36. Sullha
SULLHA
Sullha and the mothers were stocking the refrigerators in the two homes where Yaaf and his team would be living. They had cooked up a storm, so the guys would have plenty of prepared food to choose from. They also bought eggs, milk, cheeses, vegetables, and meats from the village store.
"Not there," Mirumah said, taking the carton of eggs from Sullha's hands and moving it down a shelf. "Margaret told me eggs go on the door. It's a little warmer, and eggs like it more."
Sullha frowned. "How would she know what the eggs like?"
"She says they taste better when you keep them at a slightly warmer temperature than the rest of the things in the refrigerator." Mirumah closed the door. "She knows what it's like to live under a rock for most of your life. She is a very good teacher."
Margaret had told Sullha about having lived in a cult, and after talking with Burda about the Sacred Mothers and their insane plans, Sullha had meant to talk to Margaret about that, but she'd gotten distracted by preparations for Yaaf's arrival.
The two houses that the Eight would be staying in were right next to each other and located in the old part of the village where Sullha and the other island escapees resided.
It would be difficult to split them between two houses, but Yaaf had said they would give it a try.
The problem was that the largest houses in the village had just three bedrooms, which was not enough for the eight of them.
They were willing to sleep four to a room, the way they had been sleeping in the hotel on the island, but Ingrid had managed to convince them to try two houses at first, and if they could handle that, to try four so each of them would have a private bedroom.
That was Sullha's preference for obvious reasons, but she wasn't going to say so. If she and Yaaf were to start being intimate, they would need a private bedroom, and it didn't matter that they wouldn't have privacy even with the walls separating them from the others.
As long as she could pretend they were alone, she could handle it.
At least she hoped so.
"Mama, I got the towels," Tomek said from behind a stack taller than his head.
"Let me help you with that." She reached for them, but he stepped back. "I'm a big boy. I can carry the towels."
"I know you can, sweetie, but you can't see where you're going, and I don't want you to trip. Can I at least take the ones blocking your view?"
"Okay," he said, sounding as though he were making a major concession to a completely unreasonable demand.
She took the top three towels, revealing her son's beautiful eyes. "Here you are."
"I didn't go anywhere."
She chuckled. "Let's start with the first bedroom."
"Is that going to be Yaaf's?"
She wondered why Tomek had grown so attached to her childhood friend in the short time they had spent together. Was it because he sensed that Yaaf was important to her, or because he saw him as a potential playmate?
The bedroom they entered had been transformed. The big bed was gone, replaced by two narrow ones with a nightstand between them, and the same had been done in all the other bedrooms in both houses.
Tomek walked into the bathroom and began arranging the towels the way he'd seen her do in their house, while she started on the bed.
He hung each towel on the rail with both hands, then stepped back to examine his work.
"It's crooked," he announced. "Should I fix it, or is this okay?"
"Fix it. We want everything perfect."
"For Yaaf." He went back in to straighten the towel. "So he likes his house and wants to stay, but we don't know which bedroom he will choose. Can we choose for him?"
Sullha stopped with a pillowcase in one hand and the pillow she was about to stuff into it in the other. "I'm sure he's going to love it no matter which bedroom he chooses."
"Because he'll be close to us," Tomek said from inside the bathroom.
"He can come to our house whenever he wants, and he can play with me in my room.
He can play with my toys. I counted the steps, but there were too many, and I don't know how to count over a hundred, so I started from the beginning and counted eighty-two more. "
She set the pillow down, walked to the bathroom, and crouched in front of her little boy. "You counted the steps."
He nodded, his serious expression so adorable she had to kiss him.
"Mama!" He wriggled out of her arms because there were other people in the house, and he didn't like it when she kissed him in public.
Sullha laughed, then her phone buzzed in her pocket, and as she pulled it out and saw the message, her smile turned into a frown.
Come to Kian's office. Now. Burda called, and she's waiting for a call back.
"I have to go, sweetie." She kissed Tomek again. "Mirumah will watch you."
"I don't need watching. Our house is that way." He pointed in the opposite direction.
"Fine. You watch Mirumah. See if she needs help."
That satisfied him, and he nodded.
Sullha found the other woman where she'd left her, still organizing the pantry. "I have to go to Kian's office right away. Can you watch Tomek and finish the beds?"
"Go," Mirumah said. "I'll take care of everything. Don't worry."
"Thank you."
She ran the length of the village, grateful for her new, comfortable shoes, past the café, the square, and the faces that turned to watch her go for the second time in less than a week. She wondered if they knew why she was running.
This time, she didn't need anyone to point the way to Kian's office.
The door stood open, and inside were Kian and Onegus, as she had expected. They sat at the conference table, and Kian motioned for her to sit right next to him.
"Thank you for coming so quickly." He pushed a can of sparkling water toward her.
