Soul of the Fire (74 page)

Women were rushing to their feet. It rather reminded Ann of sheep watching a wolf coming down the hill. They all looked like they might bolt for the countryside.

Sisters of the Light were women of strength, women of fortitude, women of decisive intelligence. Ann feared to consider what it would have taken to reduce all these women to such a sorry-looking state.

She ran a gentle hand down a head beside her. “Sister Lucy. You are a sight for my tired eyes.” Ann smiled with genuine joy. “You all are.” She felt a tear roll down her own cheek. “My dear, dear Sisters, you are all a blessed sight to my eyes. I thank the Creator he has led me to you.”

And then they were all falling to knees to bow to her, to whisper their prayers to the Creator for her safety, to weep with disbelief.

“
There, there. None of that,” she said, wiping her fingers across the cheek of Sister Lucy, clearing away the tears. “None of that. We have important business, and we’ve no time for a good cry, not that I’m saying you aren’t all entitled. But later would be an excellent time for it, while right now is not.”

Sisters kissed the hem of her dress. More came forward on their knees to do the same. They were the lost, who were now found. It nearly broke Ann’s heart.

She smiled her best Prelate smile and indulged them, touching each head, blessing each of them by name and thanking the Creator aloud for sparing each life and guarding each soul. It was an informal, formal audience with the Prelate of the Sisters of the Light.

She didn’t think it the proper time to insist on reminding them she was no longer the Prelate, that she’d given the office to Verna for safekeeping. At that moment of joy, it just wasn’t important.

Ann allowed the reunion to go on for only a few minutes before forcing it to an end.

“
Listen now, all of you. Hush. We will have more than enough time later to share our joy at being together. Now I must tell you why I have come.

“
Something terrible has happened. But as you know more than most, there must be balance in all things. The balance is that the terrible event will, in the Creator’s balance, allow you to escape.”

“
The Prelate says the chimes are loose,” Sister Georgia put in. Everyone gasped. “She believes it.”

The clear implication was that Sister Georgia didn’t believe it, that it was impossible, and anyone would have to be a fool to think it was so.

“
Now, listen to me, all of you.” Ann let her brow draw down in a look every woman in the room knew well enough to bring sweat to their brows. “You all remember Richard?” There were nods all around. “Well, it’s a long story, but Jagang loosed a plague that killed thousands of people. It was a horrifying death for countless people. Untold numbers of children perished. Untold numbers of children were left orphans.

“
Sister Amelia—”

“
She’s sworn to the Keeper!” several Sisters in the back gasped aloud.

“
I know,” Ann said. “She is the one who went to the underworld. She brought back the plague for Jagang. She murdered so many innocent people… .

“
Richard was able to use his power to stop the plague.”

There were astonished looks all around, accompanied by whispering. Ann imagined she was probably telling them too much all at once, but she had to explain enough so they would understand what was at stake.

“
Richard contracted the plague, and in order to save his life, the Mother Confessor used magic.” Ann held up a finger to silence them. “Nathan escaped.” Again, gasps filled the tent. Ann hushed them lest they fall to wailing. “Nathan told the Mother Confessor the names of the chimes in order to save Richard’s life. It was a terrible choice to make, but I believe he only did it to save Richard. The Mother Confessor spoke the names of those three chimes aloud to complete the spell to save Richard.

“
The chimes are here. She called them into this world. I have personal knowledge of this. I have seen them, and I have seen them kill.”

This time, there were no protests. Even Sister Georgia seemed convinced. Ann felt vindicated in her decision to tell them this much of it.

“
As you all know, the chimes being loose has the potential to bring about an unprecedented cataclysm. It has begun. Magic is failing. All our magic is diminished to the point where it is useless. However, in the meantime Jagang’s magic is useless, too.

“
While this is so, we can get you all out of here.”

“
But what difference do the chimes make?” someone asked.

Ann drew a patient breath. “With the chimes here, magic is failing. That means Jagang’s magic as a dream walker has failed just as our gift has failed. Your minds are all free of the dream walker.”

Sister Georgia stared in disbelief for a moment. “But what if the chimes go back to the underworld? That could happen unexpectedly at any time. Jagang would be back in our heads. You can’t tell he’s there, Prelate. You can’t tell.

“
The chimes could already have fled back to the world of the dead. They may not have succeeded in gaining a soul. They may have fled to the protection of the Nameless One. The dream walker could be back in my head, watching me, as we speak.”

Ann grasped the woman’s arms. “No, he’s not. Now, listen to me. My magic has failed. Yours is gone, too. All of us are without the gift. I will be able to tell when it returns—any of us can. For now, it’s gone, and so is the dream walker.”

“
But we aren’t allowed to use our gift without permission,” a Sister to the right said. “We couldn’t tell when our power returned to know the chimes had fled this world.’

“
I will know immediately,” Ann said. “Jagang doesn’t prevent me from touching my Han, if I can.”

Sister Kerena stepped forward. “But if the chimes do go back, then His Excellency will return to—”

“
No. Listen. There is a way to prevent the dream walker from ever again entering you mind.”

“
That’s not possible.” Sister Cherna’s eyes darted about, as if Jagang might be hiding in the shadows, watching them. “Prelate, you must get out of here. You’re going to be caught. Someone might have seen you. They could be telling Jagang as we speak.”

