"Why?" Wreg said.
The seer sighed in exasperation, holding out his hands. "Really. You need to ask us this, brother? Sincerely?" He sighed again when Wreg didn't avert his gaze. "We needed to test it, brother Wreg. We needed to know how quickly it would spread in a real-world test...so we could plan accordingly. In Hong Kong, we delivered the virus in a contained environment...as much as we could, anyway. That provided the demonstration. San Francisco constituted ground zero...a test, but also an initiation point."
"Do you plan to distribute it anywhere else?"
The seer gave him another thin-lipped smile. "Yes."
"When?"
"It is already done, brother Wreg."
Jon felt a shock of cold go through his spine. He looked at Wreg, who met his gaze, but only briefly before he looked back at the blue-eyed seer.
"Meaning what?" he demanded. "When did you do this?"
"It is happening as we speak," the seer replied calmly. "Distribution is occurring over twenty more test-case cities..."
"Twenty?" Jon choked on the word. "Motherfucker..."
Next to him, Neela gripped his hand tighter, willing him through her fingers to be silent.
"Why?" Wreg said. Even his voice sounded strangely faint, almost at a loss.
"Why do we do anything we do?" the blue-eyed seer, Yosef, said, holding up his hands in near supplication. "What other purpose do we exist, other than to work for the benefit of our people? To create a world in which we will no longer be slaves?"
"So you intend to kill all of the humans then?" Wreg said, sounding faintly sick. "That is the solution your brilliant minds have come up with? To end this life wave? Spit in the faces of our Ancestors and intermediaries, and ensure that their creation has no chance to become something greater? Is that this noble task of which you speak...?"
The blue-eyed seer only looked amused. "Tell me, brother Wreg," he said. "Are your own people not interfering in the course of history yourselves? Isn't that the purpose of your infamous 'list'? To pick and choose who is to survive the coming cataclysm?"
"No," Wreg said, looking genuinely surprised. "It is nothing of the kind..."
"Then why are you here, brother Wreg?"
"You know damned well why we're here!" Wreg said.
"Do I?" Those dark blue eyes locked onto Wreg's. "Enlighten me, brother."
Jon bit his lip. He didn't like where this conversation was going. In fact, he found himself wanting to tell Wreg to look away, to look anywhere but directly into that monster's eyes, but he couldn't seem to force his tongue and voice to work well enough to form sound. Something about the distant look in Wreg's eyes scared him.
Then, the reason for that fear struck him hard, like a blow.
Wreg didn't seem to be talking to the seer Yosef anymore. He seemed to be talking to someone else. As Jon stared at the face of the tattoo-covered ex-rebel, that cold, sick feeling returned to his groin and the lower part of his belly. He found himself thinking that the look in Wreg's eyes as he stared at the other seer was strangely familiar...even though Jon was reasonably sure he'd never seen that exact expression in Wreg's eyes before.
Wreg looked at the seer as though he knew him.
Even as Jon thought it, the voice of the robed seer changed.
It deepened. More than that, it grew older.
"...Last I knew, you were loyal, brother Wreg," the seer said. He emphasized the word enough that Wreg flinched...then continued speaking in that deeper, more precise voice. "...When did your views change so dramatically, my son? Did we do something to wound you personally, beloved friend? Or has the Bridge and her cadre of kneelers so poisoned your mind that you no longer remember the vows you made to me, all of those years ago...?"
"No." Wreg shook his head, closing his eyes. "No...I didn't make them to you. I made them to the cause..." His eyes brightened when he opened them. "...To the Sword."
"I see," the seer said, and that sick feeling struck Jon again, as if it came through the very melodiousness of that deeper voice. "...Must we all go back to that tired doctrine of the Seven then, brother Wreg, simply due to your loyalty to your brother, the Sword? Can it not be that the Sword, too, is not infallible?" Sighing, with a regret that actually hit at Jon somehow, making it hard for him to think, the voice added, "...Shall we all simply pray to gods who ignore us because we haven't the fortitude to take matters into our own hands? Shall we sit passively back as the lesser breed of humans attempts to destroy us...for principles that are no longer relevant in this world?"
