by Pam Uphoff
"I think the red countertops might be a bit much." He grabbed another sandwich and strolled after her. :: I can travel us downtown from the hardware store, but Makkah might be a bit . . . dangerous to pop into. :: He folded up into her little car.
"I like the red countertops. Although the way you toned them down toward rusty instead of bright is better." :: Just across town. I need to go to that big temple across the street from the Council Hall. :: She put the car in gear and edged out into the street. "What are you going to do with the leftover sand and gravel?"
He swallowed the last of the first sandwich, and unwrapped the second. "Oh, if there's actually any left, I'll move it to the back yard and use it for landscaping."
She giggled. "And to think I nearly decided to do it all myself and surprise you with the results!"
"How much money have I saved you?" He looked amused.
"Money? Ha! How about time? By now I would have—maybe—gotten all the carpet out and be taking estimates on fixing the foundations and getting the plumbing and wiring inspected."
"Hmm, for rather obvious reasons I'm not really familiar with wiring. I've been meaning to read up on it before I do anything."
"Oh, One! Don't do anything to the wiring, you stone-age barbarian. It'll need some certified specialist type electrician to inspect it, then I'll have to repair it, then get it inspected again. That's because of the fire hazard."
"Drat. I'm not perfect. I shall have to remedy that."
"Egotist."
:: He's a Eunuch, so he won't have the same muscular advantage a man would have over you. ::
She swerved into the parking lot. :: He is a part of the One, the Hive Mind. Any fighting will be mental. I have trained to resist compulsions against them. I'm . . . good, but his type of priest trained me. ::
He turned and studied her for a moment. Leaned and kissed her forehead. :: Keep him mentally off balance. Talk. Accuse him. And if he's getting through to you, either hit him or run. I'll keep an eye on you. :: The corners of his eyes crinkled, his teeth flashed. :: If he gets to you, I'll try not to hit you too hard. ::
:: Stop having so much fun! I'll ask him what I need to know, challenge him, and then we'll leave quickly. If he's moving against the One, he is their problem, not mine. We really need to avoid attacking the One. ::
The poor policeman had been three cars behind them, and parked much further out.
As they walked toward the door, the world dimmed and grayed. Illusions of them walked on while they stopped. Unlikely the policeman wouldn't catch on fairly quickly, but by then they'd be long gone. The illusions veered over to eye an outdoor display of decorative pots and planters . . . Xen pulled her forward a step . . . onto the sidewalk in front of the Council Hall. They weaved through foot traffic that couldn't see them, and crossed the broad intersection.
Rael led the way around the side and through a gate that shouldn't have been left unlocked.
:: The Daiki Chapel is for the exclusive use of any who are Of the One who are in town. :: As she stepped through the door, colors returned to normal. And presumably, she was now as visible to the priest as he was to her. "Irve who is Of the One. I have come."
The Eunuch priest turned away from a table. Dark hair, narrow shoulders, a bit of a paunch. Once again, she was struck by his youth. Doubt he's thirty.
"A bit late to play the Obedient Dancer, isn't it?" He stared at her, eyes flat and cold.
"The One gave us minds to think with, and expects us to use them. I see no reason to be a piece in a political ploy."
Xen was still invisible—assuming he was here, and not snooping around outside.
Rael strolled forward, half circling the priest. "Agni's malfeasance appears to be a figment of your imagination. No one has come forward about . . . anything."
"They fear he isn't dead, Dancer. As do I. Where did you get the Bag, Dancer?"
She smiled. "So perhaps it's a matter of politics. Does the One want Orde out of office? They could just mail a letter, you know?"
"How amusing." He was starting to glow.
Collecting power. I am so screwed. "Does the One have a War Party favorite? I'm surprised, though that they would want so much blood."
"So long as he is dead, we are satisfied."
"The hell we are!"
Rael spun to face the new voice.
A young woman, tension lines and anger distorting her face. "Where is the body? I must have a body so that he is declared dead."
