perhaps an extended Karsite holiday would do you well. Some of our tales might be able to deflate your overly inflated opinion of yourself. White Demons are never the hero, although they make excellent villains," she replied with a straight face.
He pouted in response, then brightened. "At least we are still excellent."
That got her to chuckle. She smiled and shook her head at him. "You really are hopeless."
"So they tell me," he answered with a grin. "But seriously, I have to let Darvin know when we can expect to leave. I don't want him getting into trouble because he was caught unawares. That's something I've already done exceedingly well."
"That you did," she acknowledged. "So your Companion's name is Darvin?" she asked curiously. He nodded. "Could you relay a message to him for me, please?"
"Sure," he responded. Malachi then turned to his Companion. :Hey Darvin, you listening?:
:Of course I am listening. This conversation is important. Since we are already here and not going anywhere, I wouldn't miss it for the world. I want to hear everything she has to say. You are in her hands, after all.:
"Please tell Darvin that I, Black Robe Sunpriestess Lillian, swear that I will do everything in my power to ensure both you and he get back to Valdemar without further harm," she stated formally. "I believe broken ribs take about four to six weeks to heal. So you should expect to stay here for at least a month." She gave a wry smile. "Now, how many Valdemarans can spend a month in Karse under the personal protection of a Sunpriestess, hmm? Not many, I would bet."
:Malachi, let Sunpriestess Lillian know that I am gratified by her assistance and I deeply appreciate everything she is doing for you.:
"Darvin says thank you," he paraphrased.
:That is not what I said! But I suppose something is always lost in translation.:
:Speaking of which –: "How would you like to learn Valdemaran?"
"Pardon?" Lillian asked dumbfounded.
"If I am going to be here for a month, I have to do something with all that time. So how would you like me to teach you Valdemaran?"
:You teaching someone language skills? This I have to see.:
She was very taken back by his offer, but she accepted it all the same. "I suppose it would be useful to know, and I doubt I'll ever get another chance as good as this one. How often can I expect to have a native speaker my guest for a month? And one never stops learning, after all."
He did have one worry on the subject, though. "Will anyone think it odd if you spend all your time in you rooms for a month? I mean, uh, I don't want to cause you any trouble with the other Sunpriests. Well, any more trouble."
"Oh, it is no trouble at all. Every once in a while I take to studying in my rooms, only coming out for the sun-prayers. No one will think it any odder than usual. I am an eccentric scholar, no one really bothers me much. Those who are of a mind to pester scholarly types tend to be surprised by a young woman in Black Robes perusing the dusty old papers in the back rooms of the Library. Which I do rather often," she added with a smile. "It is amazing what eccentric scholars can get away with. I can hole up in my rooms for several weeks, and people will simply think I found something new to puzzle over. I am good friends with the one whose domain the library is. I am one of the few people he will allow to take the older journals and scrolls out of the library."
"Is the librarian that fearsome?"
"Caydrin?" She chuckled. "He is fearsome all right. You crease so much as a single page in one of the books, and a bespectacled old man with gray hair will appear out of nowhere to rap your knuckles. He will then proceed to sternly lecture you on respecting the receptacles of our noble history and put you to work cleaning the dust from the shelves and putting things in their proper place under his watchful eye until he is satisfied you have learned your lesson. He is one of the older priests in Karse, so most of them have had the opportunity to be subjected to the 'cruel tyrannies of the old bookkeeper.'" She grinned. "No one wants to cross him. "
Her expression turned thoughtful. "I suspect that if I hadn't been so powerful, he would have snatched me up as his assistant and trained me to take his place. But such great power can't be wasted on caring for the archives," she said haughtily before rolling her eyes, "even if I do spend much of my time there anyway. If it becomes necessary for my skills to be put to work elsewhere, I cannot be tied down. So he's training Gerrin as his successor and I am Caydrin's unofficial assistant instead." She inhaled deeply. "If I were the archivist, I wouldn't have as much time for my non-sanctioned activities anyway. And Gerrin really isn't anything more than a scholar, so I suppose it all worked out."
He studied her for a moment in silence.
"What?" she asked finally.
"I just can't picture you as something as ordinary as an archivist." She snorted. "No, really. It's the whole first impression thing. I've got you in my head as a very unusual and all-powerful Sunpriestess. I don't think I would be able to picture you as a simple archivist, without any illicit activities in the background."
"And you know me that well, do you? You haven't even known me a week. This is, what, the second time you've talked to me?"
"Well, technically. But you left a very lasting impression. It's not often that I am terrified out of my mind because I am about to die very painfully. It is rarer still that I am rescued by one of those who by all rights should be trying to kill me. In fact, it is so rare that I cannot recall another instance of it occurring previously. So perhaps you can imagine how such a memory would stick with me." His voice was so serious it could only be facetious.
She shook her head with a quiet laugh. "I think you have too much time on your hands if you are unable to refrain to making every other word you say into a joke."
"Of course I have too much time on my hands! I'm sojourning in Karse, the Sun Temple of all places. And I can't even go sightseeing! But at least I have a Sunpriestess at my mercy," he continued earnestly. "Now I need something to write with. Let my first session as a torturer – I mean teacher –begin!"
She surrendered with a chorus of laughter and went to find him quills and parchment.