Clarion

CLARION 101

William Greenleaf

He looked around, taking stock of the room. The inner walls and the floor were covered with dark, highly polished wood. Only the ceiling and outer wall appeared to be of the pink-veined stone of which the domes were made. Paul looked closer at the wall. It was featureless. He'd expected to see the lines of stone blocks, but there was no hint of how the building was constructed.

The layout fitted Karyn's description. To the left was a low, wide archway that led into another room. The light came from there. On the right side of the entry was a heavy wooden door that stood open. Through it Paul could see a short passageway that led to a gentle curve of stairs.

Paul touched Dorland's shoulder and turned

toward that door. He had no way of knowing

exactly what kind of ceremony would take place, but, based on what Selmer and Karyn had told him, chances were good it would be held inside the sacred chamber. That was a solid enough reason to avoid going in there.

Then he stopped when he realized that Dorland hadn't moved. He stood stiffly with his arms down at his sides, staring into the lighted room.

"Let's go!" Paul hissed. Then he heard the boy's voice again just outside the arched entrance:

"—sure I saw someone come across here—" Paul pushed down the surge of panic and realized that he and Dorland had only two choices; they could follow the planned escape route by turning right and going up the stairs, or they could turn left into the sacred chamber. Taking the stairs would make them visible for several seconds to anyone who glanced through the entrance—and a perfect target.

Too risky. He urged Dorland through the archway into the sacred chamber. It was a large room, and he wasn't surprised to see that it was circular. Like the outer chamber, the walls and floors were of varying shades of gleaming wood. Globes on the far wall provided feeble light. Set against the wall under the globes were several large wooden cabinets. The two men stood listening to the unnatural sound of their own breathing.

Cleve described strange pedestals before he died, Sabastian had said. And the chauka. Paul took it all in—the pedestals scattered around the room, the large dish of the chauka dominating the center.

"The sacred chamber," Dorland said softly.

"Where live the Tal Tahir."

Despite his anxiety, Paul felt something close to awe. He told himself: This was constructed by alien beings. Then: For what purpose7 He pulled his jacket more tightly across his chest. But the chill he felt didn't have anything to do with the temperature of the room. He had never visited the two planets where the remnants of other intelligents had been found, yet he was sure that nothing was as well preserved as this.

"Elder Jamis taught us that the Tal Tahir come to provide insight," Dorland said softly. "It is through them that all things come to pass on our world. It is through them that all things will eventually come to pass everywhere." His head moved slowly, his eyes dark and unreadable as he looked around the chamber. "I have never come to this place, but I have seen the pedestals."

"Yeah, well." Now that he'd had a chance to survey the room, Paul was becoming aware again that the immediate danger lay not in the strange pedestals or the device called the chauka, but in the young boys outside the building and in the deacons and elders who would be coming before long for the ceremony.

The only door to the chamber was the one they 102

William Greenleaf CLARION 103

had come through. Paul moved closer to it and heard the murmur of voices in the courtyard. He turned back to Dorland. "We have to get out of here."

Dorland gave him a distracted look. "Yes. The ceremony."

Cleve Quintan saw something that made him lose his mind. . . .

But there wasn't a way out. The boys were just outside the door. If Sabastian was right, they weren't allowed to come inside the temple. Young boys don't always do as they're told, Paul thought. If the boys thought they'd seen somebody come in here, they were probably watching through the door. Which meant Paul and Dorland couldn't risk making a run for the stairway.

Cleve Quinton saw something . . .

Paul shook his head. His eyes went to the cabinets that lined the back wall. There were six of them, and each looked as if it had been made from thick planks of green-tinged wood. Fine carvings—

symbols and figures that made no sense to Paul—

had been cut in vertical strips that ran the length of the double doors on three of the cabinets. The other three had strips of glass or something similar set into the doors. The cabinets were huge—there should be more than enough room inside for Paul and Dorland.

Paul shook away the dark feeling of dread that had settled over him and crossed the room to the cabinet in the comer, farthest from the chauka. Round metal knobs served as handles. The doors swung open with a faint rasping sound. Inside, Paul found deep wooden shelves that were covered with tiny figurines.

"Tal Tahir artifacts," Dorland said, beside him.

