It was Luna who woke first upon hearing the joyous pealing of the bells. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she lifted herself up on her elbows and tried to see clearly around her. About her, the other girls are also rising from their sleep. Above their prone forms were the pedestals each holding the lamps of the Sisters of the Light.

The lamps.

Luna remembered that she did not refill her lamp with oil. It does not have enough to last through the night. And now, the Master has come.

'Wake up, Sisters!'� she shouted. 'The Master is coming, the First Gate has rung their bell already!'� she shook Ava awake. 'We must fill our lamps!'�

A small gasp came from her left. Caris hastily stood up and grabbed her low-burning light. 'I forgot!'�

'So have I'�'� Thanouk replied. 'Marta, have you filled yours?'� to which the latter shook her head.

Somebody giggled. Selia was huddled with Dian and Reva, whispering amongst themselves, but it was Nanu who spoke. 'Silly girls. Look where your laziness led you. If those are the bells of the Second Gate, He must be awfully near.'�

'I ' I have enough to share with one person'�'� Bathsheba proferred. 'But just one, I regret.'�

'May I!?'� Thanouk and Marta shouted at once.

'No, I!'� Thanouk said angrily. 'You owe me for the favor you've asked me at the farmer's market!'�

'How refined of you to blackmail her at a time like this.'� Marta spat back. 'Bathsheba will give the oil to whom she prefers the most. Won't you?'� this last was cloyingly directed to the confused benefactor.

'Enough!'� Nanu shouted. 'Sheba, you will give oil to none of them. Come with us now into the courtyard and wait for the Master there. Let them find their own oil.'� With a swis o fh her garments, Nanu turned her back and walked out of the hall.

Sheba bowed low. 'I am sorry.'� Then she turned around and fled the hall as well. Selia, Dian and Reva followed her, but not without looking back and shooting pitying looks to the other five.

'We have to hurry.'� Luna sprang into action. 'The merchant's house is not far. We can run there and be back by the time the Master settles in the hall.'�

'But it is past the midnight hour, would he be awake?'� Caris asked.

'I don't care. We will rouse him if he is!'� Ava grabbed her lamp with one hand, and Caris with the other. 'Hurry!'�

Thanouk and Marta exchanged livid glances but they followed the others. In their haste, no one noticed the shadows following at their wake.
=============================================

We have fallen asleep, my sisters and I. This is our offence.

After hurrying to merchant's house and procuring the necessary amount of oil, we rushed back to the temple to find the Third Gate barred. We could hear the celebrations inside --- the sound of feasting and the sweet sound of the other Sisters singing. This aggrieved us more and pained our hearts.

Losing all reserve, Luna wailed and pleaded with the Master to let us in. In return, we have cried out our promises to never be wanting again. We keened and caterwauled for hours, but it was not until the break of day when the gate was opened again. We rushed to the courtyard where we

'We let you in so that you could gather your personal effects. The Master says you are to be cast out from the temple forever.'� Nanu's voice has the edge of cold steel in it.

'But the temple! It is all we have known since birth!'� Luna gasped. 'We do not know how to make a life out there'�'�

'We'll be lost.'� Caris sobbed.

'The Sisters of Light has an obligation. To keep constant vigilance at the temple of our Master. We know not the hour he'll return, and hence, must remain, ever, vigilant.'� Selia recited straight from the tenets of the sisterhood.

'We all know you, as well as we, fell asleep too. Do not play an overly righteous hand, Selia.'� Thanouk retorted.

Selia let out an angry squeal. 'But we have filled our lamps with oil! We did not forget our duties!'� She made a move as if to step forward but was held back by Bathsheba.

'Sisters!'� the latter said.

'She is no Sister of mine!'� spat Thanouk. She made to slap Selia, but was in turn, held back by Caris.

Nanu stepped forward and clapped for silence. 'It is good then,'� Nanu's cold tone chilled all, 'that you five are expulsed from the sisterhood.'� Without another word, she nodded to the guards who then surrounded us.

The head guard, in his clipped accent, read out an order. 'We are to escort the Sisters Luna, Ava, Caris, Thanouk and Marta outside the temple and are ordered never to let them in again. They may not trespass and punishable upon the pain of death.'�

And thus, fighting and fidgeting, we were barred from the only home we have ever known. We can never return or face, as the order decreed, the pain of death. But I could not imagine a greater pain than the terror and uncertainness of what we faced then. Death seemed to be a friendlier alternative than facing the unknown.

Maybe if we stuck together, all five of us, everything might have turned out well in the end. But as it was, Thanouk angrily cursed the temple, cursed us and turned her back to find her own path. I called to her, pleaded with her to return, but she never looked back.

Marta, not to be overdone, also turned away and walked the opposite direction that Thanouk has taken. Luna, still weeping, lost her nerves and ran towards the direction of the oil merchant's house. Caris and I were then left to ourselves. We looked at each other, both confused, still quite disbelieving that such a tragedy has befallen us.

'Would you, I mean, do you think you'd like to travel with me?'� I asked her. She nodded softly. This did not surprise me. May the Master forgive me, but Caris had never been particularly strong-minded and it is difficult to imagine her making her own way. With her assent, we started walking towards town in silence. It was only when we reached the crowded streets of Thassulam did she speak again.

