TC7

INTERLUDE

TC710: Gabriel fanned out  once more with  his wine  trick. The guests were astonished it was chilled to the same degree as when he served the first round over two hours prior.

As Nuriel served a kingly plate  of roast beef to  Uriel Bellon Gabriel ventured to sing:

"Born to rule Jelaket as king.

Yet queen-gentle hez words do ring.

Valiant like the yeng of old

Fair like a bust of purest gold."

He composed the words in English  but sang them in  the private language Bat-El and El invented.

TC711: The king did not understand the words, but che liked the tune. Nuriel had only come to understand the tongue in the last day or so. The song was really meant for Hamon,  that he would know Gabriel was not a  simple clown  sporting a false  halo in parody of Lilith and Leliel.

When Gabriel drew near to Hamon and his family  he said, in the same tongue, "Your  pardon, my  Lord, I  am the  herald of  the daughter  of Bat-El.  I crave  audience  with you  in a  private setting as Binah has commanded me."

TC712: At  this Lilith  was  thrown  into much  confusion. The daughter of Bat-El, her  husband had told  her, would  not even become a conscious being until  an interval  on the order  of a human lifetime had passed. And the name Binah was something she and Hamon had discussed only in private.

But to Hamon  certain things  he  had only  suspected were  now confirmed. He said,  "We  will receive  you  in  our  chambers tonight, after the evening meal."

Gabriel bowed deeply and said, "It will be as you say, Lord."

TC713: As  Gabriel  joined  Nuriel  and  resumed  his  role  of refreshing the  guests, Hamon could  not supress a  broad smile. His wife was pleased that he seemed so happy but she had no idea what it was that made him so. When she demanded an accounting he told her, "Let's  save it  for tonight.  Only .  . .  Lil, this changes everything!"

King Rimmon and his companion "Joy" did not stay for the midday meal. They pushed their chairs back and departed  for their own chamber. Princess Dafla followed them.

TC714: As the keeper of Dragonthorn, Princess  Dafla of Jelaket was convinced beyond any doubt that  she had the power  to bend the will of everyone around her,  even the will of  her father. She had put this  belief to  the test  many times. Once, after flying by Demonstroke  to the  Isle  of Danya  far outside  her kingdom, she had put it to the ultimate test.

There she had done a trick that Rimmon had done once before with Lilith. She scattered a party from their camp and helped herself to their food.

TC715: Yet one  figure  did not  flee at  the  approach of  the dragon, and no wonder, as it  was Rimmon himself, the  very one who had contrived the "gift" of the monster to House Bellon. He stood his ground with a  bemused grin  as he watched  the young princess bring her dragon to a wobbly landing and dismount.

She approached with Dragonthorn pointed straight at him. The tip wavered only slightly  when she  realized who  she was  dealing with. "King Rimmon! You will speak only the truth to me."

"Yes."

TC716: "What manner  of  beast  have you  foisted  upon me?  It eats  and drinks  nothing! When  it is  idle it  becomes like  a sculpture."

"You foolish  female, no  living  thing  can breathe  fire  and survive. Demonstroke is nothing more than an engine of war."

"Yet it can walk, and run, and fly."

"It can mock the actions of a living thing, Princess, but it is no more intelligent than, perhaps, a locust."

"And this blade you gave me,  the Dragonthorn, is it  truly the only means by which to control it?"

TC717: "Did I not say that  very thing to King  Uriel? But then again, it  is you  who felt  the need to  constrain a  seraph to speak only the truth. Did your father tell you what my engine of war will do should the diamond blade be no more? Regarding that, too, I spoke in verity."

"Once I saw the blade glow with light. Was  that your doing, or does the blade also have some dim awareness?"

"Oh, that was just me,  making the hand-over ceremony  a little prettier. You found me out, O clever one."

TC718: "Now,  King   Rimmon,  I  command  you   to  change  the Dragonthorn blade once more. It's continued existence must never again be bound up with anything  I do. Yet it must still command the dragon, and it must still command anyone that I indicate."

"It is done," he said, but her blank look told  him she was not ready to believe. "Do you need more pretty lights to affirm the truth of what I say?"

"Come closer," she told him. "Many times I have thought of the only way to put it to the test."

TC719: Now, while the council had taken a short  recess for the midday meal,  she dismissed  the  guards  blocking her  way  to Rimmon's chamber and  received yet one more  confirmation of her power of persuasion.

The Earth woman, Joy, was lounging sensuously inside the king's chamber like some  exotic black cat, with her  black hair, black clothing, black lipstick and black nail polish. The only thing about Joy that wasn't black was her unnaturally pale white skin. Dafla told her she was dismissed also.

TC720: Rimmon was incensed. "How dare you send my  woman away like a common servant!"

"I wanted privacy and I'm very persuasive, as it turns out. Yet the last time we met it seemed you had the stronger power."

"We both know why that happened, Princess."

"I came to  see if  your  resolve to  keep our  secret has  not withered."

"You came to see if my own spell still holds  after it you used it against me. Be assured, I  have no urge to call into question the purity of King Uriel's daughter."

TC721: "It's a shame that it must be so, Your Majesty. When last we met you said I had a very lovely ass and  you could not keep your hands from caressing it."

Rimmon puckered his  mouth in  disgust. "Right now I  wouldn't reach  across your  ass to  grab a  winning ticket  in the  Adan numbers racket.  Look! Kemen is  in no danger  from Demonstroke. House Bellon has a pet dragon. Your secret is safe. Now, if that is all you wanted to know, then please leave."

Dafla pivoted on one foot and marched out.

TC722: When she was well out of earshot Rimmon began to snicker, then chuckle, and finally guffaw. The effort it had taken not to laugh the entire time was almost too much for him.

"So that was the girl," Joy  said after emerging from  behind a curtain. She had doubled  back by secret  ways and  listened to almost the entire exchange. "It's a wonder you didn't have done and  unleash  the dragon  on  Kemen  the  instant she  gave  her so-called virtue away."

"No, no, this way will be far more satisfying."

TC723: "I have already been to see Demonstroke,"  Joy told him. "I can feel the invisible reins in my mind but the blade remains a barrier."

