Quest (35 page)

'If it does,' Soo said thoughtfully one day, 'we should consider sending him down another, or I could even take one down to him myself.'

Mak gave her his lazy smile. 'In that case, dear one, I might just be tempted to go with you. I'd rather like to see Sunrise for myself. As a physical scientist and a trained physician, I'm itching to run proper tests on the Sisters when they're going through the various Disciplines - particularly the Discipline of Healing. Do you think they'd allow that?'

'Who knows? But Minor Interventions are allowed, after all. Sunrise isn’t under Restriction.'

'I wouldn't put it past Robler to ignore that.'

'He'd have to have some very strong evidence that the planet represents a danger to the Confederation if he wanted to impose full restrictions.'

'Then we'll have to see that we gather enough counter-evidence, won't we?'

#####

When the stasis cube was activated, its effect was instantaneous. The horrified rioters saw those nearest to the temple suddenly freeze where they stood, as if trapped in an invisible net. Some men stil had their arms raised to throw stones; some of the stones were suspended in mid-flight; and other people had their mouths open in a voiceless scream of defiance. The sudden silence in the affected area was most unnerving of all; there was a total lack of sound, as if the very breeze couldn’t pass through.

The Sisters had obviously worked some deadly magic that had trapped hundreds of victims and left them immobilised in full view of everyone. Many fled in panic within seconds of realising this.

QUEST Shannah Jay 128

A few unfortunate folk were trapped half in and half out of the stasis zone. Those whose heads were inside became still, except for an occasional twitching in the parts of their bodies still outside. Those whose heads were outside became frantic with fear at their inability to escape. Some started screaming in terror. One man, after a violent struggle to free himself, drew his dagger with his free hand and killed himself there and then by slitting his own throat. Though his body slumped lifeless and blood dripped down his chest, the arm held by the invisible force kept him upright still, and no one dared touch him.

Not everyone fled for their lives immediately; some stayed, drawn by morbid curiosity. Two full moons and the torches many carried gave enough light to see that the victims were caught in a total paralysis and didn’t appear to be breathing, even. It was a sight to remember all your life - if you lived to tell the tale. A fearsome experience to relate to your descendants or to earn drinks in an alehouse - if you survived to have any descendants, that was, or to drink ale again.

After a while it became obvious that those half-trapped by the magic were being gradually expelled from the perimeter of the zone. Within an hour they had all fallen out. Most were helped to a safer place by their friends, but the body of the man who had killed himself was left lying where it fell. Those fully inside the magic zone didn’t stir by even a finger's breadth the whole time.

No one knew what was happening inside the temple. The gates were still locked and the stone walls guarded their secrets, but since Temple Tenebrak towered over the city, it was impossible either to forget about it or to ignore its existence. For all anyone could tell, the Sisters and the other fugitives who had sought shelter there were sitting inside, laughing in triumph at what their fearful magic had achieved.

'It's that new Manifestation of the God,' whispered one man to his brother. 'It's his doing. They said he'd come down to save them, and save them he has. He must be more powerful than the Serpent.'

'Shut up, you Sister-loving idiot! What if someone heard you?'

The first man turned pale and looked over his shoulder. Those of the Serpent carried sharp knives and passed summary judgments. But there was no one near enough to overhear them. 'But it makes you think, though, doesn't it?'

he said stubbornly, jerking his head towards the brooding mass of the temple. 'I mean, you can't ignore that, can you?'

'It might make you think. It might make me think, too. But it's best to keep such thoughts to yourself. You always did talk too much, Lerrin.'

As Lerrin opened his mouth to protest, his brother poked him hard in the chest and growled, 'You hear me, lackbrain? Just keep your thoughts to yourself! I don't want any trouble. I've got three daughters to look after, and you've got four.' He shook his fist towards the temple, shouted 'Long live the Serpent!' and took his brother home.

Word of what had happened spread rapidly across the countryside, only to meet the news that the very same thing had happened to the rest of the temples. Now there was not one single temple to which people who were ill could go for help.

