The Priestess and the Thief Page 3

  “Much better.” The old Priestess Superior sighed contentedly. “Now I can let the medicine work and drift off to sleep.” She squeezed Elli’s hand. “Thank you, child. You’re a blessing to me and I call the blessings of the Goddess down on you.”

  “Thank you, Priestess Superior.” Elli squeezed back very gently. She refused to add “Descending” to the old woman’s title. It was cruel enough that she was dying, forgotten and alone in this back bedchamber, without reminding her of her lost status.

  “You take care now, child,” the old woman whispered, her eyes fluttering closed. “And don’t worry about what to do—the Goddess will guide you. She has promised me she will.”

  “What?” Elli frowned. “Guide me where, Priestess Superior?”

  But the old woman had finally sunk into sleep and Elli’s only answer was a gentle snore.

  “Goodbye then,” Elli whispered, placing the withered hand gently back on the old woman’s chest. “I hope I see you again before…” She gulped back sudden tears. “Before the end,” she finally managed to get out in a choked voice. The Descending Priestess Superior reminded her so much of her own grandmother, that it was almost like losing her all over again.

  Sniffing back her tears, she prepared to go back across the hall and wait for the Ascending Priestess Superior. She wondered what punishment awaited her and tried to swallow down the nervous lump in her throat.

  But honestly, what else could they do that they hadn’t already done? She’d had a week of seclusion already where she was locked in her room all day and night with nothing to do but meditate, and now she was going to be scrubbing toilets all day. What could be worse than that?

  “Nothing, I hope,” Elli muttered to herself in a low voice. She put her hand on the doorknob and was about to turn it when she heard voices in the hall outside.

  “Hurry up, Beedra!” That was the brisk, cold, no-nonsense voice of the Ascending Priestess Superior talking to her assistant—a plump priestess who looked sad every time Elli saw her. Probably because she used to work for the Descending Priestess Superior, who was much nicer.

  “Yes, Priestess Superior,” Beedra’s voice could be heard saying. She always sounded like she was out of breath, probably from keeping up with the tall, whip-thin head priestess.

  “Now then—what’s on the agenda for today?” The Priestess Superior asked, right outside the door.

  Elli held her breath, hoping she wouldn’t open the bedchamber door to check on the Descending Priestess Superior. But she needn’t have worried—the Ascending Priestess Superior seemed much too busy to bother with the dying old lady.

  “You’re meant to have a sentencing session with that novice—the one who led the others astray and got them all to sneak out of their rooms and go to the humans’ Christmas party,” Beedra said quickly.

  Elli clenched her fists in indignation. She had not been the leader of the gang! She hadn’t even suggested going to the party in the first place. It was Kylin who had been talking about how bright and exciting the party would be and then Lelki had said she wished she could see it and then somehow the three of them had started making plans but Elli certainly hadn’t suggested it. She—

  “Well, she’s late!” The Ascending Priestess Superior’s voice cut into Elli’s frustrated thoughts. “Let’s wait in the office for her and move on to the second order of business in the meantime.”

  The office door opened and closed and Elli breathed a sigh of relief. Now she could sneak out of the Descending Priestess Superior’s room and knock on the door of the office as though she was just coming in.

  She did just that, closing the bedchamber door with excruciating care so as not to make a sound and coming to stand in front of the office door. But just as she was raising her hand to knock, she heard the Ascending Priestess Superior’s voice again, raised in anger and irritation this time.

  “What do you mean you’ve found something that can cure her?”

  Four

  Elli’s hand froze in midair. Instead of knocking, she pressed her ear to the door eagerly. They must be talking about the Descending Priestess Superior! After all, who else needed curing?

  “The analysis said that her wasting sickness could be stopped and even possibly reversed by a tiny piece of the Healing Lattice held in the Tenebrian Court on Pok,” Beedra explained.

  Elli’s heart jumped. Pok! She knew Pok—it was the second moon of her own home world, Torl Prime! In fact, half the inhabitants living on Pok were from Torl Prime.

