Ashwalk Pilgrim Read Online Free Page B

ever got the taste of it. It’s sweet like honey, but strong like saltwater gin. You’d be worse than a glimmer fiend on it because you’d never want to let it go, and if you did, there would always be a cold pit of longing for it in your heart.”
    “Why do you think that?”
    Gia smiled and pinched Mara’s chin. “Because I see a fire in your eyes I don’t often see in others. Even the girls who knew freedom for years before debts, desperation, or a slaver’s whip brought them to the House of Sin and Silk often lack the spark of freedom. But it’s there inside you. It’s why your body fought the ebon orchid, and it’s why you are the only one to show kindness even in a place like this where every girl plots her sister’s downfall. Never let that fire burn out. I feel like one day, it will free you.”
    “What was it like?” Mara asked. “The world beyond the barge, what do you remember of it?”
    Her friend’s eyes lit up, her inky orbs glittering with the light of the lanterns slowly drifting overhead. “Oh, Mara, the world beyond the barge is like nothing you’ve ever seen and even greater than anything you could imagine! One day, we’ll both leave this rotting ship, and I’ll take you to the eastern kingdoms. Blail and Hine are beautiful beyond words. They put even the king’s palace to shame.”
    “Do they worship the Six in Blail and Hine?”
    “Of course.” Gia turned to the ocean and held her arms tight against her chest. The barest breeze kissed her gauzy dress, its shimmering folds fluttering in the wind. “In the wider world, every city of worth has a titan standing guard. Some even more than one. I remember a time when I was across the sea in a city called Silph with my father. It was the summer before the slavers killed him…”
    Gia relaxed her arms and opened her palms toward the sea. “We came upon a priestess of the Burning Mother performing magics no words can truly describe. Her eyes were like two suns, her hands weaving patterns of flames that could burn through solid stone.”
    “It sounds beautiful. And frightening.”
    “Things are only truly beautiful if they frighten you a little. As I watched that priestess, I knew then that my life’s dream was to be a someone like her, to serve the Burning Mother and spread her wisdom throughout Urum.”
    Silence settled over them. Lanterns filled the air from the shoreline to the titan. They drifted over the skeleton’s broad shoulders and through its massive ribs, painting the bones with the warmest gold.  
    Even in the beauty of the moment, Mara couldn’t help but pity Gia. Instead of a maiden of the Burning Mother, she had become a maiden of the moon, chained to the earth by a cheap brass collar.
    “Gia, I—”
    “ Shh …” Gia spun around and pressed a finger to Mara’s lips. “We cannot regret where we are. We can only look to where we want to be. I want to be on the steps of the Mother’s temple. I know in my heart that one day I will be there, and when I finally make it to the steps, everything I do will be for her. I will finally have my body back.”
    “And I’ll do what I can to help you.”
    Her friend smiled and clasped Mara’s wrists. “Will you help me with something now?”
    “You know I will. What do you need?”
    “Turn to the Sapphire Sea. Close your eyes.”
    “Gia…”
    Gia faced the ocean and closed her eyes. “Please, Mara, just do this with me.”  
    Slowly, Mara turned to the horizon and took a deep, calming breath. Salt spray wet her lips. The breeze caressed her neck like a patron who truly loved her. The low din of revelry gave her a sense of being a blissfully small part of something much greater.
    “We are prisoners here despite what our madame says,” Gia said, “but not even Madame Olessa and her brass collars can chain your spirit. I find when I am calm and close my eyes, my spirit takes flight, and I am beggar and noble, moon maiden and patron, coral shark and bay gull. Then, in