Prophecy: Tome of Embers

13. The Soul Eater

Nobody wanted to be the one to tell the Anchoress that they'd returned empty handed. Least of all Silas, but in the end the unpleasant task fell to him because it was his rightful duty to bridge the gap between queen and subject. Already he could see that she knew the truth, just by the way she beheld them all as they returned to headquarters. Any minute she was liable to spring, to have his heart as punishment in a show to the rest of them what the cost was for failing her the way that they had. Not that it was really their fault.

Silas had led a carefully selected group into almost certain death for her, to retrieve the sacred one. As a result they had lost many of their own, and not just from the common rabble. No, they'd lost high ranking members, ones who were powerful, who added something to their cause. Without them they were just that much weaker now. Still, they had tried, they really had, and that had to count for something in the end. Then again the Anchoress wasn't known for her forgiving nature, but rather for her bite first and ask questions second mentality.

Honestly, Silas wondered if that would be such a bad thing-it was hard being the one to lead her worshipers, to be the one who sentenced them to death and carried it out. If his liege were to consume him, what better way than that was there to go? In his mind he could still see the faces of his brothers and sisters, going down one after another as they waged total war against the facility where the sacred one was being kept. At first it had looked like they had a chance, but when the reinforcements showed up everything went so fast. By the time he had called for retreat there weren't many of his people left.

"Silas is so terribly sorry to inform you of our failure, master. We were unable to retrieve him for you." His words had the immediate response he knew they would. The Anchoress bellowed with rage, picking herself up off of the ground where she lay with only her hands so that she could rise over him. In submission he fell to his knees, extending both his arms out to either side to accept whatever punishment she deemed worthy of his shortcomings. Yet instead of striking she merely remained there, her neck cracking this way and that as she looked around the room, disappointed.

"Though we were unable to reclaim what is yours, we have brought you something that is somewhat of a consolation." Moving slowly, Silas giggled as he returned to his feet and put his back to her, waving on the man who stood by the entrance. When the sign had been received the guard ducked out for just a moment, returning in less than a minute with an entourage behind him. In his footsteps followed a group of children, all ranging in age from toddler to teen. They looked all about themselves frightfully, not quite understanding what was going on, or what was about to happen to them.

"Silas understands, mistress, truly he does. We bring before you this assortment of youth with the hopes that you may employ a temporary replacement for your sacred one. Choose the child that appeals to you most, then devour the rest. After all, partaking in a substitute should be enough to restore you to health, and when the true sacred one is returned to you, you can do away with the imposter." Silas could see that the offering pleased the Anchoress, who looked between the innocents and relished in their delicious whimpering. Their tears of despair and cries of fear were like seasoning, and she could hardly contain herself from letting loose on them right then.

"Yes, yes, we already have another plan in the works for how to go about getting him back. Now, go on, pick one." It wasn't just Silas who was giddy to see his queen take the first step towards getting better, and the whole crowd of her worshippers cheered her on as she moved closer to the children. It wasn't just her that frightened them-though she was the majority of their fear-but so too did the entire scene. Bad men and women who wanted to hurt them, let them be hurt, who laughed at their pain, and the scary monster lady who drooled in anticipation of tasting their flesh.