Quest (16 page)

'It's harsh, I know, but a clean break is best.' Robler looked down at his chrono-implant. 'Look, I have some things to do. Why don't you stay here for a while? I'll see you're not disturbed.' The wretchedness on Davred's face prompted him to add, 'I'll leave the com-serv open. Order yourself a stimulant - alcohol, drugs, hel-gas, whatever you like. Confex will pay.' He pressed some buttons and uttered a low-voiced command to the computer to give Davred Hollunby whatever he asked for.

'I might do just that.' The words came slowly and Davred's voice sounded strained. 'I've not got drunk for years.'

'Do you want some company?'

'No. I'd prefer to be alone. Thank you for the offer, though. Later, perhaps.'

Robler nodded and quietly left the admin area. He had what he wanted. No need to rub salt in the wound. He was the one who had saved this situation, even if he was not a potential CA.

#####

QUEST Shannah Jay 57

As the evening of the Great Gathering approached there was an air of suppressed excitement in Temple Tenebrak. Katia sensed its undercurrents eddying around her all through the day, and didn’t try to teach the novices anything new. She ran through the few Disciplines they had already mastered and concentrated on calming the overwrought girls.

At the end of the last lesson one of them asked her shyly, ‘What does the Manifestation of the God look like, Katia? Could you - would you tell us what he said to you when you met him?’

She had refused to discuss it before. It hadn’t seemed right to talk about their Brother as if he were any chance-met acquaintance. However, she gave in now. They needed something to distract them from thoughts of tonight.

‘I only saw his image on the side of a box. He isn’t there in person, you know.’ Katia looked at the ring of eager faces. ‘He’s fairly young and - not handsome, but,’ she struggled for words which were respectful, yet did not mask the truth, ‘pleasant in looks. Serious and dependable, perhaps.’ She saw that this meant nothing to her young audience and tried again. ‘He has dark brown hair, worn very short, and he looks a bit like the people from Garshlian. His eyes are blue and his face is pale, as if the sun never touches it.’

‘Is he tall?’

‘I couldn’t tell. He was sitting down.’

‘What was he wearing?’

‘The strangest garment I ever saw, very close-fitting over all his limbs, and I could see no way of fastening and unfastening it. It looked soft yet was very shiny, like blue sky reflected in water.’ She laughed at their disappointment.

‘That’s all I can tell you.’

‘Are you sure he’s not handsome?’ persisted Terilla, a bold-eyed girl from the back country in Setheron.

Katia couldn’t like her and felt guilty about that.

‘How closely did you study him?’ persisted Terilla.

‘As closely as was seemly. One doesn’t stare at our Brother’s Manifestation.’ The gong sounded. ‘There! It’s time to eat, then we must all prepare for the Great Gathering. It’s probably the only one that will happen in our lifetimes.

I hope you’ll remember all that Cheral’s taught you over the past weeks.’

They were distracted, as she’d hoped they would be, and scattered like a yardful of feather-fluffs. She sighed, then determinedly began a minor Discipline of Relaxation. For some unknown reason, discussing the Manifestation of the God with them had made her feel uneasy. By the time she joined her Sisters for a light, energy-laden meal, she was as cool and collected as ever.

Later, as everyone began to assemble in the hall, the Sister on watch outside the Chamber of the God came hurrying over to Herra. ‘Our Brother wishes to speak to you - now.’ Her voice was awed.

Herra stood for a moment, trying to sense what this summons portended, then beckoned to Katia. ‘Come, child.

Our Brother wishes to speak to me and I feel that you should be present too.’

‘He only asked for you,’ the other Sister said anxiously.

‘He won’t be displeased, I promise you, Elira.’

They entered the Chamber and stood before the Manifestation of the God their Brother. The image was different to the usual one, showing him in a chamber Herra had not seen before, a very small chamber indeed.

QUEST Shannah Jay 58

‘I’m here, Brother,’ said Herra quietly. ‘And if it doesn’t displease you, I’ve brought Katia with me. I feel that it’s important for her to be here as well.’

‘As you wish, Herra.’ Davred took a deep breath, conscious of his pulse racing. ‘Herra, this is a hard thing to tell you, but - the Age of Discord has reached my people as well as yours. It’s spreading everywhere. There are those who would send me away from your world, away from my Sisters. That would be very wrong. I cannot,
must not
leave!’