"Not for very much longer. But how is it,  Joy, you imagine you can control my toy. It seems too much of a coincidence."

"Hamon believes there will  come a time  when people  will make things akin  to your  dragon. Some of  these will  be controlled with a bundle of copper drawn  out in fine wire and that's where the bone cup I already displayed for you comes in."

TC724: Indeed,  Joy had  already  permitted  Rimmon to  closely examine the cup of bone that  pierced the scalp at  the back of her head. It was in the shape of the  letter 'D' lying  on its back, and had dozens of fine carbon pins that extended like the lead in a mechanical pencil. This was in addition to  the two black horns that also grew out of her head.

"Hamon trying to be funny" she told Rimmon. "Same as the ring of bone on Lilith's  head. It's  an Earth  joke. It  wouldn't make sense here on Kemen."

TC725: "The magician who served the wine has a ring on hez head similar to the one Lilith bears. Who is che?"

"Oh, that's just Jerry, milord.  He's a very good  courier. The thing he  did with the  wine, normally  he saves that  trick for carrying documents, or money."

"Why is he here?"

"I'm not certain, milord. Perhaps he brought  Hamon some gewgaw from Earth  and then was  put to work as  a court clown.  He did seem surprised  to see  me. He  asked why I'm  here, but  we had little opportunity to speak."

TC726: "Perhaps I can shake his tongue loose."

"At the very least, milord, he would  be exceedingly courteous, as any B'nei Elohim would be in the presence of a seraph. And he would  try to  carry out  any orders  you deigned  to give  him, unless they conflicted with Hamon's wishes."

"And did Hamon give you orders to attend to me?"

"Certainly not, milord!  But  not all  B'nei  Elohim remain  in Bat-El's service.  The ones  who follow me  are even  working in opposition to him. We call ourselves Groupies."

TC727: "Why that name?"

Joy said, "In our tongue Groupies refer to the sexual playthings of a musical troupe  who remain  idle during  performances. The name  is appropriate  since this  change  with the  bone cup  is intended to spread  like a venereal disease." She rubbed one of the two bumps on the scalp  of Rimmon that would soon break open to reveal horns. "Other members of the B'nei Elohim are called Roadies, who  are certainly not  idle. And, of course,  there is the Band, the apple of Bat-El's eye."

TC728: Rimmon said,  "I'm sure  it's all  another very  amusing Earth joke, but  let it lie there, Joy. It  is sufficient that I have accepted  your plan for  the dragon. You make  a compelling argument that  Bat-El would otherwise destroy  Demonstroke quite easily with  his own  avatar. I  had tired of  the game  and was ready to roll the whole world up and discard it, but you've made the case  there remain interesting permutations  yet to explore. So let us return to council and listen to the fools once more."

SIX DAYS

TC729: On June  6, 1967  Gamal  Nasser called  King Hussein  of Jordan to tell him American and British planes had destroyed his entire air force. Nasser hardly believed it himself. He had no idea the B'nei Elohim prepared  the attack. Nasser had no clue the B'nei Elohim even existed. To admit the Israelis decapitated his entire air  force  would imply  that  Jews were  militarily superior to Arabs, which was, of course, utterly unthinkable. So it must have been the Anglos, or so went Nasser's thinking.

TC730: What  followed was  the  final  combat operation  Judith Margolies (or  indeed  any  female Israeli  soldier)  was  ever permitted to  fight. On June  8  Rav seren  Judith  Margolies, commanding Alef Battalion, Third Company, lay atop  a high sand berm and looked  across the  Suez Canal  at the  former British airfield of Deversoir, or Duweir Suweir as the enemy called the place. This airfield lay  along the  northwestern shore  of the Great Bitter Lake where it narrowed to become a shipping channel once more.

TC731: The  canal-crossing   operations  originating  from  the airfield were  intense. Poor planning  had  caught up  to  the Egyptians and now they knew the entire war hung from one slender thread. It turns out  that  troops  frequently need  to  drink water, oddly enough, and in  the scorching desert of  the Sinai Peninsula, doubly so.

Judith took aim  at a  water  tower with  her Anti-Tank  Guided Missile and fired. The trick was to keep the target centered in the crosshairs of the scope until the round hit.

TC732: Aiming an  ATGM  could be  difficult  under the  intense pressure of combat, but Judith and all her people  had earned a reputation for  steely cool under fire. Her wire-guided missile made contact and became the first  of five to strike  the water tower and demolish it. Judith dropped the firing mechanism and turned south to make double-time toward a prearranged marshaling point in the rear. Her combat role in the war,  and indeed her combat role in the Israeli Defense Force had come to an end.

TC733: Captain Shaul ben-Elissar found a parked  water truck in the sights of his firing  mechanism and successfully took it out before following Judith to the south. The truck was not armored, certainly not to the  30 centimeters of  steel which  the ATGMs were capable of penetrating.

Sergeant Binyamin Gafhi fired his rocket and hit  a small steel barge returning across the mouth of the canal  where it entered the Great Bitter Lake, making it unavailable to pick  up one of the parked water trucks.

TC734: Private  Marina  Merom  fired her  missile. The rocket screamed away and  spooled  out a  fine  guidance command  wire behind it. Using electrical signals sent down that wire, Marina carefully kept the crosshairs of the scope on the target she had chosen. She struck a  steel aqueduct. In a few days  the pipe would be field-repaired, but that  would not be soon  enough to help the thirsty  Egyptian soldiers trapped on the  east side of the canal. Marina joined the flight of Alef Battallion  to the rear.

TC735: At that  point  the Egyptians  realized  the threat  was coming from the levee  and directed all  their fire  south. The sand erupted with mortar fire  and stray rifle  rounds. Private David Zismann was killed before he could fire his ATGW.

Private Uzi Herschon  inched down  the berm  to get  inside the 2,500 meter range of his weapon. He set up on a boulder, fired, and steered his  rocket at  a moving  deuce-and-a-half carrying Egyptian troops south  toward  their  position. Scratch twelve enemy troops.

TC736: Lieutenant Noami Meridor was rattled  by bullets pinging the sand close by. She couldn't keep her target  centered and missed. Her missile struck the  ground inside the  old airfield and exploded, but this still contributed to the fog of war. The blast served, at the very least, as suppressing fire to keep the Egyptians from retaliating effectively.

