The Balance Omnibus

by Alan Baxter

  ‘Through Yath-vados, through blood, is our power real and strong. We will share that power with everyone that proves themselves worthy. Paul and Bill are now on the way to receiving our power. They need to stay true and serve Yath-vados, then, in short time, they will be welcomed into Sanctum and they will learn.’ Lars raised one hand, palm towards the crowd, fingers spread wide. There was a flash of silver as his other hand flicked by and a single rivulet of blood ran down the side of his palm, splitting in the fine blond hairs of his arm. His lips moved soundlessly as his eyes closed. A sudden rushing sound filled the room, the hanging curtains billowing. Bright light spread around him.

  Faith sat frozen, her mouth fallen open. There was a smile trying to pull her mouth closed again as she stared. People around the room seemed to be in ecstasy, some reaching forward, some leaning their heads back, literally bathing in Lars’s glow. Faith felt a rush through her body and mind, more powerful than anything that ecstasy tablet had done for her.

  Lars’s voice boomed through the thick air. ‘Praise Yath-vados, by blood!’

  The crowd roared the words back at him. This time, before she realised it was happening, Faith was shouting the words as well. The rush and the swell in the air faded. Faith watched the light recede from Lars as the feeling leaked away. She felt as if something had been stolen from her. She wanted it back.

  Lars looked lovingly around the room. ‘This power is yours,’ he said. ‘You just have to earn it. Neophytes, Prospects, follow the way. Serve Yath-vados, not for us, not even for Yath-vados Himself, but for yourselves. The more you achieve for yourself in pursuit of the greater good, the more everyone benefits. Let the love and power of Yath-vados guide you, nurture and empower you. Shy not away from the blood as nothing worthwhile is born without it. It is time for you to relax now, while those of the First Degree and above go into Sanctum.’

  Faith’s heart fell. She did not want to miss anything.

  ‘Remember the simple rules of our Order,’ Lars continued. ‘Don’t talk about our meetings, as people will not believe. Those that do know and try to tell you to leave us are the enemy. If you know someone that you think would join us, tell me or James. We will assess them.’ Here Lars paused and his face became hard. ‘And the most important rule of all, if you get caught, you serve your time alone and silent. Pray to Yath-vados and his strength will see you through.’

  Faith felt a slight surge again, a hint of the ecstatic rush that had so recently deserted her. Lars was speaking the mantra of the group again. ‘By blood are all things living empowered and by blood is all change effected.’ Faith was full of the power of Lars and his organisation. His words slid unheard over her mind as she imagined mastering the skills she had seen here tonight. And what else might she learn? Lars’s voice rose in volume, breaking her reverie. ‘If it means their blood, so be it!’

  The Gather roared back. ‘So be it.’

  Lars swept out a hand to encompass everyone present. ‘Yath-vados empower you.’

  The Gather responded again, some reaching back towards Lars. ‘We believe in the blood.’

  ‘Cruor Novus Sempiterna Omnipotens.’ Lars looked serious, intense.

  ‘Cruor Novus Sempiterna Omnipotens.’ The energy of the Gather swelled.

  Then the smile was back and Lars was soft and warm again. ‘Neophytes, Prospects, thank you. We’ll see you again next week. Feel free to mingle here as long as you wish, as usual. Degrees, to Sanctum.’

  People rose amid chatter and movement. As people milled around her, Faith saw the other man in robes, that she assumed was James, pull aside a curtain revealing a table laden with drinks and food, sandwiches, beer, fruit, tea and coffee in urns. Some people headed for the door while others stood around chatting or headed to the table for snacks. A large number of those gathered headed towards the back of the room. Passing by Lars and James they slipped through a door at the back of the room that Faith had not noticed until then. As she watched, Lars appeared in a gap in the crowd, his eyes locked to hers. His smile was like honey on her mind. He mouthed words to her. ‘Wait here for me.’ Faith was sure she actually heard the words too, deep in her ears, even though he was far too far away.

  Faith dipped her eyes and nodded. He hadn’t forgotten her! She rose and joined others at the food table as Lars slipped from view.

