The Paladin's Odyssey (The Windows of Heaven) (25 page)

The neophyte g
irl joined them, with Pandura, on the launch, but the drivers stayed with the coach. In the sea air, under a rose-gold late afternoon sky, U’Sumi first noticed how the young priestess stared at him. She made him uncomfortable almost as much as Pandura. Her silent invitations could not have been more obvious, though he sensed no deliberate malevolence in her—something impossible to say of the High Priestess.

The n
eophyte’s eyes flickered with
leaf
-
green luster. When she momentarily turned her head into the breeze, the gentle air caught her hair and caressed it around her face, which brought out the same red and gold streaks as in Pandura’s, only on a background of rich dark brown. This, with the curvature of her not quite fully developed body, told him she could even be the High Priestess’ daughter—perhaps by some Far-Eastern father.

Only now did U’Sumi notice how the middle of her forehead bore a grouping of spots that looked to him like the paw print of a tiny sphinx-cat. The bilaterally symmetrical markings of red, tan, and ebony—almost like spirals of leopard spots the size of gems along the sides of her face, neck, arms, legs, and bare midriff—all came together at the print on her forehead. When she smiled, their eyes met for the first time.

U’Sumi turned away, angry
with
himself for having stared at her.

“I am Pyra T’Qinna—T’Qinna is my proper name and Pyra the name the Temple gave me because my element is fire,” she said over the launch engine’s roar. Her accent was musical.

He kept his face turned away, trying to ignore her.

“If I’ve offended you, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to,” she said after a time, when he refused to answer.

To his mortification, U’Sumi heard his father answer her for him. “Don’t mind him. His manners aren’t what they used to be. Nor does he share his thoughts so freely these days. Please excuse him. He has seen much war and many deaths.”

That stung!

“Of course,” the young priestess answered graciously.

U’Sumi sneaked a look her way. He expected to see a jaded replica of Pandura roll her eyes. He saw alarming warmth instead.

The boat came to a private wharf in a grotto separated from the main port to the southwest by a tall stretch of rocky headland.

A large striped sphinx sat at the end of the pier, gazing out at them. It was so still and regal that U’Sumi at first thought it was a colored statue. When the launch reached dock, however, the creature moved to the head of the plank. It stopped there expectantly, as if to wait for its master.

When Pyra disembarked, she threw her arms around the sphinx’s neck, and said, “Taanyx, I’ve missed you!”

The cat growled and purred, rubbing its head with great affection against the young priestess’s neck and shoulder. U’Sumi watched, fascinated, until his father had to nudge him up the plank from behind.

“
This is
Taanyx,” said the girl, when she noticed U’Sumi’s interest. “She and I are sisters of the hunt.”

“Nice animal,” he said, trying to keep his voice from squeaking or thundering. He could only imagine what it meant to be a “sister of the hunt.”

“Mind your schedule, darling,” Pandura said as she passed.

Soldiers also lined the pier.

Pyra asked the High Priestess,
“Can I visit the guests later?”

“You’re a priestess now. You
may
visit whomever you like as long as you’re available for paying worshipers at your appointed times.”

“Where can I find them?”

“
They’ll be in
the cells beneath the Court of Beasts—where all live specimens are kept. Don’t keep them too busy. I’ll
need
to collect my own samples for the sacred research.”

U’Sumi had just about warmed up to the idea of a visit from Pyra until he heard that.

THE PALADIN’S ODYSSEY
|
367

“Down to Enosh,” he replied, “They were created in the image and likeness of God. But thereafter, the generations having become corrupt, centaurs came into being.”

Four things changed in the days of Enosh son of Seth:
…
men’s faces turned ape-like; and (the divine image having departed from human beings), demons became free to work their will upon them.

—
Rabbi Jeremiah ben Eleazar

A
Jewish scholar of the 2
nd
century AD

THE PALADIN’S ODYSSEY
|
367

Priestess

T

he shimmer
ing
pearlescence
of its surfaces did nothing to make the dungeon any less of
a tomb smothered in perfumed failure to mask its death
odor
. Outside, a great
underground
warehouse of the same finish housed a menagerie of animals in cages of pearly rod or pens of quickfire-charmed copper netting. The
sliding door of the
bare
cell
had a tiny glass window. Strange lights embedded in the ceiling hurt U’Sumi’s head until he could do nothing but pace like a caged sphinx. His father had settled into a contented recline
,
as if oblivious to
such
irritants.

After a while
,
U’Sumi also
tried
adjusting his attitude. He sat down against the back wall, with his face to the door.