Meanwhile the missile fired by  Captain Maxim Shahal  flipped a mobile crane which  was approaching a water truck  flipped by an earlier blast.

TC737: Corporal Dalia Bibi squeezed the trigger  on her missile launcher. . . and  nothing happened. The weapon was a  dud. Cursing, she dropped it on the sand and joined the flood of Alef Battalion personnel running toward the designated rallying point near the small town of Fayed.

Sergeant Yossi Levi hit the hardest target of all, a water truck moving down a street at high speed across his  field of vision. It was attempting to get out  of Deversoir and cross  the canal somewhere to the north.

TC738: The ATGW attack fell  silent. Nearly a thousand loosely spiraled wires lay on the sands and the raid  of Alef Battalion was complete. In just one quarter of an hour they had ensured a swift denouement  to the war. The Egyptian''s water supply and supporting infrastructure was not entirely destroyed, but enough damage was  done  to  ensure only  the  officers  tasted  fresh water the  next  day. When rumor  of  that  got  out,  as  it quite unavoidably  did, a full-scale  mutiny of the  lower ranks developed.

TC739: Drinking from the Suez Canal was no help. It was a simple ditch dug at sea  level between the  Mediterranean and  the Red Sea, wherein the saltwater  from both co-mingled. The Egyptian infantry on the east side  of the canal disintegrated  before a two-pronged advance  of Israeli  tanks. Racked by Demon Thirst, entire brigades of Egyptians willingly surrendered just for the hope of a mouthful of water from their captors.

RUMBEK

TC740: In the second hour past noon the Council  of Royals came out of  recess and  resumed. Hashmal Raphaela of  the  Fallen Angels, Lilith's chief lieutenant, begged leave of her queen to speak. Then she rose and said, "After Queen Lilith's parley the status of the Fallen Angels was left dangling. She departed with the dragon  and King Rimmon on  an errand known only  to her. We could not  set foot  east of  the new  frontier, nor  would King Galizur receive us in the west before speaking to the queen."

TC741: "We lived  on what  supplies  we had  filched from  King Rimmon's ice cache,  and on what rations  Prince Barachiel could spare,  but these  were finite,  and  when the  days of  waiting became weeks,  I obtained  leave from Barachiel  to plow  up the land around our  encampment and gamble the last of  our grain as seed for  more food. But  still no word came  to us. Then  a day came when  Barachiel himself  was compelled  to depart,  that he might bring tidings  of the truce to his father  King Galizur in Rumbek.

TC742: "Ten days after Prince  Barachiel quit the  frontier the avatar of Bat-El arrived on the treeless waste. I was invited by my  queen and  Lord Hamon  to travel  with them  to the  city of Rumbek. Leliel always  joined them on such flights  now, for the peace of mind of Lilith, who feared the lord of the Black Beards might  contrive the  same mischief  that  took the  life of  her father. But Lord  Hamon had devised an array  of punishments far too costly to bear should King Rimmon bring harm to the child.

TC743: "Lilith held fast to her daughter and said,  'I may have to do  most of  the groveling  in Rumbek.  I deem  Galizur knows little or nothing of your union with Bat-El.'

"'You had little time to  appraise his son Barachiel  of that,' admitted  Hamon. 'You  were about  the business  of stopping  an invasion.'

"And I told them in any event Ophan Barachiel  had departed for the capital some ten days before,  yet no doubt the avatar would arrive at the city at least ten days before he reached home.

TC744: "This castle where we have gathered to take counsel lies at the  head of  a small  river that empties  into the  north of Sealiah  Island,  yet there  is  another  valley that  stretches south, and  a ridge separates  them. It  was to that  valley the avatar took  us. There  gentle slopes of  grass are  dotted with trees as benign  as any of Earth. Lilith carried  Leliel down to the hatch  first, then we  all made our  exit and walked  a safe distance away to watch the artifact rise into the sky once more.

TC745: Lilith and I expected to see the largest  city in Kemen, but there were only scattered hovels. Hamon saw the questioning ook in our eyes he said, "I listened to both of my lovely ladies on the flight. Also now I think better than to frighten the king and his sub-  jects with  my avatar.  I well  remember Bat-El's first visit to Salem."

"So a  seraph  and  a  cherub  and  a  hashmal  walk  from  the hinterlands to  the city," Lilith said,  bordering on disbelief. "And Leliel almost too big to carry."

TC746: "'Walk, yes, to begin,'  said Hamon, 'but we  shall also ride and  even float. And  there is no  need, I think,  to carry Leliel. Let's see how she does.' So Lilith set the child down.

"The land was open and airy with few farms and grass kept short by grazing animals.  And there were scattered  trees. Hamon said they resembled those of Earth in one important way: none of them tried to  kill us. Toiling north  we gained six hundred  feet of elevation in two miles. Leliel seemed not to tire at all.

TC747: Sealiah Island bears two lines of forested  hills with a connecting ridge athwart. Leliel guessed we were making for the west hills and sped on ahead. Her mother and I were astonished. We had never seen even wild animals running down their prey move so quickly. I knew Hamon had changed his daughter  somehow. He had made her swift of foot and tireless. Lilith saw the utility of the change but one question remained: "When did you do it?"

"On the flight. I doubt that she felt anything."

TC748: Leliel attained the summit  of the ridge and  waved down at us. Lilith said,  "Let's ascend  more  quickly  to  assure ourselves she remains safe. But perhaps she no longer needs such protection as we can give her."

We ascended at a greater pace, with ever an eye to the ridge top to assure ourselves the child remained in view. Hamon said, 'It was not magic what I did to her. Or at least it was a kind of magic that will cease to be magic  one day when I can find a way to adequately explain it."

TC748: "Leliel attained the summit of the ridge  and waved down at  us.  Lilith  said,  'Let's ascend  more  quickly  to  assure ourselves she remains safe. But perhaps she no longer needs such protection as we can give her.'

"We ascended at a greater pace,  with ever an eye  to the ridge top to assure ourselves the  child remained in view. Hamon said, 'It was not magic  what I did to her. Or at least  it was a kind of magic that will  cease to be magic one day when  I can find a way to adequately explain it.

