To Rise or Fall: Chapter 8

The mother had an office connected to the sanctuary. Merin had thought the rest of the temple was grim, but the tiny room with a single candle, giving more smoke than light, and black furniture with severe edges was the worst. It reached through the drug induced apathy and scared her.

The mother sat in a chair similar to the one Merin had sat in at the very start of her arrival. She was studying her arms and gave no sign of even registering Merin’s appearance until the sister that had let her to the office closed the door.

“Initiate. I have heard much about you.” Merin didn’t like her smile. It was too sly to be trusted.

Merin gave her a shallow bow. She folded her arms together over her stomach, hiding her hands in the voluminous folds of her robe. “I didn’t realize I was the topic of conversation.”

The mother laughed, her thin pointy face seeming to sharpen for the exertion. “That hand of yours is a very compelling topic. Come closer. I won’t bite.”

“The goddess told me of your folly and how you repaid it. That was a noble sacrifice. Several would have been selfish and kept their child.”

A tight smile freezing on her lips, Merin said nothing. She tried not to think of her payment that night. It turned her stomach. Noble...

The mother watched Merin for a long time, waiting for words that wouldn’t come. “Well,” she finally said. “I suppose it’s time to show you why you’re here.” She stood and moved to one corner of the room before a door. To Merin, it seemed out of place, heavy and made of iron instead of the usual black wood. The mother produced a key and fit it in the lock, turning it slowly. “Come.”

Merin obeyed wordlessly, following the mother as she opened the door and walked into a dark hallway. Squinting in the shadows, she could make out iron doors on both sides of the hall. One torch burned where the hall turned. Merin’s scalp prickled. She didn’t like this.

“Other girls who have survived the Trio’s touch have proved to be a problem. They often survive a second time in the reckoning rooms. The goddess is usually hard to dissuade once she gives mercy.” She sighed. “One of the pains of being responsible for the sisters and initiates is giving out punishment. They never understand why the goddess doesn't give them special attention even if it is only to end their last moments." She gave an insolent shrug. "Apparently she has other things to do than watch over her followers." She beamed at Merin, making the initiate nervous. The mood seemed to have changes all too abruptly. "Of course, she'll have a baby soon thanks to you. I've heard those are hard to look after... perhaps even for a goddess."

At the mention of children, a song could be heard. It was a playground song that she and Bana had sung together as girls. Her skin prickled. The voice was too old, too high, too mindless. The mother stopped at a door, the door that- much to Merin's dismay- the singing came from. The singing sank to a tuneless murmur and then a whisper.

Swinging the door open, the mother said, "She was also unfaithful." She tilted her head as an order to walk in.

Merin walked in slowly, swallowing. The room was warm and dry but empty. A cot lay in one corner, a chamber pot on another. She scanned the room, her pulse hammering in her throat.

In the corner on her left, nearest the door, it hunched. Black locks covered it's face. Merin could barely see the glint of the torch light in the eyes staring at her. It continued to mutter, turning away as if it were protecting something as Merin cautiously approached.

On a strange impulse, she knelt down as well. If these remnants of a woman had committed the same sin she had and survived, she must have given a similar gift of repentance. "You and I are similar, don't you think?" Merin cooed. She slowly lifted her injured hand and unwrapped it to show the woman. "Did something like this happen to you?"

For a long moment, Merin waited until she thought there would be no response. She was wrapping her hand when the woman pushed down the shoulder of the rags of what might have been a robe at one time.

Merin stared in horror. Where the Trio had touched her had not healed. Yes, she had been expecting a nasty scar. Yes, she had been expecting puckered skin, but the dark touch that had burned them both on their first days in the temple had eaten away the flesh of the skeleton-woman {