Rael blinked. "Ah. Agni's wife. "
The woman growled. "Soon to be ex-wife. 'I need better political connections now, nothing personal' he said. Son of a . . . I put up with him through four miserable years of marriage and two children! To be cast aside when he finally gets out of that appalling residence."
Rael glanced back at the priest. "How'd you two get together on this project?" She blinked as she caught the anguished glance that flashed between them.
"We were the best of friends." Her voice was suddenly soft and sad. "Childhood sweethearts. I always knew we'd marry. We had plans . . ."
The eunuch took over. "I was passed over in my year. I thought I was free, thought I had a future. Then four years later they took me away, and . . . destroyed every possibility of my ever having what we wanted in life." His voice was cold. His aura roiled. Hot. Violent.
"And I have never loved anyone but you." The woman stopped with what might have been a sob.
"What are you trying to accomplish? To get rich? Revenge?" Rael frowned back at the priest. "To . . . do you think to discredit the One itself?"
"Yes. A priest on a rampage. Revenge for mutilating me. Do you have any idea how many of us hate the One? How many of us despair? Deep under the brainwashing as they try to destroy our very selves. Why do you think the One can wage war so readily, kill so easily? It's because WE HATE!"
Rael jolted back a step. Stiffened her mental shield as the Priest's glow erupted into a blaze of hatred, anguish, loss . . . She panted as she blocked the emotional assault. Mostly blocked. The emotions leaked around the edges as he focused on her. She felt a vibration in her shields, shifted their frequency. More hatred dripped in. Shifted again.
His left hand lifted. Energy or physical? She raised an energy shield . . . Damn it, she couldn't beat a Priest of the One . . . this way. She stepped up and punched him in the solar plexus.
His spell flashed out in an undirected flash of power. He folded over, gagging, gasping for breath.
Rael spun and struck. Agni's wife staggered back, dropping a knife, hands going to her face, her nose bloody and probably broken. She sank down to the floor, tears mixing with blood on her face. Rael spun back in time to intercept the priest, side step, grab and throw him face first into the wall. She pinned him there, an arm twisted up behind his back. No warrior here. Probably a book keeper. He isn't even gathering power again. Yet.
Xen stepped out of nowhere. "Well. And I thought this was one murder where the wife wasn't the most likely suspect. And the One ordered it—or a piece of the One. To strike back at the One. I really didn't expect that. Huh."
"But what should we do with them?" Rael looked from woman to priest . . . "You might at least be gentlemanly enough to stop her nose bleed. I don't suppose that wine of yours can distract a eunuch, but . . . Why are you laughing?"
He reached into nowhere and pulled out a bottle of wine. "One of the healing spells was specifically designed to address this gentleman's problem. I think we should just leave them with something to keep them occupied tonight. Then . . . Irv, was it? Irv, you should quit the One. Send them a letter of resignation. And Mrs. Agony there can divorce her husband, holding him up for a sizeable sum after the embarrassment he's about to inflict upon her. And you two little love birds can just go off somewhere and live happily ever after. So long as you never talk about any of this. Oh, and don't kill anyone."
"How the One Hell can I live hap . . . " One Irve choked as Xen stuck the bottle in his mouth in mid speech and pou
red. He choked, swallowed. Then gasped, hyperventilating or something. Power collected around him, started building . . . He's trying to fight off all those spells.
Xen stepped back to the woman. "Take a nice big swallow. Tomorrow will be so much better."
She looked stubborn. He loomed. She started looking cautious, and took the bottle with one bloody hand. Took a sip. Her resentful puckered sour expression melted into astonishment. With the lines of tension and hate smoothed out, the woman was a spectacular beauty. So Agni married her to have a bed warmer and another couple of kids to brag about. And dumped her when he needed more political connections. Not realizing that she had a unique sort of connection.
Whom she was staring at, hungrily.
Rael had had enough of the wine, years ago, to know just what the woman was feeling. She looked back at the Priest. His head was turned enough to gaze wistfully at his childhood sweetheart.
