The child will be of full consciousness," Yakim Douan said to his newest gathering of Yatols, most of them from the region -UL just interior to Jacintha. The Chezru Chieftain had chosen the invitation lists to his meetings very carefully, pulling together disparate, often feuding, priests. He didn't want any secret alliances building, to fester dur-ing the time when he would be most vulnerable. Thus, in the small gather-ings during which he would give the traditional Transcendence speech, Yakim drew together opposing Yatols, such as Peridan and De Hamman, who would never trust each other enough to form any destructive alliances.
"What does that truly mean, God-Voice?" asked Yatol Bohl, who led a flock at the great Dahdah Oasis, nine days' journey west of Jacintha. ?Will the child be able to speak? Words or sentences?"
Yakim studied Bohl carefully. At thirty, he was among the youngest of the Yatol priests, and he was certainly among the most fit. He ruled Dahdah with an iron hand, Yakim knew, collecting outrageous fees for shelter and supplies from any caravan coming in from the west toward Jacintha, or heading out to the west from the main city. No doubt, Yatol Grysh had been forced to reach deep into his pockets for a needed stop at Dahdah on his way back to Dharyan.
"Full consciousness," Yakim replied. ?The child, of no more than a year, will be able to speak as fluently as you or I. The child will know of our ways, will know of me, his predecessor, and will know of his destiny."
"Surely a peasant mother seeking to elevate her family could teach - "The child will know more of Yatol and the Chezru religion than any peasant could possibly guess," Yakim interrupted the ever-petulant Bohl. ?You will see, you will understand, and you will believe."
"God-Voice, please do not believe that I am a doubter," Yatol Bohl said, holding his hands out wide, assuming a posture of perfect innocence.
Yakim Douan just smiled at the pose. He knew exactly that, of course, All the others, except for those most pious, like the poor fool Ma held grave doubts about the Transcendence, the mystical Menvan went to the next Chezru Chieftain. Of course they did - wouId they not? For someone to believe that a baby, an infant, would caking fluently and knowing all the secrets of their culture's wisest was a stretch, certainly, a test of faith against logic, of belief against well Yakim Douan could sympathize with those doubts! He rebered that time, so many hundreds of years before, when he had first learned of the Transcendence. Things were done very differently back ien for it was not the Chezru Chieftain delivering a speech such as this. No, the Chezru Chieftain would die, often unexpectedly, and then the leaders of the Chezru religion would initiate the search.
Yakim Douan, a young Yatol, had been just a bit older than Bohl was now when he had participated in that search those centuries ago. He re-membered how full of eagerness, full of great joy he had been at the thought that he was about to witness a miracle, a confirmation of his faith that every man so desires, whether he admits it or not. They had discovered the blessed infant soon after, and full of anticipation and the expectation of extreme joy, Yakim Douan had gone in to witness the miracle child.
And he had found a baby. Not a blessed baby, not a miracle child spe ing the words of Yatol, but a normal baby.
The leaders of Chezru, their names lost to him now, had told him and the other Yatols of the ?miracles" they had witnessed the child perform, of the words they had heard this goo-gooing infant speaking. Many of the other Yatols had taken those proclamations as proof enough that this was indeed the miracle child, the new God-Voice of Yatol.
But Yakim Douan had known better. He had understood instinctively that this baby was nothing more than a pawn, through which the leaders of the Yatol priests could spend the rest of their days in control of the religion, and thus, of all Behren.
He knew.
And so he understood the doubts and the fears that Yatols such as Bohl must now be feeling in this time of approaching crisis. If Yakim could only hand them enough teasing to hold them in check until after the birth, until they saw proof positive that their faith was not misplaced, that the selected child was indeed the God-Voice, then men like Bohl could become very valuable allies to the next incarnation.
When I was chosen, I knew as much about the truth of Yatol as I do ' he told them all. ?I could recite the Verses of Propriety as well as I bow..." He gave a little laugh. ?No, better, for then my physical body not begun to fail me, my memory did not lapse as it sometimes does now.
The gathering of ten Yatols all chuckled at the Chezru Chieftain's un-characteristic comedy - all except for Yatol Bohl, who sat staring hard at Douan, obviously taking a careful measure of the man.
Yakim resisted the temptation to call him on that look, and merely smiled disarmingly in response.
