Quest (7 page)

QUEST Shannah Jay 23

The dark-haired man sitting so quietly behind the table leaned forward and murmured something to Benner, who tossed a coin to the messenger. 'You can go now, fellow. You were right to come to me quickly with this. Get a scribe to write that hag's rhyme down before you leave.'

When the two were alone, the stranger said sarcastically, 'The Sisters are not often given to prophecy. A rare treat.'

'Not for me,' said Benner sourly. 'I have to run this city and col ect the taxes. There'll be trouble tomorrow. There always is.'

'Yet never, I think, has one of the Sisterhood's prophecies failed to mean something.'

Benner scowled. 'No. Mind, I can't see what this one means. Can you? It doesn't make sense. And it might be years before we find anything out.' He sat brooding for a moment, then growled, 'I wish we could keep an eye on what goes on in that damned temple of theirs. It's nearly impossible to discover what that demon-spawned Sisterhood is planning to do - that dolt of a messenger is one of the rare people to infiltrate the temple, the Serpent alone knows how. Those whores seem to be able to recognise a spy on sight.'

'Pure chance. They've been lucky.'

'I'm not so sure. Serpent save me, I'd give a year's taxes to find out how they always know what's going on in the other claims before anyone else does. Lately they've been weeks ahead with the knowledge. How do they do it? Even a chain of home-birds couldn't get the information through as quickly as the Sisterhood does. I've tried it and those stupid birds are more trouble than they're worth.' He slammed his fist down on the tabletop, ignoring the silver goblet that splashed its contents across the floor and rolled under his chair. 'Those she-devils! Always those she-devils! All my life, they have . . . ' He broke off and regained control of his temper. 'Have you any idea how they do it, Sen-Sether?'

'No. And I leave such fruitless speculation to those with nothing better to do. Stop worrying about the Sisters and start
doing
something about them.'

'It's easy for you to talk. You don't have Herra as Elder Sister in Temple Setherak. The trouble that hag has caused us here in the Claim of Tenebron, one way or another! And since before my grandfather's time, too. It's not natural! She should have died years ago.'

'You should have killed her off years ago.'

'Do you think we haven't tried?'

Sen-Sether shrugged. 'You'll find a way, if you work at it for long enough. But don't do anything for the moment.

We must wait in patience, as we decided. Precipitate action could ruin everything. The Serpent is attracting more followers every day, especially among the younger men. If you follow my suggestions, the membership in this claim will soon catch up with that in Setheron. Men are easily led when it comes to their own pleasure, and we've perfected a stronger sort of incense that makes them most amenable to suggestion.' His dark eyes gleamed with a lust that had no relationship to sexual gratification. 'And our Inner Shrine has worked out some new rituals, too. We're bringing pain right out into the everyday rituals now.'

Benner was startled. 'Surely they won't accept that? And the women will kick up a fuss if you treat them like that.'

'The ordinary worshippers
are
accepting it. I told you. We have a new sort of incense. I've written down the mixture details.' He reached inside his belt pouch and pulled out a roll of paper, which he tossed on to the table. 'There. You'll see how well it works. And as for the women - they're fools when it comes to the men they love. They deserve all they get.'

Sen-Sether rose to his feet and smoothed the rich material of his tunic with one elegant, well-manicured hand. His fierce features softened into a smile which didn’t reach his dark, hooded eyes. 'I must leave now, my friend. I want to get back to Setheron. Are you sure that fool reported what happened accurately?'

'He usually does. He has a few small talents, one of which is his memory. That's why he's employed as a messenger.

But you'll have no trouble checking what he said. The prophecy will be all over the city by tomorrow. Even the beggars will know it by heart. Those stupid bitches never keep anything secret.'

'I shal be far away by then. I intend to travel through the night. The High Lady is due to whelp soon. I must get
QUEST Shannah Jay 24

back to make sure no little nephew or niece survives to spoil things for me. If that prophecy was talking about Shiaran's child, I'll make very certain that it doesn't come true!'

'This will be the first child she's carried to term, won't it?' asked Benner, not without a hint of maliciousness.

