Blood Requiem by Christopher Husberg

Author:Christopher Husberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Titan

26

Odenite camp, outside Kirlan

ASTRID LET CINZIA LEAD her to the tent she shared with Jane, where the disciples regularly met. Cinzia had to slow her pace so Astrid could keep up as she limped along. She had returned to camp, barely conscious, on a horse that morning, but her leg would still take another day or so to fully heal. Broken bones always took longer to heal than cuts and piercings.

Astrid clenched her jaw. She was rarely present for the disciples’ meetings, unless Knot was, too, and that was usually fine with Astrid. She didn’t care much to participate in whatever in Oblivion they were talking about, anyway.

But now Knot was gone, and they needed to get him back.

Jane, Ocrestia, Elessa, and Baetrissa waited for them. Astrid thought it was a bit silly that each of Jane’s disciples had been named after one of Canta’s original Disciples. Seemed more than a bit contrived.

“Welcome, Astrid,” Jane said. “Cinzia, I am glad you found her.”

Everyone was still exhausted from the battle with the Outsiders the previous night. Jane and her priestesses wore rumpled clothing, their hair disheveled.

“Do you have an update on the dead and wounded?” Jane asked.

“Ain’t good,” Ocrestia said quietly. “Death toll’s up to thirty-one. The wounded almost double that. We healed as much as we could last night, but… but we are not experienced with Canta’s power. We could only do so much.”

“I am sure you did what you could,” Jane said, placing a hand on Ocrestia’s shoulder. The gesture seemed oddly fake to Astrid. But she was in a pretty terrible mood.

“What about Eward’s Prelates?” Jane asked. “How many of them were lost?”

“Five,” Ocrestia said. “And more wounded. Still have a strong force, though, over one hundred volunteers.”

“By Canta’s grace,” one of the other disciples whispered. Astrid wasn’t sure which one, and she didn’t much care.

“We need to make sure this does not happen again,” Cinzia said. “We cannot take another attack.”

“We must address the toll this has taken on the Odenites,” Jane said. “I will give a speech. The more opposition we face, the clearer the importance of our movement becomes. What we do here matters. I will emphasize that.”

Astrid rolled her eyes. Normally, she liked Jane, but this all seemed too much. Especially when there were other matters that needed to be dealt with.

“What about Knot?” Astrid asked.

“What about him?” Jane asked.

Astrid looked at Cinzia. “She doesn’t know?”

“I have not had time to tell her,” Cinzia said. “You barely came to me yourself.”

Astrid sighed. Made sense, actually, but she didn’t have the patience for apologies. “Knot has been captured. We need to get him back, as soon as possible, before… before they do something bad to him.”

Jane shook her head, bewildered. “Captured? Astrid, what are you talking about? Who would capture Knot? I thought the Nazaniin had been dealt with.”

Astrid snorted. If Jane thought the Nazaniin had been dealt with, she was more naive than Astrid had thought. “Not the Nazaniin. The Denomination.”

“What?” Cinzia looked at Astrid sharply.

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