by Shannah Jay
He could only stare at her. ‘Why do you say that?’
‘Because I know it; I feel its truth. The God within me has spoken.’ She gave him a motherly smile. ‘What must happen, will happen.’ Then she took a deep breath and became brisk again. ‘May I leave now, Brother of the World?
It’s time for us to begin.’
‘Yes, of course. And - good luck.’
‘May light shine in your present darkness, Brother,’ she replied, somewhat enigmatically.
Katia followed Herra out of the Chamber in a daze, unable to take in all she had heard. Was it possible for their Brother’s people to be affected by Discord, too? Only, he had said he was not their God. And Herra had said that he was the Manifestation of the God their Brother, as if that were something different . . . Katia shivered and gave up attempting to puzzle it all out.
When they’d left the Chamber of the God, Herra gestured to those on watch. ‘Come and join us, Sisters. There’s no need for you to stay here. Our Brother will be a part of this Gathering.’
The Archives had explained very clearly how a Great Gathering was held, so she went to put on the special robes, while the other Sisters finished making ready the Hall of the God. The doors to the hall must be locked, and all the windows covered by special silken hangings, so that no outsider might watch or disturb them. Next, all lights were to be extinguished, save one special torch, which was to be held aloft by the Elder Sister in the centre of the circle.
When all was ready, music began, special melodies that some Sisters had been practising for days. The strange rhythms and throbbing sounds had made those who heard them shiver and the musicians go glassy-eyed.
‘ Let the Great Gathering begin,’ called Herra, and led her Sisters to form a circle. The novices made another around that. They moved into the slow stately rhythms of one of the dances they performed to honour the God, but this time they found themselves stepping as if their feet were pushing through fast-running water, water that threatened to tug them away. Then the music changed and strange new rhythms and melodies began to weave in and out of the dance, drawing them all along with it.
After a few moments Herra broke away and moved into the centre of the inner circle, standing alone there, dressed in the special ceremonial robes which had been stored in a raas wood chest for untold years. With a flick of her fingers, she lit the Torch of the God, which had been found stored with the robe, then signalled to her Sisters to extinguish the last of the temple lamps. Holding the torch aloft, she turned slowly round, swinging it from side to side.
The torch was made entirely of crystal, delicately cut and faceted. Its long stock was hung with chains of tiny prisms, which reflected every flicker of light. The oil for the torch was heavily perfumed and burned with a brightness never before seen in a single torch.
Herra’s movements slowed down, but whenever she moved the torch, even slightly, its prisms sent shimmering waves of light flickering hither and thither across the walls. Herra’s robe further multiplied the fragments of light. It was the most beautiful garment Katia had ever seen, soft as gossamer, yet embroidered with silver thread and thousands of tiny beads and jewels which glittered in the light of the torch and sent miniature reflections dancing across the faces of the Sisters.
QUEST Shannah Jay 60
‘ We shall concentrate upon this light. ’
The tone of Command rang in Herra’s voice.
Obediently all eyes focused on the torch she was moving in the prescribed patterns, gazing steadily as they had been instructed.
‘Now,’ Herra called softly and the music ceased. The Sisters who had been playing the chimes moved to join the circle, their steps echoing the now-silent rhythms. The moving torch wove a nimbus of light around Herra.
‘ We shall gather at this light. ’
As she held the torch high, everyone in the temple became very still. The temple messenger, trying to see what was happening through an imperfectly-covered slit high in the wall, found a veil of darkness before his eyes and knew no more till he awoke hours later, suffering from a blinding headache.
Within the hall, the novices in the outer circle went from deep meditation into a cataleptic state that left their eyes open, fixed blindly on the torch. The Sisters also found themselves enmeshed in its shimmering web.
‘ We shall make a bridge of light. We shall go forth across the darkness to join our Sisters. ’
Few could afterwards remember what happened next, save that they were gathered into a stream of coruscating light that somehow swept them out of themselves and launched them up into the black and silver shadows of the night sky. Katia was one of the few to retain some sense of individual consciousness throughout, but even her memories of what happened were blurred, like a vision seen through tears.
