Tribute to Hell Read Online Free Page A

to terms with such talk. The gods had always dwelt in Elyssian, and they were eternal. ‘What can I do?’
    â€˜You must find this wicked Covenant and, without reading it, destroy it. Swear that you will do so.’
    â€˜Please don’t make me leave the abbey.’ Astatine felt as though she was being torn apart.
    â€˜By the morning, there will be no abbey.’
    The pain grew so bad that she struggled to think clearly. ‘But … what if I can’t find the Covenant?’
    â€˜You must swear,’ said Hildy, becoming so agitated that blood surged through the pad.
    â€˜I — I swear.’
    Outside, people were shouting. Weapons clashed and Astatine heard the roar of fire. She ran to a window, then back to the abbess. ‘It’s the Red Monks. Fistus is burning the abbey.’
    â€˜My time is up,’ said Hildy. ‘Astatine, when I took you in as a little girl —’
    At the far end of the chapel, a window was smashed and blazing sheaves of oil-soaked straw arced in, trailing brown billows. Astatine scrambled to her feet but Hildy pulled her down.
    â€˜Abbess?’
    â€˜You weren’t abandoned on the doorstep, newborn. The abbey was paid handsomely to take you in, and threatened with ruin if I revealed your origins. But now it is lost, you must know.’
    Astatine could not take that in. ‘What will become of me?’ she cried. ‘I’ve nowhere to go.’
    â€˜You must make your own way in the world, little sister.’
    â€˜But I’ll infect it with the sickness I carry around with me.’
    â€˜Don’t start that again,’ snapped Hildy. ‘It is a particularly offensive form of arrogance to assume that the world’s ills could come from one so innocent as yourself.’
    Astatine bit her lip. ‘Where can I go? Hildy, who were my parents?’
    â€˜I never knew your mother’s name, but she’s long dead.’ Hildy began to pant. Astatine, trying to staunch the ebbing blood, was afraid the abbess would never speak again, but then she whispered, ‘Your father brought you here. He was a demon out of Perdition.’
    â€˜No!’ Astatine gasped. ‘Who?’
    â€˜I’m afraid it was … Behemoth.’
    Her god’s enemy. ‘It can’t be,’ whispered Astatine, choking with horror.
    â€˜He brought you here,’ said Hildy. ‘And because of the link between you and him, if anyone can find the Covenant, you can. Stop whimpering! Before I die I must pass my gift to you. Lean forwards.’
    Astatine did so, numbly. How could it be true? Demons were dark, yet she was pale. And she was petite, so how could the mighty Behemoth be her father?
    Hildy gripped the sides of Astatine’s head, strained, and agony sheared through her skull. The abbess’s hands fell to her chest. ‘The stigmata —’
    Instinctively, Astatine inspected her own hands, though they were unmarked. When she looked up, Hildy was dead.
    A hot wind shrieked through the broken window, swirling the smoke around her. Her head was throbbing so badly she could not see. Astatine crawled off, but did not get far before she was overcome by the smoke.
    Â 
    â€˜Once again, Greave, fortune has saved you from damnation,’ said Roget as he carried an unconscious Astatine away from the burning chapel. Behind them, a horde of red-gowned monks was torching the abbey outbuildings under Fistus’s direction. ‘Truly, you must be intended for great things.’
    â€˜I swore a mighty oath,’ said Greave dully, ‘but I was too weak to hold to it.’
    â€˜It was an evil oath, made under compulsion. Breaking it proves there is yet some good in you.’
    â€˜I seduced K’nacka’s month-bride!’ cried Greave, sick with self-loathing. ‘Now I’ve let down my god, slain the sainted abbess and doomed my little sister. I’m worthless.’
    â€˜Then redeem