The Priestess and the Thief Kindred Tales 30 - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,97
wiser when she finally dies and I take over.”
“You…you admit you’ve been poisoning her?” Elli asked, feeling stunned.
“Of course I admit it—why shouldn’t I?” The Ascending Priestess sneered. “After all, it’s not like you’re ever going to get a chance to tell anyone.”
As she spoke, she drew a blaster from her robe pocket and pointed it straight at Elli’s chest.
“You’re never going to tell anyone anything ever again, Novice,” she spat, her finger tightening on the trigger.
Fifty-Five
Elli stared at the muzzle of the blaster, feeling numb.
“You…you won’t shoot me,” she said, her voice shaking. “You wouldn’t dare! How would you explain what happened to me?”
“Why should I have to?” the Ascending Priestess Superior asked coolly. “After all, you’re not supposed to be aboard the Mother Ship at all. As far as anyone knows, you’re back at the Priory of Extreme Atonement. I’ll just dispose of your body and tell everyone I decided you ought to stay there for the good of your soul.”
“You can’t…can’t fool everyone, you know,” Elli protested.
“Why not?” The Ascending Priestess Superior shrugged. “I’ve fooled them about everything else—including the illness and death of my predecessor.” She nodded at the old Priestess Superior, who was blinking uncertainly, still curled on her side in the bed. “I could shoot her right now and then hide the blaster wound and nobody would know the difference.”
She aimed the blaster at the old Priestess Superior, as though deliberating a much quicker and more violent ending for the old woman than she had originally planned.
“You won’t kill her—you can’t!” Elli exclaimed, a protective rage rising over her. She felt as though her own grandmother was being threatened! She ran to the bed and put herself between the old woman and the Ascending Priestess Superior. “You can’t!” she repeated.
“You stupid little bitch, move away from her!” The Ascending Priestess was beginning to sound annoyed. “You can’t save her now—you can’t even save yourself. The minute I blast you, I’ll make her drink the rest of the Dreaming Drops in the bottle and she’ll drift quietly away while I blow your body out of the airlock!”
As her finger tightened on the trigger, Elli closed her eyes and said a final prayer that the Goddess would forgive her for all her sins. She was trying to brace for the burning sting of the blaster’s deadly ray when—
“Stop!” a low, angry voice growled from the doorway. “Drop your blaster, Priestess or you’re going to be very, very sorry.”
Fifty-Six
Looking up, Elli saw that the speaker was none other than Commander Sylvan—the head of the Kindred High Council himself—and he had a blaster of his own and two armed guards behind him.
But her attention was soon pulled back to the Ascending Priestess who was still holding the blaster pointed at Elli.
“I’m afraid I can’t drop my blaster, Commander Sylvan,” she said calmly. “You see, I caught this rogue Novice here trying to assassinate our beloved old Priestess Superior. I’m afraid if I let her move an inch, she’ll finish the job.”
“What?” Elli couldn’t believe her ears. “What are you talking about?” she demanded. She looked at Commander Sylvan appealingly. “The Ascending Priestess is the one who’s been trying to kill the old Priestess Superior—not me!”
“Lies.” The Ascending Priestess’s voice never rose or wavered a bit. She was perfectly calm as she accused Elli. “She’s been poisoning the old woman for months. Look—I caught her with this.” And she held up the bright green bottle of Dreaming Drops for the Kindred commander’s inspection. “She was tasked with taking care of the old Priestess Superior when she first came aboard the Kindred Mother Ship,” she told Commander Sylvan. “But all this time, she’s been giving her these drops which simulate a wasting sickness when given in too large a quantity.”
“That’s not true!” Elli protested. “Please, Commander Sylvan—I’m trying to save the old Priestess Superior! I even went to the Tenebrian palace to get a piece of the Healing Lattice to heal her! If you’ll just let me show you…” She reached for her pocket where she had stuffed the linen handkerchief with the tiny piece of Lattice wrapped in it.
“Shoot her!” the Ascending Priestess shouted. “She’s going for a blaster!” She trained her own blaster on Elli again and started to pull the trigger.
“No!” With a cry of long pent up anger and frustration, Beedra jumped out of the closet and knocked the blaster out of the Ascending Priestess’s hand.
“No!” she shouted again, in the other woman’s surprised face.