For the first time in many years the power of the Serpent was shaken, and doubt began to creep into the minds of men who had followed the new religion blindly, drawn back to the shrines time after time, though they couldn’t always understand why. They had enjoyed its obvious benefits and not paid much attention to what it actually taught - or to what it did to other women as long as their own were safe. But now some began to wonder about their new allegiance.

Benner rode out to see the invisible wall for himself, and he alone was brave enough to test it, first with his sword, then with a battering ram. Nothing would pass through it.

All three moons had risen by this time and their cold light illuminated the scene clearly - showing both Benner's failure to penetrate the shield and the motionless figures who seemed to mock him from inside the stasis zone.

He returned to view the temple area again in daylight, glaring at the figure of one of his most useful captains, who was trapped only a few paces away from the periphery, caught in the middle of urging his men on. Horse and man looked as rigid as a stone statue. Whatever the magic was, it had caught Hamsor so quickly that he hadn’t even had time to look surprised.

'Damn them!' said Benner aloud. 'Damn those misbegotten whores!'

QUEST Shannah Jay 129

His men sat their horses stolidly around him. They knew better than to show the slightest flicker of emotion on their faces when attending their Lord.

A Sister who had chosen to stay outside the temple saw Benner from the window of her attic refuge, and seized the opportunity to send a wind whistling around him and his men, a cold wind that filled the men with dread. Benner shook his fist at the temple, thinking it came from there. 'You'll not win, you warped she-devils!' he screamed. 'You'll never win!'

Rewards were posted for anyone who could remove the spell from Temple Tenebrak. No one volunteered to try, so some learned men were conscripted. Not one of them succeeded, and a few of them expiated their failure by shedding their lifeblood on the Serpent's black altars. The God was growing hungry for blood, it seemed, and no one was immune to his wrath.

Furious at his failure to capture Temple Tenebrak, Benner ordered people to make sacrifice in even greater numbers to lend strength to the Serpent, so their God could fight his foes. Respectable men had to bring their own wives and take them publicly on the altar every few days, for fear that if they didn’t make this offering themselves, others would do it for them, or accuse them of shirking their duty.

The great majority of the married men bitterly resented this public humiliation and whipping of their wives, though they dared not say so. They wouldn’t have admitted to loving their womenfolk, for that was to betray weakness, but they did grumble that virtuous women shouldn’t be penalised for the sins of the Sisters.

For the first time, Discord began to creep into the ranks of the Serpent's followers.

The gamekeeper called Berno, whom Herra had once healed, and who lived in one of the outlying villages, came home one day from a long journey on his Lord's behalf to find that his wife and virgin daughters had been taken without his permission and forced to make sacrifice at the local shrine. He was furious, but his wife begged him not to protest for fear of worse happening.

Over the next few days, the unhealed weals on his wife's back reminded Berno of Herra's words. Immela had always been a good and modest wife, and she didn’t deserve this. He couldn’t bear to hear her weeping when she thought him asleep. The nightmares of his younger daughter also kept him awake, and the bruises on the pretty face of his elder daughter reminded him hourly of what had been done to her. In no way could he reconcile his soul to such demands being made of virtuous women. What was done to temple whores had left him unmoved, but this - this was unjust . . .

Although he dared say nothing, doubt was spawned by his anger, nourished by the memory of Herra's words, and grew daily stronger within him.

When a chance occurred to leave the Lord Claimant's service and move to live with his uncle, who was without an heir to his farm, Berno took it. The uncle lived in a quiet village far away near the border of Kelandra, a village which didn’t even have a shrine.

Two of Berno's sons chose to come with him; the other three refused to leave the shrine, of which they were now full members. The northern claims were notoriously lax. Berno hardened his heart. Three of his boys had been tainted by their uncle Metz. If he could save the other boys from that, he would.

In Kelandra, Berno and his family found life calmer. Women walked the streets freely and people could admit that they were not of the Serpent without fearing the metal-tipped whip. Although few went so far as to express support for the Sisterhood, it was known that some of the witches were still around and no one did anything about it. Sleepy Kelandra did not breed revolutionaries, and its greedy Lord didn’t wish to unleash destruction upon his productive populace.

