"Dark," he muttered.
"In the grand temples of Shar," whispered a soft voice, "the initiation of a new devotee isn't so primitive."
Keph started and looked up. Variance stood beside him. He flushed and took a step away from her.
"F-forgive me…" he stuttered but the strange woman shook her head.
"No need. I've seen enough of Bolan's initiations now to be used to the effects."
She held out a fresh shirtand Quick. Keph's eyes widened. He took both gratefully.
"Thank you," he said.
As he took Quick, he saw a flash of purple on Variance's hand. A ring of blackened silver set with an amethyst. Variance noticed him looking and nodded.
"You're thinking how like Jarull's this ring is," she said. She smiled slightly. "I gave his to him. He's told me about you, Keph."
Keph managed a small bow. "And me about you, Variance. Do you know where he is tonight? He promised me he'd be here."
"Bolan forbade him from attending. An initiate comes before Shar without support." She said it so bluntly that Keph flushed again. Variance must have seen his shame. "It was Jarull's error," she said. "He shouldn't have offered to be here."
She turned away slightly, giving him some privacy while staying close. Keph set Quick and the clean shirt aside, stripped off his ruined garment, and began to sponge his body clean.
After a moment, Variance said, "You saw through Bolan's illusion."
Keph flinched so violently water splashed the stone around him. Variance glanced over her shoulder at him, then away again.
"Your secret's safe," she murmured, just barely loud enough for him to hear. "Bolan's a coward. Shar demands a sacrifice, but Bolan's too afraid to kidnap real people for fear of the local Sehinites uncovering his cell. He resorts to illusion too easily."
"With whatever was in the Elixir of the Void to help the illusion along?" Keph asked.
He brushed water from his arms and chest, then pulled the clean shirt on over still damp skin. Variance turned back around and looked at him with dark, emotionless eyes.
"The Elixir of the Void is a part of every Sharran's initiation. It's a poison. The Dark Goddess's blessing purges it. An initiate who can't prove his dedication to her deserves death."
"It's too late to back out now," Jarull had said. It was truer, even, than he'd probably thought!
Keph swallowed uncomfortably and asked, "Does Bolan know I saw through the illusion?"
Variance shook her head. "No. He was too busy waiting for the moment of sacrifice. I was the only one watching you." She moved a little closer. Her voice was intense. "Not many people could have seen through the illusion while fighting the effects of the elixir."
The aura of power that Variance commanded was palpable. Keph could feel it radiating off of her.
"Everyone in my family is a wizard," he said. "When you grow up in a house like that, you learn a thing or two about illusions."
"Jarull told me about your familyand your feelings toward them," Variance commented. "But he also told me how you dealt with Bolan yesterday."
Keph winced. Jarull had been talking about him a lot. How often did the big man see Variance anyway?
Between his talking to her and her gift of the amethyst ring to him… Keph began to wonder if Jarull had more than just a special trust for Variance. The nervousness he felt around the woman receded a little bit.
"I just figured out what Bolan was up to," he told her. "He wasn't very subtle."
"You didn't just figure out what Bolan was up to," she said. "You made him uncomfortable. You have remarkable strength of will, Keph. Your penetration of the illusion confirms it." Variance gave him a long, measuring look as if peering deep inside him, then she nodded, almost as though to herself. "You may have potential," she murmured as she started to turn away.
"Potential?"
Without thinking, Keph grabbed for her. Variance's arm was shockingly cool. She stiffened and glared down at his hand. He snatched it away.
"I'm sorry," he apologized, "but… but you said 'potential'?"
No one had used the word describe him for yearsnot since his father had given up hope for him. Variance raised her eyebrows and nodded.
"What do you mean?" Keph blurted. "What kind of potential?"
She gave him another long look, then pulled him a little farther into the nearest shadows.
"Jarull told me that your family ignores you because you're not a wizard," she said.
Keph nodded slowly. "My parents tested me. I have all the talent of a potato when it comes to the Art."
Variance frowned at him. "Your parents have denied you a tremendous gift, Keph." She touched his forehead. Her finger was cold. "The Artthe magic of the arcanecomes from here." Her finger moved to his chest, lingering over his heart. "The power of divine magic comes from here. Wizards often fail to realize that." Her voice was slow and dark. "If your faith is as strong as your will, Keph, you could channel Shar's power as her priest."
Keph's heart was pounding once more. "A priest?" he asked.
"You have the potential," Variance said again. "It's not an easy path. You need"
"Teach me," said Keph sharply. His hands were trembling like they never had before. Blood was singing in his ears. His heart felt ready to leap right out of his chest. "Variance, please. Teach me!" He clutched at the symbol of Shar around his neck. "If there's a test… something to prove that I could do it…"
Variance stepped back. "Faith doesn't work like that, Keph."
"I need to know!"
His words echoed from the rough rock walls of the temple. The other cultists turned to stare at them. Variance narrowed her eyes.
"Lower your voice," she hissed.
Keph clamped his mouth shut. She studied him.
"Perhaps I could try teaching you an orison," she said.
Keph nodded and asked, "That's like a cantrip, isn't it? The simplest kind of divine spell?"
"Don't use the words of arcanists to describe the power of faith."
She spread her hands and shadows seemed to reach out to engulf them, screening them from the other cultists. "Kneel," she ordered.
Keph knelt. The stone floor was hard under his knees. He ignored it and focused on Variance.
Her eyes were half closed and she was breathing deeply. Just as he had mimicked Jarull's obeisance to Bolan the day before, Keph mimicked her.
"Good," Variance said. "Now… feel the darkness. Outside you. Within you. That is Shar." She spoke slowly, drawing out her words into a kind of lulling song. "Shar. The Nightsinger. The Dancer in the Dark. The Mistress of the Night, whose heart is the primal void that existed before all else and will exist again once Shar has drawn all creation into her embrace. Shar is more powerful than any of us. She could extinguish us with a word. Only by recognizing that and in accepting her perfection can we hope to draw on even a fragment of her power." She exhaled slowly. "Do you feel Shar's presence, Keph?"
Keph fought back the excitement that Variance's words had stirred in him. He tried to recall the feeling that had driven him to his knees when he had first entered the templethat sense of a living, primordial darkness, all-powerful, greater, and bigger than him or the puny lights that the cultists needed to…
"Yes," he said. "Yes, I think I can."
"Hold your faith," Variance told him. "Believe in Shar." She reached across her body and made a sign in front of her face. "Mistress of the Night, guide me."
Keph repeated her gesture and her words: "Mistress of the Night, guide me."
Nothing happened.
"Again."
Variance made the sign and spoke the words once more. Keph repeated them. Again, nothing happened.
"Believe in the Lady of Loss," Variance told him. "You speak a prayer, not a command. The words must be felt as well as spoken. Again."
Nothing.