Морган Райс - A Throne for Sisters стр 3.

But then it came again, and there, too, was the feeling behind it.

Kate, the courtyard! Help me!

Kate could feel the fear there.

She stepped away from the nun sharply, involuntarily, and in so doing she spilled her jug of water across the stone of the floor.

Im sorry, she said. I need to go.

Sister Yvaine was still staring at the water.

Kate, clean that up at once!

But Kate was already running. She would probably find herself beaten for it later, but shed been beaten before. It didnt mean anything. Helping the one person in the world she cared about did.

She ran through the orphanage. She knew the way, because shed learned every twist and turn of the place in the years since that awful night they dropped her here. She also, late at night, sneaked out from the ceaseless snoring and stench of the dormitory when she could, enjoying the place in the blackness when she was the only one up, when the tolling of the citys bells was the only sound, and learning the feel of every nook in its walls. She sensed she would need it one day.

And now she did.

Kate could hear the sound of her sister, fighting and calling for help. On instinct, she ducked into a room, grabbing a poker from the fire grate and continuing on. What she would do with it, she didnt know.

She burst into the courtyard, and her heart fell to see her sister being pinned down by two boys while another fumbled with her dress.

Kate knew exactly what to do.

A primal rage overcame her, one she could not control if she wished, and Kate rushed forward with a roar, swinging the poker at the first boys head. He turned as Kate struck, so it didnt hit him as well as she wanted, but it was still enough to send him sprawling, clutching at the spot shed hit.

She lashed out at another, catching him across the knee as he stood, making him tumble. She struck the third in the stomach, until he keeled over.

She kept hitting, not wanting to give the boys any time to recover. Shed been in plenty of fights in her years at the orphanage, and she knew that she couldnt rely on size or strength. Fury was the only thing she had to carry her through. And thankfully, Kate had plenty of that.

She struck and she struck, until the boys fell back. They might have been prepared to join the army, but the Masked Brothers on their side didnt teach them to fight. That would have made them too hard to control. Kate struck one of the boys in the face, then spun back to hit anothers elbow with a crack of iron on bone.

Stand up, she said to her sister, holding out her hand. Stand up!

Her sister stood numbly, taking Kates hand as though she were the younger sister for once.

Kate set off running, and her sister ran with her. Sophia appeared to come back to herself as they ran, some of the old certainty seeming to return as they raced along the corridors of the orphanage.

Behind them, Kate could hear shouting, from boys or sisters or both. She didnt care. She knew there was no way but out.

We cant go back, Sophia said. We have to leave the orphanage.

Kate nodded. Something like this wouldnt earn just a beating as punishment. But then Kate remembered.

Then we go, Kate replied, running. First I just need to

No, Sophia said. Theres no time. Leave everything. We need to go.

Kate shook her head. There were some things she couldnt leave behind.

So instead, she raced in the direction of her dormitory, keeping hold of Sophias arm so that she would follow.

The dormitory was a bleak place, with beds that were little more than wooden slats sticking out from the wall like shelves. Kate wasnt stupid enough to put anything that mattered in the small chest at the foot of her bed, where anyone could steal it. Instead, she went to a crack between two floorboards, worrying at it with her fingers until one lifted.

Kate, Sophia huffed and puffed, catching her breath, theres no time.

Kate shook her head.

I wont leave it behind.

Sophia had to know what shed come for; the one memento she had from that night, from their old life.

Finally, Kates fingers fastened around metal, and she lifted the locket clear to shine in the dim light.

When she was a child, shed been sure that it was real gold; a fortune waiting to be spent. As shed gotten older, shed come to see that it was some cheaper alloy, but by then, it had come to be worth far more than gold to her anyway. The miniature inside, of a woman smiling while a man had his hand on her shoulder, was the closest thing to a memory of her parents she had.

Kate normally didnt wear it for fear that one of the other children, or the nuns, would take it from her. Now, she tucked it inside her dress.

Lets go, she said.

They ran for the door to the orphanage, supposedly always open because the Masked Goddess had found doors closed to her when she visited the world and had condemned those within. Kate and Sophia ran down the twists and turns of the corridors, coming out to the hallway, looking around for any pursuers.

Kate could hear them, but right then, there was only the usual sister beside the door: a fat woman who moved to block the way even as the two of them approached. Kate flushed red as she immediately recalled all the years of beatings shed taken by her hands.

There you are, she said in a stern tone. Youve both been very disobedient, and

Kate didnt pause; she hit her in the stomach with the poker, hard enough to double her up. Right then, she wished it were one of the elegant swords that courtiers wore, or maybe an axe. As it was, she had to settle for merely stunning the woman long enough for her and Sophia to run past.

But then, as Kate passed through the doors, she stopped.

Kate! Sophia yelled, panic in her voice. Lets go! What are you doing?!

But Kate couldnt control it. Even with the shouts of those in hot pursuit. Even knowing it was risking both of their freedom.

She took two steps forward, raised the poker high, and smashed the nun again and again across her back.

The nun grunted and cried with each blow, and each sound was music to Kates ears.

Kate! Sophia pleaded, on the verge of tears.

Kate stared at the nun for a long time, too long, needing to ingrain that picture of vengeance, of justice, into her mind. It would sustain her, she knew, for whatever horrific beatings might follow.

Then she turned and burst out with her sister from the House of the Unclaimed, like two fugitives from a sinking ship. The stink and noise and bustle of the city hit Kate, but this time she didnt slow.

She held her sisters hand and ran.

And ran.

And ran.

And despite it all, she took a deep breath and smiled wide.

However short it might be, they had found freedom.

CHAPTER TWO

Sophia had never been so afraid, but at the same time, she had never felt so alive, or so free. As she ran through the city with her sister, she heard Kate whoop with the excitement of it, and it both set her at ease and terrified her. It made this too real. Their life would never be the same again.

Quiet, Sophia insisted. Youll bring them down on us.

Theyre coming anyway, her sister replied. We might as well enjoy it.

As if to emphasize the point, she dodged around a horse, snatched an apple from a cart, and ran across Ashtons cobbles.

The city was bustling with the market that came to it every Sixthday, and Sophia looked around, startled at all the sights and sounds and smells. If it werent for the market, shed have no idea what day it was. In the House of the Unclaimed, those things didnt matter, only the endless cycles of prayer and work, punishment and rote learning.