Part 19 (1/2)
The Penestrican did not return her smile. ”I am deputy no longer.” Lifting her left hand, she tossed a slim serpent onto the ground between them. It immediately began to slither toward Elandra's feet. ”Don't move,” she said sharply as Elandra gasped. ”There is nothing to fear if you are who you claim to be.”
Elandra immediately froze in place, but memories of other tests-some of them quite painful-made her frown. ”You know who I am, Anas. Why do you test me?”
”If you are the empress, you should not be here,” Anas said in a blunt voice. ”You have no means of coming to this future.”
”I was brought here.”
The snake had almost reached the frayed toe of her slipper. Elandra forgot the rest of what she'd been about to say and stood tense and wary as she watched the serpent's tongue flicker rapidly. The snake had the wedge-shaped head of a viper; she believed that Anas could command it to strike with venom if she chose. The Magria, always more gentle than her deputy, would not have brought a poisonous snake for this test of truth. The Magria would have been more compa.s.sionate.
Elandra found it difficult to swallow. When Anas did not respond to her last statement, she glanced up and met the cold appraisal in those blue eyes.
”I was brought here,” Elandra repeated. ”Against my will. I can tell you by whom and for what purpose.”
”Silence,” Anas snapped. ”Do not disturb the serpent of truth.”
Before Elandra could protest, the serpent slithered away from her.
”Very well,” Anas said. ”The truth has been spoken.”
A surge of heat filled Elandra's face.
”How dare you doubt me!” she shouted furiously. ”I am not to be tested like one of your novices! You do not command me, Anas!”
Anas's blue eyes blazed back at her. ”I am the Magria now,” she snapped. ”Take care.”
For a fleeting second Elandra was appalled. ”You are the Magria?” she said, heedless of the dismay her voice betrayed. ”But she dismissed you from the succession.”
Resentment flickered in Anas's blue eyes and was gone. ”The former Magria relented,” she said.
”Oh.” Elandra frowned, trying to absorb this news. ”I had not heard that her Excellency had stepped down. When did she-”
”The former Magria is dead,” Anas said, every word tight and hostile.
Genuine dismay flashed through Elandra. ”Oh, I am sorry!” she said. She had liked the old woman, formidable though she had been. Elandra had suspected that possibly the Magria had liked her. But she and Anas had never found any common ground.
Even now Anas still stared at her coldly, unappeased by her sympathy.
Frowning, Elandra tried again. ”This is disturbing news. I respected her very much.”
Stiffly Anas inclined her head. ”She was worthy of much respect. She has returned to the dust whence she was made.”
Elandra made a formal gesture, feeling as though she had lost her last ally. Still, Anas had come in response to her cry for help. She must remember to be grateful for that.
”Please,” Elandra began. ”I must ask-”
”Silence,” Anas said sharply. She bent and picked up her serpent from the ground. The creature coiled itself around her wrist, and Anas shot Elandra a look of suspicion. ”Something is wrong. You are the empress, but you smell of death and shadow.”
An involuntary sob escaped Elandra before she could control herself. She pressed her hand to her lips, struggling not to hurl herself at Anas's feet. ”The Guardian said I would have to pay a terrible price if he let us leave the realm of shadow. And now-”
”Wait!” Anas commanded, extending her other hand. ”Speak slowly. You have been in the realm of shadow? You have confronted the Guardian?”
Elandra nodded. ”It was a trick. We were supposed to follow Kostimon through the hidden ways-”
”Ah!” Anas said. ”So that is how he escaped from the palace. Kostimon's blasphemy never stopped.”
”Caelan got us to the Gate of Sorrows, and then the Guardian ... I was bitten,” Elandra said, her fear spilling from her despite her attempts to stay coherent. ”I have the darkness. I am going to die.”
A strange expression crossed Anas's face. She stepped closer to Elandra. ”Repeat your words,” she said, sounding almost afraid. ”What bit you? Did the Guardian send you here?”
Elandra shook her head. ”We were in Trau-”
”This is Trau. As it can become.”
Elandra glanced around in fresh horror. ”But-”
”Never mind. Tell me what happened.”
”A shyriea shyriea came out of nowhere. Before Caelan could kill it, it bit me. That is why the witch Hecati brought me here. She offered to take the poison from me if I-” came out of nowhere. Before Caelan could kill it, it bit me. That is why the witch Hecati brought me here. She offered to take the poison from me if I-”
Elandra found her voice breaking. Her fear twisted harder inside her, and she could not finish.
”Look at me,” Anas said.
Elandra's eyes were burning. She was on the verge of tears, and she fought them, not wanting to break down in front of Anas.
”Kill me,” she pleaded. ”I would rather pa.s.s to the dust than become the living dead.”
Anas gripped her shoulder. ”Look at me,” she commanded again.
Elandra dashed tears from her eyes, and lifted her gaze obediently. She found neither pity nor condemnation in Anas's eyes, but instead only concern and brisk competence.
”Put aside your fear,” Anas said with unexpected gentleness. ”Can you look past our personal differences and trust me?”
Elandra could only stare at her in astonishment at first, then in rising hope. ”Can you help me?”
”If you will trust me.”
Elandra thought of Caelan, who had held her tightly in the realm of shadows and asked her the same question. How frightened she had been of him then, and yet a part of her knew he would never willingly hurt her. Now she gazed into Anas's blue eyes and knew this woman was made of the same fiber as the old Magria.
Something in Elandra relaxed and reached out. ”I do trust you,” she whispered, daring to hope. ”If you will help me, what must I offer?”
”Silence!” Anas snapped. ”Compa.s.sion is not for sale.”
Intense relief flooded through Elandra. Tears welled up in her eyes, spilling over. ”Thank you!”
”Don't thank me yet. Nothing has been accomplished. You will gaze into my eyes, Majesty. You will look into the depths of my eyes and nowhere else. You must not blink. You must not move. Is that clear?”
”Yes,” Elandra said breathlessly.
”You will empty your mind in the way you were taught. When it is empty of all thought, I will enter. In your time at our stronghold you resisted this. Now it could mean your life. Can you do it?”