Chapter 150: Make the Most of It

Anisa stormed through the main hall of the temple of Purity making for the exit. The church functionary at the doors stepped out to meet her.

“You go out late, Lady Priestess,” he said. “Worship is carried out under the sun’s pure light.”

“You think you know the doctrine better than me?” Anisa snarled.

“You are the one stepping out in the hours of dark deeds,” the man said.

Anisa stopped, looking the man up and down. No essences in his aura and somewhere between forty and fifty, yet still the lowest rank of church official. She sneered.

“Using your meagre measure of authority to make yourself feel powerful is the sign of an impure heart,” she said. She reached into her robes and handed him a token. “Take this and report for personal inquisition.”

His face went as white as hers.

“Lady Priestess,” he begged. “Surely you can’t send me to inquisition for such a small matter.”

“That is the very problem,” she said. “You thought it was such a small matter that you would suffer no repercussions, but impure seeds lead to rotten fruit. Your failings will be found and scoured from your soul. It will become pristine, once again.”

She swept past him and out, into the grounds, along what was becoming an unpleasantly familiar path to the construction site. As she approached, the foreman emerged from the dormitory huts for the workers.

“It is late, Madam Priestess, and I know your people care not for the hours of darkness. If the purpose of your visit is licentious, then I will eagerly accommodate you.”

“Shut your foul mouth,” she told him. “Your ever-growing list of failures has forced the archbishop to demand your presence.”

“I thought the archbishop never wanted to see me.”

“Your repeated bungling has placed him in a position where he must look to rectify the disasters you’ve orchestrated himself.”

She reached into her bag and threw out a white robe.

“Put this on and keep your face covered,” she commanded.

The man picked the robe up out of the dirt and started slipping it on, over his clothes.

“What is this about, exactly?” he asked.

“We have moved beyond the point of having conversations,” she told him. “Your task now is to answer questions, follow instructions and otherwise keep your mouth shut.”

“I will remind you, priestess, that we are partners in this.”

“Partners implies a mutually beneficial exchange, not one side making messes and the other cleaning them up. Follow.”

She strode off, the hooded Builder cultist following behind. She led him through the grounds, using a key to open a gate in a walled garden, then locking it again behind them. Inside the walls was a private garden, with an inward-facing circle of seats in the middle. The archbishop, Nicolas Hendren, was already seated and waiting. Anisa took another seat and the cultist tried to do the same.

“Remain on your feet,” she rebuked him.

“Isn’t that a little petty, priestess?”

“That’s enough from you,” the archbishop told him. “You will stand, you will listen and you will answer.”

“This is hardly in the spirit of partnership, Archbishop.”

“If our affiliations were not spread so far beyond this city, our partnership would be over and you no more than a stain left on the ground we purged you from,” the archbishop snarled. “You have conducted nothing but a cavalcade of disasters. You lost the astral space, which is one thing, but you kept us so far out of that operation that we had no means to warn you, costing you people and resources, leaving you to crawl back.”

“I think you could have managed if you truly wished to, Archbishop. If you are going to bring it up then I must question the dedication of your efforts.”

“I will not endanger my people to mitigate the failure of yours any more than I must. Yet, even then, it seems I can never stop doing so as the only thing you do not fail to do is disappoint. You could have held the astral space if you had a clockwork king, yet your man failed to summon it properly in spite of the astounding level of resources we provided your agent. Not only did he fail to summon it, he summoned some lunatic who not only killed him but almost revealed my priestess’ involvement and now has captured one of your star seeds. Intact.”

“What?” the cultist asked. “What are you talking about?”

“You assured my priestess that even in the face of yet another failure, they could glean nothing from your people. By what twisted mode of thought does an intact, unspent star seed constitute nothing?”

“That shouldn’t be possible.”

“You shouldn’t be this bad at the tasks assigned to you,” the archbishop said. “There’s disappointment all around.”

“You have to retrieve it!” the cultist said.

“Clean up another one of your messes?” the archbishop asked. “It was your genius plan to implant the star seeds in the first place that has put so much attention on them.”

“And put you in such a prime position to learn everything they were up to,” the cultist retorted. “You were happy enough at the time, so don’t try and retroactively admonish me now. I know hypocrisy is a core tenet of your church but I’m not a follower.”

The archbishop launched out of his seat and struck the cultist with a backhand slap, sending him sprawling to the ground.

“You will watch your rotten tongue of the lands belonging to our lord, you monstrosity-worshipping filth.”

The cultist pushed himself back to his feet.

“Did I touch a soft spot, Archbishop? You may not like harbouring the likes of me, but you do it and you’ll continue to do it.”

“The only reason I tolerate you is your kind’s wider accord with the church. Given my own way, I would burn the lot of you out and be done with it.”

“But it isn’t up to you, is it, Archbishop. So you will be a good little boy, do as you’re told and render us such assistance as we require. And what we require now is that star seed.”

The archbishop’s face twisted reluctance, but he didn’t refute it.

