“I work as a cleaner in the mansion,” Clarissa was saying, her eyes still sparkling with joy at Diana’s arrival. “I mop the floors, dust the ornaments, that kind of thing. There are about a dozen of us, but I’m the youngest. I only started a few months ago.”

     They were sitting in the girl’s cramped living, dining room, their knees constantly bumping as they sat uncomfortably on the padded wooden furniture. Tabitha, the girl’s mother, bustled around offering her guests tea and cakes, her fears now completely allayed now that she knew who they were. Edward, the girl’s father, was a Hewlak soldier, out on duty at the moment, but Tomsk assured them that he was a man they could trust. Together, he and Tabitha had kept their daughter’s secret for the past six months, ever since she’d first discovered her vocation. Only a handful of others had guessed, Tomsk among them.

     “I was given the job of cleaning the chapel," continued Clarissa. "Hardly anyone ever goes in there these days, but they like it kept clean anyway because it’s part of the mansion. There was some talk a little while ago of converting it into a drinking room.” Diana shuddered in horror.

     “Then I started having dreams. I dreamed of a beautiful woman who told me the most wonderful things. I thought it was just an ordinary dream at first, but I dreamed about her every night and I began to think there might be something special about it.”

     “The first visitation,” replied Diana, smiling as she remembered her own experience. “It’s the same for all of us. She searches the world, sorry, the universe, looking for the right kind of people, and then appears to them in their dreams.”

     Clarissa smiled happily. She’d been longing for the chance to talk to someone who’d understand. Really understand. Her parents had listened dutifully and nodded in all the right places, trying their best to encourage and support her when they’d finally realised that it was more than just a child’s fantasy, but it wasn’t the same. “I found myself paying more and more attention to the altar of Caroli without really knowing why. I had some pretty silly ideas in those days. I used to think She lived there.”

     “Well, in a sense She does,” replied Diana. “She lives wherever a place has been made sacred in Her name.”

     “I used to take Her presents,” continued the girl with a giggle. “I used to make flowers from the corn stalks I found in the kitchen bins. I made flowers like the one on the wall above the altar and left them there, where She’d find them. The others used to laugh at me about it, so I only did it when there was no-one else around. I used to talk to Her as well, even though I thought She was just a figment of my imagination, but sometimes I could almost imagine that She was real and listening. Once I could even have sworn that She was right there in the temple with me. That if I turned my head and looked, She’d have been there, right behind me.”

     “Then one day Adrian, that’s my brother, he’s out at the moment. He came down with the red shakes. Nobody was allowed close to him except mother who took him his soup. They wouldn’t even let me in to see him, in case I caught it, but I could hear him crying out and thrashing around and I couldn’t stand it, so I crept in when no-one was looking and begged the Lady, if She was real, to make him better again.”

     “I almost fainted with horror when I looked in and saw them,” said Tabitha, smiling at the memory. “There she was, sitting on the edge of the bed and hugging him to her, as if she wanted to catch it! I think the whole street heard me screaming. I grabbed her and almost threw her across the room! It’s a miracle I didn’t crack her head open against the wall!”

     A look of shame and guilt passed briefly across her face, and Clarissa squeezed her hand until it passed and she was smiling again. “But then I saw that he was well again," the mother continued. "That somehow the shakes had vanished as if it had never been. It was like a miracle!”

     “That’s exactly what it was,” agreed Diana. “It was almost exactly the same with me. A little boy had been run over by a cart...”

     “A what?” asked the girl curiously.

     “A vehicle on wheels, pulled by horses,” replied Diana, who then had to explain what horses were. Gradually, therefore, the conversation drifted away into other subjects and Shaun made his excuses and left, confident now that his sister was in safe hands.

     Shaun and Tomsk were met in the corridor-street by Morley, who told them that the others had found a place they liked and were settling in. “It’s Clumper’s old place,” he said. “He tried to dig a tunnel for himself once. It never went anywhere, but the bit he dug would make a good hiding place if they had to hide in a hurry.”

