The Paladin's Odyssey (The Windows of Heaven) (20 page)

THE PALADIN’S ODYSSEY
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367

Before Him the primeval giants writhe, under the ocean in their prison; the underworld lies open to His eyes.

—
Job
26:5-6a (Moffatt Translation)

THE PALADIN’S ODYSSEY
|
367

Psydonu’s Shield

U’

Sumi
figured it had been five light
less days since the
cyclopeans
confined
them
under the cliff, but with no sense of time
,
his count could be far off
.

He grumbled in the cell’s wet darkness,
“For someone who took such trouble to get us here, Psydonu doesn’t seem in any hurry to see us!”

“A sign of fear,” his father said. “Psydonu delays the inevitable.”

“He may not think we’re
such
a priority now that he has us.”

“I don’t think so. He wouldn’t have taken all this trouble without an overpowering curiosity and need. If his interest in us had been
a
whim, he could have more easily sent an inquisitor to Balimar by land rather than divert one of his largest capital ships away from the battle zone, unescorted, just to get us here. He
also
could have had us taken
most of
the way by land
, w
hich tells me he didn’t want us to be seen passing through any of Aztlan’s
cities. The
order came by oracle and must have screamed for haste.”

“Then why wait now? What does he want?”

A’Nu-Ahki answered, “An oracle
; I mean
in the old sense of the
word
—
our
endorsement maybe? Although the northeastern coast regions of this subcontinent are mostly descended from L’Mekku, the interior and the west coastal zones are red-skinned people like us—from the Middle Colonial Period of Seti’s
Archonate.
A
t the latitudinal tropic
line
south of the Equator, is
the
megalith built by Q’Enukki
on the westernmost shore
…
”

U’Sumi said, “Yeah, The Gates of the Setting Sun. I read
of
it in my history studies. It marks the seasonal settings of the sun,
with
other astronomical and prophetic
signs
. Topaz phoenix icons and amethyst chalkydri dragons supposed
ly
guard it
;
unless it’s been looted
—which it probably has
.”

“Quite so. Last time Sa-utar had any contact with that colony, the descendants of the acolytes left to keep
it
still lived there. Perhaps they hold to Q’Enukki’s teachings
,
or at least
to
some form of
them
. Maybe there’s unrest in that region against Psydonu because of it.”

“Perhaps
.
Maybe
.
”
U’Sumi found it impossible to share his father’s
optimism
,
and
strained not to translate that into
a
disrespect
ful tone
.
It’s not his fault he took one to the head.

A
s much as another day passed before
a squad of
titan guards summoned them. Mountains of twisted muscle with deranged eyes
,
they hustled the captives through dark passages to a subterranean warm spring, where they told the prisoners to bathe. Attendants
entered
the fire-lit cavern with fresh clothing and razors to trim A’Nu-Ahki’s beard and shave off U’Sumi’s patchy black peach fuzz. Then they led
the prisoners
into an adjoining chamber
and fed them
a meal fit for princes.

Once
U’Sumi and his father were
refreshed,
the titans
escorted
them
to a smooth metal door recessed into a natural rock wall. The leading guard pressed a glowing hexagon on a small stone panel next to the lintel. The portal slid open into a slot inside the wall, giving entrance to a small bare room. U’Sumi noticed its flooring did not connect with that outside the door, and
figured
the alcove must be a lift of some kind. The door closed and his knees buckled as the cab jerked into a fast climb.

The sliding plate opened again to reveal a lavish circular hall covered by a colossal dome of jade-trimmed granite and translucent colored glass. The lift stood inside a niche along the hall’s outer perimeter. An aisle descended from it into
a
bowl-like depression at the center of the palatial chamber. There it met three additional aisles that came down at
right angles to each other, join
ing at the center in a fountain pavement that encircled a giant flower-petal-shaped dais with a throne.

The dais rotated slowly so the giant figure that sat on
its
throne could pan across the entire three hundred and sixty-degree vista
without neck strain. From where U’Sumi first saw him, up on the outer ring, he looked like a jeweled bee pollinating the center of some enormous blossom.

The guards led U’Sumi and his father into the depression, past row upon row of empty polished stone seats, to the
gently turning
throne.

At the fountain court
,
a choir of amplified singers stationed before the first row of seats broke into a monophonic chant: “It is not the throne that rotates, but the world that revolves around the throne!”

U’Sumi almost laughed, until he got a closer look at the figure on the dais when it rotated the Giant around again to face him. Wild eyes burned down
at him with the zeal of
either
a
pervert
or a fanatic
, while his
massive head
and beard
swathed in oil
y
black curls
locked on
to
him, turning slowly against the chair’s rotation to
stay
fixed on U’Sumi and his father. A huge disturbing smile met the Titan’s eyes, which were spaced unnaturally far apart from each other
,
though the
narrow
bridge of his nose was otherwise proportional to his face
.

