C f bentley, p.22
C. F. Bentley, page 22
Sissy bounced to her feet and ran after her. She had to push and shove soldiers and children aside.
Jilly lay on the ground, round face white and pinched, arms and legs rigid and straight.
Sissy breathed a little easier; she’d expected twisted and broken limbs, blood.
Yes, there was a little blood on the inside of Jilly’s left ear. “Jilly, wake up,” she murmured as she knelt beside the child. “Jilly, can you hear me?”
The little girl’s eyes flew open. She stared straight up, her gaze fixed on something beyond. Something Sissy could not see.
Then Sissy noticed a peculiar silver glaze over her eyes.
Jilly whispered something, so softly Sissy couldn’t understand the words.
“Say that again, Jilly. Louder,” Sissy ordered. She knew this was important. She bit her lip not wanting to admit she knew what was coming.
“Discord has chosen. Discord will win. Look deep, look long for the answers, for the thing that will subdue Discord before She wins.”
Jilly closed her eyes and moaned. A moment later she looked up again. This time her clear gaze lighted on Sissy. “I’m sorry, Laudae. I didn’t mean to trip and fall. I’m sorry my dress got dirty.” All trace of silver in her eyes had disappeared.
“Not to worry, little ‘un. Dresses can be washed and mended. So long’s you aren’t hurt, I don’t care about dresses.” She patted the girl’s hand, soothing her childish worries.
“None of you will repeat a word she said,” Sissy ordered. “A terrorist seeks to silence my gift of prophecy. We will not endanger another with the same gift. I want your oath of silence about Jilly. All of you. Right now.”
“I swear I will tell no one outside the Temple of this,” Bertie said, holding his hand over his heart and bowing his head.
“No. You must tell no one. Not even Laud Gregor,” Sissy insisted. She closed her eyes in dismay at her sudden distrust. In that instant, she knew without a doubt that Gregor would betray her as quickly as he had elevated her if it served his interests.
Looking around her, she knew she could trust these soldiers and her acolytes more than she did the High Priest of all Harmony.
“But surely… ” Bertie protested.
“No one. If Laud Gregor needs to hear that Jilly bears Harmony’s gift, then I will tell him. No one else. If your superior officers question you about more than the explosion,” she addressed the Military encircling them. “Then you must direct them to me. Now swear your secrecy and your loyalty to me. All of you.”
She held the gaze of Sergeant Jacob da Jacob the longest. He was the last to nod his head and salute.
Chapter 33
Mary approached Sissy slowly, carrying a heavy headdress of gold-and-black brocade with a veil of dangling crystals and gold beads. She bit her cheeks in concentration while carrying the precious ornament.
Sissy had dressed herself in a robe of black and gold over a new black dress. A special, dressy gown of silky fabric that molded to her bodice and then fell in comfortable swirls down to her ankles. She’d pinned her hair back behind her ears with black-and-gold clasps. The headdress she needed help with.
For the state funeral honoring the fallen Military during the riot she didn’t want to chance a repeat of her ordination breakdown due to the well-meaning attentions of the other Laudaes in her preparations.
Normally the girls laughed and giggled, making a learning game of every task set for them by Laudae Shanet and Sissy. Not today. Their young faces looked pinched and pale. Worry and bewilderment clouded their eyes after the incident in the park two days ago.
The older girls walked wary circles around Jilly. Not a single pun or joke or prank came from that little girl. She looked more frightened of herself than the other girls did of her.
“It’s not proper, Laudae Sissy,” Mary whispered as she set the heavy crown and veil upon her head. “They shouldn’t be burning all those dead Loods on the day we bury the brave soldiers who gave their lives at the asylum.”
“No, it’s not proper. The bodies should be taken out to the desert and the fields and returned to Harmony through the scavengers. Then we should gather their bones and place them in the funeral caves, the womb of Mother Harmony. They are children of the Goddess as much as we are,” Sissy replied. She couldn’t bring herself to condemn the poor inmates driven to insane violence. She herself could so easily have been one of them. Might be one yet.
