Book 3: Chapter 44: White Lies
And Her Herald, peace be upon him, was the one who said: Oh people, give greetings to those you meet, and give succor to the ones in need. Give prayer before sleeping and the gates of heaven will be open to you.
And Her Herald, peace be upon him, was the one who said: Oh men of this world, fear the Goddess in women. I command you, treat them well, for they are in Her image.
And Her Herald, peace be upon him, was the one who said: Oh people, the Goddess did not send me from the Distant World to teach you to curse people and hate them. Rather, I was sent to teach you the higher morals and edicts of Heaven. Do no doubt the word of Heaven, for that is a sin most grave, and your punishment will be burning hellfire.
- An excerpt from the New Suras of the Edict of Heaven.
The problem with echoes was that they made distance rather difficult to ascertain. As the sound of the approaching footsteps overwrote each other, numbers too were hard to judge. But here in this dark pit, surely people were a good thing? Or so I would have thought, were I still new to this world.
And with that, I drew my sword, my Azag-Gishban, its comfortable weight lending me purpose. Summoning my shield to me, a massive edifice of wood and iron formed. It was a match to the one I had found beside Gersal’s corpse. Like me, it seemed, my Mimic was capable of learning new things.
Looking at the little girl, I gave her a nod but I couldn’t help but notice that she still looked queerly at me. However, gone now was the greater part of her initial horror.
“If we could hear them, it is more than likely that they have heard us. Pray that whoever approaches means well, but expect the worst,” I whispered just loud enough to be heard.
“You don’t have to tell me…” was her response, given in a tone that children reserved for nagging parents. “Won’t be finding me with my knickers down. Time to try something a little different,” she added as her expression changed to one of focused concentration.