TC749: "'I am your first student," said Lilith, "and moreover, I consider Raphaela to be my own student. And we  have learned so very much. Let us see if  we are ready to understand this change you have made to my daughter.'

'You are indeed Leliel's mother,' replied Hamon,  'so there are many things about  her  that resemble  you. Yet if  she had  a sister,  even a  twin, they  would not  be perfectly  identical. Everything that  exists  in  both worlds,  living  or  not,  is governed by both law and by chance.

TC750: "'We run so fast and no faster because there is something akin to a fire  that burns within  us. it burns  so hot  and no hotter. This is a law. Yet of old, purely by chance, some living things did  burn hotter.  But these  creatures could  not endure long, because  the hotter  fire within  required more  food than they could find.  They perished before they could  pass this new law down  to their  young. But  our Leliel  is ranked  among the ophanim. She will never want for food or lack the least thing.

TC751: "'And this change you wrought in our  daughter, will she pass the  same down to  her son or  daughter when she  becomes a mother in her turn?'

"'No, it is imposed by me, it does not rise  up from that which makes Leliel who she is. Shall I undo it?'

"'No, husband, let the change you have made stand.  You can see what a joy it seems to be for her, and if by some misfortune she encounters  enemies who  would do  harm to  her, she  can easily outrun them. And yes, Leliel shall never want for food.'

TC752: "When we reached the place where the child awaited Lilith asked, 'Are you well, Scout?

"''Yes momma!' she said, 'Look how far we walked!' Far below and to the south  we could  see a  patch of  burnt grass  where the avatar had  landed and taken  flight once more. Turning  left we saw the  wall of high  hills that formed  the east fence  of the island. To the  north lay the farms of Dul  Valley and this very castle. To  the west we  looked down upon  the homes of  a small town Hamon said was named Vennor.

TC753: "There we will take our  midday meal, and I  will hire a carriage. We will be driven to Tala Strait'.

"We beheld a swath of blue some seven miles distant, and a dark wall of  rock beyond  the blue.  'And how  will you  pay,' asked Lilith, 'when we take food and hire this ride? You carry no gold about your person, unless you hide it well.'

"'I have small diamonds, Lil. I can produce  them without limit within my own body, my real body  as a living sun of course, and bring them directly here.'

TC754: "When she saw how much food Leliel could put away Lilith wondered if  she had spoken  prematurely to say the  child would never want  for any. But  our hosts had been  amply compensated. They brought ever more. Afterwards we were driven down a curving creek valley that  led from hillside Vennor to  the flats, where well-ordered fields stretched west to the waters of Tala Strait. The wooded hills we passed were lower, detached from one another like lone sentinels watching over the tilled ground.

TC755: "The final leg of  our journey took place  overnight. It was not far to  Rumbek, but there was no wind,  so the tiny ship was rowed. Hamon and Leliel slept  for the entire passage, but I remained awake, as I rued every  passing hour with no answer for the Fallen Angels.  Before dawn Lilith joined  me outdoors along the rail of the craft to watch our slow approach to the seaport. Everything we  had heard  about the capital  city of  the Larund kingdom was true! There is no city larger in all of Kemen.

TC756: The Great Sea of the  West Lands is divided  in twain by the Magodon peninsula, which is  anchored to the mainland on the west. Sheer cliffs rising  as much as  four hundred  feet guard every approach to the  peninsula by sea. This wall is crumbly sandstone and it  cannot be  scaled by  any army. Where it is eroded by  gullies the streams  fill the entire channel. At the foot of the bluff around the peninsula lie  impassible bogs and sinkholes that  can  swallow  horses and  trap  the  wheels  of chariots.

TC757: "Also none can cross around the Great Sea to the north or to the south. Roaring waves run  nigh to the Ice.  Frozen slabs often  melt  and slide  into  the  sea  with great  thunder.  No permanent  road can  be carved  and  no tunnel  bored to  permit passage east or west. Between  Seliah Island where we meet today and the city of Rumbek lies much smaller islands that are really walled  suburbs linked  by a  network of  bridges. Yet  even the smallest of these, Krone Island, is greater than all of Salem.

TC758: "As I stood there next to my queen we beheld Krone Island and knew in our hearts what Kemen would be like in the years and centuries yet to come. I do  not say we glimpsed  the future in truth, as though we had the power to foretell time, and I do not not say  the Larund king  should rule  our whole world.  Yet the third part  of Kemen does call  Galizur king and lives  in great prosperity. We  glimpsed something  like a kingdom  of kingdoms, yet that greater kingdom would itself have no king.

TC759: "The mainland is only a little wider than  the road that hugs the  shoreline. Behind the  road rises the Nine  Mile Wall, that part of  the cliffs ringing the Magodon  Peninsula which is fortified by  elyonim and nephilim  and men. The Nine  Mile Wall and the  City of Rumbek are  one and the same.  The dwellings of the city are carved into the  Wall and connected by tunnels with endless ramps  and stairs. Where  these dwellings face  the open air they boast carved windows and walls of harder stone.

TC760: "Where Tala  Strait  meets the  road  there exists  many warehouses  and piers  for the  ships of  merchants and  for the peerless navy of King Galizur. At the base of the Nine Mile Wall are storefronts and market stalls  beyond number. A rare mood of unhappiness  overcame  Lilith when  she  saw  these shops.  This distressed Hamon in turn when he saw it.

"What is wrong, beloved?"

"I can't  escape  a  shameful  memory that  I  used  to  extort shopkeepers for money I never needed, just to offend my father."

TC761: "'That was before you embraced Bat-El,' Hamon said. 'You are ashamed because cannot fall back on the justification others make that they fell in with the wrong sort of friends.'

"'I was always their leader,' she acknowledged. 'I was the wrong sort of friend for them.'

"Hamon took a diamond out of his little leather  pouch. 'I know it hurts, Lil, but you can let  it go. The shame you feel now is sufficient to deter  a repetition of the misdeeds  of your past. Take three deep breaths. Good!