  The other half were Tenebrians, a humanoid species that was tall and thin with narrow faces, pale blue skin, and large eyes. Elli had only seen Tenebrians once, when a couple of them had come down to Torl Prime to buy zorels in the annual fair. Her older brother, Pern, had been impressed because he’d heard rumors that they were a good judge of animals.

  “The Healing Lattice, hmm?” The Ascending Priestess Superior didn’t sound at all pleased.

  “Exactly! Just a tiny sliver of it under her tongue—”

  “And will the Tenebrians be willing to give up a ‘tiny sliver’ of their lattice?” the Ascending Priestess Superior demanded.

  “Well, that is the problem,” Beedra said, sounding worried. “They’re supposedly extremely protective of it. It grows from a very precious material only found on their home world and it’s known as the ‘Heart of the Court.’ In order to get any of it, you either have to render a great service to their Crown Prince or pay some exorbitant amount of credits.”

  “I see…” There was a rhythmic clicking sound and Elli could picture the Ascending Priestess Superior tapping her long green nails on the shiny top of her polished wooden desk as she considered the information.

  “So I thought, if we asked Commander Sylvan for the credits—” Beedra began.

  “Have you asked him?” The Ascending Priestess’s voice was sharp. “In fact, have you told anyone else about this? Anyone at all?”

  “No, Priestess Superior,” Beedra said quickly. “I waited to speak to you first.”

  “Good,” the other woman said shortly. “Well, well—so the only cure for the old woman is on Pok. It’s rather convenient, considering that’s where the Priory of Extreme Atonement is located.”

  The Priory of Extreme Atonement? Elli didn’t like the sound of that at all.

  “Yes it is.” Beedra sounded confused. “But what—?”

  “Don’t you see? We’ll send a delegation to Pok to drop off that nasty little novice who shamed herself at the human party,” the Ascending Priestess snapped.

  “Oh, and then we can go and ask to buy a piece of the Healing Lattice at the same time, right?” Beedra sounded excited. She must miss working for the old head priestess, Elli thought.

  “No.” The Ascending Priestess’s voice was cool. “And then we’ll have sent someone to Pok, which makes it look like we tried to get a piece of the lattice.”

  “Oh, but…we’re not even going to try to get a piece?” Beedra objected.

  “Certainly not. The Descending one has had her turn leading the Order of the Sacred Grove,” the Ascending Priestess said coldly.

  “But…but I did so much research!” Beedra sounded almost desperate. “And to not even try—”

  “It is time for her to be with the Goddess,” the Ascending Priestess said sharply. “It would be wrong of us to keep her from such glory. Don’t you think, Priestess Beedra?”

  “I…I suppose so.” Beedra sounded miserable now. She must have really tried hard to find a way to save the sweet old woman’s life, Elli thought indignantly. No wonder she was upset to hear that her plan wouldn’t be put into action!

  “Good, then that’s settled,” the Ascending Priestess said. “Now, where is that wretched novice? The sooner we send her off to Pok, the better!”

  There was the sound of a chair creaking and Elli realized, with alarm, that one of the women had gotten up to come and look for her. Quickly, she rapped on the door.

  “Come in,” the Ascen
ding Priestess called and Elli pushed open the door.

  Inside, she saw the Ascending Priestess settling back behind the glossy desk in her plush leather chair. Beside her desk was the wooden cabinet where the golden goblet which held the Mortem Amore elixir was stored.

  Beedra was sitting on one of the hard wooden chairs opposite the desk. She made a motion, indicating that Elli was to come sit beside her on the other chair.

  “Yes, Ascending Priestess Superior?” Elli still felt numb as she sat on the edge of the chair.

  The head priestess’s thin lips twisted in displeasure.

  “Simply ‘Priestess Superior’ will do, novice.”

  Elli wanted to point out that until the real Priestess Superior died, the woman in front of her was still only Ascending Priestess, but she sensed that wouldn’t be a smart thing to say.

