A World of Ash: The Territory 3 Read Online Free PDF Page B

once we are under siege by the ghouls?”
    Again her most trusted was wavering as their moment of glory came near. Was there no one but herself in this world who could stand strong? As Steven had written in the Book of the Word, when he himself had fought for the execution of God’s will, there had been many who had lost their way, dragged away from the light by fear, the true tool of evil. But Clergy-General Provost could not be lost. She required him to lead the forces of the holy when the damned were at their gates. Her body was failing; she could not do it herself. She would pull him back to the light. She reached out and took his hand, suppressing the urge to try and crush it. Instead she spoke calmly.
    “Listen to me, Provost,” she said. “God will provide for us. It is His mission that we complete here. He may test us but He will not see the worthy among us suffer and fail. Do not lose your will to serve Glorious God the Redeemer. Go to the cathedral and pray; find your strength again as our time nears.”
    Provost nodded as he looked at her. It was almost as if she could see him shrink. “I apologize, Your Holiness,” he said. “Shall we continue our walk? There is more that I can show you. We are mounting the battlements on the Wall now.”
    “That was not a suggestion, Provost,” the High Priestess said. “Go now and pray. Come back to me when you have found your strength again. I can continue alone.”
    Provost nodded as he turned and walked away. High Priestess Patricia watched his back, trying to keep the raging scowl suppressed a little while longer. She needed him to lead the Holy Order. He had their respect. Those men would follow him into the jaws of the two hells if he asked them to, and they would need to when the time came. Still, if his sense of purpose continued to waver, and if he ever, ever challenged her like that again, she would not hesitate to cut his throat.

CHAPTER 4
    Thirst. That was the only thought Squid had when he woke. He was so thirsty. His lips were dry and split, his tongue swollen and cracked, and his throat burned, but his mouth wasn’t the only place he felt parched. This wasn’t like the normal sensation of dehydration. It was all-consuming. He felt it in every inch of his body. He needed nutrient-rich moisture sucked right from a living body. He needed to drain someone else of their life in order to survive. Doing that was the only thing that could satiate this desire.
    So this is what it’s like to be a ghoul , Squid thought. This is why they stumble for hundreds of miles across the sun-scorched desert searching for the moisture of living things.
    Through the haze of waking Squid wondered whether he’d turned. That was what he’d expected to happen. He remembered being bitten, not just once but time and time again, as the ghouls had swarmed around him. One bite should have been enough to see him die and then rise again, but as he lay on his back staring up at the opaque roof of the dome he didn’t feel like a ghoul.
    He could remember Nim trying to drag him free from twisted, dry hands, their fingers digging at him, their teeth latching onto his skin. He could remember meeting his mother and promising he’d go back and rescue her. He could remember Lynn. She had slipped from his mind at the end, at what he’d thought had been the end, but she was back now. She was somewhere a long way from here, though, being flown across the desert to Alice where the High Priestess was going to have her killed. He knew he couldn’t be a ghoul because he could remember something else too, something people said you couldn’t remember if you became a ghoul, he could remember his name.
    Squid lifted himself onto his elbows, a process that took significantly longer than he thought it should. His body ached and the bites he’d suffered stung and burned deep down into his flesh. As he tried to sit he felt a sharp pain in his side. He grunted, and as he put his hand over what he