Read Online The Paladin's Odyssey (The Windows of Heaven) by K.G. Powderly Jr. - Free Book Online

their small children went about their business outside as if deaf to the Spider-woman’s tirade.
    Pyra’s m other said, “I was queasy. It was only a bite of apple . ”
    Pyra hesitated outside the arch and felt sick all over. She could smell Harachne’s opium smoke waft out the window. We’re Pandura’s daughters! Why does Mauma put up with this?
    “You know the least deviation from procedure causes side effects! I don’t want you to get sores and lose your hair! I’m only thinking of you!”
    Sure, what do you know of the procedures , Harachne ? You’re just an academy marm — a glorified baby-sitter! Pyra pushed through the door hangings. Mother sat on a stool , face buried in her hands. Harachne hunched over her like some sort of bent leering troll woman . Both looked up at Pyra when the hangings flapped shut.
    “Your mother and I were just having a discussion,” Harachne explained and then stomped from the room.
    Pyra went to her mother and held her head to her chest. “Why do you let her do this?”
    Her mother looked up. “Please, darling, don’t you go off on me too.”
    “I’m not mad, Mauma, I’m trying to understand. You’re a daughter of the High Priestess! I swear, I’ll tell Pandura if she does this again.”
    “Darling, you mean well, but that would violate my autonomy. Pandura does not value herself as a mother. I’m sentimentally attached to the old-style family relationships. That’s why you and I get along so well.”
    “Do we?”
    “What do you mean, child?”
    “Do we get along?”
    “Of course we do! We have spats—just like I had with Harachne … ”
    “No!” Pyra said. “Not like you have with Harachne! Never like that! I don’t call you names even when I’m very mad at you! I’ve never heard you call anyone a bad name, either, least of all me. ”
    Pyra’s mother hung her head. “That’s true.”
    “So why do you let her?”
    “Harachne’s under a lot of pressure, sweetheart. Mistress Ataena gave the Council a poor recommendation and Harachne’s been passed over for promotion again. She’s not really mad at me—she cares for us.”
    Pyra realized that it was like talking to the sundial . Just as the sundial could only speak the time of day when the sun acted upon its form, so her mother seemed incapable of going beyond the outside forces—mainly Harachne—that acted upon her life. If you’re so autonomous, Mauma, why do you need that woman so much that you’ll put up with this? Am I not also a force in your life? Maybe Pandura is right and we are mere slaves of the material forces. No! Mnemosynae has seen too much inside us for that to be true! Harachne does not trap me, at least not inside!
    “I’m going to bed, Mauma.” Pyra released her mother and stomped off to her chamber. Soon I must release her forever.
    Sleep did not come easily. Her window faced the sacred laboratory , with its sparkling colored lights. Sometimes the hum of the ventilation engines lulled her asleep, but not tonight. At times, s he thought she heard garbled voices screaming up through the air shafts for release—probably just the way the sea breeze played off the vent grates.
    She closed her eyes.
    The dream came before Pyra even realized she had fallen asleep.
    A harsh blue light bobbed down the short hall toward her mother’s chamber. Pyra rose and followed it. There were people in the greeting room.
    She pushed through the door hangings of her mother’s sleeping alcove. Harachne sat on a floor cushion with eyes wide open in an opium stupor. Priestess sages and thin, strange-looking men with pale faces and large eyes gathered around the bed of Pyra’s mother. Pandura and Mnemosynae were also there. The odd-looking men stuck huge syringe needles under Mauma ’s skin and injected her with vials of thick black liquid.
    “Mauma?”
    Pandura and Mnemosynae glared over to where Pyra stood at the door hangings, their eyes startled and angry. Mnemosynae smiled at her star