I hope so, Emily thought.
They left the carriage – and its cursing driver – behind as they slowly made their way to the temples. Emily hadn’t realized, when they’d walked through yesterday, that there were actually two streets, with a single massive temple at the crossroads. A long line of people waited outside, some clearly visitors from outside the city. Caleb waved to a street salesman as they joined the line, purchasing a small bag of apples. Emily couldn’t help wondering if those, too, had come from Cockatrice. Her barony was the closest place where apples grew.
Caleb muttered instructions in her ear. “When you walk into the temple, proceed through the left door – that’s the women’s section. Kneel in front of the statue to make your devotions, then place the fruit with all the other donations. And then walk out the back and wait for us there.”
Emily glanced at him. “What happens to the fruit?”
“Officially, the god eats it.” Caleb’s face twisted in droll amusement. “Unofficially, the priests distribute it to the poor and the needy.”
“Oh,” Emily said.
She glanced up as she heard a bell ring, just once. The line inched forward, then stopped again. Two men were arguing in front of her, chatting about…something. Three more walked past her, heading towards the other temples. They wore the red robes she’d seen before. And they weren’t the only ones. There were so many people on the streets that it was hard to be sure, but there were at least thirty Hands of Justice within eyeshot. They patrolled, moving up and down the street. Their eyes missed nothing.
There’s more of them now, Emily thought. She couldn’t help finding that ominous. A number of Hands were carrying whips. And what are they doing?
It felt like hours before the line finally reached the door. Caleb gave her hand a squeeze as they stepped into the temple – it was strikingly cool inside – and motioned to the left-hand door. The women ahead of her waited, as patiently as they could. Every time the bell rang, one of them walked through the door and vanished. Emily felt a shiver run down her spine as she reached out with her senses. Magic, powerful magic, was woven into the temple. No matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t see anything beyond the door. She wasn’t even sure what summoned the men to enter the temple.
Emily stepped through the door as the bell rang, feeling vaguely silly. She’d never believed in the Christian God, let alone Loci Gods that belonged to a lone city. She had met powerful creatures, yet they weren’t gods. And yet…she felt a stab of pain between her breasts, a warning that there was subtle magic in the air. She touched the rune she’d carved on her chest, and glanced behind her. It wasn’t exactly a surprise to see that the door she’d come through had vanished. There was no way back.
Bracing herself, she walked down the corridor and into a shrine. The subtle magic grew stronger, forcing her to grit her teeth in pain. A non-magician would have been swept away without realizing something was wrong…hell, a trained magician without specific protections would still have had problems. The air seemed still, somehow, as she looked around the shrine. It felt as though something was just biding its time before happening…
Her eyes swept the room, warily. A single statue stood on a plinth, looking down at her. It was human, she thought, yet idealized, practically perfect in every way. The outfit it wore was smart without being pretentious. She couldn’t help thinking that the Beneficence Loci looked more like a trader than the kings or aristocrats she’d seen depicted in Zangaria. And yet, didn’t that fit the city? Beneficence had been a hive of innovation even before she’d introduced the New Learning. It had certainly been a center of commerce.
She looked past the god, seeing the pile of food and drink at the far end of the room. The walls were bare, save for a handful of powerful runes. Preservation runes, she realized, established so long ago that their magic was firmly in place. It was an impressive piece of work, all the more so for – presumably – not having been designed by trained magicians. A piece of food, left in the room, would not decay. Time would only resume, for the food, when it was removed. The priests wouldn’t accidentally poison anyone.
Did she have to kneel? She wasn’t sure. She didn’t believe in the god. It meant less to her than Christmas or Easter, two religious celebrations that had become secular holidays more noted for shameless materialism than religious contemplation. She’d certainly never met a god. Alassa was the only one of her friends who’d become a devotee and Emily had never been sure if her friend genuinely believed or if Alassa had merely found a way to annoy her father. Emily couldn’t help wondering what Jade thought of it. The Crone was hardly a comfortable goddess to follow.
Caleb would be hurt if I didn’t pay my respects, she thought.
But he’ll never know, the nasty part of her mind pointed out. No one will know what happened inside the temple.
She stared at the statue for a long moment, then knelt – briefly. Nothing happened. There was no sense of heightened presence, no awareness of something greater than her. She’d felt greater things while encountering demons, or falling helplessly through time…here, there was nothing but carefully-shaped magic. Feeling oddly disappointed, she rose and walked over to the food. Countless worshippers had passed through the room, leaving everything from pieces of meat to bottles of drink. She put the apples down, silently hoping the priests didn’t eat them themselves, then walked out the rear entrance. Caleb already waited there.
“You were in there a while,” he said. His tone was light, but his eyes were worried. “Are you all right?”