Chapter 18 #2
The entire congregation got to their feet with claps and cheers, praising the Ur-God and Father Calmias.
I clapped and cheered too, but on the inside, I was sick to my stomach.
Who was this preacher, with his powerful voice and charismatic personality, who was so blatantly urging the human population to support the Resistance?
Was the Mages Guild aware the Ur-God Temple was promoting such a destructive, despicable doctrine?
Presumably, this wasn’t the only temple in Canalo, or even the Federation, that was being fed this self-serving bullshit – Manson had said that Father Calmias was a famous preacher who traveled all over the Federation. Why had I never heard of this before?
I wanted to go up to Father Calmias and question him, to try and determine his probable ties to the Resistance, and maybe even the Benefactor.
Unfortunately, the crowd of fervent worshipers who had gathered around him was too thick to penetrate without looking suspicious, so I followed the rest of the people instead, who were exiting the main hall through two side entrances.
It turned out that these side entrances led to two large rooms where the congregation could talk and socialize.
The temple staff were circulating, sporting aprons over their white uniforms and carrying trays in their hands, and they served us coffee and refreshments.
Grabbing a tall glass of iced tea from a passing staff member, I sipped it carefully as I walked around, listening to the snippets of conversation from the parishioners.
“I told you,” a woman was saying to her husband.
They were a well-to-do couple, the woman dressed in a pale green dress and pearls, her husband in a suit.
“I told you there was a reason behind the Resistance’s alliance with the shifter population.
They’re not compromising our beliefs; they’re following the Ur-God’s clever plan. ”
“I still don’t like the fact that our son is forced to fight side by side with shifters,” the husband said in a low tone.
“They’re too emotional, too easily distracted.
What if those mangy creatures decide to revolt?
They’re a slave race, created to serve the mages, and I could easily see the Mages Guild figuring out some way to make them turn on us.
Maybe that’s been the plan all along, and they’re just waiting for the right time to flip some kind of switch. ”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” his wife chided. “There’s no switch. If there were, the mages would have used it long ago, considering how much trouble shifters cause in society. Personally, I think we would have been better off if they had never been freed.”
I forced myself to move on before I dumped my glass of tea down the back of the woman’s dress.
I couldn’t decide who sounded more asinine – she or her husband – and it truly didn’t matter.
All of these people were brainwashed, stupid sheep who were being guided to the edge of a cliff by a charlatan, and who would gladly throw themselves off it for the sake of a misguided cause.
“I do wish Father Calmias would give us more details about the secret weapons,” I heard a man complain.
He was leaning back against the wall, dressed in a suit that had seen better days, as he conversed with the burly bouncer from the beer cellar last night.
“I mean, I’m faithful, no question, and I trust the Ur-God’s plan, but we could be of more help if we were given more details about what’s coming. ”
“No, it makes perfects sense,” the bouncer said as he munched on a raisin cookie.
“If we don’t know all the details, they can’t be tortured out of us by the Mages Guild.
The Ur-God and Father Calmias are just trying to protect us.
Trust me, my brother sends me messages from his camp every once in a while, and he assures me that the one secret weapon he knows about will ensure our victory, one-hundred percent. ”
A chill went down my spine at that. Was it only bluster, or did the Resistance truly have some ‘secret weapon’ that could make them so confident of their chances to overthrow the mage regime?
Either they were still in denial or ignorant about how powerful the mages truly were, or they had got their hands on something truly cataclysmic.
It wasn’t good, no matter which way I looked at it.
I wandered around for a few more minutes, listening to conversations, but I didn’t hear anything else that was useful.
I did spot a couple of former enforcers present, and I couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment.
Sure, I didn’t get along with most of the human enforcers, but I’d worked with one or two of these very guys from time to time, and I’d believed we were on the same team.
Now they were being led to believe that both halves of my heritage were evil, and it disheartened me that people could be so easily swayed.
What use were concepts like loyalty and decency if they could be steamrolled over by false promises and grandiose plans that anyone with a working brain could see were completely insane?
“Hey.” Manson’s voice came over my shoulder, and I turned to see him standing behind me. “You okay, Brandt? I noticed you’ve been wandering around, looking a little lost.”
“Yeah,” I said, affecting a yawn. “I’m good. I just didn’t sleep well on that cot last night, and my girlfriend’s probably worried about me. The sermon was great, but I really should see about getting back home.”
“Aww, that’s too bad,” Manson said, and he looked genuinely disappointed. “I thought maybe we could talk about the sermon for a bit.”
“Oh, it was a revelation,” I assured him.
“I definitely see why you think we have a good chance, and Father Calmias has given me hope. But I’ve got to get back to my girl.
I don’t want her wandering the streets looking for me, not during times like these.
Some of those looters are shifters,” I added, though it pained me to do so.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Manson agreed, his expression darkening. “We’ve got to keep our women and children safe from those animals.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “Travel safe, and feel free to look me up the next time you come visit your grandmother, okay?”
“Will do,” I agreed, then made a quick exit. I wasn’t sure how long I could keep up this charade, but at least the experience had confirmed one thing. I needed to get the mages and shifters on the same team, before the Resistance managed to destroy us all.