"Then we will burn them," Garth decided. "Come morning, this temple must be empty except for us."
Chapter 19
Revealed
The citizens of Pia started entering the temple at daybreak, and by the normal service time, the temple was packed. Most of the followers kneeled in prayer as they waited, but some looked around impatiently for the priest. Eventually, the curtain parted, and two black-cloaks walked into the room and flanked the altar. Everyone kneeled and pressed his head to the floor. The black-cloaks gazed at the audience in silence for a long time before some of the people looked up questioningly. K'san was usually very prompt and the delay was becoming noticeable. A collective sigh of relief drifted over the audience as the curtain parted, and the tall, black priest entered the room.
K'san began the service much as he had the day before. He spoke softly at first and informed the followers of the wonderful nature of paradise. As the service progressed, K'san's voice rose in volume, and his tone became more belligerent. When the priest began admonishing the followers for their lack of faith, every head was pressed to the floor, and every eye was closed. The followers waited for the demand that they punish themselves, but the voice of K'san unexpectedly faltered. As the worshippers waited in silence, one of them risked opening his eyes and looking towards the altar. He gasped loudly, which caused everyone to look up. The two black-cloaks who had been flanking K'san had been moved to the front corners of the room. Now surrounding the priest were the gods.
"How dare you speak to my people this way?" demanded Abuud, the god of Peace and Harmony. "They do not exist to please you, but to please all of the gods."
"And Balmak is not even one of the gods," added Mya, the goddess of luck.
"You are a fraud," accused Leda, goddess of fertility.
"As is Balmak," interjected Thun, the god of war.
K'san's face was a mask of horror as the gods confronted him. He dropped to his knees in front of the gods and begged for mercy. The audience was silent, but their eyes were wide with fear and confusion.
"I mean the people well," pleaded K'san. "Perhaps my ways were a bit too rough. I apologize."
"Mean them well?" spat Char, the god of fire. "You are a deceiver. You rouse the people against the good stewardship of King Arik in an attempt to seize control for yourself. There is a penalty for such a vile offense against the gods."
Char raised his hand and flames shot out of his fingertips. K'san screamed as his black flesh began to blister and peel. The worshippers gasped loudly and jumped to their feet. Some of them raced out of the temple, but most of them just backed towards the entrance. They were too enthralled by the display of power from the gods to leave.
"Now ye know, false priest," scowled Aara, the goddess of air, "that King Arik is favored by all of the gods. We have granted him stewardship over all of Alcea, and woe to him who bears arms against him."
Aara pointed at K'san and a great wind blew in from the street. The air caused Char's flames to leap greedily as the fire consumed the priest's flesh.
"You are so foul," added Dora, the goddess of soil, "that your body will not rest in my land. Instead the dirt shall infest your wounds to increase your pain."
The stream of air flowing in from the street suddenly turned brown. Dirt swirled in the air and blasted the priest's body as if he were forced to endure a great sandstorm.
"Nor shall the waters receive your torn flesh," declared Risa, the goddess of water. "Such precious liquids will even be denied to your body."
Risa waved her hand in the air and glared at the burning priest. As the followers watched with a morbid fascination, K'san's flesh parted and his blood began to seep from his flesh. It took only a moment for K'san to cease to exist. The elements attacked the priest until there was nothing left to burn, and the winds stopped howling. All that remained was a large puddle of blood. There were not even any bones to be buried. As if rehearsed, the gods suddenly turned and glared at the worshippers. Dozens of people fled from the building screaming, but others remained, frozen in fear.
"Hear me, people of Pia," Abuud said loudly. "You have been led astray, and the false prophet has been punished, but others will tempt you again. Only your faith in the true gods will save you from punishment. Lest others sway you in the future, look to your king for direction. Arik the Warrior King knows well the true meaning of the gods. Listen to him and serve him. Today this temple will be closed, never to reopen."
The worshippers were still frozen in their places unaware that the show was over. Thun stepped forward and motioned to the two black-cloaks.
"You two will clear this temple of all people," Thun demanded. "Bar the doors when all have left so that it will remain barred forever."