He must have dozed, for he awoke to a lonesome melody that echoed through the glossy chambers in a watery lilt. A girl’s voice, willowy and sad, sang in harmony to a weeping lyre.

Her skin as soft as silken sheets

Heart a
flinty
stone,
The kisses of a
paladin
Will leave her still alone

A-lone! She whispers her dark song

In
the fortress of her heart
A-lone! The blackness takes her there,

While world
s
explode apart
…

She stopped suddenly. U’Sumi had made a shuffle when he got up to go the door. His father had made it there ahead of him.

A’Nu-Ahki said through the small window, “Please go on, your song is so—heartfelt and exquisitely played
.
”

“Remember me?” the
s
inger asked.

“Pyra T’Qinna, was it not?”

“That’s right. I come down here to sing to the animals—not that I think you’re animals.” She giggled
altogether
too loudly.

“We might as well be!” U’Sumi growled, who suddenly wanted to keep her
off-guard
if only to
maintain
some illusion of control.

“I’m sorry.”

U’Sumi tried to believe
that
she didn’t mean it.

Her voice cracked. “I wish I had more power around here—I’d have you in a suite worthy of two seers. I understand you don’t follow the gods of Lumekkor. I can’t see why they’re treating you this way.”

A’Nu-Ahki chuckled, as if to put her at ease.
“I told the truth.
That seems to annoy them.”

T’Qinna gave a nervous laugh. “That can sometimes be a crime around here—believe me, I know—but not always. Maybe I can convince my mentor, Mnemosynae
,
to talk to Pandura. She’s on the Council too. I’ve learned to survive by telling Pandura
and the Court over-mistresses most
ly what they want to hear.
Although i
t seems to me that if they want a seer
,
they should want one who
speaks
the truth. What’s the use of prophetic flattery that only tells you what you want to hear? Anyone can give them that.”

“You have more wisdom than your elders.”

“Would you mind if I came inside?”

U’Sumi shook his head wildly, but his father smiled back at him with infuriating gentleness and told her, “Not at all.
C
ompany
is
welcome.”

“Don’t you think th
at
sends
her
the wrong message?” He whispered to his father while the sliding bolt masked his voice.

A’Nu-Ahki gave a mischievous smirk. “Her mind’s worth pursuing.”

U’Sumi muttered under his breath,
“We’re the ones being pursued!”

Pyra T’Qinna entered, carrying her lyre. She replaced her cartouche key medallion over her neck. U’Sumi imagined he could yank it from her with no difficulty, until the sphinx padded in
after her
,
so silent that
he
had not even known of its presence outside.

Pyra closed the door behind the cat. She squatted on the floor across from where U’Sumi had just reseated himself.

No man could leave her unwatched—or so U’Sumi told himself.
Truly she is well named ‘Pyra’
—
what fires she must light!
H
e
thought it scorn
fully
, then realized that it would have come out with an involuntarily admiration if he had spoken it aloud.

She sat like any early ‘tween-aged girl might who had no benefit of family training—her knees propped up with her chin and folded hands resting on their caps—an immodest position
in her attire. U’Sumi could
no
t tell if
what
locked his eyes onto her was desire, suspicion, or disgust. She seemed completely unaware of her affect on him. As if to spray salt in his eyes, his father said nothing to correct her posture.

She
started chattering
.
“I heard one of you
speak of
E’Yahavah during the trip from Thulae. Is that one of the gods of the Holy East?
I seem to remember it from somewhere—oh yes! The Keepers at the Gates of the Setting Sun on the far south coast also worship that name. Psydonu’s mother came from the
re
. She’s High Priestess in Psydonis, but she first became a priestess here about the same time Pandura became First Consort of Epymetu
.
Pandura is my grandmother, you know.”

“I didn’t,” A’Nu-Ahki said. “You must feel fortunate indeed. Are you also an initiate
into ‘the mysteries of creation’?”

She shrugged. “I’ve had some learning in the basic structure
s
of the creation codes and in anatomy, physiology, and the psyche. I’m understudy to the Mistress of Memory and a student of divination. Mostly at my level we’re
allowed to practice only
the basic stuff
;
the Primary Pantheon, counseling, fertility rites, and worship skills—that sort of thing.”

U’Sumi ra
ked
his tongue
inside
a cottony mouth. “Are you here to seduce us?” He tried to keep an adolescent squeak out of
the
question.

She smiled at him
and
blinked her eyes in a wistful way that made him squirm. “Actually
,
I get enough of that during my hours in the Court. What I don’t get is conversation or news from distant lands. The stuff they let us watch on the orbs is mostly drivel. Are you really from the Holy East? What’s it like? Is it true there’s a magic tree there that can heal people of their hurts and
sicknesses? What are its medicinal properties?
There are
so many hurt people in the world, don’t you think?”