"Thank you." She popped the lid and took a sip.
Onegus told someone on the other end of the line to make the connection, and a moment later, Burda's voice crackled over the speaker.
"Are you there, girl?"
"Yes. Are you all right?"
"I'm in my garden, the sun's not up yet, and I'm fine, but I don't have long, and there is a lot to report."
Sullha translated for Kian and Onegus.
"There was a big explosion, but no one told us what happened," Burda continued.
"So, I can't tell you what it was. All I know is that the next day they came for the First Mother.
They put her in solitary confinement, and no one is allowed to see her except for the teacher they brought, and that's the biggest news of all.
He's an immortal, Sullha. An immortal male is inside the enclosure.
No immortal male has ever set foot inside these walls.
Now there's one standing at the front of the dining hall twice a day and lecturing us. "
"About what?" Sullha asked, then translated.
"The true way of Mortdh. He says that children are sacred to Mortdh, that the god treasures every child born to the faithful and would severely punish anyone who even thinks of harming a child.
" She snorted. "No one dares point out that thirteen-year-olds are still children, and yet they are severely harmed.
The boys in the brutal training and the girls in the breeding building. "
"I'm surprised you didn't say anything."
Burda chuckled. "I'm not stupid. Besides, I know why he's saying that children are sacred and that the females who spoke of sacrifice were twisting the god's word.
He's protecting the children, so I don't care about all the other nonsense he's spouting.
It's working on the fanatics, which is what's important.
The loudest hammers are those who nod the hardest, agreeing with him, so as far as I'm concerned, he can keep talking for as long as he wants.
He's also spending a lot of time with the First Mother. "
As Sullha finished translating, Onegus and Kian exchanged a look across the table.
"He's an immortal, and she and every woman in there are human," Onegus said.
"Or Dormant, which, for this purpose, is the same because they're susceptible to thralling.
But since Burda isn't affected and says he's spouting nonsense, I have to assume he's not a strong thraller and can't thrall many women at once, or Burda would be nodding along too.
He's doing most of his work with the First Mother, taking her apart and rebuilding her the way they want her. "
Kian leaned back and crossed his arms. "Smart. Instead of killing her, Losham decided to reprogram her."
Sullha knew what they were talking about.
She'd watched Yaaf hush an entire courtyard with a thought and had learned how little a human mind could do to keep an immortal out.
Burda had seen Yaaf in action too, but she might not have realized the teacher was doing something similar, except instead of visual illusions, he was feeding them thoughts that weren't their own.
"I know what he's doing," she said to Onegus. "Can I tell Burda?"
He nodded. "You must, because that so-called teacher could lift information from her head. Tell her that distance matters and that she should avoid talking to him one on one, if she can help it, or even looking at him."
Sullha swallowed the ball of dread that lodged in her throat.
"Burda, listen to me. That teacher is more than a teacher.
He can put thoughts into a person's head and read some of your own thoughts, which could expose you.
If you are forced to listen to his sermons, make sure you sit as far away from him as you can.
Don't let him talk to you alone or even look him in the eyes.
Keep your head down and stay out of his reach. "
"I'm an old woman with a garden and a bad attitude," Burda said. "No one pays me any attention. But I hear you, and I'll keep my distance. The sky's turning gray, and I should go. Tell your new friends that the children are safe for now."
"I'll tell them. Thank you. Be safe, and call when you can."
"I will. Goodbye, Sullha."
As the call ended, Kian uncrossed his arms and leaned forward.
"I expected a body. Instead, Losham is turning the First Mother into his mouthpiece.
A dead First Mother is a martyr the cult can pray to and even do what she wanted them to do.
A living one who preaches whatever Losham wants is a weapon he can point wherever he likes.
" He shook his head. "I don't like how clever he is. "
"His idea is working," Onegus said. "And what's important right now is that no children are going to be sacrificed to Mortdh. We will deal with Losham's cleverness when we need to."
"That's true to an extent," Kian said, sounding grim.
"A thrall has its limitations. It can't change fundamental beliefs any more than it can turn a bad person into a good one or vice versa.
The First Mother and her followers built that belief system out of grief because it gave them a reason to get up in the morning.
That teacher can press people like that into agreeing with him, but keeping them there is another matter.
The moment the pressure lifts, some of them will drift right back to the thing that made them feel better about themselves and their place in the world.
" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll believe the cult is done when it stays done without a thrall holding it down.
Until then, I'm glad the children are safe this morning, but I'm not celebrating. "
Sullha understood what he was saying, and she had to agree. Those women had chosen to believe that their misery was a sacred duty and that the cage was a blessing because that was the only way they could cope with their reality.
That reality hadn't changed.
It was just paused for now because of events that had nothing to do with them, and the moment the guests returned to the island and the women were called to the breeding building, they would reach for the only thing that gave them comfort.