     “Good,” replied Tomsk, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve done well. Better get back to work now before you’re missed.”

     The potter nodded, raised a hand to Shaun and then ambled away down the corridor. Tomsk then led Shaun to his new dwelling place.

     It turned out to be identical in layout to every other apartment they’d seen in the city so far, consisting of only four small rooms. The living-dining room opened directly into the corridor-street and had three doors in its other walls. One door led into the tiny kitchen, which was only just big enough for two people to stand side by side unless you sat on the work surfaces. Another led to the toilet-bathroom and the third led to the bedroom which contained a double bed and a pair of bunks. Not much scope for privacy for the parents, thought Shaun with astonishment. The children must get a pretty comprehensive education.

     There was the smell of rotten meat and the floor was covered with a layer of fluffy dust, unlike the other homes they'd seen whose occupants kept them scrupulously clean. "Whatever you do, don't clean this dust up," warned Tomsk, finding the source of the smell, a chicken leg picked clean of every trace of meat, and dropping it into the waste chute in the kitchen. "It marks this place as unoccupied and helps cover the entrance to the hole."

     "But our footprints'll be all over it," pointed out Shaun.

     "Doesn't matter," replied Tomsk, pointing out all the footprints that already covered the floor. "Kids come in here all the time, playing hide and seek, and courting couples use empty places like this for privacy. Just keep the door wedged shut and anyone who tries to come in will think there's an amorous couple already here. Don't open the door to anyone who doesn't call you by name."

     He then made to leave and return to his own home. “I’ll leave you to sort yourselves out,” he said. “Try to stay out of sight as much as possible. We’ve been lucky so far, but the soldiers tend to get curious if they see strangers wandering around. Be wary of your neighbours as well. Most of them hate the Nobles and will help you any way they can, but some of them are informers.”

     “What about food?” asked Shaun.

     “You can’t go to the Pantrys,” said the old man. “You’d be spotted and picked up in no time. I’ll get a few friends together and we’ll share out some of our own food.

     “No!” protested Lirenna in outrage. “We can’t take your food! You’ve got little enough to live on as it is!”

     “We’ll talk about it later,” said Tomsk. “Remember what I said and stay out of sight.”

     He opened the door, but before he could leave he was knocked back by Morley rushing in. “Soldiers!” he exclaimed. “They’re searching every apartment!”

     “Quick!” ordered Tomsk. “Into the hole!”

     He dashed into the bedroom and searched around on the dusty floor with his fingertips until he found a thin groove hidden by the dust that filled it. Matthew ran over to help him, and together they pulled up a small, rectangular section of floor, barely wide enough for a man's shoulders, below which was a roughly shaped circular hole. "Get in!" ordered the old man.

     “Wait!” said Shaun, though. “What about Diana?”

     “You can’t help her,” replied Morley impatiently. “Get in the hole.”

     “But we’ve got to get her!”

     “There’s no time!” insisted the potter, grabbing him by the shoulders and pushing him bodily towards the hole. “They’re already coming down the street! Now get into the drassing hole!”

     Shaun struggled madly, but together Morley and the other Tharians manhandled him into the square hole in the floor. “Look, we’re all as worried as you are,” said Thomas as he jumped down after him. “We all love her. But we can help her best by remaining free ourselves. If we’re all caught, there’ll be no-one left to help her.”

     “He’s right,” agreed Jerry. “You’re putting us all in danger, and Tomsk and Morley as well. Now pipe down!”

     The tiny nome’s words sank in and the soldier quieted down, although his face was twisted with fear and worry. Thomas and Jerry glanced at each other, knowing that the woodsman was being haunted by images from the cursed sword. Images of unclothed female bodies, broken and discarded. They continued to mutter words of reasurance as Lirenna and Matthew eased themselves down beside them, and then the two old men lowered the section of floor back into place, plunging them into darkness. Tomsk hurriedly kicked dust into the rectangular crack and had just finished hiding it when the front door burst open again and a group of soldiers barged in.