Besides, he was growing old and not in the best of health. He might need the services of a Healer himself one day.

Berno and his family settled happily into the quiet little village in the northern foothills. After much agonising, Berno found out how to obtain the services of a Sister-Healer for little Hannis, who was not well at all.

He made sure his sons knew nothing about it, but Immela's face lit up when he whispered his news to her and she agreed to drug the child and take her to see the Healer after dark.

QUEST Shannah Jay 130

When Hannis lost the baby, Berno didn’t ask whether the Sister had had a hand in this or not. The child was too young and too undeveloped physically to bear a child - anyone could see that - you wouldn't even breed a nerid that young. And if any other man tried to touch Hannis for a good few years, Berno would knock his teeth down his throat.

* * *

In the city of Setherak, life was almost back to normal. Sen-Sether had found the rioting expensive. Most people were too stupid to become Initiates of the Inner Shrine. He was content to leave the fools in peace and let their monetary offerings support him and his followers in luxury, so that he could cater to his own more refined tastes. He allowed the rioting to die down, relaxed the requirements on those making sacrifice and continued to experiment with his own dark powers.

Temple Setherak was not so obvious a monument to the Serpent's inability to obliterate all traces of the Sisterhood as was Temple Tenebrak, because it wasn’t central. People grew used to the frozen figures around it whom rain did not wet, nor sun burn. Everyone who could avoided the area as much as possible.

The poorfolk began to move in nearby. Life had to go on, after all. A family had to work much harder nowadays to pay Sen-Sether's new higher taxes and still feed itself. What couldn’t be cured must be endured. The Sisters hadn’t come out of their invisible cage to cause more trouble, had they? So why worry?

But the Sister Healers were sorely missed, so when one was known to be in hiding nearby, the secret was closely guarded by the womenfolk, who crept out under cover of darkness to seek her services. You didn’t watch your children die when they could be saved. The young ones were drugged to make sure they knew no secrets that could damage anyone, and if some of the men suspected what was happening, well, even the Serpent couldn’t prevent a man from loving his wife and children.

As in Tenebrak, the public sacrifices, which Sen-Sether had been the first Lord Claimant to institute, created a lot of secret enemies for the Serpent, and forcible sacrifice of virtuous women was soon abandoned, as were some of the harsher innovations, unless Sen-Sether personal y insisted upon some variation to the usual routine at the main shrine.

The Lord liked to show off his exceptional prowess from time to time, and demonstrate to his fellow Initiates how to get the best out of their victims.

When he wasn’t there, things went on more peacefully. Visits to the shrines must be made, especially by the wealthier people, or one risked being denounced. But if a bribe to one of the Servants of the Serpent could buy privacy, or buy the knowledge that Sen-Sether wouldn’t be there at a certain time, it was paid willingly. If an even bigger bribe could cause the attendance figures to be doctored and could al ow a man the convenience of using his own bed, then that, too, was paid by the richer folk.

#####

After two days of almost continuous sleep, Herra had recovered enough to discuss what they would do next. 'We shal start the day with a proper Gathering,' she said firmly, 'and you, Fiana, will join us.'

'Why torment me? We've already tried that and I didn't
achieve gathering
. Leave me alone!' Fiana spoke harshly to hide her agony.

Cheral glared at her. One didn’t argue with the Elder Sister. And now that Herra had recovered, she was very much the Elder Sister again, imperious in her actions and quick in her decisions. They had all noticed the change in her and rejoiced in her recovery.

Herra signalled to Cheral to remain quiet, and Katia and Davred followed suit, though they couldn’t help exchanging worried glances.

QUEST Shannah Jay 131

Herra laid a hand on Fiana's arm. 'Child, we're a very small group. We can't afford the slightest hint of Discord among ourselves. You may not be able to
gather
, and you shouldn't try if it upsets you, but you can still practise Deep Meditation, as the novices do. Thus you will remain a part of us.' She stared at Fiana until the latter bowed her head in acquiescence.