“There are too many of them,” Sharan, the littlest of the girls, though not the youngest, said with solemn wisdom. She was always solemn, rarely smiling or laughing with the others. “Leaving so many bodies lying about would encourage the spread of disease and taint the water table.”
“They were Loods, not deserving of burial in a cave,” Martha, next in age to Mary but taller and closer to maturity, protested. “Only Noble and Temple caste deserve interment in a cave.”
Sissy bit her tongue rather than reprimand the girl by instructing her that all people deserved a return to the symbolic womb of Harmony.
“Laudae Estella, Laud Gregor requests an audience,” Sarah, a middle acolyte announced as she bowed to Sissy. She betrayed nothing in her face or posture. She never did.
Sissy could never tell the child’s true mood.
“I shall see him in the office.” Sissy sighed and waved Mary away with the heavy headdress. Then she gathered the skirts of her robe and passed through her private sitting room and public reception room to her office. A place she visited as rarely as possible. Too many unread memos and documents littered the desk, the floor, the chairs. Stacks of them. Mountains of them.
Could she burrow a cave in them and hide from the onerous duty they represented.
“My Laudae.” Laud Gregor bowed to her formally. “I have consulted with my advisers and they agree with me that the climate of the city is too violent for you to preside at today’s funeral.” He, too, wore his black-and-gold funeral regalia, minus the headdress and veil.
It seemed no one liked wearing the heavy headgear any longer than necessary.
“I must preside today,” Sissy insisted. “If I cower in fear, then those who want me removed have won without a fight. I refuse to give them that pleasure.”
She had to remember and keep repeating the wisdom of Sergeant Jacob da Jacob. If she said it often enough, she might come to believe it. She doubted she’d ever actually conquer the fear that quivered within her. She just wouldn’t let it rule her life.
“Laudae Estella… Sissy, please reconsider. We honor brave soldiers, not a member of the High Council. We do not need a full court of seven priests and priestesses.”
“Yes, we do. Those soldiers gave their lives to protect the entire city. We owe them nothing less than a full panoply.”
“You are determined? I cannot persuade you to take the path of safety? A bodyguard perhaps? Or a team of guards?”
“Life is not safe. Life is what we make of it. Cowering in fear is not living.” That felt as if someone else gave her the wisdom to utter those words. Not a full prophecy, just… help from Harmony. “I will preside today and I will accompany the bodies to the burial caves.”
“Um…
we actually had planned a private interment.” Laud Gregor refused to meet her gaze.
“Interment? I’m not sure of the word. It sounds like burial, not placement in a cave.”
“My Laudae, you do not understand.”
“Enlighten me.”
Laud Gregor flung his head up, finally looking her in the eye. He narrowed his eyes in surprise. Surprise at the firmness of her tone.
She’d learned a few things in the past three months. Primarily that the only way to wade through layers of half truths and stalling techniques was to remain resolute. Or go to Guilliam.
Was Guilliam the “advisers” Laud Gregor had consulted?
Laud Gregor thrust his chin out and tapped his caste mark. “This is something you do not need to know.”
“Yes, I do. I am High Priestess.”
“I made you High Priestess for a reason. Do not question me.” Anger flared in his eyes.
She nearly backed off.
“Enlighten me as to how far from Harmony’s Covenant our burial practices have strayed,” she demanded. “Enlighten me, and I may accept a bodyguard. A single bodyguard that I shall choose, for when I leave Crystal Temple.” Compromise. Living in a large family with limited space had taught her how to do that.
“A bodyguard it will be, then.” He drew in a deep breath and continued. “Generation after generation from times most ancient have filled the caves,” he replied grudgingly. “We now bury the dead or scatter their ashes nearby. Guilliam,” he called to the hovering presence in the reception area. “Find ten Military officers with Temple credentials for Laudae Estella to choose a bodyguard from.”
