Priestess of the Eggstone (31 page)

*You risk much, human called Dace.*

“Yes,” I said silently. “I have little choice.”

Keristass stepped closer. He smelled of dry musk, desert air, and fear. His eyes were wide, the yellow tinged with green.

“The weapon of the house and clan of the Eggstone,” I said, then waited.

The Koresh’Niktakket of Keristass flexed his claws. “You will die, flayed alive on the altars of Sekkitass.”

“So be it,” I answered. “Hold the Eggstone, or forfeit challenge.”

He hissed, his crest rising fully, a long stripe of spines along his skull, trailing down his neck. His skin flushed crimson. He finally flung his spear to the floor, then held out his hands.

I gently placed the Eggstone in his reptilian hands. I cupped my own around his, the fine scales scratching my palms. I stared into his eyes, holding him captive. I felt the Eggstone in my mind, in his hands, the force of its presence growing.

Keristass gasped, his gaze dropped. He stared at the Eggstone cradled in his hands. It burned in his mind, the vast eons of memories pouring in, overwhelming him with his species’ past. I cradled his hands and the Eggstone. I only caught the edges of the flow between Keristass and the Eggstone. Keristass closed his eyes, dropping to his knees.

The other Koresh’Niktakket hissed and half stood, surprised.

“Challenge is ceded,” Keristass gasped in a dry, choked voice. He pushed the Eggstone into my hands, then dropped his to the floor as if they burned. He lowered himself until his forehead touched the stone. “Hail, priestess of the Eggstone,” he said, his voice harsh and cracked.

“Hail, Koresh’Niktakket of Keristass,” I said formally, giving him honor.

He looked up, puzzled. “You do not wish to rule?”

“I am not here to rule you. The Eggstone asked me to help save you.”

Keristass rose slowly to his feet.

“Sekkitass will save us!” The high priest hurried the last few steps to stand in front of his chair. “Keristass has ceded challenge,” he continued in a quieter voice, but one with no less menace. “His life is forfeit.”

“I choose not to take it,” I said.

“Weakling! Coward. Human. Sekkitass will crush you like a kizzt under the hooves of drosht.”

“I am a single human, yes, and weak by myself, as I’ve said before.”

“Sekkitass shall taste of your flesh!”

“Not yet. And even if you crush me, what of the others?”

“Humans!” He flexed his claws.

“How many Sessimoniss are left, a few tens of thousands? And how many humans? Billions. One stick by itself is easily broken, but what of ten sticks? Or a hundred? Even weak things become strong when they are united.” I held the Eggstone out. Its black seemed even deeper, a darkness that went beyond normal light.

The priest backed down, eyeing it warily.

I took one step forward, my confidence growing. “Sekkitass would divide the clans, drive them apart. Sekkitass drinks the blood of your warriors and children. If you are to survive you must stop feuds, you must stop shedding the blood of Sessimoniss. You must stand together.”

“You would have us dishonor Sekkitass,” Ruskarinatass objected.

“No. I would have you change the way you honor Sekkitass. Give honor, not blood. Sessimoniss must stand together, and be strong. Do not let foolishness pull you apart and make you weak.”

The priest flipped his claws, spattering poison across the floor. “You hold Council without me. You dishonor me!”

“You dishonor all of us by not attending!” Risskaratass rose in my defense. “The priestess is correct. We grow weak, our clans smaller every season. Perhaps human ideas can help.”

I hadn’t expected support from Risskaratass.

“You give us much to think on,” Risskaratass said, turning to me. “I ask for Council to continue tomorrow. Let us think on what has been said. Let us confer with our Terikatassnit.” He referred to the higher ranking warriors of the clan.

Keristass had slunk to his chair and sat slumped there, staring at nothing. His spear still lay on the floor near my feet.

Kishtosnitass tapped his spear end on the floor. “Council will continue tomorrow.”

The Koresh’Niktakket filed silently from the circle.

The priest of Sekkitass watched me, still bristling. He hissed, poison dripped from his claws.

“There must be peace between Sekkitass and the Eggstone,” I said.

“Never.”

“Then one or the other must die.” I turned my back.

His gaze burned through me as I climbed the stairs. I hoped my shivers didn’t show.

