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CHAPTER 52
After they picketed their horses, Je
"Be a good girl until I get back," she whispered.
Rusty neighed softly in response to the gentle words. Je
Je
"Are you coming?"
"Yes, Sister Perdita."
"Hurry, then. The others will be waiting."
Je
The voice remained silent. In tense times like this the voice always whispered to her. Now it was silent. Je
The full moon, being only thinly obscured, provided enough light to make their way. Jermsen could see her breath in the cold air as she followed the Sister into the thick of the woods back between the low spreading boughs of balsams and spruce. She had always felt at home in the woods, but, somehow, following a Sister into the woods didn't give her the same comforting feeling.
She would rather be alone than in the company of the stem woman. Ever since Je
At least she had kept her word. As soon as Je
Before she had left his side, Je
Sister Perdita had not stopped her, or hurried her, until at the end when she pulled Je
On her way out, Je
Je
"Why do we have to go so far from the camp?" Je
Sister Perdita's tail of hair fell forward over her shoulder when she looked back, as if it were a particularly inane question. "So we can be alone to do what must be done."
Je
Jermsen tried not to think about what might be ahead. She put her mind, instead, to thinking about leaving in the morning with a healthy Sebastian, about being back out on the trails, out in the countryside, away from all the people. Away from the grim-looking soldiers of the Imperial Order.
She knew that the soldiers were doing an invaluable job fighting against Lord Rahl, but, still, she just couldn't help the way those men made her skin crawl. She felt as nervous as a fawn being watched by a pack of drooling wolves. Sebastian just didn't understand whenever she'd tried to put it into words for him. He was a man; she supposed he couldn't understand what it felt like to be leered at. How could she make him understand that it was especially daunting to be watched by men such as those, men with such lecherous grins and savage eyes?
If she just did as Sister Perdita. said, then, by morning, she and Sebastian could leave. With whatever help the Sisters were pla
They had left the horses among trees with bare branches-oaks, mostly. Since the trees had yet to leaf out, the forest had at first been open, but they moved steadily into thicker woods of balsam, spruce, and pine, many with thick boughs skirting their trunks all the way to the ground. Although the soaring pines had no lower branches, their spreading crowns sealed off the weak moonlight. Je
Jermsen had spent much of her life in forests. She could follow the trail left by a chipmunk. Sister Perdita was moving with all the certainty of someone following a road, yet there was no trail Je
And then, Je
As she followed Sister Perdita through thick, tightly spaced evergreens, Je
Sister Perdita paused to look back, to make sure that her charge wasn't flagging. Je
When Sister Perdita held a low balsam bough aside for her, Je
Je
Seven women sat in a circle inside the sparkling sand. There was one place where it looked like someone belonged but was missing, no doubt Sister Perdita. The women had their eyes closed as they chanted in the strange language. Moonlight reflected off the rings through their lower lips as they spoke the grating guttural words.
"You are to sit in the center of the circle," Sister Perdita said in a low voice. "Leave your clothes here."
Jermsen looked over into her hard eyes. "What?"
"Remove your clothes and sit in the center facing the breach in the circle.»
The command was spoken with such cold authority that Je
Sister Perdita prodded her with a finger. "Go."
"What is it I'm doing?" Je
Sister Perdita considered the question for a moment before finally answering. "You are going to kill Richard Rahl. To help you, we are breaching the veil to the underworld."
Jermsen shook her head. "No. No, I'm not doing any such thing."
"Everyone does it. When you die, you cross the veil. Death is part of life. In order for you to kill Lord Rahl, you are going to need help. We are giving you that help."
"But the underworld is the world of the dead. I can't-"
"You can and you will. You have already given your word. If you don't do this, then how many more will Lord Rahl go on to murder? You will do this, or you will have the blood of each of those victims on your hands. By refusing, you will be invoking the death of countless people. You, Je