Reign of Shadows - Deborah Chester [92]
Another candle went out, and another. The sisters standing farther up the steps now crowded down as close to Elandra and Hecati as they could get.
A cry of accusation went up: “Witch! Witch! Witch!”
Anas’s blue eyes were as bright as flames. She glared first at Elandra, then at Hecati. “Worshiper of Mael, you are unwelcome in this place of the goddess mother.”
Hecati’s face tensed into a knot. She flung an accusing finger at Elandra. “She is the witch!” Hecati cried in a shrill, ugly voice. “The betrayer has already been at work. She destroyed the sacred bridal robe—”
Anas turned up her palms. A blue globe of truth-light appeared on each of them. She tossed one at Elandra and one at Hecati.
It was all happening too fast. Elandra opened her mouth to defend herself when the light struck her forehead and shimmered down the full length of her. It felt strange and prickly, but then it pooled at her feet. When it touched the ground it turned into a tiny garter snake that slithered quickly away from the toe of her slipper and vanished.
Hecati screamed and threw up both hands, crossing her wrists as a shield. The blue truth-light struck her arms and burst in a halo of swiftly changing colors—blue to indigo to purple. A black pool formed on the ground at her feet. Instead of turning into a snake, the black ooze widened, spreading quickly toward Elandra.
Crying out, she tried to back away, but the Penestricans with the staffs still blocked the steps behind her and would not budge. The stench of something burning filled the air, as always when Hecati worked one of her spells. Only this time, although her face was strained with effort, whatever she was trying to accomplish did not materialize.
Anas extended her hand toward the ooze, and it stopped spreading. Only a scant inch from Elandra’s foot, the liquid immediately dried to an ugly scum that stained the steps.
“Mael worshiper,” Anas said again, her gaze locked on Hecati. “Witch!”
The word was as sharp as a lash. Hecati flinched.
Anas gestured. “Begone from us, dark creature. Begone!”
“What are you saying?” Bixia demanded, trying to push closer without success. “My aunt isn’t a witch. How dare you call her that. How dare you—”
Hecati glanced back and forth angrily. She made no effort to deny Anas’s accusations. Instead she glared at Anas with a mad light in her eyes. “You pious fools, your days on this earth are over. A new era is dawning, one in which the dark pair shall stride the earth and crush it!”
“No,” Elandra breathed, horrified by this blasphemy.
Hecati’s terrible gaze turned on her. “As for you, already you dance in the arms of the shadow lord—”
“No!” Elandra cried. Fear ignited in her. The half-seen figure in her dreams, the unknown lover ... it could not be. “No!” she cried again, denying it with every fiber of her being despite the doubts Hecati had awakened.
“Think of your destiny, fool,” Hecati said. “You are doomed—”
“Enough,” Anas broke in. “Go now, before we drive you into the dust whence you came.”
“You can’t send her away!” Bixia cried, still not understanding anything. “She’s my aunt. You can’t—”
“Go?” Hecati said, glaring at Anas. “You feeble creature. You dare mock the strength of She Whom I Serve. But you will regret it. We sent the Vindicants to destroy you once. They will do so again.”
“We survived,” Anas retorted, her jaw set. “We were not defeated. Our path continues, strong in the visionings, no matter how much blood you unleash on this land.”
Hecati hissed with fury, and now that sound took on a new, far more terrible meaning to Elandra. That she had grown up in the care of this creature horrified her. Hecati represented unspeakable evil. Elandra could feel the taint on her, a cold rottenness, like touching a slimy, decaying piece of fungus in the jungle by mistake.
“Let her pass!” Anas commanded to the women holding the staffs.
They reluctantly stepped aside. “Deputy—”
Anas gestured furiously, and Hecati laughed.
“They want to kill me, Deputy,” she mocked. “They want to spill