'Ava, where shall we go?'� her voice has a tremor in it, as well as an unfathomable sadness that threatened to release my own tears. I had been asking the same thing myself since we took our first step towards the city. But if I showed my uncertainty to her, I am sure she would crumble and I would have followed.

'We will apprentice ourselves to'� to someone. Maybe work in a tavern. For the mean time.'�

That sounded like a plan back then, of course. We had nothing, absolutely nothing to go on. And that is how we found ourselves in Arik's Tavern, being scrutinized from the soles of our feet to the crowns of our heads by the owner, Arik himself.

'Both of 'ou are Sisters, are't'ou not?'� he said while chewing on a wooden pick. We nodded in reply. 'What are 'ou doing out of the 'emple, then?'�

'Differences with our Master.'� Was my quick reply. He might've sensed we did not want to talk about it and to our amazement, left the subject off.

'It 'ould be profitable to keep 'ou two around. Men'd be swarming here just to see you both. Do you have any more garb like that?'�

He pointed to our sheer and gauzy dresses held up by a one-shoulder strap adorned with a silver pin. It was what we wore as Sisters of Light. We nodded.

'You both can start 'onight!'� he slapped the bar for good effect which sent us jumping in surprise.

I knew we were getting ourselves in a doubtful situation. I suppose I thought we could keep our heads above the quandary. What are men after all? They go to our temple prostrate and offering myrrh and gold. Asking for wives or resolution from their problems with their various mistresses. Pleading for the repletion of their riches and merchandise. They seemed like simple creatures to me then.

But the men we met weren't simple at all. They were creatures, true, animals from some dark and arcane bestiary. But we could not comprehend their drunken desires at all.

They tugged at our clothes, and at least one succeeded in undoing my shoulder strap. Their hands groped our bodies and showed more interest in our breasts rather than the ale. Of the two of us, they took to taunting Caris more. Her soft squeals of terror lifted them to the heights of their sexual fantasies. Her pleas and her squirming drove them out of their minds.

It became so bad that Caris would feel panic every time night falls. She would eye each of the men who enter the tavern coming from their day's toil. She had fortified superstitions about her safety.

'I heard the cicadas sing tonight as the first man entered the tavern, Ava. We will be safe tonight.'�

Maybe by her sheer belief, she kept evil at bay for some time, who can tell? It was one such night when the cicadas sang that Gaw came into our lives. He was a quiet man and kept to himself. He always requested for his ale politely and never attempted to grab any of us. He was a decent man and not bad to look at. Caris and I often wondered what he does for a living since he always arrived at the tavern as neat as a pin. We both were falling quickly to his charms, but I held back when I realized Caris needed him more. She, of the two of us, needed to believe in a hero.

But Gaw wasn't there for Caris when the shadows finally found her. Gaw was with me, holding me tightly in the darkness of the tavern backyard, pledging his undying love for me. He wanted to know why I was avoiding him, he wanted me to know I am the reason for his consistent visits. Enamored, I listened to his plea. I touched his face in the darkness and for the first time since we were exiled from the sisterhood, I was happy to have left. Gaw spirited me away from the tavern, murmuring his intentions to never let me go back. Heady with the promise of love and the end of my uncertainties in life, I let him lead me to his house. I followed him to his bedroom. I let him disrobe me. His touch was very different fro the drunken men we've known. His brown hands held my white breasts with such reverence that I felt something break inside of me. In his hands, the calluses I have accreted through the many nights of abuse fell away. I was an innocent again simply because I am finally and certainly loved.

I did not know it then, so some will insist I am guilty of nothing. But I know that I paid for that one night of ecstasy with blood. Caris' blood.

Seeing that I, her protector, seem to have gone for the night, the beasts led by Arik himself magnified their foul attacks towards her. Ale flowed freely than before and they reached such a drunken stupor that could easily vaporize other men's brains. But as it was, their inebriated instincts let out the not-so-hidden beasts inside their souls. Caris, my Sister, was like a lamb in the midst of monsters. Soft, pliable Caris literally broke under their paws.

I searched for her the whole of the next day, in the tavern, the market, and the outskirts of the desert. But finally, it was in the canal where all of the town's refuse flowed where I found her. Her arms were bound, her feet splayed in a strange angle, and her empty eyes staring wide into the heavens. She did not have a stitch on her bruised pale body.

I remember as much: a deadly calm came over me. I could not feel a thing. No pain and no sorrow. I saw Gaw calling me, I saw him reel with shock when he saw Caris' mangled corpse. Something about his revulsion made me act. My movements seemed sure. I dragged Caris' body to dry ground. I noted the stink of her body as if I'm taking note of a simple, unmorbid fact. I searched for dry wood. I asked for a flint. I set her body on fire because I knew it was the only way I can free her from the last torment her body suffered. Her body burned for a long time. Gaw pleaded with me to rest for the night, but I stood watch until the rays of the next morning's sun touched my face.

When the ashes have settled, I gathered it all into a small jar. I packed nothing and took nothing else. Carrying the jar next to my bosom, I walked out of Thassulam and into the unknown. I admit it looked more familiar now, the thing they call uncertainty. I did not say goodbye to Gaw. I did not even look back.

to be continued..............

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