"I knew they were kept in the temple, but I've never seen them." ,

Paul picked up one of the figurines and found it to be surprisingly heavy. Metal of some kind—its surface gleamed a dull silver. His first impression was of an insect—a long, sticklike torso with four spindly limbs. But if it was an insect, it was one that walked on two legs. The details of the head and face were too fine to be discerned. The other figurines appeared to be of the same creature, but in different poses.

"Is this Lord Tern?" he asked. When Dorland didn't answer, Paul glanced at him and found him staring at the creature. "Are you all right?" Dorland's eyes moved slowly to Paul. "I think so," he said.

Paul wasn't sure which question Dorland had answered. He replaced the figurine and closed the door. The next cabinet had a glass strip in the door, but in the dim light Paul couldn't see through it. Inside he found shallow shelves that held long, slender tubes. He examined one briefly and decided it might be a musical instrument. He replaced it and opened the door wide to step into the cabinet. It would be a trifle crowded, but he thought there was enough space for both of them to squeeze in between the front edge of the shelves and the doors.

He stepped back out, closed the door again and looked critically at the glass strip. In the dim light from the globes he was sure he and Dorland

wouldn't be visible inside the cabinet.

"What do you think?" he asked.

Dorland looked at him. "About what?"

"About hiding in here. We can't go out that way." Paul jerked a thumb toward the door. "We have to get out of sight before the ceremony starts."

Dorland looked at the cabinet. "Seems okay," he said simply, and without a word he stepped inside. Paul fitted himself in beside him and pulled the door closed.

104

William Greenleaf CLARION 105

Cleve Quintan saw something that made him go mad.

He swallowed. /'// keep my eyes closed, he told himself. When the ceremony starts, I won't look. That way I can't see anything that might... He decided he didn't want to think any more about that.

The globes provided enough light for a relatively good view of the chamber. Paul moved as far back from the door as he could. What if somebody decides to get something out of this cabinefl He touched the handle of the knife and made sure it was within easy reach in its sheath. Not that it would do much good if they were caught—

"Diana."

Paul jumped a little, even though the sound had come from Dorland in a soft whisper. "What?"

"I can feel her," Dorland said. "The fear has been bred into me. Its breath is mine, but I can overcome it because it has no flesh and bone."

"What are you talking about?"

"Diana and Shari were flesh and bone. They are ... close in this place." Dorland's voice was flat, but Paul could sense a deep, underlying emotion. "How long has it been since I've thought of them? How long since I've allowed their flesh and blood and love to come into my mind? Our life together, our too-short life—"

The words choked off. Paul shifted nervously.

"Dorland, this isn't the time to—"

"Little Shari. Ah . . ."

Then Paul heard muted voices and the sounds of feet on the wooden floor of the outer chamber. Dorland fell silent. Through the glass Paul saw several men in robes enter the chamber and begin arranging themselves around the room. The robes were white, which meant the men were deacons, if Ogram knew what he was talking about. Slow

footsteps moved past the cabinet and a hazy shadow blocked the light, then moved on. Paul realized the deacons had taken positions against the wall, all around the cabinets. For a while there was only silence. Paul eased himself forward for a better view.

Another line of men came through the door and moved up close to the chauka. These were the elders, with white robes trimmed in scarlet. After they had gathered around the chauka, an old man in a scarlet robe came slowly into the room, leaning on a staff. This had to be High Elder Brill. The staff was curved slightly in a way that reminded Paul of the spire above the temple. A young boy walked beside Brill. The boy was tall and bone-skinny, a birdlike face with long nose, pointed chin, narrow mouth. The eyes made quick, darting movements as he followed a half step behind Brill. Paul felt tension grip him. A young boy—that meant a

semarch ceremony. A new recruit would be initi-ated into the Sons of God. Brill's steps took him directly to the gray dish of the chauka. Using the staff as support, he lowered himself to his knees in front of it. His robe flared out around him. The boy waited, shifting nervously from one foot to the other.

Stiff fabric rustled as the deacons withdrew something from the folds of their garments. Paul realized they were slender tubes like those on the shelves behind him. The deacons lifted the tubes to their mouths, and a single tone filled the room. It started low and shifted upward to a higher pitch. Then the eerie sounds merged as some of the men played low tones while others played high tones. The intertwined highs and lows were strangely familiar, even though Paul was sure he had never heard anything like it before.

The music ended abruptly, and High Elder Brill