Clarion

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asked: "The ceremony that initiates them into the Sons of God—that's semarch?"

"Yeah, but it's more complicated than just an initiation. It's based on something the Tal Tahir did with their young. We don't understand all of it, but we know it's supposed to bring about a change in the boys themselves."

"A change?"

"That's the theory. As far as I can see, all it does is turn nice young boys into murdering scum. But Karyn says the Tal Tahir ceremony was a transition for the young. According to her, it was quite a big deal. The young were special to the Tal Tahir."

"Transition to adulthood," Paul suggested. He'd heard of similar concepts that had carried over from primitive Terran cultures.

"Maybe," Selmer said.

Silence fell over them again. Ahead of them, the others walked steadily, footsteps ringing hollowly inside the tube.

"Brill and Jacowicz are brainwashing the boys," Selmer said at last. "We haven't found a way to counter it. Boys are turning in their own families as heretics and praying to Lord Tern while their parents die on the God Wall." Selmer paused to take a deep breath. "The next generation will be monsters, even if the eldership changes. That's why we have to get rid of the Holy Order now, and get the Tal Tahir completely out of our lives. That's the only way Clarion will survive."

"Five of you will save the planet?" Selmer offered him a crooked grin. "Maybe not, but we'll die trying."

Probably, Paul thought. "I've seen the God Wall, and you told me about the Sons of God and the punishment for disagreeing with the Holy Order. Why don't more people turn against the Holy Order? You said there are only ten deacons and ten 92 William Greenleaf

elders, and about twenty Sons of God. Why don't the people of Fairhope throw them out?" Selmer nodded. "Seems simple enough. But it isn't. We've tried to get people to help us. They're afraid, of course. But that isn't what keeps them back. High Elder Brill holds a spell over them."

"A spell?"

"You'll see what I mean if you ever attend one of his Godsday services. Colored banners, music from those infernal priams—and High Elder Brill standing up there in his great robes and his arms thrust out—" He shook his head. "It's quite a show, and he uses it to lay a spell. I've even felt it—inside, you know? He starts chanting Lord Tern's latest revelation, and it all seems to grow in your mind. Like—" He broke off, and his eyes focused on Paul.

"Like it's the .truth. You want to believe in the power of Lord Tern."

Paul thought of Dorland on the stage, weaving his lights and music over the audience. He shook off a sudden chill.

"Lord Tern, the protector," Selmer went on.

"Sabastian has a theory. He thinks High Elder Brill keeps all our lives so miserable and uncertain that we need a security symbol to cling to—and Lord Tern is that symbol."

They walked in silence for a long moment. Then Paul said: "You mentioned Lord Tern's revelations. What are they, exactly?"

"Words of wisdom. High Elder Brill interprets them and passes them along to his flock during Godsday service. Usually, the revelations aren't much—information about someone with family

trouble, or maybe an emotional crisis. And Lord Tern's suggestions about how to deal with it."

"He helps people solve their personal problems?" That didn't fit with other aspects of the Holy Order.

Selmer nodded. "Lord Tern gives him the revelaCLARION 93

tions in advance of the service through the chauka. At least, that's what Brill says—the name of the person, the problem he's having and how to solve it."

"Does he get it right?"

"As far as I know, he's always right about the problems. The solutions are a bit shaky, but everyone's so impressed with the first part they don't seem to notice that the second part doesn't always work out. That's another reason he can control people. He comes across as all-seeing." Selmer issued a grunt of laughter. "He isn't, of course. His spies in Fairhope give him the information he uses in the service. They sneak around the village and find out who's having problems at home, who's sick with the pox—things like that. High Elder Brill brings these matters up during the service, and makes like Lord Tern told him about the problem and how to solve it. Then once in a while he comes up with a bigger issue, like the proclamations that established the Sons of God and the God Wall. He mixes that in with a dose of nonsense about Lord Tern's strength and the magical power of Chalcharuzzi, and he sells it all as one bundle."

Ahead of them, Karyn had stopped at one of the intersections.

"We'll get out here," she said. "We'll be close to the temple, so keep your eyes open."

Jacque reached into his pouch and withdrew an odd-looking bundle. When he unrolled it, Paul saw that it was a rope ladder with sturdy metal hooks fastened to one end. With practiced ease, Jacque flipped the hooks upward at the access port opening. They caught on the protruding lip of the narrow platform, and Jacque climbed quickly up the curved wall to the platform. When Paul started to follow, Karyn stopped him.

"Let him look around first."

94 William Greenleaf

Above them, Jacque stepped past the platform and disappeared into the access tube. A moment later he called the all clear, and the others followed him up the ladder and down through the access tube to the ground. Jacque retrieved his ladder, rolled it up and returned it to his pack.

Paul saw that they were in an area of thin

vegetation. The dome structures were in better condition here; several were still standing and looked to be mostly intact. In the distance Paul could see the high white spire of the temple. Karyn shielded her eyes and looked toward

where the sun hung above the distant peaks. "We'll have to wait here for a while. Otherwise we'll reach the temple before dark." She looked around, then indicated one of the dome structures that appeared to be in reasonably good condition. "In there." The dome's entrance was an archway with

eroded edges. When he ducked through, Paul found himself in a large room that was at least ten meters across. Smooth walls curved upward to a rounded ceiling far above him. Slit windows in the high curve admitted shafts of light that splashed brightly across the floor. There were no furnishings.

"It's just a shell with a few walls," Paul said.

"The Holy Order had everything taken out of the domes a long time ago," Selmer said. "Nobody knows why. It's probably all been destroyed by now."

The floor was littered with a few chunks of stone that had fallen from the ceiling and walls, but otherwise was clear of debris. Several open doorways were spaced around the curved walls. Paul looked through one of them and found 'that it opened into another, smaller room, also bare. Each of the other doorways opened into similar rooms. He didn't have to spend much time exploring before he had the design figured out—a large main room with the smaller rooms opening directly off it