“Not yet, Mr. Guilliam,” Sissy jumped in. “Laud Gregor, how are the interments marked so that families may honor their ancestors and join with Harmony next to them? How are scattered ashes so marked?” She nearly cried that her family’s annual trek to their ancestors’ cave to place flowers and notes near the entrance, to spend time recounting the year’s events, introducing new members of the family, and mourning those who had joined the ancestors in Harmony, was a wasted effort.
“Such rituals are for the living. If the dead have joined with Harmony, they are beyond caring,” Laud Gregor insisted.
“How can you say that?” Sissy forced herself to breathe steadily and evenly. In and out. In and out. She wouldn’t let the weakness grab hold and stop her. “Laud Gregor, you and your entire caste are guilty of violating our oldest Covenant with Harmony. And you wonder that our planet, our home, rebels against us with quakes and storms, with violence and fear. With Discord.”
She had to pause lest her anger get the better of her.
“We are your caste as well, Laudae Estella.”
“My name is Sissy. I am of every caste. Clearly, Harmony sent me to right things between Her and Her people. The soldiers will be buried in the caves. The ashes of the asylum inmates as well.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“We will begin correcting our mistakes here and now, or I contact the media and inform all the people of the empire just how far off track we have strayed. I shall inform them how the caste system has violated every rule and promise. How the Temple caste has invited Discord.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“What have I got to lose?”
“Your life.”
Jake tugged at the tight collar of his class A red tunic. He’d donned the uncomfortable uniform first for his promotion ceremony, followed immediately by the formal funeral of the men lost during the riot. And now a preemptive summons by the HP and HPS themselves.
Burying fallen comrades was probably the only thing more uncomfortable than this uniform. One thing Military types had all over the universe was an uncomfortable class A. On top of that, his newly augmented caste mark itched as badly as Pammy’s nanos.
Actually the Harmony medicos did use nanobots to alter an existing caste mark. They didn’t run any checks, just gave him one shot right below the red square to give him an officer’s hash mark. A second shot added a purple circle to the whole. Temple credentials. Upgraded and Lauded in the same procedure. Rescuing the HPS twice brought some perks.
Now he had to present himself to the HP in class A reds along with six other lieutenants. Most of them barely old enough to shave. Little consolation that they also fidgeted and tugged at too-tight tunics and choking collars. But he did like the shiny purple medal of valor dangling from his chest. None of the other guys had anything so bright or ornamental.
Jake moved so that the sunlight coming in through the big window of the reception area made his new medal sparkle. Why not indulge in a little childish one-upmanship? He had to have some fun in this job or he’d go insane.
As insane as the inmates at the asylum.
Pammy would not approve.
Pammy wasn’t here.
A sense of urgency plagued him. He hoped that his promotion and lauding would help him gain access to the Badger Metal factory he’d located out in the Serim Desert. The only registered factory on the continent. Another one on the Southern Continent.
What about unregistered factories? Could some enterprising renegade have set one up on Far Continent?
Ridiculous. Harmony didn’t have enough renegades to take those kinds of risks and make them profitable.
Far Continent was uninhabitable with active volcanoes, steamy and poisonous jungles, and very unstable plate tectonics. Harmonites had chosen to expand into space rather than take the risk of living there. Other than that, the planet had only a few islands separating North and South and a lot of ocean. A whole heck of a lot of ocean, more than on Earth or anywhere else.
He’d only learned that much about Harmony during his prowls of the city looking for the blasted factory. He’d found maps in the Harbor Master’s office and weather satellite views in the comm tower.
The single door to this holding chamber opened on silent hinges. Jake snapped to attention and slammed his right fist over his heart in an automatic salute. His comrades followed suit a tad slower.
The HP and HPS stood inside the room before the last of the raw lieutenants came fully out of his slouch. The tall and aesthetically slender HP frowned. But then, Jake had heard he usually did. The monochrome dark green street clothes he wore only emphasized his height.
