Pandemonium erupted in the Hall at Joyhinia’s announcement. R’shiel let go of the coercion, almost gagging as it descended on the Hall, forcing down the opposition like a wet blanket thrown on a fire.
R’shiel had known it would be uncomfortable, she remembered the feeling on the border when the Karien priests had coerced their troops, but she was not prepared for the wave of debilitating nausea that washed over her. Her knees buckled as she forced the women below to accept what they could not accept, to believe the unbelievable. She gritted her teeth, waiting for Mahina to step forward to accept the mantle of First Sister. The crowd settled as their thoughts were turned from rebellion to compliance, but there was no sign of the old woman. Joyhinia looked up toward the gallery uncertainly.
“I call forth Mahina Cortanen!”
Where is she? R’shiel forcibly held back the suspicions of the crowd, fighting the sickening feeling with all her strength. A movement at the back of the crowd caught her attention and she spied Mahina moving towards the dais with relief. It would be over soon. It was almost done.
Mahina finally stepped up to the platform and turned to face the Gathering. R’shiel could not imagine what she was thinking. As First Sister she was sworn to destroy all vestiges of Harshini magic, yet her appointment this night could not happen without it. She faced the Gathering with an unreadable expression as R’shiel forced the thousand or more Sisters present to accept her reinstatement.
“Do you accept my nomination?” Joyhinia asked.
“Yes!” came the unanimous, if somewhat muted reply. R’shiel needed them to agree. She did not have the skill to inspire them with enthusiasm.
“Then I declare Mahina Cortanen First Sister!”
There was no accompanying cheer, barely a murmur, in fact. Mahina did not wait for the customary accolades, in any case. The demon meld wobbled for an instant and R’shiel knew they could not hold it together much longer.
“Commandant, as the ranking officer of the Defenders in the Citadel, will you take the oath on behalf of the Lord Defender?”
“I will, your Grace,” Garet replied, stepping forward into the small clearing at the foot of the dais.
R’shiel fought off the crippling nausea as Garet drew his sword and laid it at the feet of the new First Sister. Not much longer, she told herself, understanding now why Brak had insisted she work the coercion and then leave immediately. She wanted to vomit and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could stay on her feet.
Garet knelt on one knee and began the oath in a voice that rang clearly through the Hall. A commotion at the edge of the crowd distracted R’shiel for a moment, but she ignored it. It was almost over. The demon meld shimmered but Dranymire managed to hold his brethren together. As soon as the Defenders were sworn to Mahina, Joyhinia could leave. It didn’t matter if the meld disintegrated the moment they were out of sight. The important thing was to prevent it falling into a puddle of little grey demons in full sight of the Gathering. R’shiel was coercing the Sisters into accepting Mahina’s appointment. If she were forced to cover for the demons, she would have to let that thought go. Even if she had the skill to perform such a task, she doubted she had the strength left.
R’shiel’s black eyes watered with the effort of forcing down the natural opposition of the Sisters in the Hall to this blatant breach of protocol. It was like trying to hold a surging ocean back with nothing more than a fishing net. As Brak had warned, for some the coercion settled on them with barely a flicker of protest, while other minds rebelled against the thoughts she imposed on them. That opposition surged up like a stormy sea. No sooner had she quieted one mind than another screamed in protest. The mental strength it took surprised her. Physically, she was on the point of exhaustion.
It seemed to take Garet forever to complete the oath. Time slowed as her vision narrowed to a pinpoint, fixed on the dais. It was all she could see, all she cared about. As the power consumed her, every sense not immediately involved in holding the coercion together seemed to shut down. She could no longer feel her fingers gripping the balustrade. She could no longer hear anything. The odour of damp wool cloaks that had permeated the Hall faded into nothing. She was isolated in a bubble of total concentration that allowed no room for any distraction.
“Stop this abomination! You are being deceived!”
The voice rang out from the back of the Hall, a male voice that startled the Sisters with its harsh Karien accent. R’shiel felt the Sisters’resistance to the coercion surge in response to the sudden cry and it slipped from her grasp. At almost the same instant, Dranymire lost control of the meld.
Screams filled the Hall as Joyhinia fell apart, leaving nothing but a writhing mass of wrinkled grey gnomes who blinked out of existence as soon as they realised they were exposed. All except one. The little demon who had attached herself to R’shiel in Sanctuary who sought warmth in her bed cowered behind the lectern on the podium, unseen by the humans surrounding her, trembling with fear.
R’shiel did not see the demon. She had no idea what was happening. She collapsed against the balustrade and brought up everything she had eaten for the past week. Her eyes watered so hard she could not see, could not find the source of the pounding feet on the narrow stairs that led to the gallery. She wiped her mouth and glanced up, barely had time to notice the tonsured man standing over her as a jewelled staff landed on her shoulder, tearing a scream of unbearable agony from her.
She quivered on the gallery floor as rough hands held her down and something cold and hard was snapped around her neck. As soon as the clasp snicked shut, R’shiel felt the last remnants of the Harshini power vanish, as if a door had been slammed shut on it.
Dazed and barely able to walk, she was dragged to her feet, pushed down the winding stairs, then half pulled, half carried to the front of the Hall. The men holding her threw her to the floor. Simply letting her go would have had the same effect. Her head cracked against the bottom step, but she barely noticed the pain or the blood that spurted from her forehead. She pushed herself up onto her elbows and wiped her eyes.
More screams filled the hall as the little demon spied R’shiel and flew at her, chitterring in terror. She wrapped her arms around R’shiel’s neck. As soon as the demon came in contact with the collar, she squealed with pain and fell to the floor, quivering, temporarily robbed of every vestige of power, too stunned to disappear and save herself. R’shiel tried to catch the creature but she was pushed away roughly. One of the priests pinned the demon to the floor with his staff.
R’shiel cried out in protest as the little demon squealed in agony. Someone knocked her down. By the time she had pushed herself up again, the demon was being hurried from the hall by two of the Karien priests. She looked up then and caught sight of the First Sister.
Joyhinia looked down at her. The real Joyhinia. Savage intelligence burned in eyes that should have been filled with childish innocence. She smiled with malicious glee, then held her arms wide to address the Gathering.
“What has happened here is sorcery, my Sisters! Only with the help of Lord Terbolt and the Karien priests have I been able to expose this treachery. I have not resigned. I do not surrender my position to any woman.” She spared Mahina a glance, then turned to Garet Warner. “Arrest the usurper!”
Garet did not even hesitate. Mahina was being led away before she could protest – before anyone could protest. The Commandant had changed sides without a whimper. Angrily, R’shiel forced herself to concentrate and reach for her power, but all she got in return for her trouble was a vicious burning sensation around her neck that wrenched an agonised cry from her lips.