Did they really float with the moons in the sky and watch the world turning beneath them? Did they explain the God’s dilemma to their other Sisters in a swirl of sparks that flew off into the wild darkness on Herra’s wind? Did those sparks rain down upon other columns of light like a shower of molten fire? And could it have been so quickly decided that the temples in the southern claims of Tenebron, Setheron, Peneron, Netheron, Garshlian and Jan-Halani were to be saved by the God’s stasis cubes? For it was there that the Serpent was strongest.
And when that was done, did the God himself speak to them and share his sadness at the escalation of Discord?
Did he say he would now send his Manifestation down to share their struggle?
Then it ended and the threads of communication became as insubstantial as gossamer. Herra’s voice came gently through the warm night air.
‘ We shall drift back slowly through the darkness and gather again at our own beacon. ’
A soft, comforting darkness seemed to envelop them now, after the brilliance of the light and the turbulence of Herra’s wind. Through it, the beacon of light that marked Temple Tenebrak gleamed like a window at nightfall, welcoming weary travellers to its cosy safety.
‘ We shall form a circle around our beacon and slip down to find ourselves again.’
The temple came suddenly into focus, clear and sharp after the darkness, and they were back in their own bodies, but no one in the circle could move or speak, save Herra.
‘ Practise now the Discipline of Deep Relaxation.’
Heads bowed. Time stretched around them like a soft cloak. It seemed an eternity later that Herra spoke her final command.
‘ We shall now break the circle.’
Gasps and soft moans. They were like people waking from a deep, drugged sleep. Some fell to their knees where they stood; some staggered to the nearest seats; others crumpled senseless to the ground. Katia, fighting her own dizziness, saw what was happening in the centre and rushed forward just in time to catch the now guttering crystal torch as Herra gasped and sank to the ground.
Lara stumbled across the hall, terrified that their beloved Elder Sister had used too much of her life energy in guiding them. She fumbled for Herra’s pulse. Katia waited, hardly daring to breathe, not even aware of the torch she QUEST Shannah Jay 61
was clutching to her breast.
‘She’s still alive.’
Katia let out a ragged sigh, resisted the temptation to burst into tears of relief and went across to lay the torch carefully at the feet of the statue of the God. She stared up for a moment in shock, for the darkness at the back of the statue had changed and receded a little. An indistinct form that had been building there for months was now clearly visible, and it bore the same face as that she had seen on the farspeaker. So the legend was true! Another Manifestation of the God was about to come down to them, and the statue was reflecting that, even before he arrived.
Some inner compulsion pulled her away and she turned to enter the Chamber of the God.
Cheral tried to bar her way. ‘What do you think you’re doing, Katia?’
She answered impatiently. ‘Herra cannot , so I must. Our Brother will need my help. I was th
ere before and I understand what is happening to him. Let me pass!’
But Cheral still hesitated, barring the way to this presumptuous young Sister, of whom she was always slightly suspicious.
‘ Move aside! ’ It took Katia a moment to realise that she had spoken in the tone of Command, and that Cheral, of all people, was obeying her. But then necessity took over, and she forgot everything else in the knowledge that her Little Brother needed her.
The image showed the Manifestation of their God slumped in his chair, unconscious.
Katia didn’t wait to kneel before him, any more than she waited for him to address her. ‘Brother, wake up! You are in danger!’ The Chamber of the God seemed to waver around her, but she concentrated on him, for she had to save him.
‘Brother, wake up!’
Now he stirred a little and took a deep breath.
‘Brother, wake quickly! There is no time. Your flying wagon is falling.’ She didn’t understand how she knew that, but she did, she knew it beyond any doubt.
With a groan Davred raised his head. ‘What - what’s happening?’ Then he remembered the Great Gathering. ‘It’s over!’ His mind was coming quickly back to life now. ‘The ship!’ Ignoring Katia, he began feverishly to press buttons, enter voice commands and set off calculations.
