Page 79 of The Gathering Storm

Epilogue

The storage room was dark and empty when the Woman with No Face picked the lock and slipped inside. A long table stretched down the middle of the room, supporting five boxes specially made to hold the skeletal remains of a human body.

She shut the door quietly behind herself and flipped on the overhead lights. The work she did tonight required illumination of more than one kind. Light so she could see what she was about, yes, but also a revelation.

The youngest of the Seven, the People’s Light, was hidden no more. Slowly, the pieces fell into place one by one, moving the People inexorably toward a time the Woman had witnessed only in visions.

Their future.

She could feel it building within her, suffusing her bones with the same illuminating portent. The stage was set, the players were in place, and she had played her part well. Their time had come, the grand finale the People had anticipated for so long. Now it was left to Abragni to choose a path from among the many spread before her, and the Light would, with the help of the Great Mother, choose the correct way.

Blessed be Ki.

The Woman scrounged through some papers scattered on a table set against the far wall and located a marker. She had so few tasks left, so few visions left to fulfill. This small task, this labeling of the Sisters, she had left as long as she could. She had followed the progress of the women and men working here, encouraging them as she could, but she had foreseen a snag only she could correct: Science would not reveal the identities of the women resting here in these simple boxes. Only the Woman could do so now.

And so she quietly opened each box and discerned which Sister was which, not through any outward marking or sign, but by her inner voice, the Mother Goddess who had guided her for so many millennia. She worked until each box was marked correctly with the name of the Sister it held.

Lilleni. Eleni. Ganenda. Bagda. Marnan.

Five Sisters dead, one revealed, and one still hidden in the shadows.

The Woman closed the boxes and set the pen aside, then stood back and gazed at the boxes as memory pushed through the remnants of visions and war and a life lived too long without the camaraderie of another human being. Yes, it was almost time. Soon, the People would confront their age old enemy and shed the hardships of the past. Soon, she could rest as she had not for so very, very long, rest and perhaps die as she had wished so many times.

That, the Great Lady had never allowed.

The Woman dug a scrap piece of paper out of the untidy pile, sketched her symbol on it, and let it flutter to the floor. Let them know who had solved the mystery here. Let them fear the Woman’s coming one last time before the end.

The Woman touched each box in turn, then slipped out of the room, leaving her sisters to the peace they had earned so long ago.

Continue reading for a preview of the next book in the series.

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Thank you for reading The Gathering Storm (Daughters of the People, Book 6). If you enjoyed this story, please leave a review for it at your favorite online retailer.

Dedication:

For you, the reader.

Thank you for your patience during the long lull between books.

About the Author:

Lucy Varna lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of northeast Georgia, surrounded by her large, extended family. Visit Lucy online at her website or Facebook page, or visit the People online.

The Daughters of the People Series

The Prophecy

Light’s Bane

The Enemy Within

Tempered

In All Things, Balance

Sanctuary

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