Chapter One
The hollering winds called to Kesa as they crushed into themselves, luring her out of her trance. A flare of light revealed the beast’s face to her and the darkness that followed imprinted it to her mind. Its massive form was coiling itself around her. Its bioluminescent body submerged the hut in a mist of turquoise glow. The sheer magnificence of the beast struck Kesa with a terror that shook her to her core. The skies groaned, sending daggers of rain piercing through the earth. Through the anguish of the storm, Kesa could faintly hear the beating of prayer drums. With the next glint of lightning, she found herself drawn to look into eyes that were as vast as the sea, letting them burrow through her mind.
Foolish child. The beast’s voice was like the strum of a chord. You offer blindly, unknowing that you have been forsaken. Give me your offering and I will give you what you desire. For what I give nothing can revoke.
Kesa craned her neck, offering it to the beast. The beast hissed, flicking its forked tongue before driving its fangs through the flesh of her neck. As the beast withdrew, it began to melt into water, seeping through the red dirt floor.
When Kesa came to, the storm had calmed into a grey dawn. She sat cross-legged on the ground staring at the purple oval-shaped egg the size of a palm that was in front of her. After a moment, she picked up the egg. It was warm in her hands. Her eyes widened. She could feel them. Two heartbeats.
The wooden door of the offering hut creaked open a crack and Sila slid in holding a clay pot with a cloth draped over her arm.
Her feet patted the damp ground and she looked up at the thatched ceiling. “I need to have a word with Obe. His work is getting shoddier by the day,” she complained as she set the pot down. “The whole of Jo-Winga knows he’s having problems with his eyesight, but he’s too proud to see the healer or let his a...” Her eyes landed on the egg and did not wonder from it even as she sat down across from Kesa and placed the pot down between them.
“Give me your knife,” Kesa said, holding out her hand.
Sila unsheathed it and handed it to Kesa. Kesa ran the blade gently around the tip of the egg. She carefully took the tip off and before she could reconsider, she took it all down in one go.
Sila clutched her chest as the now empty shell dissolved into nothing. She leaned forward almost knocking over the clay pot. “Is that what I think that is? Has Chien-Zai accepted your offering? But wait, that can’t be...” Sila’s hand flew to her mouth when her eyes locked with Kesa’s and she fell back, her small tight curls dangling across her forehead. “Kesa, your eyes.”
Kesa leaned over the pot of water to take a look and gleaming velvet eyes stared back at her.
Sila composed herself. “Yan-Winga Kesa, what have you gotten yourself into?”
Sila dipped the cloth in jasmine and lavender-infused water. She wrung the cloth and soothed it over Kesa’s bare back. Usually, she would have been marveling over Kesa’s butter-smooth chestnut skin.
“Ah,” Sila cried slapping the cloth on Kesa shoulder. Before Kesa could utter a curse, Sila was scurrying on her knees to face her, “I must have been Jah..” She smacked her lips and lowered her voice to a whisper, “Jah-Pia.”
Kesa sighed. Now that the exhilaration was wearing off, the realization was sinking in. She wanted to deny it but what she had felt during the encounter was too powerful to be a Chien. It could have only been evoked by a god.
Sila sat down and crossed her legs. Fanning herself with the cloth. “I never knew Jah-Pia could take the form of a serpent, but if you think about it, it makes sense. Whenever Jah-Pia forms a new Chien, they beat the prayer drums to tether the Chien right? But as a serpent, it can’t hear the drums and because of the storm last night, it wouldn’t feel the vibrations. And she did this on a black night to hide from Rah-Chieng's gaze.”
Sila grabbed Kesa’s hands, “Oh, Kesa, Yan-Winga, what have you done?”
Kesa’s brows furrowed. “Sila, why would Chien-Zia take from me? Did I do something to displease it?”
“Are you thinking about Jah-Pia's words? I don’t know but maybe it has something to do with Chien-Zia being sent to sea.”
“What?”
“It was announced this morning by the council of high priests that Chien-Zia will be replaced.”
Sila leaned in. “If it’s true… I mean it has to be, why would a god lie...I wouldn’t put past Tali to be involved. That woman can barely curb her envy and greed. And isn’t it strange that every time you lost a child before term, she announced she was with child?”
Kesa held up her hand. “Sila, shh… you talk too much and you know ears are on the ground.”
Sila pressed her lips.
“I need to think. I need silence.” Kesa said as she closed her eyes.
Chastised, Sila dipped the cloth into the pot of water.
