Clarion

by William Greenleaf

  Karyn called a halt at an intersection where another tube led off at a right angle from Tube One.

  "David's Tube," Selmer said to Paul. He pointed at another, much narrower tube that came out of the side of the intersecting tubes and spiraled to the ground. "That's the access port." Karyn and Jacque had stopped at the bottom of the smaller tube. It flared out as it neared the ground, presumably to form an entryway. The ground was lighter in color around it, and Paul realized there had once been pavement at the entrance. Now vegetation crowded the opening. Fragments of something that might have been a door clung to the edges.

  Karyn and Jacque went through first, then Paul and Dorland. There were steps inside the tube, gritty but free of debris. Narrow, though—Paul had to keep a tight grip on the railing that curved up along the tube at hip level. The steps seemed sturdy enough, although Paul felt the entire structure shift slightly at one point. He could climb without ducking his head, but just barely. By the time the light had faded with the first turn of the spiral, he was fighting a growing feeling of claustrophobia. He felt better when he emerged into the relative openness of the main tube.

  "Careful here," Karyn warned.

  The tube was about four meters in diameter, and unexpectedly bright from sunlight that poured through oval ports spaced every few meters on the upper curve. Paul realized that the access port had delivered them to a narrow platform about two meters above the curved floor.

  "Karyn says they used to have vehicles that ran the tubes," Selmer said. "We think this is where they boarded."

  Along each side, about a meter above the floor, were rails the thickness of a man's arm. The floor itself was cut with two parallel grooves, now mostly filled with thick dust.

  Karyn retrieved the fartalker from her belt pouch and flipped it open. The call signals weren't elaborate. When the device beeped, Karyn said,

  "Sabastian?"

  A moment passed. Then: "Here."

  Karyn gave him a progress report in a few brief sentences, then closed the fartalker and returned it to her pouch.

  "Let's move." She jumped nimbly down to the floor. Paul landed awkwardly on the curved surface. He turned to help Dorland, but found Dorland already beside him.

  They walked down the tube for twenty minutes 90 William Greenleaf

  before they reached another intersection with an access port. Karyn went through without pausing. Paul dropped back to walk next to Selmer.

  "How long will we stay in this tube?" he asked.

  "About an hour."

  Paul's eyes went to Dorland, who lagged a few paces behind Karyn. "Tell me about the Sons of God. Sabastian said they'd be guarding the temple. But if they're young boys—"

  "Young, but dangerous," Selmer said. "They're initiated when they're fifteen. But only if they're good enough. The brightest, the best in physical shape—those are the ones they take."

  "How many are there?"

  "About twenty-five. Only twenty have been trained for combat, though. Elder Jacowicz trains them himself. First they leam how to fight with dart guns and knives."

  "Sounds primitive."

  "Maybe so, but the boys are good. And the darts have poisoned tips. If one of them touches you—" He snapped his fingers and grinned. "But we have a few surprises of our own." He lifted his arm and pulled back the sleeve of his shirt to reveal a long-bladed knife strapped between wrist and elbow.

  "You'd use that on a young boy?"

  Selmer pulled the sleeve back down. "I don't know. But if I did, I'd be doing him a favor. High Elder Brill has told them how wonderful their existence will be beyond the Far Peaks if they lose their lives fighting for Lord Tern. Supposedly it was Lord Tern's idea to train them and organize them."

  "For what reason?"

  "To patrol Fairhope and make sure everyone stays pious. If they can track us down in the meantime, so much the better."

  They walked for a while in silence. Then Paul

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  asked: "The ceremony that initiates them into the Sons of God—that's semarch?"

  "Yeah, but it's more complicated than just an initiation. It's based on something the Tal Tahir did with their young. We don't understand all of it, but we know it's supposed to bring about a change in the boys themselves."

  "A change?"

  "That's the theory. As far as I can see, all it does is turn nice young boys into murdering scum. But Karyn says the Tal Tahir ceremony was a transition for the young. According to her, it was quite a big deal. The young were special to the Tal Tahir."

