by Alan Baxter
Faith looked hard into Isiah’s eyes. ‘You would really stand against a god?’
Isiah laughed. ‘Aye, I would. And not for the first time. But in truth, I’ll stand against the men that would act for this god.’
Petra ran one finger over Faith’s cheek. ‘Surely now, without the clouding of the ONC’s mind control, you can see the flaws in their methods? You can see that they are using people like yourself to fuel their own quest for power?’
‘But it’s a power that could truly change the world. We could have the ear of our god and his power in our actions right here, right now. Isn’t that evolution?’ Faith’s eyes were wide.
‘You don’t really believe it, do you?’ Isiah asked.
‘I believe what I’ve seen so far and I have no reason to think the rest isn’t true.’
‘Fair enough. Let me ask another question. Do you really think that a group whose power comes from blood and a god that thirsts for blood have any place in an evolved world?’
Faith looked at the floor again. ‘I don’t know,’ she said eventually. ‘I had no doubts before, but now I have a lot.’
‘You’re a smart girl, Faith,’ Isiah said. ‘You have your own mind and you’ve explored and considered your own philosophy. Why now, all of a sudden, do you so wholeheartedly accept the credo of the ONC?’
Faith took a long, deep breath. ‘I was lost. I was lost and alone in the city when I arrived and Lars found me. It seemed... like fate, I guess. And everything seemed to fit so perfectly. It seemed like I’d found everything I’d ever looked for.’
‘A little convenient, no?’
Faith scowled. She looked up suddenly. ‘Can I really have been brainwashed so much?’
‘Look inside yourself.’
Petra hugged Faith to her. ‘Don’t be afraid to admit to yourself that which you now know to be true. Liberate yourself.’
The three of them sat quietly for some time while Faith considered all that had been said. She cried, feeling lost and vulnerable in a house she had never seen, surrounded by the smells of weed and bachelorhood. ‘So what’s your agenda,’ she asked.
Isiah smiled. ‘I said you were a smart girl. We do have an agenda of sorts.’
‘Obviously. You’re not doing this out of the kindness of your heart, I’m sure.’
‘We want to stop the ONC. I have a personal gripe with the one they call Dominus, but aside from that, the ONC is dangerous. It goes beyond my own personal vendettas. The ONC stands to cause a great deal of damage to the world.’
‘My people have long studied prophecies,’ Petra said. ‘And this group is intrinsic in many prophecies that all agree. The efforts of the ONC will cause great instability on a global scale and a lot of innocent blood will be spilled. Innocent blood is already being spilled. The small cuts you’ve seen to draw blood for the magic of the ONC are nothing compared to some of their efforts.’
‘I’ve seen one of your Optimates slit the throat of a priest in his own church to conjure ONC magic,’ Isiah said, the memory souring his expression. ‘And that’s just one example of many.’
‘There are dark gods in the Realms, Faith,’ Petra continued, ‘and they strive for power as much as any other. That a god can grant your favour does not make it a good god.’
Faith’s face was screwed up in a frown of confusion. ‘I don’t know...’
‘All the time you believed in the words of the ONC, the power of their god seemed reasonable.’ Isiah sat up on the couch next to Faith, a hand on her knee. ‘But in the light of your recent awakening, with the realisation that the ONC’s methods are far from altruistic, doesn’t the nature of Yath-vados seem strangely twisted now?’
Faith looked around herself. ‘I don’t know...’
Isiah took her chin in his hand, turned her face to his. He stared very hard into her eyes, his own eyes, black and bottomless, held her transfixed. ‘You are safe here. You are protected by my magic and even your god can’t hear your thoughts. Trust me and admit what you know to be true.’
‘I’ve been lied to again!’ Faith wailed, tears streaming. ‘All my life people tell me things they insist are for my benefit, but are actually for theirs, or for the sake of appearance. Why is everyone so fucked up?’