"You are human, reasoning beings, and so you hold your doubts," he said, and there came a chorus of denials, to which Yakim merely looked away and held up his hands. ?It is the expected response, my children, for you cannot make logical sense of faith. Who here has seen the paradise of the afterlife?" He paused and let the gathered Yatols all look to each other questioningly. ?Nay, you cannot see the spirit or hear the spirit. For you in your current state of existence, only the empty and lifeless corpse remains and logic would tell you, then, that death is the end of consciousness.
"I know better, and I tell you that this Transcendence will show you, too, that there is more to this existence than what our physical senses can show us. When you look upon the reincarnated God-Voice, when you hear him speak the words of Truth, you will know and you will be content.
"Fear not for those doubts you now harbor," Yakim went on, trying to hold that fierce edge of passion in his voice, trying not to lapse into the simple recitation of this, a speech he had spoken many times over the cen-turies. ?Fear not that you will be disappointed, and fear not that your doubts somehow mark you as less than true to Yatol. You are supposed to question and supposed to doubt! Else, how will you be certain that you have selected the correct child? Question and doubt everything! When you find the new God-Voice, your questions will catch in your throats and your doubts will vanish so completely that you will be befuddled as to how you ever held them. And then you will know true peace, my children, for then you will understand the truth of your faith. To witness a miracle is to ease the fear of dying itself. Look upon those few living Yatols who remem-ber the last Transcendence! See the contentment in their old eyes, my chil-dren, and take heart that you, too, will know that supreme comfort."
It was true enough. Only three Yatols remained alive who remembered the last Transcendence, when Yakim Douan had been identified as the next God-Voice of Yatol, and those three were considered among the happiest of all the Yatol priests. Happy because they had seen a miracle and knew that heaven awaited them. Happy because they understood the value of their lives in service to Yatol.
Happy because Yakim Douan had ultimately deceived them.
When the gathering dispersed a short while later, most of the Yatols left the audience chamber grinning and speaking excitedly about the coming Transcendence. Two notable exceptions caught Yakim Douan's eye and attention as he watched the departing flock. Merwan Ma sat at the side of the stage, in the shadows, staring at him with a long look upon his face. The man was deeply troubled by Yakim's expected and hoped-for death, the Chieftain knew, and was deeply troubled by his own inability to ac-reality, to brush aside his logical fears of mortality and logical sad- at losing a man he considered as mentor and friend. nosture and his fears did not bother Yakim Douan, though, for he hat Merwan Ma would rejoice when the God-Voice was discovered.
Chezru Chieftain decided then and there that when they found him, of his first spoken revelations would be to tell poor Merwan Ma that on Douan was still with him, looking over him and taking pride that his udent was performing his ultimately important duties so very well. The second exception to the common joy troubled Yakim Douan much ore though, for Yatol Bohl left the chamber neither smiling nor chatting itedly. His face was stern and locked into an expression of deepest reflection.
That one could prove to be dangerous, Yakim Douan knew. He was young and strong and eager and impatient. And he was ambitious - too much so, perhaps, to sublimate himself to a mere child. The one true concern that had followed Yakim Douan through his centuries of power was the weak-ness of true spirituality in the face of human emotions. A Yatol priest, for all of his piousness, even heroics, in the eyes of the church, could only ascend so far, could never be greater than the second rank of the hierarchy. Cer-tainly if Bohl witnessed the selected child, the God-Voice who could tell him of the Yatol tenets and codes as well as any scholar priest, then he would be convinced and would put aside his earthly ambitions-and human weaknesses.
But would Yatol Bohl show enough patience? Would he wait the nearly two years it would take after Yakim Douan s death to even finer the new Chezru? Or was he plotting a more direct route to instalL-anew leader of Yatol?
Yakim Douan smiled knowingly. The same magic that allowed the decep-tion of Transcendence would soon provide him with practical information.
We are to wait years to be disappointed?" Yatol Bohl asked his guest, Yatol Thei'a'hu, incredulously. ?Surely you cannot believe this chatter of a speaking infant!"
Lhezru Chieftain Douan has asked us to trust in our faith, and what is with without trust?" replied the other Yatol, older than Bohl by more than ecade and seeming worn and thin, with sleepy eyes and a badly balding I and a jaw that constantly trembled from a disease he had contracted years before. ?Are we to believe in the miracle of Paradise if we can in this relativlely minor miracle?"
