‘The Lady’s fucking dead,’ the woman spat with sudden anger, ‘and the sisterhood died with her. If you were really one of us you’d have felt it too, mad, blind hermit or not.’
Legana’s head dipped for a moment. What the woman said was true. Legana had been there when the Lady, the Goddess Fate, had been killed. The pain, both of that loss and her own injuries that day, were still fresh in Legana’s mind.
‘She’s dead,’ she said quietly, ‘but sisters we remain, and we need each other more than ever. My name is Legana.’
‘Legana?’ the woman said sharply. ‘I know that name - from the temple in Tirah. But I don’t recognise you.’
‘I’ve changed a little,’ Legana agreed. ‘I couldn’t speak into another sister’s mind before.’
‘You were the scholar?’ the woman asked sceptically. ‘The one they thought would become High Priestess?’
Legana gave a sudden cough of laughter. ‘If that’s what you remember we were at different temples! I was the one she beat for insolence every day for a year-I was the one who excelled only at killing. I was sold off to Chief Steward Lesarl as soon as I was of age.’
The woman let her shoulders relax. Grudgingly she returned her weapons to her belt. ‘Okay, then. You were a few years younger, but we all heard about the trouble you caused. I’m Ardela. What happened to your voice?’
Legana’s hand involuntarily went to her throat. Her skin was paler even than most Farlan - as white as bone, except for Aracnan’s shadowy handprint around her neck. Underneath were some barely perceptible bumps: an emerald necklace had sealed her bargain with Fate when Legana had agreed to be her Mortal-Aspect, but the violence done subsequently had somehow pushed the jewels deep into her flesh.
‘That I will tell you when I tell you my story,’ Legana said. ‘First, I want to ask you, where are you going by yourself in a hostile land? You don’t strike me as the sort to be left behind by the army .’
Ardela scowled. ‘The army wouldn’t have noticed if half the Palace Guard had deserted; they’re in chaos after Lord Isak’s death.’
‘So why are you here?’
‘I think my time with the Farlan is done,’ Ardela said after a long pause. ‘Doubt it would be too safe for me to return to Tirah; a few grudges might come back to haunt me.’
‘Then where are you going?’
‘Where in the Dark Place are you going?’ she snapped back. ‘What’s your story? You’re a sister, but a mage too? You’re crippled, but wandering out in the wilds all by yourself? There are Menin patrols out this far, and Farlan Penitents who’ve deserted, and Fate knows what else lurking — ’
Legana held up a hand to stop Ardela. ‘I’ll tell you everything; I just want to know whether you are looking for renewed purpose, or just a job in some city far away from your “grudges”. I want to know whether you still care for the daughters of Fate.’
Ardela didn’t answer immediately; for a moment her gaze lowered, as though she were ashamed. ‘Whatever I care for, I cannot return to Tirah,’ she said at last.
‘Could you stand to meet a temple-mistress, if it were somewhere other than Tirah?’
‘You asking whether they’d accept me, or I’d accept them?’
‘Their opinion will be my concern, not yours. We must all start afresh if we’re to survive this new age.’
‘Yes, then - but it don’t matter, the Lady’s dead.’ A spark of her former fierceness returned to Ardela’s voice. ‘Whatever you think you can do, the Daughters of Fate are broken.’
‘But perhaps I can remake them,’ Legana said. ‘I don’t know how yet, but I’m the only one who can draw them back together. They’re the only real family I’ve ever had and I won’t just stand back and watch them drift away. Without the Lady we’ve lost the anchor in our hearts; we’re bereft. Who knows what our sisters will do if the ache of her loss stops them caring about anything?’
‘I do,’ Ardela said in a small voice. ‘I’ve lived that way for years now.’
‘Then let’s do something more with ourselves,’ Legana suggested, holding a hand out to the woman.
Ardela took it, and allowed herself to be led by a half-blind woman into the darkest part of the wood, where Legana had sited her small camp. On the way Legana told Ardela what had happened to her throat, how she had