Lori came up to Tonya and hugged her, a real hug. “I did it,” Lori whispered, for her ears only. “I saved you. Don’t make me regret saving you.”
“I won’t,” Tonya said, without words. Yes, her soul belonged to Lori now. It felt good to be under the control of someone so similar. Yes, they would revel in their twisted souls together and smite their enemies, Focus style.
Carol cleared her throat. “You called me ‘the Commander’, Tonya.”
“Not by accident, either,” Tonya said, disentangling herself from Lori. “Patterson thinks she has the Commander working for her – not you, but Martine DeYoung. Focus DeYoung was the person who gave us the ‘Commander’ name, when she claimed to be her, back during the Mary Beth Julius rebellion in ‘64. Before then, this was just part of the Dreams we Focuses and apparently the Crows share. DeYoung not only named her, but told us the signs we needed to use to recognize the Commander: returning from the dead, healing, inspirational military leadership, and the overthrowing of the old order. DeYoung discounted one sign, though, the denial of the honors, a sign all of us who Dreamed could recognize. Her hubris drove her to bad decisions, allowing me to capture her.”
“Good,” Carol said. “I can still deny this bit of magical nonsense.”
“Not if we’re the ones naming you,” Lori said. She and Gilgamesh stood side by side, hand in hand. Tonya metasensed the presence of another among them, the Madonna of Montreal, and shivered. These absurd Focus capabilities are what she should have had all along. “And this isn’t supernatural in the slightest, as I’ve said before.”
“I’ve got to hear this,” Tonya said. “The fact this sounds so supernatural is always what’s kept me from being a true believer.”
Lori turned to Carol, who shrugged, tapped her left toe on the carpet, theatrically sighed, and rolled her eyes.
“Go ahead, tell her about your national superorganism theory. Then,” Carol said, grimacing, turning to Tonya, “we’re going to go over every last word you’ve said to us, so we can find out what’s real and what’s just Patterson lies.”
Tonya closed her eyes in pain, not looking forward at all to redoing this agonizing exercise.
“I never used the words ‘national superorganism’,” Lori said, professorial, and if Tonya read her correctly, happy. “That’s Carol’s extrapolation, which I can’t endorse until the data supports it, even though it is a viable hypothesis. My explanation starts with the Dreaming…”
This trip to Lori-land was going to last a long time, Tonya realized.
As in: the rest of Tonya’s life.
---
Tonya knew the interrogation was over only when Carol phoned her people to have them take Tonya back to the hotel. Tonya apologized to everyone again for her behavior before they had ripped the Patterson tag off her. Lori gave her another hug.
Three days of interrogation left Tonya weak, exhausted, not only from her wounds, but from the effects of breaking the Patterson tag. Not the triumphant Carol, who seemed to thrive on this sort of interrogation. Nor secret agent Zielinski, who just took notes and looked enigmatic. Gilgamesh, despite feeding on dross to his heart’s content, was a wreck, cycling from exultation to despair. Of Tonya’s questioners, the only one who had any proper fear of Tonya’s reborn capabilities was Gilgamesh, and for that, he earned Tonya’s respect. Especially since he hadn’t done the Crow thing and fled in terror.
She had hoped for more personal acceptance after she joined their Cause, but hadn’t gotten it from anyone but Lori, who practically levitated in late pregnancy bliss, buoyed by the turn of events. Tonya focused her mind and her willpower, sitting silently in the car on the way back to the hotel, plotting and planning and recovering. Back at the hotel, after the prerequisite hugs of relief for her survival, Tonya ordered her people out of the room before she let herself shiver, sob and, eventually, cry.
She had so much to do. She knew she wouldn’t last a week unless she beefed up her household security to an absurd level. She was a target, now. She also had to check her local Focus friends for Patterson tags as soon as she possibly could.
The world had become a deadly place.
She hoped the Cause, and the Commander, turned out to be worth the danger.
Enkidu: December 15, 1968
Wandering Shade stood up on the picnic table in the Spring Lake Forest Preserve, the table he claimed as his own. Enkidu knelt and bowed, as did the other ten Hunters. Odin glared at him, surprised to see him alive. Annoyance rattled through Enkidu simply because his Master forced him to be here with the other Hunters.
