The Paladin's Odyssey (The Windows of Heaven) (5 page)

Iyapeti said,
“Yeah, what about the Elyo?”

“The name is a contraction that means
Agents of Judgment
. Nobody ever sees them—only the war machines they operate. These are mostly lighter, faster versions of the old
Behemoth
self-propelled fortress chariot, or special aerodrones and astras that incinerate themselves if they crash
,
to discourage people from rifling through the wreckage.

“Some think that there are no Elyo
;
that their machines are either demon
-
possessed or think
using
advanced differential calculating engine
s
like in
Tuba
al-qayin’s Great Pyramid at Bab’
Tubila. Yet even the pyramid engine can’t make tactical decisions
as
an Elyo does on the battlefield.

“Only Aztlan has them and their titans
,
Psydonu and At’Lahazh, are sweeping up the Southwest Inland Sea City-states
with them as far as Aertimikkor. Tubaal-qayin
Dumuzi
is worried—just ask your mother.
He’s
even sent messages asking your father for divine guidance
!
Since Psydonu and At’Lahazh revolted against Lumekkor six years ago, full-scale war
seems inevitable
. Tubaal-qayin and Psydonu are in a naval race,
making more armored ships,
aerodrones
,
and astras each year.
”

U’Sumi asked, “How
did
Aztlan get such a big jump on Lumekkor?”

Lumekki smiled.
“
Good
question.
Not long before
the Century War,
a titan priest of Ardis brought quickfire to the
Far
West Colonies against Uzaaz’El’s wishes. Dumuzi used
the
affair
to ex
pand
his empire
by
a
remote Temple mining and industrial c
onsortium
to
increase production of
military unit
s
.
During the Century War, however,
that rogue priest made
a conspiracy
that
jilted
Uzaaz’El
for
another Watcher.
He
took with him
many
Temple
secrets
from
Ardis and
built on
them
with
new
er
, more advanced facilities
.

“
The rival Temple in Aztlan began to unleash the Elyo openly just two years ago. I spoke with a Lumekkorim military observer on my last trip to
Bab’Tubila
. He actually s
aw
one in the field while he was an envoy to the city-state of Kemvor, by the Far South Inland Seas
—
which
;
by the way, has since fallen to Aztlan. He said that in all his centuries of warfare he had never felt real terror until he witnessed that thing at work.”

Iyapeti said,
“What are they?”

“Only Aztlan and E’Yahavah know. What I heard from my observer only raised more questions. It would seem that the Elyo
are a specially bred
or built
monstrosity. The poor man
said one thing I’ll never forget
…
”

“What’s that?”

Lumekki’s eyes darkened and his pitted skin lost its rich red tone. “Somehow they feed on human blood.”

THE PALADIN’S ODYSSEY
|
367

And against the angels whom He had sent upon the earth, He was exceedingly wroth, and He gave commandment to root them out of all their dominion, and He bade us to bind them in the depths of the earth, and behold they are bound in the midst of them, and are (kept) separate. And against their sons went forth a command from before His face that they should be smitten with the sword, and be removed from under heaven. And He said ‘My spirit shall not always abide on man; for they also are flesh and their days shall be one hundred and twenty years.’ And He sent His sword into their midst that each should slay his neighbour, and they began to slay each other till they all fell by the sword and were destroyed from the earth.

—
Jubilees
5:6-9
(a Judaic history written circa 120 BC)

THE PALADIN’S ODYSSEY
|
367

Conscripts

L

ate afternoon orange-golds filtered through the open window
s
of the small boy’s academy at Akh’Uzan Village. Founded by the acolytes that had accompanied
the Seer Clan
through the Haunted Lands
some two hundred and seventy years ago, the modest stone building was the last place in the world where youngsters could receive a formal education after the tradition of the old Archonic Fathers. The “new Archonic Fathers” were too busy rewriting history to notice one remote little school.

U’Sumi tapped a stylus on his wax writing tablet, and tried to listen. It was getting more difficult to pay attention each day. He knew most of the information already from his own reading up at the monastery library
at home
. Rarely did the instructors
down here
have anything noteworthy to add.