Isiah nodded ruefully. ‘Why indeed. You can’t let the ONC continue on its path. You can’t let them realise their power.’
Faith was angry now. ‘What the fuck can I do? I’ve learned to read people’s auras and smash a plate into a jar of marmalade. It’s hardly enough to go against the people that invaded my mind without me knowing it. People that are trying to raise a fucking god! I can’t fight them.’
‘I can.’
Faith looked at Isiah, anger still evident in her eyes. ‘Really? Well, off you go then, mystery man. The ONC brainwash me and have me slicing myself with a penknife. Then you come along and... and fuck knows what! How did I even get here? You kidnap me and then expect me to have any more respect for you than I have for them? I’m leaving. I’m leaving and you can all go and fuck yourselves. I want no more part of any of this. I can’t believe I’ve been so fucking stupid.’ She stood, looking around the room for a way out.
‘That’s the spirit!’ Isiah was smiling broadly, looking up at Faith. Petra’s face was worried.
‘What do you mean? You’re enjoying this?’
Isiah stood and rested his hands on Faith’s shoulders, looking down into her furious eyes. ‘I’m going to be honest with you. I need you. I want you to help us. For all the power I have, I can’t get close to the ONC. I can’t get close to Lars or his Dominus. I need an insider.’
Faith’s mouth opened in disbelief. ‘Are you insane?’
‘I need your help, Faith.’
‘You tell me all of this and then tell me that I should help you? As if I haven’t been used enough?’
Isiah squeezed Faith’s shoulders. ‘This is your chance to take control. This is your chance to score one back against all those that have misled you in the past.’
Petra, still sitting on the sofa behind Faith, looked down at the worn, grubby carpet.
The Sorcerer stood, hands on his hips, sweating heavily in the confines of his large coat. Even in this heat, he was loathe to take it off. He looked out across the wide expanse of the valley before him, across the hundreds of sandy coloured tents erected there. Behind him the newly constructed barn and behind that a sandstone escarpment rose vertically from the red dirt. Scrub and hardy grasses peppered the landscape, the orange, brown, red, black escarpment spreading out to either side like protective wings, gum trees lining the cliff tops high above. A creek ran through one side of the valley.
‘I’ve done as well as I’ve been able in the time,’ Lars said.
The Sorcerer nodded. ‘You’ve done a good job, Lars. Very good. Even from the air it would be hard to spot this camp.’ He pointed away to the far end of the valley. ‘How easy is the access?’
‘Not easy. You can get to within about four kilometres of this place by an unsealed road. After that, you have to walk. When people begin to arrive, we’ll have to have stewards in place along the walk to ensure no one gets lost.’
‘We’ll have buses to ferry people here from the local towns, but we need to be careful how many people we move at any one time. We don’t want our movements too noticeable. Perhaps it is time to start bringing the members in.’
Lars nodded. ‘Certainly. Everything here is just about ready for habitation. We’ll have to get every group that arrives to bring food. Water is available from the creek. Other than that, people will just have to get used to roughing it. How long are we likely to be here?’
The Sorcerer smiled. ‘Who knows? Not too long, but we can’t rush these things. You’ve checked out a number of surrounding towns?’
‘I have, but there aren’t many. This part of Australia, like other parts, isn’t very populated. Aside from the coast, nowhere in Australia is very populated. People can rendezvous at a selection of places, bu
t they’ll all have several hours drive to get here from those rendezvous points.’
‘So be it. On your return, get onto the other Optimates that have arrived. Tell them to start mobilising their members. Give each Optimates a different place to gather their members, then tell me. I will then contact each one and have them brought here. Once a group is brought in, you will tell another Optimates to bring his people to that rendezvous point. You will need to get me a couple of sturdy buses and ONC members that can drive them to ferry each group here. Can you manage all of that?’
Lars nodded. ‘Of course, no problem. You don’t want any Optimates to contact you?’
