"He's sick in bed," Jones said. "Besides, it's been our experience that god often sends people here to fail so they can accomplish something elsewhere… Blessings be!"
Jones facial expression caused Deliah and the others to turn and stare in wonder at a suit that opened on its own. Lights flickered across the open chest plates.
"It's the Sir Private Cardin suit!" a proctor said.
"Can it be beckoning her?" Gwinn asked.
"She must have passed, after all," Klaus said in a soft voice.
"Five knights this year. Never before have so many been accepted in a single year," the eldest proctor said. He gently pulled the woman back to the suit and assisted her in placing it on.
Jones grasped the two sides of the open front and shoved those back together until they clicked closed. Then he stood in obvious puzzlement.
"Is something wrong?" the eldest proctor asked.
"Her light didn't come on," Jones said. "I expected to see a god light come on. Do either of you see another god light?"
Klaus shook his head.
"Nothing happened," Gwinn said.
"What now, Proctor Raash?" Klaus asked.
"She must seek guidance from god. Escort her to the church where she can meditate further," Proctor Raash said.
Jones turned to Klaus. "I'll take care of the hollow suits. You and Gwinn take her to the church."
"This way, please," Klaus said.
The woman followed Klaus out of the Sacred Hall. Gwinn followed her.
"Five up," Klaus said, upon halting just outside.
"Shouldn't we just walk?" Gwinn asked.
"Land," Klaus said. "Can you fly?"
"Do you want me to try?" Deliah asked.
"Maybe you're right. We should all walk," Klaus said.
"Master override activated."
"Blessings, I think I just heard god speak," Deliah said, as each of their suits opened on their own.
"Does god want us to pray with her?" Gwinn asked. She snapped her suit closed once more.
"I'm not certain. It seems that god wants us to walk with her. As to prayer, it sure won't hurt," Klaus said, closing his suit.
"For now, I think we should leave mine open until god says otherwise," Deliah said.
Jones entered the church a while later. He quietly made his way to where the three suited figures sat. Upon reaching them, he waggled one finger indicating that they should get up and follow. Moments later, they stood outside the church.
"Klaus, see to Gonzales. You might have to stay with him tonight. Call on me, if you need any assistance. For now, Gwinn will stay with our future Sir Private Cardin," Jones said.
"Should she fly up to my room?" Gwinn asked.
"Can she fly? I still haven't seen her god light come on," Jones said, as he reached out to Deliah's open suit and pressed it closed.
"There's still no light," Gwinn said.
"She'll have to try. Give the five up command. Land," Jones said, as he hastily corrected his own suit.
"Five up," Deliah said.
"Keep trying," Klaus said. "God requires that it be said perfectly or he won't let you fly."
"Five up," Deliah said.
"That's true," Gwinn said. "It took him ten tries to fly for the first time. When he got the command right, he went so high, I thought he'd never stop."
"Five up," Deliah said.
"Fortunately, Jones caught up with me and advised me that land was the best command under the circumstances so I wouldn't dig a hole for myself in the ground," Klaus said.
"Five up, five up, five up," Deliah said.
"Take it easy. There's no need to rush, Sir Private Cardin," Jones said.
"I'm not Sir Private Cardin yet. Wouldn't it be better to call me Deliah?"
"Deliah."
"God said her name?" Jones exclaimed.
"That's what I thought I heard," Gwinn said.
"What does this mean?" Deliah asked.
"I'm not certain." Jones glanced up at the sky. "It's still clear. I'm going to fly out far enough to contact Sir Private Van Dyke and ask him about this. Perhaps he'll know. Wait here. I'll be back soon. If I'm not, have the Red and Blacks search along the coast."
"What's he mean by that?" Deliah asked.
"He's concerned that he might have to land in the dark if the weather is bad farther away," Klaus said.
"Five up, five up, five up," Jones said.
Though the others couldn't see him, they could still hear his commands as he flew off.
"Jones to any knight not at High Crag."