Katia’s face registered shock at this admission. ‘Discord among the Gods?’ she blurted out.

‘No, Katia, Discord among another people similar to yours,’ he corrected gently.

Herra looked calmly at her Brother. ‘You mustn’t leave our world,’ she agreed. ‘You must leave your own people, instead. You’re a Key Figure in the next stage for us and without your help, we shall not survive this Age of Discord.’

‘How do you know that, Herra? How can I be sure that I’m not merely indulging my own wishes?’

He’s speaking like a novice seeking reassurance from the Elder Sister, thought Katia, shocked again. This was indeed Discord, if even the Manifestation of the God their Brother was unsure what path he should tread.

‘I
am
sure, Brother,’ said Herra, in what Katia thought of as her special voice. ‘Very sure. It’s my Gift to
know
such things.’

‘My people don’t know how to seek the truth within themselves. I don’t know whether we’ve lost the Gift, or whether we never developed it.’ He sounded sad.

‘Some of your people once knew, Brother, for it was they who came here from other worlds and their descendants set us on our Quest.’

Davred’s face registered his astonishment. ‘What did you say?’

Herra remained calm. ‘I mentioned the Forebears, Brother. We have some meagre knowledge of them. They came here long ago, when the world was young and there were no people living here. This was long before we started to build Temple Tenebrak or to record our history in the Archives.’ A gong sounded from the temple and Herra broke off. ‘Brother, we must speak quickly if I’m to lead my Sisters into a Great Gathering. This is not the time to share our histories.’

‘Yes. You’re right. I’m sorry to hold things up, Herra. What I wanted to tell you is that I’m about to leave my people, to escape from those who would send me away from your world for ever. I’m on my way down to join you in a - a flying wagon. I wish to live among you, to learn your Disciplines, to help in the Quest. If you’ll have me?’

‘We’ve been waiting many years during these troubled times for another Manifestation of our God to come down among us. How could we not welcome you?’

‘Among my own people I’m not a God, Herra. I have no magical powers to share with you. Indeed, none of my people have Gifts like yours. But I
am
what we call a Cathartic Agent. That means someone special who can help bring about needed change.’ And that change has started, he thought exultantly. I’ve achieved my potential and can see my next steps more clearly. ‘Which is rather like your Key Figures,’ he continued aloud. ‘I may be able to help you in your fight against Discord. I wish to try, anyway. It would be,’ he hesitated, ‘I feel it would be right.’

Herra bowed her head briefly, seeking to understand the truth of this, then she raised her eyes to meet those of Davred. ‘Yes. The time is right. And more - Katia is a Key Figure too. That’s why I brought her with me to speak to you tonight. I know not how this will all unfold, for I cannot see the path ahead clearly, but I know that in her and in you lie our hopes for the future.’

Davred glanced briefly at Katia, and as their eyes met he felt a sense of recognition which shocked him. It was a moment or two before he could look back at Herra. ‘We shall pursue the Quest for Wisdom together, then, Elder Sister. But first I need to distribute the stasis cubes to the temples you choose tonight. After I’ve done that, I shall fly to Tenebrak, to bring your cube myself. There’s no question about saving the first temple your Sisterhood ever founded. So as soon as the Gathering is over, use the farspeaker to let me know your choice for the other five
QUEST Shannah Jay 59

temples.’

Herra smiled. ‘You won’t need that device, Illustrious Brother. You’ll know our choice as soon as we make it, for you will be a part of this Gathering, whether you wish it or not.’

‘I will?’

‘Did you not know it?’

‘No. But Herra, I . . . ‘

She smiled. ‘You wish to tell me that you are not a God. I’ve always known that, Lord Davred. But you
are
his Manifestation. So you
are
our Brother - and therefore a part of us.
And you will devote your whole life to our Quest
.’

He could only stare at her. ‘Why do you say that?’

‘Because I
know
it; I feel its truth. The God within me has spoken.’ She gave him a motherly smile. ‘What must happen, will happen.’ Then she took a deep breath and became brisk again. ‘May I leave now, Brother of the World?

It’s time for us to begin.’

‘Yes, of course. And - good luck.’

