The Colour of Death (40 page)

“I won’t do it.  If what I’ve done for you and the Great Work has meant anything, then I beg you not to ask me to do this.  Ask anything else of me, but not this.”

The Seer was still calm.  “Why are you so against it?  Why make your stand on this small thing?”

“Sorcha’s my half-sister.”

“So?  She’s a high-level violet and we’re all family here.  Throughout history divine lineages have kept their bloodlines pure this way:  the Greek gods, Hawaiian royalty and the Egyptian pharaohs all practiced it.  Tutankamun’s parents were brother and sister.  It has an honorable and proven history.  The Delaneys themselves married within the family to keep the
mothú
bloodline strong.”  He pointed to the thoroughbred horses in the paddock.  “It works.  Every one of the hundreds of thousands of thoroughbreds in the world is descended from just three stallions and seventy-four foundation mares.  And they’re perfect — the best and most valuable racehorses in the world.”

Kaidan shook his head.  “There must be another way.  If you let Sorcha lie with a pure indigo she may produce violets.  Dr. Fox said that the
mothú
is passed down by the female line.”

The first flash of anger lit up the Seer’s eyes.  “Dr. Fox?  You’ve been listening to Dr. Fox?”

“My decision has nothing to do with Dr. Fox,” he said hurriedly.  “I just don’t want to do this.  It feels wrong to me.”

“I never said it would be easy, Kaidan.  But we all have to make sacrifices.”

“I know, but I feel I’ve proved myself already.  And I’m sure there must be another way.”

The Seer turned to look at the sunset and again Kaidan fingered the sharp blade of his knife, preparing for the onslaught.  But still his father’s voice was calm and reasonable.  “Do you feel I don’t appreciate you enough, Kaidan?  Do you feel I haven't given you credit for all you’ve done so far?”

“It’s not that.  I just don’t…”

The Seer nodded as if in understanding.  “Perhaps you’re right about Sorcha.”

Kaidan could hardly believe his ears.  “What are you saying?”

“I’ve noticed you’ve lost your focus since returning from Portland.  I think by shifting my attention onto Sorcha I’ve confused you, made you less committed to our goal.”

“No, no.  I’m still committed.”

The Seer nodded.  “I’m glad to hear that, Kaidan, because I need you.  I can’t do this without you.”  He reached out and patted his son’s shoulder:  something Kaidan couldn’t remember him ever doing.  “You’re more than my son, Kaidan.  You’re my right-hand man.  My successor.  But I understand this might have been a mistake.  Ever since I focused on Sorcha, things haven’t been right between us.  Perhaps this is a step too far for you.”

Still wary, Kaidan waited for the backlash.  “You have no problem with me not going through with this tonight?”

The Seer sighed.  “I can’t force you to do it.”  He turned to Kaidan and looked him in the eye.  “All I ask is your full support with everything else I may need you to do.  Whatever I ask, whatever I decide, you mustn’t object to it.  You understand?”

Kaidan nodded enthusiastically, feeling more valued and appreciated than he could remember.  Fox had been right.  He did have power and he could command respect.  His commitment to the Great Work had been refreshed.  “I understand.  I’ll do whatever you want.  Anything at all.”  The Seer smiled at him.  “Maria’s almost due,” Kaidan said, desperate to please his father.  “Perhaps she’ll provide a violet.”

“Perhaps.”  The Seer moved away, facing the sunset.  “Now I must go and prepare.”

Taking his hand off the knife, still not quite believing how painless it had been, Kaidan asked again, “So will you forgive me for tonight?”

The Seer turned back to him and shrugged.  “Like you said, I’ll have to find another way.”

Chapter 61

The brain has a region called the parietal lobe, which establishes our sense of space and time.  By detecting where our body physically ends and the larger world begins, it anchors us in the real world.  Research has shown that intense prayer or meditation can shut the region down, disabling the anchor and replacing our sense of self with a sense of oneness with the cosmos or God.  Fox had read d’Aquili and Newberg’s research but had never seen the power of meditation so conclusively as he did now in the Great Hall.