He held up his hands, open-palmed, a gesture of near-supplication.
"Has the world really changed so dramatically for you then, brother Wreg?" the voice said. "In your view, have humans grown to see the error of their ways? Shown more promise for evolution? Become kinder and more compassionate...even to one another?"
Those dark blue eyes remained bound to Wreg's, the color of a stormy sea.
Even so, Jon found himself positive that Wreg saw a very different face. Briefly he felt that confusion flicker back over his lover's light, as if he struggled through clouds just to think, to form words in his mind. Jon felt it, too...that pull inside the construct, the pain that rose when he resisted it. He felt Wreg fighting it, felt his light trying to hold back the invasion that came at him again, just like it had during that attack in the hills.
It hit Jon then, where they really were, what they'd let happen.
They were inside a fortress of the Dreng. They'd been coaxed inside the mind of this Shadow person. More than that, they let themselves be immersed in the presence of those beings, the Dreng, who had already come close to destroying Revik at least three times.
Those same beings had owned Wreg once, too.
Fear exploded over Jon's light. They'd all been worried about Revik, but every ex-Rebel in the room shared his same vulnerability. Jon could feel the conflict there now, in Wreg's eyes and light, even as he fought his own resonance with those silver threads.
The same threads that Wreg housed in his aleimi for nearly a century.
Jon stared at him, feeling his throat go totally dry.
That confusion he saw in Wreg's eyes scared him. It scared him a lot.
The blue-eyed seer gazed once more into Wreg's face, even as Jon thought it.
"...Has the slavery ended, brother Wreg, due to more equitable, fair and far-seeing laws?" the seer asked. "Has the Registry truly been dismantled? Have they stopped killing our people in droves? Chopping them up for machine parts? Selling our children after training them as domestic animals and whores? Has the human world followed the examples set by your beloved Sword and Bridge? They certainly seem to share the same apathy..."
"You made this!" Wreg said. His voice came out harsh, as if with an effort. "Back in those early days, everything depended on the Sword and the Bridge...at least according to you and your kind. All of us were taught thus, and taught to see things unfold exactly as they have in the years since..." Wreg's voice grew angrier, but also more forced, as if it hurt him to speak. "Apparently you can only bring yourself to support a scripture you write yourselves...intermediaries that you control like puppets and slaves...to build a future you've decided for the rest of us..." At the thin smile that came to the blue-eyed seer's lips, Wreg raised his voice. "We were taught these words, goddamn it! Taught to respect the course of history and evolution..."
Wreg's accent deepened as he spoke that older version of Prexci, changing enough that Jon struggled to understand him.
"...You cannot have it one way and not the other," Wreg said angrily. "You cannot tell us it is all to bring the new age, and then do everything in your power to thwart that very event. You cannot tell me to follow the Sword and then try to kill my brother in front of me. You cannot..." Wreg struggled for words, then tears came to his eyes. "You were wrong, even then. You cannot decide who will evolve and who will not. You cannot take the role of the gods themselves...and then lie to us and anyone who will listen that this is wisdo
m! It is nothing but darkness, and you serve those who wish slavery upon all of us..."
Jon felt his hands curling into fists. In that moment, he wanted to kiss Wreg. Or maybe yell a big 'Amen' or something. Or maybe do more than kiss him.
Instead he just hunched there, fighting to breathe, fighting to keep his own mind clear in the currents he felt around all of them. Maybe he wanted that clarity in the hopes it might help Wreg, or maybe he felt time sliding away from them again, drifting into an abyss. He couldn't see his way to the other side, couldn't see them leaving with Cass or Maygar or whoever else...whatever the blue-eyed seer said.
He could barely see the room anymore through the construct. Everyone around him looked distorted, not quite real. He found himself holding onto Wreg's words as some kind of lifeline, using them to find his way to the few things that felt true to him still.
He didn't realize his whole body had tensed until Neela shook him slightly, giving him another warning look when Jon glanced in her direction.
Looking at her helped.
