Darkness.
Astna gasped, spinning around, but the door behind her had vanished. She was blind - completely, utterly blind. At her shoulder, Rasla screeched, nearly deafening Astna as her wings beat against her ear.
"Be at peace, child."
"Who are you?" she demanded. "What is the meaning of this?"
"I am the High Priest of the Valigen, and as for this..."
Something glittered in the corner of her eye. She flinched as a light wavered into existence before her, a glittering orb of white.
One by one, the lights flickered into view, shimmering like feathers of silver. Astna turned her gaze up and let out a breath of awe - a hundred different constellations now glowed upon the roof, more perfect than the night sky....
"...this," the voice came, "is nothing, if you know the way to light."
The hall came aglow with a million candles.
The chamber was half the size of Valchtnallan Hall, but the ceiling, a masterpiece of silver-streaked obsidian, loomed twice as high. At their feet laid an image of a twelve-pointed star, etched in silver.
Before her stood a young woman in a robe of white. The High Priest had a plain face, with heavy-set eyes and dark brows.
"You're the High Priest?" she said, unable to keep the disbelief from her voice.
The woman laughed. Her voice was strangely melodic, like the sound Astna thought she'd heard from Rasla. "All queens should know their people, no? I am indeed the High Priest of the Valigen. Does my face surprise you? I chose it just for you."
"This...is not your face?"
"No, no more than your face or the faces of the men outside. I know why you have come here, and your quest is futile."
Her heart sank. "But," she said, "I have need of the Valigenstamm. I need the Militant to help me retake my - our - homeland."
The Priest shook her head. "The Old Night Kingdom is not my homeland, nor yours. Your place is here, with your people."
"I cannot serve them without retaking Old Skeynvald," Astna said, trying to keep her voice calm. "We have no natural resources in Valchtnallan, and the Lion Queen knows that. Our economy is broken and our people are starving."
The Priest smiled. "You know that the only fights of the Valigen are the Twelve Eternal Struggles. We do not partake in the battles of states and kingdoms."
"But will you fight for the people of Skeynvald?" she demanded. "For their well-being?"
"War would destroy more lives than it would save."
"But consider all the future generations of our men. They will starve if we do not fight."
"And the future generations of Old Skeynvald? Surely there wouldn't be any, if you destroyed their forebearers."
"I will not destroy them." Damn you and your Faith to hell, she wanted to scream. Can't you see how important this is? "I will treat them better than Queen Lleona is right now."
The Priest raised an eyebrow. "How? I do not see much support for you from your people, and a queen without a people is nothing."
Astna gritted her teeth. "I do have the support of my people. But they are afraid. You yourself wear the face of a young woman – you must know how hard it is to inspire loyalty and courage in men several times older than you."
"Ah," the Priest said, smiling. "That I do know...yet, as I said, I wear this face for you and you only."
"Why?" she demanded. "I know myself."
"Some would argue that knowing is not knowing without acceptance. And here I shall give you my first piece of advice. Only when you surrender to yourself – to who you are – can you win."
Astna narrowed her eyes. What? "I did not come here to philosophize. I need your men. What use are they here, standing guard over an abandoned temple? Is this your definition of compassion and justice, which you claim to serve so ardently?"
The Priest raised her eyebrows, still unperturbed. "And you claimed to be the servant of the Twelve when you took your vows as the Lady of Valchtnallan...yet your disdain for the Faith is known from Skeynvald to Svanvald."
Her nails dug white crescents into her palms. "Very well. When I retake Old Skeynvald, the Twelve will no longer have a place on this Isle. Perhaps a few starving souls - or an entire city - will find solace here."
The Priest shrugged. "Perhaps. But you won't do that...no, you will return here before you conquer the land you claim as your homeland."
"No," she snapped, "I will not. I will not return here until I am crowned as Queen of Skeynvald. I will come back to raze this island, and you will wish you'd never crossed me." She swept towards the door, but the Priest's tinkling laughter, as gentle as a maiden's, stopped her.
"Queen of Skeynvald?" she said, amused. "Queen you shall be when you come back, yes. Queen of dust and defeat, queen of death and destruction."
Astna turned.
There was an eerie light in the Priest's eyes, a light akin to the cold glimmer of swords and the hard glitter of stars....
She speaks the truth, she realized.
For the first time since Astna stepped into the temple, she was afraid. She backed up uneasily, her nails digging white crescents into our palms.
The Priest stepped towards Astna, her hands outstretched. In the corner of Astna's vision, a candle flickered out and disappeared. Another one, and then another....
She's putting out the lights.
Terror seized Astna. She spun and raced for the exit, but she could not outrun the Priest's voice.
"Come back you shall," she proclaimed, her words tolling like a funeral bell. "Clad in rags and mud, clad in humility and loss, unknown by all yet cursed by all...."
Astna reached the door. "Shut up!" she yelled. Rasla gave a screech of defiance as she fled, but the Priest's last declaration still coiled around her ears, cutting into her like a million knives.
"...come back you shall, and here shall you repent...."
~~
Do you think the Priest spoke the truth? And if so...what did she mean?
As always, please vote and comment! Thanks so much for reading! In the next chapter from Astna's POV, we'll finally be going to war! ;)