  "Transition to adulthood," Paul suggested. He'd heard of similar concepts that had carried over from primitive Terran cultures.

  "Maybe," Selmer said.

  Silence fell over them again. Ahead of them, the others walked steadily, footsteps ringing hollowly inside the tube.

  "Brill and Jacowicz are brainwashing the boys," Selmer said at last. "We haven't found a way to counter it. Boys are turning in their own families as heretics and praying to Lord Tern while their parents die on the God Wall." Selmer paused to take a deep breath. "The next generation will be monsters, even if the eldership changes. That's why we have to get rid of the Holy Order now, and get the Tal Tahir completely out of our lives. That's the only way Clarion will survive."

  "Five of you will save the planet?" Selmer offered him a crooked grin. "Maybe not, but we'll die trying."

  Probably, Paul thought. "I've seen the God Wall, and you told me about the Sons of God and the punishment for disagreeing with the Holy Order. Why don't more people turn against the Holy Order? You said there are only ten deacons and ten 92 William Greenleaf

  elders, and about twenty Sons of God. Why don't the people of Fairhope throw them out?" Selmer nodded. "Seems simple enough. But it isn't. We've tried to get people to help us. They're afraid, of course. But that isn't what keeps them back. High Elder Brill holds a spell over them."

  "A spell?"

  "You'll see what I mean if you ever attend one of his Godsday services. Colored banners, music from those infernal priams—and High Elder Brill standing up there in his great robes and his arms thrust out—" He shook his head. "It's quite a show, and he uses it to lay a spell. I've even felt it—inside, you know? He starts chanting Lord Tern's latest revelation, and it all seems to grow in your mind. Like—" He broke off, and his eyes focused on Paul.

  "Like it's the .truth. You want to believe in the power of Lord Tern."

  Paul thought of Dorland on the stage, weaving his lights and music over the audience. He shook off a sudden chill.

  "Lord Tern, the protector," Selmer went on.

  "Sabastian has a theory. He thinks High Elder Brill keeps all our lives so miserable and uncertain that we need a security symbol to cling to—and Lord Tern is that symbol."

  They walked in silence for a long moment. Then Paul said: "You mentioned Lord Tern's revelations. What are they, exactly?"

  "Words of wisdom. High Elder Brill interprets them and passes them along to his flock during Godsday service. Usually, the revelations aren't much—information about someone with family

  trouble, or maybe an emotional crisis. And Lord Tern's suggestions about how to deal with it."

  "He helps people solve their personal problems?" That didn't fit with other aspects of the Holy Order.

  Selmer nodded. "Lord Tern gives him the revelaCLARION 93

  tions in advance of the service through the chauka. At least, that's what Brill says—the name of the person, the problem he's having and how to solve it."

  "Does he get it right?"

  "As far as I know, he's always right about the problems. The solutions are a bit shaky, but everyone's so impressed with the first part they don't seem to notice that the second part doesn't always work out. That's another reason he can control people. He comes across as all-seeing." Selmer issued a grunt of laughter. "He isn't, of course. His spies in Fairhope give him the information he uses in the service. They sneak around the village and find out who's having prob
lems at home, who's sick with the pox—things like that. High Elder Brill brings these matters up during the service, and makes like Lord Tern told him about the problem and how to solve it. Then once in a while he comes up with a bigger issue, like the proclamations that established the Sons of God and the God Wall. He mixes that in with a dose of nonsense about Lord Tern's strength and the magical power of Chalcharuzzi, and he sells it all as one bundle."

  Ahead of them, Karyn had stopped at one of the intersections.

  "We'll get out here," she said. "We'll be close to the temple, so keep your eyes open."

