Daughter of the Tides, Servants of the Moon Book 2
propositions

Delilah fled up the stairs at a run with a surprisingly light tread. She wanted to get out of the Moon’s Void. Nyall looked back toward the tunnel, he could feel something watching him, but his wolf eyes could not pierce the darkness. He had no choice but to follow Del’s retreating light. At the top, she pointed at the path out.

“This one comes out just inshore. And this.” She bent and pulled something on the bottom of the wooden shelves that held dusty candles and boxes of old clothes. The cabinet swung out revealing another narrower tunnel. “This leads directly to the temple.”

She placed her hand on a chain ring, the thick metal chain went into the ceiling. “Pull the chain and the tunnel will collapse. There is one on both ends of this tunnel.”

He nodded, then observed, “Your moon marks are glowing again.”

She shivered then smiled. “I can feel the Moon above us.”

She led him down and opened a panel door. There was a room filled with linens that opened into a hall.

“This is the hall to the oracles’ rooms.” Nyall was shocked. He had been in this hall many times and never suspected there was a secret way out.

“The tunnels were built over one hundred years ago by my grandmother’s mother. So, that if the temples were attacked, the oracles could escape,” Del revealed. “Let’s go find out what happened with Ketsu.”

She walked down the hall toward her room. Nyall just shook his head and followed. He stared out the window while she quickly showered and changed into her oracle gown and cloak. Then he followed her as she went down to the commons. Several wolves rushed forward to greet them both.

Leon and Ketsu were with them. Ketsu had a long slash down his face and a patch over one eye but he grinned. “You made it.”

Del hugged him and then Leon. “Nyall got me here safely. What happened?”

Leon sighed, “They were intercepted just outside Sudbury. Twenty wolves and a witch attacked the caravan. They somehow managed to close the road in front and behind them and force them down a side road. None of the warriors could shift, but they still managed to kill most of the attackers, including the witch, with minimum casualties.”

Del put her hand on Ketsu’s arm. “How many? How many died to protect me this time?”

“Don’t do this, Del. It is our duty to protect you,” Ketsu answered.

“But your eye, and the other’s lives,” her voice trembled.

“Delphi, never question our resolve to give our lives to protect you,” Leon responded. “You are saving so many, you will save so many. Every time you go onto the Tides, you risk your life for all of us.”

There was a murmur of consent from the gathered wolves.

Delilah bowed her head. “I… thank you all. We are coming into a terrible time. I can feel the storm on the horizon. Many of you know and have kept secret the length we go to in order to protect the faithful. I share things with you I cannot at the other Temple. The time may come when those who follow the Sunwolf attack us here. Be vigilant and be prepared to flee. This is just a place, your lives are worth more to me, worth more to the Moon.”

“Delphi…”

“No, Ketsu. Listen all of you, I mean it. If they attack, if you feel your wolf suddenly withdraw from you, escape immediately to the boats hidden on the northern shore. Before the spring, I am sending most of you away to safety.”

“But Delphi…”

“No… I have had a vision of this temple burning, Ainsley has too. We will heed this warning,” Delilah announced.

“What about those at the Eye of the Goddess?” Nyall asked because Mamó and Ainsley were at the other temple.

“We will move them to safety a few at a time and get some distance between us and danger until we can figure out how to counter the witches,” Ketsu announced. “We have plenty of time.”

Delilah nodded as if agreeing, and several began talking about logistics.

Leon came to her side and murmured something but Del shook her head. “Not yet.”

Nyall overheard her say and he wondered what Leon had asked her.

Nyall dreamed of the strange fire temple again. Only this time when Moire turned into Delilah, Nyall didn’t stop. As the fire burned around the room, he picked up a knife laying on the altar and plunged it into her chest, cutting out her heart. Her blood drained onto the altar and through channels the dripped into the three burning censers. When Nyall looked up, the giant bird carving on the wall turned and looked at him.

Thrashing himself awake, he was shaking and covered in sweat. He looked at his hands, they were clean, but he could still feel Delilah’s blood on them, like he had every night for a week. He went outside and looked up at the waning crescent. His wolf shook out its fur and began to run the shore of the island at a full sprint. At dawn, he sat on a ledge of the melt cliffs just below the top. Del came running toward the cliff at full speed and slid to a stop. He looked up and could see her wolf wanted to jump. She looked down at him and chuffed, so he climbed up. They hadn’t talked since she led him through the tunnel.

She shifted and sat on her knees, he joined her.

“Were you serious about evacuating the Temples?” Nyall asked.

“Yes. The Sunwolf knows where they are. He has already sent someone to the Eye to attack me and almost killed Essie. What we found in the Void shows they are trying to get onto the island.” Delilah bowed her head, “I don’t know how much time we have but no one can know. When we leave, it will be on one night.”

“We can bring Marcus and the others here. We have over four hundred wolves training for war,” Nyall argued.

“Nyall, we still don’t know how to counteract the witchcraft. Margo and the earth witches are working with Mamó…” Del started.

“Mamó’s potions won’t save us, they couldn’t even save Moire,” he growled angrily.

“Mamó’s potion saved you. The symbol she drew on you the night New Wemyss fell, I saw how it kept the witch from burning you. It allowed you to keep your wolf when everyone else had lost theirs,” Del snapped. “And we still don’t know why Moire died.”

They sat in silence for a few angry minutes then Del asked softly, “Have you seen her? Has she visited you?”

Nyall tipped his head back and breathed out an exasperated sigh. “Has Luca visited you?”

