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Luc sucked in a breath to reprimand Mateqai, but I silently said, Don’t my love. He is no longer your warden.
Thankfully, Luc relaxed a bit. However, Shi Hua turned to her captain of the empress’s guard. Her expression was neutral, but her irritation grated along my psyche. “Heed your place, Captain.”
He dropped his gaze. “I beg forgiveness, my empress.” But his own worry and suspicion were barely under control. A fact not lost on any of the clergy or former priestess in the room, including Darys.
She raised her chin. “If it will ease your guards’ fears, Your Majesty, I will submit to formal questioning. In making my suggestion, I did not wish to waste your valuable time.”
Po stopped playing with the beads on his moustache. A whisper of his old, sly smile tilted his lips. “What say you, Lady Justice?”
I looked at the Skoloti priestess. Her skin didn’t change from its warm yellow. I turned back to Po. “This isn’t a formal investigation. Sister Darys voluntarily revealed her knowledge of her Reverend Mother of Balance’s prophecy to me. While I trust Captain Mateqai’s advice, I don’t want to allow any prejudice I might have against two specific members of Thief affect your nation’s relations with the Skoloti tribes.”
Po chuckled at my reference to Biming and Ogusuku, the Reverend Father of Ryukyu’s Temple of Thief. My acknowledgement of Mateqai’s concerns seemed to mollify the former warden. His skin shift from orange to gold.
Po inclined his head. “Tell us your story, Sister.”
“As I said a moment ago, our Revered Mother of Balance had her vision thirty-three years ago,” Darys began. “At this time, she was technically a novice of the Temple.” She glanced at me. “I don’t know how such things are done in Issura, but for us, those novices, who are ready, take their final vows at the end of the Spring Rituals. Assignments are made so when the tribes split and go to their grazing lands or hunting grounds during the summer, they have sufficient clergy to care for the people until the Vintner’s festival. The final vows happen during the last night of the Rituals. While she was reciting her oath to Balance, she went into a trance and spoke in an odd voice.”
She closed her eyes. “In thirty winters, the last demon attacks will start. A babe will be born, touched by Balance, but with a unique sight. She will lead the last battle because she can detect demons through their disguises. You will know her because her eyes will be the color of her birth mother’s Temple.”
Darys’s eyelids fluttered open. “No one knew what to make of her words, though Balance clerks and Knowledge clergy had the presence of mind to record what she said. When she finished speaking, she collapsed to the ground. After the healers roused her, she did not remember speaking.
“She recovered and took her vows, but she remained with the Reverend Mother of Balance instead of departing with the tribe she had been assigned to. Over the years, our Temples searched for signs of demon activity. The Reverend Mother of Balance at the time consulted all the records she had as well as the other eleven Temples. Justices queried their counterparts in neighboring territories. Other Balance Temples were contacted through distance speakers.”
Darys chuckled. “It started a philosophical debate about whether a sighted justice was actually a justice. Others believed the blessed justice would develop a spell to pierce the demons ability to shapeshift. It was all theory until word came from traders about Issura’s Red Justice.”
“Please do not call me that.” My request was halfway between a snarl and a plea.
“No offense was intended, Lady Justice.” Darys inclined her head by way of apology. “It is merely the description we received.”
“It means something else in Issura,” I muttered.
“Why is this prophecy such a secret?” Luc asked.
“It isn’t,” Darys said. “At least not among the Skoloti clergy. I cannot speak for other nations, but our Temple of Balance did send notice of the prophecy to their sister Temples. \”
“Your people are known for your oracles among your orders,” Shi Hua said. “Isn’t that correct?”
Darys nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Do the other nations’ Temples often disregard the foresight of your fellow clergy?” Shi Hua asked.
Another chuckle from the Skoloti priestess. “I cannot speak on behalf of foreign Temples, Your Majesty.”
“But your own people take these prophecies as truth, correct?” Shi Hua asked.