Rael sighed. I am such a softy! "You know, Oners on the colony worlds don't feel the One. Maybe you could escape the One if you could get through the gate. Worth a try. Beats me why I'm helping you, when I'm going to have to go to Makkah and explain all of this." But I pity any cop who tries to arrest a piece of the One Mind. Perhaps it can be done, in one of the Colonies. And . . . what the One will do . . . I have no idea.
Xen stepped back and gestured Rael away. "Time to go." He headed for the door.
Rael stepped back out of kicking range, concentrating on her shields, backing rapidly. Five meters; unless he was extraordinarily powerful she should be safe from physical spells. She kept backing away, but Irve ignored her, scrambled over to the woman to help her to her feet.
Rael turned and ran. She glanced back, once, from the doorway.
They were kissing passionately, fumbling with clothing . . .
"Good. Grief." She trotted away, Xen beside her.
"Indeed. Such a fun distraction. Escaping under the cover of a wine induced orgy is traditional in some parts of home."
"That stuff is scary. Especially the way it spreads."
And then they were in the Prime Councilor's office. Empty, thank the One. Xen plucked the rod propping up the potted plant . . . and they slipped and slid through the sand of a dark beach.
Eleven hundred in Paris, perhaps five in Rio?
They left Agni snoozing, an open bottle of brandy in his hand, half the contents in his stomach.
"You know, they don't actually let priests just quit." Rael wallowed through the loose sand. "But Oners don't feel the One in the Colonies. A rogue piece of the Hive Mind . . . I don't know what will happen. If he is cut off from the One, he will probably be no more dangerous than any other, well, insane Oner. But I'm not sure it'll be safe for them to push the point. Once Agni surfaces, perhaps they'll just leave Irve alone. He hasn't actually killed anyone."
Xen snorted. "First they'll have to find him. Or perhaps they can just follow Madam Agony. Mind you, I don't approve of the One kidnapping and mutilating children, none-the-less the thought of several hundred bitter, angry, men suddenly finding themselves free to revenge themselves is a bit scary. How soon are you going to get over this schizoid philosophy thing?"
"Historically, they can last for years. But this one is a deeper, more basic change than any schisms that I've ever heard of. I hope it doesn't take decades." Rael blinked as the light brightened to nearly noon, reflecting off the front wall of the hardware store. "But they aren't usually about such a deeply rooted mindset."
"Ouch. Let's see, where are my illusions? Oops! Missed the calibration there, didn't I?"
The illusions were strolling along, hand in hand, gesturing at things as they walked through them. Through the fascinated customers following them around . . .
"Oh well. It'll fade in another hour. Let's go find something to eat."
"Bottomless pit." Real fished out her comm. Time to call the cops, and have One Irve followed. From a safe distance. Until the One decides what to do with him.
"I prefer to think of myself as having an energy intensive lifestyle."
"Can't argue with that."
Chapter Seven
23 Shawwal 1401 yp
Unfortunately for Agni, there had been a film crew on hand when he was hauled into the police station on charges of public nudity, drunk and disorderly conduct, obstruction of traffic and assaulting an officer of the law. Bellowing about how he'd been kidnapped and robbed, and yes, he really was the former Director of External Relations, and no, he had not been missing for five days. "I cannot have been unconscious for more than a few hours." On the screen he glanced irritably at his naked wrist . . .
Izzo and Ohse exchanged glances over the conference table.
"In Rio? During Mardi Gras? I didn't think it was possible to be disorderly enough to get arrested." Izzo ground a toothpick between his molars. "Of course Agni . . . "
Ohse huffed out an irritated breath. "And his wife. It usually is the wife. I just didn't see how she could get it done this way."
"And no chance we can prove a thing." Izzo hunted through his pockets to find a toothpick.
"She claims she just went and cried on an old friend's shoulder. Didn't suggest he do anything." Ohse slapped his notebook into his briefcase. Slammed the lid. "And the people I had trailing him all day kept coming back to the office with no idea where they'd been for hours. We finally found a safe distance. Well, mostly safe."