Katia allowed herself to sink to the floor in a crumpled heap. She was far too exhausted to assume the correct position or care how her robe fell around her. Her body was screaming for rest, but she knew that she could not let herself slip into the comfort of the Discipline of Deep Relaxation until the Manifestation of their God was safe. His words came to her with a sort of echo behind them and the chamber around her seemed unreal and slightly out of focus. She heard the words the God’s people spoke to him, as if from a great distance.
* * *
‘Robler, I’ll ditch this lifeship and kill myself, rather than return!’
‘Have you run mad, Davred? What do you think you’re doing?’
‘Joining my Sisters.’
‘Somebody get a tractor beam locked onto that lifeship. Sim, help me bring him back. Kerem - ‘
Davred interrupted. ‘I’m too low for that, Robler.’
‘Sir, we shouldn’t . . . ‘
‘Do as I order, Sim! Full power.’
After a few moments of feverish struggle, Davred shouted, ‘Damn you, Robler, let me go! You’re damaging the QUEST Shannah Jay 62
lifeship. It’ll crash!’
‘I’m not letting you go! You’re coming back here, even if I have to bring you back in pieces and resuscitate you.
We need you here. Stop fighting me!’
Davred could hear Soo’s voice in the background. She seemed to be arguing with Robler. The tractor beam slipped for a few moments and Davred took advantage of that to dive down towards the planet at a dangerous speed.
‘Davred, what the hell are you doing?’ There was panic in Robler’s voice now.
‘I’m doing what I have to. I’m needed on Sunrise. It’s there that I can be of most help - to them, to you, to the Confederation.’
‘Davred, you’ve run mad. I mean what I say! And if you touch that control again, Soo, I’ll put you on a disciplinary charge and ship you back to Central with that young fool!’
Davred’s fingers flickered over the controls with a speed he had not known he possessed. His mind was quite clear now. ‘Get it into your stupid, hidebound skull, Robler, that I’m doing this because I’m a Cathartic Agent. I’m not denying my potential; I’m achieving it. I know where my path lies. The Catharsis must begin on Sunrise.’
Soo’s face replaced Robler’s on the screen. ‘Davred, please come back. At least, come back and discuss it with us.’
‘No. If I come back, he’ll never let me go again.’ Davred’s fingers finished their feverish dance. ‘Five stasis cubes expedited and well beyond your reach,’ he said aloud.
Robler’s face returned to the screen. ‘What do they matter? It’s you we want The Confederation needs you. Have you no loyalty?’
‘Yes. But not to you.’ Davred’s smile was so haggard that Katia’s heart ached for him. ‘There remains only one cube - and me. The two of us are going to Tenebrak, Robler, whether we land safely in the lifeship or whether we crash to the ground and die there.’ He leaned forward and pressed a final button. ‘Your choice. My course is set. Do you intend to kill me?’
* * *
Katia knew then why she was there. She must pour her remaining strength into the Manifestation of their God and his flying wagon. Other people were pulling at him, trying to drag him back up into the sky again. She was barely aware that Herra had staggered into the chamber to join her, with Lara and Cheral following, or that the four of them had automatically formed a circle and were gathering, a dreadful agony, for it was too soon - too soon - far - too
- soon . . .
* * *
In the sky above Tenebron, Davred was sobbing aloud with the effort to remain conscious and retain control of his fingers. Then he felt a strength join his. Through blurred, burning eyes, he watched the screen and saw the lifeship steady on its downward path, doing the impossible and overriding the messages from the satellite.
‘He should be unconscious by now, Robler,’ said Mak’s voice. ‘Let him go. Heaven only knows what this is doing to his body.’
‘Never! He’s coming back here, alive or dead.’
Soo was beside them. ‘How can the lifeship hold out against that beam? It’s not possible. And - why is the image flickering? You’d swear that Davred had an aura.’
‘The com-unit must have been damaged. It’s a transmission fault.’
‘There’s no sign of a fault,’ said Soo. ‘No sign at all.’
