knew of the stones, but he'd never seen them. Until recently, he'd never
been much of a god worshipper, and he'd never been in the Great Temple
at Ranke. He turned to Rashan as Chenaya put the diamond back into its
purse once again. A sudden suspicion flared up within him. "What do
you know about this?" he said to the priest. "You're Savankala's high
holy-holy in this city. Is this why she left Sanctuary? Did you send her to
steal this?"
Rashan wrung his hands, and he gave Dayme a look of pained offense.
"No! No!" he protested. "I wouldn't have dared! She didn't say a word to
me before she left town!"
Dayrne caught the priest by the sleeve. "Then why was she showing it
to you?"
Angrily, Chenaya knocked Dayrne's hand away from Rashan, and she
stepped between them. Then her expression softened, and she eased the
priest back toward a marble bench and motioned for him to sit.
540
STEALERS' SKY
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Rashan folded his hands in his lap to keep them still. "Each jewel is
invested with a portion of Savankala's power," the priest went on in a
rush. "They were the god's own gift to the Rankan nation, given genera-
tions ago when the Empire was young, as His personal sign of divine
favor."
"They're magic?" Dayrne grumbled. He turned to Chenaya again.
"Then you are cursed?"
She shook her head violently.
"Maybe this will help." Daphne sauntered into the room, bearing a
flat, brown box, which, when its hinged lid was opened, exposed a
smooth sheet of soft, wax tallow, and a delicate bone stylus. She offered
these to Chenaya, along with a smile of welcome. The two women ex-
changed embraces and stood apart again. "Just because she can't talk
doesn't mean you can't still get some answers." She continued lightly.
"Personally, I think I prefer her this way."
Chenaya ignored Daphne, took the wax tablet, and began to write in
the soft substance with the point of the stylus. A moment later, she
showed the box to Rashan. It was not writing at all, but a drawing of a
sunburst.
Daphne raised an eyebrow. "She's no Lalo," she commented.
The priest peered closely at the wax. "The holy sunburst in Ranke," he
said, squinting.
Chenaya shook her head and drew the symbol for Sanctuary beneath
the sunburst. Then she pulled the purse from around her neck. Without
removing the diamond, she thrust it down in the center of her drawing.
Rashan's face turned a new shade of pale. "Mount it in our sunburst?"
he exclaimed with sudden comprehension. "This is stolen! God would
strike me dead and destroy the temple!"
Chenaya shook her head emphatically and scrawled on the tablet. His
permission.
The priest's expression underwent a slow transformation. His eyes
filled with a queer light, and he rose to his feet. "You've accepted it, then.
You've spoken with Him again." He reached out and grasped Chenaya
by the shoulders. "You are truly the Daughter of the Sun!"
Dayrne watched as Chenaya's face crinkled with irritation and she
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brushed the priest's hands away. It was an old argument between Rashan
and Cheyne. It was no secret that Chenaya was favored by the Bright
Father, but the priest had been possessed of a strange fanaticism for some
time now that she was, in fact, the sun-god's true daughter. Rashan had
even tried to convince Dayrne, and with the help of an even stranger
painting, which hung in Chenaya's rooms, he'd almost succeeded.
Chenaya rubbed the heel of her palm over the wax surface, wiping
THE FIRE IN A GOD'S EYE 541
away the old markings, smoothing it again for more writing. With hasty
precision, she carved two smaller sunbursts side by side. Under one, she
put the symbol for Sanctuary. Under the other, the symbol for Ranke.
Then she wrote, Savankala's will.
Rashan's face transformed. His look of worry turned to determination
and excitement. "One in Ranke, and one in Sanctuary," he cried. "Then
we must do it immediately." He spun toward Dayrne, gesticulating, his
hands aflutter. "This explains the sky of late," he said, "Savankala has
risked much to send us this prize. This jewel has traveled without the
proper consecrations. Until it is safely mounted in His temple, He is half
blind." He touched Daphne's arm as if the two of them were close
friends, something the princess would have adamantly denied. "It's just
as I've suspected recently. One by one, the gods are turning away from
Ranke."
"But why can't she speak?" Dayme said insistently. "What's this jewel
to do with that?"
Chenaya bit her lip, and the stylus remained still above the wax tablet,
though her gaze nickered over all their faces, imploring.
Finally, Daphne tilted her head and shrugged. "A girl's just got to
have her secrets." She went to Chenaya and took her by the arm. "At
least, let me clean you up and get some food down you while Rashan
makes his preparations," she suggested with her usual sarcastic lilt. "I
know priests and priestly ways. Something this important will take at
least a week."
Chenaya looked genuinely frightened. Frantically, she scrawled across [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]