TC762: "The tip of a knife de-pressed the skin at Hamon's neck. The lan  holding the blade  said, 'Give to  me what you  hold in your hand or I'll let flow your life's blood!'

"This would have been sadly  familiar to Lilith's  brother, who said he was  accosted on Earth in  much the same way.  I drew my own blade, but  Hamon shifted his eyes to me  and said, sharply, "Hold!"

"'Scout!' barked Lilith. 'Run!' And  Leliel, two years  of age, immediately  obeyed  her  mother  as though  it  were  a  battle command.

TC763: "The robber scowled at Lilith but he dismissed her as an immediate threat.  She was standing too  far away. I was  at his back but frozen by Hamon's command.

"Hamon made no  sudden  moves  as he  slowly  restored the  one diamond to  his bag of precious  stones and offered the  bag. He knew he could make more at any  time and bring them to Kemen. He only needed a place where they could cool.

"While the attacker greedily grasped the pouch the terrible hiss of the Killing Relic began to be heard.

TC764: Lilith, who was standing well away  from Hamon, extended the dark shaft of the Killing Relic's effect to the length of a spear. With just the tip she sliced the attacker's own weapon in two, leaving only the hilt in his hand. The blade clattered to the ground. It was Lilith's idea of a warning  shot, and if the assailant had any real idea who was tangling with  him he would have instantly taken the hint. But no: his other hand stashed the diamonds in a pocket and fumbled for a second blade.

TC765: "When the second weapon came out Lilith  swept the black shaft slightly closer. He screamed as  his hand and the blade it was holding  fell to  the ground together.  I kicked  the bloody mess away. Lilith brought the Killing Relic to repose.

"'Hold out your arm and I'll help you,' Hamon told him. The lan brought the  gushing stump out  from under his armpit  and Hamon gripped it.  Smoke rose out, but  the attacker did not  cry out. Almost immediately it stopped bleeding, to his great wonderment.

TC766: "'You should be  grateful,' Hamon  told him.  'The Relic leaves arteries wide open. Only a flame would seal them.'

"Indeed it was  a flame  that  sealed them  off, but  it was  a spot-flame mindful of nerve endings.  Lilith drew near to Hamon. 'No rebuke from my teacher?'

"'It was a good deed,' Hamon  admitted. 'but he could  not have killed me with his blade for the same reason he's not dying from yours. He seemed  set on his unprofitable course  of action even when you offered him a way out.'"

TC767: "''Speaking of unprofitable. . .' Lilith  dived into the lan's pocket  for the pouch  of diamonds, which she  returned to her husband.

"When Hamon was satisfied the robber would survive his wound he stood up and looked around. Leliel had not yet returned from the place  where she  had hidden  herself. Michael  noted that  many onlookers had witnessed the robbery attempt and also the healing of the attacker's arm. 'Go fetch Leliel,' he told his wife.

"Lilith darted off to look for her daughter.

TC768: "Presently Leliel  appeared next  to her  father, alone, showing off her new talent once  more soon after her mother told her it was safe to come back.

"'Where did you go?' hy asked. She pointed to a place high above in the Nine Mile  Wall. 'You  did well to  obey your  mother so quickly.'

"'Thank you father!'

After a long interval that spoke of Leliel's  new speed, Lilith rejoined them. 'Five levels over our head my Scout  was,' said she. 'Leliel got there so quickly she saw everything.'

TC769: "'One good  thing will  come of  all this,  at the  very least,' Hamon said  to her. 'These people have  seen the Killing Relic  in action.  Prince Barachiel  has  seen the  same on  the frontier and he has no doubt communicated this to his father. We should  come  to the  notice  of  King Galizur's  servants  very quickly.'

"True to Hamon's word  soldiers arrived  to question  the crowd that  had gathered  around the  scene. Seeing  this, the  robber attempted to scramble to his feet but I pressed him back down.

TC770: "The troops were accompanied  by a yeoman of  the king's court, a  lan who addressed  Lilith as respectfully as  he could while yet  unsure of  her identity.  'I am  Gruen,' said  he, 'a humble servant in the court of  the king. Do I have the pleasure of ad- dressing Her Majesty the Queen of Salem?'

"'I am Lilith,  the rightful  ruler of  Salem. Yet  I am  newly dispossessed of that city. Has Prince Barachiel arrived?'

"'Alas, Ma'am,   not  yet,   but  he   has  been   in  frequent communication with his father.'

TC771: "'I seek audience with King Galizur," Lilith told him.

"The king is most anxious to  receive you, Ma'am, yet  he feels you would  be better served  after he  has spoken with  his son. Meantime the king bids you to lodge together with any who travel with you in the highest level  of his castle. I assure you these quarters  are second  in  opulence  only to  those  of the  king himself.'

'I would be pleased to stay in the castle with my family, Gruen. Also Hashmal Raphaela here is traveling with us."

TC772: "Gruen looked unfavorably  upon the  prisoner as  he was bound. He said, 'Were you but common travelers from Adan I would yet be filled with shame for what this lan tried to do.'

"Hamon said, 'Do you think King Galizur will have mercy if Queen Lilith suggests to him the lan has already been amply punished?'

"'Probably not,' Gruen replied, 'and more's the  pity. No doubt the stump  of his arm will  argue with him should  he ever again meditate robbery. But the king of this city loves justice.'

TC773: "''I would  be gladdened  should you  try, Gruen,'  said Lilith. 'Reckless forgiveness is  the heart of Hamon's doctrine. All else is commentary.'

"The Nine Mile Wall angled south and east for  half its length, then it abruptly  changed direction to march south  and west. At this corner a narrow ridge of sandstone half as high as the Wall jutted into the  Strait. This ridge was pierced by  a tunnel for the shoreline road. The sandstone  formed the hidden skeleton of the castle of King Galizur.

TC774: "The flesh and skin of the castle is hard stone on nearly the whole exterior, with  few windows save  near the  very top. There  are three  hundred ninety  steps within,  yet Lilith  and Hamon  and  I  did  not  ascend them.  Instead  we  were  ported individually to  the top  in seats  carried by  staves. Thirteen teams of  servants handed their  passengers off to  another team after  ascending just  thirty  steps. And  all  the while  young Leliel walked  beside us, summing  everything up with  one word: 'Lazy!'