Mak moved forward a step. ‘Let him go, Robler, or he’ll crash. Robler, please!’
‘Never.’
QUEST Shannah Jay 63
Soo and Mak exchanged glances, then reached out together and swept Robler’s hands from the control board.
Though he struggled wildly and threatened them with every sort of disciplinary action, they held him away from the controls for long enough to allow Davred to regain control of the lifeship.
For a moment the ship seemed to steady into a proper flight path, but it was too late. Leaving a blazing trail behind it in the night sky, it plummeted towards the ground at a speed that should have rendered its occupant unconscious. Somehow, struggling until the very last minute, Davred held on and managed to slow the ship down so that he would crash into an area of tall trees. The impact might just be cushioned by them.
‘Near the crèche!’ he yelled just before the lifeship came down. ‘Herra, come and find me!’ Then he knew no more.
* * *
Herra croaked, ‘Enough! We can do no more. The Manifestation of our Brother has come down to join us.’
Only then did Katia allow herself to sink down into the warm pool of velvety blackness that had been sucking at the soles of her feet.
#####
Chapter 11: ‘TWO SISTERS TO THE RESCUE BENT’
When Katia awoke, she lay in her bed stretching and yawning, feeling vaguely that she should remember something important. Suddenly it all fell into place. The Manifestation of their God! He’d come down to join them, but his wagon had been damaged by his own people and had fallen from the sky. And she’d tried to help him, but he’d still fallen. She could remember him saying, ‘Herra, come and find me!’
‘Awake at last.’ Herra was standing in the doorway. ‘Well, you look better than you did last night, anyway, Katia.’
Herra herself didn’t look well. Her complexion was a muddy colour and there were dark circles under her eyes.
Katia scrambled out of bed. ‘Why didn’t you wake me up sooner, Elder Sister? Our Brother needs help. He’s fallen. He may be hurt!’
‘We didn’t wake you because you’ll need all your strength in this venture. You drained yourself last night, to help our Brother - and after a Great Gathering, too. It
would have been dangerous to wake you.’ Katia felt less guilty when Herra added, ‘I was allowed to continue sleeping too, dear child, and for the same reason. These bodies of ours can only do so much, then they must rest. But now that you’ve awoken naturally, we must set off as soon as possible.
Cheral has emergency kits packed for us, so if you’ll wash and eat quickly, we can leave.’
‘Leave?’
‘To rescue the Lord Davred, Manifestation of our God. He needs us.’
‘Us? Are you coming too? Should you?’
‘I’ve spent over two hundred years in the God’s service. Do you think I would not go to the Lord Davred in his hour of need?’
‘But - won’t it be too dangerous for you?’
‘It won’t kill me. My time to die is not yet come. That I know. But I must have you as a guide, child. His flying wagon came down in the wildwoods beyond the crèche. It fell too quickly, I think, though we were able to slow it down. But now - he may be injured, he may even be dead. Ah, that we too could fly as he does! We should be with him now.’
‘Do Gods die?’
QUEST Shannah Jay 64
‘All creatures die. How else can a species change or grow wiser? How else can our souls climb the ladder of life?
Now, enough talk, Katia. Get ready as quickly as you can.’
This time they left the temple by a tunnel which was known only to a few of the older Sisters - and now to Katia.
It led to the garden of a house in a quiet street near the outskirts of the city. Just to think of the effort required to build the tunnel filled Katia with awe, for it was at least two kloms long, dry and smooth-floored, with concealed resting places where drinking water and emergency stores were cached. The passage came out at the bottom of an overgrown garden which gave on to a quiet laneway. When Katia looked back, she couldn’t see the entrance to the tunnel at all. It was so well concealed that it was hard to believe there was anything behind the tumbledown shed.
And somehow, she didn’t like to look at that area.
‘There are strong wards embedded in the stones,’ said Herra, as if reading Katia’s mind. ‘Your power is growing if you can bear to look at them for even that long.’ Growing apace, she said to herself, faster than I have ever known.