"Jones? This is Moto. What's the problem?"
"Get hold of Van Dyke. Tell him that god is calling an applicant by her name through one of the suits. We need guidance on how to handle this. I'm returning to High Crag now. Did you understand me?"
"God is talking to an applicant?"
"The Cardin suit opened, but god addressed the woman by her name. Tell that to Van Dyke. I need to return now. There's a storm coming up. I don't want to be caught in it."
"You don't need to tell me about the storm. It's all around me. Still, I'll try to get in touch with Van Dyke for you."
Jones corrected one more time for the town ahead as he sailed through the dark with only occasional lightning flashes to guide himself. He felt glad that his instructors had spent time teaching him how to fly at night, should it ever be necessary. It had turned out to be extremely necessary. Raiders sometimes tried to slip by the knights in the dark so they'd reach the shore at dawn. Of course, that required having a spy already on shore to guide them to safe beaches. The downside was that the torches also guided the knights to where the spies could be found.
There were also times when a knight needed assistance. The fastest way to reach one under such circumstances was to fly. Had Gonzales not been sick, the mission would have been a good one for him, though he seemed to be more involved in what happened. Jones actually suspected that Gonzales was somehow one of god's direct conduits.
Still, he wished that it hadn't happened when a storm was moving in. Night travel was dangerous enough, particularly at low levels. Storm travel was even more dangerous. It was too easy for the winds to flip a knight over several times before his flight could re-stabilize. Some of those same winds also caused huge dips and swells in the sky as if one was riding across the waves on the ocean into the shore. Jones didn't mind the swells so much as the dips that carried one close to the ground at speeds fast enough to kill or shear off limbs.
"Hover!" Jones shouted through his chattering jaws, as he struggled to hear himself over the wind that whipped his arms and legs. He felt equally glad that he didn't need to hold his sword, because his hands were too numb to grip his blade. Were he to see a raider, he'd have to watch helplessly since he couldn't attack while unable to fight. "Five left! Five left! Forward!"
"Did you reach Van Dyke?" Klaus asked.
"Still awake? How's Gonzales?"
"Yes, I'm still awake," Gwinn answered.
"Gonzales seems to be sleeping better. I gave him a potion that the elder proctor provided. Right now, I'm just sitting up with him. I was outside, but there's a storm coming in," Klaus said.
"Sorry, I didn't realize, Sir Sergeant Klaus," Gwinn said.
"Yes, I know. I'm in it. I thought I could fly faster than it, but it caught up with me. At the first good break I see, I'm going to land. I'll walk the rest of the way if I have to, though I'll probably seek some shelter first for the rest of the night. How's Deliah doing?"
"She's sleeping, but the suit is still on her," Gwinn said. "She can't fly yet, so I had to carry her up to my quarters."
Chapter 14
Van Dyke landed near Jones in the courtyard only hours after the last of the storm had passed over Castle High Crag. "I may have to remain here a few days. There's another storm coming. I just barely kept ahead of it."
"Gonzales is feeling better this morning. He's still sneezing and throwing up, but he's not talking in strange spell words a
ny longer," Jones said.
"What about the new woman god addresses personally?"
"Gwinn stays by Deliah's side constantly. If you see her, don't close the suit. She can't get it off unless Gonzales speaks one of the strange spell words."
"Did you hear his spell words? Do you remember what he said?"
"After the first incident caught us by surprise we listened to whatever he said and noted what appeared to happen, and informed a proctor to record it. Still, we're not certain which words he spoke caused the resultant actions. Klaus has been listening very carefully to everything Gonzales says, even when he's not in his suit."
"Probably a wise decision on your part. We were fortunate to have two new knights still in training who could assist you. I will visit Gonzales. Find the senior proctor and have him gather all the proctors together at the Sacred Hall. Klaus and I will bring Gonzales there."
"Why? The proctors are sure to ask that," Jones said.
"Tell them that we need their knowledge on what Sir Malidor passed along to the first proctors devoted solely to assisting our Order. They should bring their old words."
