Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor 1)

Sister Wheel’s punishment meant that Clera was left to do the brewing alone, out on the promontory where they had cooked up the black cure the week before. With the ice-wind blowing and no Hessa to light the fire Nona imagined that Clera would have a miserable time of it – if she managed at all.

While Nona and Hessa repeated the emperor’s prayer, all fourteen verses of it, time and time again at the base of the Ancestor’s golden statue, Ara and Ruli were arranging the barrel and adjusting the records. Ruli was on quill duty while Ara was appointed to ‘distraction’. Something her rank and beauty left her uniquely qualified for.

Nona shuffled on her sore knees. Sister Wheel hadn’t given them prayer cushions. The nun was a great believer that pain and prayer went together hand in hand.

‘Ancestor guide the emperor in his choices and in his actions. May you watch over him at the rising of the sun and at the setting. May you watch over him in the long marches of the night. May you—’

‘She’s gone.’ Hessa shuffled forward. She was allowed to sit rather than kneel, on account of her withered leg – a fact that seemed to give Sister Wheel as much offence as if Hessa had declared for the Hope Church and taken to star-watching.

Nona stopped praying but stayed on her knees, eyes on the distant door. Sister Wheel liked to double back and catch novices in disobedience.

‘Is it still there?’ Hessa asked.

‘Yes.’ The shipheart’s aura still reached out from the rear of the dome. Not as strongly as it did down in the tunnels though where she had felt the rhythm of it beating through the rock. Yisht must be closer to it down there than they were up top.

‘We could look for the way in up here …’ Hessa suggested.

‘There will be good reasons why Yisht is digging her way to it. If she could just open a door here and climb down some steps she’d already be halfway back to the border with it.’

On their return to the dormitories Nona made a decision.

‘You go on, Hessa. I’ve got something I need to do.’

‘You’re going to tell the abbess,’ Hessa said, no question in her voice.

‘How—’

‘Thread-bound.’ Hessa tapped her forehead.

‘I’ve got to. What if I get one of you hurt, just trying to save myself?’

Hessa gave her a weak smile and made no attempt to talk her out of it. Nona turned and walked away, wondering just how much she might be leaving behind.

It wasn’t far to the abbess’s steps but it felt as if it were the longest journey of her life. The abbess would have to banish her from the convent at the very least. If Sister Wheel got involved then the punishment might be considerably worse.

The house loomed closer, foreboding, the end to her dreams.

‘Where are you going, Nona?’ Sister Rock came up behind her.

‘To see the abbess.’ Nona thought that much should be obvious.

‘You’ll have a long wait. She’s been called to the palace. Sister Apple and Sister Tallow have gone with her. I’ll be taking Blade class tomorrow. What did you want her for?’

‘I … It’s not important.’ Gone? How could she be gone? ‘When will she be back?’

Sister Rock went up the steps, taking a large key from her pocket. ‘A day? Maybe two. Hopefully before Grey Class goes ranging if that’s what you’re worried about. Something I can help you with?’

‘No.’ Nona turned to go, not knowing quite how to feel. ‘Thank you.’ She didn’t know who else to tell. The sister superiors were in charge now, Wheel and Rose. Sister Wheel Nona mistrusted almost as much as she mistrusted Yisht. Sister Rose had a good heart but she was timid with it and Nona couldn’t imagine her being much help.

Nona walked a wandering path back to the dormitories. Her choices seemed to have dwindled to none. They would have to deal with the thief themselves.

At the night bell Clera had yet to return. Nona sat on her bed with Ara and Ruli to either side. They had identified a suitable empty barrel and put the export mark on it. Ruli had adjusted the ledgers and Ara had ‘borrowed’ the cooper’s tools necessary for removing and replacing the barrel lid. Quite how to use them was an outstanding issue, but Ruli said she’d seen Sister Scar do it a dozen times and it didn’t look that difficult.

‘Where is she?’ Ruli twisted Nona’s blanket in her hands.

‘If she doesn’t come soon Mally will want to turn the lantern down.’ Ara’s eyes were on the high windows, all shut and opaque with layered ice.

‘Mally’ll probably report her too.’ Hessa from her bed across the width of the dormitory.

Ruli nodded. The head-girl didn’t like Clera.

‘You should go and look for her.’ Jula on her bed next to Hessa’s gave a sad smile, still concerned despite the fact that Clera said something awful to her every day.

Nona was about to agree when the door banged open and Clera staggered in, ice-caked and dripping. ‘I think I’m dying.’

Ara reached for her towel. ‘Get over here and stop milking it.’

Clera’s face was red with cold and she did look to have been in the wars.

‘Poo, you stink.’ Ara wrinkled her nose.

‘Malkin pissed on my spare habit and I didn’t have time to change it.’ Clera sat down heavily, making the bed bounce. Ara only got the towel under her just in time.

‘Malkin peed on your spare habit … and so you … changed into it?’ Ara made a face and looked to the others. Nona frowned. The abbess’s cat was a liability for certain – but the rest didn’t make sense.

‘Of course.’ Clera rolled her eyes and lowered her voice to a hiss. ‘I got out of Spirit and was going to spend the next Ancestor knows how many hours doing unlicensed alchemy. What do you think the first thing I would want to do when I got back was?’

‘Change into a clean … oh! I get you.’ Ruli smiled. ‘So you had to take off your clean one, and put on the one Malkin had “blessed” so that you’d have a clean one for now.’

Clera nodded. ‘I was planning on visiting the bathhouse of course, but it took so damn long!’

It did seem to have taken an age, but in the wind and ice … Nona shrugged. ‘So you have it?’

‘Of course! I’m Clera!’ She took out a small, waxed gourd with its stopper sealed in place. ‘Boneless syrup. Guaranteed to make a strong man go weak at the knees almost as fast as I can.’

‘You know if this doesn’t work she’ll kill us?’ Ara said, reaching for the gourd.

‘Us?’ Clera let her take it. ‘I thought Nona was doing it.’

‘Us. Ara nodded. ‘Once Yisht is down it will take four of us to move her. At least.’

‘And if it goes wrong the abbess will kill us,’ Ruli said.

‘Metaphorically,’ Ara said.

‘And Yisht will kill us,’ Nona said.

‘Literally.’ Ara pressed her lips into a worried line.

38

‘We should have tested it!’ Clera hissed.

‘We did test it. And anyway – you made it – are you saying it’s no good?’ Ara replied.