Blood of the Goddess Book I: The Locust King
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Locusts at the Gate Chapter 2: A New Name Chapter 3: The Capital Prepares Chapter 4: The Princess is Dead, Long Live the Princess Chapter 5: Outside the Gates Chapter 6: Inside the Black Tent Chapter 7: Surrender at the Temple Chapter 8: The Cult of the Locust Chapter 9: The Locust's Tenets of Faith Chapter 10: Mourners on the Cliff Chapter 11: The Eye of Betrayal Chapter 12: The Dead King's Bedchamber Chapter 13: The Arms of the Goddess Chapter 14: Zayaan of the Narim Chapter 15: The Eyes of the Priestess Chapter 16: A More Permanent Disguise Chapter 17: Tribute Chapter 18: Sacrifice of the New Moon Chapter 19: The Lost Bird Chapter 20: Manah and the Priestess Chapter 21: Desert Creatures Chapter 22: Become the Swarm Chapter 23 The Price of Betrayal Chapter 24: Life Under the Locust Chapter 25: Wild Rose Chapter 26: The Lady Wren Chapter 27: Thought and Desire Chapter 28: The Lady's Captivity Chapter 29: The Wine Maiden Chapter 30: End of Childhood Chapter 31: The Children of Aisha Chapter 32: The Forest Runner Chapter 33: Three Sisters Chapter 34: The Hunt Chapter 35: Bones in the Forest Chapter 36: Lullaby Chapter 37: The Hunter's Horn Chapter 38: Ways Between Ways Chapter 39: Morning Star Chapter 40: A Prophecy for Baraz Chapter 41: Equinox Fires Chapter 42: The Lord Prince Takri Chapter 43: Evening Star Sets Chapter 44: Chaos in the Courtyard Chapter 45: Dasha Chapter 46: Memories Chapter 47: The Body Slave Chapter 48: Caged Beasts Chapter 49: Message from the Capital Chapter 50: Heresiarch Chapter 51: The Color of Blood Chapter 52: Winter Winds Chapter 53: The Bookmaker's Closet Chapter 54: Wrapped in Dignity and Beauty Chapter 55: Vessel of the Goddess Chapter 56: Cracks in the Walls Chapter 57: Two Brothers Chapter 58: The Court of Women Chapter 59: Favored of the King Chapter 60: The Sweetest Fruit Chapter 61: Daughter of the Temple Chapter 62: A Nation of Bastards Chapter 63: The Lute Player Chapter 64: Aisha's Prayer Chapter 65: Promises Chapter 66: Lives Lost Chapter 67: The Tea Maker Chapter 68: Object of Desire Chapter 69: Empty Shelves Chapter 70: Darkness and Light Chapter 71: The Love of Men Chapter 72: The Cursed Ones Chapter 73: Hiding Places Chapter 74: Old Men's Tales Chapter 75: False Prophecies Chapter 76: The Lord Prince Radu Chapter 77: Love Becomes Life Chapter 78: Mistress and Mother Chapter 79: A Test of Strength Chapter 80: The Strigoi-Viu Cometh Chapter 81: Scraps from the Table Chapter 82: A Fool's Errand Chapter 83: The Little Ghost Chapter 84: Stolen Honeycakes Chapter 85: Breathe Chapter 86: Beneath the Palace Chapter 87: Red Pebbles Chapter 88: Common Men Chapter 89: Love and Duty Chapter 90: Nightmares Chapter 91: Earth and Sun Chapter 92: Love and Creation Chapter 93: Until My Last Breath Chapter 94: Fruit and Flower Chapter 95: Two DaysChapter 73: Hiding Places
Aisha froze for a moment in wide-eyed fear as she faced the priest.
"Are you going to answer me?" Baraz glanced up from the scroll in his hands. "Veil yourself, wench! Answer me! Where did you find this?"
"I... I..." stammered Aisha, quickly pulling her veil back over her face. "It was on top of one of the shelves on the eastern side of the building. I was making sure it didn't need any repairs before I brought it to the table for you to review, your holiness."
Baraz read a few lines of the scroll. "If you find any more like this send word immediately."
"Yes. Of course. I am only here to serve," said Aisha, head bowed.
"Leave," said Baraz. "I have research to complete, and I do not wish to be disturbed. Take that filthy animal with you."
Aisha made a quick bow towards the man before grabbing Old Scribe under the front legs and hurrying out of the closet. She stopped at the table covered with books to put her struggling burden down. Once free, Old Scribe turned his back on her and began bathing himself.