'Yes. And the last she'll ever carry!' snapped Sen-Sether. 'I don't know how she managed it. I keep her food well laced with a special ingredient.' He shrugged. 'Well, it was only a matter of time before I had to get rid of her. I real y can't have her producing an heir for my dear brother, Danver.'

'Not when you're waiting impatiently to step into his shoes.'

'Oh, not impatiently. I haven't completed my training yet. I intend to become Lord of the Inner Shrine before I become Lord Claimant.' His expression made even Benner shiver, so vicious was the cold light in his eyes. 'And I doubt that my brother will ever wed again, once we've disposed of Shiaran. He dotes on her like some callow, love-sick youth.

A man's happiness should not depend upon a woman. They are there to give us pleasure and sons, nothing more.'

'Especially the pleasure, eh?'

'Especially that, in whatever way we choose. But I shall arrange to have sons in due course. As you have. How is your wife, by the way? And how fares the little Lord Evren?' It was Sen-Sether's turn to be malicious.

Benner scowled. 'As ever. Margarel doesn't change. And she doesn't bear living children easily. For all my efforts, she's only produced a soft-heart of a lad, one who takes after her. If it weren't for her family connections, I'd get rid of her and try again. As it is, I've had to send her to live in the country,' he grinned, 'for her health. That'll stop her from spoiling Evren. I've put a tutor in charge of him now, someone I can rely on, a full Initiate of the Inner Shrine. We'll soon knock that squeamishness out of him.'

'I pray you succeed.'

'As I pray for your success,' Benner returned smoothly. Sen-Sether might guess how deeply the sickly fancies of his only son galled him, but Benner was admitting nothing. 'I shall look forward, then, to the day when I can drink the health of the first man to be both Lord Claimant and Lord of the Inner Shrine,' he said, and swept Sen-Sether a mocking courtier's bow.

'That day won’t be too long in coming, Benner, my friend.'

By the following morning, as Benner had foretold, Herra's prophecy was humming around the streets of Tenebrak and was already being called the Great Prophecy. And not only in that city. Reports gradually came in that the prophecy had been proclaimed in every large city on the very same day. How did those unnatural whores do it? Benner wondered for the thousandth time. How did they get news to each other so quickly? He'd give a fortune for such a rapid communication system.

The prophecy was still buzzing around Setherak three days later, when Sen-Sether arrived, and that didn’t please him at all. The reference to the babies worried him more than he would admit, even to himself. He had kil ed several mounts in a wild ride back to Setheron, and was not satisfied with what he found at the castle. Was there something just a little shifty-eyed about those who had tended his sister-in-law? Not being a man to neglect details, he sent a servant he trusted to get hold of one of the midwives and wring out of her exactly what had happened to the High Lady the night she died.

As he waited for the fellow's report, Sen-Sether paced up and down his bedchamber, his thin face dark with fury.

Shiaran was dead and the grieving Lord Claimant was vowing eternal celibacy, so that part of the plan at least had worked as it was supposed to. But although Sen-Sether had scotched any possibility of his brother fathering a son and heir, the first words of the prophecy still kept coming back to him:
Though spawned of death, redeemed in birth
.

'When I have taken claim to Setheron,' he vowed, 'the first thing I shall do, the very first thing, will be to ban the Sisterhood completely, kill all those hel -spawned bitches and pull down their temple stone by stone.'

When torture revealed that the baby had been spirited away by two Sisters, Sen-Sether's fury was careful y controlled, but terrifying in its intensity. His servants crept round his chambers in a constant state of apprehension, dreading to share the fate of the midwives, who had been disposed of slowly in the Inner Shrine. Sen-Sether's servants
QUEST Shannah Jay 25

had a habit of disappearing if they displeased their master and no one served him voluntarily.

This time it was several days before his fury abated, for no trace could be found of the child. He personally whipped two of his servants on the slightest of pretexts before sending them to tend the meat nerids on his estate, a much-despised task, for the animals were utterly stupid and hard to manage, and slaughtering them was a stinking task.

Gradual y, Sen-Sether's temper began to mend, but his determination to find out what had happened to the infant did not fade, in spite of his lack of success, and he set several men on the trail. He debated capturing the temple and wringing the information out of the Sisters, but the time wasn’t yet ripe for such an open move against the Sisterhood.

