Ascendant's Rite (The Moontide Quartet) (72 page)

‘I believe it is worth the risk,’ she said at last. ‘If Tegeda is willing, I believe she has the right to try. I also believe that she is sincere.’

Corinea let out her breath with a hiss. ‘Oh for goodness sake,’ she began, then stopped when Puravai raised a hand. She gave the old monk an impatient look. ‘Tegeda thinks Ramita’s an Omali goddess! It’s ridiculous—!’

It was embarrassing, because it was true. Though Tegeda, born a by-blow of a Hadishah mage, had been raised with knowledge of both Omali and Amteh faiths, as a Hadishah she’d renounced the Oma as false gods – until she saw Ramita defeat Alyssa Dulayne.

Now she claimed to wish to serve only Ramita.

‘She seems genuine,’ Alaron said cautiously.

‘She’s a trained assassin who came here to kill us,’ Corinea snapped. ‘Her group couldn’t do it by force, so now she’s infiltrating us – you damned children are so trusting it makes me want to slap you! Open your eyes!’

‘I too believe Tegeda is genuine,’ Puravai put in.

Corinea threw up her hands in disgust. ‘Are all Zains this naïve?’

‘I am a market-girl from Aruna Nagar,’ Ramita replied. ‘I am not easy to fool.’

‘We’re not so gullible as all that, Lillea – have you even spoken to her?’ Puravai asked. ‘She’s no fanatic. In fact, she’s an interesting case: she had no idea she was a mage until she manifested, and then she barely escaped stoning as a witch.’

‘Because the Hadishah rescued her! She owes them her life,’ Corinea countered sharply. ‘She should be locked up with the rest of the prisoners.’

‘She’s caused no trouble at all,’ Puravai noted.

‘So far. And that’s apart from the fights between the novices trying to impress her,’ Corinea added acerbically.

‘That’s not her fault.’

‘Isn’t it? I thought you lot were sworn to celibacy, but she leads them on—’

‘She does not!’ Ramita countered. ‘The young men just don’t know how to deal with her.’

‘Exactly!’ Corinea exclaimed, dripping sarcasm. ‘They’re all carrying on like love-struck boys . . . Oh, wait, that’s what they are!’

Puravai rapped his fingers tetchily, the closest anyone ever got to seeing him angry. ‘They have been spoken to about that. You must remember that most of them haven’t even
seen
a women for much of their lives – and they are young, regardless of their vows. And they are as yet only novices; they have not yet taken their full vows. They may choose never to do so.’

‘What do you mean?’ Alaron broke in, looking at Puravai.

‘Well, Brother Longlegs: they are hardly Zain novices any more, are they? Mandira Khojana teaches the creed of Attiya Zai, the path to attain moksha. But we have given these young men the gnosis and a new purpose: defeating evil. You have been training them for this task and you wish them to leave very soon, to seek your son and the Scytale. So who are they now? They are a group, but they have no identity, no structure, no rules, no formal goals or creed. They are confused, my friends, and this matter of Tegeda is part of that.’

Ramita hadn’t been thinking of anything beyond the recovery of Nasatya, but the Master was right. They had taken from these boys their futures – at least, the futures they had expected and believed in – but in so doing, they had created something that would, if the Gods were kind, endure beyond their immediate goals.

Alaron looked thoughtful. ‘Actually,’ he started, ‘I have thought about this. Two years ago, when Cym and Ramon and I were hunting the Scytale, we talked about just what we’d do with the artefact if we ever found it. Of course, we never really believed we’d find it . . . then Jeris Muhren and the General joined us, and it started to become a bit more possible. Anyway, we agreed that we’d use the Scytale to create a force for good; that was the whole point of all this.’ He looked a bit embarrassed as he said, ‘We decided we’d call ourselves the
Ordo Pacifica
: the Order of Peace, but I’m not so sure any more. I’m the only one of the original group . . .
left
.’ The pain in his voice reminded Ramita that he didn’t know the fate of his friend Ramon, but he feared the worst.

Ramita liked the name: it echoed what her late husband had told her of the Ordo Costruo. ‘Antonin would have approved,’ she said firmly.

Corinea made sarcastic noises. ‘These are Lakh, Dhassan and Keshi boys, and anything with “Ordo” in it won’t feel right to them,’ she sniffed. ‘Anyway, your late husband could be damned ruthless when he wanted to be. He certainly wasn’t all peace and forgiveness.’

‘You didn’t know him as I did,’ Ramita retorted.

