Spires of Infinity (18 page)

what she was. She was defined by what she did for them on a daily basis. It was not a mere question of having failed in her self-imposed duties. They’d get Jonathan back safely, she was certain of it. The real reason she was having such a hard time dealing with her failure was more a crisis of identity. Having based her entire life around protecting her brothers from themselves, there wasn’t anything else to her. If she couldn’t even succeed in fulfilling that one duty, what was the point of her existence?

What else was there for her? Without her responsibility to her brothers she was nothing, and being forced to see this in herself startled and frightened her.

Who was she? She had a name, but she was more than simply a name. When

those she’d based her entire life upon were taken, there was nothing left that was her.

Mentally wandering in confusion, she tried to find something—
anything
—else in her life that meant anything, but there was nothing.

Simmering in her anger, Kari did the deepest soul searching of her life. She

wanted to know who she was, beyond the woman that kept her brothers in check. She needed a real purpose and direction in her life. Someday she and her brothers were going to part ways. They wouldn’t be together forever. What would she do then? She needed to find the real Kari somewhere inside of herself.

Allowing her brothers to rule her life, Kari had lived only to react against them, letting others do her thinking for her, and shape who she was. She’d been lazy, going along with the role she’d picked up, without ever thinking for herself, following blindly where they led, rather than picking her own path.

On deeper thought, that was the core of what was wrong with this world.

Demanding that everyone conform or be cast out, the Apostle had taken their freedom, and their need to think for themselves. Those that went along with it, without complaint or question, must have already been looking for someone else to do their thinking for them.

What dark end was the Apostle exploiting the people toward? How was all of this conformity foolishness connected to Cain, and why? There were too many questions and Kari had enough with her own problems to give them more than a passing thought.

“It’s not your fault,” Michael said, looming over her “He’ll escape, or we’ll rescue him. It’ll all work out. We’ll get through it. The lucky bastard is probably having the time of his life right now!”

Managing to sound jealous, Michael flashed her a mischievous grin.

“You can feel it when he’s hurt,” Kari said dully, her mind in somewhat of a

stupor after finding that her entire life was built on a faulty foundation. “Are they hurting him?”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Michael sighed. “I don’t know. I know he’s not dead, but that’s about it.”

“Looks like things are dying down a bit,” Keir dropped through the trapdoor in the ceiling that was well hidden behind the counter of his shop. “They’ve moved the search elsewhere in the city. You’re safe for now.”

“What is this place,” Michael asked, gesturing to the large hidden chamber.

“It used to be a storeroom,” Keir said, looking around at the room, “I stumbled on it a year after I bought the place. We hide nonconformists and have our secret resistance meetings down here. That ladder leads to the alley behind the shop, and the one over there leads to the tunnelway under the street.”

“So you fight the Apostle from your basement,” Michael asked, “how many

people do you have?”

“Thousands. When the Apostle arrived I knew what was in store for us. I already watched him destroy one world, and I’m not going to stand by and let it happen again. I already got my second chance. I don’t think I’ll get a third. I’ve been gathering supporters since I saw him here.”

“So,” Michael asked, “can you explain what’s going on here to us?”

As Keir began running through everything about conformity again, Kari found it hard to care. She was too angry, depressed, and lost in her need to find a purpose in life, to care. Slumping against the wall, her head made a hollow thud, which caused the two men to look at her with concern.

“Is she all right,” Keir asked.

“She’s fine,” Michael said. “She’s just moping about Jonathan.”

Kneeling beside her, Keir looked her in the eye.

“You shouldn’t worry about your brother. There are laws against torture and

execution here. The worst he has to look forward to is some unfriendly questioning by an interrogator with bad breath, and the awful prison food. We’ve planned a resistance strike on the Citadel, where all nonconformists are held before trial, for tomorrow night so we’ll rescue him them. Even if he’s moved to another facility, or the uprising goes badly, all they’ll do to him if he’s found guilty is toss him out of the city, and you can round him up then.”

