“She absolutely refuses?” he demanded.
“Shhh—not so loud!” Charlie hissed. “We’re prisoners here. If anyone finds out we managed to hold on to our communicators we’re in deep trouble!”
“You’re in prison?” Stavros pushed closer to the viewscreen.
Truth and Far spoke at the same time.
“How in the Seven Hells did that happen?”
“Are you in danger?”
“Not right now,” Becca said, shoving in beside Charlie so that her face filled the other half of the screen. “We told them we came from the Goddess so they are showing us some respect. I think they think of us as misguided but possibly teachable.”
“She’s right,” Charlie said. “They want to convert us.”
“Convert you?” Truth scowled. “To a religion of fear and shame?”
“Not to mention a religion of no nookie,” Becca pointed out. “Don’t worry—we’re not going over to the dark side here.”
“Not a chance in hell,” Charlie agreed.
“I still don’t like this.” Far frowned. “Thank the Goddess you were able to hold on to a communicator when they took you!”
“Good thing we brought them in the first place,” Becca pointed out. “It’s weird how this temple is able to block our ability to think-speak to each other through our bonds. I wonder what kind of stone it’s made of? It’s so strange.”
“Strange and very lonely,” Stavros said softly. “I miss you, Charlotte.”
“I miss you too, honey,” Charlie said. “But we’re not the ones in immediate danger right now—Trin is.”
“What?” Thrace had been shifting impatiently from foot to foot, waiting to hear more news of the female he loved. Now his worse fears seemed to be confirmed. “I knew it!” he exploded. “I knew it—what have they done to her?”
“Well, they gave her a really bad haircut and scratched her up some,” Becca told him.
“Not to mention they shot her pet horses,” Charlie said softly.
“They killed Swift and Silk?” Thrace felt a stab of pain in his heart. “But Trin loved those animals! She spoke of them often…talked of riding on their backs and caring for them since they were young.”
“It was a pretty bad scene,” Becca admitted reluctantly. “They made her dig a grave to bury them, too. She was…pretty shaken up.”
“But not shaken up enough to leave?” Truth asked, raising an eyebrow. “What is she waiting for?”
“Well, she feels guilty,” Becca said. “Feels like she deserves all of this—they’ve got her completely brainwashed here.”
“She thinks loving Thrace is a sin,” Charlie added. “And she admitted that she still loves him—so she thinks she’s still sinning.”
Thrace felt like he was going insane.
“She still loves me and that’s why she won’t come to me? Oh, Trin…” He ran a hand through his hair distractedly. “What are they going to do to her? I have to get to her…I have to!”
“Well, that’s actually why we’re calling you,” Becca said. “We couldn’t get you last night because there’s no reception in the dungeons. But we’ve been brought up to a holding cell on the first floor. I think because they want us to see this ceremony that Trin is involved in today.”
“Ceremony?” Thrace felt an ominous twist in his gut. “What ceremony?”
“Well, it’s…” Charlie sighed. “It’s the Ceremony of Sacrifice. She, uh, has to choose how she wants to be maimed.”
“What?” A red curtain seemed to drop over Thrace’s eyes and he felt his hands curling into fists. “I’ll kill them,” he growled. “I’ll fucking kill them!”
“Watch out!” he heard Truth say. “He’s going into Rage!”
“Rage? I thought only Kindred could do that,” Becca remarked, looking alarmed.
“You thought wrong, apparently,” Far said grimly. He grabbed Thrace by the arm. “Thrace, listen—going into a killing Rage won’t help us get Trin back!”
“He’s right,” Becca said from the viewscreen. “Now that they know they have intruders, the priestesses have sealed the temple up tight. There’s no way you’re getting in here short of a battering ram or some kind of laser cannon.”
“Neither of which we have,” Stavros pointed out. He looked at Charlie. “Is there any way to get inside?”
“I’m sorry but not that I can see.” Charlie looked most unhappy. “You know what the schematics we pulled up showed—the doors in the front are only way in or out. Well, other than the back door to the garden. But that area’s all walled off and I think they sealed the back door as well—at least that’s what the guards who brought us up here were saying.” She sighed. “I just wish I could have brought my gun!”
“We went over that,” Far reminded her. “If you had been caught with a weapon inside the temple and had aimed it at the high priestess, your sentence would have been immediate death.”
“Yeah, well they don’t seem to have a problem with aiming guns at other people,” Charlie muttered.
“She’s right,” Becca said. “You should see the size of their weapons! You could take out an elephant with one of them.”
“Weapons aside, are you really telling us there’s no way to get to you?” Truth demanded in a low growl. “Because I don’t fucking accept that—Far and I won’t stand idly by and see you hurt, Rebecca.”
“Honestly, we’re not the ones you have to worry about,” Becca said.
“She’s right—we’re mostly worried about Trin right now,” Charlie said, nodding. “The ceremony is about to start any minute!”
“Gods…Trin…” Thrace put the heels of his hands to his eyes and pressed hard, trying to drive back the panic and Rage he felt creeping over him. “Trin.”
Stavros frowned. “Let us think about this. You say there’s no way into the temple without some kind of heavy weaponry.”
“Right.” Charlie nodded decisively.
“If we were to blow the doors open, would the two of you be safe?” Stavros asked, raising an eyebrow at her. “Could the blast reach you where you are?”
“I think the ceremony’s going to take place in the inner sanctum so we’d probably be okay,” Charlie said. “But I thought we didn’t have any kind of equipment like that?”
“We don’t,” Truth said. “But the Mother Ship does. We could fold space, get what we needed, and get back here very quickly.”
“But not quickly enough,” Thrace growled. “Not quickly enough to save Trin from being maimed. What…” He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “What did they say they were going to do to her?”
“She, uh…” Becca looked intensely uncomfortable. “I’m so sorry, Thrace but she has to decide if she wants to have a finger or an ear chopped off or…or an eye poked out,” she ended with a wince.
“Gods!” Thrace put his head in his hands, his heart drumming rapidly in his chest. Oh Trin…oh baby, he thought, his breath coming in labored gasps. My love…my Mistress. I can’t let this happen to you…can’t sit by and let you be maimed and tortured like this!
But what could he do about it?
Suddenly he knew.
“Thrace? Brother, are you well?” Stavros touched him lightly on the arm, a look of concern on his face.
Slowly, Thrace nodded.
“Yes, I am well. Now that I know what to do.”
“What do you mean?” Far asked warily. “We already said it was hopeless to try to force our way inside until we go back to the Mother Ship and get the proper equipment.”
“Nobody is forcing anything,” Thrace said. Now that he had made up his mind about this, his heart beat was slower, his breathing less labored and the red curtain of Rage had receded from his vision. “I am going to walk in and they will admit me eagerly.”
“What are you going to do—dress up like a priestess?” Truth demanded.
“That’s not actually a half bad idea—they do have those formless gray robes that hide almost everything.” Far sounded thoughtful.
“They can’t hide the fact that none of the Daughters of Zetta grow to be almost seven feet tall,” Truth said flatly. “Sorry, Brother, but I don’t think subterfuge is the way to go.”