be like me. I can see it in her eyes. I can feel it!” Adikiah rages.
“And if the Orders of the Reach do not accept her blood, if they want her soul instead?”
“Then she will die!” Adikiah’s tone softens at the idea. “I will not give her up to them.” Adikiah peers at his reflection in the shiny, thick liquid. He shakes the bowl and disrupts his appearance in its contents; turning from it he says, “They will accept my offering, or they shall never receive another harvest!” The voice in the cauldron does not stifle its amusement; its throaty chuckle sends the liquid into a boil.
“When shall I retrieve your offering?” The voice from the black liquid is excited; its words crackle and click rapidly.
“When the next moon if full,” Adikiah says. “She will be ready when the next moon is full.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Crevice
ADIKIAH WAKES ME; IT IS the first time he has entered my sleeping chamber. “Come with me, Eramane.” Adikiah’s eyes gleam with excitement—or hysteria, I cannot tell which—and I have come to dread those words: “Come with me, Eramane.” The last time he spoke them, he took me to the room where the dead beast lay. Yet I follow him, down the staircase to a chamber in the palace. A deep crevice makes a barrier between the entrance and the back of the room and casts an orange glow throughout the chamber. The walls and the floor are dark and slick, reflecting the pulsing orange radiance seeping from the crevice
“Why have you brought me down here?” I ask.
“I need to reveal something to you.” He looks at the opening in the floor, and pulls me close to the crevice. “You see, Eramane?” He motions for me to look down. Molten earth churns below, and the heat rushes my face. I step back. “I can do many things, defeat armies and bring their weapons and armor and idols home with me.” He places his finger on my forehead. “But I cannot summon the earth as you can.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, utterly dismayed by his accusation.
“I am telling you that you have a gift, Eramane, a magnificent one.” My head will not stop shaking in rejection.
“Gift, as in magic? Are you serious?” is my reply.
“Yes, Eramane. Look at the crevice. You can close or spread its girth, whichever you choose.”
“I do not believe you. You are mad.”
“And this gift is why I cannot let you go home,” he says.
“Let me go home?” I feel my body begin to heat. “You said I was not your prisoner; you said you would take me home.”
“Yes, but I am only trying to protect you, Eramane. If you return and your lord discovers your secret, who knows what he will have done with you?”
“He will have nothing done with me! I am no summoner. You are lying!”
A slender figure enters the room, a servant. It holds a silver goblet. Adikiah takes the cup from his servant but does not order it away. “I am not making false claims, Eramane,” he says and shoves the servant over the ledge into the crevice.
“Why did you do that?” I ask in awe. Adikiah orders other servants to enter; four more take positions next to their master.
“I am proving to you that you can control this crevice,” he says, pushing a second over the ledge.
“Stop!” I plead. His shoves a third over. “Please, Adikiah, stop killing them!” He does not seem to care about my request. I feel that familiar quaking that surges through me as my anger reaches its climax. A fourth is sacrificed. “No more!” I scream and the ground begins to tremble, the chamber walls to quake. I expel the rage inside me and gasp when I see the crevice start to open wider. My amazement halts my fit, and instantly the earth ceases movement. The fifth servant is ordered out.
“Well, that was not the intended direction, but look, Eramane, see what you did?” I am breathless and cannot speak. “And your eyes, they glow so magnificently, like the brightest of moons,” he says. He slowly walks toward me, cup still in
“And if the Orders of the Reach do not accept her blood, if they want her soul instead?”
“Then she will die!” Adikiah’s tone softens at the idea. “I will not give her up to them.” Adikiah peers at his reflection in the shiny, thick liquid. He shakes the bowl and disrupts his appearance in its contents; turning from it he says, “They will accept my offering, or they shall never receive another harvest!” The voice in the cauldron does not stifle its amusement; its throaty chuckle sends the liquid into a boil.
“When shall I retrieve your offering?” The voice from the black liquid is excited; its words crackle and click rapidly.
“When the next moon if full,” Adikiah says. “She will be ready when the next moon is full.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Crevice
ADIKIAH WAKES ME; IT IS the first time he has entered my sleeping chamber. “Come with me, Eramane.” Adikiah’s eyes gleam with excitement—or hysteria, I cannot tell which—and I have come to dread those words: “Come with me, Eramane.” The last time he spoke them, he took me to the room where the dead beast lay. Yet I follow him, down the staircase to a chamber in the palace. A deep crevice makes a barrier between the entrance and the back of the room and casts an orange glow throughout the chamber. The walls and the floor are dark and slick, reflecting the pulsing orange radiance seeping from the crevice
“Why have you brought me down here?” I ask.
“I need to reveal something to you.” He looks at the opening in the floor, and pulls me close to the crevice. “You see, Eramane?” He motions for me to look down. Molten earth churns below, and the heat rushes my face. I step back. “I can do many things, defeat armies and bring their weapons and armor and idols home with me.” He places his finger on my forehead. “But I cannot summon the earth as you can.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, utterly dismayed by his accusation.
“I am telling you that you have a gift, Eramane, a magnificent one.” My head will not stop shaking in rejection.
“Gift, as in magic? Are you serious?” is my reply.
“Yes, Eramane. Look at the crevice. You can close or spread its girth, whichever you choose.”
“I do not believe you. You are mad.”
“And this gift is why I cannot let you go home,” he says.
“Let me go home?” I feel my body begin to heat. “You said I was not your prisoner; you said you would take me home.”
“Yes, but I am only trying to protect you, Eramane. If you return and your lord discovers your secret, who knows what he will have done with you?”
“He will have nothing done with me! I am no summoner. You are lying!”
A slender figure enters the room, a servant. It holds a silver goblet. Adikiah takes the cup from his servant but does not order it away. “I am not making false claims, Eramane,” he says and shoves the servant over the ledge into the crevice.
“Why did you do that?” I ask in awe. Adikiah orders other servants to enter; four more take positions next to their master.
“I am proving to you that you can control this crevice,” he says, pushing a second over the ledge.
“Stop!” I plead. His shoves a third over. “Please, Adikiah, stop killing them!” He does not seem to care about my request. I feel that familiar quaking that surges through me as my anger reaches its climax. A fourth is sacrificed. “No more!” I scream and the ground begins to tremble, the chamber walls to quake. I expel the rage inside me and gasp when I see the crevice start to open wider. My amazement halts my fit, and instantly the earth ceases movement. The fifth servant is ordered out.
“Well, that was not the intended direction, but look, Eramane, see what you did?” I am breathless and cannot speak. “And your eyes, they glow so magnificently, like the brightest of moons,” he says. He slowly walks toward me, cup still in
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