A command from a Superior must be obeyed at once, but Drexelica felt a tight knot of anxiety in her stomach. She knew something about Sister Melana's order was… wrong.
"Do I have to give my orders twice, Supplicant?” The Sister raised her lash. “Obey at once, or you'll be looking at five hours of third-level Contrition!"
Melana's voice had more effect than the lash would have done, and Drex yanked the door open and began to launch herself up the steep, worn stairs. She retained sufficient awareness to hitch her cumbersome robes clear of her feet, but she had little idea of where she was going.
Panting, she wrenched open another door at the top of the stairs, and she found herself in the Reverend Mother's own temple; the very room to which she had been transported from Crar. Numerous doors led from the bare, stone room, and Drex paused. Which should she take?
"The door opposite the throne, idiot! Go! Quietly, now! We don't want to wake the Reverend Mother; she may be asleep."
Drexelica padded across the stones as silently as she was able, trying to ignore the rising clamour in her mind. The chants that had echoed through her head were beginning to fade, to be replaced by doubts.
Why is Sister Melana doing this? she wondered. It can't be for my good…
Stop that! another mental voice commanded her. Everything Sister Melana does is for our own good. Everything! We don't want to displease her…
The Order is all! another screamed. Obedience and discipline!
Other voices joined in: some haranguing, some cajoling, but each one commanding her attention.
"Do it, idiot!” Melana hissed, pausing by another, open door. “Open it!"
Drex did as she was bidden, revealing another flight of stairs, but she saw Melana slipping through the other portal.
What's she up to?
Don't you know anything? Never question a Superior!
Shut up, curse you! She's using me as a bloody decoy!
The series’ last thought dismissed her inner traitor's objections and burst into her sensorium like bolts of lightning, driving the dull darkness from her mind, illuminating every crevice of her awareness. I won't have a chance! The raddled cow wants me to be caught, just so she can get away!
Letting go of the door handle, Drex made her way over to the exit Melana had used, and made her way up more stairs into a dark corridor with a brightly lit exit. Silhouetted against the gleam, she saw the unmistakable form of the Sister, poised like a sprinter awaiting the whistle.
So that's her game! she thought, seething. Poor little Drex'll make a mad dash for freedom, alerting everyone, while Melana sneaks away in the confusion. Well, this girl isn't as stupid or as indoctrinated as the dear Sister thinks!
Shaking her head to clear the last traces of fuzziness that had built up over the course of the day, she made her way over to the crouching figure, who was staring intently into a large hallway.
"Hello, Sister,” she muttered, and Melana started as if she had been struck by an arrow.
"What in Hades are you doing here, you little whore? Don't you understand plain speech? I gave you a direct order!"
"I thought we might change the plan a little, Sister Melana. I'm not going to be some fox thrown to the hounds so you can save your own precious hide. If you're going, I'm going with you."
Melana gasped, her eyes wide and staring. “You can't still be unaffected after all that training!"
"I'm not. Something inside me still wants to come to attention whenever I think of your precious freaking Order, but I've been keeping a little bit of myself aside during our fun interludes. It's getting smaller and smaller by the day, but I'm still me. I know I can't resist forever, so I'm not willing to take the chance they'll replace you with someone more competent than you."
"I could take you straight back down to the chamber right now!” Melana's eyes blazed with naked hatred. “You'll break in the end."
"I don't doubt it, Sister. But I'll howl the house down before I let you do that. We're leaving right now-together, or not at all. You don't look as if you'll last too long yourself; Lizaveta must be pretty peeved with you for some reason. I don't think she's looking on you with any great favour, sweet lady."
Melana growled like a cornered tigress, and she thrashed her limbs like a petulant child balked in its desires, but she nodded in the end.
"All right, all right-hug the shadows, and I'll follow behind you. Keep it quiet."
Drex stifled a laugh. “Nice try, Sister Melana, but I don't buy it. At the least sign of trouble, you'd develop a limp, or something, and call down the wrath of the avenging Score on me, so you could get away.
"You can go first. I'm a beggar-girl from Griven, and I've had harder mistresses than you; I can handle lack of food and sleep a lot better than you, by the look. I also reckon I could best you if it came to a fight, and I'm willing to try. Are you?"
Melana's eyes locked on Drexelica's, but the former beggar did not look away, in flagrant breach of the rule of Holy Modesty. The nun was the first to avert her gaze, and Drex smiled, confident now that the Sister had seen sense.
"Very well, Grivense slut. You win-for now.” Melana slunk out of the dark haven like a ferret creeping from its hole, and Drex followed closely behind, hugging the walls of a large hall, the edges of which were shrouded in shadow from a parapet above.
She saw nuns bustling through the atrium with brisk efficiency, their heads low, and she began to believe that success was in sight: these Sisters seemed intent only on their own business. A large, imposing door on the far side of the hall must be their goal.
It's all too easy! Surely, Melana could have slipped out at any time-what's all the fuss about?
As the two furtive figures approached the exit, Drex looked up. The chime was soft, but unmistakeable, and it could not be coincidental that it had sounded at this time.
Melana thrust Drexelica into the full light of the hall and ran for the door, as a pair of cowled figures ran towards the tumbling Supplicant.
As she sprawled on the marble floor, Drex felt herself consumed by rage.
You traitorous bitch! she thought, as the two nuns closed upon her.
With a facility born of intensive, forced practice, Drexelica reached mental tendrils through the floor into the earth beneath the Priory, drawing its energy into her. She did not even think as she loosed a bolt of pure, will-sapping despair into the mind of Melana.
Two more nuns appeared, as the Sister, her hand on the door handle, collapsed with a moan of mingled guilt and terror. Drex held the power on for as long as she could, before a bright spark of pain behind her ear turned into a blazing globe of agony.
As if from a distance, she heard the dry, crackling voice of Prioress Lizaveta: “Very good, my dear: I see that Melana's instruction was not totally wasted. I think you'll make a splendid witch. Of course, we'll need to step up the obedience training a little…"
Red light subsumed Drexelica's consciousness, and she knew no more.
[Back to Table of Contents]
Chapter 10: “A Credit To The Order"
Drexelica awoke to find herself in an unfamiliar room. She looked in wonder at the colourful, tasteful tapestries on the walls, and the luxurious, green carpet. She was lying on one of a pair of comfortable, well-upholstered, red velvet divans, and she reflected on the stark contrast between this opulence and the squalor of the straw palliasse on which she had lain for a few brief hours each night since she had been transported to the Priory.
How long has it been? A week? A month? Longer?
She wracked her mind for clear recollection, but her memories of the time she had spent here were blurred together into a melange of pain and misery.
They're probably keeping me here to soften me up for further indoctrination But all they're doing is allowing me to clear my thoughts, to ready myself for the next round. I'll beat ‘em yet!