I spent the day after his return preparing to leave. In equal parts I feared and craved seeing my own Dark Master. I did not think my resolve could withstand a meeting with the Dark Prince. Even as I knew his deception and betrayal I wanted him. Even as I was so sure I did not want to be Claimed I still felt his seductive pull. I craved him. I did not trust that I was strong enough to resist this desire.
I should not have been so concerned. I was quite clearly not high on his list of priorities. The day passed as did the night and still he had not come to me. Relief and disappointment tainted with shame at the pulsing need for his presence that beat beneath my skin.
Unlike his father, Nadar came. I heard his voice as he commanded my guards to open my chambers to him. They denied him entrance as they had been duly instructed. He called out my name, first pleading and then in anger, his fist thumping the heavy wooden door rattling it in its hinges.
I almost succumbed. I was at the door with my hand reached out when Hatha pulled me back. "I think it best if we avoid further complications Mistress Vessel," she said in a low and urgent tone.
I nodded. She was right. Nadar could do nothing for me now. Only confuse me further. What I needed was knowledge and truth. I needed the Sarran Coven.
We left at Dawn. Hatha told me it was when the powers of the Masters were at their weakest. No doubt that was why Roth had not sensed me in the corridor outside his chambers. I had wondered why he had not felt me there. I felt glad to know there was a reason and then chided myself, caring to need one at all.
We carried few items, Hatha opting for speed rather than comfort. I did not mind so much. My lodgings at my Uncle's had been austere and as I had yet to become accustomed to the luxury of living at the Palace I was comfortable with very little. Happy in fact—even with a stomach growling in hunger—just to be free and to be finally taking each step forward at my own choosing rather than at the behest of my Uncle, or Bandar, or Roth, or Nadar.
Nadar.
I felt a tug of wanting at the thought of him. While each step away from the Night Palace seemed to dull the seductive pull of Roth, it did little to ease my yearning for Nadar. The further away I was the clearer my feelings for him became. I missed him. Wanted him. I felt a bond of friendship that I had had with no other.
Which saddened me as I knew he was simply yet one more person in my life that I could neither trust or rely upon.
I did not speak of the Dark Prince or his son to Hatha. I did not speak much at all. She did not seem to mind my reticence at conversation—she did not talk either. All her energy seemed focused on one thing. Finding the Coven.
How exactly we were to do that I did not know. We had no map and by her own admission Hatha had no idea where the Sarran Coven now lay.
"My skin is my map," she said to me when I asked her how we would know where to go.
She traced a finger along her tattoos, the markings hidden under a long dark cape. She had spells she said, to hide the markings but they would drain her power and she could not risk that while we were exposed in the open.
We met few people on our travels. Hatha planned it that way. We moved on foot, avoiding the main travel routes. The few times we came across others on the same path we acted out the story that Hatha had concocted. We were sisters, heading south to family after the death of our mother. The travelers bought our story easily which I found quite surprising as we didn't look alike and were travelling through difficult and dangerous smuggler paths.
Hatha laughed when I told her I was surprised. "Why do you think they travel the same paths as us Mistress?'" she'd said, "They hide like us naïve girl. They likely lie too."
We rested in short bursts rather than sleep. We had to keep moving as we knew that Roth would be coming for us with all the forces he could muster. He would not risk losing the prize of The Vessel. The one thing in our favor was that he too would have to hide so as not to reveal the magnitude of his loss. A full scale search for a mere servant and a Pleasure Chosen would raise far too much attention from the Crown.
Hatha taught me as we trekked. She spoke of nature and magic and I soaked it in like a sponge. She carried a kohl stick and with it I drew simple spells on my arms. I felt the power burn with each stroke of the black stick on my flesh. It felt so right. So much a part of me that it was as if I had finally discovered I could see.
After two and a half days the land changed from the Forests of Palace Shire to the marsh-like terrain of the Farsah Shire. Here, Hatha told me, we would find the Sarran, or rather they would find us.
