The Paladin's Odyssey (The Windows of Heaven) (4 page)

Tarbet rolled his heavily-painted eyes.
“That’s unique, a seer that doesn’t rant and scream. Isn’t that a requirement for seerdom?”

The Titan said, “If you and the Archon, with all your court seers, could produce better accuracy for your predictions, maybe this trip wouldn’t have been necessary.”

This time Tarbet stood up to
the giant
. “You’re the one in tune with the universal resonance—whatever that means. Shouldn’t you have the greatest predictive accuracy of all?”

“Seerdom is not my gift. For decades now
,
the Powers have told us that th
e disruption of harmony in the spirit r
ealm emanates from this valley. I would like to ask the greatest of the local seers why this might be so.”

“Forgive my skepticism! But if you expect a better grade of predictive accuracy from any seer in this region, you are destined to be as disappointed as my father and I are annoyed by all the buffoonery that tries to pass itself off as spiritual guidance around here. Do you realize that every one of these yokels believes the world will literally come to an end as soon as some local gray-beard dies?”

“Until your grandfather, so did the Archons of Sa-utar, back to Atum-Ra
. W
ere
they buffoons also?” U’Sumi said, arms folded, and ready to challenge the Archon-in-Waiting where they stood.

“Well met!” Uggu chuckled. “The youth has a heart of fire. A good warrior he would make!”

Tarbet mumbled,
“They’re personal symbolic cleansings
.
”

“What?” said Uggu.

“The
W
orld-ends! They’re symbolic. The revelation of the Fathers is refined—including that stage which illuminates the symbolic intent of those before. E’Yahavah loves creation. He could n
ever
literally destroy it! Can the Creator slaughter an entire world? Such
ideas are
hateful
!
”

“Who cares!” said the
Titan
. “I want to hear what his father says about the harmonic disruption.”

“You should care, sir,” U’Sumi said. “My father is Gryndel Slayer
and Hearer of El-N’Lil,
the
Divine Wind of
E’Yahavah. He
is also keeper of all the old scrolls and tablets. He has full knowledge of these things.”

Uggu seemed to regard the ‘tween-ager with new respect. “Did you say he is also the Gryndel Slayer
—t
he one known to live in these parts—who discovered the dragon’s weak spot?”

“The same,” U’Sumi answered, as he guided them onto the foothill trail that led up through the forest to the monastery-fortress of his fathers, which overlooked the valley.

“Why, every holy seed born titan in Lumekkor and the far colonies still uses his wrestling hold to slay the dragon in sacred arena combats. Does your father know what a celebrity he still is among us?”

“I’m sure he doesn’t.”

“Then lead us to him, young seer. I would speak to this one on much more than harmonic disruption.”

“W

hat are they talking about?” Iyapeti whispered, a wheaty tuft of hair blasting from the top of his head in an unruly clump. His princely braid hung like a crumpled yellow stalk to one side.

U’Sumi
pressed
his ear
against the oaken door
to the monastery’s hearth hall, his own dark curls held
back
by
his
cupped hand. “Something about dragons, disruptions, and the Watcher Uzaaz’El.”

“He’s the one that visited Q’Enukki!” Iyapeti almost shouted, as if it were not in all the sacred history scrolls. His lanky adolescent body loomed over U’Sumi’s like an arching shade tree swaying in a comfortable breeze.

“You think
,
sage-master? This titan is Uggu,
Uzaaz’El’s very
spawn
—pretty creepy having him right here, huh?”

Iyapeti
had their mother’s pale skin
, unlike U’Sumi,
whose dark complexion resembled their father
.
Alt
hough
Iyapeti was hi
s elder by almost two years,
U’Sumi doubted ‘Peti’s
greater size and strength
could
match
his own
speed and wit. U’Sumi fancied himself unofficial leader in their rela
tionship—but never to ‘P
eti’s face.
No sense rubbing it in—or getting my head squished like a pimple if
he
gets lucky and actually catches me with my guard down.
U’Sumi
knew his older brother would never have dared
to
spy on their father on his own.

“Is Pahp saying anything?”

U’Sumi shifted to press his ear further into the door like a suction cup. “Not yet—Uggu’s telling him about some rogue titans revolt
ing
in Aztlan—what u
sed to be the Far West Colonies
…
”

“The titans are pretty revolting here too—ever smell one up close?”

U’sumi smiled. “Chuckle me a
fart—
storm, Goldy-braid
,
I had to walk this one all the way up from the village to keep him from crushing my head. You wanta know about the Aztlan Re
bels
or not?”

“
Okay
!
”

“
Several Watchers are behind them. Also there’s something about a new weird form of soldier titan
called an ‘Elyo’—I didn’t catch it all.”