Eyeing him, Kari didn’t know how to put the thoughts running through her head

into words. Neither of them understood. It wasn’t that she’d failed, it was that her failure had shown her that there was nothing beneath the thin veneer of responsibility she’d been hiding behind. Maybe if they were women she could better express what she was feeling. Men never understood, but her adopted sister Mera always had, even when she couldn’t quite put things into words. She wished Mera were here now. She’d always known exactly what to do.

Frowning for a second, Keir pointed to his head about where her ears would be.

“Didn’t you two have, you know, weird ears like animals?”

“Illusion,” Kari wished he’d go away and let her think. She had far more

important things to be doing. “They’re still there. You just can’t see them. Here, give me your hand.”

Taking his hand, she brought it up to touch one of her foxlike ears. Gasping as his hand pressed into the illusion, he would see his fingers disappearing into it before his very eyes.

“Heretics aren’t welcome in a lotta places,” Michael explained. “It makes for far less hassle just to hide the bits that make us stand out.”

Nodding, Keir looked back at Kari.

“We’ll get him back. You’ll see. Cheer up.”

“Excuse me,” Michael pushed Keir aside. Pulling back his hand, he slapped Kari across the face. “Grow up, sis! You can’t control everything. There was nothing you could have done so just snap out of it already.”

“You hit me,” Kari said, gingerly probing the stinging patch on her cheek.

“And I’ll do it again if you don’t stop moping around and acting like an idiot,”

Michael said. “No one blames you but yourself, so stop being an idiot and start thinking about how we’re going to help get Jonathan back.”

He was right of course. Jonathan was still in trouble, and it was her responsibility to get him out of it. Her personal crisis could wait for later.

“If people hate all this stupid conformity stuff so much,” Michael said when Kari sat up and stopped looking so pathetic. “Why don’t they just leave? I sure would.”

“That’s the problem, really,” taking a deep breath, Keir it out slowly. “Most people don’t really care. It’s only a mild inconvenience until someone you love is taken.

It’s easier to do as you’re told than to think for yourself. So long as someone else makes the decisions, most people are happy to follow blindly.”

“Pathetic,” Michael muttered.

“Quite,” Keir agreed.

“What about the resistance,” Kari asked.

“I started gathering other people who don’t like being told how to live their lives.

We started small, but now we have nearly thirty thousand members. Many of them have lost friends, family, lovers, and children to the outcast slums.”

“And you’re the leader,” Michael asked.

“That’s right,” Keir nodded, “we’ve been infiltrating the government for years, making way for taking control back from the Apostle. Tomorrow is the day we take our lives back.”

“How, exactly,” Michael asked.

“There will be a meeting here of the senior leaders of the resistance later tonight.

You’ll hear all the details then, but the gist of it is that all of the security men in the Citadel are ours, as well as all of the janitors, custodians, low level office workers, and other such. Once the Citadel is under our control, we can open the gates and let the outcasts in. In the confusion we’ll seize control of the government and capture the Apostle, beheading the beast. Our men will then restore order and we’ll go about restructuring the government to the way it was before.”

“With you at the head,” Michael asked.

“Oh no,” Keir said with a wide grin. “I may have been born a prince, but I’m just a simple silversmith these days. That’s good enough for me. When this is all over I plan to come back to my shop and continue my work.”

“To each his own,” Michael muttered, looking as if such a life was his worse

nightmare. “How can we help?”

“Well, it has been quite a while,” Keir said, “but do I remember correctly that you told me you’re . . . Demons?”

Smiling broadly, Kari flashed him her fangs and bestially sharp teeth. “We are indeed.”

“And, am I to understand that Demons have certain . . . powers?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Michael explained. “Not much like in stories, I

suppose. We’re stronger and faster that humans, and heal quicker. Kari can use Hemomancy, but I never learned. I guess you could call that magic, but it really wears her out fast to use it for anything big enough to be useful to a rebellion. We’ve both been trained to fight by the best.”

