Whispering Ashes

s of Nareth brought no

one tried to put out. It was the tribute to the Greater Fire, they said

ut. The woman's face, withered by fever and age, was still beautiful to Asha, not for what it showed, but f

her mother whispered.

ied compresses all night, but the heat would not subside. Not the herbs. Not

had no tears. Only ash in her th

ritual horns

shudd

ed her eyes. The sun was barely peeking over th

she hadn't had time to be a woman either. Poverty in th

meant to be. Robes were meant to cover the body, erase forms, annul i

raised a bony hand, and in it she held a brai

she said. Her voice wa

d her neck. Feeling an invisibl

you are. Even if t

d the feverish forehead and le

. One hundred young people, all the exact right age

ken. Some said they were turned into servants of fire. Others, that they were burned alive as offerings to fuel the sacred flame t

received bread. Herbs. Charco

't a sa

s a b

sed the sky like a flaming wound. And from

trimmed with copper. His face was covered by

y touched the earth. The Keeper stopped before the young. The air g

knew what lay behind that mask. Some said the Keepers were no

middle of the line,

cut through the air like a knife. I

lowly, he raised a ha

d as one. Murmurs

was t

walked, following him. The stones were hot beneath her bare f

efore her. It floated. It vibrated. An

re was no pain. Only a flash, a deep

eyes again, she was

he bowels of

d chamber, lit by veins of magma that ran down the walls like living rivers. Obs

followed. Her body began to sweat, her heart po

Two women with faces covered by crimson veils, and an ol

e of the women said, as i

ed and withdrew

d alone b

he old ma

emembered her mother's word

he old man. "You will b

for offering.

didn't tremble. She was s

y with fragrant ash and marked her back with a glowing s

dark linen, and an iron col

cell. With three other young w

As

ead that would arrive at the hut. Of

at suffering

ame burned high above t

was beginning to understand wha