***
Gonzales sat on a bench that was still wet from the recent storm. Normally, it was used by the proctors during applicant testing. In his weakened condition, he needed to rest some more so that he could be in attendance. Proctors sat beside him and on other benches with their ancient texts. The other knights stood monitoring their god lights in case anything noteworthy took place.
"Proctor Raash, what is your opinion?" Van Dyke asked.
Raash stared at Van Dyke with ancient eyes. His time of service dated back through half the existence of the Knights of the Star, long enough that he briefly knew some of the very first proctors assigned to guide the knights by the church.
"I have researched this matter since shortly after the suit opened for Deliah. In my opinion, you made an excellent choice in assigning Sir Lieutenant Gonzales to guard the hollow suits as his namesake once did. Somehow, god has seen fit to guide him into opening a suit to a new knight who should be permitted to keep her name, as did Sir Private Malidor. There is a strong possibility that god deliberately limited Gonzales by giving him an illness so that he couldn't give names to all the other suits."
"God gave me this illness?" Gonzales asked.
"Ridiculous," the retired Smith snorted. "We all came down with an illness at least once. Many experienced several bouts of sickness each year. God had nothing to do with those."
"God taught us all significant lessons by giving us an illness soon after knighthood," Van Dyke said.
Raash held out one unsteady hand to request silence. "Even if god did not give Gonzales this illness, he may have taken advantage of the situation to have one of his knightly positions filled with a worthy soul. We can test this for ourselves. She may have performed an act that god feels should be specially rewarded."
"How can we test this?" Van Dyke asked.
Raash turned his head toward Deliah. "Have her ask the suit to activate in her name. If it does, then that may very well be a sign from god that she is to become a knight."
Van Dyke nodded to Jones. Jones turned to Deliah and pressed her suit closed.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Deliah said.
"Repeat after me, activate Sir Deliah suit," Jones said.
"Activate Sir Deliah suit."
"Sir is not recognized as a legal rank. Repeat command," the suit voiced.
Deliah's eyes widened. "God spoke to me."
"Leave out the sir and try it again," Van Dyke said.
"Activate Deliah suit."
"She must need a first name," Raash said, upon seeing nothing happen.
"Try it as activate Private Deliah suit," Van Dyke said.
"Activate Private Deliah suit."
Upon hearing several knights gasp, Raash asked, "What's happening that I can't see?"
"Our god lights are blinking all over," Van Dyke whispered. "Some of them are moving. The symbols that marked Sir Private Cardin have changed and moved down in position."
"There's definitely a new light on," Jones said.
"I can see lights, too," Deliah said.
"God just spoke to me," Gonzales said, in a wheezy voice.
"What did God say?" Raash asked.
"Private Deliah reporting for duty," Gonzales said.
Raash flipped through some of the ancient leaves while Van Dyke observed over his shoulder. He stopped at one of the earliest and read silently, while his withered finger traced the text so he wouldn't lose his place.
"Duty is mentioned by Sir Malidor, but none of the rest. Taken as Sir Malidor understood it to mean, she is now a knight."
"Find out if you have control now, Sir Private Deliah," Van Dyke said. "Follow my hand signals."
Deliah watched as Van Dyke gave the same hand commands she'd learned as an applicant. "Five up! Yike!"
"You obviously have control," Van Dyke said, before giving her more hand commands and finally bringing her back to a landing beside him.
"Sick or not, that means I must escort her to Castle Staten Island for her oath," Gonzales said.
"Yes, you should," Proctor Smith said.
Van Dyke glanced up at the dark clouds rolling in, as another storm approached. "It will be better if you wait until the storm passes. Am I correct that others before us have waited rather than taking an unnecessary risk, Proctor Raash?"
"An oath can indeed wait for a storm to pass," Raash said. "Nor has the oath been necessary when danger threatened the people. God accepts the oath afterward. Actions are always more important."
