Bab 6: Six
Gemma watched Ezekiel nod slightly as he returned from his hunt, walking quietly to his tent and slipping inside without a word.
Newform sirens were always a sign of something larger at work, a sign that Gemma had learned the hard way not to ignore.
A scar hidden by her armor throbbed, and she resisted the urge to rub the long ragged mark that ran from the top of her left shoulder down to her heart.
The heralds of Mother Seris, her sirens, were always present when something that threatened the natural order was happening.
Looking at Taniel's tent, Gemma wondered at the wisdom of taking this job for the fourth time this day alone. Whatever the Church was up to with these rituals, it was going to have massive side effects, that much was obvious already.
The temples that the Church used were much, much older than any of them realized, and the power that they radiated were not always meant to be used by mankind.
Even with her family line cut from the Tree, the call to protect and do good still rang in Gemma's ears, loud and true.
Sometimes an act of evil had to be done for good to thrive.
Shaking her head, she looked away from the slip of a girl's tent.
Killing a Songstress wouldn't stop whatever the Church was doing.
No, it would only make a martyr of the girl and embolden the Church's believers.
The one to kill would have been Majni, the snake weaving a dark path through innocent travelers.
The flight of knights hidden within the farthest reaches of the church might have had some cross words for her if she'd done that though.
He'd known this was happening, of that Gemma was certain…but why not send the knights? They would have been trained in the extermination of creatures like sirens and worse, possibly.
Was it something he was trying to hide from even the knights?
If it was, that was terrifying.
Church knights were shown the darkest secrets of the Church, their faith and devotion tested beyond the limits of human belief.
If some aspect of this ritual was meant to be kept secret from even them…
A shiver ran up Gemma's spine, and she lifted the flap to her tent.
Shrieks and howling rang out through the forest and with her highly trained sight, she saw monsters and animals for miles through the trees, fighting with each other.
Something lay just beyond the boundaries of her sight…and she hoped desperately it wasn't waiting for them at the temple.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone