Life In The Palace (15 page)

When they came into view, I realized that my hands were trembling. This was no species that walked the face of the earth. It was big like a bear with a face like a wolf, but no wolf was that big, no bear that light on its feet. Its fur was jet black, only emphasizing the double row of bared teeth. The jaw looked large enough to snap a person in two. With heads cocked to one side, they stopped about five meters away and looked the defenders up and down.

Tal was white with fear. Jov looked like he was about to throw up. Apparently they had never seen anything like it either. I could tell they were thinking what I was thinking: how the hell were they going to defeat these things and still walk away? I remembered what Tal had told me, if you die in the Palace, you die in the physical world too.

Am I just supposed to sit here and watch them die?

I looked around wildly and nearly fell out of my chair. When I took my focus off the immediate battle scene, I was still in the beige walled old age room. The elderly were all still sitting there in their chairs; some of them were still clapping. Mrs. Hols was muttering something under her breath. I stared at her.

She looked up, “Just keep clapping, dearie. We don’t want Marian to notice anything funny going on.”

Anything funny going on?
My friends were about to be mauled to death by some quasi-mythical beasts and we were worried about Marian getting the wrong impression.

I opened my mouth to say something.

“Don’t worry love, we’re on it.”

If I had retained power over my body, I might have slapped her. Instead I just watched. I hadn’t noticed that she was holding a small book in her hands. I looked from the book to her face.

She paused for breath and said quickly, “Supplications. They need more firepower.”

I felt pressure building in the seat next to me. Mrs. Hols spoke faster and faster, her wrinkled hands flicking the pages as she went. After a lifetime, that was probably no more than half a minute, I thought I saw an ax head hover in front of her.

I looked back to the battle. The beasts were inching closer. Suddenly two things happened, the color returned to Tal’s cheeks, and she seemed to grow taller. At the same time a heavy wooden stick with a double headed axe appeared in her hands. I didn’t dare look at Mrs. Hols, but it seemed like the extra firepower had arrived. The others now also brandished new weapons. Presumably, all of the other elderly were busy doing what they could.

My heart began to beat again.
Now they might actually win. At least they might walk away from it alive. Do those things ever just retreat?
I’m not sure if I missed the signal but one the beasts leapt in attack. Dava shot off her arrow, hitting the left beast in the eye. It didn’t pause for a second. Noy was closest to its giant paws. As the thing bore down on her, she ducked and rolled under it. Tal swung the pike and the axe lodged behind its left ear. She jumped to the side, retrieving her pike and swinging wildly again as soon as it was free from the beast’s flesh. Noy had disappeared but as the beast reared suddenly in the air, I saw her roll out from underneath it, a bloody dagger in her hand.

On the other side, Dava seemed to be holding the beast at bay with a barrage of arrows. Cale flexed his muscles and hurled a spear into the side of the attacking animal. I counted five other spears still lodged in its hide, making it look like a really angry pincushion. Gal held a large sword, but he could hardly get close enough to use it. Jov was creeping around to the side of the snarling animal. Just as it looked like he might get close enough to attack – it wheeled around and sent him flying with one flick of its head. Jov landed awkwardly and seemed unable to get up again.

Even with the extra firepower, it wasn’t working. They were only just managing to hold them at bay.
Do they just keep going until they drop from exhaustion?
A quick glance around me showed that the elderly were still doing their thing. For every spear Cale threw another arrived in his hands but it didn’t seem to be enough. My mouth was dry and I had to remind myself to breath.

Would You really let them die here with everyone watching? What about Marian? What would happen? Would they just drop dead here in the middle of the activities room? Would they do an autopsy? How would anyone explain away five young people just dying in the middle of the afternoon?

I didn’t want to watch the battle, but I couldn’t draw my eyes away. They were going to get massacred and I was just sitting and watching. As I felt despair washing over me, something changed. At first I didn’t see him, I just saw the shift in their posture. I registered surprised and relief.

“About time,” Mrs. Hols whispered under her breath.

