Blood of the Fold (Sword of Truth 3)

Leoma rung her hands. “Nothing. I’ve told you all. Let me go, Verna?”

“Kiss your ring finger, and beg the Creator’s forgiveness.”

“What?”

“Forsake the Keeper. It’s your only hope, Leoma.”

Leoma shook her head. “I can’t do that, Verna. I won’t.”

Verna had no time to waste. Without further word or argument, she seized her Han. Light seemed to come from within Leoma’s eyes and she crashed to the floor, dead.

Verna slipped silently down to the end of the empty hall, to Sister Simona’s room. Feeling the joy of being able to manipulate her Han at will, she brought down the shield. Carefully, so as not to startle her, she knocked and then opened the door, hearing Simona scurry for the far corner.

“Simona, it’s Verna. Don’t be afraid, dear.”

Simona let out a shuddering cry. “He comes! He comes!”

Verna lit a gentle glow of Han in her palm. “I know. You’re not crazy, Sister Simona. He does come.”

“We must escape! We must get away,” she cried. “Oh, please, we must get away before he gets here. He comes in my dreams and taunts me. I’m so afraid.” She fell to kissing her ring finger.

Verna gathered the trembling woman in her arms. “Simona, listen carefully to me. I have a way to save you from the dream walker. I can make you safe. We can get away.”

The woman stilled, blinking up at Verna. “You believe me?”

“Yes. I know you’re telling the truth. But you must believe me, too, when I tell you the truth that I know a magic that will protect you from the dream walker.”

Simona wiped the tears from her filthy cheek. “Is it truly possible? How can it be done?”

“You remember Richard? The young man I brought back?”

Simona nodded with a smile as she cuddled in Verna’s arms. “Who could forget Richard? Trouble and wonder in one package.”

“Listen, now. Besides the gift, Richard has a magic which was passed down from his ancestors who fought the original dream walkers. It’s a magic that protects him, too, from the dream walkers. It also protects anyone who swears fidelity to him, who is loyal to him in every way. That was the reason the spell was originally cast—to fight the dream walkers.”

Her eyes widened. “That can’t be possible—mere loyalty conferring magic.”

“Leoma has had me locked in a room down the hall. She put a collar around my neck and used the test of pain to try to break my will and make me renounce Richard. She told me that the dream walker wanted to come to me in my dreams, like he does you, but my fidelity to Richard prevented it. It works, Simona. I don’t know how, but it does. I’m protected from the dream walker. You can be, too.”

Sister Simona wiped wisps of gray hair back from her face. “Verna, I’m not crazy. I want this collar off my neck. I want to escape the dream walker. We must escape. What would you have me do?”

Verna gripped the small woman tighter. “Will you help us? Will you help the rest of the Sisters of the Light escape, too?”

Simona put her cracked lips to her ring finger. “On my oath to the Creator.”

“Then swear an oath to Richard, too. You must be bonded to him.”

Simona pushed away and knelt with her forehead to the floor. “I swear fidelity to Richard. I swear my life to him on my hope to be sheltered by the Creator in the next world.”

Verna urged Simona to sit up. She put her hands to the side of the Rada’Han, letting her Han flow into it, join with it, the room droning with the effort. The collar snapped and fell away.

Simona let out a joyful cry as she hugged Verna. Verna embraced her tightly; she knew the joy of having the Rada’Han off her neck.

“Simona, we must be going. We have much work to do, and not much time. I need your help.”

Simona wiped away her tears. “I’m ready. Thank you, Prelate.”

At the door with the bolt held on with the intricate web, Verna and Simona worked their Han together. The web had been set by three Sisters, and though Verna had that much power, it would still be a challenge to undo it. With Simona’s added help, the web slipped away easily.

The two guards outside the door started in surprise when they saw the filthy prisoners. Pikes came down.

Verna recognized one of the guards. “Walsh, you know me, now raise that pike.”

“I know you’ve been convicted of being a Sister of the Dark.”

“I know you don’t believe that.”

The point was menacingly close to her face. “What makes you think so?”

“Because if it were true, I would have simply killed you in order to escape.”

He was silent for a moment as he considered. “Keep talking.”

“We are at war. The emperor wishes to put the world under his fist. He uses the true Sisters of the Dark, like Leoma, and the new Prelate, Ulicia. You know them, and you know me. Who do yo

u believe?”

“Well… I’m not so sure.”

“Then let me put it in terms that make it clear. You remember Richard?”

“Of course. He’s a friend.”

“Richard is at war with the Imperial Order. The time is upon you to choose sides. You must decide your loyalty, right now, right here. Richard, or the Order.”

His lips pressed together as he fought a mental battle. Finally, the butt of his pike thumped to the floor. “Richard.”

The other guard’s eyes shifted between Walsh and Verna. His pike suddenly thrust forward with the cry, “The Order!”

Verna already had a firm grip on her Han. Before the blade touched her, the man was blown back with such force that when he hit the wall, his head split open. He toppled to the floor, dead.

“I guess I chose right,” Walsh said.

“You did indeed. We must get the true Sisters of the Light, and the loyal young wizards, and we must be away from here at once. There isn’t a moment to waste.”

“Let’s go,” Walsh said, holding his pike out, pointing the way.

Outside, in the warm night air, a thin figure sat on a bench nearby. When she recognized them, she sprang up.

“Prelate!” she whispered with tearful joy.

Verna hugged Millie so tight the old woman squeaked for release. “Oh, Prelate, forgive the hateful things I said. I didn’t mean a word of it, I swear.”

Verna, nearly in tears, squeezed the woman again, and then kissed her forehead a dozen times. “Oh, Millie, thank you. You are the Creator’s best work. I will never forget what you’ve done for me, for the Sisters of the Light. Millie, we must escape. The emperor is going to take the palace. Will you come with us, please, so you will be safe?”

Millie shrugged. “Me? An old woman? On the run from cutthroat Sisters of the Dark and magic monsters?”

“Yes. Please?”

Millie grinned in the moonlight. “Sounds more fun than scrubbing floors and emptying chamber pots.”

“All right, all of you listen then, we…”

A tall shadow stepped out from behind the corner of the building. Everyone fell still and silent as the figure approached.