‘No, not under any circumstances. I will only be contacted by you. I will choose when and how to contact any others. Jake, Chris and Frank are all on their way here. Raul and Dieter should also be leaving soon. Once they arrive, your burden will be lighter.’
Lars bowed his head. ‘It is no burden, Dominus.’
The Sorcerer was quiet for a moment. Then he said, ‘This next request may be something of a burden.’
‘Really?’
‘We are being watched. I’m not entirely sure just how many are watching, how much they know or how much of a problem they might be.’ The Sorcerer raised a hand at Lars’ outraged expression. ‘It is foolish to think that we can do the things we do without attracting some attention. Regardless of the hows and whys, the truth is that there are people that have some knowledge of our actions. For the most part we can ignore them. But there is one that is more of a problem than most and he is getting too close.’
‘Tell me who he is and where to find him and I’ll make him an historical footnote.’
The Sorcerer smiled. ‘Your enthusiasm is cheering, Lars, but it will not be that easy. I don’t know much about this character, but he is powerful. Apparently he has something to do with Samuel’s disappearance.’
Lars made a sound of anger. ‘Then I really want to kill him, Dominus! We still have no idea what happened to Sam.’
‘It’s not something we can concern ourselves with now. We have more important things to consider. But this man is snooping around and getting too close. There is too much at stake here to take any chances.’ The Sorcerer looked behind him at the barn, the broad door closed against the heat and light. He looked out over the hundreds of dun tents again and tried to picture the hundreds, if not thousands of ONC members that would soon be gathered here. Could they really pull this off?
‘So what must I do?’ Lars asked.
‘You must come up with a plan to stop this interferer. I’ll tell you what little of him I know, then you will have to deal with him. I have to trust you to take care of this, as I have things here which I can not leave unattended. I am tied to this place and the charge in my care.’
Frank leaned back in his chair, his fingers interlaced on his chest. The door clicked shut as the last of the American Optimates left to lead their members across the globe. Frank smiled ruefully. So many people had so little knowledge of anything beyond their own borders. People of rank within the ONC had really asked questions like, Did people speak English in Australia? But no matter. This phase of the project was complete. Every Optimates from North America, Canada, Mexico and South America had begun their trip, all heading to various places around Australia. Each of the Optimates had the ability to converse with Frank and each of their members knew to stay in touch with them. At last, Frank could leave all this behind and make his own way to Australia to see what was happening. He could catch up with Lars and learn how far along the plans were.
He wondered if Dominus was there yet. What about Chris and Jake? And what about that weird pair that had been spying on him? He hadn’t managed to make any further headway with that line of enquiry and it bugged him. It was a loose end and he did not like loose ends. He wanted to tie it up tight. Still, even though he had lost them, they had definitely not been back around here. Perhaps they had moved on. Perhaps they were watching another Gather. Or perhaps they had even managed to track things as far as Australia. Whatever. With any luck they would still be around somewhere and he would get the chance to confront them yet.
He stood decisively and walked from the room, from the building and into his battered old Ford parked outside. He revved the engine and roared off down the road towards the airport. He would get to Australia as soon as possible and see from there how things stood. He had a plane waiting and would be there in no time.
From the shadows across the street, Meera watched the car disappear along the dark tarmac. Gathering her power, she slipped between the Realms, heading back to the Temple of the Dragons to report that all the American cultists appeared to have moved on.
13
‘Fancy a cone?’
Isiah looked up at Herb’s earnest face and smiled. ‘I don’t think that’ll help right now, thanks.’
Herb shrugged. ‘You never know.’
Faith shook her head. ‘No, thanks. My brain is bent enough as it is.’
Herb shrugged again. ‘Fair enough. I’m hungry, so I’m going to make something to eat. You guys want anything? It’s no trouble to feed you all.’
‘Very kind offer, mate,’ Isiah said, standing. ‘But we need to move on.’ He looked at Faith. ‘So, you’re okay with what I’ve explained?’