Imor?" Bohl echoed with the same unyielding skepticism. ?An infant recite the tenets of Yatol? An infant?
Have you even known an in-3 speak in a complete sentence, Yatol, let alone in any manner that makes sense?"
"Minor," Yatol Thei'a'hu insisted. ?If Yatol can fashion Paradise, if Yatol can transcend death, then how can you doubt this?"
Bohl settled back on his comfortable seat, a relatively shapeless stuffed bag, and took a deep draw on the hose extending from a watery tube beside him. ?And yet, you doubt it, too, for all of your reasoning now. Else, friend why are you here?"
Yatol Thei'a'hu similarly sat back on his shapeless chair, staring at his counterpart. Bohl's words were true enough, he had to admit to himself His feelings toward this impending Transcendence were not positive at all and his expression and posture showed that clearly. In truth, Thei'a'hu had never been overly fond of Yakim Douan, and had often privately disagreed with the man. While he accepted the Chezru Chieftain's unchallenged lead-ership and obeyed Douan's commands to the letter, Douan had made sev-eral very damaging decisions concerning Yatol Thei'a'hu's province of Eh'thu, located two weeks to the south and west of Jacintha. Ten years be-fore, Douan had clipped off the northernmost stretch of Thei'a'hu's prov-ince and given it to Yatol Presh, who rode with the nomads of Tossionas Desert, in an effort to settle the often-troublesome nomadic warriors. That ploy had hardly worked, for the Tossionas nomads were causing as much grief as ever, and yet, that redrawing of province lines had cost Thei'a'hu an important oasis. For all of his faith, Yatol Thei'a'hu could hardly believe that Douan's decision had been god-inspired - how could Yatol have made such an obvious mistake? That was the most grievous example, but there were others, always gnawing at the reasonable Thei'a'hu's logic.
"For centuries, we have followed the Transcendence of Yatol," Thei'a'hu said. ?When the Chezru dies, the search begins for the next God-Voice, and that God-Voice will be identified through the miracle of premature knowledge and voice. That is our way, and so Chezru Douan prepares us now for the next Transcendence. What would you have us do, Yatol Bohl? Are we to seize the title for ourselves? Do you believe that the other two hundred Yatols of Behren will accept a religious coup?"
"I have suggested no such thing!" Bohl sputtered in reply.
"Then what?"
"We must be aware and alert," the fiery young Yatol insisted. ?We must insinuate ourselves into the process of the search, to find a child who will be sympathetic to our needs."
"You believe that you can know such a thing about an infant? You be-lieve that you can find a child who will be acceptable to the other Yatols, if this child is not speaking as Chezru Douan has told us?"
"Do you believe that there will be such a child, a clear-cut God-Voice speaking the tenets as fluently as our present Chezru Chieftain?"
Thei'a'hu settled back even farther at the continuing blunt, bordering on heretical, declarations of Yatol Bohl. That was it, was it not? Either they be-lieved that such a creature would be born into their midst, literally as Douan had said, or they did not. And if they did not, then perhaps uld do well to find a child whose mother would favor Bohl and friend, if such a child is found, then perhaps we should abandon selection and fall in line with the others," Bohl went on. ?And if not, hen what have we lost?" If we find a bright child to elevate, there remains the problem of Chezru an's choice of Shepherd Merwan Ma as tutor and mentor the ? Yatol Thei'a'hu reminded. ?Merwan Ma above all others will help shape the next Chezru, and he is likely of similar mind and heart as Douan, else he would not have been chosen. That heart is not sympathetic for Eh'thu, I am sure."
"Merwan Ma is insignificant," Yatol Bohl insisted. ?He will be a minor player in the future of Yatol."
"Not according to Chezru Douan." ?Who will be dead and buried," the other reminded. Yatol Thei'a'hu narrowed his sleepy eyes at the obvious threat, for Bohl's tone made it quite clear that he believed he could have Merwan Ma elimi-nated, if the need arose, and that he would not hesitate to do so.
Yakim Douan watched it all with a considerable amount of amusement - for he, too, was in that quiet room in the luxurious northern quarter of Jacintha. Not physically. Physically, Yakim Douan was in Chom Deiru, the Chezru palace in Jacintha, in his meditation room, where none would dare disturb his private communion with Yatol. Little did they know/that^his true communion on that day, as on many, was with a certain hematite, \ magical soul stone. Using that magic, Yakim walked out of his body, his spirit silently making its way along the streets, following troublesome Yatol Bohl to his temporary quarters in the city.
