Louise Cooper - Indigo 06 - Avatar (39 page)

Uluye spun around. For a moment she seemed not to recognize Indigo; then, as though her arrival had acted as a catalyst, Uluye jerked her arm free and covered her face with her hands.

“What have I done?” she moaned. “Lady, forgive me;
what have I brought upon us?
”

“You’ve done nothing!” Indigo shouted. “This isn’t your fault, Uluye. It’s the Ancestral Lady’s; it’s her attempt to cow us and break us.”

Uluye shook her head, the ropes of her hair flying wildly. “We’re lost!” she cried. “They will kill us all. This is the Lady’s judgment on me!”

“No! It isn’t you she wants vengeance on, it’s me. Uluye, listen,
listen
! There must be a way to destroy the
hushu
. How can it be done? Tell me!”
Earth Mother
, she thought,
she’s beyond reach, she’s helpless
. Then, in the midst of frantic despair, Indigo saw again in her mind the silver-haloed eyes, and heard in her head the echoes of triumphant laughter....

“Oh, you
demon
!” She screamed the words at the full pitch of her lungs and saw Uluye start in shock. But Uluye didn’t matter now. This, Indigo thought, this was between herself and the Ancestral Lady. And she would not be bested!

She broke through the circle of terrified women around the High Priestess. As she burst clear, she saw before her, not fifteen feet away, the unhallowed square where the bodies of Shalune and Inuss still awaited their gruesome final fate. Even in the throes of panic, no one had dared to touch the four brands that burned there, and beyond their smoking glare, Indigo saw the grim figures of the
hushu
, still approaching, still moving with an air of dire, mindless purpose. The two ranks were closing on the arena, drawing in like a net surrounding a shoal of fish.

The last of the villagers had escaped now and were gone, but the priestesses were trapped, and their terror was rising as they milled about and herded into a tight crowd on the sand. Indigo knew, though, that the
hushu
were no more interested in them than they had been in the fleeing onlookers. She herself was their goal, the target on which the eyes of this army of the undead were so unwaveringly fixed. And this, she knew, was the final test.

Grimya
! she communicated urgently.
The spear that Uluye used when she tried to kill me—find it and bring it to me, quickly
!

As the wolf raced away, Indigo’s mind roiled; she could feel a massive surge of energy rising in her, and she took hold of it with all of her strength.
Power—yes, Lady, I have power, and it’s greater than yours, because the demon called fear no longer holds me!

She ran forward, ran to the square and cut the nearest of the torches free from its pole. The first of the
hushu
were no more than five paces from her now, so close that she could see every detail of their ruined faces and decaying bodies. They hesitated as they saw the torch in her hand, then came on.

Indigo’s eyes turned black, and around them an ice-cold silver corona flared into life.
Silver for Nemesis—my own dark twin, but it no longer holds me in its thrall. I don’t fear you or your legions, Mistress of the Dead!

The power came to life in her, and the torch in her hand exploded into a towering column of silver fire. Thin, whistling sounds of alarm or anger came from the throats of the
hushu
, and Indigo spun around.

Uluye stood alone in front of the wailing, praying mass of her women, her figure stark in the brilliance from the brand that Indigo held.

“Uluye!” Indigo’s voice seared through the babble. “Help me now! Help me to kill the
hushu
!”

Uluye couldn’t tear her gaze from the burning stars that Indigo’s eyes had become. “I can’t!” she cried hoarsely. “They can’t be killed, it’s impossible!”

Indigo shook her head. “They
can
die! You only believe it’s impossible, because you’ve always been too afraid to try!“

Grimya came running back to her side, dragging the spear with her; with a quick movement, Indigo bent to grasp the haft. “Help me, Uluye!” she exhorted again. “Use the strength and the power your goddess gave you, and end your people’s thrall and the
hushu’s
miserable existence!”

She turned again, raising the torch in one hand and the spear in the other. Two steps from her, dead eyes stared back with a hollow glare as the silver light was flung full on the body of the advancing ghoul. The
hushu
raised its arms jerkily as though to embrace her, and its half-rotted jaw dropped open in a ghastly parody of a welcoming smile. Indigo took aim and thrust the spear straight at the misshapen head, plunging it through the brittle cranium and deep into the skull.

The
hushu
shrieked. It was an awful, yet piteous, sound, like the scream of a small animal. For one instant it seemed that a spark of human intelligence returned to the
hushu’s
nacreous eyes as the twisted brain inside the skull, the seat and source of its life within death, was cloven, and in the look was understanding, gratitude and joy. Then slowly, almost gently, the body of the ghoul folded and collapsed to lie still and silent on the ground.

