Soul of the Fire

Jagang laughed. It was not an agreeable sound.

"Oh, darlin, but aren't you the brash sort. Georgia tells me you'd be the Prelate herself. That true, darlin?"

She noticed out of the corner of her eye that every woman in the tent was on her knees with her face to the dirt in a deep bow. Ann couldn't say she didn't understand their not wanting to meet the man's disturbing gaze.

She gave him a pleasant smile. "Annalina Aldurren, former Prelate of the Sisters of the light, at your service."

The cleft between his prodigious chest muscles deepened as he pressed his hands together in the pose of prayer and bowed toward her with mock respect of her rank.

"Emperor Jagang, at yours."

Ann sighed irritably. "Well, what's it to be, Jagang? Torture? Rape? Hanging, beheading, burning?"

The grisly grin visited him again. "My, my, darlin, but don't you know how to tempt a man."

He grabbed a fistful of hair and lifted Sister Cherna.

"See, the thing is, I got plenty of these regular Sisters, and I got plenty of the other kind, too, the ones sworn to the Keeper. I confess to liking them better." He arched an eyebrow over a forbidding eye. "They can still use some of their magic."

Sister Cherna's eyes watered in pain as he gripped her throat. "But I've only got one Prelate."

Sister Cherna's feet were clear of the ground by several inches. She couldn't breathe, but made no effort to fight. His terrible massive muscles rippled and glistened in the candlelight.

The cords in his arm strained. Cherna's eyes widened as his grip tightened. Her mouth gaped in silent fright.

"So," Jagang said to the others, "she confirmed everything about the chimes? Told you everything about them?"

"Yes!" several offered at once, clearly hoping he would release Sister Cherna.

Not everything, Ann thought. If Zedd was ever going to succeed at anything, she hoped the chimes would be it.

"Good." Jagang dropped the woman.

Sister Cherna crumpled in a heap, her hands tearing at her throat as she struggled to get air. She couldn't get her breath. Jagang had crushed her windpipe. Her fingers clawed at the air. As she lay at his feet, she began turning blue.

With desperate effort, she struggled her way into Ann's lap. Ann stroked the poor ruined woman's head with an outpouring of helpless compassion..

Ann whispered her love and forgiveness to Sister Cherna, and then silently prayed to the Creator and to the good spirits.

Sister Cherna's arms, twitching in agony, circled Ann's waist in gratitude. Ann could do nothing but-pray that the Creator would forgive his child as she died a burbling death in Ann's lap. At last, she stilled with the merciful release of death.

Jagang kicked Sister Cherna aside. He seized the chain around Ann's throat and with one hand easily hauled her to her feet. Cloudy shapes in his inky eyes shifted in a way that unsettled her stomach.

"I think you may be of some use. Maybe I can pull off your arms and send them to Richard Rahl, just to give him nightmares. Maybe I can trade you for something of value.

But fear not, I will think of a use for you, Prelate, You are now my property."

"You can. have my existence in this world," Ann said with grim commitment, "but you cannot touch my soul. That gift of the Creator is mine, and mine alone."

He laughed. "A fine speech." He jerked her face closer. "One I've heard before." His eyebrows arched with delight. "Why, I think every woman in this room has said the same to me. But you know what, Prelate? They put the lie to it today, didn't they?

"They all gave you over, when they could have escaped. At the least, they could have saved your life at no risk to themselves. But they chose to remain slaves when you offered them freedom.

"I'd say, Prelate, that I have their souls, too."

"Sister Cherna sought me at death, not you, Jagang. She sought goodness and love, even though she had betrayed me. That, Emperor, is the mark of a soul's true intent."

"A difference of opinion, then." He shrugged. "What say we kill the rest, one at a time, and see each vote of devotion, then tally the votes at the end? To be fair, though, we'll take turns killing them. I killed mine. Your turn."

Ann could do no more than glare at the beast.

He let out a belly laugh. "No? See, you aren't so confident in winning the votes of your Sisters' souls."

He turned to the Sisters, still on their knees. "Fortune for you today, darlins. The Prelate seems to have ceded your souls."

His dark gaze returned to Ann. "By the way, you are probably hoping the chimes will be banished. We share the hope. I have use for magic, but if I have to, I can certainly win this way, too, "But if the chimes are banished, it will do you no good. You see, those manacles and chains are invested with a spell spun by my other Sisters. You know the ones. The Sisters of the Dark. As you know, they have use of Subtractive Magic, and that, my dear Prelate, still works.

"I just didn't want you to suffer with false hope."

"How considerate of you."