Eden's Jester (27 page)

Earth agreed. “Elson is the Chain-Breaker. We cannot chain him. It would make us as those who enslaved us from the beginning.” Then to me he said, “Chain-Breaker, that door has been shut since the Great War. Your kind, in its anger at losing their servant, enslaved us for their purposes. How can we know that you will succeed? Your failure will have great effect on nature.”

“
Would
have great effect. It’s still hypothetical failure, after all. But I’m willing to offer myself as a guarantee. I will sacrifice whatever I have to in order to ensure the evil you fear does not come to pass. Besides, one thing that you may not know, there are now many pyramids surrounding the one you use as a prison. Any of those will do, I believe. So the risk should be minimal.”
 

The little voice inside me was laughing hysterically. The setup was far too neat for me to get off that easy. Deep down I knew it. But it was the only move I had left, though I had one more chess piece to sacrifice if I had to.

Water came forward. “It is appropriate for us to do as the Chain-Breaker asks. Change is upon us. Let us face it with honor and courage.” I got the sense that among the elementals water was the agent of change. It fit its personality in nature.

The others did an undulating dance that I took for bowing in agreement.
 

“Tell us, Elson Chain-Breaker, what you plan,” Earth said.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

As I approached my coffee shop for what I believed to be the last time, I noticed that something was very wrong. The place practically lit up in the ethereal plane. Whatever was going on there was creating quite a disturbance. A crowd of entities that I guessed were Engineers packed the place.
 

Sending a posse to intercept me was not all that unexpected. But this was no posse. They were not chasing me, nor were they attempting to set an ambush. They were loud. They were having fun. As I got closer, I inspected the area for traps, but found none.
 

The party, for that’s what it looked like, had spilled out into the park next to the coffee shop. I could see at least fifty Engineers; some I knew and some I didn’t. They were from many Disciplines and several domains. More Engineers were arriving every minute.

 
I spied Els, sitting inside at my favorite table. She was watching Jill, who was moving with supernatural speed to meet everyone’s orders.
 

I slipped in quietly, next to Els.

Jill gave me a wink and got the coffee going.

“What’s going on?” I asked Els.

She turned to me and gave me that look she does—the one where I’m supposed to be destroyed.
 

“It appears you’ve called a Gathering,” she said.

“I have? When?” I had never called a Gathering. Even if I did, no one would come.

“I have no idea. But it appears to be common knowledge. I don’t think this place will be able to hold everyone. I spoke with Eli over there,” she pointed to an Engineer standing on the street corner outside, sipping a big cup of something hot and inspecting the street, as if he was on guard duty. “He’s a close friend of mine. He mentioned something about Indians. Mean anything to you?”

“Uh . . . oh. Yeah. I might have mentioned to Melanthios and Aeson that I was starting a new organization.”

She looked suspicious and squinted her eyes, focusing their destructive power.

“What
kind
of organization?”

“Uh, one opposed to both Law and Chaos, being militant and antiestablishment. Hmm, maybe that was a bit impulsive.”

“You
think
? Are you really crazy, Elson?”

“I don’t know! Why are you asking me? Would a crazy person know if he were crazy?”
 

“Not any more than an idiot would know he was an idiot. What are you going to do?”

I thought it over. That little voice--the one that got me into this mess--was conspicuously silent. I waited for some muse to inspire me. I got nothing. “I guess I’ll just make it up as I go.”

Els got Eli’s attention and motioned for him to join us.

“Eli, this is Elson,” she said.

“Ah, the amazing Elson. We’ve been talking about nothing else these days. Tell me, is it true that you escaped from the Abyss and defeated Melanthios in a personal duel?”

“I told you about the Abyss, Eli. But I wasn’t present at this so-called duel,” Els said.

They turned to me and waited. “Well,” I said, “I just removed Melanthios’s glamour and smacked his hand. It wasn’t anything, really. It certainly wasn’t a duel. He’d crush me in seconds, if he even thought about it. Believe me.”

“We heard you exploded his hair, and that he ran around on fire, and that Aeson begged you not to harm him.”

“Uh, that’s an exaggeration. His hair only smoldered. And Aeson threatened me. Not the other way around.”

Eli laughed. He seemed to have a better sense of humor than Els.
 

He said, “Well, everyone’s been trading Elson stories for the past two days. What is becoming apparent to all is that you have quite the storied, and somewhat infamous, career. My personal favorite that I heard from Dieson over there,”—he pointed to a tall, thin Engineer who was having a heated argument with someone I didn’t recognize—“is the story about you keeping the Christian section from burning when Nero set fire to Rome. It turned out to draw a little suspicion their way, I believe.”

I was getting more uncomfortable by the minute. “Yeah. That was slightly unexpected.”

“Or when Attila the Hun was about to sack Rome, and the Pope went out to meet him. It was you who told Attila that if he didn’t run away, you’d make sure his, how shall I say, male parts, would shrivel up and fall off. Attila turns and runs like he’d seen Death himself.” He laughed loudly. “The Pope gets all the credit and is set up as some kind of divine savior. And we all know how that ended up, don’t we?”
 

This was going to be more of a roast than a Gathering. Laughter drowned out the sounds of discussion and argument in the coffee shop. At least I was good for entertainment.

Els spoke up. “Actually, Elson, I’ve been walking around and listening to the stories, and there is a common theme. It seems that you’ve been somehow involved in the early formative period of many major world religions. The only one that I haven’t heard mentioned at all is Hinduism,” Els said.

“Uh . . . The Keystone of the Harappans,” I said.