Delilah swallowed. “No, I asked him to do something for me… for you… for Moire… He got angry.”

“What did you ask him?” Nyall looked at her when she didn’t answer and demanded, “Del, what did you ask Luca to do?”

“I asked him to take care of Moire. I… I am willing to give him up, so she won’t be alone when you find another.” She strangled a little on her words, unable to meet his horrified look. “I’m sorry but you must choose a new mate someday.” To change the subject, she announced, “I have been thinking, do you want to meet the protector of the Void?”

“I… Wait… I can’t…” He stammered angrily. “I won’t… I won’t give up my true.”

“Do you think I want to? I don’t,” She snapped harshly. “But this isn’t about us, it never was.”

His claws dug into the rock they sat on. He trembled then forced out the words, “And what about ye? Moire will have someone, if Luca agrees… I will be able to find a new mate…What about her true mate? What about ye?”

Delilah held her chin up but did not look at him. “There are many wolves who may no longer have true mates because when the Sunwolf kills, the souls of the wolves are lost. Those who die fighting go to the Moon’s Fields but the others… Mamó says his god devours the souls of the wolves he sacrifices. If he wins, his deity will devour the souls of the world. I saw it when I was very young. I saw a vision of the whole of the land burning and soulless wolves running the breath of it dragging the innocent to be sacrificed.”

It sounded too horrible to be true, but Del’s firm, certain tone convinced him. She was not given to flights of fancy. To deflect her from insisting he find a new mate, he asked about the shadow in the void and Del sighed, “The three-faced Goddess sent one of her children to protect one who serves the Moon?”

“Who?”

“The three-faced Goddess is the mother of the vampires, like the Moon is our mother. She claimed them when they were rejected by the Sun for refusing to bleed the world dry. It is why they can’t go out in the sun or so their myths claim,” Del answered.

“No, who is the vampire supposed to protect?” Nyall wasn’t sure vampires could be trusted the way Del was and she could hear it.

She gave him a scowl. “Ainsley. If something happens to me, she will be the next Delphi. If the Temples of the Moon fall, she is our future. The Moon Goddess and her sister are trying to give us a second chance if we fail.”

Nyall was quiet for a moment, “Have you seen it? Seen it with certainty? You told everyone last week that you were evacuating them.”

“The future is in too much flux to say if any vision is true or not.” She evaded giving the honest answer by giving one that was vague, but he realized the truth.

He gasped, “You have seen the temples fall and the Servants be defeated!”

“No,” she lied flatly, standing and turning away so he couldn’t see her face, “But I cannot ignore the possibility that the Sunwolf will attack us here or at the Eye. It is why I send the faithful into hiding. War is coming, it is already here, Comhnyall, you know this. We must consider every possibility no matter how impossible or improbable. Our enemy is insane.”

Fur replaced flesh, and Del’s wolf glanced over her shoulder at him before she crouched and sprinted away at full speed. When Nyall arrived back at the warrior barracks, Ketsu ordered him to pack. They were returning to the Eye of the Goddess. The Servants were to start reaching out to small packs surrounded by Des Rues allies but that had not fallen under the influence of the Des Rues over the winter.

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“I disagree, Delilah.” Eliazar growled.

Louis watched as the grandfather who was the Elder of the Servants and his granddaughter who was the Delphi argued.

“We need to consolidate the staff of the temples. We don’t have enough warriors for this war as it is.”

Delilah sighed, “The Moon’s children need access to Her Oracles. You need to have some faith.”

“Delilah, be reasonable.”

“Grandpapa, have faith,” Delilah repeated softly. “The Moon’s Will be done.”

Kaiyou and Essie immediately repeated the phrase.

Louis stood up. “Please, Delilah, the Moon can’t control the actions of those who want to destroy the temples. Faith isn’t enough. We need allies… we need warriors who can protect you from this maniac. He sent someone here to kill you. He sent a large group to abduct you and a half-dozen died. Elder Eliazar is correct, we need to consolidate the Oracles into one place. The Moon’s Gate is too remote to protect properly.” He turned to Kaiyou, “Elder Protector, your brother was almost killed, please. Explain to the Delphi why traveling between the two temples has become too dangerous.”

The Shogunate wolf bowed his head. “It is the honor and duty of the Protectors to follow where the Moon leads the Delphi.”

Louis threw up his hands with a frustrated growl. “You must be joking. Ketsu almost died.”

“My brother knows his duty!” Kaiyou snapped. “You should not doubt the plan of the Moon. What must be, will be, so that the faithful will believe.”

“You sound like a fortune cookie,” Essie giggled. “Give it up, Louie, Del says oracles for everyone and so it shall be… And you get a vision, and you get a vision…”

Del gave her a droll look, “Shut up, Essie.” Delilah rose in a smooth graceful movement. “I will not leave the Moon’s faithful without a way to seek a boon. This meeting is adjourned.” She held up her hand to halt Louis and her grandfather’s objections. “But if the apostates attempt to attack the Temples themselves, I will consider your proposition.”

She walked to the door of her grandfather’s office. “Now, the sun has set. Louis, please bring my first petitioner to an interview alcove.” With Kaiyou and Essie, as her doppelganger, following, Delilah put on her face veil and went up to the level where the Moon’s oracles waited. The Delphi spoke to her oracles and acolytes with gentle confidence.

“My sisters, I know there are many who are troubled coming to us. Let us pray to the Moon that we may comfort them with a boon.”

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