"Some delay might be good in light of Gonzales' illness. In a few more days, he should be over whatever ails him, I hope," Jones said.
"He has had the brief illness?" Van Dyke asked.
"It appeared to be that. If it wasn't, I doubt that he'd be out of bed right now," Jones said.
Raash nodded. "I agree. I've seen enough of the knights come down with this before. He should be well again in another day or two."
"Then it's decided. He'll escort Sir Private Deliah after the storm passes when he is fully well. Jones will have Klaus and Gwinn assist in guarding the hollow suits until his return, so there's no need to send them elsewhere, yet. Besides, they're still in training. Am I correct?" Van Dyke said.
Jones nodded. "I'll give Deliah some elementary instruction beforehand. If god wills it, she'll be ready to fly on her own when Gonzales is well."
"As will I," Van Dyke said, as a hail of cold rain broke from the sky. "Jones, get Proctor Raash back inside. Klaus, get Gonzales back to his room. Gwinn, take Deliah to your room. I'll be with Proctor Smith."
***
Van Dyke glanced around the church before he turned back to Proctor Smith. "I need to know your true feelings. Do you believe that Gonzales should take over the Order? Was this knighthood that god conferred upon Deliah a sign that I should turn over the leadership?"
Proctor Smith shook his head. "I don't know what god wants. You know that I feel the suits are machines."
"I can't believe that. Machines would react the same way every time. Sword grinders do not ever vary. Nor do pottery trundles. Those are machines, so…"
"Those are simple mechanical machines. You know as well as I that our suits have something to do with the very lightning we see in our storms."
"Lightning is a power belonging to god." Van Dyke lightly ran one hand over the burnished wood back of a prayer seat.
"It's useless trying to explain what I believe if you insist on attributing everything to god," Smith said.
"Our Order has no meaning if our work isn't devoted to the glory of god in caring for his people. That is the reason for this church. That is the reason for our Order, which the church has backed."
"Then I have to state that I do not believe that god wants Gonzales to take over. However, you would do well in having him watched. He might believe eventually that he's meant to lead simply because he appea
rs to wield more power than the other knights. He might want to do good just as do you and the other knights. Still, he could succumb to evil in order to remove you from the leadership, so that he can lead in name as well."
"You really believe that?" Van Dyke asked.
"I've been with him long enough to make my own observations. I can only warn you. What you do about him is completely up to you."
"When you next see Proctor Coffin, advise her that I need to speak with her unless she mentions that we've already spoken." Smith cocked his head for a moment as if questioning why. "She may have to be my eyes and ears among the new women. They might wish to follow Gonzales."
"Yes, she'd be a good choice. I will keep her advised as to what I might overhear or see. That way, you need ask only one of us to learn the latest. Gonzales might become suspicious if both of us are constantly reporting to you after being with him."
"In that case, I'll have her advise you as well."
"Thank you for your trust."
Chapter 15
"Are you certain that you feel up to this?" Jones asked, as Gonzales rechecked the rope linking him to Deliah. "Before he left, Van Dyke said her oath could wait until the end of the stormy season."
"It's my responsibility to give her the oath. I'm not sick any longer. Besides, we appear to have a good break in the weather for travel. If it changes, we'll hold up in Castle Staten Island until the weather becomes more favorable. Anyway, you know that I need to fly more."
Jones looked through the bag of provisions that Deliah carried, before turning to Gonzales to check his. "What about water?"
"Gwinn offered to fill our water pouches for us. We'll leave once we have those in hand," Gonzales said. He rechecked his alignment just as Gwinn flew over with the pouches. "Thank you, Gwinn."
"You're welcome, Gonzales. Be careful and travel with his blessings," Gwinn said, as she looped water pouches over both Deliah and Gonzales.
***
"Are those raiders?" Deliah asked.
Gonzales glanced over to see where Deliah was pointing. Far off on the horizon, a single ship powered by oars plowed through the waves. Its one mast stood broken at mid-point, incapable of holding a sail.
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