Page 31 of Ensii
“What?” And where had the prophetess come from? She must have arrived with Emalek. And if Emalek and Debrei were here, where was Kasrei?
If the prophetess found Talitha’s greeting irreverent, she gave no sign. Debrei pointed a long finger to the blocked entrance before them. Her knuckles were scarred and ridged with a lifetime of work and toil. “You asked why the priest would risk returning to the throne room. Your ancestors have prayed, given sacrifices, and held ceremonies to honor that dark creature within those walls for generations. She is powerful there.”
Ashek watched the old woman with rapt attention, as did every other Hudspethite except Kurzik, who was busy speaking with one of Zula’s soldiers.
“You need to cleanse the bloodline.”
The ensaak blinked. “What?”
Debrei looked to the massive, immobile colossus that was the entrance to the throne room. “He will be strongest inside. So will She.”
A familiar scoff belied Kasrei’s arrival. Talitha breathed a little easier—she was here. The magian rolled her eyes, arms smugly crossed. She still wore her traveling clothes, stained and torn, yet looking comfortable as ever.
Talitha exhaled. “I thought Anakti was a farce? A false god.” That was what she had been told her whole life and what she and Ashek had agreed on from not long after their meeting. That did not explain Nehemian’s monsters, though.
“A false god yes. A myth? I only wish it were so.”
Talitha wanted to laugh. She wanted to say that Debrei was mad. Looking to Ashek, she saw he was wholly and completely attentive to the old woman’s words. But Talitha had seen the tar-skinned monsters. She had felt their claws, their breath, seen them tear apart their victims like rabbits. And she had seen their bodies wither and transform before her eyes, shrinking back into the naked corpses of men.
The world abruptly seemed far larger and stranger than ever.
Talitha responded in the only way she knew how—she straightened her spine, raised her chin, and hid every scrap of fear and doubt behind the armor of her face. “Naram and Nehemian had best pray to their goddess for mercy, then.” Talitha tossed her hair, forcing herself to be brave. “Because I plan to make them beg for mine before this is done.”
Debrei didn’t respond. She frowned, looking to Ashek. “Be sure all the idols and charms are stripped from the people you take with you,” she warned. “You can’t fight a demon when you have it crammed in a pouch at your hip.”
“We found a way in,” Gilsazi announced, relaying the words of a young officer before him. “My ensaak, we can enter through the ceiling.”
More climbing,Talitha thought. She would be an expert at it before she had her lands back in earnest.