‘I wouldn’t say I was okay with it.’
‘Right. But you understand?’
‘Sure. In theory. I understand what you mean, but not how you’ll do it.’
Petra patted Faith’s shoulder. ‘The details don’t matter. As long as you trust us, you can relax and let us take care of things.’
Faith nodded. ‘I trust you.’ She looked back to Isiah, missing Petra’s guilt-tinged wince. ‘I guess I’m ready to go.’
‘Now remember, you won’t be able to recall us or this encounter when you’re out of our company again. If you could, it would endanger you and us. What you will remember are the curiosities that I’ve put in your mind. You’ll ask Lars those questions. I’ll find you again on a regular basis and each time you’re with me, you will remember us and all that goes on between us.’
Faith frowned. ‘I don’t understand how you’re going to manage this.’
Isiah grinned sheepishly. ‘Neither do I entirely,’ he said with a wink. ‘Petra here is the mind magician.’
‘We’re losing time,’ Petra said, eyes narrowed.
‘Right. Let’s put the wards in place.’ He stepped aside to let Petra stand before Faith.
Petra took both of the young girl’s hands and closed her eyes. ‘Close your eyes, child,’ she said. Faith did so and breathed a deep, nervous breath. Silently, Petra worked on Faith’s mind, putting controls of her own in place, replicating those of the ONC. Eventually she opened her eyes and looked at Isiah. Her expression was sad.
Isiah smiled ruefully. He understood her pain. ‘Let’s go,’ he whispered. He turned to Herb. ‘Thanks again, Herb. I’ll see you soon.’
‘No problem, brother. Be good to see you any time.’
Isiah turned, leading Faith from the house, her eyes still closed. Petra took Faith’s other arm and they walked her together. She responded to their touch, but was otherwise completely removed from the present. They got back into the hire car, waving a farewell to Herb standing in the shadow of his porch, and drove away. After a couple of minutes they pulled up to the kerb and Petra hopped out. Opening the back door she helped the zombie-like Faith from the back seat and led her to a bus stop. It was busy on Bondi Road and a couple of people spared a moment’s curiosity before lapsing back into the oblivious state of most people in densely populated places.
Faith sat catatonic on the bus stop seat as Petra got back into the car. Isiah drove slowly away and Petra let her power slide out. As Faith’s eyes blinked, her body regaining a more natural posture, Petra swiftly locked down her aura and Isiah gunned the engine, driving out into the line of traffic, heading back towards the city.
They drove along in silence for a whil
e. Eventually, Isiah broached the conversation. ‘I’m sorry.’
Petra shook her head. ‘I don’t like it.’
‘Neither do I. No one in their right mind would like it. But some things are necessary.’
‘What if I messed it up? I might have just sentenced that girl to death.’
‘Hey, that girl was already pretty fucked up. Don’t forget that.’ Petra flashed Isiah an angry look. ‘She was a lost and lonely young girl,’ Isiah continued. ‘There are millions of disaffected youth like that all over the world and they’re always getting in all sorts of trouble.’
‘This is hardly comparable!’
‘Why not? She was already roped into this ONC cult and that could easily finish her off. She was talking about how she’s being fast-tracked by this Lars character. What do you think that’s for? You think he really fell head over heels in love with her like he claims? These are bad people and she’s at risk all the time. Our using her is not necessarily putting her at any further risk.’
‘Not necessarily? If they discover what we’ve done...’
‘Then she’s probably dead. I’ll give you that. But we need to know more. For the greater good, we have to know more.’
Petra shook her head again. ‘She’s a young girl, intelligent, vibrant. She has a whole life ahead of her.’
‘Only because you know her.’
‘What?’ Petra was angry.
‘When you know someone, when you have a personal connection, it’s very hard to see the statistics any more. The truth is, she’s just another lost soul that, in this case, we can use for our ends.’