who thinks her shite doesn’t stink, but my mother raised me to be better than that.”
“Oh!” I said, outraged at the slander. “I am not a know-it-all! I’m the first person to admit that there are any number of things I don’t know. I can’t help it if the fact that I was a Bane of Eris, a priestess of Kiriah, and a lightweaver means I have more than a passing knowledge of things beyond your ken. And for the record, I know full well that my shite is just as stinky as—” I stopped, hearing just how ridiculous that sentence was. I took a deep, calming breath, and continued, “We have strayed from the topic of what Nezu has to discuss with the thane that is so important he must kill one of his own Harborym to come here.”
“All will become clear in time,” answered a deep voice that reminded me of rock grating on rock. The sound rolled out into the cave as we emerged around a bend into the entrance,where the thane’s twelve remaining soldiers had set up a camp of sorts. Nezu stood next to the thane, his red skin glistening as if it had been oiled, the long black braids that hung alongside his face slithering across his shoulders and upper chest as he turned to look at me. “This is the priestess? She is…not what I expected.”
I mused that after he had consumed chaos magic Deo was changed—like me, he’d lost the color of the Fireborn—but whereas the other Banes and I had undergone minor physical changes, Deo’s body had reacted to the magic by growing in stature until he was a head taller than Hallow. I didn’t know if Nezu ever had a lesser form, but now he stood a good two heads taller than Deo, towering over me in a manner that made me feel like a child in comparison. Beyond him, two Harborym stood at the cave entrance, their backs to us, clearly watching for any intruders.
Just who the god of shadows expected to attack him in the spirit world was beyond my understanding, but I had never claimed to follow the logic of gods, especially not Nezu. Mindful of the proper manner to greet someone of his stature, however, I made him the bow that Sandor said indicated humility without subservience, and murmured the traditional greeting. “Blessings of Kiriah upon…oh. Er…” I stopped, uncomfortable asking Kiriah for a blessing on her troublesome brother.
A grimace passed over his face before he turned back to the thane, who stood with arms crossed over his chest, his long, wispy white hair moving around his head as if it had a life of its own, shifting and moving on the slightest breeze. “This is the great prize? She is nothing more than a mouthpiece of the sun god. Of what use is she to me?”
“She is most powerful, blessed in Kiriah’s eyes,” the thane answered, and once again, I wondered how he’d known who I was when he was supposed to have been asleep deep in the crypts beneath Kelos.
“She doesn’t have the scent of power about her.” Nezu turned to run his gaze over me again. I had to steel myself to stand still. “There is no stink of Kiriah about her, only that of Bellias.”
I wondered why I smelled of arcany, but figured it must be some residue from the intimate contact I’d had with Hallow a few hours before.
Beside me, Mayam rushed to say, “The priestess claims she is a lightweaver, my lord, although during the whole time I was with her on Eris, she never summoned up so much as one single ray of sunlight.”
“As if anything could get through the perpetual twilight that fell on Eris when the twin goddesses bound—” I stopped the second my mind pointed out to whom I was speaking. The less I reminded Nezu of his exile, the better. I could almost hear Hallow’s voice gently chiding me for trying to prove my abilities to a god who would not hesitate to crush me in order to strip from me Kiriah’s power. I cleared my throat, and said simply, “All priestesses of Kiriah carry with them her blessing. I am no different.”
Nezu studied me for a moment with a gaze that just about flayed the flesh off my bones. He turned back to the thane. “I don’t see anything special about this priest, but I will grant your request. In exchange for her, I will summon the All-Father.”
The thane, who had been regarding Nezu with half-closed eyes, smiled. His visage showed the number of long centuries he had lived before the Eidolon had left the mortal realm and retired to their crypts buried deep in Alba; his smile was both unnatural and disconcerting. “We are in agreement, then. I give you the priestess to do with as you will, and in return, the All-Father will be destroyed. I must raise the rest of the Eidolon to do so, however. They have been too long asleep, and it will take much to rouse them.”
Nezu was silent for a few minutes before he gestured toward Mayam, who released her hold on my wrist, scurrying forward. “My servant will fetch one of Bellias’ moonstones. Use it to waken your army, and do what you could not do before my coming.”
The thane bowed his head in acknowledgement while all sorts of warning bells went off in my mind. Who was this All-Father of which they spoke? Why did the thane want him destroyed? And most importantly of all, how could I use this turn of events to rid us of Nezu? The moonstone…it might have the power to leash him, but I was not learned in its use, and doubted if I had the power to hold him, even if I was to get the stone away from the thane.
“Take the priest to my camp and bring back one of the moonstones,” Nezu commanded Mayam before turning back to the thane. “Is this the extent of your company? I want a spirit found who is hiding in this realm—”
Mayam yanked me after her, hurrying toward the entrance of the cave, where two Harborym lurked. I tried to dig in my feet in order to hear what it was Nezu wanted of the thane, but Mayam was evidently desperate to please her master. “Stop fighting me,” she hissed, giving me a vicious jerk forward when I tried to delay. “Or I’ll have the Harborym knock you silly.”
“Mean, just mean,” I muttered under my breath. The thought that the moonstones must be nearby filled my head, causing my fingers to twitch with the need for action. I spied a familiar object poking out of a small open chest, and jerked sideways, snatching up my scabbard and crossed swords.
“Oh, no, you don’t!” Mayam snarled, grabbing the scabbard from me before I could so much as extract one sword.
She looked as if she was about to throw the scabbard aside when I said quickly, “Do not cast them away. They belong to Deo. He’s just letting me use them, and they have much value to him. He would be angry to know you tossed away his mother’s swords.”
“Huh,” she snorted with a toss of her head, but she tucked the scabbard under her free arm. “What are Lord Deo’s wishes to me? He is as weak as you are, a fact I soon realized. It is why when Lord Racin asked for my aid, I gave it to him willingly. Lord Deo was all talk and no action. Lord Racin says little, but his actions are unmistakable.”
“Who is this All-Father he wants destroyed?” I asked, my mind turning over any number of plans. If I could pretend to stumble, I might take her down with me, and in the scuffle to get to our feet, I could get my swords. Or I could throw myself on her, taking her by surprise, and knock her out, retrieving my swords, after which I would go looking for the moonstones. On the other hand, I could simply wait until she took me to the stones, at which point I would either stumble or attack her, thus giving me both my weapons and the moonstones. Yes, that seemed the wisest plan.
The look she shot me was almost pitying in its smugness. “You are a priestess, educated and well-traveled, and yet you do not know who the All-Father is?” She shook her head. “Your ignorance is breathtaking.”
I was about to tell her what I thought of her, too, but at that moment we approached the Harborym. They both stared at us until Mayam gestured for one to move aside. “The master commands me to his tent. Move, so that I might take his prisoner to the gaoler.”
I thought for a moment the massive abomination might refuse her order, but after giving her a long look, he shifted just enough for us to squeeze between them out into the brighter light.
A small cluster of tents had been set up, and a few Shadowborn and Harborym moved in and around them. In the center was a large black and red structure that looked as if it was made up of a portcullis to which a tent had been attached. As we drew closer I realized the long iron bars set into thick wooden walls were a gaol of some sort,