Page 88 of Moon Chosen

Much, much later, after they had slaked the needs of their bodies, they worked together side by side, purging the Chamber. Dead Eye was amazed by Dove. Her skin was smooth and white—pure and rare as a snowfall. She had no eyes, but her steps never faltered. She moved around the Chamber, dragging the stinking pallets to the balcony so that he could throw them down into the courtyard below. She used a sacrificial trident to slice through the ropes of ivy that had not been tended in years, leaving mounds of green for him to scoop up and throw away.

Dead Eye found it difficult to keep his hands from touching Dove. She was so soft and warm and welcoming—more magnificent even than the ancient stories told of the God’s Watchers before they deteriorated into diseased old women and were instead the pulse of the People.

As he paused in carrying armloads of reeking bones to throw from the balcony, Dove turned her eyeless face up to him, smiling and lovely. He stroked one finger down her smooth cheek. Wondering aloud at the flawless beauty of her skin, he asked, “Dove, has your skin never cracked? Never shed?”

“No, it hasn’t,” she said.

“Never?”

“Never,” she assured him.

“Do you know why?” Dead Eye asked only out of vague curiosity. He didn’t expect a true answer—though she shocked him by giving one.

“I believe I do know why. Since the day of my birth when the Caretakers brought me to the God to be sacrificed, I have never left this Temple—nor has my skin ever cracked. Nor has it shed.”

“But surely you have never worn another’s skin?”

Dove shook her head and her hair moved around her like a gossamer veil. “No. The Watchers would not waste the skin of the Others on me. They said it was too precious—too rare, and that one such as me did not need it.”

“Have you eaten the flesh of the Others? The last sacrifice was just a few winters ago when we captured several of the Others from that large foraging party. The Watchers did not share that sacrifice with you?”

“I remember well the last Others that were sacrificed. Their screams lingered in the air for many days. But, no. I was not allowed to eat of the flesh, either. The truth is, I was not allowed to eat meat of any kind.” She paused and changed her voice to that of a waspish old woman. “Seeds, nuts, rice, and plants are good enough for the eyeless one!”

“Dove, listen! I, too, have never eaten of the Others’ flesh! It has always disgusted me, so I only pretended to partake, though I have taken their flayed flesh and placed it over mine—but my body did not absorb it as it did the stag’s.” Dead Eye felt a great jolt of excitement. “And I choose to make my home in one of the buildings at the very edge of the City, and prefer to hunt from the forest for my table.”

“The People say you spend an unusual time in the forest,” Dove said.

“The People are right.”

“The stag you absorbed. You didn’t find it in the City, did you?”

“No. The beasts found within the confines of the City are never quite right. Away from here, in the forest, you understand that the animals are stronger. I rarely find the oddities seen here—the missing limbs—the great, bulbous masses growing just beneath their skins—the twisted bodies.” Dead Eye took Dove by the shoulders and spoke fervently. “Dove, that is why I am so drawn to the forest! Because it is clean there—untainted by whatever killed the City, and still kills us.”

“We must leave this place,” she said.

“I knew it! I’ve known it since I was a youngling!”

“And now the People will know it. You truly are our Champion.” She leaned forward and he bent to capture her soft, seeking lips with his own, loving how perfectly Dove fit against his body and thinking,it is good to be a God.

***

The firepots were lit, filling the newly cleansed Chamber and the God’s balcony with the fragrant scent of cedar. While below in the courtyard Dead Eye gathered the bodies of the Watchers and the odoriferous rubble their lives had become into a great pile atop dead pine boughs, above Dove prepared a huge cauldronful of the vegetable stew she had perfected without the Watchers’ sacrificial meat. When all was ready, Dead Eye lit the pyre and then returned to the balcony with Dove to wait for the People.

They did not have long to wait.

The burning pyre drew the People. They crept from the shadows, clutching the rodents and birds they brought as sacrifice to the God. As they reached the pyre, Dead Eye watched them peer into the flames and then recoil in horror when they realized what scented the pine with roasting meat.

“The People are below,” Dead Eye spoke quietly to Dove. “It is time.”

With no hesitation she held out her hand. He grasped it, guiding her up to the lip of the balcony. “Be brave,” he whispered. “The ledge is wide, and I am here. I will not let you fall.”

Her smile flashed in the firelight. “It is easy to be brave with you beside me, my Champion.” Then Dove spread her arms wide. In a strong, pure voice, she called down to the People. “The God has sent me a vision and commanded that I share it with Her People!”

“Dove is speaking! It is the eyeless one, Dove! She speaks for the God!” The murmurings of the People lifted from below.

Dove waited for their restlessness to still before continuing. “The God has been displeased!”

Horrified gasps came from the People. Dove raised her hands and instantly they quieted.