Sun Mote Copse red breath

round three will end 9.23.16

eshamun's attention was focused upon arunik'ra - -she felt a sting of anger as her sister's jaws closed 'round the second of the four babes, but steeled herself with another breath. the pup in her jaws writhed, squalling, but eshamun could only look on as the priestess held the first child beneath the waters. grief rose to choke her, but she held fast -- she would not allow herself to weep, nor to stop her sister. this must be done. it was molech's will.

it was for the malkaria.

swiftly eshamun lay her own small burden into the river and followed suit, pressing the child down into the silt, beneath the rushing tongue of the waters until the tiny body thrashed no more. arunikr'ra and the ekar-aji did take the last two pups and deliver their souls to molech in the same fashion, removing them from the waters, until four sodden little bundles lay along the river's edge.

"molech, may your hunger be sated. may your eye be turned away from us; may you grant us blessings upon our heads and upon our lands. this copse, for the malkaria. this riverbank, our tophet. praise be to you, eight-armed one." eshamun's voice trembled only a moment before she added, "we will bury their bodies at the shrine. who among you will help us carry them to that place?"