Senior Acolyte Nestrigati
rattled
on with a prophecy lesson that had degenerated to a sales pitch
(as always)
for his idea that
the Seer Clan must build
a mountain haven immediately against a coming
W
orld-end
of water.

“The stability of this mountain chain is well known, especially since the Holy Seer used it for sacrifice and meditation
…
” Nestrigati’s hands made careful gesticulations to illustrate each word, as if he were building a little air city on top of his magic air mountain.

Does he even know he’s doing that?
U’Sumi wondered.

Each of Nestrigati’s tedious points ended in a toothy grin that sparkled with just the right touch of smarmy wholesomeness to make U’Sumi’s stomach churn. “
…
Since it was the Seer
who
illuminated the prophecies of Seti and Atum-Ra, we can find no safer haven than to settle at the highest point in the region where so many of his revelations came
…
”

Oh
,
get off it and finish!
U’Sumi wanted to scream. Never mind the fact that there was no logical correlation between the Seer’s illumination and the stability of the mountain range he received it on and that Q’Enukki had never even drawn a metaphorical connection between the two. The “Holy Mountain” theme was rich in Setiim theology
and
in
Q’Enukki’s
visions, but it had always referred back to the Mountains of Aeden
,
east of Sa-utar
,
whether literally or figurative
ly
,
to mean
the body of truth revealed to Atum and Seti
. Q’Enukki had never applied it to the local range.

However, U’Sumi’s real difficulty was
no
t the Senior Acolyte’s love affair with his own voice
—torrid as that was
.
It
was that, despite the logical fallac
y
about the Seer and the local N’Zar Range, Nestrigati made a certain amount of sense. It was only wise to start preparing a higher ground to flee to when the time came—to at least draw plans and gather basic supplies. Yet something about
the Acolyte
also felt wrong—something more than just bad logic, annoying mannerisms, and
overdone
showmanship.

The man had hungry eyes.

Nestrigati reached that familiar point in his lesson—a lesson he gave nowadays at least twice a month—when his eyes almost bugged out of his toothy skull in what U’Sumi liked to call, “the happy death mask.”
Yeah, there it is! Come on, tighten those cheekies—you can do it—harder, harder! I want to hear jowl flesh rip
ping
—that’s it! I knew you could do it! Oooh
…
your teeth are
so
full of skudge! But think how stretchy your face will be later when you have to change it for
all
your
mercantile
forum friends
…

Nestrigati guaranteed his students
in
frantic nods and
loud
spiritual sighs that he had “prayed
in the divine words”
to
his brainchild. A sonorous stream of praise right from the Q’Enukkian Antiphons (complete in
High Archaic
verse) always followed this litany. The only thing dignified about it was that it meant class was about to end.

U’Sumi yawned.
It’d be worth
W
orld-end
just to get him to shut up!

The lecture
/
sales pitch ended and class dismissed.

U’Sumi joined up with Iyapeti and their kid brother Khumi for the walk home up the hilly forest trail.

Iyapeti seemed unusually
quiet, until they passed the bat caves to their right
. Then he said,
“What do you think of Nestrigati’s mountain haven
, ‘Sumi
?”
H
is voice
had
a hesitant lilt.

U’Sumi raised an eyebrow.
The implications of everything he had seen for a long time came home in single rant
:
“Some of it
might be common
sense but he’s push
y
like a fanatic.
T
his whole valley’s becoming a roost for crazy jackass
es
! How can the Seer Clan expect anybody to take it seriously when all we do is show the world our most idiotic face?”

“That’s a bit harsh, don’t ya think?”

“Harsh?” U’Sumi wanted to smack some sense into him. “We’ve got Flaming Belkrini ranting fire, Volkras screaming
how
the earth
will
open up and swallow people where they stand, and then there’s Satori! He’s trying to pretend he’s above it all by holding the Archon’s party line that the
W
orld-end
s
are just symbolic! Symbolic of what?
Limp
‘inner cleansings?’”

Iyapeti shrugged. “How should I know?”

