man looked to his wrist first, securing the bandage, but then, as he did after every sacrifice, he glanced at Merwan Ma.
The attendant saw little fondness in that look. Many of the Yatols were not fond of him, allowing their own jealousies to overcome their dedication to their religion and their god. He was not a Yatol, after all, not a priest, and yet, when the Chezru Chieftain went to his reward, Merwan Ma would, in all practicality, become the most powerful man in all of the Chezru domain. He would be the initial selector of the new God-Voice, and would have full voice at the ensuing council of confirmation. He would then oversee the early years of the chosen child's life, and while he would then have no voice in Yatol formal policy, it would be his voice most often heard in the next chosen God-Voice's ear.
Some of the Yatols were not pleased at this arrangement. Merwan Ma had even overheard a pair of particularly obnoxious priests mumbling that in times long past, a Yatol, the highest ranking of the order below the Chezru Chieftain, had served as attendant, and not a mere Shepherd.
Merwan Ma took it all in stride. He had been selected, for whatever rea-son, and his duty was clear and straightforward. He could not allow petty human frailties and emotions to deter him from his duty. His calling was to God, through the words and edicts of the God-Voice, his beloved Chezru Chieftain. It was not his place to question, nor - he reminded himself then and there - was it his place to accept or internalize the expression the attending Yatol was now sending his way. That look reflected that man's weakness, and it was not a weakness that Merwan Ma meant to share.
He ushered the group out of the anteroom, then went back into the sacred room, consecrated cloth in hand, and reverently wiped clean the sides of the Chezru Goblet, satisfied that the sacrifice of blood that day would secure the goblet and the health of the church for the next month.
PART 1 TO THE EDGE OF DARKNESS Chapter 3 Walking with Purpose
Brynn and Juraviel rode in virtual silence for many days after their fight with the goblin band. Despite Juraviel's cutting words and sound reasoning, Brynn could not let go of her anger toward the elf for what he had done to her, for what he had forced from her. For he had made her kill, had taken her out of their way so that she could feel her blade sinking deep into the heart of an enemy, so that she could smell spilled blood and see the stains, so that she could witness death at her own hands, horrible in a way that she had never known.
Brynn Dharielle had witnessed much death in her early years in To-gai, after the coming of the Behrenese.
She had witnessed the murder of her parents - from afar, but close enough to hear the screams. Nothing could be more terrible than that!
But this last experience was troubling and horrible in a different way. This time she had been forced into the role of assassin, and the smell of blood and the screams had come to her of her own doing, and with a siz-able amount of guilt attached.
Belli'mar Juraviel had done that to her, and his justifications rang hollow in Brynn's ears as the pair made their way along the southern trails. For more than a week, they went about their duties with hardly a word ex-changed. They each knew what was expected of them, in setting the camp and preparing the meals, and in keeping watch throughout the night. Every now and then, Juraviel would offer a friendly comment, but Brynn usually just deflected it with a grunt or a halfhearted chuckle.
Things began to warm again between them the second week. When Ju-raviel offered a sarcastic or teasing comment Bryn started to give him back one of her own, and by the end of the second week, the pair had even traded exchanges longer than single sentences.
"The Belt-and-Buckle," Juraviel said to her near the end of the third week after the goblin fight, when Brynn walked Diredusk up beside him. They stood atop a ridge that had sloped up gradually from the forest, but dropped off dramatically before them. Below, the forest spread wide and thick; and, far to the south, they could see the jagged outline of distant mountains.