Free An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows

just because the girl had fallen. Only then did Yasha reveal what everyone else in the compound already knew: that every morning for the past week, Vex’Mara Kadeja, fallen priestess of the Vekshi goddess Ashasa and now the foremost consort of Vex Leoden, had read the omens, seeking the proper day to make a dusk offering to Ashasa in the Square of Gods. That she’d declared her intentions openly beforehand was an act of breathtaking heresy, almost equal in kind to her choice of venue. Though situated in the Warren, the holy fountain in the Square of Gods was no less sacred to the Kenan pantheon than if it had been part of the palace temple.
    Of course, none of them had any way of knowing if today had been that day – not until Zech returned, at any rate – but as soon as Yasha spoke, Gwen knew in her bones that it was, of course it was, because the Many as she understood it was incapable of working any other way. Kadeja’s decision to worship Ashasa in the Square of Gods was roughly equivalent to the Queen of England holding a full Christian mass in the Dome of the Rock. What else would happen, but that her charge be caught up in events she couldn’t possibly understand?
    â€œWhy didn’t you tell me?” Gwen asked Pix, her voice low and dangerous.
    Pix flushed. “Would it have changed anything if I had? It was out of our hands. You didn’t need another reason to worry about the girl.”
    â€œYes,” said Gwen, through gritted teeth, “but if you’d told me Kadeja was planning a jaunt to the Square of Gods, I might have ridden a different route to avoid it!”
    â€œEnough!” snapped Yasha, thumping her staff on the floor. “We’ll know soon enough what’s happened.”
    Gwen bit back a retort, knowing the old woman was correct, but not liking it. She glanced at the bed, where an exhausted Trishka slept in a swaddle of blankets. Though she’d woken briefly to greet Gwen, she’d subsequently lapsed back into sleep. The power needed to open portals between worlds was considerable even before you factored in Trishka’s physical frailties, and while Yasha made periodic attempts to dissuade her daughter from overexertion, it was only a formality. Trishka’s magic demanded use, and after her one disastrous attempt at suppression all those years ago, there was no question of her repeating it.
    A wild thumping on the door disrupted Gwen’s reverie. Yasha responded at once, revealing the same messenger boy who’d previously announced Pix.
    â€œThey’re back!” he said, but there was a gulp to his words. “They’re… Zech said I should run for one of Teket’s Kin.”
    â€œDo it,” Yasha said. Nodding fearfully, the boy vanished, leaving Gwen’s imagination to conjour up all the very worst reasons why Saffron might need a healer.
    Without another word, Gwen, Pix and Yasha left the room, hurrying down the hall and out into the courtyard. They were just in time to see the gates pulled close behind a haggard-looking Zech, who was barely managing to keep Saffron upright.
    â€œLights!” Yasha roared, and several onlookers scrambled to obey, their features obscured in the evening blue. But Gwen’s eyes were sharp as ever, and despite the darkness, she saw what the matriarch could not: that Vex’Mara Kadeja had found her precious omen in Saffron Coulter.
    â€œGods be good,” she whispered, and ran to them. Saffron was dead on her feet, clutching her left arm sideways across her body. Her taal hung awkwardly from her hips, forcing her to stumble over its hem. Her head was shaved, and her hand was bloody.
    â€œGot her,” Zech croaked, staggering back as Gwen put an arm around Saffron’s waist and lifted her up. The girl was deadweight, but not yet unconscious; she whimpered at the contact, still clutching her maimed hand. Despite the urgency of the situation, Gwen nonetheless