Something in her eyes seemed to bring him sharply back into the room. He looked at her until he felt his breathing normalize once more, until the very furniture and floors and the roaring fire clicked back into focus around him.
"Brother Wreg," the blue-eyed seer said, clicking at him softly, but patiently. "You know the world has darkened since those early years. It has darkened more than we could ever have predicted back in those more innocent times...more than we would have thought possible, despite how difficult things seemed then. We still serve the intermediaries...you know we do, deep in your heart. But you must see that drastic action is called for, if we want to save this world and our people before it is too late. We cannot wait for the Bridge or the Sword to awaken to their true calling...and truthfully, they are no longer needed..."
Staring up at him, Wreg frowned.
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning...the fourth of the Four has awakened at last. She will be the one to bring in the final preparations for the great change..."
"The fourth?" Wreg said. "You are talking about War."
"I am, brother."
"Who is she?" Wreg said sharply. "You know her identity?"
"Indeed we do. In fact, she was the first of your friends we invited here..."
Jon heard the words in his head, but couldn't quite comprehend them. He found himself replaying them, again and again, trying to make sense of what the seer had said, but knew even as he did it that he already understood.
The seer was talking about Cass.
He was saying Cass was War.
JON STARED BLANKLY up at Cass, who still sat at the long oak table, her jaw propped on her hand from where she leaned her elbows. She had no reaction whatsoever to the blue-eyed seer's words. Jon himself couldn't find a way to think about this, to even comprehend it, so he looked at Allie instead. Allie's jaw had hardened, so much it changed the shape of her face.
She stared at Cass, too, looking at her over the table from where she knelt by Revik.
"You're lying," she said finally.
The seer stared at her, his voice amused, and once more his, no longer carrying those deeper and more precise tones. "Am I?"
"Yes, you are," she said angrily, turning on him. "This is just more screwing with our heads. Cass is human. She's never been anything but human...I've known her my whole life."
The seer shrugged, one-handed. "It is as you say."
"Which part?" Allie snapped.
"She is, indeed, human," the seer said. "She is also our beloved intermediary, who sacrifices herself by coming in this most humble of forms. She is the most Formidable War, the fourth of the Four...and the bringer of the end. She is awakened with fire when the softer path is no longer working." Giving Allie a mockingly apologetic shrug, he gestured towards Revik with the same hand. "...Clearly, it is not."
Allie stared at him, then back at Cass.
Wreg seemed unable to tear his eyes off Cass, as well.
Cass herself sighed a bit, then leaned her side against Feigran, who had an arm around her shoulders. Feigran glanced around at all of them proudly, a smile at his full lips.
"That's my girl," he said.
"Gods above," Wreg breathed. "It can't be true."
"She has already decided to come with us," the blue-eyed Yosef said, his voice again holding a faint thread of apology. "...As has her companion, our honored and Ubiquitous Rook...the third of your set." Looking at Wreg and then Allie, he added, "I'm afraid we must insist that you respect their wishes in this matter..."
"No!" Jon shouted. He regained his feet before he knew he intended to, jerking free of Neela's grasp when she tried to hold him in place. "No, Cass! No!"
Before Neela could grab hold of him again, Jon crossed the distance between himself and Cass, laying his hands on the table between them and leaning over to where she sat.
"Cass, no!" he said, shaking his head at her adamantly. "You can't possibly want this! Why would you agree to go with them? Why?"
"Little brother..." she began, smirking at him faintly.
"Don't 'little brother' me, goddamn it..." he snapped, grabbing hold of her arm. Laughing, she tried to pull away, but he gripped her tighter, staring into her face. "Cass!" Tears filled his eyes, so suddenly they blinded him, leaving him breathless, like a punch to the chest. "Cass, we love you! Please. Please, don't do this...you'll break all of our hearts!"
She rolled her eyes at him, once more trying to free her arm, but he refused to let go.
"Cass!" he said. "Please, don't –– "
"You'll recover, Jon," she said, her voice hard, but sounding more like the Cass he'd known, even with the coldness underneath. "I'm sure Wreg's dick will be comfort enough...clearly you haven't been missing me all that much until now..."
