Holy Sister

‘I should go and report to Sister Tallow— I mean Sister Iron,’ Ara said. ‘I take instruction from her now. And she from the abbess.’

‘And the abbess from the emperor …’ Nona frowned. ‘You don’t think the emperor actually talks to Wheel, do you?’

Ara shook her head. ‘Father told me that the new Lord Glosis is the emperor’s military adviser. Glosis instructs the generals, and General Wensis oversees the deployment of martial brothers and sisters in times of crisis.’ She glanced across to Blade Hall. ‘I’d better go … I guess I’ll see you tonight at the dormitory—’

‘We’ll be given cells. We’re big girls now.’

‘Oh yes. Well, at least we won’t have to see Joeli every morning.’ Ara frowned. ‘Why do you think she didn’t report us? I was sure the abbess had us rung out of bed to face charges.’

‘I guess whoever she tells her tales to wants what we were after. Once we escaped they couldn’t be sure to recover it. If it were just up to Joeli she would have seen us humiliated and punished.’

‘Who does she pass her stories to?’

‘Lord Namsis pulled a lot of golden strings to get her back here, didn’t he?’ Nona asked. ‘Do you think he’s really that keen for his oldest daughter to be a nun? My guess is that the tales Joeli tells reach Sherzal in at most three steps. You can’t think that the emperor’s sister has forgiven any of us? We ruined her alliance with Adoma. For Ancestor’s sake, we set her palace on fire!’

Ara made the sign of the tree over her heart. ‘I’ve been telling you what she’s like for years. I wanted us to be a lot more careful over this book business, more secret … but you wouldn’t listen. Getting that monk involved was madness. You hardly know him!’ She held up her hand to stop Nona’s reply. ‘I have to run. I don’t think Sister Iron is any more easy-going than Tallow! You’d better hurry too. I’m sure there’s some important praying that needs doing …’

With a shake of her head Ara sped off, sword bouncing against her leg. Nona watched with a certain degree of envy as her friend crossed the square. Ara’s pity had been poorly hidden and it stung, though Nona understood it. She had turned her back on the sword, on the shadow arts, and on the mysteries of the Path. It would take time for her friends to understand the choice. With a sigh Nona looked towards the Dome of the Ancestor. She could smell the char on the wind now. If ever there were a time for praying, this was it.

Kettle intercepted Nona outside the doors to the Dome.

‘You made a hell of a mess in Apple’s storeroom. What on Abeth was that about?’

The lie starting to form on Nona’s lips evaporated under the intensity of Kettle’s scrutiny.

‘It was a stupid mistake. I’m sorry.’

‘Well, you should be!’ Kettle shoved Nona’s shoulder, still angry. ‘Appy’s furious!’

‘So why did she offer me the Grey?’

‘The real question is, why didn’t you take it?’ Kettle shook her head as if trying to shake off the foolishness of Nona’s decision.

‘I asked first, sister.’

‘She— well, she would have offered you the Grey anyway … at least she would have if there had been time to calm down. But …’ Kettle paused and her eyes grew bright with tears.

‘But what?’ The backs of Nona’s arms prickled. She knew what Kettle was going to say.

‘But … but she promised Abbess Glass that she would offer you the Grey, come what may.’

Nona’s eyes misted, her mouth too dry to speak. Come what may.

‘Why didn’t you take it?’ Kettle asked. ‘Apple thought nobody could be a Sister of Discretion without being able to work shadow. She was always going to offer you the Grey because of the promise, but she didn’t actually want you to take it until the day you passed the wire-test. Then she did. You were born to this, Nona.’

‘I didn’t take it because I made a promise of my own. On her deathbed Abbess Glass asked me to become a Holy Sister, and I swore that I would.’

They stared at each other for a moment.

‘She’s still doing it, isn’t she, sister?’ Kettle said. ‘Even dead, she’s still playing a long game that none of us understand.’ She stepped in, gave Nona a fierce hug, and left at a run.

Nona went into the Dome of the Ancestor, deep in her thoughts. She hadn’t known of the promise Abbess Glass had asked of Sister Apple, but she knew, or thought she knew, the game that was being played, and she would play it to the end.

In the vastness of the Ancestor’s dome, kneeling before the statue of the Ancestor and deep in her serenity, Nona hardly noticed the other Holy Sisters come and go. Hours slipped by and the bells spoke them, Bray and Ferra competing for her attention, though now the iron voice of Ferra spelled out the day for her as it did for all the nuns.

On her first night as a Holy Sister Nona had slept in her nun’s cell, by chance the same one that she had slept in nearly a decade earlier on the night she arrived at the convent. Lying wakeful in her narrow bed, she thought of Ara in her own narrow bed three cells down. Ara who had taken the Red. Ara, who she could not allow to come to harm. Not because of some cryptic request from Abbess Glass but by order of her own heart. And when at last her dreams had come, they had been troubled ones. Her dreams had been troubled ones, filled with screaming, blood, and the light of shiphearts.

With her fast broken Nona had been following Ferra’s call to the dome for second prayers when she noticed novices streaming from their cloister towards Blade Hall. Not just one class but all of them mixed together. Holy Class novices with Red Class girls half their height running between them. Nona allowed herself to be drawn along with the flow. Blade Hall was not the destination. Instead the novices, and half a dozen nuns, joined others at the edge of the Rock. Nona’s height allowed her a clear view.

‘Ancestor watch over them.’ At Nona’s elbow Sister Rose wrung her hands, staring out at the smoke-dark sky.

The fires in the east had advanced overnight and seemed to burn against the very walls of the capital itself. Even from Sweet Mercy Nona could see that the road stretching the five miles to Verity lay choked with traffic, all headed one way, to the sanctuary of the emperor’s walls.

The sharp tolling of Bitel brought the convent to the abbess’s steps. The gathered nuns and novices learned that the enemy were indeed within ten miles of Verity, their skirmishers moving through the surrounding countryside in bands of tens and hundreds.

‘None of you are to leave the convent except by my authorization,’ Wheel declared from the doorway of the big house. ‘We will await orders from the Church. Sisters Iron and Apple will organize our perimeter.’

Unexpectedly, the abbess descended the stone steps in front of her house and came to stand among the novices of Red Class. She ran her bony fingers through the blonde curls of the smallest girl. ‘If the heretic comes to our door we will fight them. Fight them to the very last drop of our blood.’ The fierceness left her voice. ‘Until then … pray, sisters, pray.’

Nona returned to the Dome of the Ancestor and followed orders. While Ara joined the patrols of Red and Grey Sisters defending the convent Nona bent her knees before the Ancestor’s golden statue, one figure among many offering their devotions.