TC775: "Lilith said to the attendants who waited upon them, 'My daughter shall need  at least five times the amount  of food you would guess a child her age  would need, and her chamberpot must be emptied in like manner.'

The castle stood straight out from the Nine Mile Wall. When the evening came  on  the  lights  of the  dwellings  of  the  city stretching north from us burned for a time. Michael extinguished the lights in their own chamber to let Leliel marvel at them but soon the child fell asleep.

TC776: "Lilith departed with  me for my  own chambers,  that we might speak without waking her daughter. And for a time we, too, admired the  lights of  the city. "'The  Council of  Kemen," she said at length. "Does that seem a fitting name for this thing we spoke on earlier, aboard the ship?"

"'It is simple  enough,  Your Majesty,'  I  said, 'and  perhaps accurate, though it implies King Rimmon  will be a part of it. I rather  thought this  union  of  kingdoms was  to  be formed  in opposition to House Adan.'

TC777: "'Oh, Raphaela,' she said, 'the whole point of this idea we  are trying  to make  real is  to find  another way  to solve territorial disputes,  something better  than the only  means we have now,  which is war. If  we exclude anyone, even  a ruler as wicked as Rimmon, we undermine that purpose.'

"'My queen's words are weighty,' I told her, 'but they will come to nought if King Galizur throws  you and perhaps even  his own son in  chains for giving  away to Rimmon  a large slice  of the Middle Lands.'"

SHERIFF

TC778: Huge swaths of the high plains still lay under snow that first fell in November of  '42, but it was  a dry cold  and the roads were clear. From the air Headwater looked like an abstract map drawn in  fine black  ink  on paper  bleached an  unearthly white.

The victim was found by a man in his eighties named Tashunka. He was older than the town of Headwater, a mere  boy of the People when the Killing Relic  came to Jashen. The biggest animal he ever killed was a coyote baited with a live hare.

TC779: Tashunka  almost  didn't  see the  girl. Her body  was dangling at a  so-called  roadside attraction  that had  always bored him. On a United  States  map  one line  terminated  on another. Three Great Plains states came together at this place, but even when there  was no  snow Tashunka  had never  seen any lines. What caught his eye was  not so much that  the dead girl was naked but how her head  and arms drooped back,  and how her feet didn't touch the ground, as  though she were nailed  to an invisible cross.

TC780: He backed  up  his  truck and  parked  at the  tri-state monument. It looked like a corral. There were two other set of tire tracks in the snow and  two sets of footprints which became a tangled net near the body. Tashunka tried to be careful in his approach to leave the site clean for the sheriff. He could see no movement of the  girl's chest and  no condensation  from her mouth. The dead girl was too pale to be one of the People. Of a certainty she had been part of the White Wing of the Church.

TC781: Old Tashunka wept with frustration when he found that he could not  do the simple  kindness of closing the  girl's frozen eyes staring out upon eternity. But now he recognized the dead girl. It was Erik  Zinter's  kid. Then he  wept more  deeply, because he knew why she had been murdered and he guessed who the killers must be. The long and unhappy union of the Red Wing and the White Wing of  the Church  of Green  Dome was  finished for good. Tashunka carefully retraced his steps to the truck.

TC782: An hour later Tashunka returned with  Sheriff Rod Walker to the little fenced-off area. The tri-state marker was a beam of treated wood embedded in the ground, one foot  square with a sloping top,  and Kimberly's back  rested on this, held  fast by frozen blood.

The sheriff told Deputy Bill  to start snapping  pictures while Deputy Bob followed Walker around with a notepad and took down a running commentary.

"I need to steal your sole with my camera, Chief," Bill said, so "lay it out there."

TC783: Tashunka smiled weakly at the joke and lifted one foot as best he could. Bill got a photo of the bottom of  both the old Indian's boots  to  make  sure  they  could  differentiate  his footprints from that of the perps. Then Tashunka was left behind as Bill methodically photographed his way to the girl's body.

When the  sheriff  and  his deputies  completely  surveyed  and documented the murder scene they all pitched in to lift Kimberly free of the survey marker and set her on a foldaway stretcher.

TC784: Walker shouted an oath when he read the plaque that Kim's body was covering. He realized they were at the exact place some surveyor decided the corners of two states ran flush against the border of a third. At a stroke that made the case Federal.

They walked the  body out  of there,  but paused  a moment  for Tashunka to get another close look at it.

"This was Kimberly Zinter," he told them, and he put his fingers on her face just long  enough to melt  the eyelids so  he could close them.

TC785: "I've seen her at Temple," said Bill.

The sheriff opened the glove box of his truck and came back with a manila envelope containing a photo, which he  compared to the dead girl's blood-streaked face. "The gentleman is right, boys. This was the local girl the Bureau was looking  for. One of the two, anyway."

He also took note of the girl's headdress. It was similar to the jewelry some of the Kuwapi townspeople frequently wore. It was a lattice of beads adorning two curving white horns.

TC786: After the deputies loaded the body in the  canopy of the department's green 1940 Dodge half-ton truck, Bob said, "So this was never going to be our  case, even if she  wasn't lying dead spread out over three states."

Tashunka turned to Walker and  said, "I remember when  you left the Church, Sheriff. Your men  are Greendomites in good standing but they  might not  be up  on Church  politics from  the Kuwapi perspective. I  don't know  who did this  terrible thing  to the girl but I can tell you why."

TC787: Inactivity had cooled the sweat under  Walker's coat. He shivered in the face of  a stiff  wind from the  frozen plains. "This is not the place,  Tashunka," he  said. "The body of the girl must go to  our little hospital. But if you  meet me at the station in about an  hour I will listen to what  you have to say about this."

After that Walker  drove with  one of  his deputies  around the large hill near the crime scene named Green Dome. It loomed some eight hundred feet above the town of Headwater.

TC788: "I just can't win, Bill," Sheriff Walker lamented. "Half the male population of Headwater under forty-five is off killing Japs and Krauts and Eye-talians. Things were getting real quiet around here. Then the Bureau set  up shop and stayed all summer. Now I have my first homicide."

