Free Empire of Bones by Liz Williams Page A

years now, HIS deemed structurally unsafe after one of the province's infrequent earth tremors, and even though the faithful still drifted past its walls, it remained completely closed to non-believers. However, a non-believer was a difficult thing to be these days, now that a goddess had come to the world.
    At the heart of the temple, in an echoing chamber that blew dry with dust and shadows, Jaya Nihalani was sitting on a wheelchair throne. Behind her, she could feel the presence of the goddess, concealed behind a door in a small, glittering shrine. The shrine was like a cave, Jaya thought, gleaming with mica and crystal. Only when you looked closely could you see that the glitter was tinsel and beaten metal.
    Whenever she was filled with doubts, which was often, Jaya closed her eyes and reached back to the presence of the goddess: Durga the Vengeful, who tramples demons beneath her feet and of whom Kali is only an aspect. Yet Durga was also the Protector, invoked by young married women in the early days of their marriage to guard their homes and families. What frightened Jaya was that despite all that had happened, despite the failure of her revolution, she still seemed to occupy Durga's dual position: to protect, and—Goddess forbid—per-haps to avenge. Everything now depended on Ir Yth.
    Jaya had spent the last few days interpreting the demands, blandishments, and suggestions of the raksasa
    , whose full name was revealed as Ir Yth irRas EsTekhei.
    Perhaps I am Durga , the raksasa whispered sweetly into Jaya's mind. Maybe I am She who is come again to the world .
    Despite the astonishment that still possessed her whenever she looked at Ir Yth, Jaya felt that there was very little truth in this. Ir Yth, despite her bizarre four-armed appearance, re-minded Jaya of her father—the man who had taught his child, above all else, to smell out a lie. Ir Yth was no goddess, any more than Jaya herself. Nor was she really a demon, though on that score Jaya was still keeping an open mind. As far as she knew, Ir Yth was the projected image of an alien, the sole crewmember of the vast and living ship which had been waiting so patiently beyond the edges of the solar system and which now orbited the world. And the ship was also the originator of that voice which Jaya had heard since childhood. Her connection was with the ship, not with the ra'tsasa .
    But Jaya said nothing, for if it pleased the raksasa to be re-garded as a deity, then it was as well to go along with the lie until Jaya found out precisely what Ir Yth was capable of. She swallowed the implied insult that she was nothing more than some local primitive who would be confused and awed by clumsy lies. It was as annoying as hell, but it might be useful for Ir Yth to understimate her. Amir Anand had consistently underestimated her in the early days of her attempted revolu-tion. She'd use it now, as she had used it then.
    From what little Ir Yth had said on the matter, it was clear that she knew nothing of Durga; even the self-granted title of
    raksasa was wrong, being the male form of the word. Clearly, Ir Yth had armed herself with a few cultural stereotypes and, like every conqueror, was arrogant enough to think these would be enough. But it might even be that the raksasa realized this, and did not care.
    Certainly, Ir Yth had been quick with promises. Initially, she had vowed to give Jaya worshipers of her own, having failed to grasp that this was the last thing Jaya wanted. Giving the matter some thought, Jaya had decided to take matters into her own hands and present die raksasa with a fait accom-pli. Stealthily, Jaya had gathered together the remnants of the core cabal of her revolutionary army. These numbered no more than five people, and as far as she knew, the government was not yet aware of their presence in the Temple of Durga. The Bharati government did know, however, precisely who and what their new envoy to the stars was and had been, and it was far from