The Eternal City, Part 16

“I see the taint in you, girl,” a voice said.

Nessa was lying atop the altar in the chapel at Windhold. The high, vaulted ceilings were shadowed in night, the only light emanating from the candles of devotees left after the final service of the day.

She sat up, weak and sickly-feeling.

The voice came from all around her, “You’ve been poisoned, and you will die.”

It was the voice the Goddess had used in her other visions, so Nessa knew she spoke the truth.

“Before this happens, you must bring the girl to me,” the Goddess said. “You cannot fail.”


She awoke lying on a cot in a strange room. Her chest ached, her face and throat and nose burned. She tried to sit up.

“Steady on, darling,” came a kindly voice. In to her view came a short, elderly human woman. She smiled down at Nessa. “You just lie still, now. You’ve had a rough night.”

“Kira?” Nessa croaked. Her throat was raw, and her voice wouldn’t work.

“The girl is fine,” the woman said. “You don’t worry about her.”

Nessa drifted back to sleep, despite her best efforts.


Kira sat in a nearby room, looking out the window at the growing light. The North-South Road below was filling with people, again. She could see their little campsite across the street and a little way south. The people in the house were emerging, still groggy from the evening’s revels. They had no idea what had happened just outside their home.

There was a little knock on the door, and Maselin entered with two humans. They were both short and a little on the chubby side, and each stood on one side of the tall and thin Maselin as they filled the little room. Kira thought they looked slightly comical.

“Forgive us,” Maselin said. “We would like to apologize for the poor hospitality of our little town. I hope you will believe us when we say that this sort of thing almost never happens, here. In fact,” he went on, “in all my time as mayor, this is the first time anyone has done anything like this. And I have been mayor for nearly a hundred bazaars.”

“I understand,” Kira said. “It’s OK. But, how is Nessa?”

“Ah,” the man on Maselin’s left said. “I have examined her, and it seems she has been poisoned by a substance of which I have no knowledge.”

“This is Master Stile,” Maselin introduced. “He sometimes acts as a physician in Gate Island.”

The physician bowed slightly.

“I cannot say what the long-term effects of the poison will be,” he went on, “but, she seems to be past the initial threat.” He paused, then, “You haven’t, ah, seen her yet, have you?”

Kira was confused, and it must have shown on her face.

“Her face has been damaged,” the physician continued. “What the actual damage has been will only be known once the swelling stops. But, there will be some extensive scarring.”

“I wish to see her,” Kira said, suddenly. She suddenly had the idea that these three were here to keep her from just that, and she refused to allow it.

“Well,” the third man said. “I don’t think that is necessarily a good idea, just now.”

“Gils,” Maselin said. “He leads Gate Island’s guards.”

“Perhaps it would be best for you to allow her to rest,” Gils said. “Besides, I would like to ask a few questions.”

“I wish to see her,” Kira said again, and turned to face them more squarely.

Maselin turned to Gils and said, “I don’t suppose it would harm anything, do you?”


Kira nearly burst into tears when she saw her friend. She suppressed her emotions, and promised herself she would cry later.

Nessa’s face was terribly swollen, especially the lower half. She had a hole in the base of her throat where Stile had made a puncture in order to get air into her lungs. Apparently, her throat had swollen shut. Now, the hole had a stitch in it, and she was breathing normally. The poison had eaten away skin, and bandages covered most of her jaw and her nose. Some of the poison had reached her left eye, as well, and it was heavily bandaged.

She was asleep, and Kira didn’t disturb her. She turned to leave the room, brushing past the three men, when a thought struck her.

“What of the man’s slaves?” she asked.

The two humans looked confused, but Maselin answered, “It is interesting you should ask. They are just outside. They seem to be waiting for something, but they will speak to none but you.”

“Why me?” Kira asked.

“I do not know,” said, holding out his hands in his equivalent of a shrug.

Kira still had her sword, and she was in the mood for a fight. She decided to leave Nessa in the hands of these people for just a little while longer.

Outside the room, Gils asked her, “Young lady, why do you suppose this man would attack your friend?”

“I do not know,” Kira lied. It was her first time. She hoped he believed it.