“Here’s a clue;
symbolic
didn’t used to mean
unreal!
Now it does, to most people. Satori’s even sponsored
some
Samyaza Cult immigrants down at
the
Crossroads because they believe Samyaza will somehow make
W
orld-end unnecessary
, as if their
sworn
‘holy war’
against
Seti magically won’t have
any other
consequences
. Now
there’s
Nestrigati, acting as asinine as the rest,
even though
he interprets the Sky Signs the way Pahp does. But is he really helping?”

“It’s better than nothing, I suppose.”

U’Sumi blew up. “You suppose? Well, aren’t you
just
a little ray of sunshine! They
go out of their way
to ignore Iyared’s Prophecy about Pahp and about a dozen other independent ancient references. Pahp is the Comforter
sent
by
E’Yahavah
A’Nu
,
but nobody seems to want to deal with that! Even Nestrigati likes to downplay the Comforter’s role in public!”

“Be fair! He gives Pahp credit
;
I’ve heard him.”

“Yeah
,
for
having a correct interpretation of the Comet
,
sure
, b
ut not where governance of the Seer Clan goes
!
Then he melts into the background to keep his own following at the debate forums!
World-end
theories are fine, but Pahp’s right to
actual
authority is too controversial! It offends the Samyaza Cult, the
Archon, and especially most Seer Clan elders! Since when did it become smart to obscure the truth from people because they might find it offensive? Sometimes what we want isn’t what we need!”

Iyapeti winked down at his brother. “What’s the matter? Does it
bug
you to see
your flame
in some
one
else’s eyes?”

That stung. “Quite acting like a moron! This is serious!”

Iyapeti laughed, wagging his head like a half-hearted harvest wave offering. “Yup, I hit it! Nobody sniffs out pushies like another pushy!”

“I’m not a pushy!”

“Hey Khumi, isn’t ‘Sumi a pushy?”

Both ‘tweens paused
and
turn
ed to await
Khumi’s answer.

Khumi
’s dark eyes widened, probably in wonder that the two older ones even care
d
what he thought
—until
his chin drooped when he must have realized that, no matter wh
ich way
he answered, one of them would probably beat him up for it.
Then it seemed that
a gleam of embryonic life-saving wisdom wash
ed
suddenly over
his
boyish pre—
adolescent
face.

Khumi asked,
“What’s a pushy?”

“Never mind!” ‘P
eti scowled. “What do you know anyway? You’re just a kid!”

U’Sumi said,
“Oh, and you’re like the great mountain sage!”

“At least I’m not a pushy.”

“So what did you ask me for, if you didn’t want to know what I thought? I suppose you
like
Nattering
Nesti’s nonsense
!”

“No,” Iyapeti answered, suddenly quite serious. “
I don’t like The Nat.
Something about
him
sort of gave me the creeps—kind of like last month when
that titan
came up to the monastery, only not as bad.”

The sibling rivalry vanished.

U’Sumi said
,
“I know what you mean
.
”

They started walking up the trail again.

Khumi ran up between them.
“What were you guys talking about?”

U’Sumi glanced
down
at him. “You wouldn’t understand,
Khu
mi, you’re just a kid.”

“I’m not a kid!”

“Yeah, you are. But it’s not your fault.”

T

he living chambers at Q’Enukki’s Retreat settled down from the day’s bustle.
Mahm and her maidservants had just placed dinner
on the great stone table in the common hall, and Pahp had just blessed it. They
had
all barely got
ten
in a first bite when U’Sumi heard a
harsh
me
tallic
roar from outside
, over the courtyard. Roving shafts of
light
stabbed
through the windows like searching swords of fire in the twilight. Without asking, he leaped up to see what the commotion was, followed by his two brothers.

A golden hover-drone hung over the monastery like a giant dragonfly
.
U’Sumi stared up in
to
it
s open belly
,
probing
th
is
monster of flame
,
whirling army-minc
er
blades
,
and
metal-feathered
wings
for some unlikely weakness
.
F
or his trouble
,
he got
dust
blast
ed
into his eyes like
a
stinging insect
swarm
. Glimpses of pull
ey
s and winches inside the great hole flashed between his shielding fingers
, as the s
hadowy machinery
lowered a caged platform on line
s
from
the
airship’s heart
.