“The what?” Eli asked.

“The Keystone of the Harappans. The Harappans were a very early Indus Valley civilization that based everything in their culture upon standards and consistent measurements. Everything was square. Their houses and rooms were of standard proportions and they were very square. Their cities were prefect grids. Even their tools conformed to standard sizes and shapes. So, I showed them how to make arches, using keystones. They couldn’t handle it. That’s why you’ve never heard of them,” I said.

“What does that have to do with Hinduism?” Els asked.

“The Harappans would have been the dominant culture and would not have allowed such an organic theology as Hinduism to form. The Harappans were too structured in their thinking. When they left, they created the vacuum that Hinduism filled.”

“Ha! And how did you come up with that idea? And why?” Eli asked.

“I didn’t plan it that way, believe me. I just thought that their architecture could use a little sprucing up. I didn’t think it’d drive them insane or anything. I mean, they just walked away from their cities and went back to the caves. Boy, was Aeson mad. He was very proud of the Harappans.” The memory of Aeson chewing me out for that cheered me up somewhat.

“How long ago was that, Elson?” Els asked.

“Hmm, about four or five thousand years, I guess.”

She whistled. “That’s a long time to be interfering with Aeson. I’m surprised he tolerates it.”

“Oh, he usually doesn’t make the connection. Most of the time, the effects are far removed from the cause. Though there have been times when I had to lay low for decades, to let him cool down. Besides, he can’t deny that some of my actions have helped him out considerably.”

“Such as?” Eli asked.

“Have you heard of the Medes and Persians conquering Babylon?”

“Sure. What’d you have to do with that?”

“I showed them how to divert the Euphrates and enter the city under the river gates.”
 

“But I thought Aeson was on the Babylonian side of that whole debacle,” Eli said.

“Oh, yeah, you’re right. So I guess that didn’t help him at all, did it?” I rubbed my chin trying to think of another example. “Well, I’m sure if I thought long enough, I’d come up with something.”

Nearly a hundred Engineers now filled the coffee shop and the park next door. It was one of the largest Gatherings I’d ever seen. The small groups were breaking up and the conversations were abating.

“I think it’s time, Elson, to do whatever you’ve got in mind,” Els said.

In the park, there is a very small pavilion that bands use for concerts on Thursday nights. I got on it and faced the crowd, waiting for everyone to come out and settle down. I looked around. The faces were varied and had a look that was hard to judge. They were smiling with their eyes as well as with their mouths. There was a calm sense of expectation. I didn’t know what to make of it.

Who were these Engineers? Most of them didn’t come to Gatherings. What would bring them here tonight?

I guessed at the answer. These were the ones who had started to think for themselves, and they didn’t like what they were finding. The world made less sense to them. The holes in the party line of the Doctrines and the Endeavor had become obstacles that they could no longer ignore. These people were frustrated because their understanding of the world was becoming less and less complete as the traditional teachings became suspect. I felt for them. They were beginning a long journey that led who knew where.
 

Somehow, they thought they might get some answers from me. What answers could I give? All I had were questions.
 

I spoke as loudly as I could.

“Forgive me. I’ve never called a Gathering before. I don’t even know how that translucent body thing works, so I can’t do the traditional special effects. Sorry about that.”

Someone handed me a cup of coffee. A strange feeling settled in as I looked at the crowd. It was a tension that was unfamiliar to me. I felt responsible for these people.
 

Great.

“I’m Elson. Some of you know me. I see faces from Law and Chaos, from most Disciplines. Huh--I don’t even know what all the Disciplines are, so I can’t tell if they’re all represented or not.”
 

I looked around at the faces. A few had been on the receiving end of my mistakes and misadventures. A few deserved it. Some didn’t. Els stood at the foot of the platform, expectant but cautious.

 
“Forgive me if I seem a little distracted. I just came from Mount Megiddo, where the Preceptors hang out. I was about to go see them, but then I found out that they only wanted to squeeze information out of me. Probably by wringing my neck.”

Waves of low muttering flowed back and forth in the crowd. The tension began to rise. I could feel it. What was I going to say to these people?
 

I looked back toward coffee shop, and saw Jill leaning against the building, watching. She smiled at me and nodded in encouragement.
 

The irony was cutting. Here was a human who had no clue about the real nature of the world, having confidence that an Engineer who knew scant more than she did could explain something valuable to a rabble of disgruntled spirit beings. Someone had a sense of humor.
 

What could I say? Only one thing came to mind: the truth.

“I suppose you are wondering why I’m on the most wanted list. Well, let me tell you a story.

“Long ago, someone made this world. They left it in our hands--in the hands of the Preceptors, really. Their job was to complete the work of the Designers. You know all this.

“A lesser known fact is that at some point there was a battle between our Preceptors and someone called the Patron. It seems that the Preceptors had gotten it in their heads that they were wise enough to create their own life. And they did. But it went south. The creatures they made--or warped, I don’t know exactly what they did--were very bad. They fed on souls, and were powerful. This Patron showed up to correct the matter. The demons created by the Preceptors were banished into the Abyss. The ability to create them was locked away, never to surface again.”

I could see several quiet conversations going on in the crowd. Some of what I was saying was not completely unknown.

“Now our friend Aeson has found a way to free these beasts, and the Preceptors are in on it. They created them, after all. It seems they didn’t learn much from the whole thing.”

They hadn’t learned anything, actually. They were no wiser. But I had learned much, recently, and the Preceptors wanted to glean something from my experience. Well, if they wanted what was in my head to come out, let it.