With a convulsive jerk, Indigo pulled the spear free and turned again to Uluye and her women.

“Now do you see?” she called to them. “They
can
die! Help me, Uluye. Rally your women, take your spears and your machetes and free yourselves from fear of the
hushu
. In the name of your own goddess, give them peace!”

Uluye stared at her, transfixed. The priestesses’ prayers and pleas had subsided into shocked silence, but as Indigo and their leader continued to gaze at each other, a muttering, a whispering, arose gradually from their huddled ranks.

“She killed it ... she slew the
hushu
. Power ... power ... an avatar, a true avatar. She can kill them....”

Behind her, Indigo knew, the
hushu
had halted. The Ancestral Lady was waiting; waiting to see what her servants would do, which way they would turn, whether they would find the courage within themselves to do as Indigo urged them. Indigo held Uluye’s gaze. She dared do nothing now; the High Priestess must make the first move.

At last, trembling, Uluye did move. She reached out behind her, her fingers splaying in a gesture to her followers. A woman ran forward, carrying a spear; Uluye took it. Still watching Indigo as though mesmerized, she began to walk forward. Indigo stepped aside as she approached, and Uluye stopped before another of the now motionless
hushu
. Her jaw clenched; she struck—and again there was the whistling cry, the moment of release, before the ghoul dropped limply to the ground.

Shaking, Uluye turned to Indigo. Her face bore a look of wonder, and her eyes glowed with the light of revelation. “You have come among us ...”she whispered; then, before Indigo could react, she turned to the assembled priestesses, raising the stained spear high above her head.

“The Lady is with us!” she yelled. “She has shown us the truth and shown us the way; she blesses us! Lady—oh Lady, you are our beloved goddess!” And she fell to one knee and, arms outspread, made the ritual gesture of the cult’s deepest obeisance; the obeisance of a priestess to her deity.

Indigo was stunned. And as the High Priestess’s palms touched the ground, a titanic voice boomed shatteringly out across the arena.

“NO! I AM YOUR GODDESS! TRAITORS AND BLASPHEMERS,
I AM YOUR GODDESS
!”

The surface of the lake had turned to silver. Rising from it like smoke from a forest fire, a dark mist boiled and seethed. Shapes writhe*! in the mist, unnameable, hideous, and at its heart, above the lake’s center, a huge black column wavered like the lethal head of a tornado.

The priestesses cried out, cowering and groveling, and Uluye looked in horror and confusion at Indigo. The transformation, and the show of power, had convinced her that Indigo
was
the Ancestral Lady, or at the very least, her avatar, and that the goddess had been speaking and acting through her. Now, though, she realized her mistake and began to shudder, backing away from Indigo; and as she did so, the giant voice spoke again, shaking the air.

“IS THIS THE WAY YOU SHOW YOUR LOVE FOR ME? DO YOU
DARE
TO TURN YOUR FACES AND GIVE FEALTY TO ANOTHER? AH, MY VENGEANCE UPON YOU SHALL BE DIRE—DIRE AND EVERLASTING!”

Uluye covered her head with her arms as though to ward off a rain of blows and started to scream. As she collapsed to the ground and her women fell to their knees, wailing, Indigo turned and ran to the lake’s edge. Her voice was puny in the wake of the Ancestral Lady’s vast wrath, but she yelled with all her strength, gesturing violently toward the swaying column.

“No! You fool, you blind, frightened fool! They don’t worship me; they worship
you
! They haven’t turned from you—they believed I
was
you!‘’

The reply dinned in her ears. “YOU ARE LYING, ORACLE! YOU SOUGHT TO TAKE MY PLACE AND WREST THEM FROM MY GRASP!”

“I did no such thing!” Indigo threw a swift glance over her shoulder and saw that Uluye was getting to her feet. The High Priestess began to stumble toward the other women, and Indigo realized what she intended to do. It was mad, it was insane—and it was shattering proof that Uluye truly loved her goddess and would continue to love her, no matter what horrors the Ancestral Lady might inflict on all of them.

Indigo turned again to the lake, and shouted, “Don’t you see them? Don’t you see what your High Priestess is doing, don’t you
understand
? They don’t want to turn their faces from you! Listen to them!”

Unsteadily, struggling to find a true tone, Uluye had begun to sing. It was a song Indigo had come to know well during her time in the citadel: a hymn of praise to the Lady, a promise of obedience and a declaration of love. One by one, the women began to join in as her example gave them confidence—or as desperation drove them—and the hymn rose quaveringly on the air.

“Do you hear them?” Indigo cried.