"We need to create a beacon," Hatha told me as we set up a small camp.
"Won't that attract the attention of others?" I worried about the logic of shining a light when Roth was so desperately searching for me.
"A magical beacon. Only the Sarran will see it," Hatha said, swiping at the air, brushing away a swarm of the nasty biting flies that abounded in the wetlands.
The patch of land we had chosen to use as camp sat like a small island in the swamp. To get to it we'd trudged through the brackish water. It had rimmed my skirts black with slime, as the foul stain dried it stiffened, scratching my legs as I moved. There was nowhere to clean my clothes, or myself. I thought of the copper bathing tub I had left behind and hoped that we would be found soon.
Hatha drew a circle on the ground as wide as the small patch of land would allow. She shook her head and muttered to herself, "Not big enough."
I did not question her as she seemed stressed enough without the added burden of my curiosity. She marked the ground, North, East, West and South and then set about filling the circle with lines and markings like those upon her skin. I watched and marveled at her steady and quick hand. The sky rumbled and the air crackled, cooling fast, becoming heavy with the damp metallic taste of coming rain. Hatha looked up at the darkening sky and slumped her shoulders.
"Should we wait until tomorrow?" I asked her as she looked forlornly at the coming rain clouds.
"It must be now," she said.
I nodded. "Let it be now then, show me what to do."
"I haven't finished," she said, pointing down at the intricate markings of the circle.
"What can I do?" I asked. "Let me help, please."
A fat drop of rain hit the earth at her feet. She shook her head. Frustrated, I just stood and watched as she stripped off, baring her skin to the cold rain. I stayed in the circle, not sure what I should do. As the rain began to sheet down she chanted and began to step around the inner edge of the circle. I moved to the middle, wrapping my arms around my body. My gown hung wet and heavy, I was cold. So cold.
The cold did not stop Hatha, she stepped around and around the circle, moving faster and faster. Through the filter of the rain I could see her mouth moving in chant. I could not hear her over the beat of the water but I knew that she shouted. Water streamed down her body, her hair was soaked, stuck to her cheeks and neck.
I wanted to tell her to stop. I wanted to find shelter. I was tired. Oh so tired.
The rain let up, falling softly now rather than sheeting down in a curtain of icy needles. Hatha came down on her knees in the soft mud. I stumbled to her, the soaked skirts of my gown constricting my legs.
"Hatha, Hatha." I fell to my knees and brought her head into my lap.
"Di...did..n't work," she stuttered, shaking from the cold.
I had no way to make her warm. What little we owned was wet. There was no way to make fire in the damp.
What could I do?
Fear and worry so overwhelming hit me like a punch to my chest. Air sucked from my lungs. Panic became action. My vision blurred. I moved, but not with conscious effort. Instinct overcame logic. My hands came up to strip my wet gown away. The fabric peeled from my skin and landed in a heap at my feet. I stepped over it and Hatha.
Naked, with deliberate steps I walked, the water dissolved line of the circle that Hatha had made. No markings remained, all washed away by the beat of the rain, but I saw them in my mind. They floated above the mud, so real I was sure that if I knelt down I could touch them. Once I had walked the circle three times I went back to the center, stepping over the prostrate form of Hatha. I did not even look down, too focused on completing my task.
My hands came before my face. Steepled fingers touched my lips, my chest and then my naked sex. I knelt, knees sinking into the cold green-black mud. My hands swept around me in the mud to create a smaller circle around my body. Within the marked circle I came up on my knees. Fingertips wet with mud encircled my naked body, drawing a black line at my hips, my waist and my neck. Between each circle I began to paint. Mark symbols I had never seen, but knew. Right down to the marrow of my bone I knew these markings. They were mine and mine alone. Their power sang on my skin and pulsed in my sex.
Down to the mud and then back to my skin my fingers flew until I was all but covered in symbols and lines from neck to Mons.