  7

  ‘Police are uncertain of the reasons for the attack but an act of fundamentalist terrorism has not been ruled out. The local Borough Commander had this to say this afternoon...’

  ‘The motives are currently unknown but we can establish a few things. The device used was relatively small and rather amateurish. It seems that the explosives were compacted into a container of nails and ball bearings, making the kind of bomb we used to see the IRA use on a fairly regular basis.

  ‘However, we think at this stage it’s the work of one person without any real experience or know-how. The potential here is far greater than the actual result. It is terribly regrettable that three innocent people have lost their lives, with many more injured, but if the perpetrator was experienced enough to really know what they were doing there could have been ten times the fatalities.’

  In a small suburban home an unremarkable man smiled, the flickering of the television reflecting off white teeth in the darkened room. ‘I’ll remember that for next time, Borough Commander.’ The man raised his face toward the ceiling and laughed. ‘Three souls for your pleasure, my lord Yath-vados. Not bad for an amateur.’

  In a fetid Realm, something drew in a long, shuddering breath.

  Isiah drove quickly but carefully, trying to watch surreptitiously as the woman beside him changed. He was fascinated to see more of her, he was human enough still to admit that, but he was also interested to know how she would change. It would be difficult to get about the streets dressed as she was without attracting attention. Effective all the time she was actively hiding, but eccentric otherwise.

  The woman’s clothing was wrapped and folded about her elaborately. She unwound some layers from her shoulders and upper chest and the close, practical uniform became a loose blouse, the grey offset by black inside. The black formed wide collars and cuffs and edged a smooth wrap-around across her chest. The material was some sort of silk, strong yet extremely light and thin. Next the head covering was unwound, becoming a light, wide scarf. A pale cream colour on the inside, she folded it out to be the primary surface, light across dark shoulders. Then she shifted in the seat as she unwound and untucked the trousers of the outfit. With deft movements she had fashioned a mid-length skirt, black and flowing. Her soft, dark grey leather boots also had a black lining, revealed as she folded the tops down to make them a short, fashionable accessory. Smooth, muscled calves were revealed between the skirt and boots.

  Settling back into the seat she shook long, shining, thick dark hair loose over her shoulders and pale face. She turned to look at Isiah, those glacial eyes, Eurasian, flashing, amusement tweaking her full lips. ‘Enjoy that?’ she asked. ‘You’ll give yourself a headache twisting your eyes in your skull like that.’

  Isiah grinned, embarrassed to feel himself blush. He turned to face her, momentarily taking his eyes off the road altogether. She was startlingly beautiful. ‘I’m impressed. That’s better than Superman in the phone box.’

  ‘Thanks. So we’re going to the airport, are we?’

  ‘What’s your name?’ The woman looked at him with hooded eyes. Suspicious. Isiah smiled. ‘All right, put it another way. What should I call you? I’m Isiah.’

  The woman nodded. ‘Isiah. Interesting. You can call me Petra.’

  ‘Is that your name?’

  ‘Actually, yes. I think I can trust you, at least with my first name. So, the airport?’

  Isiah nodded. ‘This guy Frank is going to be returning to his master today. I don’t know where his master is, but I do know that Frank needs to fly there. I was staking him out in the hope of finding his master, a guy called the Sorcerer.’

&n
bsp; Petra laughed. ‘Corny.’

  ‘I suppose so, but that’s the only name I know him by. He leads the ONC. They call him Dominus.’

  ‘Ah, yes. Well, I’m aware of the Dominus. Who calls him Sorcerer?’

  ‘Some of his closest disciples. Well, certainly one that I know of, but that disciple is very dead now.’

  Petra watched Isiah as he drove. He could feel her scrutiny. ‘And what is your reason for tracking him,’ she asked after a moment.

  ‘Well, this very dead disciple I mentioned caused a lot of trouble. The Sorcerer is the man that made him and I want to stop him making any more.’

  ‘This man you call the Sorcerer,’ Petra said. ‘He has many disciples. His organisation is bigger than you realise. You’ve barely scratched the surface.’