“What can they do with it?” he asked.

“There are many possibilities, none of them good,” the cultist said. “It could expose us all, employed the right way. If they have people who know what they are doing. A sufficiently skilled astral magic specialist will know exactly how to use it.”

“So, what can you use it for?” Jason asked.

“No idea,” Clive said.

“Really?” Jason asked. “I figured you’d take one look at it and be all ‘yeah, now we can give ‘em a good ol’ kick in the beans!’”

“You thought I’d say that?”

“You say that kind of thing all the time.”

“I’ve never said anything like that in my entire life.”

The Magic Society vault contained all manner of dangerous and restricted objects, sealed away into various rooms. Built into the very foundation of the Island, it was not just under the Magic Society campus but under the loop line, subterranean water passages and utility tunnels that crisscrossed below ground. Jason, Clive, Rufus, Emir and Danielle Geller were in the room Clive had set aside for the star seed.

It was in a secure box of rune-covered glass. The seed itself looked like a sphere, but close examination revealed it was comprised of tiny cubes all adhered together. Oddly, the star seed was the colour of common, unremarkable brick. The pseudo-sphere was held in place by a dull metal frame; a cube with tines to hold the orb in place.

“Did the frame come with it, or did we add that?” Emir asked.

“It came with it,” Jason said. “Is it just me, or is the frame the exact size of an essence cube.”

“I think you’re right,” Emir said. “That’s a somewhat unsettling thought.”

“I’m not sure that placing it in the vault was the best idea,” Danielle said. “Leaving it in your storage space and being very careful who you told about it might have been better.”

“Stuff that,” Jason said. “I’m not going to leave that thing in my inventory and let the Builder use it to backdoor me.”

“We don’t know that’s even possible,” Clive said.

“Six months ago, I didn’t know anything that happened in the last five months was possible and a good chunk of it has tried to kill me. The things I don’t know train just keeps chugging along and I’m not going to let it park a hand up my bunghole and wave me about like a rakishly handsome sock puppet.”

The other three turned to look at him, except for Rufus, who just shook his head.

“Don’t bother,” he told the others.

“What?” Jason asked.

Danielle shook her head and turned to Clive. “Any ideas what we should do with the star seed?”

“Not off the top of my head,” Clive said. “I’ll have to do some research. I still wish you hadn’t killed Landemere Vane, Jason. Even his notes would have been good; sometimes it was like he was plucking these amazing innovations in astral magic out of thin air. His notes were all seized by the church of Purity after the blood cult revelation, though.”

“Why is it that the church of Purity got to take all his family’s stuff?” Jason asked Rufus.

“They were the ones who found out about the blood cult,” Rufus said. “I’m not sure how, but they took it to the courts, who gave them the rights to seize all their property if the claims were substantiated. They hired us to do exactly that, and you know the rest.”

“Seriously,” Jason said. “This place needs some severe legal reform. Also, you need to stop complaining that I killed that guy. He was going to eat me. He was in a blood cul…”

Jason’s eye went wide as he trailed off. He started pacing back and forth, absently tapping his head in thought. Emir was about to ask a question, Rufus gesturing him to silence. Jason stopped moving and looked up.

“We have a problem,” he said. “Ever since we found out about the Builder cult, something’s been bothering me.”

“You told me you’d seen it somewhere before,” Emir said.

“I had, and I just remembered where. Landemere Vane was a Builder cultist.”

“How could you know that?” Clive asked.

“You’ve seen my looting ability in action. When I looted Landemere Vane, it gave me the same message as when I looted the guy who gave me this. It asked if I wanted to loot the Builder cultist.”

Jason turned to Rufus.

“Remember when we first met in that basement?” Jason asked. “Cressida Vane and the guy with the shovel were talking about how I killed Landemere. What did she say about her son?”

“You’re right, I remember that,” Rufus said. “Something about ineffable things from beyond reality.”

“If Landemere Vane was a Builder cultist,” Jason said, “that means some very bad things.”

“It does,” Danielle agreed. “Very bad things, indeed.”

“I think I’ve missed a step,” Clive said. “How does Landemere Vane being a Builder cultist even matter, now? He died months ago.”

“And the church of Purity seized everything he owned, along with the rest of his family’s possessions,” Danielle Geller said. “Every note, letter and record. Even his work here at the Magic Society, right?”

“That’s right,” Rufus said. “Anisa Lasalle spent most of a day sorting through all their things, even before her church moved in to claim it all.”

“You think the church of Purity is working with the Builder cult?” Emir asked. “Why would they send Rufus and his team to Landemere Vane’s home?”