‘I knew him in all ways, and for longer, girl.’

Ramita glared at her and Corinea glared back.

Alaron and Puravai exchanged glances and the Master said, ‘Putting the name aside, is your idea not the Ordo Costruo again?’

‘Well, yes – but we don’t know if they even still exist. Anyway, they don’t have exclusive rights to sensible ideas.’ Alaron looked at Ramita. ‘What do you think?’

‘I agree with my husband,’ she replied, looking up at him fondly.

Corinea looked skywards. ‘I despise newly-weds.’

Puravai gave her a stern look. ‘This is important: we need to consider what exactly your new “order” might be. For example, do you wish to start with novices or trainees who graduate to being a full member of the order? Do you wish to acknowledge different levels of expertise? What moral constraints do you wish to impose? What educational qualifications? What level of expertise in martial training? Do you wish the novices to maintain their Zain vows? Obviously I would prefer they do, but I recognise that pacifism is not so easy when one is confronted with deadly force.’

‘Clearly,’ Corinea said in an ironic voice.

‘Nevertheless, restraint seems to me to be important,’ Puravai went on, unperturbed. ‘And do you wish to allow them to put aside their vows of celibacy, to have children or to wed? And what if their offspring do not wish to be in the order – or what if they themselves wish to leave the order, having their heads turned by the world?’ He smiled apologetically. ‘I could go on . . . but you begin to see the complexities.’

Ramita slipped her hand into Alaron’s under the table. ‘We need to include people, not shut them out.’

‘I’ve no quarrel with that,’ Corinea agreed. ‘There aren’t a lot of us to start with.’

Alaron frowned. ‘My father used to say, “If you want a broad church, build a big roof and lots of doors.”’

‘My father would say that if you want to sell things, ask what the buyers want,’ Ramita put in.

Everyone looked at her. Alaron squeezed her hand. ‘Actually, I think my father would probably agree with that.’

‘We’re both children of traders,’ she reminded the others proudly.

Corinea rolled her eyes again, but she turned to Master Puravai. ‘It’s actually sensible. We need to find out what the novices want.’

*

As the young men honed their skills in the gnosis, use of the kon-staff and the mental disciplines of the Zains, each was taken aside and asked, ‘You agreed to learn this gnosis to fight a very specific evil. But if this evil is overcome, how do you wish to live afterwards, now that you have the gift of this power?’

It was soon apparent that only two – Gateem, the most pacifist, and Yash, the most worldly – had given the matter any thought. Oddly, for all they were opposites in many ways, their ideas were quite similar.

‘We cannot go back to being Zain monks,’ Gateem said in his serious, impassioned manner. ‘If we’re to engage with the world, we must do so completely. Gifts such as these are for using.’ Under Corinea’s tutelage, he was becoming a very skilled healer. His face lit up as he added, ‘Imagine the work we could do among the poor!’

‘We cannot go back to being Zain monks afterwards,’ Yash echoed in his own interview. ‘If we’re to fight evil, we can never stop – evil goes on, and so must we. We must be a new thing to do this – new vows. New ranks.’

Both young men must have started bending the ears of their comrades, because after that everyone else started suggesting much the same things – and so the new order began to take shape, a process which culminated one evening when they all remained in the foodhall after the meal.

Somewhat to Alaron’s surprise, it was Aprek who stood and took the lead, but he quickly realised that while Gateem and Yash were opinion-leaders, Aprek, the most thoughtful and well-read, was the more comfortable speaker.

‘Master Puravai, Magister Alaron, Lady Meiros, Lady Lillea,’ he began, hands clasped and bowing, ‘we have given this matter much thought. Not all have agreed – in fact we have argued long and hard into many nights.’ He eyed Yash, Kedak and Gateem especially. ‘I feel those discussions have brought us closer together. Perhaps my fellows even agree with that . . . ?’

There was a murmur, and a smile passed from face to face.

Aprek bowed again and continued, ‘So after many tangents and wild ideas, we returned to the core tenets of who we are: Zain novices. Master Puravai will know this, but you’ – he looked at Alaron, Ramita and Corinea – ‘might not; Attiya Zai taught that the soul – the
fravarshi
– is eternal, and that it creates the
urfan
– the body – when it enters the world, and thus we are born again and again, the same soul in renewed bodies. Those who are in touch with their spirit are in touch with their fravarshi, which we see as our guardian spirit, protecting us from evil and harm. It is said that Attiya Zai performed miracles through his fravarshi. Your ambrosia, Magister Alaron, has given us the ability to reach our fravarshi, so we must use this ability to be the guardian spirits of
our
world. That will be our role, both in aiding the pursuit of your enemies, but also afterwards. Our purpose shall be to find, to understand and to resolve conflict.’ He paused, looking especially at Master Puravai for approval.