  ‘I’m beginning to realise that. So maybe you can tell me more about it? And who you are and what your connection is?’

  Petra smiled. ‘Maybe. Let’s see where this little chase leads us first, shall we?’

  ‘Fair enough. We’re just about there.’

  It was over two hours before Isiah finally gave up. Petra had been patient with him. They scoured the car parks looking for Frank’s battered Ford. They searched every level of the airport they could, even slipping through immigration into the departure lounges, using a little mental manipulation. Isiah had been impressed with Petra’s ability, her psychic persuasion soft and delicate. But eventually he gave up. ‘I can’t believe we’ve lost him.’

  ‘You don’t know for certain that he was coming to this airport though, right?’

  They headed out through the main doors, back towards Isiah’s car. ‘No,’ he admitted. ‘He said he was flying out.’

  ‘There are lots of small aerodromes and things like that around. He didn’t have to use the main airport. You have a lot to learn about this ONC, Isiah. They have a lot of money.’

  He looked down at Petra. She stood a couple of inches shorter than he did, but Isiah was tall. ‘Private jets and stuff like that?’

  Petra laughed. ‘Absolutely. And then some. We’ve seen this group expend enormous amounts of money, seemingly on a whim.’

  ‘And who are we?’ Isiah asked. ‘Are you going to tell me a bit more about yourself now?’

  Petra drew in a long, deep breath. ‘We are an ancient and secret order. I risk a lot to tell you anything.’

  ‘But you and I, we’re similar in many ways. We have a lot more in common with each other than we do with regular folk.’

  ‘True. This is the only reason that I’m with you now. You fascinate me. There’s something special about you. Tell you what. Why don’t you start by telling me something about yourself?’

  Isiah nodded. ‘Fair enough. Seems like a fair trade. But it’s a tough question to answer.’

  ‘Try anyway.’

  ‘Okay. A long time ago I was... selected, if you like, by an entity called the Balance. The Balance exists to keep some level of equality in power between all the gods. I’m the agent of that entity here in the mortal Realm and I have to push and shove people and gods around a bit to keep that Balance. Variety is the key, you see. All the things that people believe must have a chance or humanity’s free will is removed. If that happens then one god could become all powerful and effectively enslave humanity.’

  Petra had stopped walking and looked up at Isiah from beneath her hair. ‘Really?’

  He laughed. ‘Yeah, well I know how it sounds. This isn’t something that’s easy to sum up. I’m trying to give you the abridged version.’

  ‘How old are you?’

  He shrugged. ‘I lose count these days. The centuries start running together after the first few.’

  Petra nodded, her expression revealing little, yet Isiah could see something there that bothered him. There was a kind of knowing there, like she had knowledge about him that he didn’t have himself. ‘By what other names are you known?’ she asked.

  ‘None really. There are a couple of entities, Satan for example, that call me the Interferer. But that’s more of a nickname.’ He grinned impishly. ‘I used to be called Edward, but that was before... all this.’

  Petra raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re on first name terms with the Devil? He has a nickname for you?’

  Isiah laughed. ‘Old Nick gets a lot of bad press. He’s not so bad. A necessity, really.’

  ‘The Devil? Not so bad?’

  ‘Not really. Yahweh, Allah, these multiple entities, they are childish, needy, egotistical gods. Creatures like Satan oppose and balance their presence to some extent.’

  Petra’s eyes narrowed. ‘But the Devil is evil. You talk of gods as children and the Devil as not so bad. But the Devil personifies evil.’

  Isiah shook his head. ‘No. People personify evil. And they personify gods and devils and create them in their image. It’s a complicated situation that I have to try to keep in some kind of order, depending on the word of the Balance.’

  Petra nodded, her expression opaque. ‘I wonder...,’ she mused.

  ‘Wonder what?’ Isiah frowned. ‘You’re freaking me out a little bit.’

  Petra smiled. ‘Your work. You say it involves maintaining a balance. That must mean that sometimes you have to do... unsavoury things?’

  Isiah nodded, his expression pained. ‘There are times when innocents must die for the greater good.’

  ‘The needs of the many?’

  ‘Something like that.’