They passed the  corner of  federally-owed National  Grasslands that crossed the gravel road. There the FBI had parked a small trailer but there were no lights on and no smoke was coming from their wood stove.

TC789: Bill nodded at  the manila  envelop on  the dash  of the truck. "Those girls were in federal custody  somewhere for half of last  year, but apparently  they've escaped and made  the FBI look -- hell,  they are incompetent. And they tasked  us to help find 'em."

"But they wouldn't tell us what it was all about," said Walker. "Well, now I suppose they will."

Headwater came into view. Even with a reduced wartime population of a thousand souls it was  bigger than anything for  a hundred miles around.

TC790: "What do you want me to do after we give the body to Dr. Wahkan?"

"Develop the film  and  file the  negatives,"  Walker told  his deputy. "Then get back  to the  scene and  help  Bob look  for the  murder weapon.  It's probably  a  knife. I  didn't see  any footprints  leading  away  from  the  marker  so  I  figure  the perpetrator either  tossed it away or  kept it. The best  way to look is to walk a steady  spiral out from that little corral, if Bob hasn't already thought of that. Take all the time you need."

TC791: The town's one doctor was known as Wahkan to the People. The whites called  him Plenty  Practice. No one had  ever died under his scalpel, but even a  local legend such as  Dr. Wahkan could not bring the dead back to life.

"Kimberly Zinter,"  the doctor  said  when  he saw  the  bloody corpse. "Heartbreaking. And her father  Erik was taken  from us only  last year.  I can't  imagine how  Clara is  going to  take this."

Hearing this the sheriff winced. He knew he must be the one to break it to her.

"I saw this girl last spring when her mother brought her in. And I also saw another girl who is the same age, the one named Sofie Krause. They both had the same symptoms."

TC792: Dr. Wahkan donned a pair of rubber gloves. "I have never had the displeasure to carry out this protocol for you, Sheriff, thank God, and for your father I only did it on three occasions. That alone tells you Headwater really is a good place."

"You identified her at a glance, Doctor. Did you know her?"

"Kim was something of a big deal in the Church, Sheriff Walker. She was  the star vocalist in  the choir, and very  recently she was named the Prophet of the Church. Did you know that?"

TC793: "No. One  of the  deputies mentioned  something about  a family squabble in the Church.  Apparently there was a big split starting at the top, but he said nothing about a new Prophet."

"Well, I also saw this girl last spring when her mother brought her to the clinic. There's another  girl who's the same age, her name is Sophia Krause. Naturally  I'm allergic to discussing any details of a patient's medical condition but this really isn't a disease, no matter what the government thinks it is."

TC794: "Disease?"

Dr. Wahkan pulled Kim's headdress away, but the two white horns remained in place. Removing the jewelry and displaying  it, he said, "No doubt you have seen something similar to this before."

Walker nodded. "I know it's a Kuwapi thing. My  first guess was Kim was wearing it because it was  starting to catch on as a fad among  the white  kids in  town.  Sort of  like their  so-called music."

Wahkan reached down to grabbed  one on the horns  on Kimberly's head and firmly shook it.

TC795: This caused her whole head to shake as  well. "They wear the jewelry to cover up the fact that these horns are real."

"I'll be damned," Walker said. "I never guessed!"

Dr. Wahkan lifted Kim's hair so the sheriff could  see the skin of her  scalp where  the  horns  emerged. There was a  smooth transition. The skin simply hardened and merged with the horns. The horns themselves were not mere a feature of  the skin, like calluses. They were rooted to the skull. They actually were made of bone.

TC796: "We  call  this  the   Change,"  the  doctor  told  him. "Naturally both  girls  and  particularly  their  parents  were alarmed when it started to happen to them, but in terms of their health  they were  quite safe.  The  Change is  known among  the Kuwapi people."

"Why did it happen to these two girls?"

"It spreads by sexual contact. I know that among the changed are the Begotten and the Made. I  also know that both  the Begotten and the  Made can  make the  Change, but  only the  Begotten can beget the Change.

TC797: "I told Kim and Sophia the Change had been present among some members of the Red Wing  for a lifetime, and if you believe the Green  Book is  true history  it goes  back even  further. I tried to  explain all  this to their  mothers but  they wouldn't believe me. They took the  girls somewhere for a second opinion, and now our town has these outsiders."

"Headwater is a good place, Doctor, just like you said, but the killers deliberately  draped her body across  three states. That forces my hand."

TC798: "I understand," said  Dr. Wahkan. "Now you must report this crime to  the very outsiders I spoke of,  the ones who have made things less good here over the last few months."

Walker said, "I don't believe  for a minute someone  killed her over her choice in costume jewelry."

"Sheriff, her flirtation with the Red Wing obviously ran deeper than a penchant for hair  accessories," he pointed out. And with that, he began to run the body of the girl through the necessary indignity of an autopsy.

TC799: Old Tashunka  waited outside  the sheriff's  office long past the time when Walker said he'd meet him. He had been trying to stay warm inside his  running truck. Walker invited the old fellow to come indoors for some fresh coffee.

"I'm sorry I'm late.  Doctor Wahkan  had some  very interesting things to tell me about  the deceased, and even more interesting things to show me."

Tashunka accepted the sheriff's invitation and  followed Walker inside. He sat shivering until the coffee was ready.

TC800: "And what of the three stupid boys who took a bullwhip to a young plains Indian  and didn't think  he'd have  friends who could do something far worse in retaliation?"

"Those three stupid  boys  were still  there looking  perfectly miserable until they laid eyes on  the dead girl. That seemed to make  their  whole  day.  Would  that  Headwater  had  a  bigger hospital.  They wouldn't  tell me  what was  so funny.  I figure you're about to tell me."

Tashunka leaned back in his seat and nursed his coffee.

TC801: His eyes  landed on  a photograph  of the  elder Sheriff Walker, now deceased. Had it been two years already? "Everyone greatly respected your father. I was there at his Final Rite."

Rod flushed  with  sudden  anger. "And I, his  son,  was  not permitted to  be there  because I don't  believe in  fairy tales about sun  gods and  killing relics  and I  made the  mistake of letting everybody know that."