U’Sumi now understood
why
the ironclad captain
had not
wanted to attract this creature’s attention by
reveal
ing
the location of true north
in
casual
conversation
. If Psydonu wished to rule his empire from the top of the world—or its center, depending on how one
viewed
it—
few
would want to argue the point
with him
on a mere navigation technicality. Nevertheless, what surprised U’Sumi most was not
the Titan’s
immense size.

Psydonu was a red man
,
his mother obviously a descendant of early Setiim settlers
—
not
those of pale L’Mekku.

The Giant rose, his height alarming
,
al
though artificially extended by t
he dais.
When the platform circled back around, h
e pressed a lever on his
sculpted-serpent
chair
arm
, which ground the
throne assembly
to a halt right where he could gaze almost straight down upon A’Nu-Ahki.

Psydonu’s smile widened to reveal perfect rows of white teeth.
“Welcome to my humble tower.”

A’Nu-Ahki nodded graciously, but said nothing.

The Titan spoke,
“You must be wondering why I’ve sent for you.”

U’Sumi’s father replied, “The question had crossed my mind.”

The
Giant
seated himself again and motioned A’Nu-Ahki up onto the dais with him. A’Nu-Ahki in turn signaled U’Sumi to join them also.

Once everybody had mounted, Psydonu re-engaged the rotation gears. The platform began to move again. “A little added privacy,” he said. “The movement makes enough noise to mask our voices if we talk softly. As you can see, I’m not of Lumekkorim descent.”

“I noticed. Why have you kept this a secret from the world?”

Psydonu shrugged. “Political expediency
; m
ost of the military had belonged to the Lumekkorim colonies during the Revolution. My half-brother At’Lahazh—who is pale—makes most of the public appearances in my name to the Easterners. I, on the other hand, am their spiritual leader.”

A’Nu-Ahki said, “I see. In what direction do you lead them?”

Psydonu
glanced up at the dome
. “Pilgrims come from all over the western subcontinent to pay homage to their Promised Seed. I am uniquely qualified for this, since I descend through my mother
,
from Fasturi son of Seti,
first
father of the acolytes who keep the Gates of the Setting Sun. As a true seer of Q’Enukki’s Line, you’ll be happy to know that his great shrine is not only intact, but reinforced and in excellent repair due to my oversight.”

“That warms my heart,” A’Nu-Ahki said blandly. “But it still does not answer the question of why you brought us here.”

“I was coming to that. Y
ou see, since Lumekkor cut the Far West C
olonies off from Sa-utar four centuries ago, we
’
ve had no seer of
El-N’Lil
, other than
the
illumination I
can
provide in my own humble capacities
…
”

“If you’re really the Seed, then your capacities are no small thing.”

“True, but therein lies the problem. How can I establish my claim beyond reasonable doubt without confirmation from a seer of the Line?”

“You have an additional problem.”

“Really? What?”

“The Line of the Promised Seed
has already been established
and reinforced by
many
tested prophecies.”

Psydonu’s face fell briefly—almost too quickly to notice. “Explain.”

“It went from Seti to Aenusi, on down through the Archons to Q’Enukki, who built the Gates of the Setting Sun. From Q’Enukki
it passed to Muhet’Usalaq, who still lives for another forty-eight years in the East. He passed it to my father, who has passed it on to me. It has not yet been shown to me which of my two remaining sons shall continue the Line, or if it shall go through a son not yet born to me. That is not for us to decide.”

“Why not?”

“The prophecies are explicit that when Muhet’Usalaq dies in
about
another forty-eight years
,
it will be the end of the world.”

“The end of the world
; i
sn’t that a bit extreme? This all sounds more serpentine than sacred to me. Why should
E’Yahavah
want to do this when things are improving so nicely?”

“Not as nicely as many of us would like to think, I’m afraid.”

U’Sumi
disliked
the shift in Psydonu’s
too-far-apart
eyes. “Oh, you mean the war. No, I suppose war is never an improvement. But it’s necessary sometimes
,
as regrettable as that is.”

A’Nu-Ahki said, “Sometimes unavoidable, always regrettable, and with tenacious roots deeper
inside
the fallen human condition than any of us
like
to think. But I don
’
t
mean
the
war
;
not by itself, at least.”

Psydonu gently slapped his own forehead. “
People ‘like to think’ many things
, good Seer,
but
you have me mystified. Why
do A’Nu and El-N’Lil pursue
this
extreme course
, if not
for
the evils of
the
war
?”

“
It’s simple.
C
orruption
engulfs
Earth since the Watchers took our daughters as wives—at least what
they
call
‘
wives
’
—
to reinforce the idea that gods can father children who are a new breed of humanity. Not sure that’s really happening
at all
,
the
longer I
look at it though
…
”