“We take any foresight quite seriously,” Darys said. “However, understanding a prophecy isn’t always as straight forward as we would wish. For instance, this divination did not specify how the justice obtains her method of detecting demons. Another facto,r as the Chief Justice will tell you, relates to the future constantly moving because our decisions and actions change based on what we perceive. And that perception is not always accurate.”
“This particular prophesy seems rather accurate.” Po smiled. “It would explain the desperate attempts of the Assassins Guild and their partners to eliminate you, Anthea.” “Yes, it does,” I replied dryly.
Darys’s information also troubled me greatly. None of my sisterhood back in Issura I’d spoken with in my careful inquiries had known about this prophecy. Reverend Mother Alara had only mentioned it to me after I’d discovered the renegades had quietly taken over Orrin’s Temple of Love.
At the time, I’d though my superior had been playing with me. Now, I wondered why she kept silent about this prophesy, especially after I had given myself my peculiar eyesight. Was she that appalled I was the sighted justice?
That would have made for sense if I didn’t suspect the traitor within Issura’s Temple of Balance was Reverend Mother Alara herself.
“Is there anything else you wish to know?” Darys asked.
Everyone in the room watched for my reaction.
“Not at this time, Sister,” I said. “You have given me much new information to consider. However, may I please speak with you again if I do have a question?”
“Of course.” She nodded.
“As for your request for information—” I began.
“You do not have to tell me, Lady Justice.” Darys frowned. “I was not aware you have had previous troubles with the Assassins Guild.”
“Do you withdraw your request because of your Temple’s former association with the Assassins Guild?” I deliberately raised an eyebrow.
“No, I’m withdrawing my request because I understand your issue with Reverend Father Biming.”
Part of me liked the Thief priestess, but she was one I’d need to keep an ear open for. Just like Biming. However, her insightfulness could be useful. Or very, very dangerous. I wish I knew for sure.
“Which issue is that?” I asked mildly.
She hesitated a moment, but her color did not change. “I learned from one of Duke Lixin’s men that the Ryukyuan Reverend Father of Thief tried to interfere with that kingdom’s installation of their new Reverend Mother of Balance and to force you to stay in Ryukyu in his custody, not Balance’s. He also said Reverend Father Biming conspired with the Ryukyuan Reverend Father of Thief to accomplish such deeds.”
“Which of the duke’s men did you speak with, and what else did this guard convey to you?”
I recognized Po’s cool tone. It was the same one he’d used with me after I’d discovered he’d tortured and executed an assassin within the walls of the Jing Embassy. I had been furious the man hadn’t been properly questioned by a justice before being officially tried and convicted. However, an embassy was considered part of its nation’s territory and I had no say in Po’s disposition of the assassin. It angered me more Po had discovered the traitor thanks to the tracking spell I’d asked the Orrin Temple of Light perform during our investigation of Sister Gretchen of Love’s murder.
“It was Ma Li.” Now, the Skoloti priestess’s color did change to a dull orange. Was she embarrassed about gossiping? Or was she irritated that she wasted a good source of information? I couldn’t tell. No emotion leaked from her shielded mind.
Po glanced at Huizhong who stood to the crown prince’s right and a step behind his chair. “Captain?”
“Yes, my emperor!” The head of Po’s personal guard executed a smart bow to his liege. He turned to me. “If you will, Lady Justice?”
I dissolved my wards with a murmured word, and Huizhong departed. I prayed to the Twelve his only task was to reprimand this unfortunate Ma Li.
“Is there anything you wished to discuss, Chief Justice?” Po asked.
“No, Your Majesty,” I shook my head. “I wanted to keep you and the empress apprised since you were kind enough to warn me of the price the Assassins Guild had placed on my head.” I deliberately didn’t mention Shi Hua had an even bigger price on hers according to the information the former emperor Chengwu had forwarded to his brother. I was sure it had alarmed Chengwu to see Po’s bodyguard, now wife, at the top of an Assassins Guild target list.
And it made me wonder if there had been a prophesy about Shi Hua as well.
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