“My friends,” his Master said. “Today we’re going to be changing the Hunter Law in a way that’s slowly become apparent to me as a necessity. Ready yourselves.”
Enkidu’s annoyance became pain, as his juice level plummeted to the edge of withdrawal. The world vanished in a haze of insanity and agony, and what was left of his mind shivered in now unfamiliar terror at the depth of this change. His Master hadn’t modified the basics of the Law in well over a year.
An instant and an infinity of agony later, Enkidu’s juice returned to him. He got up from his prone position, returning to his kneel, and searched inside himself to see if he could understand the change.
And there it was. He wanted to howl in despair, but his Hunter discipline kept him quiet.
“Master,” Odin said. “Why did you do this to us? You made us weak!”
Wandering Shade sighed. “I understand. Your previous aggressiveness was necessary, as there were too few of you, and you needed to be able to attack and defend on your own against all comers. I’ve come to the conclusion your over-aggressiveness is no longer needed. Today, and henceforth, the Hunters must become aggressive as a group.”
Enkidu looked at the Hunter to his left, Thunder, and understood. Thunder still bothered him just by his presence, but the bother no longer overwhelmed him. He wouldn’t need his Master looming over him to keep him from attacking another Hunter. “Who are we going to fight, Master?” Enkidu said. No other reason for such a change existed. Leave it to a Crow to think the Hunters and their packs would need to be able to fight together as an army.
“Our enemies!” Wandering Shade said, laughing loudly. “The war I’ve long predicted and readied for is finally upon us. Our enemies will be gathering for a wedding in May, and we’re going to crash the reception when they’re tired and weak. Well over a half dozen Focuses will be attending, along with a goodly fraction of their households. This time our goal is simple and straightforward: kill them all. The slaughter we create will destroy the unity of the Focuses.”
Enkidu’s eyes opened in surprise and he let loose an involuntary howl of pleasure. The other Hunters joined in, a cacophony of juice power that swelled Enkidu’s soul. Finally!
“Yes!” Wandering Shade said, smiling. “Until then, my friends, prepare for battle. While you learn how to work together as an army, you must be constantly on guard, as our enemies might sense our preparations and attack us first. In addition, I’m going to be holding a competition to see who among the senior Hunters will be in charge of the actual battle, a competition of both mind and strength. The winner will be our General.”
The statement resonated inside of Enkidu. This, too, was part of the Master’s change to the Law. The dominant Hunter, currently Odin, could now legally support lieutenants who were dominant in special areas, such as battle and finance.
Enkidu smiled his wolf-man smile, toothy and dangerous. He would become the General. He knew this down to the bottom of his soul. It might even be worth the personal weakness created by this change in the Law.
“Will you be in command, Master?” Odin said. “You are our Master still, aren’t you?”
“This too has changed,” Wandering Shade said. “Our General shall be the commander. I am no longer your Master; now, I am the Master of Masters. As Master of Masters, I will set the time and place of the battle, but nothing else. You are the Master of the Hunters, Odin. I
n time, you will meet your peers, the Masters of my other groups. But not until you defeat our enemies.”
Yes, Enkidu thought to himself. Commander. He could get used to that.
“Where? Where is this wedding reception we are going to bathe in blood?” Odin said.
“Where else?” Wandering Shade said. He paused. The Hunters howled in anticipation. “Detroit!”
Chapter 12
Crow empathy is both their greatest strength and their greatest weakness. Crow minds are flexible, perhaps too flexible.
“The Life of Crows”
Letters: December 17, 1968 – December 19, 1968
Council Members
After much effort and negotiation, Focus Lori Rizzari has formally given up her rebellion. She has entrusted in me the representation of the positions she espoused in her manifesto. Of these, I am demanding the recognition of only one: that Male Arms are responsible for the kidnapping of Focus Gloria Frasier of Chicago on August 1st of this year. We can ignore the threat of the Male Arms no longer. Our households are at risk, and we must act. In our actions we will have the aid of our sisters the Arms.
A note on etiquette. Proper etiquette requires that when dealing with any of the Arms, your first contact should go through the head Arm, Stacy Keaton. The Arms, although individuals who exist outside of all organizations, do possess a precedence hierarchy we must honor as a matter of politeness.