Soon I saw what they were all looking at. The beasts moved closer to each other and further away from the approaching horse. I skipped that horsy stage when I was younger, but this thing was certainly not My Little Pony. Its hazel flank glistened, standing at least as tall as the black beasts. It moved with the calm of a body builder breaking up a playground fight. The beasts still snarled but the edge had gone out of their menace.

It took me a while to realize the most unusual thing about the approaching horse; it had a rider. In all the times I’d seen the Palace through Tal’s eyes, the animals had been the forces of the Adversary. The regal figure in robes rode the glistening horse like a farmyard pet. His sword was blinding as he drew it from beside him. With a tiny twitch of his heel the horse surged forward. With one swoop, the head of the first beast lay on the floor and the return thrust finished off the second. As suddenly as it had started, it was over. The hood of the rider’s long mauve robes covered his face, but he seemed to bow to Tal and the others before he too disappeared.

My head pounded as the pictures snapped back into one and the activities room returned to being the only thing I saw. Gal wiped his brow, Tal shot me a smile of relief. Dava held one long note as she ended the song I hadn’t heard, continuing in the present. The elderly clapped with extreme enthusiasm. Their shining eyes made it clear they were acknowledging a job well done in more ways than just singing.

I expected us to pack up and go home, but they made their way through the usual six songs including the one with the hand movements. When they finally finished, the aides were already congregating to take the elderly back to their rooms.

“You’re good for a bit more than just clapping,” I said to Mrs. Hols as the silent Asian lady helped her up.

Mrs. Hols winked and smiled.

“See you next week,” I called cheerfully as she shuffled off.

She paused, lent on the aide’s arm and turned back for a minute. “I’m here all week long if you fancy stopping by any other time.”

I smiled warmly and wondered if that was an invitation or a prophecy.

I walked over to the “stage.” Before I could speak, Gal said, “Everyone in the car.” It was clearly an order.

I started to mumble something about catching the metro.

“You too,” Gal said looking right at me.

It was a good thing that Tal’s mom drove an SUV, we all piled in. When the last instrument was safely in the trunk and the doors shut behind us, we all sat in silence.

Quietly, I asked Tal next to me, “Who was that guy?”

“A Courtesan.”

I waited for someone to explain. No one did, they all looked way too shaken up to remember I was there.

“What do we do now?” Noy looked around her.

Cale shrugged, “It’s out of our hands.”

Tal shook her head, “I just don’t get that vibe.”

“Your Sight hasn’t exactly been 20-20 recently. You didn’t see the Court coming.”

Tal recoiled from Cale’s obvious insult.

“She can’t be expected to see everything,” Dava retorted with uncharacteristic firmness. “We need Guidance. It’s clear now that this isn’t like anything we’ve dealt with in the past.”

Jov nodded, “We’re playing in the big leagues now.”

“It’s not a game,” Tal spat back.

Jov’s face stayed very still, “Dava’s right, we should go for Guidance.”

“But we go every week,” Noy muttered.

Gal lifted up his head, sighed and turned around in the driver’s seat. “That’s not what she meant. She didn’t mean Guide Leb, she meant Guide Berg.”

“From the Council of Guides?” I could see Noy making quick mental calculations.

Jov whistled under his breath, “The big league.”

“Isn’t that overkill?” Tal asked.

Gal shook his head slowly, “No. I don’t think so. We all see that this thing is really big. Now the Courtesans are involved. We’ve thrown nearly everything we have at this thing and we’re barely holding our own. If we’re going to have a chance of beating it, we need more firepower.”

“Will you set up a meeting?” Dava asked.

“I think the Council sits on Tuesdays. I’ll see if they can fit us in for tonight. As many of us as possible should try to be there.”

“What if there are no appointments free? What if next week is too late?” Noy sounded ever more panicked.

Dava put her hand on Noy’s shoulder, “Then He Who Knows runs the world.”

Noy let out a deep sigh and smiled slightly sheepishly, “Yeah, He does. Sorry about that.”

“Don’t apologize for being nervous,” Gal said kindly, “A healthy dose of concern is right on target about now.”

Jov put up his hand, “Should we cancel the Serf program?”

“My goodness, no. That might be the only edge we’ve got. Don’t you dare stop it, if anything, we might need to put even more energy into it.”