“You’ll catch it all from me, if you two don’t get aw
ay from that door!” said a gravelly
voice
from
behind them.

U’Sumi and Iyapeti swung around to face their grandfather, who glared at them with eyes
trained
as weapons to discipline young soldiers
, though he
actually
had to look up at Iyapeti, who
involuntarily
slumped down before the o
ld Tacticon’s scar-pitted face.

U’Sumi squeaked,
“W-We’re sorry, Pahpo!
We just wanted to know what’s going on.”

The Tacticon softened. “If you want to know what’s going on, you need only ask
me
. I keep up with things pretty well. I can tell you
more
about what’s happening in Aztlan with these Elyo
than
you can learn by spying.”

U’Sumi said,
“Will you?
Nobody ever tells us anything!”

Old Lumekki smiled. “Come with me up to the tower.
We’ll talk.
”

The ‘tween-agers glanced at each other and grinned. An invitation to Lumekki’s tower meant tales of valor from the old days, and an opportunity to
handle
his collection of wooden models from the Century War—armored
Behemoths
,
Firedrakes
, ironclad ships, and all sorts of aerodrones, each hand-crafted to the finest detail by the Tacticon.

U’Sumi only half understood the
living
contrast
of
his grandfather. He knew of no one who hated war more
and no one
who had seen so much of it. Most of his grandfather’s stories contained lesson
s
on
the wisdom of avoiding a
rmed conflict
whenever
reasonably possible. Yet the man had been a professional soldier most of his life and a believer
of
that timeless
policy
that said,
“The best insurance of peace is to be better prepared to
wage
war than any of your possible opponents.”
A
fascination for tactics and strategy kept the old man’s mind sharp—or so Lumekki said.

U’Sumi
sometimes
wondered if his grandfather didn’t secretly dream of what it would be like to go back in time and replay the great battles of history. He wondered how the Tacticon would remake all the grand strategic decisions so that Seti’s
Commonwealth
would hold on to its once powerful position. Surely
,
the strong leadership of Lumekki would have prevented
much of the bloodshed in the real history.

The
window balcony of their
grandfather’s turret chamber
gazed down on
upper Akh’Uzan like a stage. Ancient weapons hung on the walls; many with history plaques of baked clay written in
imprint-rune
s by the Tacticon. The wooden models adorned various shelves and tables around the apartment, which otherwise had a crisp simple decor.

Lumekki took a seat on the edge of his divan and motioned his two grandsons onto a set of large floor cushions. “So what do you two want to know?” He cracked a wry grin.

U’Sumi asked,
“Why is Uggu so interested in our father?”

“And what are Elyo?” said Iyapeti.

“As to what Uggu wants, your father is still finding out. But I can tell you all about this fellow
;
more than what you already know through your history studies. First, he’s one of the oldest of the titans—older than your father—even a little older than me.”

Iyapeti said,
“He
looks many generations younger
…
”

U’Sumi punched his brother’s arm. “Show some tact, will you?”

Lumekki laughed. “’Peti’s right, he does look much younger. No use getting all sensitive about it.”

“
I noticed he spoke mostly
Younger-speech
,”
said
U’Sumi.

The Tacticon nodded.
“Th
ose are
reasons
why
he’s so highly prized by those who think the titans
fulfill E’Yahavah’s promise. He looks and sounds deathless, but is he really?
”

Iyapeti shrugged. “I don’t know. Is he?”

Lumekki narrowed his eyes. “I think not. Even if he were,
the worst kept secret in Lumekkor is that
Uggu
cannot
father children. Sterility traps whatever there may be to his claim of immortality. He cannot pass it on—which falsifies Temple dogma that the titans are a step toward nullifying the Great Curse
in stages
. No children, no further steps.”

U’Sumi said, “Are there other titans like
him
?”

Lumekki gave a crooked grin. “
N
either the Watcher Temples of Ardis and Ayar
Adi’In, nor those that followed Samyaza, nor the rebels in Aztlan
can breed
anything like him.
L
esser Watchers haunt the savage tribes of the Far East and Far South, but their
primitive
herbal and dragon venom-based potions are too crude to compete with the big technological cults. One thing is clear. There’s a cover-up over the fact that many of the other titans are starting to age and die long before even a normal mortal man would.”

“You mean they have Short-lifer’s Syndrome?”

“No. Only some of the Samyazas
have
that because their Watchers took women from the Far East who had the syndrome in their bloodline. This is something different, and it’s got them all rattled.”

U’Sumi said,
“How do you know all this?”

“I go out to gather information
on my periodic journeys
—spend some time here, some time there. I am still fairly well-known in military circles. With the Archon’s army and the Dragon-slayers working so closely with Lumekkor, I get my hands on plenty of information. Take these Elyo, for instance
…
”