Lia nodded. “It will come that very night. Did Ellowyn deliver her message? What happened?”

Colvin folded his arms and shook his head. “It was treated with great interest and respect at first. The Aldermaston was grave and listened patiently. Then he started to ask questions over the days that followed. He is a cunning man, Lia. He is dangerous. His questions seemed honest at first and would listen to our persuasions calmly. But every thing he asked caused doubts as to whether he believed it. For example, why was the warning given in our country and not in Dahomey? Of course he never denied that the Blight was coming. But he challenged and questioned and poked at the circumstances. I realized through the Gifting that he was trying to learn from which Abbey we had learned of it. Ellowyn mentioned an Abbey in Pry-Ree, but could not remember the name. I refused to tell him, claiming I cannot speak Pry-rian. He continues to seek the name of the Abbey in Pry-Ree. Would there was a way we could warn them.”

“The Medium will do that,” Lia said, touching his arm confidently. “Just as the Medium sent me here. The warning has been given. Now we must find a way to get you both out of here. There are secret tunnels within these walls. I am sure one will lead to Ellowyn’s room as well. I will get Martin to help us and we will leave on the ship you saw.”

“Martin is here?” Colvin asked, perplexed.

“There is so much to tell you. Here, enjoy the apple while I tell you what happened and where I left your sister.”

He gratefully accepted her idea but offered her the first bite of the apple, which she accepted. Never had an apple tasted so sweet to her. She enjoyed watching him devour the fruit, eating it slowly and savoring each bite, while she related her adventures. There was Kieran Ven and the Evnissyen of Pry-Ree and how she had learned that the Apse Veil would not take them to Dochte Abbey. She related finding Marciana in Dieyre’s castle in the Stews and watched his face turn pale with anger at what the Dochte Mandar had done to her and what Dieyre had done to Reome. She described Augustin Abbey and its treacherous Aldermaston. He coughed with surprise when she described how she had humbled him in front of his steward and thrashed his guardians. She mentioned the cave outside of Doviur where she had slept, protected by a Leering and confessed how she had thought of him and wondered where he was. As they discussed it, he said he had been wakened that night by whispers which had tortured him with thoughts of her. He had not slept since then, anxious about her and her safety. Finally she mentioned Tomas Aldermaston and the crew of the Holk which had brought her to Vezins where she had met Dieyre’s men the night before and how a lad name Jouvent had brought her the rest of the way.

“I am amazed,” he concluded at the end of her tale. “Truly the Medium guided your steps. I will be able to sleep now, knowing that you are nearby. But I must warn you again, Lia. If you are caught, and if they learn you are a maston, they will turn you. There are Leerings in this Abbey that are ancient. There is one that I have come across. It bears the mark of the serpent – two serpents woven together like a strand. There is a Leering down in the gardens that bears this mark. When I touched it, it burned me. Only a woman can touch it, I was told. But in that brief touch, Lia, I saw that it guarded a doorway leading deep into the earth. It led to a chamber full of serpents. Lia, that is where they send girls who will become hetaera. The image I saw in my mind, just in that brief scalding touch, was enough to frighten me to death. If you do not have a kystrel, they will bite. It is full of bones and death. It is a place of pure fear. There is something unnatural about serpents that make us fear them instinctually. It is such a place.” His face was white. “You know that I fear enclosed places. To be buried alive in a pit of snakes that will kill you unless you accept the hetaera oaths. Lia…please…I beg of you. You must not be captured. They would put you in that place. I have feared they would put my sister there when she arrived. I could not bear it if either of you became one of them. Please, Lia. You must be careful.”

The image of the serpent’s lair send a shiver of disgust and loathing through her. Yet it also sparked a memory. She had seen the symbol of the entwined serpents. She had seen it burning. An awful anticipation welled inside her as she realized that she would need to find that place. That it was the reason she had come to Dochte Abbey. The Medium throbbed in her heart, calming her. But it also told her not to tell Colvin.

“I will be cautious,” she answered, smiling at him. “I want you to sleep, Colvin. I will watch over you.”

He shook his head. “Not yet. I hunger to talk to you. There is so much I have learned in this place. So much the Medium has taught me. There is no one here that I can talk to. There is no one here who knows my heart like you do.” He leaned forward. “Lia, there is something that has weighed heavily on me. It has been growing heavier and heavier. This is a dark place, but I know that I will be free from it. I long to leave these shores, to leave the shores of Comoros and find a place where such evil cannot exist. There will be a scourging. I can see it. Those who accept the ways of the Dochte Mandar will fall to the Blight. Those who support the hetaera will be killed. I know this is a place of pure darkness where the Myriad Ones roam free. Yet despite this knowledge, I still feel the Medium with me. I have remained true to my oaths. I have not surrendered to their ways.” He looked down, his face turning anguished. “I hardly know how to say this to you.”