  ‘Let me take you to meet my people,’ Petra said decisively. ‘There may be others that know more and can explain more to you. Then again, there may not.’

  Isiah rolled his eyes. ‘Cryptic! At least I might learn more about you.’

  ‘You might.’

  They had reached his car and stood either side of it, Isiah by the driver’s door. He looked across the roof at Petra. ‘So where are we headed?’

  ‘Well, nowhere that a car can take us. Are you particularly attached to it?’

  ‘Not really.’

  ‘I take it you can keep up with me if I travel in a less conventional manner?’

  ‘I caught you once. I can do it again.’ Isiah smiled at the dark look that crossed Petra’s face. ‘Especially if you want me to catch you.’

  ‘I asked if you could keep up. What makes you think I have any desire for you to catch me?’

  Isiah laughed. ‘Wishful thinking, perhaps.’

  ‘Get in the car.’

  They drove out of town, heading towards less populated areas. Petra had told him that somewhere peaceful was required where they would not be found. He didn’t want to tell her that he could travel very simply and all she needed to do was put an image of their destination in his mind. At this stage he was unsure of the extent of her powers, as she was unaware of how powerful he was. She was a damn good fighter, but he had beaten her. Relatively easily at that. Her ability to manipulate matter, her ability to hide, her sensitivity to his presence before, all these things indicated that her power was broad and her strengths could lie in areas other than fighting. He was happy to play this her way in the hope of learning more about her while revealing as little of himself as possible.

  Before long there were woods and the foothills of mountains all around. As they passed through a small town Petra said, ‘Why don’t we leave the car here?’

  Isiah spotted two teenagers sitting on a fence, looking as bored as only teenagers can. He pulled up beside them. ‘Hi there.’

  They looked at him suspiciously. One was chewing gum, his breath making condensed puffs in the cold air. ‘Hey,’ he said warily.

  Isiah smiled. ‘Either of you two got a licence to drive?’

  The one with the gum nodded towards his friend. ‘He does. Why?’

  Isiah turned to address the other. ‘You got a car?’ The teenager shook his head. ‘You want one?’

  The kid with the gum laughed. ‘Say what? You like young boys, is that it?’

  Petra laughed from the passenger seat. Isiah shot her an am
used glare. ‘Let’s just say I’m very generous,’ he said, addressing the teenager with the licence again. ‘I’m at my journey’s end and I don’t need this car any more. He pulled a pen and the ownership papers out of the glove box and signed off on them, leaving the new owner details blank. Getting out of the car, leaving the engine running, he handed the papers to the teenager. Petra got out of the car and moved casually onto the pavement beside the road. ‘Don’t forget to fill in your details,’ Isiah said. ‘And get some insurance.’

  The two teenagers looked at each other. ‘Are you serious, man?’ asked the one with the gum.

  Isiah nodded once. ‘Yep. You guys have fun. But drive safe and no terrorising the neighbourhood!’

  The two young men looked at each other again and then leapt off the fence and into the car. With a whoop and a ‘Thanks mister!’ they roared off, spraying gravel as they went.

  ‘I think they’re making sure they put some distance between themselves and you before you change your mind,’ said Petra, a smile in her eyes.

  Isiah watch the car skid on the cold, damp road as they took a corner too fast, then they were gone. ‘I just hope I haven’t killed them. Let’s hope they’re smart enough to enjoy it.’

  ‘That was a pretty kind thing you did there.’

  ‘The car would have just sat and rusted somewhere otherwise until the state took it away and auctioned. Spread the love, eh?’

  Petra shrugged, smiling. ‘I guess so. You’re an interesting man, Isiah.’

  ‘Glad you think so.’

  They walked into the woods, heading deep among the trees, far away from the town. Before long Petra decided they were concealed enough and suggested they sit. Isiah sat opposite, cross-legged, the soft bed of pine needles fragrant, cool, comfortable. ‘I want to take you to my home,’ Petra said, watching him closely. ‘It’s where I was raised and trained. It’s the only place that is absolutely sacred to me and I risk a lot taking you there. But I think I’m making the right decision.’