"He doesn't actually seem to be violent. Agni's had his life and finances dissected in public and been embarrassed in Rio, but it's not like Irve tried to kill the man."
"But did he order Dancer Rael to kidnap him? Or kill him, and she . . . got creative while stalling and investigating?" Ohse shrugged. "I suspect we'll never know. At least he hasn't damaged any of my officers, when he could have easily sent them out to play in traffic. Well, he's crossed over to Rockies, and the locals are keeping an eye on him—from a respectful distance. I hope. With Agni alive and kicking . . . If Irve doesn't do anything else . . . One Damn it! Is he sane? Is it safe to leave him alone?"
"I suspect we're going to find out the hard way." Izzo discarded a splintered wreck of a toothpick. "Or maybe on Rockies he'll just be another well trained Clostuone. And if that's the case, dare we bring him back here for a trial?"
They stared at each other in frustration.
"And Xen Wolfson's disappeared, but not openly passed through the gate." Izzo fished for a new toothpick. "So is he pointing out that he can come and go at will, or is he doing . . . One knows what?"
"Well, I know damned good and well which Princess that . . . rogue chunk of One got to do the dirty work. Maybe I can arrest the most famous Presidential Guard ever. When she gets back from Makkah."
"You're a braver man than I."
"No I'm not. I'm going to pretend that whatever happened, didn't. Maybe Agni will lay a complaint. Or sue . . . who? The One? Princess Rael?"
***
"So I thought I'd report in that the One has nothing to do with Agni's disappearance. Priest of the One Irve was acting entirely on his own. I was dismissed. What the One will, or won't do about Irve, I have no idea."
Rael kicked back in the airport seat, watching the big vid screen. Which was replaying Agni's angry confrontation with the Rio de Janeiro police. But most of her attention was on her comm, trying to read Urfa's reactions.
Mostly amusement, as far as she could tell. "Well, the priest, or former priest, or whatever the One Hell he is, crossed to Rockies and got a job as a cook. Apparently the One needs dedicated priests as menial labor in Makkah."
"Of course. Anyone else would be mentally injured after too long there. The Princess school is on the very edge of their influence, and even Dancer trainees rarely stay more than a few days at a time."
Urfa sighed. "Well. Damned if I know what to do with the man. I'll see you for dinner tonight at Versalle, bring Xen."
"I don't actually know where he is, at the moment."
"Funny, he's got the seat next to you reserved.
"
"He . . . " Rael stood up and surveyed the area. Spotted him watching the planes out the window. "Yep. There he is, looking innocent."
Xen glanced her way, grinned when he saw her glaring at him, and strolled over.
She lowered the phone. "Why are you here? You didn't go all the way to Makkah did you?"
"Just making sure you were allowed to return. Inconvenient witness to their lack of perfection . . . " His voice oozed innocence.
"You . . . you! The One would not . . . Everyone would know, you idiot. And I don't need a keeper."
"Ha! And how would everyone know, if they didn't know a priest was responsible for Agni's . . . little adventure?"
"That was different! That was a single priest!"
"Yeah. Just like all the other single priests in Makkah."
"You don't understand . . . Do you mean you hung around here not because you were worried about me being arrested, but because you thought I'd be . . ."
"A convenient death."
"You thought the One, or someone . . . "
Sudden crinkling at the corners of his eyes. "Well, while I was doing that I did just happen to drop a warning in a very non threatening fashion, and pick up a ton of information about the physical magic that Oners are capable of. And I managed to deepen my lack of comprehension for the influence of the One mind on your society as a whole."
Rael unclenched her jaw. "You were picking up intel."
"And giving it away. Some of your most magical people have just learned a lot about how Comet Fall uses magic."
"Right. As more of this 'warning in a non threatening manner.' You . . . "
"Yep. I figure so long as you respect us but don't fear us, we can at least coexist. Maybe be friendly. Possibly even trade."
"But you're not going to openly suggest it?"
"No. I figure a clever Dancer accidentally not shutting off her phone will work just fine."