Page 109 of Realm of Thieves

“But the Harbringer…” Andor says with a wicked gleam in his eye.

“The Harbringer is all mine, if I even get the chance,” I tell him. “The priority is the egg.” I point at the map again. “The servants’ stairs will get us to this level, where one of the chapels is and where the Sisters of the Highest Order, the fully veiled ones, pray most ofthe day. With any luck I’ll get one and will be able to disguise myself in the veil and get myself to the Harbringer’s chambers, where I know she keeps rare artifacts for herself. I know the egg is there, it has to be.” I point at them. “By the chapel is where I’ll say goodbye to you. There are many statues of dragons in those halls to sneak behind, and it’s barely lit, always dark and shadowy. You’ll have no problem hiding out there, but I’m afraid if you try to venture any further, you will be found. Kirney’s thumb can’t sedate them all.”

“I can try,” Kirney says good-naturedly.

“It will turn into a bloodbath and you know it,” Andor tells him before leaning his ear against the door again. “Still nothing. I think we should move.”

I nod and put my hand on the metal handle, slowly turning it.

I poke my head out into a dark room with an oil lamp in the corner, illuminating the stores of vegetables, fruits, and other food. The smell of the convent, those damned fermented herbs that permeated my life for years, immediately hits my nostrils and I almost choke on it. The scent probably isn’t that strong, but my body wants nothing to do with it.

“Easy now,” Andor whispers, briefly touching my hand. Then he reaches down and slides a sword from my sheath and places it in my palm. “You can’t expect not to use this.”

I grip the hilt. He’s right. I have to be prepared.

We walk across the cellar, following the map, which Kirney keeps in his other hand, stopping every now and then to peer into a dark corner and to listen for footsteps or voices of the superiors. So far it’s as quiet as a mouse, though once we reach the staircase, that changes. Because the staircase is carved in stone and goes up several levels, every noise echoes. Doors bang as servants come and go, and the occasional hush of the Sisters gossiping flows down the stairwell toward us.

We stop every time, waiting for the right moment to continue, and we’re only a floor away from where we’ll exit when suddenly thedoor bangs shut right beneath us and the sound of footsteps gets closer, closing the gap.

I stare down at Andor and Kirney on the steps beneath me, wide-eyed, swords clenched, then start running up the steps to the next floor as quickly as I can.

I reach it, Andor and Kirney behind me, quick and light on their feet, and just as I’m reaching for the handle the door swings inward, almost hitting me.

One the servants steps out, her robe black to signify her servitude, her hood back showcasing close-cropped hair, which means she hasn’t been a servant very long.

She opens her mouth to scream but I quickly put my finger to my mouth to warn her and yank her inside the stairwell, shutting the door behind her. I push her up against the wall, my sword automatically pressed against her throat like a reflex.

“Don’t say a word, Daughter,” I whisper. “You know what they’ll do to you.”

I glance behind me at Andor and Kirney just in time to see a servant on the landing below carrying a stack of books. She drops them when she sees the men, and Kirney has to act fast, jumping down the flight of stairs and jamming his thumb against her throat before she can scream. Her eyes roll back in her head and she collapses into his arms. He swiftly lowers her to the floor in a heap.

The woman I’m holding whimpers.

I give her a warning look. “She’s not dead and you won’t be either as long as you comply,” I tell her, but the fear in her eyes says she might act without thinking. When Daughters graduate they still have to take a vow of silence, but they’re allowed to grow their hair and eyebrows back, which makes me think this girl is still new to the order.

She lets out another pitiful whine and when I press the blade against her throat, she opens her mouth and shows me…

Nothing.

Her tongue has been cut out.

I swallow hard, feeling nauseated.

“Brynla, we have to keep moving, let Kirney handle her,” Andor whispers to me. Then he glances at the girl’s open mouth. “Fucking drages, she has no tongue.”

“Is this what they do when you become a servant?” I ask her frantically. “Is this what they do now to the Daughters of Silence? Do they cut out your tongue?”

She nods, tears streaming down her face, her lips quivering as they close.

“Fuck,” I swear. I feel stretched too thin, my whole body starting to shake. They had threatened a few times that perhaps harsher discipline would be needed one day for all the Daughters, a way to guarantee their servitude to the convent after graduation.

“Brynla,” Andor says again, moving to the side as Kirney comes up to my left and quickly reaches over and presses his thumb against the girl’s forehead. She immediately slumps against me and I let her sink down against the wall.

“Time to go. Stick to the plan,” Andor says, grabbing my hand with one hand as he grips the door handle with the other. “They’ll wake up in a bit completely fine. But someone else will discover them any minute and we need to be out of here.”

I can barely take in what he’s saying as he opens the door and we’re staring at the long, wide expanse of the chapel of the Sisters of the Highest Order. It’s nearly all dark, except for a few sconces flickering here and there, and the dragon statues that flank the obsidian-tiled hall reach up to ten feet in the air, some nearly brushing the ceiling beams. At the end is the entrance to the chapel, where the fermented herbs smoke from hanging spheres.

The doors to the chapel are open. The hall is silent and empty.

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