Turning the Storm by Naomi Kritzer

Author:Naomi Kritzer [Kritzer, Naomi]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, Religious, epic
ISBN: 9780553585506
Google: gUo4YzRlmwMC
Amazon: 0553585509
Publisher: Spectra
Published: 2003-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

Reach for me, and I will take your hand;

I will give you all that you need.

—The Journey of Gčsu, chapter 7, verse 22.

The Fedeli guards pulled a hood over my head; I wasn't sure if it was to disguise my identity as they took me into the Citadel, to keep me from seeing my route to the prison below, or just to disorient and frighten me. I didn't know when Rosalba left me; Felice stayed back on the steps of the Citadel, still hobbled. I made a tentative effort to test the guard's grip on my arms, and was rewarded with a blow so hard I thought for a moment he'd cracked the back of one of my ribs.

We descended stairs, down and down and down. The air was cold, and I could smell charred meat mixed with human wastes, acrid urine, and sour vomit. I heard the clang of a door, the rattle of a chain, and they snapped something cold around my wrists. They were chaining me.

The hood was pulled off my head. I was in a cell, lit with witchlight that hurt my eyes. "Hold still," the guard said, and took out a knife. I drew away, but he grasped the collar of my shirt and cut my clothes away from my body, nicking me with the blade when he cut away the cloth I'd used to bind my breasts.

"Lady's tits," the guard said, studying me. "It is a girl, after all."

"I'm going to tell Rosalba you swore," I said.

"You do that, girl," the guard said with a short laugh, and they turned away, closing the door. I was naked, alone, in darkness.

Tethered to the wall, I could stand, but not sit. I hunched my arms as close to my body as I could; the air was achingly cold, and standing naked I could feel every draft. Beyond the door of my cell, I could hear activity— footsteps, murmurs of conversation, and then a long scream of pain that made my legs shake so hard that I had to lean against the chains for support.

What had raised Rosalba's suspicions? Obviously, seeing me leave when I did had confirmed them. But she hadn't seemed suspicious when she left my room. Was it that I hadn't jumped at the chance to sleep with her? Maybe she'd seen it in my eyes. Maybe she'd realized I was a woman. There were a thousand ways to be caught. I'd told Giovanni that.

From a cell close by, I heard a hoarse moan. I closed my eyes, wishing that I could cover my ears to blot out the sound. Pray for me, Lucia, I thought. Now that the worst had happened, my fear had ebbed to a dull ache in my stomach. They knew who I was; they were going to kill me. I tried to hold that thought in my mind, to summon the fear that ought to be there, but I couldn't focus on it for more than an instant. I will never see Verdia again, I thought, but I couldn't believe it.

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