How convenient that Bohl had chosen that very day, the same d^y as the speech of Transcendence, to further his nefarious plotting with Yatol Thei'a'hu.
It saddened Yakim Douan to learn that Thei'a'hu was in on Bohl's grow-ing conspiracy. He had always been rather fond of the man, and though he knew that Thei'a'hu harbored some resentment about the loss of his north-ern reaches, Yakim hadn't imagined that his decision had put the man so far into Bohl's dangerous court.
Bohl's last statement, though, hinting at eliminating Merwan Ma, had not surprised Yakim Douan in the least. He understood Bohl well, had over the centuries seen many men of similar impatience and weakened faith. Indeed, Yakim Douan was one of them!
How could he not sympathize with Bohl? The man, who obviously isn t sold on the specific concept of Yatol Paradise, was merely being 'ragmatic, much as the disillusioned Yakim Douan had acted pragmatically those centuries before when he had discovered his own secret to immortal-ity, one that made logical sense to him.
If he had a body about him at that moment, Yakim Douan would have is-sued a revealing sigh. In looking at Bohl, so much a younger version of his own first incarnation, Yakim Douan considered, and not for the first time not even for the hundredth time, that he had the power to offer true im-mortality to others, a select few, perhaps, friends and lovers who could coast through the centuries beside him. His was not necessarily a lonely ex-istence, for in each incarnation as God-Voice, he was able to surround him-self with friends, and certainly the Chezru Chieftain had little trouble in finding the carnal companionship of many, many women.
But what might it be like to walk the centuries with another? With Bohl perhaps, or Merwan Ma?
It was a passing thought, as always. For taking such a course would surely invite great risk. A companion who knew the truth of the hematite and Transcendence might speak out to a friend, or might allow himself to fall in love and wish to take yet another on the century-walking journey. Or even worse, a companion might harbor ambitions to become the God-Voice, threatening a position that Yakim Douan did not wish to relinquish.
For who but a pragmatic, not overly spiritual man might Yakim Douan convince to follow him on his eternal journey. Only a man like young Yakim, or like Bohl, a man who harbored innermost doubts about Yatol, would desire this journey, and a man such as that, Yakim Douan knew first-hand, could not truly be trusted.
A man without the true belief in Paradise, and thus, without the true fear of Yatol, was a man who desired to make Paradise his own in this life.
Whatever the cost.
His body would have sighed again had it been there, as Yakim Douan realized what he now had to do to eliminate this latest threat, to eliminate Yatol Bohl.
And yes, he realized, Yatol Thei'a'hu, as well.
How might he do that without causing a major disruption in all the church, a ripple that would shake the groundwork he had struggled so hard to put in place? If it was but one man, one caravan, he could order his Chezhou-Lei warriors out, disguised as bandits. Even if the great warriors were recognized by any survivors of that caravan for who they were, no one would believe mere escorts. But two Yatol priests and two caravans?
It would have to be orchestrated carefully and over time.
Over time. Yakim Douan was biting his lip in frustration even as he re-entered his corporeal form back in the palace. He did not want to delay the resolution to this newest problem, did not want to spend the next weeks - even months, perhaps - in executing the deserving Yatols, then waiting for the results to shake out. I might ..." he started to say, but he stopped short, his lips curl 'ent right back out in spiritual form, leaping through the hematal then soaring across the city to the house occupied by Yatol ?If he found the man lying in a bath, surrounded by pretty, scantily ung attendants, both male and female. Yakim considered the scene h pity and amusement. It was common knowledge that Thei'a'hu he��d lost his ability to perform sexually, and so it had been rumored that the man took his pleasures vicariously.
Pitiful wretch.
Ignoring those standing about the Yatol, Yakim Douan's spirit soared right to the reclining man, and right into the reclining man.
Yatol Thei'a'hu's eyes popped open wide and he let out a shriek that turned all heads in the room his way.
Some of those onlookers started to ap-proach him, but then they all backed off, eyes wide with shock, as Thei'a'hu thrashed about in his tub, splashing soapy water all about the room.