Fox and Sorcha sat at the top table on the first tier of the raised dais.  The Wives and Kaidan sat with them.  Arrayed in rows before them, the adults of the Indigo Family sat cross-legged on prayer mats.  All wore colored robes and each had a tilak on their forehead that matched the color of their aura:  most were indigo, like those on the Wives’ foreheads.  Kaidan sported a violet tilak and a violet robe.  Sorcha’s and Fox’s tilaks were violet and indigo respectively but their robes were as white as sacrificial lambs.  Both wore a white headpiece that revealed their eyes, nose and forehead but covered their gagged mouth.  Their bound hands were secured to the table.

When they had been dragged — bound and gagged — to the Great Hall both had tried to appeal for help but it soon became clear that nobody was going to stop Esbat running its course.  The cult members apparently regarded Pathfinders with awe and envy and couldn’t understand why anyone might not want to touch the infinite.  On entering the hall the members had drunk wine from the surrounding tables but left the food untouched.  Now, they sat on the floor, eyes closed, deep in trance, listening spellbound to their leader.

The Seer stood on the dais before them, wearing a violet robe fringed with gilt and sporting a violet tilak on his forehead.  He had shaved his head, revealing tattoos on his pale scalp that echoed the lotus symbols on the Vitruvian man in the tower:  on the crown of his head was the violet lotus flower of the seventh chakra; on the back of his head, at the level of the tilak, was an indigo eye, symbolizing the sixth chakra; and on the back of his neck the blue symbol of the fifth chakra.  The lights dimmed as the Seer spoke and his voice had a hypnotic quality.  “You must each strive to reach beyond the mortal and touch the divine.  Look inside yourself to create a link between your physical body and your spirit being.”  Standing with his legs apart, he slipped the robe from his shoulders and stretched out his arms.  Wearing only a loincloth, his lean and muscular body resembled the Vitruvian man on the tapestry behind him.  The colored tattoos on the back of his head continued down his spine, the seven lotus symbols corresponding to each of the seven chakras.

“Start at the base of your spine and focus on Muladhara, the red vortex of the first chakra, which governs spiritual security,” he intoned.  “Visualize a silver thread and mentally pass it through the chakra and connect it to the chakra’s twin in your spirit body.  Now move up the spine, feel it tingle as you access Svadhisthana, the orange sacral chakra.  Unlock the enthusiasm it governs as you pass another silver thread through it to from a link with its spiritual twin.  Now travel to your solar plexus and in your mind’s eye pass a thread through Manipura, the yellow chakra.  As you connect with its spirit twin, feed off the growth it governs.  Now travel up to the heart to Anahata, the green chakra…”

As Delaney spoke, Fox could see the cult members swaying as one, mentally trying to leave their physical bodies and connect with something bigger than themselves.  He bet that if their brains were scanned now their parietal lobes would show little or no activity.  Fasting, which made you light-headed, undoubtedly helped the effect and he wondered if there was also something in the wine they had drunk.  Whatever it was, it had worked because, aside from Sorcha and himself, not one person had their eyes open or fidgeted in their seats.

“…Pass a silver thread through Vishuddha, the blue throat chakra, and connect with its spiritual twin,” Delaney continued.  “Now we come to the brow of the head, to Ajna, the sixth chakra.  This is the Indigo chakra, the third eye.  Visualize it as a lens through which you can see your spirit self in its entirety, free of all physical constraints.  Pass a thread through the chakra, make the link with its spiritual twin and prepare yourself to travel beyond indigo.

“Gather up all the threads connecting the six chakras and braid them into a cord.  Now follow this cord through the seventh chakra, Sahasrara, the violet chakra in the crown of your head.  This cord will lead you out of your physical body to your spirit self and be your link back.  Let all other connections slip away.  Leave your physical body behind and trust in this one silver cord.  On this night of Esbat, when the moon is full and the veil between this world and the spirit realm is thinnest, be at one with you mind, and the universe.  Free yourself to wander the astral plane and access the infinite.”

Apart from Delaney’s hypnotic voice, Fox could hear no other sound.  He looked up at the glass panels in the roof.  The full moon appeared like a vast pearlescent disc, still rising in the clear night sky.  He turned to Sorcha who was glancing nervously at Kaidan, sitting with his head down and eyes closed.  If he hadn’t been tied to the table Fox felt they could have walked out unnoticed by everyone, except Delaney.  Fox sensed that the Seer, despite his theatrics, was very awake and aware.