Jov looked at Gal. A smile spread across his face. “Really? Because I had this idea. It’s a bit more radical than anything we’ve done before.”

Gal nodded for Jov to continue.

“We rent an apartment. Then we have a base. We can host meals on the Day of Connection and on the holidays. We could have late night jam sessions. If we make it really cool with couches and free drinks then people will come and hang out.” His eyes were shinning.

“How is this different from the Student Center?” Gal asked slowly.

“The Student Center is an official thing. It’s not got the right atmosphere to get past the Interloper. Also, it’s non-denominational so they have to cater to the Reinterpreters. How are you supposed to enter the Palace for the first time, if there’s a bunch of bozos running around in long robes all over the place?” The tone of his voice didn’t leave much room to reinterpret Jov’s lack of love for the Reinterpreters, whoever they were.

We all waited for Gal to respond. He nodded slowly.

“I really like it. You’re right, it’s radical, but out of the box is what we need. Can you put together some sort of plan in writing? Even a rough outline will be better than nothing when we go to the Council.”

Jov nodded seriously.

Gal scanned the packed car, “Tal, you and Jov walk Chloe to the metro stop. Dava, I’ll drop you at home, pick up your car and come back for them. Noy, you be ready to work on a report for the Council. I’ll see what strings need to be pulled to get an appointment for today. Cale, I’m sorry to ask you to go back in, but I think you and Dava should patrol. If this plan is the way forward, we should expect another attack before we go to the Council.”

He ran his hands through his hair. “Everyone ready?” he asked, cracking a smile. The tension was palpable as we all tried to smile back.

As we got out of the car, I pretended not to hear Jov say quietly to Gal, “Do we tell her
everything
?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gal shrug, “I don’t think we have a choice. How were we supposed to know she’d believe us? Now she knows this much, a whole truth is less dangerous than half the truth.”

We were walking towards the metro before I spoke. “You know I really can walk myself, I think you guys have more important things to be doing now.”

Tal blushed as she smiled slightly. “If this is the Service Gal assigned us, it means he thinks we have to do it.”

“He’s worried about what effect you’re having on the mission so he wants us to debrief you,” Jov said bluntly. “So go on, ask away.”

I thought for a second. I wasn’t sure it was a compliment, but I was way too curious to play it cool. “Who was the guy? What’s a courtesan?”

Tal looked to Jov. “They’re the Jedi Knights of the Palace. We’re only Footmen. They’re in a whole other league from us. We Serve, but we also go to school, have jobs, go to the movies from time to time. Besides the Service our lives are fairly normal.”

“Their lives are the Service,” Tal interjected.

I stopped walking and faced her. “They’re monks?”

Tal shook her head, “They do get married and have kids, but that is part of their Service. Some of them have jobs, but their jobs are dedicated to the Service. They try to live so that they never leave the Palace. They don’t have TV’s, they try not to use the Internet, they have their own special newspapers. They live a whole life apart. For them the Palace is everything.”

“Wow, that’s intense.”

Jov nodded, “It makes them the best. A lot of them don’t work; they spend all day learning the Way. The battles we fight are child’s play compared to what the Courtesans are doing. They’re like an army. When you see them in the Palace it’s awesome.”

There was a strange tingling in my arms.

“What was one doing in your battle?’

“They turn up when needed,” Tal shrugged. I wondered what she was downplaying.

“You might not be shocked to learn that the Palace and the physical world are not exactly directly parallel.” Jov waited to check I was following him. I nodded.

“We fight together so we can see each other in the Palace, but otherwise your position and standing in the Palace depends on your own spiritual progress. I almost never see my parents in the Palace, they’re in a totally different zone.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tal shudder at the possibility of seeing her parents in the Palace. I’m not sure I’d want to deal with my parent’s inner selves either.

“The Courtesans are working on a higher level, occasionally they get called in to help us out. In times of great need we all fight together. We’ve never had to deal with anything big enough to get on the Courtesans radar. You saw how easy it was for him to defeat those two monsters. It’s not comfortable to admit you need that kind of help.”