“Have you ever heard of werewolves,” Kari asked.

Keir nodded.

“That’s us,” Michael grinned. “When we want to, we can turn into giant beasts.”

“Giant? Like how giant?”

“Size of your shop,” Michael shrugged. “Approximately.”

“Excellent! I’ve got an idea. Could I persuade the two of you to, uh, transform and say, run around the city chasing people? No one here has even imagined beasts that large, much less seen them running around growling and howling and showing their teeth like they mean to eat every last person they can catch. It will cause panic and chaos like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Sure,” Kari shrugged, looking to Michael. “But just so you know, there’s a time limit, unless we actually
do
start eating people. A beast that large has an awfully fast metabolism and requires quite a bit of fresh meat to keep going. Twenty minutes maximum, give or take.”

Keir swallowed audibly.

“Oh relax,” Michael said, slapping him on the shoulder. “We’ve never actually eaten anyone. We may be monsters, but we aren’t
monsters
. The Apostle on the other hand . . .”

Keir looked confused.

“We have reason to believe that the Apostle might be like us,” Kari explained.

“You mean he’s a Demon too,” Keir asked.

“Well,” Michael explained. “A Heretic, anyway. We explained to you about

Heretics, remember? He’ll have the same sorts of abilities that we do.”

“Then it’s a good thing you arrived when you did,” Keir said. “Your strength

may be needed to capture him. How do you know that he’s a Heretic? He always wears that mask and hooded cloak.”

“We creatures of darkness know our own,” Michael said proudly.

“I see,” Keir said.

“So, you overthrow the tyrant and reunite families,” Michael said. “Then what?

Are you sure you can just leave leadership behind and go back to your little shop like nothing happened?”

“There are always ambitious people ready and able to take charge,” Keir said.

“And what if the people fight for things to remain the way that they are,” Kari asked.

Face going blank, Keir obviously hadn’t even thought of the possibility.

“Sometimes sheep want to remain sheep,” Kari explained. “You’ll fight to keep what’s important to you, and sometimes, so will they. Are you prepared for that? You could be starting a long and bloody civil war here, and I think you know something about the horrors of civil wars, don’t you?”

All of the color was draining from Keir’s face.

“I saw those people on the street,” Kari continued. “Many of them truly believe in Cain and conformity. They practically worship the Apostle for what he’s done here.

What happens when that religious fervor becomes righteous anger against you for destroying their perfect society?”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Keir muttered to himself. “I never thought people would want to stay like this, given their freedom back. I’m sure we can work through it if the problem arises.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Kari said. “I’m just trying to point out that whatever you think, you’re not done with this tomorrow night. It could take years to sort things out afterward and possibly even a civil war. No one wants war, but religion is a curious thing. People will do horrible things in the name of their gods, believing their actions justified and divinely forgiven. Speaking of gods, did this world have any before the Apostle arrived?”

“There was an Overlord that was said to be the Son of God. He reigned for two thousand years before the Apostle beheaded him, even though execution is illegal here. It was broadcast in the same way the Apostle broadcast earlier today. No one lifted a finger to stop it. It was just like back in Alkazier. The Apostle barely has to speak of Cain and people flock to join him. I don’t understand how anyone could have such power over other people. It can’t be possible, yet here we are. Who
is
this Apostle? You seem to know him from before we first met. Where does he come from? What does he want?

Why is he doing these things?”

“You probably know more about him than we do,” Kari said. “What I
can
tell you is that Cain is the enemy of all life. He’s imprisoned at the far reaches of space and time, but if he escapes it could mean the end of everything.”

“The end of everything? What do you mean?”

“The end of all things,” Michael said. “Long ago it was prophesied that the Beast, Cain, would be set free on the last day to fight against the Champion of Heaven in the final battle. If Cain breaks free, the end of the universe won’t be far behind him.”