Focus Tonya Biggioni
East Region Council Representative
Tonya
I’m formally accepting the earlier detailed bribe and I’m moving to Detroit. Who’s going to be the Council’s official liaison to me, now? Please don’t say Esther. I can’t stand that pathetic prawn of a Focus. I’d rather deal with you, if it’s at all politically possible.
By the way, you owe me one personally for this ridiculous charade about ‘dealing with the head Arm is good etiquette’ crap. I’d swear you Focuses can’t do anything in a simple and uncomplicated fashion.
Stacy
My New Friends
I am back in St. Louis after receiving advanced training in my Focus skills from Gloriana. Be patient with me, as I am new to the Elect. I have mastered the skills needed to consecrate a household, how to use consecration to defend my household against intruders and how to use consecration to aid me in my Dreaming. I have learned that we Elect possess different individual strengths; mine is in the Dreaming, and you may call me St. Agnes when we converse there. Outside the Dreaming I am not strong enough to know I am of the Elect, so speak nothing to me about it. Let us be fervent as we prepare for the Great Day, for when we show our true selves to the corrupted Focus community we are forced to belong to, our enemies will fight each other until they are all cast down to Hell.
Your True Christian Friend in Gloriana’s Light.
Focus Iris Casso
Dear {}
Dreams do come true. With encompassing love we welcome Cloud Rizzari into the world and into the Inferno household. She was born December 16 at 7: 05 a.m., 7 lbs 15 oz in weight, and with a length of 17 inches.
Focus Lorraine Rizzari and Crow Sky
P.S. You’re all invited here on December 25th for a proper Inferno Christmas! Let’s have a party! Get a load off your feet. I know I have!
The equivalent of the Focus household, Arm territory, and Chimera pack is the Crow association, those people a Crow is willing to talk to and deal with. Forcing a Crow to change his association is as painful as forcing the other Major Transforms to change their equivalents. Forcing a Crow to talk to and deal with those outside of his association is stressful. The better Crows, though, do seek out new members for their association. It’s one of the major reasons the Crows thrive.
From “The Life of Crows”, 2nd edition, 1976, by The Defender, with Van Schuber and Irene Michaels
Books by this Author
The Commander Series:
Once We Were Human
Now We Are Monsters
All Beasts Together
A Method Truly Sublime
No Sorrow Like Separation
In This Night We Own
All That We Are
The supplementary Commander Series books:
The Good Doctor’s Tales Folio One
All Conscience Fled (The Good Doctor’s Tales Folio Two)
The Good Doctor’s Tales Folio Three
The Good Doctor’s Tales Folio Four
The Good Doctor’s Tales Folio Five
The Good Doctor’s Tales Folio Six
No Chains Shall Bind Me (The Good Doctor’s Tales Folio Seven)
The Good Doctor’s Tales Folio Eight
The Good Doctor’s Tales Folio Nine
Focus
The Cause Series Novels
The Shadow of the Progenitors
Love and Darkness
The Forgefires of God
Beasts Ascendant (The First Chronicle of the Cause) (coming April/May 2016)
(more to come, later)
99 Gods Trilogy Novels
War
Betrayer
Odysseia
99 Gods Trilogy Supplementary Stories
Tales From The Anime Café (Part One)
Tales From The Anime Café (Part Two)
Author’s Afterword
Thanks to Randy and Margaret Scheers, Michelle and Karl Stembol, Gary and Judy Williams, Maurice Gehin, Alex Farmer, and as always my wife, Marjorie Farmer. Without their help this novel would have never been made.
After I collected many helpful but non-monetary responses from various other publishing venues regarding my novels, I decided the best way to introduce the Commander series to a wider audience was via the ebook market. I have two traditionally published short stories, one in Analog and the other in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine.
I hope you enjoyed reading this novel.
The backstory of Focus Gail Rickenbach and her early days as a Focus can be found in my short novel “No Chains Shall Bind Me”.
If you enjoyed this novel, you can find out further information about the Commander series, the background mythos of the Commander series, and about other fiction, on http://majortransform.com. You can also follow me on my Facebook author page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Randall-Allen-Farmer/106603522801212. Interesting and helpful comments are encouraged. Tell your friends. Post reviews.
The Commander series finishes with “All That We Are”.
Randall Allen Farmer
In this Night We Own (The Commander Book 6) Page 39
