Spirits of Flux and Anchor

by Jack L. Chalker

  “Haldayne has taken Persellus and means to move on the gate,” the wizard said simply. “We are mounting a massive force to retake it, supported by myself and two others of the Nine.” Quickly, and in a businesslike fashion, he outlined the entire plot, leaving Cass out of it completely, though, as well as Daji and the part Anchor Logh played in it. She listened attentively, her face grim. When he had finished she asked, “What do you want me to do?”

  “How large is your troop force?”

  She thought a minute. “I don’t have the exact figures, but not counting the new recruits in training after Census, about a thousand.”

  “Let’s count the recruits.”

  “Then, perhaps a hundred more plus training instructors. But we need a minimum of three hundred to man and guard the borders.”

  He nodded. “That’s fine. Give me five hundred under your best officers and noncoms. Get them in Flux and I’ll see they don’t crack. Once we break Haldayne’s shield we’ll need warm bodies to overrun and root out what’s left of Persellus. He’s very strong and has had time to prepare.”

  “Do you think you’ll catch him this time?” she asked, apparently getting caught up in the adventure of it.

  “We’re going to try. That’s all we can do, no more. There is nothing I would like more, as you well know. Half a dozen times I’ve had him in my nets and he’s managed to slip away. But, with your gracious help, we’ll beat him this time, at least.”

  “You shall have it and welcome,” she responded. “And what will you do with it—after?”

  He shrugged. “Sister Kasdi has a great deal of talent and is now training under me. A church-controlled Fluxland in such a strategic position would consolidate quite a bit and secure the gate for some time.”

  She thought about it, and liked the idea. “A church-controlled Fluxland. It was the dream of the Founding Mothers, but somehow it’s never come to pass. It would create a church-held domain over a hundred and fifty kilometers southwest.” She turned to Cass. “You must do it! You have the best teacher in the world for it. Why, it could be the old dream—the training and university ground for the Church, as Globbus is for wizards.”

  “I will consider it, Your Eminence,” Cass responded carefully, trying to make sense of all this.

  The idea of her becoming a Sister General wizard to a Fluxland church indoctrination center was ludicrous at best. She wondered what the Sister General would think if she knew who really sat before her in the guise of a tall priestess. Again she felt frustrated that she had no idea what games were being played here, only that everybody seemed to know and understand more than she did..

  It was, in fact, as simple as that insofar as getting the troops was concerned. The Sister General herself would give them the commands and see them off, and they would be ready at the western gate in three days. They were ready now to leave, with a total pass from Her Eminence herself, when Mervyn asked, “Where’s that secretary of yours? I’ve heard some stories about her.”

  She laughed. “Daji? Around someplace, I suspect. Absolutely gorgeous body, but rather empty in the head, I fear. I have to keep it that way, if only for security.”

  He nodded. “I understand. But if you could spare her for these next three days she’ll be most helpful, as your secretary, in clearing away bureaucratic barriers just by her presence. I can use her, so don’t worry about what she doesn’t know.”

  The Sister General laughed. “You’re just trying to get her away from me so you can have some fun. But, all right. Take her. I’m going to be too busy for her anyway, it appears, and she only has one thing on her mind all the time, bless her.” She pressed a buzzer and there was a muffled response. “Is Daji about?”

  Again a muffled response. She nodded. “Send her up. She’s going on a little trip with some friends of mine.”

  17

  SORCERERS

  Sister Daji had seemed quite confused when ordered by the Sister General to go with the three nice ladies and do what she was told, but after a little heart-to-heart talk in the other room she went along with it, at least grudgingly. Cass could not get over the contrast between the woman she saw now and the one she had seen with Haldayne. It seemed almost inconceivable that this bubble-brained airhead could possibly be a mistress of Hell and conniving plotter.

  They went out the door and down the Temple steps, Daji clutching a small overnight bag. Some birds scattered into the air as they descended the stair, but one bird, a particularly large raven, did not. Instead, he circled and then settled atop one of the lampposts along the sides of the square itself and watched the four figures come forward. There were few people about, although there was some traffic on the streets and a couple of people were sitting on one of the benches in the square, and two yellow-robed Sisters were walking towards the Temple as the quartet walked away.

  Still, Cass had an uneasy feeling she couldn’t shake off. Something seemed very wrong, although things had been going well from Mervyn’s point of view. It had started with the falcon still in the

  Sister General’s office, grown worse at meeting Daji, and was now building to the breaking point. She looked around nervously, studying everyone in the square, her eyes finally reaching the two approaching Sisters. There was just something about them, something very odd….

  “Everybody watch it!” she cried suddenly. “Those Sisters are wearing boots!”

  “Caw!” screamed the raven almost immediately. “Caw! Caw! Caw!”

  The two “Sisters” split from one another, reaching in and drawing guns at the same instant. Mervyn dropped where he was and pulled an automatic pistol, firing at the closest attacker first. The “Sister” fell back with the force of the shots, blood soaking the front of the robe while her gun clattered as it fell. The other, however, dropped and rolled, and had time to open fire before Mervyn could bring his pistol around. Suzl had dropped at Cass’s warning and now rolled towards the first assailant’s fallen weapon, while Cass managed to make it behind a post that afforded some protection. Birds and people were screaming and panicking everywhere.

