The Echidna's Scale (Alchemy's Apprentice) Read Online Free PDF Page A

was.  It was a younger voice, not a mature one like Albany’s.
    “This is no ordinary pilgrim,” Folence answered.  “I am the Lady Folence of the Barcelon Temple, and I bring a special pilgrim that Lady Iasco will want to see, and tend to personally.”
    “Yes, my lady,” the other voice said deferentially.  “I’ll show you to a room, and send a message to her eminence,” the other voice conveyed some doubt about communicating directly with Iasco, despite the polite words.
    Marco’s litter began to move again, and the material around him grew dim as they entered a building, then turned down a hall and came into a room, where Marco felt himself lowered to the floor.
    The material overhead was opened up, bringing a blessed taste of fresh air, cooler than what had been tented around Marco, and he saw Glaze thoughtfully bend down to wipe the sweat off his brow.
    There was a knock at the door, and then Marco heard it open before anyone within gave permission.
    “Folence, it’s good to see you, even under the circumstances,” Iasco’s voice sounded in Marco’s ears.  “I’d like you to meet my acolyte, Porenn.”
    Marco didn’t hear Folence’s reply, as his mind realized what voice he had heard answer the door.  It was Porenn, the pert girl who had walked down the mountain with him the first time he had arrived on Ophiuchus.  She had been exiled away from the village to stay away from him, he recollected.  Her exile had evidently ended, but he had returned to the island unexpectedly, and so now they were together again, in a sense.
    “So you’ve brought a surprise, have you?” Iasco’s face suddenly appeared in Marco’s field of vision, looking down at him with a look of momentary clinical detachment as she examined him.  A sad smile abruptly appeared on her face, and she spoke.
    “I’d like you to meet an old friend, Porenn.  Come over here,” she called, and the girl’s face also appeared a moment later.
    “Marco?” she exclaimed.  “What are you doing back here?”
    “He’s here to be healed, dear,” Iasco answered before Marco could, as the two faces stared down at him.   “We’ll need to accompany him up the Apex Temple of Asclepius starting tomorrow for a lengthy prayer vigil.  Would you go and alert Alcyone, Asterope, and their sisters that they’ll accompany us?  Tell them to pack for a week’s stay at the top.”
    Iasco’s face moved out of Marco’s vision, though Porenn continued to stare at him for a long moment more before she disappeared too.
    “As you command, your grace,” Marco heard Porenn say, and then he heard a door open and close.
    “I’ll have someone sent to arrange your lodging for this evening,” Iasco said.  There was the sound of the door again, and then silence for several seconds, until Folence spoke.
    “Things are going well,” she said, just as a knock on the door sounded.  Another servant began to make arrangements for them all, and soon Marco and Glaze were alone in the room, where they were to spend the night.
    “So this entire island is nothing but women?” Glaze asked when they were alone.
    “There are some sheep too,” Marco said dryly.
    “And you better stay as quiet as a sheep, or quieter,” he warned.
    The next morning they were away shortly after dawn, walking up the trail that climbed the mountainside.  All the women who had accompanied Marco on his last trip up to the top of the mountain were along again, as were Glaze and Porenn, to Marco’s surprise. 
    Folence joined the group in the stable yard before they departed.  “I’ll return to Barcelon now, Marco.  You will be in my prayers.  I’ll send a message to your betrothed to let her know that we made it safely to the island and that you’re in good hands, and I’ll look forward to seeing you healthy and whole next time we meet,” she told him as she left.
    Marco’s litter was carried by the women, at a pace that he felt grow slower as the day passed.  He