'Thank you, Sister Melana,” the Novices chorused. “I acknowledge my most grievous fault.'
Melana glared at the two miscreants in turn. “Now!” she screamed. “My patience is not inexhaustible!'
The Novices looked at each other with nervous eyes, and Falun spoke in a faltering voice. “Sister… it was the Reverend Mother's explicit and definite order that we remain with the Supplicant at… at all times during her training.'
'That was for periods of basic training only, dolt, and you know it!” Melana snapped. “The Supplicant requires a period of more intense instruction, and I have no need for a pair of fumbling, ignorant, ungrateful Novices criticising my every action! Need I remind you that I am a member of the Anointed Score? If I hear one more word of dissent from you, I will recommend your removal from the Priory, and you know what that could mean. Go and exorcise your guilt at once, before I decide that a more severe punishment is appropriate.'
The junior nuns exchanged glances once more, but they seemed to have decided that further opposition was pointless.
'At once, Sister Melana,” Sister Falun cried, touching her forehead to the flagstones, with her fellow Novice following suit. “Thank you for your forbearance.'
Rising to their feet, the two Novices made their way across the flagstones of the chamber to a side door Drex knew only too well; the Lower Chapel was a place of contrition and punishment.
'As for you, Supplicant,” the Sister said, raising her steel-tipped martinet, “you will soon regret the day you were born!'
As the door closed behind the departing Novices, Drex reached behind her to fumble with the laces on her gown. She knew only too well what lay in store for her, but she could no longer bring herself to care. She knew she was at fault, and that was all that mattered.
'Stop that!” Melana's voice was harsher than any whip, and Drex let go of the troublesome strings, waiting to hear the details of her well-deserved punishment.
'What do you want, Supplicant?” the nun demanded. This was a formal question, Drex realised, one requiring an answer. “What do you truly want?'
'I want only to serve the Order to the best of my abilities and with all my heart, Sister Melana. I must expiate my most grievous guilt, my base lusts, and my wayward spirit. I must-'
'Don't give me that nonsense, you stupid slut! What do you really want?'
'I want only to serve the Order, to the-'
'That's enough of that! We've finished with Responses. Don't you want to get out of here?'
Drexelica tried to make sense of Sister Melana's words, but she failed, tears of confusion beginning to trickle down her face. “What do you want me to say, Sister Melana? Tell me, and I'll comply! I acknowledge my most grievous fault, and I beg correction!'
The Sister muttered something Drex did not catch. “We're going for a little walk, Supplicant. We are getting out of here. We are going to escape.'
Drex felt her jaw gaping, and she tried to encompass the enormity of Melana's words. She failed. “I don't understand, Sister,” she said, feeling the comforting embrace of routine deserting her. “Escape from what?'
'From here, you stupid girl! As your Superior, I order you to open that door and run out of here, as fast as you can.'
'Where would I go, Sister Melana? My home is here now.'
'I don't care where you go, girl. Just go! Don't worry: I'll be right behind you.'
Drex put her hand on the black iron ring on the door leading to the main stairs. It felt cold and somehow odd; since she had become a Supplicant in the Priory, she had been escorted everywhere, and Melana's Novices had opened and closed all the doors.
A command from a Superior must be obeyed at once, but Drexelica felt a tight knot of anxiety in her stomach. She knew something about Sister Melana's order was… wrong.
'Do I have to give my orders twice, Supplicant?” The Sister raised her lash. “Obey at once, or you'll be looking at five hours of third-level Contrition!'
Melana's voice had more effect than the lash would have done, and Drex yanked the door open and began to launch herself up the steep, worn stairs. She retained sufficient awareness to hitch her cumbersome robes clear of her feet, but she had little idea of where she was going.
Panting, she wrenched open another door at the top of the stairs, and she found herself in the Reverend Mother's own temple; the very room to which she had been transported from Crar. Numerous doors led from the bare, stone room, and Drex paused. Which should she take?
'The door opposite the throne, idiot! Go! Quietly, now! We don't want to wake the Reverend Mother; she may be asleep.'
Drexelica padded across the stones as silently as she was able, trying to ignore the rising clamour in her mind. The chants that had echoed through her head were beginning to fade, to be replaced by doubts.
Why is Sister Melana doing this? she wondered. It can't be for my good…
Stop that! another mental voice commanded her. Everything Sister Melana does is for our own good. Everything! We don't want to displease her…
The Order is all! another screamed. Obedience and discipline!
Other voices joined in: some haranguing, some cajoling, but each one commanding her attention.
'Do it, idiot!” Melana hissed, pausing by another, open door. “Open it!'
Drex did as she was bidden, revealing another flight of stairs, but she saw Melana slipping through the other portal.
What's she up to?
Don't you know anything? Never question a Superior!
Shut up, curse you! She's using me as a bloody decoy!
The series’ last thought dismissed her inner traitor's objections and burst into her sensorium like bolts of lightning, driving the dull darkness from her mind, illuminating every crevice of her awareness. I won't have a chance! The raddled cow wants me to be caught, just so she can get away!
Letting go of the door handle, Drex made her way over to the exit Melana had used, and made her way up more stairs into a dark corridor with a brightly lit exit. Silhouetted against the gleam, she saw the unmistakable form of the Sister, poised like a sprinter awaiting the whistle.
So that's her game! she thought, seething. Poor little Drex'll make a mad dash for freedom, alerting everyone, while Melana sneaks away in the confusion. Well, this girl isn't as stupid or as indoctrinated as the dear Sister thinks!
Shaking her head to clear the last traces of fuzziness that had built up over the course of the day, she made her way over to the crouching figure, who was staring intently into a large hallway.
'Hello, Sister,” she muttered, and Melana started as if she had been struck by an arrow.
'What in Hades are you doing here, you little whore? Don't you understand plain speech? I gave you a direct order!'
'I thought we might change the plan a little, Sister Melana. I'm not going to be some fox thrown to the hounds so you can save your own precious hide. If you're going, I'm going with you.'
Melana gasped, her eyes wide and staring. “You can't still be unaffected after all that training!'
'I'm not. Something inside me still wants to come to attention whenever I think of your precious freaking Order, but I've been keeping a little bit of myself aside during our fun interludes. It's getting smaller and smaller by the day, but I'm still me. I know I can't resist forever, so I'm not willing to take the chance they'll replace you with someone more competent than you.'
'I could take you straight back down to the chamber right now!” Melana's eyes blazed with naked hatred. “You'll break in the end.'
'I don't doubt it, Sister. But I'll howl the house down before I let you do that. We're leaving right now-together, or not at all. You don't look as if you'll last too long yourself; Lizaveta must be pretty peeved with you for some reason. I don't think she's looking on you with any great favour, sweet lady.'
Melana growled like a cornered tigress, and she thrashed her limbs like a petulant child balked in its desires, but she nodded in the end.
'All right, all right-hug the shadows, and I'll follow behind you. Keep it quiet.'
Drex stifled a laugh. “Nice try, Sister Melana, but I don't buy it. At the least sign of trouble, you'd develop a
