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A.R.Yngve
DARC AGES
Book Three
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Chapter 42

Osanna, Eveli & Bwynn

That same morning, the Sunray bombed Fache City, Pasko City, and several other city-states in the province with thousands of leaflets, then escaped south.

Only Tharlos Pasko and Lord Ue Yota ordered the intruder to be shot down - to no avail.

Since the ship wore the familiar Damon insignia, the other city lords sent laser messages to Lord Damon asking if he was responsible for the aggression. He claimed absolute innocence. And when the city lords read the leaflets, they believed him; Bor Damon could not possibly wish to disgrace his family name this way.

Some, such as the sons of Bes Orbes, expressed sympathy with the Damons for their plight - though no noble expected to ever see Dohan again. Being out of the city-states and out of his father's favor, Dohan's official status was "presumed dead."

During the remains of that day, the guilds and noble families held secret meetings in the cities - trying to sort out what was afoot, and how to respond to it. Most city lords agreed to declare a formal ban on radio receivers as soon as possible - it took only instinct for a feudal lord to see the danger in unchecked free speech.

Starting with the Doctors' Guild of Damon City, the physicians took the most immediate openly negative stance: they claimed the leaflets to be a plot orchestrated by Lepers, to infiltrate the city-states of Castilia. Conspiracy rumors spread like wildfire.

The guilds of the merchant class, at least initially, played it carefully. They took an official stand against the use of radio, since it threatened stability.

Yet many of them secretly admired Darc and his defiance against the might of the nobility - and the boldest of them started gathering contacts and resources to follow the leaflet instructions.

The guilds of the mechanics held large official meetings that same evening, because they needed to demonstrate their strength and loyalty - their greatest fear was to be thrown under the direct control of the city lords and their court.

It was the mechanics' meeting in Damon City that revealed the most open frustration with the ruling warrior class. A minority of mechanics said out loud that they ought to be the rightful rulers of the cities, since it was they who kept it running. This minority was quickly silenced and thrown out.

An official statement from the guilds was voted through and delivered to Lord Damon the next day: The city's guilds assured their continued allegiance to the ruling lord, and to the safety of the city above all.

Bor Damon seemed content with this. A clash for power between the guilds and the warrior caste had been averted, for the time being.

Other cities were less fortunate. In Pasko City, Sir Tharlos sent his troops searching through the entire metropolis, and burned every leaflet they found.

Leading guild members who were not enlisted in Tharlos's death-cult - a handful of brave men - were arrested and tortured. During the days to come, they would die in the depths of the castle dungeons, without confessing any clues to secret intentions.

Still Tharlos did not feel safe. The nemesis of his nightmares was back for certain, now in a form that could penetrate walls. So the acting city leader went to extremes that shocked even his peers.

All equipment and property of the mechanics - workshops, foundries, tools, funds, spare parts, supplies, libraries - were forcibly appropriated and put under guard.

Tharlos also ordered all nobles and wealthy citizens to deposit their electronic jewels, trinkets, and mobile appliances in the city armory. This absurd order caused outrage and open complaints among the citizenry, even in the face of the armed militia.

The public image of Tharlos began to waver, from brave warrior to usurping, greedy tyrant.



High-priestess Inu of Damon City did not care to meet with the other high-priestesses of Castilia - each city had its own religious leader, and they naturally disliked each other's pretensions to divine grace.

Instead, she gathered her twenty-odd novices and priestesses in secret, in the city cathedral. Incense was burned and inhaled; smoke sipped into Inu's nostrils like the fingers of spirits. She started to rock back and forth, her eyes gazing blindly into the smoke.

And when Inu had put herself into a trance, the Goddess spoke through her in distant, throaty words: "Wait and listen. The King is yet with us. Wait and listen."

That was all. The other priestesses were confused. When the people of Damon City - and Librian, acting as Lord Damon's secret ambassador to the church - asked for the church's opinion of the state of things, Inu's statement was repeated.

This annoyed Bor; to challenge the ever-popular church, however, was out of the question. His estranged wife annoyed him even more, by making private visits to the cathedral - which she did the day after the re-appearance of the Sunray.

Inu could turn away even a noblewoman at a whim - she was a sacred person, until she resigned at the age of fifty - but she ordered the city lord's wife to be let inside.

Osanna Damon was received into a small study where she found Inu sitting, dressed in a white robe. She kneeled and bowed before the high-priestess, and kissed her cloth. Inu blessed her and asked her to sit on a lower, opposing chair.

The formalities done away with, Lady Osanna spoke: "There are too many ears in the castle, Your Holiness. I am grateful for the sanctity of the Church, where we can speak freely."

High-priestess Inu gave her a slight smile, and the dreamy gaze of a woman not quite in the same sphere of consciousness as other citizens.

"Everywhere," she said, "the Goddess is with us. She is our eyes and ears."

Osanna blinked uncertainly at the light-blond woman, who seemed so serene when she herself was a bundle of nerves. It took the power of a goddess to stay confident in such times, she thought.

"Your Holiness, I wish to confess how worried I am for my son Dohan's safety. He is a close friend of the Incarnation... of Sir Darc, as you know."

Inu nodded her consent and knowledge. "Yes, your son has a special destiny. Your lord has, too; your whole family has. The visions are clear in this matter."

Lady Osanna eagerly leaned forward, and said: "Lord Fache's wife had a vision of -"

She stopped. Inu's perfect face hardened somewhat. Osanna understood that the human part of Inu's soul, her personal vanity and pride, had been hurt by that remark. Osanna looked down. Inu smiled a little wider this time, a little colder.

"Yes, I have heard so too. I admit she may have the gift, though she is dark-skinned and cannot be fully possessed by the All-Mother."

Neither of these women questioned the Central Dogma of the church, that the Goddess only took hold in the bodies of women who resembled her first incarnation. Only pale-skinned, fair-haired women could apply for priesthood. The dogma, though unfair, had remained unchanged since before the Great Wars.

"Will my son be safe?" Osanna asked, her voice on the verge of breaking.

Inu sat breathing for a long moment, drifting in and out of the state of meditation like she sometimes did; she had the gift.

And after a time, the high-priestess responded: "Unless he strays from his destiny, Sir Dohan shall return safely to his family. That much is clear. In the meantime, be strong and do your best to help your family through the trials that lie ahead of us. Remember, the city lord is also under the blessing of the reincarnated King - even if he does not see it himself. I can say no more."

Lady Osanna thanked the high-priestess, and the audience was finished. It was a relieved, but puzzled noblewoman who left the cathedral that day.



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