Eden's Jester (17 page)

“That I don’t doubt,” Aello said. “He watched Aeson and Chaos very diligently. But why destroy that information? Why not just tell Melanthios?”

“No. I think his discovery of Aeson’s plans made
this
information relevant. Or maybe Aeson’s plan made him realize how dangerous this information was. Tell me, what would have been Diomedes’ procedure for helping me out? How would he have done it?”

Aello began to pace. “Well, he would have come here and done an initial inspection. He would have scanned the contents to see if anything jumped out as essential. Then he would have recorded all these stories and taken them back to his stronghold for further analysis.”

“Would he have done it himself?” I asked.

She shook her head. “I doubt it. Unless he had a very good reason, he would have had a junior Engineer do a rough translation and a report, then he would have reviewed it to see if it warranted any further study.”

Now it made sense. “That’s how
this
information,” I pointed to the walls, “made it into the pipeline. Then, later, when he reviewed it and put it together with what he had recently discovered about Aeson’s plan, he flipped.”

Aello jumped in. “The only thing that explains Diomedes’ behavior is that these walls contain something that is both dangerous and useful either to aid or hinder Aeson.”

“Right,” I said. “He destroyed it to get it out of the pipeline and keep it from both sides. And then he led the two of us here,” I said. “More than that. He hid what Aeson was up to, took himself out of the loop by getting captured, and then led us here. So why not use the information himself?” I asked.

My blood, if I had any, would have started to freeze at what I was thinking. I said, “I think I know. Something Aeson said to me the other day. We were chatting about his giant killer spider, and he said that people feared little spiders because they had racial memories of olden days--I think he used the term ‘good old days’ or something like that--when huge spiders roamed the plains and fed on humans. Deep down in their psyche, people remember that, and still fear the little descendants of the monsters.”

“Yes. I’ve heard that too. What of it?”

“People fear zombies.”

“Of course.”

“No. Not ‘of course’. It makes no sense. They’re slow, stupid, weak, and easily killed. All they do is bite. They’re not even venomous. So why do people fear them? I’ll tell you. Because they were once real.”

“That’s absurd,” she said.

“Really? What’s the biggest limiting factor in our evolutionary activity?”

“Time. It take lots of time to change and enhance species,” she said.

“Sure. But why the time?”

“There’s no other way. We have to work within the reproductive cycles of the creatures of this world.”

“But what if there was another way? What if we once could animate the dead? You know, cook up something really creepy and make it go.”

“And you think that’s what this ‘Breath’ is? The knowledge to create life?”
 

“Someone had it once. Had to.”
 

She sat back, away from the wall. “That would explain Diomedes’ fear.”
 

“I think that also explains why he got himself captured,” I said.

“How so?”

“Chaos has something very creepy planned. We still don’t know what that is. This spirit elemental is a possible counter to whatever they’ve got going.
 

“Law enslaves elementals and uses them for their purposes. Something that seems to be an ancient tradition among your kind. Diomedes knows all this, and he knows one other thing, too,” I said. “He knows that someone known as the ‘Patron of Man’ doesn’t want this thing enslaved ever again. Law and Chaos both want this ‘Breath’ thing. The Patron wants it locked away. And it might be a tool to counter whatever Aeson is up to. So, what’s he to do? He finds himself in quite a tight spot. A tough decision to make,” I said.

Aello said, “Instead, he sends us on a mission, to here. Are you saying that Diomedes has deferred to us? That he wants us to make the decision? That doesn’t seem wise, Elson.”

If I had a dollar for every time I’d heard that . . .

It was a good question though. Why would Diomedes choose us?
 

The image of a chessboard came to mind. Diomedes was playing chess with Aeson. He was using us to build some kind of trap.
 

But when did the pieces understand the player? We were running blind.
 

I grinned.
 

If there was one thing I had experience in, it was running blind. It made a little sense. However, the risks were much greater than I could believe Diomedes would accept.
 

Aello wasn’t convinced either.

“Why would he think we could do any better than he could? Besides, we don’t have a clue where this spirit elemental is. We couldn’t act on a decision, even if we could make one,” Aello said.

“Right. I imagine the answer is somewhere here, on these walls. Start looking . . .”
 

Before I had finished my sentence, I saw it. Below the song, near the base of the wall, was a small picture and a map. The picture was a diagram of five squares, each with diagonal lines creating an ‘X’ in their center, arranged in a pattern. Four of the squares were smaller and set off from each corner of the fifth square, which was much larger and in the center of the other four. I pointed to the picture. It was a very precise drawing.
 

“I’ve seen that before,” I said.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“You’ve seen this picture? Where?” Aello asked.
 

“Not the picture, the place. I’ve seen the place. I know where that thing is.” I paused. I’d said too much, again.
 

That place would be very hard to find for anyone who didn’t know exactly where to look. The world of the Builders was neatly layered between the Abyss and the astral plane. And it was big. Even if I told Aello everything I knew, she’d likely never find the site. That meant that the secret was safe, at least for now. Sharing more information made no sense.

Effectively, the move was now mine to make. While making decisions had never been hard for me, the ability to make good ones naturally eluded me. But I was faced with the inescapable truth that a decision had to be made right now.
 

I weighed what I knew. Aeson was up to no good. That was par for the course. Diomedes wanted to oppose him, presumably as the duty of a servant of Law. I’d seen how Law treated their servants. The idea of this spirit elemental being enslaved to their will made my heart ache. And then there was this Patron. I’d never met him, or her. But I sensed we saw things similarly, and his will was clear in the matter.

