Coruscate

Chapter Seven

Rei's expression reminds me of an older memory, one from a long, long time ago.

Only acolytes and Sisters can qualify for a burial, so temple maidens, if they die early, are cremated instead, their ashes thrown down the cliff into the forest. Once, the wind had been blowing the wrong way, so instead of being dumped into the forest, all the ashes of Kalia, who had been my best friend in childhood, had landed on me and a few other unfortunate temple maidens standing nearby. Sister Nai, who'd been nearby, had us all cleaned up in a matter of an hour, but her face was a constant grim line as she wiped off the remainder of Kalia from our faces and robes.

I don't know what I'm expecting when Rei makes that same face. Perhaps I'd thought that it couldn't have been much worse than the events that happened just previously. Perhaps simply being with Rei had lulled me into a false sense of security.

Either way, what she tells me completely awakens me back to reality.

"Eclipse has taken hostages in order to ensure your capture," Rei says, the corners of her mouth set into a grim line. She reaches into the pockets of her robe and pulls out a crumpled paper, something so uncharacteristic of Rei I almost laugh. She hands it to me, and I do my best to smooth it out on my lap.

It's a letter, small, rushed handwriting cramped into a small sheet of paper about the size of the palm of my hand and making it near impossible to read. I hold it to the light, trying to distinguish between each individual stroke:

Dearst Rei

Bad news for the girl. Young wmn wth balck hair have been held hostage by eclipse. Offering all citizens release of hostages with capture (alive only!! must hold some use to them?). left wing of temple in city burned down yestrday, mob planning to burn down right wing tom. Sisters Clair, Menna, Jesel, Eri missing(wherebouts ??), other Sisters captured. Nai is in chrge of temple, completely locked down, could not enter.

Take girl and jonai with you back to ashdeath. No one will think to look for her there. Await my next leter to you.

B.

I finish reading, siphoning the words like a sponge, my eyes trailing to the bottom of the page as if expecting to see more. It's a pathetic amount of information—only that hostages have been held, and a few other current states of affairs—and yet, that alone is enough to make dread burn inside me like a kerosene candle, steady and fiery.

What am I supposed to do now?

Some part of me wants to turn myself in to Eclipse and sacrifice myself for the hostages, like a martyr. I hate the fact that people are in danger right now because of me, that I can't do anything to help their current situation. Maybe that's their plan to lure me out—get a couple hostages and threaten their safety, and I'll be drawn out like the weak-hearted fool I am.

But a more logical part of tells me that Eclipse wants me for a reason, and it's obviously not a very pretty reason. Maybe they want to torture me to death as revenge against my mother, or maybe it's for some other more sinister reason they want to capture me specifically. And indeed, that begs the question—why me? Why not someone closer to Mother, like Sister Eri or Sister Nai?

"This place was a royal safehouse in the past," Rei says, prying the letter away from my fingers. I stare at the ground, my eyes drawn to the small patterns of natural wear-and-tear ingrained in the stone. "Only Jonai and I know of it. We can probably stay here for a good week or two before we leave for Ashdeath."

The name itself sounds ominous, made with the two words I associate with death and desolation. Definitely not my first choice for somewhere I want to go if I want to stay alive. I don't dare protest, however, not when Rei's already done so much to help me.