Aderyn sighed. “That makes it even harder, then. Ye understand-we have a priestess for every one of the clans. If ye were a Bear, ye’d be taught by that priestess. If ye were a Deer, the Deer priestess would take care of ye. But since ye don’t know, ye’ll learn from me until we find out.”
“How do yeh find out?” said Laela.
“Our guiding phase always finds us,” Aderyn said primly. “We don’t find them. Now, move close to the altar.”
Laela did. “What do I do?”
“See the water in the bowl?” said Aderyn. “Look into it and don’t look away.”
Laela obeyed. The water was clear and silvery in the muted light.
As she stared, the priestess dipped a finger into the water and moved it in a circle. Once, twice, three times. .
“Repeat the words,” said Aderyn.
“Say them. Keep your eyes on the water.”
Laela obeyed. The words felt clumsy, but she repeated them doggedly, watching the water closely and trying not to feel too embarrassed. What in the gods’ names was this supposed to do?
Aderyn continued to swirl her finger in the water, slowly and methodically, and Laela kept on repeating the Northern words and watching the water. Finally, Aderyn withdrew her hand. Laela was about to look up and ask her if she could stop now, but then. .
But then she saw the shapes in the water.
Her eyes widened.
The visions were faint, but not so faint that she couldn’t recognise them.
Something moving, something. . something. . some animal. . a griffin! A griffin, wings spread, rearing up on its hind legs. A man, reaching out to her. A great globe, flaming and terrible. . the sun. And another globe, this one shrinking to nothing. The moon. And something else. . it looked like a ring.
The visions faded as quickly as they had come and left Laela blinking in confusion.
When she looked up, it was into the eyes of Aderyn.
“Did ye see anything?” the priestess asked softly, but she sounded as if she already knew the answer.
“Yes!” said Laela. “I saw. . saw things in the water. There was a-”
“Don’t tell me,” said Aderyn. “Don’t tell anyone. What ye saw was for ye. Not for anyone else. What ye do with it is yer own business.”
“
“Ye’ve seen yer future,” said Aderyn. “Every Northerner can see her future in the water, just once. Normally, ye would have to wait until the moon was shining on the water, but in the Temple, no.”
Laela’s heart was pounding. “I saw. . I saw the
“Yes. With luck, ye’ll be able to understand what the vision meant.” Aderyn looked pleased. “But the fact that ye saw anything is very important.”
“Why?” said Laela.
“I told ye already,” said Aderyn. “Every
“One of. .”
“There’s no need to look so scared!” said Aderyn, and her voice had lost that distant, formal quality it had had before. “Ye are one of the Night God’s people by birth, Laela. And that’s something to be proud of!” She reached out and touched Laela’s hair, stroking it gently. “See this beautiful black hair ye have. These fine delicate fingers. See how tall and graceful ye are, see how pale yer skin is, see how sharp and clever yer face is. These are the Night God’s gifts to her daughter. She chose ye, Laela. She loves ye, like all her children.”
“But I ain’t. .”
“I know what people have said about ye,” the priestess said, cutting across her. “In the South. Don’t look so surprised-I know ye came from the South, the King told me. People always called ye sly and deceptive. They said they could never tell what ye were thinking or what ye were going to do next. They did, didn’t they?”
Laela gaped at her.
Aderyn smiled knowingly. “Those are a darkwoman’s qualities, Laela. Ye’re one of us. Do ye see that now?”
Very slowly, Laela nodded. “In the South, they always called me a darkwoman.”
“And that’s because ye are,” said Aderyn. “If ye want to be an adult-if ye want to be one of us-ye must accept that, and so accept the Night God.”
Laela thought of Gryphus.
She nodded. “I see it.”
“Then ye want to give yerself to the Night God?”
“I want t’learn more about her,” Laela confessed.
“Then ye will. Listen, and learn.”
12
Laela spent the rest of the day in the Temple, with Aderyn. The priestess told her a lot-about the Night God and about the Temple. She explained that there were twelve priestesses, and that Saeddryn, as High Priestess, made the thirteenth-one for each full moon of the year. The four who represented the four clans were more senior- only one step below Saeddryn in rank. Aderyn herself was only a minor priestess.
“But hoping to be more senior one day,” she confided. “I’ll teach ye to begin with, until ye find yer tribe.”
Once she’d taught Laela about the hierarchy and shown her around the Temple, describing some of the more important rituals that happened in it, they sat down in a back room and shared a drink while Laela heard the first and most important tale of the Night God.
“Long ago,” Aderyn began, “when the world was young, the two gods ruled side by side. The Day God and the Night God. But the Day God became arrogant and believed that he alone should rule. The Night God, wishing to avoid an argument, suggested that they break time into two, and that each of them would have their own time to rule in. He agreed, and his time became Day while hers became Night. In those days, the moon was full every night, and the sun neither rose nor set. But Gryphus still wasn’t content. He began to steal the Night God’s light from her while she slept in the day, and he became brighter and brighter. And the night became dark. Knowing that the Night God would realise what he had done, Gryphus used his powers to create the griffins. He gave them the ability to draw on the magic that made up the world and use it however they pleased. They became his creatures. When the Night God saw what he had done, she realised that one day he would send the griffins to destroy her. She did not have the power to create, as Gryphus had done. So she turned to the humans who roamed the earth. She chose some of them-the cunning, the brave, the subtle, and the graceful. They turned away from the day and worshipped only her, and she blessed them with beautiful black hair and black eyes, to match the night sky. And she sent