As the two black-cloaks moved towards the worshippers, the people fled. A handful remained near the door to witness the gods fading from sight. The black-cloaks eventually pushed them out and slammed the doors.
"Well done, Balamor," Kalina said as she lowered the hood of her black-cloak. "Your depiction of the gods was perfect. I could almost believe that they were actually here."
The tall mage from Pog walked out of the dark corner and performed a mock bow. "I was afraid that some of them would not leave," he admitted.
"That is why Kalina and I were here," replied Garth as he lowered his black hood. "How do we follow your instructions to seal this temple?"
"Kalina can handle that," smiled Balamor. "A display of magic coming from a black-cloak will surprise no one."
"Then let's get it done," urged Garth. "I want to get out of this city before anyone happens to recognize us."
* * *
The Head of Lanoirian Intelligence hurried out of the room, his six bodyguards hurrying to form a cordon around him. Rut-ki watched her superior and his men until they rounded the corner of the corridor. As soon as they were out of sight, the spy hurried to Wu-kang's desk and unlocked the secret drawer with the copy of his key that she had made. She opened the drawer and picked out the piece of paper that had just been delivered by special courier. She knew the message had to be important to cause Wu-kang to leave so suddenly. As her eyes ran over the text, she mentally decoded the secret message. Her eyes widened with surprise, and she hurriedly put the paper back and locked the drawer.
Despite explicit instructions to remain in the room until Wu-kang's return, Rut-ki left the room, locking the door behind her. Moving as swiftly as decorum allowed, she made her way to Bin-lu's suite. She knocked on the door in a prearranged sequence and then used a key to let herself into the room. Bin-lu, Tedi, and Natia were staring at the doorway as she entered.
"Aren't you supposed to be on duty?" Bin-lu asked anxiously.
"This is too important," Rut-ki replied as she closed the door and locked it. "Something is going on that requires immediate attention."
Bin-lu waved Rut-ki across the room to the table where the Knights of Alcea were sitting.
"A special courier just delivered a coded message to Wu-kang," explained Rut-ki. "The Temple of Balmak in Pia is sealed shut. The gods destroyed the priest during a service and demanded that the temple never be used again."
"I know about that," smiled Bin-lu. "We just had a fairy message from Tagaret. The followers of Balmak in Pia were ready to start a revolt. The Knights of Alcea closed the temple down, although it was meant to be interpreted as an act of the gods. It sounds as if they were successful in deceiving Wu-kang."
"I guess they were," Rut-ki continued, "but Wu-kang is in a rage. I suspect that this is a major setback in some plan of his. He just stormed out of the palace on his way to the temple here in Ongchi."
"Can we discover what his next plan will be?" asked Natia. "Is there anything in his files that might shed some light on it?"
"No," Rut-ki shook her head impatiently. "I have been through his files. Bin-lu, this is the moment you have been waiting for. You must seize the moment."
"What moment?" Bin-lu asked in confusion.
"Wu-ka
ng always meets with K'san in the meeting room of the temple," explained Rut-ki. "It is the only time that we can be sure that the priest is not in his own office."
"Are you sure of where they meet?" asked Bin-lu.
"Positive," Rut-ki nodded. "His bodyguards don't like the fact that they are not allowed into the meeting room with Wu-kang. They are forced to stand outside the room until the meeting is over. You must hurry."
"This sounds too hurried and dangerous," warned Tedi. "It is one thing to skulk around the temple when you plan in advance, but a spur of the moment intrusion is liable to get you killed."
"But I do want to check out his office," mused Bin-lu. "I have never been able to get in there. There might be a wealth of documents just waiting to be discovered."
"This could be the breakthrough that we have been waiting for," Rut-ki added.
"We will go with you," offered Natia.
"Impossible," Bin-lu shook his head. "I can get into the temple because I am known to be a Snake, but I would be discovered as a spy if I tried to sneak others in with me. I must go alone."
"You sound as if your mind is made up," frowned Tedi. "Think about it before you charge off. We are close to learning a great deal about the followers of Balmak."
