Chapter 7 Elena #2
“The very one. It was a gift from your mother, long ago.”
They stood there, suddenly silent. The wind soughed through the gulmohar tree, rattling the dry leaves with a dolorous cry. Elena opened her mouth to say something just as Saayna began to speak, but they both fell back into silence. Kruppa glanced between them, smiling uneasily.
“Are you—” Saayna said.
“Does your burn still hurt?” Elena said at the same time.
Saayna blinked. Her shawl partly covered the mark, but Elena could see the dark coiling shape of a serpent on her cheek.
“It does not,” Saayna said in a heavy voice, as if it took her much effort to admit it. “The Prophet is merciful in his blessings.”
Merciful, Elena thought wryly as she looked upon the destruction around them.
But she clamped down on the deceitful feeling beginning to stir in her chest. He freed Magar.
He will help me free Ravence. She remembered his promise as they had stood in the inferno, months ago. He promised me vengeance.
“I spoke to the Prophet,” she said slowly.
“He wants me, us, to investigate the origins of the Phoenix. We don’t have access to the royal library, but are there any scrolls left, Saayna, in the temple tunnels?
Perhaps something of Priestess Nomu’s? Anything that can prove that—” And here she stumbled.
Saayna looked away, her lips pinched, as if she could sense what was coming.
Elena took a deep breath. “Anything that can prove that the Phoenix is a false god.”
The silence that followed was damning. Only the gulmohar spoke, singing its mournful song. Ash stirred at Elena’s feet, but she ignored it, trying to catch Saayna’s eyes. The priestess remained quiet.
It was Kruppa who broke the silence.
“Is it true, then?” she said, her voice small. “Is the Phoenix a lie? Is our Prophet born by another god?”
“Yes,” Saayna said finally. She turned to them rigidly, her mouth set, her shoulders steeled, but Elena noted how her eyes were softened by sorrow. “Our loyalty belongs to the Prophet and the Great Serpent. To continue to worship the Phoenix is… heresy.”
“Right,” Elena said, but the word tasted foul.
“But if the Phoenix never existed—” At this, Kruppa made the sign of the Phoenix, tapping her forehead, chest, and then mouth, and froze as they stared. “Sorry, habit. But. If She never existed, then who did Alabore seek blessings from to create Ravence? Is he a lie too? A myth?”
I have read of a deeper, darker power. This power fed visions to Alabore, led him to the desert, and tormented him into subsequent madness, her mother had written. Not for the first time, Elena wished she had shown the letter to her father. She wished she had taken his counsel, heeded his warnings.
There were many things she wished she had done, and the regret laced her throat tight like a cruel noose.
Regret immobilizes you. Makes you weak.
Samson’s voice rang through her as the gulmohar moaned, and the Eternal Fire filled the air with its ceaseless hiss.
Elena stared at the priestesses, her response strangled by her own bitterness.
She felt the inescapable sensation of being trapped, caught between performing as queen and her own wavering belief.
Her allegiance was to Ravence, and Ravence to its Prophet.
But she had once sworn to lead this kingdom in the name of the Phoenix too.
She had knelt with her mother before their tiny altar.
Grasped her father’s hand as they sat in the inferno.
The Phoenix was more than a goddess. She was a reminder of her family, her ancestors, and the burden they carried.
Elena slowly curved her hands and summoned a flame. It rippled to life with a soft hiss as Kruppa gasped.
“You’re a prophet too?” she cried.
“If I am, of what god, then? The Phoenix?” Elena laughed ruefully.
“I feel no special connection to Her, no sudden revelation. I do not know what I am, truthfully. But I am of Agni. My mother wrote that there are three types of fire. Perhaps Samson and I are two of the three. Who, then, is the third?”
She looked to Saayna, who stared at the flame in her hands. Gently, she said, “Saayna, you have studied the Phoenix for so long. What if She is real? Samson calls forth his power from the Great Serpent. Can the second god be the Phoenix?”
“But if the Prophet claims She is not real…” Kruppa shuddered. “Are there more gods?”
They both turned to Saayna then. The high priestess touched the mark on her cheek as she gazed past them, to the tips of the flames licking the sky. When she finally spoke, her voice was firm, hardened by pain.
“There is no true god other than the Great Serpent and Her Prophet,” she said.
“Saayna,” Elena began.
“I know where my allegiance lies. I have my proof,” she said, lowering her hand from her cheek. “I will give you the remaining scrolls, but I will take no part in this blasphemy. Learn what you must and learn quickly.”
Kruppa’s face was an open wound. “How can you just turn away? You are our highest sister. You have spent suns studying the Phoenix. You know She is not a false god.”
“The Prophet has shown me otherwise.”
“But if we find proof that the Phoenix is real,” Elena interjected. “Think, Saayna. Perhaps there are more gods and power at play.”
“Have you thought of the consequences?” Saayna said, her voice like a whip. “Do you know what he will do?”
Elena heard the panic edging in her voice then. She is afraid of Samson, she thought. But she followed Saayna’s gaze and saw that she was staring at the Eternal Fire, and a new understanding crept through her.
She is afraid of the inferno itself. Saayna had felt the fire’s teeth tear through her flesh. She knew the pain of burning. Like Yassen.
Elena remembered his fear. He had hidden it, pushed through it, and it had led to his ruin. By following her, Yassen Knight had died. And the high priestess feared the same.
“Do not ask more of me, please.” Saayna’s voice trembled. “Please.”
“I know my family has given you grief,” Elena said softly.
“My father was wrong to imprison you. But you believe in Samson solely because he healed you.” She fluttered her fingers, and the flame grew, a steadfast beacon.
“Here is your other proof, Saayna. I too am a god. I may not be the Prophet, but I will free my kingdom. And I will call on whatever higher power to do so.”
Saayna looked down at the flame, and then at her. “Then I pray for the day when we will finally be free of you gods.”