Page 10 of The Garnet Daughter (The Viridian Priestess #3)

Chapter

Nine

A ugust is gone by the time I wake up, likely eager to resume work on the beacon after the progress he made yesterday. I barely slept after what occurred last night, and when I finally succumbed, my body took advantage and I slumbered past dawn.

But what exactly happened, I am not sure. The details are foggy. Whatever I experienced, I need to speak with the elders as soon as possible.

The village is a flurry of excitement, decorations and floral crowns already adorning some heads, reminding me what day it is. The celebration of the conjunction.

My heart sinks at how close we are to the final days.

I weave through people too happy to pay attention to me as I head to the elders’ home.

They will soon leave into the forest to bless the hunters who will feed the village tonight and carry out traditions for most of the day, but I need answers.

Their knowledge of old gods is vast, so perhaps they will know why it spoke to me and its meaning.

Long, brightly colored strings dance in the archway as I pass through, hoping at least some elders have time for me.

“Calliape? Happy conjunction,” one of the elders’ aids says to me.

I spin in the direction of her voice, where she packs a traveling basket full of blankets and food. “Hello, happy conjunction.”

“Have you come to join the hunting party?”

“I need to speak to the elders. It is of great importance.”

“They are preparing for the hunt.” She shakes her head and stands between me and Elder Oona and Isaac. They sit on tufted cushions in the back of the serene gathering room, eyes closed and peaceful as they are adorned with flowers and painted symbols.

“It won’t take long. I promise, please.”

“Stay here.” She points a finger to the floor, then disappears into the back.

I shift on my feet, restless until the eldest of the elders, Victoria, shuffles out, holding on to the forearms of her aid, who whispers to her of my visit.

She sits with the elder siblings and greets me with a confused nod. “Young Calliape, what torments you so that you must interrupt such preparations?”

“Forgive me, elders, but I needed to speak with you immediately.”

“Sit, sit. Everyone in this village needs to speak to us immediately,” Elder Oona calls out with a smile, then waves off the helpers preparing them for the festivities.

I bow my head, grateful for their patience, before sitting cross-legged in front of their resting place. “I withheld details of the trouble in Cosima. I did not know of their significance until now. I was afraid to confess, forgive me.”

Elder Oona nods. “The details of the Cosima conflict are not of interest. You are forgiven, child.”

“Cosima’s stone was taken,” I tell them flatly, knowing they could not imagine such a thing.

“Frith’s stone?” she asks, but her and the other elders’ expressions change to a sterner version of themselves, a contrast to the happy flowers that adorn them.

“Safe.”

“How did this happen?”

“An old god. A ritual was performed and it . . . presented itself.” I am withholding again, but telling them it was me and the mistakes I made will only distract them from the information that I desperately need.

“Which old god?” Elder Victoria inquires.

“I’m not sure, but it spoke when it appeared.”

“Describe it.”

“Four arms, pale eagle wings, its eyes two floating stars in a cracked bowl of water.”

“Omnesis,” Elder Victoria reveals. “It dwells in its ancient temple in the birthlands of Cosima and has maintained the balance of the three worlds since the beginning. Spoke? And what did it say?”

The sibling elders lean forward to eye Elder Victoria, perhaps wondering what she is getting at just as I am.

“It called my friend an abomination.”

The energy in the gathering shifts a little, like the creature itself is listening.

Elder Oona hums to herself. “Omnesis rights the wrongs of the three worlds. If something or someone should not exist, threatening the balance it maintains . . . Your friend, is she Mother blessed?”

“Yes,” I answer slowly. “Born of the Temple of Divine Mothers.”

Together, they nod, and that sends a chill down my back. A person whose divinity should not have been, a trick of nature by an evil highest priestess.

“If Omnesis sensed the stone was in danger, it would have taken it back to its temple, the original resting place long before the bricks of Cosima’s Estate were laid,” Elder Victoria explains. “Of this I am not worried.”

It’s a relief but difficult to think of anything other than Ferren and the threat they claim she may be in. “It thinks she should not exist. Why did it not harm her?”