The same clothes he’d seen on the same man in the comm tower. Again he wondered what business the HP of all Harmony had in the Spacer facility in the dead of night. He had the authority and plenty of reasons to visit in broad daylight, and be greeted with deference by the heads of the Spacer and Military castes.
Why the consult with a lowly Spacer comm officer?
The little HPS, still wearing her oversized padded black robe, looked tinier than usual next to her tall partner. Jake wanted to reach out and enfold her in a protective bubble.
“My Laud, My Laudae.” Jake converted his salute to a bow. These people seemed big on bows.
“Do you know why you are here?” HP Gregor asked. He escorted Laudae Estella to the room’s only chair.
She perched on the edge as if ready to bolt and kept her eyes down.
“No, My Laud. Colonel Malcolm da March ordered us to report to you here,” Jake replied before the others could open their mouths.
“Due to recent events, the High Council deems it suitable for Laudae Estella to have protection when moving in public. You shall have the privilege of being her honor guard,” Laud Gregor explained.
Laudae Estella’s eyes flew open at that. “I shall choose one of you. And only one,” she insisted.
Laud Gregor frowned more deeply. The lines beside his chin revealed aging. Jake put him in his sixties at least. He hadn’t seen many old people around. Either they died young or got shut away when they lost their usefulness in the workplace.
Laudae Estella withdrew a paper from her wide sleeve and handed it to the closest lieutenant. “Read this and then tell me what it says.”
Jake watched the man’s face as he scanned the page. His eyes moved too fast. He couldn’t possibly be reading every word.
“This memo addresses the problem of… of,” he paused and looked hastily at the HP. “The problem of integrating a network of scientific data within the matrix of… “
“Next.” She gestured for the first man to pass the paper along.
He read the verbiage out loud, looking enormously pleased with himself.
The HPS ordered him to pass the paper along to Jake after only one paragraph.
Jake took his time, seeking significant words. He couldn’t find many of them. “My Laudae, it’s gibberish. Whatever the author wants to say is so clouded in extra words I cannot find the true meaning without prolonged study,” Jake admitted as she shoved the paper into the hands of the fourth man in the room. But even as he began to read, Sissy dismissed his efforts.
“I want that man,” Laudae Estella said firmly. She stood and pointed toward Jake. “He’s the only honest one here.” With that she exited, holding her head high.
But Jake saw a small smile tug at her mouth. This gal took her triumphs where she could, and she’d just bested HP Gregor at his own game.
He bit his cheeks to keep from grinning broadly. He could almost hear Pammy in the back of his head. “Keep it professional, Jake. And use this promotion to get out to the Badger Metal factory.”
Chapter 34
“I’m sorry the space is so small, Lieutenant Jacob da Jacob,” Laudae Estella said. She hurriedly scooped two piles of papers together and pulled them off the cot. One doorway of this long narrow room gave access to the HPS’ private sitting room. Another, straight opposite it, opened into Laudae Shanet’s.
The rest of the room was taken up with the cot across one wall beneath the window, and an open closet on the other.
“I’ve had smaller quarters with shorter beds,” Jake replied. “And call me Jake. Everyone else does. Makes it easier to separate me from my da.” An entire room to himself with a bed long enough for him to stretch out. And it had a real mattress.
“I can try to find you a better mattress or, rather, Mr. Guilliam will.” She held the ragged bundle of papers against her chest.
Jake dropped his duffel on top of the bed. The mattress bounced a little. Real luxury compared to the short, hard bunks aboard a space station, or the shorter and narrower pallets he’d just left behind at HQ.
“We aren’t exactly set up for privacy.” The HPS blushed prettily. “We’ve been using this space for storage, just a pass through.”
“Don’t quite know what I’ll do with all the room. Security-wise, it’s close to you, and my presence will inhibit bad guys from using Laudae Shanet’s suite as access to you.” He couldn’t suppress his smile at her embarrassment. “Compared to sharing a room with six other sergeants, this is very private.”
