"Prayer! I'm a man of prayer! I'll pray to the Creator, and the good spirits, for you. You'll see. I'm a man of prayer. No donation required. I'll pray for you. No donation."

The man with the shaved head, his sweat-slicked muscles bulging, pulled the Abbot's head back further and with a long knife sliced down through his throat. Clarissa felt warm blood splatter her face as the Abbot exhaled through the gaping wound.

"We don't need a man of prayer," the invader said as he tossed the Abbot aside. Clarissa stared in wide-eyed horror as she saw blood spread under the Abbot's brown robes. She had known him for nearly her whole life. He had taken her in years ago, and kept her from starving by giving her work as a scribe. He had taken pity on her because she could find no husband, and she had no skill, except that she could read. Not many could read, but Clarissa could read, and it provided her with bread.

That she had to endure the Abbot's pudgy hands and slobbering lips was an onus she had to abide if she wanted to keep her work and feed herself. It hadn't been that way right from the first, but after she came to know her work and feel safe in being able to meet her needs, she came to understand that she had to tolerate things she didn't like.

Long ago, when she had begged him to stop and that hadn't worked, she had threatened him. He told her that she would be banished if she made such scandalous accusations against a respected Abbot. How would a single woman, alone in the countryside, survive? he had asked. What truly terrible things would she suffer then?

She supposed it wasn't the worst of things. Others went hungry, and pride didn't fill their bellies. Some women suffered worse at the hands of men. The Abbot never struck her, at least.

She had never wished him harm. She only wished him to leave her be. She never wished him harm. He had taken her in, and given her work and food. Others gave her only scorn.

The brute with the knife stepped to her, startling her from her shock at seeing the Abbot murdered. He slid the knife behind a belt.

He gripped her chin with callused, bloodstained fingers and turned her head side to side. He looked her up and down. He pinched her waist in evaluation. She felt her face burn with humiliation at being scrutinized so. He swung to one of the others. "Ring her."

For a moment, she didn't understand. Her knees began trembling as one of the burly men came forward, and she realized what he had meant. She feared to cry out. She knew what they would do to her if she resisted. She didn't want her throat slit like the Abbot, or her head bashed in like poor dumb Gus. Dear Creator, she didn't want to die. "Which one. Captain Mallack?" The bald man looked into her eyes. "Silver." Silver. Not copper. Silver.

A maniacal laugh cavorted through the back of her mind as the man gripped her lower lip between a thumb and knuckle. These men, these men who were experienced at judging the worth of flesh, had just valued her more highly than her own people. Even if it was as a slave, they had given her value.

She clenched shut the back of her throat to hold in the scream as she felt the pick stab into the margin of her lip. He twisted the pick until it poked through. She blinked, trying to see through the tears of pain.

Not gold, she told herself, of course rot gold, but not copper, either. They thought her worth a silver ring. Some part of her was disgusted at her vainglory. What else did she have, now?

The man, stinking of sweat, blood, and soot, shoved the split silver ring through her lip. She grunted in helpless pain. He leaned in and closed the ring with his crooked yellow teeth.

She made no effort to wipe the dripping blood from her chin as Captain Mallack looked her in the eyes again. "You are now the property of the Imperial Order."

CHAPTER 22

Clarissa thought she might faint. How could a person be the property of anyone? With shame, she realized that she had let herself be little more to the Abbot. He had been kind to her, after a fashion, but in return, he had viewed her as his property.

She knew these beasts were not going to be kind. She knew what they were going to do with her, and it was going to be something considerably worse than the Abbot's drunken, impotent affections. The look of steel in the man's eyes told her that they were men who would have no difficulty following through with what they wanted.

At least it was silver. She didn't know why that mattered to her, but it did. "You have books here," Captain Mallack said. "Are there prophecies among them?"

The Abbot should have kept his mouth closed, but she didn't want to die to protect the books. Besides, these men would tear the place apart and find them anyway; the books weren't hidden. The city had been thought safe from invasion, after all. "Yes."

"The emperor wants all books brought to him. You will show us where they are."

Clarissa swallowed. "Of course."

"How's it going, boys?" came an amicable voice from behind the men. "Everything in order? You look to have matters well in hand."

The three men turned. A vigorous older man filled the doorway. A full head of straight white hair hung to his broad shoulders. He was wearing high boots, brown trousers, and a ruffled white shirt under an open dark green vest. The hem of his heavy, dark brown cape hovered just above the floor. A sword was sheathed in an elegant scabbard at his hip. It was the prophet.

"Who are you?" Captain Mallack growled. The prophet casually flipped his cape back over a shoulder. "A man in need of a slave." He shouldered one of the men out of his way as he strode up to Clarissa. He grasped her jaw in a big hand and turned her head this way and that. "This one will do. How much do you want for her?"

The bald-headed Captain Mallack snatched a fistful of white shirt. "The slaves belong to the Order. They are all the property of the emperor."

The prophet scowled down at the hand on his shirt. He slapped it away. "Mind the shirt, friend; your hands are dirty."

"They're going to be bloody in a moment! Who are you? What's your trade?" One of the other men put a knife to the prophet's ribs. 'Answer Captain Mallack's question, or die. What's your trade?"

The prophet dismissed the question with a flip of a hand. "Not one you would be interested in. Now, how much for the slave? I can pay handsomely. You boys might as well make something for yourselves out of it. I never begrudge a man his profit."

"We have all the plunder we want. It's here for the taking." The captain glanced to the man who had put the ring through her lip. "Kill him."

The prophet casually swept a staying hand before them. "I mean you no harm, boys." He leaned down a little closer to their faces. "Won't you reconsider?"

Captain Mallack opened his mouth, but then he paused. No words came out. Clarissa heard distressed, liquid rumbling from the guts of the three men. Their eyes widened.

"What's wrong?" the prophet asked. "Is everything all right? Now, how about my offer, boys? How much do you want for her?"

The three men's faces twisted with discomfort. Clarissa smelled an unpleasant odor.

"Well," Captain Mallack said in a strained voice, "I think. ." He grimaced. "We, ah, we have to go."

The prophet bowed. "Why, thank you, boys. Off with you, then. Give my regards to my friend. Emperor Jagang, won't you?"

"But what about him?" one of the men asked the captain as they edged away. "Someone else will be along shortly and kill him," the captain said, as all three of them shuffled bow-legged through the door.

The prophet turned to her, his smile evaporating as he regarded her with a hawklike gaze.

"Well, have you reconsidered my offer?"

Clarissa stood quivering. She wasn't sure who she feared more, the invaders or the prophet. They would hurt her. She didn't know what the prophet would do to her. He might tell her how she was to die. He had told her how a whole city was going to die, and it was coming to pass. She feared that if he said something, he could make it happen. Prophets commanded magic. "Who are you?" she whispered.