  Daji, however, had just stopped and stood there, looking very confused. As a result, she took the full blast of the second assailant’s shots and staggered back, then collapsed on the paving stones, writhing and groaning. Mervyn fired at the assassin but scored only a grazing blow. Then his gun went dead, empty. The woman in yellow, realizing this, stopped, raised her own gun, and pointed it directly at the wizard, who had nowhere to run. A volley of shots rang out, echoing across the square and against the Temple walls, and the killer spun and fell dead.

  Suzl looked a little surprised that she’d shot so well from such a distance, and smugly blew the smoke away from the barrel. Mervyn, however, was in no mood for gratitude or theatrics. “Shoot the raven!” he cried. “The raven!” He pointed to the large bird atop the lamp, but before Suzl realized what he was saying and could make sense of it the bird launched itself into the air and was soon lost from sight to the southwest.

  Cass ran over and helped Mervyn up. “Damn!” he swore. “It was Haldayne and we almost had him!”

  Suzl walked cockily over to them. “He almost had you, you mean. Where the hell did you get that pistol?”

  “Trick compartment in the cape,” he told her. “They took the rifle, left the holder, and it was still there. Damn you, though! Why didn’t you shoot the raven while you had the chance? I had a spell on you that made you a great marksman. You could have had him!”

  “And lost you,” she responded, getting a little irritated.

  “What do I matter?” he growled. “That raven was Haldayne. If we had gotten him we could have taken Persellus without any real losses.”

  She shrugged. “Sorry. Next time I’ll let you die and shoot every damned bird in sight.” She looked around. “Where’s Cass?” They both looked, and found her kneeling beside the fallen Daji. A crowd was gathering fast, and police could be heard on their way. Mervyn elbowed his way through and knelt down bes
ide Cass.

  Daji was mortally wounded, but still alive. Gasping, blood running from her mouth, she looked for all the world a hurt and confused child. She choked once, and then something seemed to grow within her, filling her face and particularly her eyes. Her whole appearance took on a different look, and she coughed and gulped down air. “Damn you!” she screamed, in a far different, more self-assured voice filled with hatred and fear. “Damn that bastard Haldayne! Always the genius! Always the double-dealing genius! I should have known, you….” She shuddered and went limp, and her eyes now held a vacancy that even Daji had never known.

  Police and Temple wardens came through, pulling them away. Cass stepped back and shook her head sadly. “It’s crazy,” she said, not particularly to Suzl although that was who was there. “I actually feel sorry for her. I don’t know how I can pity her, but I do.”

  Suzl shrugged. “Well, she certainly was what you said, that’s for sure. Man! That was weird, seeing her change like that.”

  Cass nodded. At least she was vindicated in her own mind about it all. Daji had certainly been with Haldayne, and that meant the rest of it was almost certainly true as well. She looked up for Mervyn, and saw him with the authorities inspecting the body of the first killer. Both assassins were dead, and when the robes were opened they all saw that under those robes were two hard-looking women dressed in farm clothes.

  They spent the next several hours with the police, giving statements of the events. The pass from the Sister General was absolute, and avoided many embarrassing questions about why they were there, but there were still the statements, which had to be checked, typed, and signed, and the individual interrogation of each as to the exact sequence of events. The administrative chief of the Temple showed up to clear the way for them not to have to reveal any more than they chose, and to carry back copies of everything for the Sister General, but it was still a mess. Neither killer was on the registry, nor had they any record of entering Anchor Logh. This bothered them all more than the killings themselves, as unprecedented as they were, because it meant that either there was a leak in the wall guard or else these two had come from the only place where the unregistered could possibly come from—the Temple itself.

  That was not the problem of the trio from the Flux, however. “You know this Anchor pretty well. Can we take different indirect routes back to the gate?” Mervyn asked them.

  They thought about it. “There are lots of back roads, so long as you don’t mind camping out in fields,” Cass told him. “But there’s really no place to hide from somebody who knows them as well as you and also knows what you look like.”

  He nodded. “I thought as much. I’m going to pull rank with the church, then, and get us a full police guard all the way back. I want no more lopsided ambushes.”

  They returned inside the police station and Mervyn composed a long note to the Sister General, sending it back with the admin chief. They waited a good hour or more, until a lower ranking priestess in admin gray returned with instructions for the police, and they had their escort and more.

  There were no further attempts on them, and Mervyn wasn’t surprised. “The object of the exercise was to kill Daji first, then me if they could. You two were totally optional.”

  “Thanks a lot,” Suzl grumped. “But—why Daji? Because we had her number and maybe could have learned a lot from her?”

  “That, of course,” the wizard agreed. “I knew we were in trouble when I saw that falcon there. It was meant to confuse, but all it did was signal that they knew something was wrong.”

  “It sure confused me,” Cass told him. “I thought for a while that the whole thing had been a Haldayne-inspired hallucination.”

  “Which was exactly the intent. But when it failed, and we arranged to have Daji come with us, they knew their subtlety had not paid off and took direct action. They could not afford one of their chiefs in my hands. She would know vital things far beyond this immediate crisis.”

