Blood of the Fold

Merissa squatted as she sorted through the clothes in the chest, and pulled out her crimson dress. "Why else would we have been given to this man?"

Ulicia lifted an eyebrow. "Given? You think so? I think it's more than that; I think Emperor Jagang is acting of his own volition."

The others halted at their dressing and looked up. "You think he could defy the Keeper?" Nicci asked. "For his own ambitions?"

With a finger, Ulicia tapped the side of Nicci's head. "Think. The Keeper failed to come to us in the dream that is not a dream; that has never happened before. Ever. Instead comes Jagang. Even if the Keeper were displeased with us, and wanted us to serve penance under Jagang, don't you suppose he would have come to us himself and ordered it, to show us his displeasure? I don't think this is the Keeper's doing. I think it is Jagang's."

Armina snatched up her blue dress. It was a shade lighter that Ulicia's, but no less elaborate. "It is still Liliana who has brought this upon us!"

A small smile touched Ulicia's lips. "Has she? Liliana was greedy, I think the Keeper thought to use that greed, but she failed him." The smile vanished. "It is not Sister Liliana who brought this upon us."

Nicci's hand paused as she drew the cord tight at the bodice of her black dress. "Of course. The boy."

" Boy?" Ulicia slowly shook her head. "No 'boy' could have brought down the barrier. No mere boy could have brought to ruin the plans we have worked so hard for all these years. We all know what he is, about the prophecies." Ulicia looked at each Sister in turn. "We are in a very dangerous position. We must work to gain back the Keeper's power in this world, or else when Jagang is finished with us he will kill us, and we will find ourselves in the underworld, and no longer of use to the Master. If that happens, then the Keeper surely will be displeased, and he will make what Jagang showed us seem a lover's embrace."

The ship creaked and groaned as they all considered her words. They were racing back to serve a man who would use them, and then discard them without a thought, much less a reward, yet none of them were prepared to even consider defying him.

"Boy or not, he has caused all this." The muscles in Merissa's jaw tightened. "And to think, I had him in my grasp, we all did. We should have taken him when we had the chance."

"Liliana, too, thought to take him, to have his power for herself," Ulicia said, "but she was reckless and ended up with that cursed sword of his through her heart. We must be smarter than she; then we will have his power, and the Keeper his soul."

Armina wiped a tear from her lower eyelid. "But in the meantime, there must be some way we can avoid having to return — "

"And how long do you think we could remain awake?" Ulicia snapped. "Sooner or later we would fall asleep. Then what? Jagang has already shown us he has the power to reach out to us, wherever we are."

Merissa returned to fastening the buttons at the bodice of her crimson dress. "We,will do what we must, for now, but that does not mean we can't use our heads."

Ulicia's brows drew together in thought. She looked up with a wry smile. 'Emperor Jagang may believe he has us where he wants us, but we've lived a long time. Perhaps, if we use our heads, and our experience, we will not be quite as cowed as he thinks?"

Malevolence gleamed in Tovi's eyes. "Yes," she hissed, "we have indeed lived a long time, and we've learned to bring a few wild boars to ground, and gut them while they squeal."

Nicci smoothed the gathers in the skirt of her black dress. "Gutting pigs is all well and good, but Emperor Jagang is our plight, and not its cause. Nor is it advantageous to waste our anger on Liliana; she was simply a greedy fool. It is the one who truly brought this trouble upon us who must be made to suffer."

"Wisely put, Sister," Ulicia said.

Merissa absently touched her breast where it was bruised. "I will bathe in that young man's blood." Her eyes went out of focus, opening again the window to her black heart. "While he watches."

Ulicia's fists tightened as she nodded in agreement. "It is he, the Seeker, who has brought this upon us. I vow he will pay with his gift, his life, and his soul."

CHAPTER 2

Richard had just taken a spoonful of hot spice soup when he heard the deep, menacing growl. He frowned over at Gratch. The gar's hooded eyes glowed, lit from within by cold green fire as he glared toward the gloom among the columns at the base of the expansive steps. His leathery lips drew back in a snarl, exposing prodigious fangs. Richard realized he still had a mouthful of soup, and swallowed.

Gratch's guttural growl grew, deep in his throat, sounding like a moldy old castle's massive dungeon door being opened for the first time in a hundred years.