Free Spiderwork by L. K. Rigel Page B

a priest of Asherah, light green shift and forest green tunic, embroidered with stylized seven-branched trees. Her hood was thrown back to expose straight, light brown hair in a loose braid. She had hazel eyes and a fair complexion, and her features were plain and ordinary. Char had never thought about it, but Lydia was as beautiful as any chalice.
    The priest touched Maribel's blank face and said softly, "All is well, my sister."
    "All isn't anywhere near shibbing well." Char broke the room's awed silence. "Can't you see she's gone to a place far, far away?"
    "What do you know, Lydia?" Jake said.
    "I suspect that my sister tried to look into your soul, Lord Ardri, and found none. This one has fallen into the abyss."
    Shock rippled through the room. People took a collective step away from Jake. If it wasn't so horrible, it would be comical. This couldn't be happening. Everyone had a soul. Jake of all people had a soul. Char would bet her life on it.
      "You called Maribel a broken chalice," she said. "How do you know Maribel? I've never seen you in Sanguibahd."
    "I have never been to Corcovado, and I have never met Maribel. But I recognize my sister. I too am a broken chalice."
    "I don't understand."
    "Not every woman who bleeds longs to become a glorified prostitute."
    "It's not like that." But part of Char said it was exactly like that.
    "Perhaps not," Lydia said. "This is not the time to argue that point. I'm one of the older chalices. I was forty-five years old when the gods returned."
    A murmur ran through the room, disbelief in some voices and the satisfaction of confirmed belief in others. Lydia appeared no older than her mid twenties. That's what it would have been like . Char had never regretted being passed over as a chalice, but she had to admit it would be nice to keep such youthful good health and beauty for more than a hundred years.
    "I was never religious," Lydia continued. "I had a husband who was no lord or king of anything. Then I was given fertility. If I was going to have natural born children, fine. But I wanted them to be my husband's children. I hid from the Great Red Beast—"
    "Monster," Jake and Char said at the same time.   
    "Quite."
    Lydia closed her eyes and touched Maribel's arm. Maribel's eyes closed and she slumped against Jake's chest. After a silent minute that felt longer, Lydia continued.
    "I did become pregnant with my husband's child, but I lost the pregnancy in the fifth month of gestation and with it my ability to bear a child. Asherah punished me for my sin. My husband suffered an aortic aneurysm the day my uterus ruptured. It was as if she had spoken to me directly."
    "And so you became her priest?" Char said. "I'd think you would hate her."
    "The gods are mysterious in their ways," Lydia said. "I am still a chalice, if broken. I have another purpose now, and I accept it."
    Lydia radiated serenity. She had the beatific certainty of someone possessed by a divine force. Char thought of her own response when Asherah no longer needed her. She can smite me. Not so classy, but she still felt that way.
    Lydia turned to Jake. "Chalices are able to do more than conceive and bear natural children. Trained properly, a chalice can pierce the veil between the sacred and profane realities."
    The only sounds were Lydia's voice and the crackling of the fire.
    "Maribel seems to have discovered what Sanguibahd has not. A chalice can look beyond that veil into a human soul. It's a blissful, ecstatic experience, as long as there is a soul to behold. When there is no soul, the attempt fails and the chalice may well fall into the void between realities."
    "Priest of Asherah," Khai said. "How do I save the Emissary?"
    Lydia closed her eyes, then said, "Like Maribel, Durga's constituents have disintegrated. Her soul is there, but her spirit has fled. I am sorry, Khai of Luxor. I don't know if anything can save Durga."
    "I demand you examine the infant Sanguibahd tried to foist on Versailles!" The