  “Yes, Priestess Superior,” she said woodenly. “The Head Cook told me to come and see you?” she added, making the statement a question.

  “Indeed. It is time that you were punished for your indiscretions.” The Ascending Priestess steepled her long thin fingers and rested her bony elbows on the shiny surface of her desk. “I have thought long and hard about what might help you mend your wicked ways, Novice, and it seems to me that a year or two at the Priory of Extreme Atonement will serve you nicely.”

  “The Priory of Extreme Atonement?” Elli echoed and licked her lips nervously. “I…I have never heard of it.”

  “Not many people have,” The Ascending Priestess informed her. “It’s a facility for the redemption of shameless cases like your own.”

  Shameless cases? Elli wanted to tell the head priestess that she had plenty of shame about what had happened at the human Christmas party, but the other woman was still speaking.

  “At the priory of Extreme Atonement, you will be locked in a meditation cell for twenty-three hours a day,” she was saying. “There, you can think long and hard on your sins and beg the Goddess for forgiveness. You will eat a plain and simple diet of paste wafers and bitter milk.”

  “Twenty-three hours a day?” Elli’s voice trembled. “Alone? Meditating? Never seeing anyone else?” Just one week of silent meditation had nearly driven her mad. She couldn’t imagine two years of it!

  “Oh, you’ll see other people, my dear—never fear,” The Ascending Priestess sneered. “The last hour of your day, you will spend in chastisement. The priests who run the Priory will mortify your flesh in order to heal your soul.”

  “Mortify my…my flesh?” Elli shook her head. “I don’t understand. How—?”

  “In my understanding, they alternate using a leather strap and a hard wooden cane,” the Ascending Priestess snapped. “In all probability, you will bear the marks of your mortification all your life. Which is a good thing—it will be a reminder to you that a priestess must never break her vows of chastity!”

  “But…but I was given drugged punch!” Elli protested. “I didn’t do anything on purpose.”

  “Don’t lie to me.” The Ascending Priestess narrowed her eyes at Elli. “I know why you were sent into the priestess-hood in the first place. I know what your stepmother caught you doing! Don’t try to deny it.”

  “I…I…” Elli shook her head, not sure what she could say to defend herself.

  There was no defense, in fact. For how could she justify abusing her own body for pleasure and then begging the mysterious male at the party to abuse her as well? No matter that she’d been given the drugged punch, it was still wrong of her to have such feelings and to break her vows of chastity.

  Still, she couldn’t bear the thought of being locked up in a meditation cell and only brought out to take beatings once a day. It was too awful!

  “Please,” she begged, clasping her hands under her chin. “Oh please, Priestess Superior, I know I have wrong thoughts and desires—I admit it! But can’t I simply go through the Ceremony of Shriving and drink of the Mortem Amore so I won’t have them anymore?” She looked longingly at the carved wooden cabinet hanging on the wall beside the desk.

  “Most certainly not!” the Ascending Priestess snapped. “You must pay for your sins before you can be forgiven and shriven of them. After a year or two, you can come back and drink of the cup of Mortem Amore—only then will you become a proper priestess.”

  Elli wanted to cry out that she didn’t want to be a proper priestess! That all she’d ever wanted was to be a zorel trainer back on her home world. But the words stuck in her throat and she could only shake her head in horror.

  “Now go and pack your things,” the Ascending Priestess said coldly. “You will be leaving within the hour. Dismissed.”

  And with that, there was nothing else Elli could do but leave her office to go and pack.

  Five

  “Please, help me! Roke, I need you! Please!”

  Roke woke with a start and a curse. The dream was so vivid he half expected to see the little priestess standing in front of him pleading for his help. Instead there was nothing but the empty air. That didn’t matter though—he could still see her in his mind’s eye. Her long blonde hair with delicate streaks of pale jade green…her big green eyes staring up at him with such a pleading expression as she begged him to come save her…

  “This is fucking ridiculous,” Roke growled to himself. Swinging his legs over the edge of his bed, he planted his elbows on his knees and rubbed his temples hard. “It’s a dream,” he told himself over and over again. “Just a dream.”