"I am sorry about your fur, Old Scribe. Please do your best and stay away from the high priest while he is here. He has no qualms killing people, and he would have no problem hurting a cat." She gave the cat a quick kiss on his forehead as she heard the squeak of the bookmaker's closet door opening. "I don’t know what I would do without you, old man. Please stay safe."
Old Scribe padded off into the shelves while Aisha opened the main library doors to head back to the women's quarters. A blast of cold air blew past her, ruffling through the drawings in the open codex on the table before she could pull the door closed behind her.
Even on the best of days, the high priest disliked Aisha’s presence in the library. But Baraz's reaction to the scroll had been unexpected. The other codices she had catalogued had sat for months with barely any notice from the high priest. Why was this any different? Was it because it was a scroll? Was it the age of the document?
Why was a children's story from across the desert this important to him?
Aisha hurried across the frozen courtyard against the wind, past the doors to the sanctuary to the opposite side of the temple complex. Her red robes flew about her thin form like the blood that flowed across the stones that horrible night of the new moon's sacrifice months ago when the Swarm celebrated the fall of Adyll. Today, the soldiers in the temple were not celebrating. Instead, they huddled inside doorways away from the wind, paying little attention to the small, hunched figure making her way against the northern wind across the building in the fading afternoon light.
When Aisha arrived in the dormitory, she found Nasreen awake and sitting up on her pallet with both hands wrapped in bandages.
"You're back early," said Nasreen. "Is everything alright?"
"Baraz came to the library. He found me reading another scroll," said Aisha. "Why are your hands bandaged? Are you hurt?"
"It's just from last night," said Nasreen, holding up her hands. "The procuress came to put salve on them and bandage them earlier today. I am fine."
"Do they hurt?" asked Aisha. "Can you move them?"
"Yes, they hurt. And yes, I can move them," said Nasreen. "What did you mean, 'another scroll'? You found another one? Did it tell you more about the Lady's Beloved?"
"Better than one. I found ten more, Nasreen! TEN!"
"Quiet, someone might hear you," chided Nasreen.
"Oh, sorry," said Aisha, dropping her voice to a whisper. "I have only read two of them. I mean, I have only read one and a half. Baraz took the one he found me reading before I could finish it."
"What did he do when he found you reading? He is a horrible man. You need to be careful around him," said Nasreen.
"I know,” said Aisha, thinking back to the bloody scene in the courtyard a few months previous. “I told him it was the only one I found. I don’t think he thinks I am smart enough to lie to him."
"If he knew you lied, he would kill you," said Nasreen. “You understand that, right?”
"It is alright. I have the other scrolls hidden where he won't ever find them," said Aisha. "I am sure they will tell us where we can find Thought and the river of tears. And then we can run away."
"You told me earlier you found something that would help us escape. Some kind of drawings?” asked Nasreen.
"Yes, I found a codex full of old architectural drawings that show how things were long before the big dome was put on top of the library."
"I thought it was always like that?" asked Nasreen as Aisha pulled the charcoal copies from under her bedding.
"Look, it wasn’t." Aisha spread the library's floorplans between the two of them. "See, here is where the stairs are now. See how there is a whole room that was there originally? It's marked as the bookmakers' room. Now, that room is a closet under the stairs that lead to the study area above. And it is less than half the size."
"So?” whispered Nasreen. "How does this help us escape?"
"That space is where I found the scrolls," whispered Aisha. "There is a whole room there, hidden from everyone. The librarians filled the space with the oldest and most precious books. Including the scrolls. I found a way in. And if there is a room here, maybe there are more."
Nasreen pursed her lips in thought. "What other drawings do you have?"
Aisha pulled the rest of her drawings out from under the bed and rifled through them. "I made copies of the sanctuary, the brothel, the big temple walls and courtyard, and part of the catacombs. Maybe there is a way out there?"
"Maybe there is," said Nasreen, pulling over the map of the brothel. "We need as many of these maps as you can make without Baraz noticing. And we need a better hiding place than your pallet."
"I can't copy everything, that would be a whole codex thicker than our pallets!" said Aisha. "But I will copy as much as I can."
"I will find a place in the brothel where we can hide these," said Nasreen. "Promise me one thing, Aisha. Don’t risk being caught by Baraz to make those copies. Please.”
“I promise I will be careful. He doesn’t even know how to make vellum or ink. I don’t think he cares what I do in the library,” said Aisha.
“Until now he didn’t care,” corrected Nasreen. “Now that he took the scroll he will be back to find more.”
“I will be careful,” promised Aisha.
“Good,” said Nasreen. “Now, I want to hear everything about what you read today. What was it?”
Aisha stowed the drawings away under her bedding again. "The first one was about a spider named Lina and two goddesses who were named Light and Dark...”
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