"Sheriff, if you allow your heart  to grow black you  will take everything I say in a way I do not mean."

TC802: Walker glared at him while he took another sip of coffee, then lowered his eyes. When he was calm again he said, "You are absolutely right, Tashunka. I know how important the relic is to the life of your church."

Tashunka said, "The  Red and  White  wings of  the Church  swap authority but the Killing Relic is considered an heirloom of the Shybear family. Jashen  thought it would quiet things  to let it pass out of his hands, but he gave it to his son Gabriel instead of Apostle Klaus Hansen."

TC803: "Gabriel Shybear. That explains how he got his whipping. They must have been trying to beat the relic out of him. I count myself fortunate  I never embraced  the faith of the  Green Dome Church as my own, Tashunka. It's much too violent."

"There's more," Tashunka said. "Jashen set aside the rule that Greendomites must marry only their  cousins, in one instance, so Gabriel  could marry  Kim  Zinter. When  they  heard that  Klaus Hansen  and half  the Bunners  stood up  and walked  out of  the Temple."

TC804: Walker smiled at the old man's use of the word 'Bunners'. Greendomites had to wear their hair in a ponytail, even the men, but in the White Wing  this ponytail was done  up in a  bun. He remembered how close he had come to being a Bunner himself. But even outsiders knew about  the Church  of Green  Dome's biggest hobby horse: mandatory cousin marriage. Walker knew a deep stew of racism simmered among  the Bunners  but the  dogma requiring consanguineous marriages had kept it from boiling over.

TC805: Kimberly Zinter was  in the  fourth generation  from the original pioneers. She had no kin among  the Red Wing  but her marriage and any  subsequent children  and grandchildren  would blow the door wide open.

Tashunka seemed to read the sheriff's mind. He said, "Hansen saw this marriage between  Gabriel and  Kim as  a horrible  disease infecting the pristine body of  the Church. Their children would have marriageable  cousins in  both wings. With  each generation this disease would just grow worse."

TC806: "So now I have motive," the sheriff said.

The deputies rushed in just then and threw a  Cellophane bag on Walker's desk. It contained a bloody blade.

"We found it," Bob said, "just like you guessed. In Wyoming. No more than throwing distance from the body."

The blade was thin  and flexible. It was just a  steak knife, really.

Walker frowned with disappointment. "This game isn't so fun when the perps don't even try  to win.  Not a Sears  Roebuck kitchen knife: no, something handmade."

TC807: What followed was a duty Sheriff Walker  did not relish. He recalled the recent death of Erik Zinter. How does one tell a newly-widowed woman that her entire  family has now  been wiped off the face of the earth?

But the woman who answered the  door was not Clara  Zinter. She was younger and her hair was a rich, dark red. She had eyes that were a light, icy green, very  striking for being so  rare. But what really  stood  out  were  the  two  white  curving  horns, precisely like those of the victim.

TC808: The young lady was  the spitting image of  the deceased. She stood in the doorway waiting  for Walker to speak  while he pulled out the file to be sure. Identical twin? She had to be.

He cleared his throat  and said,  "Good afternoon.  I'm Sheriff Walker. Is Clara Zinter here at home?"

"Mother moved away recently," the young lady  said. "She's with her own folks back East. I'm Robyn. Do you want to come in? I'm sure you have questions and it will be better than standing here in the doorway."

TC809: Walker took off his hat  and accepted her offer. He saw the hardwood floors were covered with throw-rugs. He could smell the very slight odor of a  gas furnace. The radio was tuned to Headwater's  one station. It was playing  "I've Got  a Gal  in Kalamazoo" by  Glenn Miller and  His Orchestra. Robyn turned it down.

The sheriff said, "Please, Robyn,  if you could turn  the radio off entirely. I  afraid I have very bad news  for you." The girl complied, then she invited the sheriff to be seated.

TC810: Walker  got  the  impression  the  Zinters  were  firmly situated in the middle-class. Not destitute by any  means, but not ostentatious either. A small coffee table lay between them. Robyn smoothed out her plaid woolen dress and Roddy saw she wore bobby socks and saddle shoes.

"You were about to tell  me you found  the body of  my sister," Robyn said. "You were to break it to me how  she was stabbed to death."

On one  level Walker  was  relieved. His duty to  notify  the next-of-kin had been mooted.

TC811: But Robyn  had stated  things she  should not  yet know. Walker took a pen and a small notebook out of his jacket liner. The sympathetic bearer of bad news had become a detective again. "When did you know your sister was dead, Miss Zinter?"

"Call me Robyn, please," she  said. "Just one name: Robyn. Not Miss Zinter.

"Did an old Indian fellow pay you a visit earlier today?"

"Nobody else has visited me today,  Sheriff. But if I  tell you the truth you will probably think I'm a little crazy."

TC812: "You are well  advised, Robyn, to  hold that  thought in mind,  that you  must  always  tell me  the  truth.  But as  for thinking  you  crazy,  I'm  already  having  trouble  with  your attitude toward your own sister's murder."

"Sheriff, have you  ever  heard those  stories about  identical twins who seem to have a link that defies any explanation? Twins who were separated  at birth? They never met, yet  they they led lives  with coincidence  piled  upon  coincidence, with  similar jobs, and even similar spouses?"

TC813: "And the same horns, Robyn? Are you Begotten, or Made?"

"I was Made, the same as Kim. I hated it when people could tell us apart."

"Okay,. so are you saying you  have some kind of  radio in your head tracking what was happening to your sister?"

"No, Sheriff, nothing like that."

"Good, because if that's what you  were trying to say  to me, I wouldn't  believe you  were  nuts. I  would run  you  in to  the station  for knowing  material  facts about  this  case with  no plausible explanation why."

TC814: "Sheriff, look, if  you do  that I'll  just clam  up and you'll  run out  of time.  None of  the evidence  points to  me, circumstantial or  otherwise, and the clock  is ticking. Someone was very clever.  He made this bigger than a  local case and the feds are  coming. He thinks  he can cut  some sort of  deal with them. But  he also had  an accomplice who  is not so  clever, or maybe he was  set up to take  the fall. There's a  unique set of kitchen knives that are missing one blade. And tomorrow is trash day."