  “Then the plot is really foiled, huh?” Suzl put in. “I mean, their agent’s dead.”

  “One agent. Someone saw us taking Daji out, and someone received orders to kill her. Haldayne might have started the killers, but he couldn’t possibly have been inside the Temple. I’m afraid that all this shows is that Anchor Logh is already as conquered as Persellus, and woefully ignorant of the fact. We shall not know it all until we have dealt with all our problems, and perhaps not even then.” He turned to Cass. “First things first. We must go into Flux and prepare you.”

  “Huh? Prepare me for what?”

  “Your ordination and conference, of course. It will be done by the Sister General herself in front of the troops at the west gate just before we march.”

  “My what and my what? Hey! Wait a minute!”

  “It is necessary for a priestess to lead the forces of Anchor into Flux. They are terrified enough now, as you would have been not so long ago. They need what is called in scripture an Adjutant to lead and protect them—a high-ranking priestess who is able to stand and use the Flux and protect herself and them. Don’t worry—it’s the required part of the Holy Books for all in Anchor Logh to read right now, although it’s so obscure and in one of the codices that is rarely paid attention to. In short, we need a wizard-priestess. The Adjutant, when created, is second in rank only to the Sister General herself.”

  “But, wait a minute! Don’t I have any say in this? I mean, I’m not even sure I believe in that stuff any more, at least not the way it’s taught, and I sure don’t want to give up sex and the Flux power now that I’ve found them.”

  Suzl gave a raised eyebrow at that but said nothing.

  “Obviously it’s too obscure for you, as well,” Mervyn responded patiently. “The Adjutant is considered a somewhat supernatural figure. She comes from Flux and returns to it, although she is, of course, able to travel to Anchor. It exists for the very reason that a lot of the rest exists—it is convenient when the rules have to be bent. In this case, men raised to be terrified of the Flux are being asked to go into it and do battle. Think of how you felt when you first went in. It’s not so bad. You’ll be a High Priestess in Anchor and a wizard in Flux, and you’ll need more training as a wizard than this job requires.”

  She thought it over. “How long has it been since the last—Adjutant—was appointed?”

  He thought it over. “Three, maybe four hundred years, I think. They all run together after a while. But now there will be two, each accompanied by a Flux warrior.”

  “Huh?”

  “A Flux warrior, it is said, is the reincarnation of one of the greatest warrior angels corrupted and exiled to World after the Rebellion. Because they were of the highest rank then, they are cursed to live their lives in Flux, and to be known because they differ from humans only in one specific attribute. That attribute is not defined, but that only makes it convenient for our candidates.”

  Suzl grinned. “Like me, you mean?”

  He nodded. “Like you. And like Dar.”

  Cass gasped. “So that’s why you split them up! You had this in mind all along!”

  He nodded. “But your vanishing act nearly spoiled it. I was determined to take a dugger or whatever, but, fortunately, I didn’t have to.”

  Suzl giggled. “Just think—only weeks ago we four were stripped of it all and cast out of Anchor.

  Now two of us are gonna be High Priestesses and the other two are angels! This is crazy but I love it!”

  Cass nodded, not sharing the mirth. “Yes, lucky— if we survive all this. Not like the rest of them marched out with us. Not like the ones in Arden’s train.”

  “Oh, let the dead be cremated and their ashes returned to the life of the soil,” Suzl quoted from the holy books. “Now is now and I am me, and I’m having a ball.”

  The void, which had been so terrifying before, now seemed like a welcome friend to them, offering peace and quiet and relative security. Mervyn wasted no time becoming his favorite old man’s character once again,
but after a short session with Suzl to brief her on just what her part in this was, he sent her back to Anchor, to the apron area, with an eye to getting as much information and rumor! from the resident duggers as possible. Mervyn wanted to know how the wall leaked so easily, and it was also a way to have Cass alone for a while.

  “I know you’re wondering about all this,” he began, “and that will never stop, I’m afraid, for none of us knows the answers. We, and our forebears, however, do know much more of the history and geography of World than the church permits to be taught, simply because part of our mission was to save the books and records of the past. Not all survived, alas, particularly from the earliest days, but much did.”

  Humanity, he told her, had once been far greater and more numerous than now. There was once, as near as they could understand it, a great empire of humankind, which included but was not restricted to World. “This is only one world of men, perhaps the only one left now. Once, however, there was the concept of empire.”

  In this great time in the far past—fully thousands of years before—man had had a great civilization, an ideal community where all were free and had—if not directly then through machines—the powers and wonders of wizards. The forces of Hell rose up to attempt to destroy this civilization, and there was a great war, such as none today could even imagine. In the end, humans defeated the forces of Hell and pushed them back into a place outside our very universe. But the battle had not been without great cost, and the empire was shattered and destroyed and with it most of the race and most of its worlds.

  “It was here on World that the final battle took place,” he said, “and it was here, at last, that Hell was pushed out of all we know and the gates to Hell were sealed.”

  “Then the machines I saw at the gate were those of that lost empire,” she responded, understanding it better. “They were the means by which all was sealed.”