     The hole dropped down for nine feet, with roughly shaped hand and foot holes carved in the sides, and at the bottom it widened out into a chamber just barely large enough for the five of them to cram into chest to chest. If Diana had been with them, one of them would have had to lie down on the floor. Thomas found that he could smell the musky, oily fragrance of Matthew’s hair, some strands of which were tickling his face, and the noise of their breathing was so loud that it seemed impossible the soldiers couldn't hear them. They held their breaths in terror as they heard heavy footsteps above them and the loud, commanding voice of the Sergeant as he interrogated Tomsk and Morley.

     “What are you doing in here?” a gruff voice demanded. “This place is registered as being empty.”

     “I was thinking of moving in,” replied the old man. “I’d like to live closer to the Pantry.”

     “Jump to the head of the queue every week, eh?” laughed the soldier as his men ransacked the place. The Tharians heard the noises of the beds being overturned and the contents of cupboards dumped onto the floor. Lirenna winced as they heard a large clay pot smashing, and her fingers tensed on Shaun’s shoulders.

     “You won’t get any more, you know.”

     “I know,” replied Tomsk, “But I’d be able to get home quicker. These days my old legs pain me something terrible if I’m standing up too long.”

     “Nothing ‘ere, Sarge,” said a younger soldier’s voice.

     “Okay,” replied the Sergeant. “Next one.”

     The soldiers filed back out through the front door, one of them giving Morley a warning shove as he went, and they entered the apartment next door to continue the search.

     They waited a few minutes more, just to make sure it was safe, before Tomsk let them out again, the Tharians pushing the section of floor up from beneath. Shaun made straight for the front door, but Morley grabbed him and pinned him to the wall. “No, you fool!” he hissed. “It’s crawling with soldiers out there! D’ya want to get us all executed?”

     “But Di...” began Shaun frantically, struggling to escape from the huge potter.

     “She’ll be okay,” said Jerry reassuringly. “She’s a cleric of Caroli. She can take care of herself. Even in the worst happens and they capture her, they won’t harm her. She’s too valuable to them.”

     Shaun nodded, accepting the nome's words, but then he saw Morley and Tomsk glancing at each other. "What?" he demanded.

     "Nothing," said Morley. "We've got to go now. Stay here and keep quiet."

     Shaun wasn't ready to let it go, though. "It was when Jerry said Di was too valuable for them to harm," he said. "He was right, wasn't he?"

     "Just keep quiet," the potter told him before hurrying out into the street.

     Shaun stared after him, his eyes widening with alarm. He made a visible effort to relax but couldn't keep himself from pacing across the small room like a tiger in a cage, his face twisted with torment while the others could only stare at each other, desperately hoping that the woodsman wouldn't lose control of himself as the curse, fuelled by his anxiety, gathered strength...

☆☆☆

     “Soldiers!” said a small boy, about ten years old, bursting madly in from the street and making Diana and Clarissa look up in surprise. “They’re searching every home! Who are you?”

     “This is a friend,” said Clarissa calmly. “and I expect she’s one of the ones they’re looking for.”

     “What!” exclaimed Tabitha, running in from the kitchen. “If they find you here...”

     They’d be rounded up and thrown in the dungeons for harbouring a fugitive, thought Diana. “I’ll go,” she said. “I can’t get all of you in trouble.”

     “No!” declared Clarissa, grabbing her arm. “Do you think I’m going to lose you when I’ve only just found you?” She turned an imploring gaze on her mother. “There must be something we can do, somewhere we can hide her.”

     “You think they won’t look under the beds?” said Tabitha frantically. “They’ll look everywhere! They’ll find her!” She turned to Diana, her face twisted up in mental agony. “I wish we could help you, but...”

     “It’s all right,” replied Diana, smiling and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I’ll give myself to them. I’ll say I burst in uninvited and tried to hide, but that you turned me out.” She squeezed her shoulder to show she understood the mother's impossible position and turned to go.

     “No!” repeated Clarissa, however. “If you give yourself up, then I will as well. I’ll tell them that I’m a cleric as well.”

