Antiphon by Ken Scholes Page B

and candid discussion of evangelists moving out across the Named Lands in their robes and mud and ash, preaching their new gospel.
    But gradually, the words drifted someplace out of reach to Winters. As hard as she tried to, she could not escape that whispered voice and that firm embrace.
    Little sister, come home to me and to joy.
    And yet, this same woman—her older sister supposedly—had sent assassins out in the night to murder Hanric, the man who had raised her. And now, this new queen and her kind transformed her people into something that frightened Winters though she did not fully grasp why.
    She remembered that day in the tent at the edge of spring and felt the rage washing through her as she surged forward with upraised axe. She felt shame rise to her cheeks at the memory of being so easily restrained and subdued. And she realized suddenly that she’d spent these last six months avoiding the truth of what had happened to her and how she’d responded, hiding in the basement of the new library pretending she was only a girl. Sudden tears threatened her now, and Winters felt her face grow even hotter as she resisted.
    I gave up on my people.
    She remembered Tertius and the nights he often read to her. One of her favorite stories had been “Jamael and the Kin-Wolves.” He’d suggested it to her one night and had then been subjected to reading it again and again to her.
And one day Jamael came home from the fields to find a kin-wolf in her sheepfold. . . .
    She looked at the two women again. The light in their eyes. The deep sense of passion in their voices. How many more were out there, even now, sharing this gospel and feeding this resurgence? They had brought down Windwir to bring this faith out of the shadows. They had butchered and resurrected Petronus to create this belief. They had cut their mark over the hearts of innocent children. And they had healed Jin Li Tam and Rudolfo’s dying son with the blood of thousands.
    She knew from her talks with Rudolfo and Jin Li Tam that this resurgence had been engineered, but now, for the first time, she saw that her people were also victims of this dark movement. They were being bent and twisted into the servants of this so-called Crimson Empress, and the thought of it awoke anger in her. These people were in her care, and she could not hide here and pretend otherwise.
    Wolves in the fold, Jamael cried.
    “Wolves in the fold,” Winters whispered softly to herself.
    And as if she heard, the evangelist Tamrys paused, turned to the girl and smiled at her.

Chapter 5

Rudolfo

    Rudolfo looked up as Jin Li Tam and Jakob entered the back of the room, suddenly apprehensive about the decision they had made over lunch. He looked from his wife to the two Machtvolk evangelists and last, to Winters. The girl had been quiet, and he had been unable to read the emotions that washed her face. Something had happened when the woman Tamrys had embraced her and passed on her older sister’s message.
    Something to be mindful of
.
    His eyes locked with Jin Li Tam’s, and the shrewdness he saw there bolstered him. “Ah,” he said with a flourish, rising to his feet. “May I present the Lady Jin Li Tam, daughter of House Li Tam and queen of the Ninefold Forest. And our heir, Lord Jakob.”
    The two evangelists first went very pale, then blushed as they scrambled to stand and turn.
    They are surprised. Perhaps,
Rudolfo thought,
this is the right path after all.
    They bowed deeply, and he did not need to see their faces in that moment to read the adoration written there. “G-great Mother,” Tamrys said, stammering, “this is an unforeseen honor.”
    Now, the other spoke as well, and Rudolfo heard the sob catch in her throat. “And behold, the Child of Promise—hearty and hale by the grace of the Crimson Empress.”
    Or by dark design and blood sacrifice.
Rudolfo felt himself frowning and forced a smile to his mouth. “Please join us, Lady Tam,” he said, motioning to a chair