"There is no time to dwell upon this," Bin-lu replied as he retrieved a cloak and pulled it over his uniform. "I don't know how long the meeting will last, so I must move quickly."
Bin-lu unlocked the door and moved quickly out of the room. He hurried out of the palace and across the city to the Temple of Balmak. Sliding the wristband with the gold design onto his arm, Bin-lu approached the rear door of the temple. The two large sentries nodded slightly in recognition of the Snake and banged on the door. The door opened almost immediately, and Wu-Qin let Bin-lu into the temple. The black-cloak did not like Bin-lu, and he made no attempt to hide it.
"Your superior is in the meeting room with K'san," Wu-Qin scowled. "They are not to be disturbed by the likes of you."
Bin-lu pointedly ignored the black-cloak and moved deeper into the temple. He heard Wu-Qin mutter a snide remark behind his back, but the spy had no time to spare for a confrontation with the mage. As Bin-lu maneuvered through the corridors of the temple, he pulled a hood over his head so he could pass by the meeting room without revealing his identity to the Lanoirian soldiers standing outside of it. K'san's office was at the end of a long corridor in the center of the building. There were no other doors off the corridor, so the Knight of Alcea paused at the mouth of the corridor to let a fairy out of his pocket.
"You are to hide here, Shrimp," Bin-lu whispered. "Alert me if anyone is coming."
"I will keep watch for you," vowed the little green man.
Bin-lu continued down the long corridor and tried to open the door to K'san's office. It was locked. He pulled a thin strip of metal from the inside of his belt and soon had the door opened. He entered the office and locked the door. Moving quickly to the priest's desk, the spy began examining the papers on top of it. Most of the slips of paper were reports from spies all over Ongchi. None of them were coded, and Bin-lu tried to memorize the names of the spies. As alluring as that information was, Bin-lu was after something of much greater importance. He was hoping to find out who was organizing the revolution. While K'san appeared to be the most superior person in Ongchi, Bin-lu knew there had to be someone even higher up.
The drawers of the desk were not locked, and Bin-lu rifled through them. He found bags of gold and more spy reports, but he ignored those items. Another drawer yielded a list of officers in the Lanoirian army. Bin-lu scanned the list thinking it was a list of revolutionaries, but it was actually the opposite. It was list of those who had to be killed when the revolt began. He was glad to see that his name was not on it. His cover was still intact. The last drawer in the desk was locked. Bin-lu pulled out the metal strip again and began to work on the drawer. He knew that he probably had found what he was looking for.
"You are in trouble," Shrimp said excitedly. "K'san and Wu-kang are coming down the corridor. You must hide. I was going to create a distraction, but Wu-kang posted his bodyguards at the end of the corridor. I could do nothing without being discovered."
Bin-lu looked around the room frantically. As the room was in the center of the building, there was no window. There was only one door, and it was the door that the priest would walk through. The single torch on the wall alongside the desk cast flickering shadows all over the room, but there was no dark corner to hide in. Outside the room, the sound of approaching footsteps grew louder. Nervously, Bin-lu removed his boots and gloves and attached them to his belt. He applied his sticky hands and feet to the wall and scurried upward. Working his way across the ceiling, Bin-lu eased into the darkest corner just as K'san unlocked the door. Hanging onto the ceiling like a fly, the spy watched the priest and intelligence officer enter the office.
"Talk of this nature is best discussed in a secure area," K'san said as he locked the door and motioned for the officer to take a seat.
"You don't even trust the black-cloaks?" asked Wu-kang.
"I don't trust anyone," K'san retorted humorlessly, "not even you. This organization is not built on trust. You know that. Only those who have a need to know should have information divulged to them. The black-cloaks have no need to know about Pia until I decide otherwise. The same should be true of your people."
"I have told no one," Wu-kang assured the priest.
"Not even Bin-lu?" pressed the priest.
"No," frowned Wu-kang. "Why do you single him out? He has performed well."
"Perhaps too well," retorted the priest. "You trusted Wei-ra's judgment on him. That was a mistake on your part. You should trust no one."