“It is not for us to know the timing of such things. We cannot see the ripples and threads of this world like it can. Regardless, it has marked her as an abomination and will likely right that imbalance.” Elder Isaac speaks this time.

“What can I do? How do I stop it?” My hands tremble in my lap.

“What can any human do for old gods?” he muses.

There are stories of the old gods working together with the faithful when the world was one, but now they are illusive and dangerous.

Ferren herself barely made it out of the Albright’s cave alive, but she was able to persuade it.

Surely Omnesis has worldly desires just like the other gods who dwell here.

I could figure out what it wants, its weakness.

It’s going to kill Ferren and any woman born in the same way.

“Thank you for your wisdom. August believes the beacon will transmit today, and we will leave you soon after.” I stand on shaky legs. As usual, they have divulged much information but, in the same sense, not enough at all. “Is there anything else I should know, elders?”

They are silent, staring straight through me, until Elder Victoria exhales like she is reluctant to answer. “If the highest priestess of Cosima is dead?—”

She hesitates for so long, I nod my head, thinking I misunderstood the question for a statement and nod again to confirm.

Then she leans forward like she is going to whisper. “Tell no one on Cosima you understood the old god. It spoke in front of you and others, but tell no one you made sense of its language. It is very important that the order does not know of this.”

I bow to them and then pause, not knowing her exact meaning. They distrust the order more than anyone, but some things are bigger than feuds between worlds.

I need to find August and make sure the distress signal went through. The situation is more dangerous than ever, and now Ferren’s life is a target for an old god.

My chest tightens, like my heart alone is folding the distance back to my friend, who is still grieving and now in danger herself. We have to get back to Cosima immediately. I have to warn her.

I duck under arches of woven grass and weeds shaped into giant crescent moons.

They line the walkways and paths to each house.

It has been so long since I celebrated this holiday.

The last one was when I was a child, and Selene and I decorated the outside of our home the whole day, bickering about the perfect placement, and then spent the evening braiding lemongrass into our hair for luck.

I turn down the path that leads to the beacon plateau and see August walking it toward the village.

Several children walk with him dressed in their finest clothing and giggling as if they have found a new pet.

One of the teen boys ties a lemongrass-braided band around his wrist. August smiles so big my stomach flips and forgets the worried nerves it just held onto so tightly.

When he spots me walking toward him, he waves and jogs forward, making sure to thank the village children over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” I ask, and the words sound more accusatory than intended.

“They swarmed me.” He laughs, playing with the bracelet on his wrist, the dry green braid making a crinkly noise as he moves it.

“We need to talk.”

“Yeah, I need to talk to you too.”

“What is it?” Surely nothing is as important as what I have to share with him.

“I tried all morning, but I couldn’t get the transmitter to output a signal.”

“Oh.”

I was wrong.

“I was coming to find you to let you know we need the tower erected. It’s the only way. If we can get some volunteers, I can make a pully system. Maybe I could draw something so the elders understand.”

“Volunteers?” They do not want any of the villagers involved, and even if they approve, who knows if anyone would help us.

“It’s our only chance. The signal is too weak, even with the planets closer. We need the tower. I’m sorry.”

“No, you tried.” I look back at the village and see the group of hunters walking and people cheering as they parade through the walkway with the elders leading.

“What’s going on there? I assumed it was a Frithian wedding when I walked out to all the flowers.” He grins.

“It’s a conjunction holiday for the hunters. The elders won’t be back until they have killed enough for the celebration.”

“Who can we ask to help while they are gone?” he inquires with a serious edge.

“No one. Not without permission from them.” I look back at him, defeated.

“Alright.” He nods, frustrated, and then leans toward me, sensing my panic. “What did you need to talk about?”

A chill runs down my spine even in the heat of the midday sun when I find the words to share what the elders relayed about the creature that climbed out of the depths of the Estate.

On the walk back to the house, I tell August the new horrors we may face, but I leave out the nightmares I had last night, a detail that does not seem necessary to add to his worries.

Returning to Cosima will require more than we expected, and asking the elders’ blessing is the only way. We need other Frithians to raise the tower, and we must ask permission tonight during the celebration. I just hope it’s well received.