“I HEAR THEM. BUT IT IS TOO LATE. MY ANGER MUST BE APPEASED, AND MY SERVANTS MUST PAY THE PRICE. THEY SHALL DO PENANCE FOR THEIR DEFIANCE, AND THEY SHALL LEARN TO FEAR ME!”

“But they have done you no wrong!” Indigo screamed back. “What crime have they committed? What sin?”

“MY HIGH PRIESTESS HAS FAILED IN HER DUTY. HER CHILD TURNED HER FACE FROM MY SERVICE, YET ULUYE DID NOT EXACT THE PUNISHMENT THAT I DECREED FOR HER. THE FAILURE OF ONE IS THE FAILURE OF ALL.”

Suddenly the silver light on the lake’s surface blazed dazzlingly, and the Ancestral Lady’s huge voice took on a new and doubly ominous note. “ULUYE. SILENCE YOUR WOMEN AND FACE ME.”

The chant collapsed into chaos before lapsing into a dreadful silence. Shuffling, shambling, with no more will than a
hushu
, Uluye took three paces forward; then her nerve failed, and she sank to her knees on the sand.

“YOU HAVE DONE WRONG, ULUYE,” the voice intoned cruelly. “I MADE MY WILL KNOWN TO YOU, BUT YOU DID NOT OBEY ME. YET THE PRICE MUST STILL BE PAID. WHO WILL PAY IT NOW? WILL YOU TAKE THE PENANCE UPON YOUR OWN SHOULDERS, OR SHALL I SEND
HUSHU
TO REND YOUR WOMEN’S BODIES, AND NIGHTMARES TO PLAGUE THEIR MINDS? MY JUSTICE IS SURE, AND YOU CANNOT ESCAPE IT. CHOOSE, ULUYE. YOU KNOW IN YOUR HEART WHAT THE PAYMENT IS TO BE.
CHOOSE
.”

For several seconds Uluye stayed utterly still. Then, unsteadily but unflinchingly, she rose slowly to her feet.

“Sweet Lady.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper, but it carried chillingly in the sudden stillness that gripped the arena. “I stand alone before you. I am your servant, but I have failed in your service. Mine is the fault, and mine is the just and rightful punishment. I am not fit to ask your mercy; I am not worthy to hope for your forgiveness. I only pray that my penance may serve for us all, and that my sisters may live in hope of profiting from the knowledge of my fate, to earn once again your love, which is the fount of our existence.”

And silently, urgently, in Indigo’s mind, Grimya cried out,
Indigo! She has a knife
!

With a huge mental jolt, Indigo’s mind snapped back to reality, and she realized to her horror that she herself had momentarily become ensnared in the Ancestral Lady’s web, mesmerized by the supernatural voice, caught up in the confrontation between the goddess and her High Priestess. Only now did she realize what Uluye meant to do—and at the same instant, she knew that no words she could utter would sway the Ancestral Lady now. She had lost. Fear, the demon fear, had conquered.

No
, she thought,
no! It can’t be! I can’t fail, there’s another way, a greater power
—

In her mind, a hollow voice was laughing. In her inner vision, eyes like coals wreathed in silver flame glared with ice and fire. And a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand voices cried out to her: “
we are her ... she is us. help her . . . help us, Indigo—Indigo—
”

Indigo. Indigo, Anghara, Nemesis, wolf, emissary, avatar, goddess
. Suddenly she seemed to be in five places at once: she was Indigo, watching in horror as Uluye raised the knife high in both hands; she was Grimya, transfixed and helpless; she was Uluye, gazing up with dread at the blade she held above her own head, yet too consumed with the desire to please her goddess to stay her hand; and, too, she was back in the dark underworld, with the dead clamoring around her; and she was the Ancestral Lady herself, a whirling pillar of smoke, a voice from a silver lake, a tiny, wizened creature cowering in the dark and too afraid to show herself lest she lose her grip on the devotion of her human followers. All these things she was, and more. And the fear that imprisoned each of them was a writhing worm beneath her feet.

She looked deep within her heart, within her soul, and she understood. She had learned a greater lesson in the underworld than the Ancestral Lady knew; greater even than she herself had known until this moment. She needed no avatar to show her the way, or to mediate between her own soul and the true power that lay behind life and death, the power that was the love encompassing them both. She
was
an avatar. She was the Earth Mother’s child, and if the Ancestral Lady’s being held the spark of godhood, so did her own being. She was sister to the Ancestral Lady, as to a thousand thousand others like her. But while the Mistress of the Dead feared for her place in the scheme of things, the entity who was called Indigo had accepted and embraced it. That was the difference between them. And of the two, she was the stronger now.