The Master gave a slight hand gesture, one used only when a pupil had done exceptionally well; that tiny sign was an indication of
great
praise. Aprek struggled to remain impassive while around him his fellow Zains looked at each other in mutual congratulation.

Aprek swallowed and went on, ‘We considered our nature as a group. We are already brothers in belief, backing each other, protecting each other, caring for each other. So we wish to be known collectively as Brothers, or “Bhaicara”, which is the Lakh word for brotherhood.’

‘What if a woman wishes to join?’ Ramita interrupted. She exchanged a look with Tegeda, whose position was still nebulous.

Aprek admitted, ‘This was a point of great debate, but with you as our shining example, Lady, we will welcome any woman who joins. But unless we recover the Scytale, we don’t know where any future recruits will come from.’ He bowed to Tegeda. ‘Our one female novice is welcome here, and we pray that if we are successful, she and future female trainees will be able to drink the ambrosia.’

Tegeda ducked her head shyly, but looked very pleased.

Puravai raised a hand. ‘There have been many requests through the years for women to form Zain hermitages, though the heads of our order – men far holier than I – have thus far declined those requests. But there are sisterhoods dedicated to the Omali gods with not-dissimilar ideals. I would be happy to approach them: if we can recover the Scytale.’

The young Zains looked at each other, faintly surprised, but Aprek was already bowing again and continuing, ‘Our trainees will be drawn from the Zain monasteries and other approved orders, including those female hermitages of which Master Puravai speaks. They will be “Aspirants”, to be inculcated with our purpose and ideals and trained in how to survive the ambrosia. Those who gain the gnosis will be “Brothers” or “Sisters” – Bhaiya and Bahana. And those who master all sixteen aspects of the gnosis will be “Savants” – this word was taught to us by Lady Lillea; it means gifted. We create this rank because it is good to have a higher standing to aspire to, as seeking to better oneself sharpens one’s skills and understanding. But above the Savants are the Masters, who need not be magi at all, and are appointed by consensus. We wish to name them “Pahali” for a male and “Pahala” for a woman: the word signifies both authority and mastery of a discipline, so is very appropriate.’

He paused, and again Puravai gave his small gesture of approval.

Aprek beamed. ‘Thank you, Pahali Puravai,’ he said, bowing very low. ‘And finally, the name and badge of our order: first and foremost, we are Zains, and we continue to seek a path to moksha. That has not changed. But the path we walk is new, and our guides are magi: both the fabled Antonin Meiros and the one who through his wisdom and courage has brought us to this path: Pahali Alaron.’ He ignored Alaron’s blush and demurring gesture. ‘We therefore wish to be known as “Merozain”, to honour our three progenitors. We wish our badge to be the fravahar – the winged man symbol that Attiya Zai used to depict the soul. Do we have your approval?’

The hall fell silent, and filled with nervous expectation.

Puravai, Corinea, Alaron and Ramita looked at each other. Corinea was the first to speak. ‘Well, I’ve heard worse,’ she drawled. ‘Once a group of mage-knights decided they wanted to be “The Glorious Knights of the Temple of Golden Redemption” and call each other “Exalted Paladin”. I had to kill them.’

Everyone stared at her, a few mouths dropping open.

She rolled her eyes. ‘They’d trapped me; I had no choice.’

Ramita harumphed, and then beamed at the novices. ‘Well, I entirely agree.’

Alaron nodded his own agreement and they all turned to Puravai.

The old Zain had a slightly sad smile on his face. ‘Behold my young charges, going off on a different path, when I had other hopes for them . . . but I did help persuade them to take that path. And yes, I think they have done well.’

He stood and bowed low to Aprek and the circle of waiting novices.

‘Let the documents be written, founding Brothers and Sister of the Merozain Bhaicara. May you prosper, and attain your goals!’

A cheer rang out through the hall.

*

The newly named and constituted Brothers of the Merozain Bhaicara went back to work, and weeks flew by as the experienced magi tried to impart all they knew to their eager young protégés. Progress was mixed, predictably, but they concentrated on the basics of mental and physical defence and from those building blocks, the Brothers improved rapidly.