Louise Cooper - Indigo 06 - Avatar by Louise Cooper - Indigo 06 Page A

about any other kind. If you tell her that you don’t want to be her oracle, she will not l-like it. She would make a dangerous enemy. It would be safer to do what she wants, at least for now. Besides,” she added, “there might be other rreasons for saying nothing. If this Ancestral Lady is the demon, what does that make Uluye herself?”
    Indigo looked at her in chagrin. “I hadn’t considered that—I hadn’t even thought of it!”
    “I’m not s-saying that Uluye is evil. I am saying that we do not kn ... know .”
    “And until we do, we’d be very foolish to risk telling her anything like the truth. Besides, even if Uluye isn’t directly connected with the demon, I doubt that reasoning with her would achieve anything.”
    Indigo looked around at the well-furnished cave, at the growing heap of gifts and offerings brought by the citadel’s inhabitants during the past two days. “These women may fete us and bestow every luxury on us, but that doesn’t change the harsh fact that we’re prisoners here; and that effectively means Uluye’s prisoners. The priestesses may revere their supposed oracle, but whether they know it or not, their first loyalty is to Uluye herself. The oracle speaks, but Uluye interprets and acts, and as the oracle’s mouthpiece, she has absolute power over everyone.” She smiled grimly and without humor. “When she proclaimed me as the new oracle, I became the cornerstone of that power. She won’t let any dissension from me jeopardize her position, and she has enough warriors at her beck and call to ensure that I don’t dissent. So it seems, doesn’t it, that I’ve little choice but to bow to her will.”
    Grimya dipped her head. “That might not be such a bad thing though, m-might it? If we are rright about the demon, then as the oracle, you at least have found a way to come close to it.”
    “True; but in many ways that troubles me more than anything else. Remember the Bray curse and what came of it? I wouldn’t want to risk opening myself to a power like that a second time.” A small, sharp frown knitted her brows. “I don’t think I could bear to go through something like that again.”
    Grimya whined softly. “I am sorry. I didn’t mean to bring back painful memories.”
    “No, no; you were right to say what you did. It’s just that...” She sighed. “Don’t mistake me, dear Grimya. I know how loyal you are and how strong you are, and that means more to me than I can ever say. But even with your love and your help to support me, I still wish I had another ally here. If there were someone in the citadel whom I could trust to help me in what I have to do, I’d feel less vulnerable.”
    Grimya was silent for a few moments. Then she said: “Perhaps you should talk with Sha-lune.”
    “Shalune?” Indigo looked at her in surprise.
    “Yess. I don’t wish to be rrr-ash, but ... since you fell ill again, I think I have begun to like her. Also, my instinct tells me that all is not well between her and Uluye. I thh- ink they disagree about many things, and that Sha-lune would like to be leader here in Uluye’s place. I don’t know the proper word for it, but I think she is ... a better person.”
    Accompanying that statement came a mental image that combined rationality, common sense and a willingness to reason without dogma. Indigo, who had thought that choosing between the two priestesses was a matter of deciding the lesser of two evils, was both surprised and intrigued. She’d surmised that Shalune was second only to Uluye in the cult hierarchy; if, as Grimya implied, Shalune was dissatisfied with Uluye’s leadership, then it was indeed possible that she might prove to be the ally they needed. Indigo didn’t want to become embroiled in a power struggle between the two women; it would involve too many complications, perhaps even too many risks. But if she could win Shalune’s trust, while keeping herself apart from any quarrels that might be brewing between the