The moons floated high in the softly colored sky. The wind whispered gently, leaving the sand and dust untouched. I trudged across the wide plaza, too tired to appreciate the beauty of the desert city.

The temple of the Eggstone buzzed with activity. Scores of brown robed Sessimoniss hurried past, stopping briefly to bow. They whispered behind scaled hands. I had started a war between two religions. Only one would survive.

I entered the sanctuary of the priestess’ rooms through the plain wooden door, wondering if I’d pushed too far. I just wanted to escape.

*You’ve done what was necessary, what no other priestess would do.*

“I started a war.”

Jerimon glanced up from the parchments he sorted. A weird blob of wax was burning on the floor next to him, providing a warm yellow light.

“You look awful. Was it that bad?”

“It was. Where are the others?”

“They’re asleep. I think I’ve found what you’re looking for.” He brought over three sheets. He pointed at a row of symbols. “Those match the ones you wrote for a ship and outsiders. And the dates match.”

I forced a smile. “Those are the right ones, but a few weeks late. This is the record of their sacrifice.” I shuffled through the other papers. “This is closer. It’s when they were brought to the city from the northwest.”

“I still have half the pile to sort,” He took the papers back. “I’ll keep looking.”

“Good. Is there any dinner left?” I was suddenly starving.

“I left it on the skystone. You must be feeling better.” He grinned.

“Thanks, Jerimon.”

“If food is what it takes.”

I decided to leave that comment alone. It would be too easy to give in to the glint in his blue eyes, especially with the image of Tayvis and Jasyn fresh in my mind.

“Why does it hurt so much?” I whispered as I draped the robe over the altar. I put the Eggstone gently on the altar, stroking the glossy black smoothness. It had no answers, no experience with human emotions.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The next day dawned gray and overcast, the wind absent while the storm gathered. Jerimon was irritable, his eyes red from staying up way too late. Tayvis disappeared after breakfast, leaving the screen in the bedroom ajar. I tried not to worry, I knew he could handle himself. I just hoped he kept his distance from any Sessimoniss. Jasyn messed with the plants in the courtyard, then announced she wanted a very long bath.

I sat behind the skystone altar, picking pips from a red fruit, sucking the pulp off each seed, killing time. I’d used up what little advice I had the night before. I had no idea what to try next. The Eggstone offered no help. It lay quiet, buried in its own thoughts.

The food the skitarrit brought offered more variety and higher quality. Breakfast included a hot dish of eggs, fruit, and rounds of thin bread, dry but sprinkled with a seed that added a spicy flavor. I’d managed to raise my status quite a bit. I was still Heshk Bashnessit, the sacred blasphemy, but at least they had listened last night.

Thunder rumbled, low and growling. I wandered into the courtyard. The clouds overhead hung low and dark. Thunder rolled again. The wind gusted down the long well into the courtyard. Fat raindrops spattered on the stone floor, falling faster with each second. I stood in the middle of the courtyard and let the rain pour over me. It was warm. From the memories of the Eggstone, it wouldn’t last long.

The fat drops gave way to a fine drizzle. I shook off water as I entered the bedroom at the back. I pushed the screen open to watch rain fall over the city. My dress and hair slowly dried.

Tayvis had made a rope from one of our blankets. He’d tied it through the bottom part of the screen, breaking out a thin piece of wood to make a hole big enough for it. The rope was long enough to reach almost to the ground below. A scattering of weeds grew in the deserted courtyard, drinking in the rain.

Jasyn joined me, rubbing her hair with a piece of blanket. She sat on the mattress across from me.

“I would kill for a set of clean clothes.” She tugged at her hair. “And a real hairbrush.”

“I’ll settle for getting back in one piece.” I sighed and rested my chin on my knees.

“We’ll make it,” she said, running fingers through her hair.

I wished I had her confidence.

“We’re still partners, right?”

“Sure,” I said.

“I’d forgotten how much I love to fly. We were talking last night.”

“I saw you.”

“Tayvis went to look for the Patrol scout ship.”

“And if he gets caught, they’ll kill him.”

“He won’t get caught. Jerimon talked to him early this morning. He said you told him it was to the northwest.”

“It was very vague. It could be a thousand miles away.”