Suddenly, Delaney clapped his hands and the trance was broken.  His people stirred as if from deep sleep.  Then the hall filled with excited chattering and a buzz of anticipation.  “Let us break our fast and satisfy the hunger of our physical bodies.”  Delaney donned his robe and pointed to the laden tables around the hall.  Everyone rushed to them and pounced on the food.

Under the unblinking gaze of the new moon, the next two hours passed in a blur of bacchanalian excess.  At times, as the Indigo Family gorged themselves on food and drink, their feasting sounded more like a raging battle than a banquet.  Delaney, however, ate little and drank only water from his goblet.  When the platters had been stripped of food and the flasks emptied of wine, the sated cult members turned again to their Seer as he rose to address them.  “In the past, most Pathfinders have been sub-indigos but tonight we are fortunate.”  He turned to Fox.  “This Esbat is rare.  Not only do we have an indigo to light our path to the other side…”  Two Watchers freed Fox from the table, though his hands were still bound together, and forced him to his feet.  “But we also have a violet — a pure violet — who will do so much more for our kind.”  The Wives freed Sorcha from the table and made her stand.  Everyone began cheering.

“Just as Sorcha lost her memory and forgot her identity, so most of us in the Indigo Family had forgotten ours.  We had forgotten that we are descended from fallen angels, with divine blood flowing in our veins.  Only by restoring this genetic memory, and accepting we’re more than human, can we reclaim
our
lost identity and realize our full potential.  Only then can we shake off our earthly shackles and truly regain our connection with the spirit world.  To reclaim our inheritance and restore our bloodline to its original purity will require sacrifice.  From us all.”

Delaney glanced at Kaidan, then at Sorcha.  “Tonight, Sorcha will make this sacrifice and lead us down the path to purity.”  The Wives led her to the top tier of the dais and stood her beneath the arch of violets topped with lilies.  In her white robe, she resembled an expectant bride.  “Tonight, two violets will unite to try and create the purest aura of all:  the halo of divine white.”  Sorcha’s face had paled to the color of her robe.  She looked pleadingly at Kaidan, and Fox saw his shake his head as if to reassure her.  “But one sacrifice isn’t enough,” said Delaney.  “For this to happen, one other sacrifice is necessary.”  Delaney glanced at his son and Fox saw anger flash in Kaidan’s eyes.

Why?

Fox knew Kaidan didn’t want to go ahead with the incest but why the sudden anger?  Had he secured an agreement from Delaney not to do it, only to have his father renege at the last minute?  Like everyone else, Fox could only watch, mesmerized, wondering how Kaidan would respond.  Then something happened that not only shocked Fox, but also visibly surprised Kaidan.  Regan Delaney turned, stepped up onto the next tier and in a perverse parody of a marriage ceremony stood beside his daughter under the arch of violets.  “Tonight,” he said, “to guarantee the purity of the bloodline for future generations,
I
too will make the sacrifice.”

Chapter 62

Sorcha was still numb with shock and disbelief as the Wives, Kaidan and the Watchers dragged her and Fox out of the Great Hall toward the tower.  When she met Fox’s eye she could see he was equally surprised.  This neither of them had expected.

Despite it being almost midnight the path to the tower was brightly lit, both from the torches along the way and from the full moon’s silver light.  She scanned the faces lining the path, searching for help, hoping to see shock, horror or compassion, but all she saw was excitement and wonder.  They wanted this.  They evidently found nothing abhorrent in the Seer sleeping with his daughter.  As father to the Indigo Family, he was father to them all and if he thought it best to make this sacrifice for them, then they should be grateful for his humility and selflessness.

As they entered the tower, Delaney turned back to the Indigo Family.  “It’s almost the witching hour,” he told them.  “Do not waste this fertile time.”  Then he closed the door on the restless crowd.  As he led them up the stairs the Seer made no allowance for Maria, who was close to giving birth and clutched her belly in discomfort.  After the first few steps, Fox slipped and fell.  Sorcha winced as she watched him roll down the stairs, feeling every knock on her own body.  Luckily his hands had been bound in front of him so he could use them to protect his face, but it had clearly hurt.  He made no sound but lay curled in the fetal position, his head in his hands, rocking.  She tried to go to him but the Wives held her back.  When Kaidan pulled him to his feet, however, Fox didn’t look hurt and there was a renewed fire in his eyes.