He was also in some doubt as to whether any of those women could be forced to reveal information, even by a skilled torturer. The whores were most carefully trained to control their own bodies. One day he’d have the pleasure of finding out, however.

Sen-Sether continued to mourn publicly for the death of his nephew. He was quite prepared to silence his brother if word of the baby's rescue leaked out. Though that would be a pity, because he’d prefer to inherit the claim peaceably later, when he’d finished his training in the Inner Shrine.

A long illness, Sen-Sether decided, would be the most credible method of disposing of Danver, and would be quite easy to arrange for one who had access to the secrets of the Inner Shrine. Danver had always been rather delicate. Sen-Sether took to fussing gently about his brother's health, fostering the illusion that it was deteriorating. The Serpent would guide him to the end of that path when the time came, but it would not hurt to lay the foundations now. In the meantime, he was breaking new ground in his training as Lord of the Inner Shrine, and even the other Initiates were starting to fear him, something.

which gave him great satisfaction.

#####

Life improved considerably for Katia after the momentous evening of the prophecy. When the Ceremony of Rejoicing was over, she followed Herra out of the Hall of the God into the Sisters' chambers below it, shivering uncontrollably. The novices were not allowed down into the levels below the temple, and rumours about what went on there were rife among the more foolish of them.

Why had she been
chosen
again? Why? Why? Why? Bad enough to be a novice in the temple; worse, far worse, to be a Sister-Elect. Before, she had had some faint hope of failing the training, but she would never escape now. She stared around her in near panic as she followed Herra down the stairs that led to the chambers below the temple. What she saw surprised her. Bare stone wal s, few carvings, no rich hangings. At least the novices' quarters had windows in them.

This was like being trapped in a cave.

If only she had escaped that day in the mountains. It would have been better to live alone, shunned by others for failing to do her duty, than to suffocate in this stone prison. Only - if she had escaped, her grandfather would have been shamed and shunned too, and Kensin hadn’t deserved that of her.

In the Sisters' eating room, Katia stumbled to a halt and stood waiting, eyes lowered to hide her fear. What would happen to her now?She wasn’t quite sure what they did to a Sister-Elect.

'Have you run mad, Herra?' demanded Cheral. 'This one is the least suitable of all!' She cast a scornful glance at the visibly-trembling Katia.

Was there a chance that there had been a mistake? 'Indeed, Illustrious Sisters, I'm not worthy!' Katia said earnestly, risking a reprimand.

There was dead silence in the room.

QUEST Shannah Jay 26

'Who told you to say that?' demanded Cheral.

'No one, Illustrious Sister, no one! I meant no harm. But indeed and indeed, I'm
not
worthy!' The enormity of what might lie before her made Katia suddenly feel weak and she fel to her knees, clasping her hands together at her breast.

'I meant no disrespect,' she sobbed, terrified by the way they were looking at her. The flickering light of a badly-trimmed lamp cast menacing shadows of the robed figures on the walls. 'The God knows I meant no disrespect, but I am
not
worthy to hear His words!' Her voice rang out hysterically.

There was silence in the chamber, except for Katia's sobs.

'No one told her and yet she has thrice denied her worthiness,' said Herra quietly. Her voice was once again that of an old woman - and a very tired old woman at that. 'Say you still that I
chose
wrongly, Cheral?'

The Novice Mistress shook her head. 'No. But the ways of our Brother are sometimes beyond my comprehension.'

She became worried by Herra's air of exhaustion and said with rough kindness, 'Well, you'll not be fit to
listen
again tonight, that's for sure, Elder Sister. Someone else had better go up and finish your turn on watch.' One of the women slipped away.

Cheral became aware that Katia was stil kneeling on the floor, sobbing. 'Get up, child. We're all Sisters of the God together. If he has
chosen
you, then he must want you for a purpose.'

When the girl made no attempt to move, Cheral clicked her tongue in exasperation and pulled Katia to her feet, stroking back the dark tangled hair from the tear-streaked face. 'Come and sit down here, next to Herra, and I'l go and get you both some hot milk. I don't know which of you is the more exhausted.'