"Bullshit! Bullshit we haven't!" he said, practically shouting at her now. "It's not just me! It's Allie, it's Revik...we all love you. Chandre loves you..."
Cass's eyes turned even colder. "You don't know what you're talking about, Jon. You don't even know me anymore. You haven't known me for a lot longer than you seem to realize..."
"Bullshit!" Jon said again, once more blinded by tears. He wouldn't let go of her though, and knew his fingers had to be hurting her when he squeezed to hold the bone. "Bullshit, Cass! This is just you walling yourself up...trying not to feel. Just like you did when that fucker tortured you!" he said. "Don't let him do this to you, Cass! Please! Come with us...we can help you, I swear we can. You're not seeing things clearly right now...I promise you, you're not. I can barely think straight in here, and I've been here less than an hour..."
"Jon!" she said, her voice openly angry. "No one is making me do anything! You have no idea what you're talking about, all right? I'm not the same person you knew! No more than Allie is who we knew back home, when we watched kung fu movies and ate pizza at your place..." Staring up at his face, her lip curled into a derisive frown. "Just go home...play with your little lists and let me do what I'm here to do..."
"Which is what? Be a puppet of this Shadow dick and Feigran?"
He raised his voice towards the end, yanking her arm tighter to pull her away from Feigran's clutching hands. She tried to get away, but Jon only dragged on her harder, refusing to let go.
"Jon!" Feigran said, sounding dismayed. He held Cass's shoulders in his hands. "Please let her go! She is telling you the truth...and I would never hurt my sweet girl! She and I have reconciled entirely about my past mistakes..."
"Past mistakes?" Jon stared at him, feeling his throat close. "Get your fucking hands off her, man! Or I'll do more than cut off a few of your fingers..."
Behind him, someone grabbed hold of Jon's shoulders.
He knew it was Wreg, even before he turned. Then he saw the guards on the other side of the table, holding guns aimed at his head.
"Let her go, cousin. Now," the blue-eyed seer said, his voice an open threat.
Jon gripped Cass tighter, but Wreg he
ld him tighter, too, wrapping an arm around his chest.
"Let her go, Jon," he said in his ear. "Please, brother...please..."
Jon shook his head, feeling his throat close past where he could form words, but the seer clutched him harder, exuding warmth, what felt like love.
"Please, gods...let her go," Wreg said. "We'll come back for her, I swear it...I promise you. We won't leave her to this, not as long as I draw breath. But they will shoot you, brother, if you don't let her go..."
Jon turned his head, looking into the seer's pleading eyes. Then he looked at the guards and saw that more than one had guns trained on the two of them now.
"Now," the blue-eyed seer Yosef said. "Now, worm...or I give the order. You have five seconds..."
Jon's fingers opened. Panting, he straightened a few beats later, still standing there, fighting to breathe as he stared down at Cass. Wreg didn't let go of him, or move away from where he covered most of Jon's body with his.
"Lower the guns!" Wreg said. "He's released her..."
The guards glanced at Yosef, who made a subtle gesture of affirmation.
Slowly, the guns lowered from around the room. Then the nearest of the guards stepped back, but they didn't re-holster their weapons, or go very far from where Jon and Wreg stood. They receded just behind Yosef, in a line highlighted by the fire in the fireplace.
Yosef inclined his head. "I'm afraid we've had to engage protective protocols around our precious and Formidable War, as well," he said, giving Allie a hard look before his eyes roamed over the rest of them. "...Consider yourselves warned. It would be best if no one touched her again. I would hate to be forced into another action that might destroy any chance of our being able to negotiate peaceful terms in the future..."
Jon barely heard this.
He took a step back when Wreg tugged on him gently, yet he couldn't take his eyes off Cass. He didn't realize he was still crying until tears once more blurred his vision.
"I'm coming back for you, Cass," he said. "I promise you...I am."
She rolled her eyes, seer-fashion, rubbing her arm where Jon had held her.
Allie's War Season Three Page 75
