Part 21

I felt it. My words wound around them, seeking out the weight of expectations, of inhibitions. Not those placed upon themselves, but the requirements of others that they struggled against every second.

Then those shackles were broken.

Freedom filled the minds of those I spoke to, and belief swiftly followed. They recognized my words as truth, and so they knew there was no reason to stand against me. This was Katherine, the woman they had known for years, who they had gone to for spiritual guidance. Whatever had occurred, I was no danger to my people, even when they’d cast me out. They knew me better than that.

And the orders to kill Katherine on sight, given by the high priest and chieftain, they didn’t seem nearly so important as that personal bond.

The grass shifted as the sentries revealed themselves, bows held slackly at their sides. They escorted us onward, eager to hear the truth for themselves. The rest of the Nine followed in my wake, unnerved and impressed. Soon they would be awestruck, for the possibilities were becoming clear to me. The indoctrination of entire worlds could be broken when I spoke truth to them! The lies, the requirements, the disparagements, the restraints, every word spoken to them that had burdened their soul could be undone.

By me.

It was so simple I nearly didn’t believe it. How could such power be entrusted to a mortal? How could such a responsibility fall upon my shoulders? This was not a matter for an ordinary woman from Latigia IV, whose only exceptional quality was being made a priestess and held up as a representation of false ideals. This was a matter for gods, for legends and champions.

And only then did it really strike me what being chosen meant.

As I strode back into my home, protected by those who would have been my enemies, followed by rivals whose hatred was set aside at my word, I stopped seeing myself as no one special. This was not a matter for ordinary people, so it had been given to me. This was indeed a matter for legends and champions. One I already was, and the other… I grasped now that a legend was exactly what I would become.

So I strode to the center of the village with utmost confidence, a crowd constantly growing as we passed more and more tents. They murmured, whispered confusion spreading all around at seeing me again, especially with an escort of their own armed guards. Fear and awe soon followed at the sight of Narissa’s mount. We were an eclectic bunch, to be sure, but most of the Nine were fairly unassuming at first glance.

I wondered how long it would take for the name itself to inspire. Would the Nine one day be whispered across the world? Would those whispers carry fear or awe? Or both?

One world?

Not likely.

Not even one plane of existence.

All will know Katherine of the Nine.

And the Imperium will tremble when it hears your name.

Soon the entire town had come out, the news spreading, curiosity pulling them like a magnet. True, those out gathering and hunting would have to hear secondhand, or I would have to speak again once they were present. Still, the inspiration welling up inside me could be contained no longer.

“Marallah, my tribe, my family!” I cried, my voice carrying easily over the crowd with a power it hadn’t possessed before. “I have returned to you having discovered a truth too important to keep to myself. It is a matter of faith, a matter of belief, and the unveiling of a deception that has ruled us all our lives.”

“Silence, heretic!” the High Priest shouted, his name escaping me like it had never mattered. Which it really hadn’t. He walked forward, his staff used to support his weight, though he brandished it frequently in a vaguely threatening manner. “I’ll not have your poisonous words infect my…”

There was the crack of a whip, a gout of blood, and the tongue of the demagogue fell to the ground.

“And I’ll not have your filthy accusations and insults touch the ears of our leader.” Narissa hissed, coiling her whip back up. The gracknyl roared, silencing the crowd more effectively than even I could. “Katherine of the Nine is addressing you! You will listen to her words, and we shall go peacefully, and only those who would silence her, or oppose those who would hear them, need fear us!”

The High Priest was left alone, kneeling and sobbing, blood dripping from his wounded mouth. None dared intervene now. If only they would listen when told not to oppose me, there need be no suffering. I sighed, regretting the needfully violent display, but crowds were easily swayed to violence. I could tolerate no voices of dissent and irrational fear, not when the salvation of so many was at stake.

“Thank you Narissa.” I nodded my head gratefully. “As I was saying, I come to tell you what many would have stay unspoken, and so I come prepared to defend myself. But that is all I shall do. My mission is one of education, and so long as my words are allowed to be heard, all shall be left in peace. Now listen my brothers, my sisters! I too was deceived, more deeply than any of you, for I was the one who spread these lies. Do not consider being misled a sin, for none of us knew better. But now, going forward, once the truth has graced your ears, you will have been given a choice.”

“And once the choice has become your own, so too are the consequences.”

And so I told them everything.