Shadows in the Trees: Book 1

Chapter 15

She wanted to run through the stone halls of the temple, but she forced herself to take slow, even steps, to walk with the grace a vestal was required to have. She kept her eyes cast down and her hands folded in front of her. She had always thought the vestals looked like wraiths, silently floating through the temple in their dark robes and head coverings. It was such a strange contrast to the priests and priestesses in the temples of Khepri that she was accustomed to. 

At home, the priests and priestesses shaved their heads and wore thick eyeliner. They wore white chittons and had the sacred blue runes of their gods tattooed on their skin, rather than painted on, as the royals did. They stood out, but as a vestal of the One God, she had been forced to become invisible. 

She had always been fascinated by the priests and priestesses. She admired their fervent, life-long commitment, though she found she couldn't understand it. She often found herself bored in her life, or felt that she was in the wrong place. She thought she had some sort of purpose in being a royal, but she realized that it was no more than a frivolous game, despite the high stakes. After that, she felt restless, longing for a new life. 

Her role as a vestal was no different. She was grateful for the shelter it had provided her, but she had no love for the One God, or for the scratchy robes for that matter. And so she was moving on. 

"Sister?" someone called. She stopped in her tracks, her heart knocking on her ribcage painfully. She was in the nave of the temple, almost to the doors that would lead her to freedom. In the dark, in her haste, she hadn't noticed the priest kneeling at the foot of the statue of Malachi. 

"Yes, Father?" she asked. 

"Where do you go this late at night?" he asked. He rose from his knees and shuffled toward her, his bare feet scraping along the stone. She cursed herself.

"Well, Father, I'm afraid it's a rather personal matter, between myself and one of the sisters," she said. "You see, she is having some, ah, lady troubles." 

He blanched at the thought of what 'lady troubles' could entail, but he continued up the rows of benches to her, his white robes billowing out behind him. "What could she possibly need that isn't provided here?"

She tried to swallow and found her throat was too dry. "We ran out of supplies. Please, Father, it is an emergency." 

He sighed. "Very well, Sister. Let me accompany you."

"Oh no, Father, you're too kind, but I'll be alright," she said. "Stay here and pray. The One knows we need prayer more than we need sanitary towels." 

He nodded. "Right, well . . . alright then. Safe travels, Sister."

She dipped her head and turned back to the doors, fighting the urge to run through the doors. She could feel the priest watching her go.

The cold air flooded the temple as she opened its doors and slipped into the night. She looked up and identified the constellations she knew to soothe her frayed nerves, but in the open air, she soon calmed. No one else stopped her as she wound her way through town. Grezians believed night was when monsters and Fae were strongest, so the streets were mostly empty as she traveled out of the city and onto a lonely country path to the next town over. She looked up at the spread of stars, but she didn't look back. 

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Though it had taken her a few weeks, she finally reached her destination: Fachal, the port city nearest to Greze, where she intended to disguise herself and board a boat to anywhere but Khepri. Though she itched to go home, she knew she could never return. Her siblings would kill her the moment they found her, and with their spies spread across the land, it wouldn't take them long.

The vestal hurried through the streets, looking for an unattended laundry line. She had traveled to Fachal in her habit. Her holy status secured her free room and board at any inn as well as discretion, and people gave her a wide berth on the street and averted their eyes to show respect. But now that she was in Fachal, she needed to board a boat, and no captain would let a vestal on board without specific permission from a temple.

So, once the bells tolled the evening prayer to the One God and everyone was inside, the vestal ducked into an alley and took stained trousers and a baggy shirt from a laundry line. She took a handkerchief from the laundry line too, coiling her hair against her head and covering it with the worn cloth. She tore a strip from her habit and bound her breasts, and then quickly changed into her stolen ensemble. She balled up her robes and stuffed them into a knapsack she had stolen a few towns back. She looked down at herself. With her short stature and athletic build, she supposed she could pass as a sailor boy.

She made her way to the harbor as the bells tolled once more and the streets began to fill with people again. Ships were always looking to pick up extra crew, and she found a ship bound for Elohine easily. She didn't know much about sailing, and most of what she did know was from books, but she would get by. She always did.