Page 75 of The King of Koraha
Shyla entered the chapel a few angles before zero. At this session, Fellan, Egan, and a couple other Callow monks knelt on the back row of kneelers. Fellan instructed her not to use her goddess voice on the Callow monks. Shyla stood at the front, drawing attention.
“Please find a kneeler, Shasta,” Neda said.
She turned to the leader and met her gaze. Then she gathered her divine power and aimed it at Neda. “No. You’re no longer in charge of this monastery. Kneel down with the others and listen tome.”
Neda’s shock and surprise melted as Shyla channeled the Sun Goddess’s divine will. The woman fought for a few heartbeats before nodding and settling on one of the empty kneelers. Fellan and Egan exchanged a triumphant look. They had worried that Neda would need a pendant to obey. However guilt and shame seared through Shyla before the goddess’s love took it from her, soothing her soul.
Now that she had everyone’s attention, Shyla preached. Putting her divine power into her words, she changed everyone’s mind about the monk’s duties. “We work for the Sun Goddess, not the King. The Sun Goddess commands me, and now you, to help the citizens. No longer will you sneak around and spy on the city’s leaders. You will go and aid those in need, fight for the weak, and obey the goddess. She speaks through Egan. He will remain here and guide you. He’s in charge of this monastery.” Shyla used her magic…no, not magic, but the goddess’s voice to ask, “Do you swear to the Sun Goddess to obey her by following Egan?”
Their response of “I will” was immediate and unanimous. Shyla released them and they gathered around Egan, asking what the goddess wished for them to do. Another flare of guilt burned in her heart. Shyla tried to hold on to it because what she’d just done was…was…the right thing. Pleased, she watched Egan guide his followers.
Fellan came up beside her. “Are you tired, little one?”
She’d influenced over forty-five monks. “Yes.”
“Go rest until the next prayer session.”
“Yes, Fellan.”
The next session held around fifty monks. Those that Fellan and Egan had already converted no longer attended—prayer sessions were considered a waste of time by the new order. By the fourth prayer session, Shyla had convinced almost the entire monastery—some two hundred souls. There’d been a few, like Walkur, who avoided the sessions. She would preach to them one on one during the next sun jump. For now, her body ached with fatigue and Fellan had ordered her to go to sleep.
Lying on her cushion, she marveled at her contentment in doing the goddess’s work. It hummed through her veins. Everyone was so much happier. The air in the monastery buzzed with excitement.
Deep inside her, another voice struggled to be heard. Its distant cry pleaded with her to stop. Insisted that this was all very wrong. Listening to the voice would threaten her peace. So she placed her fingers on the pendant’s jewel and allowed those unsettling thoughts to be silenced.
After first meal, Shyla and Egan tracked down those who’d been avoiding listening to the goddess’s will. Some tried to fight. Egan quickly subdued them and, once Shyla met their gazes, all defiance drained away as they learned that the new way to worship the goddess would bring them peace and joy.
Soon only Walkur and Elschen were left to convert. Shyla knew where to find them and Egan needed to organize his flock.
“Should I send Fellan with you?” he asked.
“There’s no need.”
He studied her. “You haven’t needed to use a single pendant. Will those you’ve convinced revert back?”
“No.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Have the ones Fellan convinced changed their minds?”
“No.”
“He has his pendant and the yellowish-orange jewel, which has a fraction of the power of The Eyes.” She pointed to her eyes. “The only way those I convert will change their minds is ifIchange it for them.” A true statement that caused her inner voice to scream at her for her hubris, reminding her about Tamburah’s descent into megalomaniac madness. But that dire warning disappeared into the jewel.
Egan smiled. “Good. Finish up with those last two. I want everyone assembled in the minster at apex.”
The minster was the only place big enough for all the monks to assemble. It was used every fourteen sun jumps so the entire population could pray together.
Shyla climbed up to the growing cavern on level six. Walkur and Elschen would be working among the plants. Not much would change for them since providing food for the monks was vital. Yet an unease grew as she walked along the narrow path. She was Walkur’s stray and she…was…doing…doing…the right thing.
Walkur spotted her heading toward him. He reversed his grip on his shovel, wielding it like a weapon. “Go away. I don’t want to hear what you’ve come to preach.”
She stopped. “Walkur, you don’t have a choice.” She’d already made eye contact with him and could reach him from anywhere in the monastery.
“I think I do.” He hefted the shovel. “I can knock you out. Unless you talk in your sleep, it will be blissfully silent.”
That would work. Except it was a bluff. Walkur was hoping she’d leave him alone and then when the air cooled he and Elschen could leave the monastery and get help.