  Jacque reached into his pouch and withdrew an odd-looking bundle. When he unrolled it, Paul saw that it was a rope ladder with sturdy metal hooks fastened to one end. With practiced ease, Jacque flipped the hooks upward at the access port opening. They caught on the protruding lip of the narrow platform, and Jacque climbed quickly up the curved wall to the platform. When Paul started to follow, Karyn stopped him.

  "Let him look around first."

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  Above them, Jacque stepped past the platform and disappeared into the access tube. A moment later he called the all clear, and the others followed him up the ladder and down through the access tube to the ground. Jacque retrieved his ladder, rolled it up and returned it to his pack.

  Paul saw that they were in an area of thin

  vegetation. The dome structures were in better condition here; several were still standing and looked to be mostly intact. In the distance Paul could see the high white spire of the temple. Karyn shielded her eyes and looked toward

  where the sun hung above the distant peaks. "We'll have to wait here for a while. Otherwise we'll reach the temple before dark." She looked around, then indicated one of the dome structures that appeared to be in reasonably good condition. "In there." The dome's entrance was an archway with

  eroded edges. When he ducked through, Paul found himself in a large room that was at least ten meters across. Smooth walls curved upward to a rounded ceiling far above him. Slit windows in the high curve admitted shafts of light that splashed brightly across the floor. There were no furnishings.

  "It's just a shell with a few walls," Paul said.

  "The Holy Order had everything taken out of the domes a long time ago," Selmer said. "Nobody knows why. It's probably all been destroyed by now."

  The floor was littered with a few chunks of stone that had fallen from the ceiling and walls, but otherwise was clear of debris. Several open doorways were spaced around the curved walls. Paul looked through one of them and found 'that it opened into another, smaller room, also bare. Each of the other doorways opened into similar rooms. He didn't have to spend much time exploring before he had the design figured out—a large main room with the smaller rooms opening directly off it

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  all around. It was easy enough to imagine this main room as the family gathering place, and the other rooms as the Tal Tahir equivalent of bedrooms. He had no doubt that each dome was designed exactly the same way. There was something oddly familiar about the design—and in a moment Paul realized what it was. The floor plan of the dome was a miniature replica of each of the city's quadrants he'd seen the day before. The realization supported his conclusion that the Tal Tahir had been fanatics for symmetry: each quadrant had a central area surrounded by circular rows of domes, and each dome had a central room surrounded by a circular row of smaller rooms.

  He returned to the main room feeling somewhat depressed. There was no way of knowing what furniture the Tal Tahir had, what they used for books, for entertainment. So much of their lives had been wiped clean from this place.

  The others had already taken off their packs and found places to squat or sit on the floor.

  "Let's go over the plan again," Karyn said. "We don't want any problems." She got down on her knees so she could use her finger to draw a rough sketch in the thick dust. "This is the wall around the temple, and the temple building itself." She glanced up to make sure she had Dorland's attention. "The sacred chamber is just through the entrance, here." Her finger traced a line. "Remember, you're only going in to look around. After you've finished in the chamber, come back out through the front. We'll be watching for the sentries from across the road. Jacque will make his pigrim call—" She looked up at Dorland. "You remember what that's like?"

  He nodded.

  "Good. Jacque will make the call after the sentries have passed by out of sight. Wait until you hear it, then come right over the wall." She paused, 96 William Greenleaf CLARION 97

  watching him. "If you can't come through the front for any reason—"

  "Why wouldn't he be able to come through the front?" Paul asked sharply.

  "He will," Karyn answered. "But if somebody spots him going in, or if the sentries come back earlier than we expect, there's another way out." She turned back to Dorland. "If you have to, you can take the stairway to the roof. It's here on the right." Her finger sketched a series of horizontal lines to represent stairsteps. "There's a door leading out onto the roof. You can go along the roof to the back wall, then down over the wall in this corner." She jabbed a finger. "If you don't come through the front, we'll wait for you around there, then go back to the intersection of David and Fourth. Either way, we should be able to get back to camp before dawn." She looked up at him. "Can you do that?"