  The same dream he’d been having for the past two weeks, ever since he’d done the job on the Mother Ship.

  “Should never have taken that job,” he muttered, still rubbing his temples.

  But it had seemed like an easy mark. Usually when someone approached him with a job, he was trying to take something valuable away with him. In this case, all he’d had to do was smuggle in the tiny bottle of passion drug and put a few drops in the punch. And because he was half Kindred, nobody batted an eye when he came aboard the Mother Ship.

  He wished now he hadn’t done it. Every night since, he’d dreamed of her—the sweet little priestess that he had corrupted. Gods, her lips had been so soft and she had pressed her breasts into his hands so eagerly…

  Because she was drugged, Roke reminded himself. She never would have acted that way otherwise. Anyway, it’s time you forget about her and get on with your life. It’s time—

  “Thief, you will go to the girl and aid her.”

  The powerful female voice boomed in his cabin, and the presence that came with it seemed to fill his entire ship. Roke felt as he had once when he had dived too deep in the Yolesh Ocean and had run out of air. His eardrums bulged and his lungs burned as he tried to breathe.

  “Wh-what?” he finally managed to get out.

  “Your actions have brought harm upon the priestess, Ellilah,” the voice boomed again. “But I will use the situation for good and you will help. Go to her now—protect and aide her.”

  “Goddess?” Roke muttered, having at last figured out who was speaking to him. He looked around his darkened cabin, as though the Mother of All Life might suddenly appear. “I…I don’t even know where she is,” he protested.

  “She will be found on Pok, the second moon of Torl Prime,” the Goddess told him. “You must seek her near the palace of the Tenebrian Crown Prince. Now go!”

  “But how do I get her to trust me?” Roke protested. After all, he’d drugged her and taken advantage of her the first time they met—she would be right to be extremely suspicious of him.

  There was no answer to his question. The Goddess only repeated,

  “GO.”

  And then the room was silent and the huge, overwhelming presence which had filled his cabin like a thousand tons of water pressure was suddenly gone.

  Roke ran a shaking hand through his shaggy black hair. He had never been a religious male—he’d always thought that the Goddess had set the universe in motion and then left to do whatever it was deities did, with no thought f
or her individual children.

  Well, she’s certainly thinking of that little priestess you wronged, whispered a shaky little voice in his head. I think you’d better do what she says, Roke.

  Roke had to agree with the little voice. He might be a thief and a scoundrel, but he wasn’t stupid. Clearly the Goddess meant business and he wasn’t about to contradict her.

  Rising from his cot, he went to the navcom of his small ship to set a new course for Pok.

  He just hoped he could find the girl when he got there, and that he could convince her to trust him. Though how he was going to manage that after their first encounter, he had no idea…

  Six

  “This is it—the Priory of Extreme Atonement.” The Blood Kindred pilot who had brought Elli to Pok gave her a sympathetic look. “Do you want me to come in with you?”

  “No thank you,” Elli said numbly, shaking her head. “I…I think I’m supposed to go alone.”

  “Of course.” The pilot nodded as he studied the Priory. “But it looks…kind of grim. You can stay here as long as you want to,” he invited. “I’m not in a hurry to get back to the Mother Ship.”

  Elli appreciated his kindness. But as she stared at the foreboding black building with walls that seemed to reach to the sky and no windows whatsoever, she knew that if she didn’t go and turn herself in to the Priory now, she would lose her nerve. Or worse, she would start to cry. And then the pilot would try to comfort her and if any of the priests who ran the Priory saw it, they could be accused of inappropriate touching and then she would get even more punishment than she was already scheduled for.

  “Thank you but I think…” She swallowed hard. “Think I’d better get…get going.”

  “Of course.” The pilot pushed a button and the passenger side door whooshed open. “May the Goddess bless your stay here,” he said formally.