“Because his family was in the wrong cult,” Jason said. “You can see how they would paint it. Landemere Vane is afraid of what his family is involved in and informs the church of Purity. The church contracts adventurers to accompany their priestess to investigate. Everyone gets captured, but Landemere manages to free the priestess and escape. Once Rufus and his team died, his family would come down on the rest of the Vane family like the hammer of god. That would leave Landemere as the sole heir and give the Builder cult a luxurious, isolated and secure base of operations. With the church of Purity helping him ‘cleanse’ the taint of the blood cult from the property, who is going to trek all the way out there to look closer? Having the seizure rights for the property was a contingency in case something went wrong or they needed to kill Landemere themselves, for whatever reason. A contingency that let them put a lid on the whole thing.”

“We were captured before you ever arrived,” Rufus said. “Landemere could have already arranged for her escape before you killed him, while she was waiting for everyone to leave and sacrifice us. Getting taken out of the group could have been just luck, or even an idea Landemere planted in the head of an impressionable staff member. If she wasn’t, she could have escaped and fled the sacrifice chamber, leaving the rest of us to die.”

Rufus’ face reflected his reeling mind.

“The man who betrayed us to the blood cult,” he said. “He was a church of Purity contact. When we didn’t die as planned and wanted to question him, she killed him outright, claiming it was her church’s authority.”

He turned to Jason.

“You said it was suspicious at the time,” Rufus said. “We talked about it.”

“We couldn’t have known,” Jason said. “I was just against her because she was such a… we didn’t get along.”

“But it all went wrong,” Rufus said. “None of them were expecting a punch-drunk outworlder to show up and mess everything up. Because of Jason, Landemere died and we survived, the exact opposite of their plan.”

“Not all wrong,” Jason said. “There is still the Landemere estate, under the control of the church. That could very well be where the Builder cult regrouped after escaping the astral space.”

“This is all highly speculative,” Emir said. “Making that kind of accusation against a church is no small matter and even I’m not completely convinced yet. We have no evidence.”

“I’m the evidence,” Jason said. “My ability showed that Landemere Vane was a Builder cultist.”

“That’s tangential to the culpability of the church, even with Rufus’ corroboration,” Danielle said. “And your testimony is a very shaky basis to move forward on.”

“What’s wrong with my testimony?” Jason asked.

“Jason,” Emir said. “You might operate in high circles, relative to Greenstone, but you’re still an iron-ranker. Plus, you spend a lot of time lying and running around like an insane person. There is a difference between people in authority putting up with you and having them listen to what you say.”

“He’s right,” Danielle said. “It won’t be easy to convince anyone that the church of Purity is involved with putting these star seeds in people when we can't even answer why, let alone provide definitive proof.”

“Agreed,” Emir said. “I’m not going to be convinced myself, without something more compelling.”

“We need to find evidence before we can act,” Danielle said.

“The Vane estate,” Rufus said.

“Yes,” Danielle agreed. “While everyone is distracted with sending the iron-rankers into Emir’s astral space, we send a small team we can trust to investigate the estate.”

The sounds of many feet moving downstairs drew the group’s attention. Soon the entrance to their chamber was filled with a combination of Magic Society vault guards and temple of Purity church militants. At the lead was Anisa Lasalle.

“Anisa,” Jason said. “I was just thinking about how you should be strung up and burned for witchcraft.”

“Still jabbering nonsense, I see. Step back, Asano, and let the adults talk.”

“I don’t think your style of negotiation is going to work here, Jason,” Danielle said. “Perhaps you’ll leave this one to me?”

Jason nodded, stepping back.

“We’re here for the star seed,” Anisa said. “Get out of our way.”

“What claim do you have on the star seed?” Danielle asked.

“Our church has taken and destroyed all the previous ones,” Anisa said. “This new one is just another artefact of impurity to be annihilated.”

“Your church took the previous ones because they extracted them. This one was obtained by an adventurer.”

“It is still our duty to destroy it,” Anisa said.

“It is likely to be useful in our struggle against an elusive enemy,” Danielle said.

“I don’t care,” Anisa said. “My instructions are to retrieve it for destruction and nothing you say will divert me from that path.”

“Your church has no authority here,” Clive said. “I’m Adjunct Assistant to the Deputy Director of the Magic Society and I had this object placed here.”

“That’s some mouthful,” Anisa said. “Director is more succinct, and in this case, pertinent. Lucian Lamprey has already released it to us.”

She took a document from her dimensional satchel and handed it to Clive. He skimmed over it with an unhappy expression, giving Danielle a reluctant nod.

“Very well,” Danielle said and stepped aside. One of the vault guards removed the glass casing around the start seed and Anisa took it, placing it in her satchel. Flashing Jason a triumphant grin, she swept out, taking her extensive entourage with her. Clive stuck his head out the door to look up the stairs and make sure they were gone.

“I’m surprised at your restraint,” Rufus said to Jason. “I was expecting you to do something extreme.”

“The star seed is potentially valuable,” Jason said. “Knowing that the church of Purity is in it up to their necks, when they don’t know we know? That’s more valuable, and acting now would have tipped our hand. Otherwise, Danielle would have stopped them.”

“Just so,” Danielle said. “For the first time, we are a step ahead. Now we need to make the most of it.”