There was plenty of ambient energy here to work some minor destruction. I gathered a sufficient amount of it and leveled a wide beam of energy at the images on the wall.
 

Aello jumped back. “Elson, what are you doing? This is the key we’ve been looking for.”

I continued until the story of the Patron, the Breath, the song, and the picture had all been erased. Especially the map.
 

“Sorry, Aello. But this stops here. We don’t go any further.”

“What? Why? Diomedes trusted you. I trusted you.”

“That place can’t be found easily, unless you’ve been there or have these cave pictures, I’m guessing you’d never find it. I found it by accident.”

“I thought you said you didn’t believe in coincidences. That’s quite an accident: you stumbling upon the very place that is the key to all this, right before the information goes public. Explain that,” she said.

“Sorry. Can’t.” It did sound like a setup. But I could figure that out later.
 

Aello got right into my face, but said quietly, “Elson, you tell me exactly where that place is.”

“Nope. I’m not telling.”

“This is too important. Diomedes wouldn’t have gone through what he has unless he needed us to take these steps. People have died, Elson, at your hand. Diomedes is certainly suffering to make this happen. You can’t turn on us now. You can’t turn on
me
now.”

Yes. People had died at my hand. More than she knew. More than she’d ever guess. I have done many things. I’ve tried to help the cause. This was the best I could do.

“Nothing personal, Aello. But I disagree. That thing is safe. Going after it would be too risky. There’s no way to keep it out of the wrong hands. Sorry.”

“Elson, don’t make me do this,” she said.
 

She was looking pretty mad. But it had to be this way.
 

“I don’t know why Diomedes deferred this decision to us,” I said, “but he did. I’m sure Diomedes has some contingency for this path. I’m siding with that Patron guy. I think Diomedes knew I would.” For the first time, I was choosing a side.

Without warning, Aello dropped a mountain of psychic energy onto my soul. I crumpled, surprised at the attack. Four lances of white hot thought thrust into my mind, bending my will to hers. She was good. I’d never seen four weapons brought to bear at once. She had the skill and the sheer strength to beat me hands down in this Psychic Duel. Then she’d be able to extract whatever cooperation she needed.

That ticked me off. Instinctively, I separated my thought shield into four plates and began the dance of deflecting each of her weapons. She split her weapons into eight. I split my shields into eight. I was holding my own, but I was totally defensive. As she struck again and again, I noticed that she was completely focused. She wasn’t kidding when she’d said that she was well trained in combat.
 

She was keeping me busy, pressing harder and harder. This was going to be tricky. I let down half my shields to begin forming my own weapon. It was simpler, designed to distract her more than anything. Then I could escape. As soon as my shields collapsed, she lunged in with more ferocity than I imagined she could. She could see victory materialize. But there was no joy in it.
 

As her soul slammed into mine, her thoughts hovered just within my reach. She was sad. This was necessary, but tragic. The sorrow that filled her was more potent than the psychic energy she whipped about. I almost gave up, to spare her. But that wouldn’t work. The deed had been done. By seeking to conquer my will, she had corrupted our friendship forever.

I struck. Energy surged up the glamour and detonated right in the heart of her soul. She could not defend against it. I didn’t know something like that could be done and neither did she. But it made sense. Her weapons dissipated instantly, leaving her defenseless. I wasn’t prepared for the sudden lack of resistance. My shields, weapons in themselves, slammed against her mind with all the force that had been repelling her considerable attack. I had intended to wound her slightly, just enough to enable me to escape. But the momentum was too great. My attack carried into her like a sword thrust and pierced her through. With a moan, she collapsed under my will and our souls collided with such force that for a moment I didn’t know who I was, Aello or Elson. Her mind mingled with mine. She began to change. Her lattice wrapped around mine and began to take a new shape. The person who was Aello was being destroyed, replaced. With as much focus and care as I could muster, I backed away, trying to preserve the person who was Aello.

To say I knew her would be the understatement of the eon. Both of us had been changed. I could feel it in my bones.
 

The world was clearer to me now. Which meant, unfortunately for Aello, that it was probably much less clear for her. The world would be more confusing for her from now on. She’d be plagued by questions that defied answers. She’d be stricken with irresistible urges to create havoc to stir something up, anything that could help answer the questions. In a way, I didn’t feel sorry for her. It was an enlightening for her.
 

She sat there, not saying anything. Things had changed. We had changed.

I gathered more energy from the place and began to erase every glyph. As the faint outlines of the last glyph became a trace, the light in my birthplace dimmed. When the last glyph disappeared, the light went out. I would never come back here.

I left Aello sitting there in the dark. Our mission was over.
 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Quite a mess we have here,” Jill said as she slid into the chair opposite mine. She pushed a cup of coffee toward me and sat to sip one of her own. The coffee shop was empty, which wasn’t unusual, since it was 3 A.M.
 

It occurred to me that she had never sat with me before. I had never looked across the table at her with only a cup of coffee between us. I looked at her face. She was beautiful, noble. She watched me intently. She was concerned for me.

“Don’t you ever have time off?” I asked.

“Not very often.” Her smile was warm and soft. “Right now, I don’t need to be anywhere else.” She pointed to the TV in the corner. The news was on, but I hadn’t noticed. “I was saying that we have quite a mess on our hands. Terrorists able to kill by making heads explode, nuclear waste raining from the skies, new volcanoes in Chile, and the auto industry is about to collapse. There’s a lot of tension out there. What do you think about it?”