U’Sumi, glad to
shift
her focus
off him
, jabbed a thumb toward his father. “He’s stood at the gates of Aeden’s Orchard, near the Life-tree you speak of. He’s also seen the flaming sword of the Fire-Sphinx and lived! My father has traveled through the Haunted Lands and spoken to
El-N’Lil
, the
Divine Wind
. He even slew
G
ryndel
with only a knife
…
”

“That will be enough for my introduction, thank you, Son.”

Pyra said,
“You don’t look like you could kill a gryndel
.
”

“Are you calling me a liar?”

Taanyx’s ears perked up and the cat made a low moan.

“Stop it, Taanyx! I’m sorry!” she said
, turning her attention back to U’Sumi
. “I didn’t mean it that way!”

A’Nu-Ahki said,
“Peace, both of you
.
It is a reasonable comment. I was a lot younger then
,
and even at the time
,
not a great dragon-slayer
as
everyone says. Truth is E’Yahavah held my hand like a child in the killing of the wurm. In fact, I wish people could forget the gryndel
and remember the words of
El-N’Lil
.”

The Young Priestess seemed pleased by this. “I’m glad you pride yourself not in the killing of beasts.”

U’Sumi said,
“Wait a minute, I thought you said that you and the cat here were ‘sis
ters of the hunt,’ or something.
”

“We are. We hunt the wild ones to know them—though Taanyx takes her token kill to eat. I speak to animals. If I had my way, things would be different here.” She nodded toward the menagerie outside the sliding door. “The sacred research,” she whispered, “it’s doing something strange to the wildlife around Temple City. It frightens me.”

U’Sumi remembered the scrolls in Psydonu’s cavern suite with the two-headed lizard. “How much do you know about what they do here?”

Her face, so animated until now, went strangely blank. “Not much. The Agents of Judgment are birthed in secret chambers not far from here.”

U’Sumi said, “How?”

She lowered her voice even further, while her green eyes darted about nervously. “Priestesses chosen to bear them are never seen again. Rumor has it that in order to make them the gods and the priests string creation codes
from many creatures together with human ones. Pandura has controlled the work done
there since Epymetu died. We have a little joke among the lower orders. We call
the
secret chambers
where they do most of that kind of
stuff
‘Pandura’s Box,’ but never to her face!”

Pyra giggled with her teeth clenched, her body shaking in something that looked more like a seizure than laughter. “She and the Council mages create other life there
also,
less
secret than the Agents. I’ve seen a few of them on display. Their creations don’t move and speak as the wild ones do, though. I can’t reach them.”

U’Sumi wanted to poke fun at her claim to talk with the animals, but resisted the urge. “
Two
-
headed lizards?”

“Oh, you mean the sports
;
experiments that went bad and produced deformity. That’s part of it. Used to be we’d only find
them
in the Temple—results of known research. Nowadays
,
there’s so many out in the wild that the natural
stock of some creatures in the area is
vanishing even though they can compete better for food. That means it’s spreading
;
that healthy parents are producing deformed young. I first noticed it awhile back with the frogs, then it slowly jumped to other animals.”

A’Nu-Ahki asked, “How bad is it?”

“Bad. Many animals are turning malignant
; not just
carnivorous—even Taanyx is that—but self-destructive! Certain worms used to live inside the intestines of larger creatures to aid digestion. The hosts nourished them in return. Now they feed off their hosts until they kill them—and often even themselves—in horrible ways. We used to call them
symbionts
. Now we call them
parasites,
only they’re much worse than mere mosquitoes and other blood—
suckers, which
take just a little
and
go. I keep telling Pandura something’s wrong, but she says it’s not my concern.”

“The corruption of all flesh.”

The youths turned to A’Nu-Ahki.

His voice chilled the blood. “In playing with the codes of life without E’Yahavah’s restraints, the Watchers have unleashed powers they don’t understand and can’t fully control. They think they have all the information, but they don’t.”

Pyra asked,
“What are you saying?”

A’Nu-Ahki looked right through her. “The day I spoke with the Divine Wind,
El-N’Lil
, I was given a vision of the Watchers—those beings whom you call
‘
gods.
’
They came to Earth, imagining that they could conquer death
simply
by manipulating life.”

“But
many
diseases have been wiped out.”

“Yes and worse ones created
, like a growing plague of deformity
.”

Pyra’s face drained. Even her markings seemed to grow dull.