"If you have an accusation to make, make it," demanded Wu-kang.
"Bin-lu was in Chi-Chan when Wei-ra died," declared K'san.
"Impossible," Wu-kang responded with more conviction than he felt. "I had the crew of the delivery boat interrogated. Every passenger was accounted for."
"Then he did not travel by boat," shrugged K'san. "He was there with two gypsies and a Lanoirian woman. Do you know what the woman's name was?"
"Do not play games with me," snapped Wu-kang. "If you have information to share, put it out where I can evaluate it."
"Her name," K'san smiled thinly, "was Rut-ki."
Wu-kang bolted to his feet and started towards the door.
"Sit down," K'san demanded loudly. "I am not through with you."
"I must send my men to eliminate her," replied Wu-kang. "She is alone in my office at this very moment."
"As she has been on numerous occasions before," K'san said calmly. "Sit down. We have more important things to discuss. Her death can wait a few minutes longer."
"Are you sure of this information?" Wu-kang asked as he returned to his chair.
"Positive," nodded K'san. "When a priest of Balmak dies, it gets investigated thoroughly. We are not meant to die. That is what troubles me about the incident in Pia. I also just received a message from my sources up there. They were in the final stages of planning. The revolution was to begin there within a fortnight."
"My message said that the gods intervened," frowned Wu-kang. "How are we to fight against the gods?"
"The gods are dead," replied K'san. "They had nothing to do with the murder of the priest."
"People saw it happen," protested Wu-kang. "How can you deny it?"
"It was an illusion," explained K'san. "Whoever killed the priest and his staff were adept at what they do. Some of my people snuck into the temple after it was sealed. There was a great battle inside the building, but it had occurred the night before. I need to know who attacked Pia and how they knew about it. Do you have any intelligence officers up there?"
"No," Wu-kang shook his head. "Mu-chen had someone there, but I had him eliminated just to be safe. That left us with no one in the army up there. There is no way Bin-lu or Rut-ki could have found anything in my files about Pia."
; "I am actually sorry to hear you say that," frowned K'san. "That means that we have more spies to be uncovered, and we are running out of time."
"Running out of time?" echoed the intelligence officer. "I do not understand."
"There is a schedule to be met," sighed K'san. "In order to bring Balmak back to us, the world must be in utter chaos. The devastation and despair must be so great that people will cry out for death as a form of relief. Only then will Balmak return and usher in the era of paradise. Our armies stand ready to ensure that misery will rule supreme throughout Alcea, but first we must effectively destroy Alcea's ability to rally a defense. Without the revolution, we cannot accomplish our goal."
"Armies?" questioned Wu-kang. "What armies? Where are they?"
"Wu-Qin has kept you in the dark, I see," smiled K'san. "My opinion of him has just risen."
"You haven't answered my question," replied Wu-kang. "I am supposed to be an equal leader of this revolution. Why is information being kept from me? Is my loyalty to Balmak being questioned?"
"You are loyal," K'san smiled thinly. "I do not question that, but perhaps Wu-Qin was wise in keeping it to himself. You did after all get duped by Bin-lu and Rut-ki, not to mention Mu-chen."
"We took care of Mu-chen," scowled Wu-kang, "and we will take care of the other two. If I am to help pave the way for Balmak's army, I deserve to know more about it."
"You deserve to know only what I tell you," retorted K'san. "You have sworn your life to Balmak. That is not reversible. Do you understand?"
Wu-kang swallowed hard and nodded his head.
K'san smiled at the officer's obedience. "Our armies are not of this land," he said softly. "They will have to travel far to engage in battle. For that reason we must disrupt the armies of Alcea. I am sure from a military viewpoint that you understand what I am saying?"
"I understand," replied the officer. "The old Lanoirian army was destroyed because it was so far from home. What does this all have to do with Pia?"
"Our enemies have successfully destroyed two temples so far," answered the priest. "Worse, they have managed to kill two priests. That is inconceivable. We must alert all of the other temples to be wary. If someone is successfully foiling our plan then we must learn who they are and eliminate them."
Knights of Alcea Page 24