She studied me, her fingers busy untangling her silky, dark hair. “You’re upset. Why?”

I was jealous. She was gorgeous; I looked like something dragged through the mud. Her dress looked good despite drooping ruffles. Mine hung ragged and unkempt. I saw the way Tayvis watched her.

“I ran out of ideas last night,” I said, evading the truth. “I don’t have anything else to say at Council. I don’t know how long I can stall.”

“You said we had a week.”

“If they don’t decide to kill us early.”

*They will not,* the Eggstone said, surprising me. *You have given them much to think about and gained status in their eyes. You have not given me your memories as you promised, though.*

I stood, tugging at my dress. Threads hung in uneven loops. “I’ve been summoned.”

“Dace, we will get free of this planet. And the Sessimoniss.” She watched me leave, her beautiful face set in determination.

More skystones lay chipped out of the altar. I picked one up. The round stone nestled in my palm.

*The stone channels energy. The forces chip the stone. You would not understand.* The Eggstone sounded distant and pompous again.

“I promised you my memories, but you have to help us. You promised.”

*I will find a way to distract them, to give you a chance. I can do nothing more. When they come to choose a new priestess, you must be ready. When the time comes for the Testing, you must go, as quickly as you can. Bring help to my people,* the Eggstone added softly, almost pleading.

“I will do what I can.”

*I will trust you to keep your promise.*

I cradled the Eggstone in my hands, settling on my cushion with it resting in my lap.

It picked me clean, every memory clear back to the fuzzy half-forgotten images of my dead mother’s face. It pulled out and impartially examined every emotion and thought I’d ever had, every stray idea treated with the same detached interest as the most important memories. It was brutal, honestly examining everything I ever said, thought, or did, reliving every moment of loneliness and despair. I curled in a ball, tears running across my face.

I eventually fell asleep with the Eggstone still rummaging through my head. I woke hours later. The Eggstone rested in my lap, a gentle, soothing warmth.

*I wish to visit with humans again. There is much to learn, much that one human cannot possibly know.*

“I’ll see what I can arrange.” I wiped my face on my skirt.

*Your life is not typical?*

“No.” I grew up, abused and neglected, in an orphanage on Tivor. My life at the Academy hadn’t involved as many beatings, but it hadn’t been happy either. I didn’t want to remember the nightmare of Dadilan.

*I begin to understand.*

The Eggstone went silent, thinking.

The outer door opened. Jerimon spoke, Jasyn answered. I smelled dinner. My stomach growled. I got to my feet. I did not want to go to Council. The Eggstone’s review of my life left me tired, wrung out completely.

Tayvis lounged on a couch by the piles of parchment looking very pleased with himself. “I found a way out of the city through mostly deserted sections. Now we just need to know where the ship is. We could leave anytime.”

“We leave when they choose a new priestess,” I said.

“Isn’t that when they are supposed to skin you alive?” Jerimon asked. “We ought to leave earlier if we can.”

“They would hunt us down before we got out of the city.” I picked through the food, fish in orange sauce again and a different selection of fruits with more of the seeded bread.

“How would they know?” Jerimon asked.

“The Eggstone would tell them.” It wanted me here until it chose a new priestess.

“Right. The talking rock.” Jerimon shuffled another parchment to a stack behind him.

“I had to fight to get it to agree to let us go at all,” I said.

“What did you promise?” Tayvis asked quietly.

“My memories. All of them.”

“No wonder you look like you’ve been pulled backwards through an engine,” he said.

“Don’t leave again,” I said, pleading silently with him to understand.

“Not until we find where the ship is supposed to be.” It was the best promise he would make.

“You’re lucky it was raining.” I ate a piece of a blue melon. It tasted of nothing. “They would have found you if it was clear.”

“They’d smell me? I didn’t leave any tracks.” Tayvis had an inflated opinion of his skills and badly underestimated the Sessimoniss.

“I can smell you from here,” Jasyn said.

“Send out for soap.” Tayvis broke a round of seeded bread.

“They would have found you,” I repeated.

He chewed bread, not meeting my eyes.

I picked through the fish. “I hate being shut up here, too. There is nothing we can do about it. Yet. In a few days, when they choose a new priestess, we leave. The Eggstone promised to keep them busy for an hour.”