Free The Sifting by Azure Boone

things up?
    T he woman stopped abruptly and nearly buried her nose in Sarah’s face. Sarah leaned back as red hair zoomed in for a near eye to eye. “Surprisingly, he wishes to challenge our coven’s Sifter. I’m actually quite impressed, he’s never shown so much…enthusiasm for the art.”
    “The… art?”
    “The ma nner in which it is carried out.” She swiped her hand before Sarah’s face. “No more questions.”
    She spun away and continue down the dank corridor lit with random antiquated lanterns along the wall. She began rattling off words without turning and Sarah strained to hear. “You are to appear before the Council as is customary. You will be inquired of. You will address all members of the panel as lord. Except Master Seven. You will not make eye contact with any of the holy board members or you will be killed. You will not move from where you are placed, unless instructed, or you will be killed. You will not cry, you will not speak unless asked, and you will bow before the holy board once in place, and before exiting. Is it clear?”
    Sarah bit her lower lip, remembering that many people prostrated before kings in the Bible. “It’s clear. How do I address you?”
    “Sister, if all goes well. Otherwise…my name is Agony.”

Chapter Eleven
     
    Sarah followed Agony—since they wouldn’t be sisters—into a huge dome like room bearing fire torches every ten or so feet. In the center of the gymnasium sized rectangle was a huge circle with small candles along the edge and zigzagging throughout in some pattern. A robed figure stood before a long desk in the circle’s center and Sarah’s heart raced. Micah? She hoped. No, dreaded. Shit, both. She’d never been so torn with needing a person.
    Agony did some kind of motion before the circle and stood as though she held a door open for Sarah to walk through. Upon entering the ring, Sarah focused her mind. She’d testified before dozens of legislative committees, had elite prosecuting attorneys attempt to get her to sway the evidence to their side and given countless lectures to much greater crowds. This was no different.
    The woman physically led her to a spot just behind the robed figure and squeezed her arms as though to set her in place. Sarah got the message. This was the spot she was not to move from or she’d be killed. Check.
    S arah panicked, trying to recall the do or die list. Don’t look in the eyes, don’t talk, cry, laugh, sing.
    Shit .
    “Bow.”
    Sarah jumped at the whispered command from the robed figure next to her. It was Micah. The urge to cling to him made her tremble. She bowed several times then remained still with her head lowered. Everything was happening so fast, too fast. One minute she was making love to Micah, the next she was standing there in a harrowing hall of insanity, fear gripping her muscles until she trembled.
    ****
    Micah couldn’t let them see his emotions for Sarah. He’d had to become superman to do what needed doing. He was too weak with her. She was too vulnerable for him to be weak. The wrong move from this point out might cost her.
    After going through the customary steps of the opening ritual, he presented his proposition. “I have a request.”
    The four members that served as their hierarchy merely waited for him to speak. “I would like to perform the sifting as a means of attaining higher powers. I tire of my limits and believe this would dissolve the chains that stilt my soul. She is my thirteenth wife. And as tradition has it, my final. I have not sifted any before her. But this one is quite promising. Her faith is stronger than any before her and she will be a great sacrifice. The power it promises is rightfully mine. I will gladly fight for the honor to harvest it with my own hands.”
    A low chuckle came from Scythe. “What is her name?”
    Micah’s body hardened in fear at what he heard in his tone. “She goes by the name Sarah.”
    “Sarah. How perfect that the thirteenth wife