His mouth opened and twisted as if he was trying to spout out some words, some cry for help, and indeed he was.
But he had no control. For Yakim Douan was in there with him, two spirits, two wills, fighting for control over one body. Muscles knotted and twisted from contrasting signals. Eyes bulged and Thei'a'hu's mouth con-tinued to twist and snap, biting into his lip and tongue.
Do you know me, Yatol Thei'a'hu? Yakim Douan's spirit telepathically demanded.
The body stopped thrashing, lying very still in what remained of the bathwater.
Look upon me! Yakim Douan went on. Let your heart tell you who has come to visit!
Chezm Chieftain Douan? Thei'a'hu's mind silently asked.
That is one incarnation, came the teasing, cryptic response.
The onlookers in the room, some of them just gathering the nerve to approach the man once again, leaped back as Thei'a'hu's body jerked in surprise.
Jtol! Yatol! Yatol! Thei'a'hu's spirit screamed.
You are a nonbeliever! Yakim Douan accused. You disappoint me, Yatol Ibei'a'hu.
No!
You con sort with heretics who deny the truth of Yatol!
ei a hu's call, both telepathic and physieaL, held the inflections of - mper then, as he repeated over and ove% ?Mdrcy." U >rrect your sacrilege, YatotTka^hu/This niJht! Now!
You have but one f-o again walk the path to Para&eTakjplDouan ended by imparting - specific visual instructions, and then he departed Thei'a'hu's physical body, his spirit drifting up to the ceiling to observe, and though he was in visible and silent, those others in the room sensed that spirit, or something Yakim Douan was amused again to watch the looks of confusion and fear upon their faces, to see the hairs standing up on the back of their necks, to see the women hugging themselves as if suddenly chilled. The Chezru Chieftain even went back down among them, a cold ghost brushing close heightening the fear. More than one of those attendants ran out of the room, screaming.
But the show hadn't even yet begun, Yakim Douan knew, and so he con-tinued to watch, taking great pleasure as Yatol Thei'a'hu climbed out of the tub, pushing past any attendants who moved to help him, or to try to put a robe about his naked shoulders.
Thei'a'hu did have a blanket wrapped about him as he exited the house more to ward the chill than out of any modesty, for it was obvious to all looking upon him, Yakim Douan's spirit included, that the man was sud-denly obsessed and single-minded.
That blanket also conveniently hid the tool Thei'a'hu would need to find his way back to Paradise.
The visiting Yatols had all been quartered in the same area, and so Thei'a'hu did not have far to walk to get to the house of Yatol Bohl, push-ing right through the two soldiers standing guard at the door and banging on it loudly. When it was opened, by yet another soldier, Yatol Thei'a'hu did not wait to offer an explanation, but just forced his way through, screaming for Yatol Bohl.
The man came down the sweeping staircase at the back of the foyer a moment later, dressed exactly as he had been when Yatol Thei'a'hu had left him three hours earlier.
"Thei'a'hu," he said, obviously stunned at the man's appearance. ?What is wrong?"
Thei'a'hu stormed up to him, Bohl holding his arms wide, his expression incredulous.
That look grew even more incredulous when Thei'a'hu's knife jabbed into his belly.
"Heretic! Unbeliever!" Thei'a'hu cried, pumping his arm repeatedly, and with the strength of a man possessed and with the determination of a man who truly believed that his own salvation was at stake.
By the time Bohl's stunned soldiers could restrain the intruding Yatol, Yatol Bohl lay curled on the floor, his lifeblood pouring out into a widening puddle that already took in more than half of the foyer.
Hovering above the entryway, the spirit of Yakim Douan watched it all, with a bit of regret, but in truth, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle. He con-sidered his voyeurism there and felt a twang of guilt, wondering if he was no better than Thei'a'hu, taking his pleasure vicariously. tiered not, he decided, and he retreated back to his waiting corpo-eparing himself, for he knew that Yatol Thei'a'hu would soon ? before him to answer for the crime of murder. ^Douan decided to play this delicately, and with ultimate contempt se around him. He would hear Thei'a'hu's story, then would retreat >S k with Yatol, then would return and proclaim Thei'a'hu a hero of The old Chezru Chieftain was still chuckling at the beautiful irony of it 11 vhen Merwan Ma rushed into his meditation room to tell him that he was*needed in the audience chamber immediately
