The World Weavers Read Free Page A

Descendants’ cause. They’re the reason I joined the Temple, to make myself a bridge between the Temple and the Descendants and prevent more needless deaths.”
    Evan tilted his head, looking at her. “Is that how you think of yourself?” he asked. “Some Descendants would say you are a heretic who recklessly risked all of us to get a feli .”
    Tori stood and dusted off her leathers. “And the Temple would say I’m a heretic for following Vrishni Saria and the prophecy. But the One believes in me and clearly the elders among the Descendants believe in me, or you would not be here answering my summons. Or did you come to tell me our ­people won’t gather under my calling? I don’t see an army behind you.”
    â€œI am the messenger. The Descendants are gathering, arming themselves. They will meet us on the road to Illian,” Evan said. “Amon already travels south, answering a call of his own.”
    Tori grimaced. Amon had censured her translations of the Vrishni’s scriptures and spoken against her decision to seek out the Temple and bond with a feli . She was happy he would be out of her way, but worried about the allies he might alienate in the desert.
    â€œAre you ready to go?” Evan asked. “Your summons said you were called to immediate action. We must go meet our army. A large group of Descendants camped by the road, waiting for us, will attract dangerous attention.”
    Tori nodded. “I think my immediate plans will dismay you, though,” she admitted. “The One calls me to become a Counselor for her as well as a Descendant. I had a vision. I must travel to the temples north of the mountains to create a bridge between the Descendants and the One.”
    â€œHow so?” Evan asked, frowning.
    â€œThe One will choose Counselors from among the deities’ acolytes at those temples. We will leave a few Descendants at each temple to teach the new Counselors how to shield their temple during the final battle.”
    â€œI didn’t bring anyone with me to leave here,” Evan said. “I thought the plan was to travel to Illian and use our shielding to support Amon’s efforts from there.”
    Tori shook her head and brushed past Evan, walking down the stone path to the wooden backdoor of the temple. She knew the temple buzzed inside with acolytes decorating and setting up tables and chairs for the endless sermons that the townsfolk would attend later in the day. They were unaware that she was about to turn the order of this temple upside down.
    â€œWe will send some teachers back,” Tori said.
    Evan grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop before she could open the door. Zara snarled and he quickly released her and stepped back.
    â€œTori, we don’t have time for these flights of fancy,” he said. “Amon expects us in Illian to support him from afar when the final battle takes place.”
    â€œThe reason the Descendants exist is to bring the One back to wholeness,” Tori snarled. “Ignoring the One’s actual needs because the Descendants have become tangled in dogma is stupidity. Close your eyes, reach out to the One, and tell me that I’m wrong. Go on.”
    Evan glared at her a moment, then closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as his face and body relaxed. After a moment his brow furrowed and his eyes snapped open.
    â€œYou are not wrong,” he said. “But I know we must be in Illian before the final battle, or Amon and the desert Chosen will fail.”
    Tori nodded and turned back to the door. “We will not let them fail,” she said. She paused with her hand on the door, preparing to leave behind her life as an acolyte of Parasu. Zara leaned against her, comforting her.
    Tori opened the door and stepped into her new role as a harbinger of change.
    K adar sat on a cushion in the back of an old warehouse the warriors of the One had turned