“
Please, get away,” Sister Fionola said. “We are lost. Forget about us and get away. It can come to no good end, you being here.”

Ann growled again. “Listen to me! It is possible to be safe from the dream walker entering your mind. We can all get away from his evil grip.”

Sister Georgia was back to disbelieving. “But I don’t see how—”

“
How do you think he doesn’t enter my mind? Don’t you think he would want me? The Prelate herself? Wouldn’t he get me if he could?”

They were all silent as they considered.

“
Well, I guess he would.” Sister Aubrey’s brow drew down. “How is it he isn’t able to take you, too?”

“
I’m protected. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Richard is a war wizard. You all know what that means: he has both sides of the gift.”

The Sisters blinked in astonishment, and then they all fell to whispering to one another.

“
Furthermore,” Ann went on, bringing the cramped tent full of women to silence, “he is a Rahl.”

“
What difference does that make?” Sister Fionola asked.

“
The dream walkers are from the time of the great war. A wizard of that time, a war wizard named Rahl, an ancestor of Richard’s, conjured a bond to protect his people from them. Gifted descendants of the House of Rahl are born with this bond with his people that protects them from dream walkers.

“
The people of Richard’s land are all bonded to him as their Lord Rahl. Because of that, and because of the magic of it passed down to him, they are all protected from the dream walker. That keeps Jagang from their minds. A dream walker can’t enter the mind of anyone bonded to the Lord Rahl.”

“
But we are not his people,” women all around were saying.

Ann held up a hand. “It doesn’t matter. You only have to swear your loyalty to Richard—swear it meaningfully in your heart—and you are safe from the dream walker.”

She passed a finger before their eyes. “I have long been sworn to Richard. He leads us in our fight against this monster, Jagang, who would end magic in this world. My faith in Richard, my bond to him, my being sworn to him in my heart, protects me from Jagang entering my mind.”

“
But if what you say about the chimes being here in this world is true,” a Sister in the back said in a whine, “then the magic of the bond will fail, too, so we would have no protection.”

Ann sighed and tried to remain patient with these frightened and intimidated women. She reminded herself to keep in mind these women had been in the savage hands of the enemy for a long time.

“
But the two cancel each other, don’t you see.”

Ann turned up her palms, like scales, moving them up and down in opposition. “As long as the chimes are here, Jagang’s magic doesn’t work, and he can’t enter your minds.” She moved her hands in the opposite direction. “When the chimes are banished, and if you are sworn to Richard, then his bond keeps Jagang from your mind. Either one or the other protects you.

“
Do you all see? You must only swear to Richard, who leads the fight against Jagang, fights for our cause—the cause of the Light—and you never again need fear the dream walker being able to reach you.

“
Sisters, we can get away. Tonight. Right now. Do you at last see? You can be free.”

They all stared dumbly. Finally, Sister Rochelle spoke up.

“
But, we aren’t all here.”

Ann looked around. “Where are the rest? We will collect them and leave. Where are they?”

Again, the women retreated into frightened silence. Ann snapped her fingers at Sister Rochelle for her to answer. Finally the woman spoke again.

“
The tents.”

Every woman in the room cast her eyes down. The gold rings through their lower lips shone in the candlelight.

“
What do you mean, the tents?”

Sister Rochelle cleared her throat, trying to keep the tears struggling to break through from doing so.

“
Jagang, when one of us displeases him, or he is angry with us, or he wants to punish us, or teach us a lesson, or simply wishes to be cruel, sends us to the tents. The soldiers use us. They pass us around.”

Sister Cherna fell to the ground weeping. “We must be whores for his men.”

Ann gathered her resolve. “Listen to me, all of you. That ends right now. Right now, you are free. You are again Sisters of the Light. Do you hear me? You are no longer his slaves!”

“
But what about the others?” Sister Rochelle asked.

“
Can you get them?”

Sister Georgia drew up tall and stiff. “You wait here, Prelate. Sister Rochelle, Aubrey, and Kerena will go with me to see what we can do.” She gave the three a severe look. “Won’t we? We know what we must do.”

The three nodded. Sister Kerena put a hand under Ann’s arm.

“
You wait here. Will you? Wait here until we return.”

“
Yes, all right,” Ann said. “But you must hurry. We need to get out of here before it gets too late in the night, or we will raise suspicions traipsing through the camp when everyone else is sleeping. We can’t wait for—”

“
Just wait,” Sister Rochelle said in a calm voice. “We will see to it. Everything will be all right.”

Sister Georgia turned to the tent full of Sisters. “See to it she waits, will you? She must wait here.”

The Sisters nodded. Ann put her fists on her hips.

“
If you take too long, we will have to leave without you. Do you understand? We can’t—”

Sister Rochelle put a hand against Ann’s shoulder. “We will be back in plenty of time. Wait.”

Ann sighed. “The Creator be with you.”
 

Ann sat among Sisters, who seemed to recede back into the prison of their private thoughts. Their joy, so evident when they had first seen her, had faded. They were once again distant and unresponsive.

They stared off without listening as Ann tried telling them some of the lighter stories of her adventures. She chuckled as she recounted incommodious moments, hoping someone would become interested and perhaps smile, at least. No one did.

None of them asked anything, or even seemed to be listening. They would no longer even meet her gaze. Like trapped animals, they wanted only to escape the terror.