  He nodded.

  Karyn studied his face a moment longer, then turned to look through the tangled vines at the dome's entrance. "It's getting dark. Let's go." Outside, they walked carefully in single file to-ward the spire, which gleamed dully in the moonlight. Paul noticed that Karyn and Jacque had their knives unsheathed and within easy reach.

  The sky was a deep cobalt blue by the time they stepped between the crumbled ruins of two domes and saw the temple less than a hundred meters away.

  "We'll wait here for the sentries to go past," Karyn whispered.

  They huddled against a rounded pink wall for several minutes. Then Paul heard low voices and saw two dark shapes pass by along the wall. Paul's heart began to thump uneasily inside his chest.

  "Okay," Kapyn whispered after the sentries were out of sight. "We have only a few minutes." Keeping low, Karyn and Jacque moved across

  the roadway, then Dorland. Paul hung back, reluctant to leave the shelter of the wall. Vegetation would give them at least a thin cover once they'd reached the wall. Paul started to cross the roadway when a low hooting sound from the darkness made him jump. Behind him, Selmer laughed quietly.

  "That's a rea/pigrim. Bird about the size of your finger. Not dangerous." He laughed again and touched Paul's shoulder. "Better get moving." When they were all together at the wall, Karyn spoke in a low voice to Dorland.

  "Once you're over, go directly across the courtyard and through the archway. Then you'll be inside the temple."

  Dorland nodded.

  "The sentries will be back in a few minutes," Karyn said, her eyes on Dorland. Paul was suddenly struck by the realization that she wasn't happy with this plan either. "You can still change your mind. Nobody would blame you."

  Dorland didn't say anything. Karyn's eyes remained on him a moment longer; then she signaled to the others, crossed the roadway at a crouching run and melted into the shadows. Paul hesitated as Selmer and Jacque followed her. He peered over the wall at the temple. Then he heard nearby voices, and his heart began to hammer inside his chest. The voices were those of young men, but Paul knew they couldn't be the sentries back this early. From their direction, it was clear that the boys were coming down the other side of the wall toward the corner. When they reached the cover, the boys would surely see him and Dorland

  crouched there against the wall.

  For a frozen moment they hesitated; then

  Dorland grasped the wall and pulled himself over. Paul turned for a quick, panicky glance toward the black shadows across the roadway "where he knew r

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  Karyn and the others waited.
Then the voices came closer and he knew he didn't have a choice. He followed Dorland over the wall, landed off balance on a hard surface and nearly fell. Dorland's hands were on his arm, steadying him. They waited, panting, staring at each other.

  A voice came from just on the other side of the wall: "We can't go in through the gate. They'll know we didn't get here in time. We were supposed to be here a half hour before the ceremony. Let's go over here."

  Chapter Nine

  PAUL AND DORLAND MADE THEIR WAY CAREFULLY

  across the courtyard, hugging the shadows, balancing the need to get away from the boys who would be climbing over the wall behind them against the need to avoid falling over a bench or potted plant. Paul followed Dorland up the shallow steps and through the lighted archway, expecting at any moment to feel the sting of a dart between his shoulder blades.

  The poison takes about thirty seconds, Selmer had told him. But I saw a man die from it and I can tell you that it's a long thirty seconds.

  Inside the building, they moved quickly away from the entrance and stood still, listening. Silence. We were supposed to be here a half hour before the ceremony.

  Paul hadn't stopped to think about the significance of the boy's statement, but now it was chillingly clear. A ceremony of some kind would be starting here before long. Which meant that he and Dorland would have to figure out a way to get out of here fast!

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  William Greenleaf

  He looked around, taking stock of the room. The inner walls and the floor were covered with dark, highly polished wood. Only the ceiling and outer wall appeared to be of the pink-veined stone of which the domes were made. Paul looked closer at the wall. It was featureless. He'd expected to see the lines of stone blocks, but there was no hint of how the building was constructed.