‘May light shine in your present darkness, Brother,’ she replied, somewhat enigmatically.

Katia followed Herra out of the Chamber in a daze, unable to take in all she had heard. Was it possible for their Brother’s people to be affected by Discord, too? Only, he had said he was not their God. And Herra had said that he was the Manifestation of the God their Brother, as if that were something different . . . Katia shivered and gave up attempting to puzzle it all out.

When they’d left the Chamber of the God, Herra gestured to those on watch. ‘Come and join us, Sisters. There’s no need for you to stay here. Our Brother will be a part of this Gathering.’

The Archives had explained very clearly how a Great Gathering was held, so she went to put on the special robes, while the other Sisters finished making ready the Hall of the God. The doors to the hall must be locked, and all the windows covered by special silken hangings, so that no outsider might watch or disturb them. Next, all lights were to be extinguished, save one special torch, which was to be held aloft by the Elder Sister in the centre of the circle.

When all was ready, music began, special melodies that some Sisters had been practising for days. The strange rhythms and throbbing sounds had made those who heard them shiver and the musicians go glassy-eyed.

‘
Let the Great Gathering begin
,’ called Herra, and led her Sisters to form a circle. The novices made another around that. They moved into the slow stately rhythms of one of the dances they performed to honour the God, but this time they found themselves stepping as if their feet were pushing through fast-running water, water that threatened to tug them away. Then the music changed and strange new rhythms and melodies began to weave in and out of the dance, drawing them all along with it.

After a few moments Herra broke away and moved into the centre of the inner circle, standing alone there, dressed in the special ceremonial robes which had been stored in a raas wood chest for untold years. With a flick of her fingers, she lit the Torch of the God, which had been found stored with the robe, then signalled to her Sisters to extinguish the last of the temple lamps. Holding the torch aloft, she turned slowly round, swinging it from side to side.

The torch was made entirely of crystal, delicately cut and faceted. Its long stock was hung with chains of tiny prisms, which reflected every flicker of light. The oil for the torch was heavily perfumed and burned with a brightness never before seen in a single torch.

Herra’s movements slowed down, but whenever she moved the torch, even slightly, its prisms sent shimmering waves of light flickering hither and thither across the walls. Herra’s robe further multiplied the fragments of light. It was the most beautiful garment Katia had ever seen, soft as gossamer, yet embroidered with silver thread and thousands of tiny beads and jewels which glittered in the light of the torch and sent miniature reflections dancing across the faces of the Sisters.

QUEST Shannah Jay 60

‘
We shall concentrate upon this light.
’

The tone of Command rang in Herra’s voice.

Obediently all eyes focused on the torch she was moving in the prescribed patterns, gazing steadily as they had been instructed.

‘Now,’ Herra called softly and the music ceased. The Sisters who had been playing the chimes moved to join the circle, their steps echoing the now-silent rhythms. The moving torch wove a nimbus of light around Herra.

‘
We shall gather at this light.
’

As she held the torch high, everyone in the temple became very still. The temple messenger, trying to see what was happening through an imperfectly-covered slit high in the wall, found a veil of darkness before his eyes and knew no more till he awoke hours later, suffering from a blinding headache.

Within the hall, the novices in the outer circle went from deep meditation into a cataleptic state that left their eyes open, fixed blindly on the torch. The Sisters also found themselves enmeshed in its shimmering web.

‘
We shall make a bridge of light. We shall go forth across the darkness to join our Sisters.
’

Few could afterwards remember what happened next, save that they were
gathered
into a stream of coruscating light that somehow swept them out of themselves and launched them up into the black and silver shadows of the night sky. Katia was one of the few to retain some sense of individual consciousness throughout, but even her memories of what happened were blurred, like a vision seen through tears.

Did they really float with the moons in the sky and watch the world turning beneath them? Did they explain the God’s dilemma to their other Sisters in a swirl of sparks that flew off into the wild darkness on Herra’s wind? Did those sparks rain down upon other columns of light like a shower of molten fire? And could it have been so quickly decided that the temples in the southern claims of Tenebron, Setheron, Peneron, Netheron, Garshlian and Jan-Halani were to be saved by the God’s stasis cubes? For it was there that the Serpent was strongest.