     “No!” wailed her mother, grabbing her and wrapping her arms around her. “You don’t mean that! You don’t mean that!”

     “Yes I do,” said the girl in stubborn determination. “Clerics of Caroli do not betray each other. If one goes, we both go.”

     It was obvious to both women that she meant it, that she would do as she said, and Tabitha glared her hatred at Diana. “Why did you come here?” she spat venomously. “You’ve caused all this! You did this!”

     Diana cringed in shame and guilt, but then an idea came to her. “There may be a way,” she said, “but I’ll need your help.” Clarissa nodded eagerly. “It’s not something that one cleric can do alone, but the two of us together...”

     “Tell me what to do,” said Clarissa.

☆☆☆

     A few minutes later the soldiers burst in and began to search the apartment. The sergeant noted that Tabitha seemed to be terribly nervous about something, and for a moment his suspicions were aroused, but then everyone got nervous when soldiers came and that was as it should be. He dismissed her from his mind, therefore, and gave his men the hand signal to search the rooms.

     In the bedroom they found Clarissa lying on her bed, her eyes closed and her forehead furrowed as she concentrated furiously on something. Sitting on the edge of the bed next to her, holding her hand, was her brother Adrian, and standing in the corner, her eyes lowered, was a woman they’d never seen before. The soldiers stared at her in excitement. They’d found one of the fugitives! They’d be well rewarded for this!

     “Come with us,” said one of the soldiers, grabbing her arm and pulling roughly.

     Diana stumbled forward but then stood still again. “I’m nobody important,” she said, her eyes fixed on the soldier’s feet. “I’m nothing. I’m nobody. I’m not worthy of your attention.”

     The soldiers immediately forgot about her and turned their attention back to the girl on the bed. “What’s wrong with her?” one of them asked.

     “Dunno,” replied Adrian, gently stroking her fingers. “She just came over all funny. Maybe she’s ill or something.”

     “Ill?” said the soldier in alarm. “Is it catching?”

     “Dunno,” repeated the boy. “Could be.”

     The soldiers made a hurried exit. The one who’d spoken looked back at Diana before he left, but dismissed her from his mind. She’s nobody important, he said to himself. “Nobody in here, Sarge,” he said therefore as he returned to the living room.

     “Okay, let’s go,” said the Sergeant, and the soldiers left to search the next apartment.

☆☆☆

     They waited a few moments more to make sure it was safe, and then Clarissa gave a sigh of relief and sat up in bed, rubbing her temples. “Did it work?” she asked.

     “Yes,” replied Diana, grinning all over. “You did brilliantly!”

     “My head hurts a little,” said the girl as Adrian helped her to her feet. “Like I’ve been crossing my eyes for too long.”

     Diana laughed and gave her a hug, just as Tabitha came rushing anxiously in, her face lighting up in delight when she saw that all was well. “What did you do?” she asked.

     “It’s called Aspect of Insignificance,” explained Diana as they returned to the living room to relax. “It makes anyone who sees you think you’re not worth paying attention to. Father Bryon, my teacher, used to joke that some people have a natural talent for it.” They all laughed, more in relief than humour. “I’ve only ever done it once before. That time Father Bryon was the focus and I was the assistant. It wore me out too and he had to carry me back to town. Of course it only has a limited use, as only one of the two clerics involved is affected.”

     “It worked all right this time,” said Clarissa happily.

     She was looking tired, though, and her head was beginning to droop, so her mother insisted she go back to bed and sleep it off. The girl argued, but this time her mother wasn’t taking any nonsense and she was soon tucked up in the same bed she’d just gotten up from. She was asleep almost before her head hit the pillow.

     “Look,” said Tabitha as she closed the bedroom door. “I’m sorry about what I said before. It’s just that...”

     “It’s all right, I understand,” replied Diana, taking her hands and squeezing them. “I’d have been worried if you’d reacted any other way.”

     Tabitha smiled guiltily, but also in gratified relief, and so the two of them sat down for a nice long talk while they waited for the coast to clear.