He spun, his dagger lunging for Eliora’s chest. It never came close. Eliora slapped it away with an open palm, kicked him in the groin, and then slammed an elbow into his forehead. Gileas collapsed, grunting in pain. When Eliora grabbed his hair to yank his head back, he only laughed.
“Can’t stab a worm,” he said. “We just keep wiggling.”
She stabbed anyway. It punctured only air. Gileas’s clothes were an empty pile on the grass. Eliora kicked them away but saw nothing. She looked as startled as Veliana felt.
“A worm,” Veliana said. “He can’t possibly be…”
But there was nothing there. He was gone.
“Come,” Eliora said, taking Veliana’s hand. “Follow me to my camp. You must meet my sisters.”
T he fire in the center of the camp had dwindled to nothing. Eliora tossed on some branches while Veliana huddled against a tree, cold and naked. Winter was approaching, and the night air bit her skin. Eliora drew out two small red bricks and clapped them together above the fire. Sparks rained down upon the wood, instantly bursting restarting the fire.
Veliana knelt beside it, eager for its warmth.
“Where are your sisters?” she asked as shivers ran through her body. Her revulsion at Gileas’s touch remained strong, though it felt like the fire was slowly purifying her body of it.
“They will return in the morning,” Eliora said. “I remained here to keep an eye on another charge of ours. I expected his idiocy to get him and his woman killed, but instead I found you tied and tortured against the wall.”
“I was as surprised as you were,” Veliana said. She turned and put her back to the fire, her arms crossed over her breasts.
“I’m not sure I have clothes appropriate for you,” the faceless woman said. “Perhaps I could go and retrieve the strange man’s…”
“No,” Veliana said, suppressing another shudder. “I’d rather be naked.”
Eliora tilted her head to the side. Veliana swore she could see green eyes studying her through the white mask across her face. Suddenly Eliora lifted the cloth and untwisted the wrappings about her head.
Veliana startled at the woman revealed beneath the wrappings. She was gorgeous by anyone’s standards. Full lips, sharp cheekbones, and vibrant eyes. Their color reminded her of pine needles. She ran a hand through her short hair, pulling out tangles, no easy task with how tight it had been restricted and how covered with sweat it was.
“You’re…” Veliana started to say, then realized how ridiculous it sounded.
“I know,” Eliora said. “Trust me…I know.”
She handed the wrappings to Veliana.
“They’re not much, but you should be able to hide your nakedness.”
Veliana started wrapping the black and purple cloth across her chest, pulling it tight to get as much coverage as she could from the cloth. As she did, Eliora removed more and more of her wrappings from her chest and waist. Beneath she wore a dark shift, the color so thick she needed little of the extra cloth to keep her modesty. Veliana accepted the extra wrappings and continued looping them about her body. She managed to cover all her womanhood, though if she walked through the streets in broad daylight she’d earn herself many a scandalous looks.
“Thank you,” she said, sitting down once more by the fire.
Eliora did not respond. She moved about the camp, preparing a tent that had been left behind unassembled. From a pack nearby she pulled out some tough meat and handed it to Veliana. She wasn’t hungry but ate anyway, preferring the salty taste to the lingering offense of bile and Gileas on her tongue.
“Why did you save me?” Veliana asked.
Eliora glanced up as if the question were stupid.
“Because I wanted to.”
Veliana smirked. It felt like an answer she might have given.
“Be that as it may, I’ve sworn my life. I’d like to know what I’m sworn into.”
The faceless woman punched the last spike of the tent into the dirt with the hilt of her dagger and then stood. Without the wraps, her body looked far more relaxed and feminine. Her breasts actually had room to breathe, and Veliana couldn’t help but feel both jealousy and annoyance. To have that much beauty and hide it? What was the point in that?
The thought of beauty stung her deep. She ran her fingers along the bloody wound from her eyebrow to her chin. No one would think her beautiful now. She was a scarred freak. The eye, what was left of it, ached with every breath she took.
Eliora watched her trace her finger over the cut. Sadness sparkled in her green eyes.
“We are the faceless,” she said, looking away into the forest. Her short black hair fell across her face, hiding her pained expression. “There are only three of us, all priestesses of Karak, and all expelled. We are considered slaves to our sex, so weak and vile that we must live outside the temple with the rest of the sinful world.”
“What did you do?” Veliana asked. She forced her hand away from the wound on her face. It would do no good obsessing over it now.
“I bedded a priest,” Eliora replied. “We were caught. He was given lashes and a ten-year penance. I was forced to become one of the faceless.”
Veliana huddled closer to the warmth of the fire and let the words sink in. A beautiful woman caught in bed with a priest. Rather than deal with the issue, they forced her out, hid her beauty, and declared her vile. She felt anger stir within her stomach. How could she be sworn to become one of them? Why were the gods so cruel to put her in such a situation? Again she promised vengeance upon Thren and his son.
“Your sisters,” Veliana said. “They’re beautiful too, aren’t they?”
Eliora nodded. “They both are. Do you understand why I saved you? To see another woman hurt, humiliated, her beauty stolen by a man…I couldn’t bear it. Better that you become one of us.”
“One of the faceless.”
“My faith in Karak has not wavered,” Eliora said. She sat at Veliana’s side. Gently her fingers traced along the dagger-wound across her eye. “I will see what Pelarak can do about that. He is our greatest priest and strongest healer. I must also have his permission to fully induct you into our order.”
It was all insane. Thren might think her dead, or he might hear of Gileas’s failure. She couldn’t possibly leave James alone and vulnerable, could she? The guild needed her. James needed her. Karak was nothing. The Ash Guild was family.
“I can’t,” Veliana said. “Please. I belong to a guild, the Ash Guild. If I don’t hurry back to them, Thren might destroy everyone I know and love.”
Eliora tapped at her lips, her gaze momentarily distant.
“Thren?” she asked. “As in Thren Felhorn?”
Veliana nodded.
“Tell me everything,” she said.
9
P otts hated this part of his job. He could deal with Leon’s general slobbery, his impatience with setbacks, and even his temperamental, dangerous mood swings. What he could not stand, however, was informing him of current events while the man bathed in his wooden tub. Even though his rolls of fat effectively censored himself, that only seemed to make it worse. Two pretty maids worked him over with brushes, scrubbing ferociously against his skin in between splashes of hot water. Through it all, Leon giggled as if it tickled.
“I’ve been given word from the Green Castle,” Potts said after clearing his throat twice to get his master’s attention. “They’ve sent yet another wagon of wine from their stores, though they insisted we pay extra since we’ve already cleared out half of their vintage.”
“Tell them I’ll pay them that extra when I actually get the blasted wine,” Leon said, his giggles replaced by an annoying whine. “Those rogue bastards think to starve me of drink and food. It used to be just the city, but now
