37. DISCIPLES #2
But Ysira spoke up. “The Firstborn can’t use our Gate here, but we still can. We can take it to their base in the ruins of Zal Fel. When I was their prisoner, they took me to the station from there. I know they have the means.”
“They do,” said Urien. “They use the space between the spires as a landing zone—it’s wide open, flat, and very high up.
Their communications center is just below.
The altitude, far enough from the Source’s interference, allows for transmissions into orbit.
We would need to be fast, but if we take control of communications, we could steal a transport shuttle and take it to the station. ”
“Only the demon-possessed can travel through the Gate,” Jacen pointed out. “That limits our options.”
But Hesaya’s face had lit up, and Urien said, “Gatekeeper. Do you have anything we could use for keys?”
“Enough for exactly forty-two passages,” said Hesaya. “We would need to make them count. But . . . it could work.”
Jacen was lost. “What could work?”
“Vermin,” Hesaya explained. “I’ve been collecting them for years, from every exorcism I could.
With a negligent fool like Lev as Chief Exorcist, I was able to get away with quite a lot.
Anyway—think of them as keys. If you handle the demon with care and let it .
. . er . . . enter you the moment before you step through the Gate, the Source will allow you to pass. ”
Jacen raised his eyebrows. He wasn’t alone. There was no small touch of horror in a knight’s voice as he said, “You want us to bond with demons?”
“Temporarily,” Hesaya stressed. “Vermin would rather remain in the Source than with a host. They’ll detach from you before you emerge on the other side.” She pursed her lips. “You’ll get no return journey. If you’re caught at Zal Fel, you’ll have nowhere to run.”
“There is another concern.” Ogden cleared his throat.
When he seemed confident he had everyone’s attention, he continued, “There are three ways to Zal Fel, of which both we and the Firstborn are aware.” He pointed at the map, indicating each location as he spoke.
“The long way, on foot through the canyon ruins. The Otavok Gate, here. And finally, the White Cathedral.” His gloved fingertip lingered on the red glyph at the heart of Zivora.
“The Church would be foolish not to keep their own emergency supply of keys.”
With a tight nod, Hesaya pursed her lips.
Jacen could no longer contain his astonishment. “I had no idea.” “Yes, well, you never attained a high-enough rank.” Hesaya sighed.
“The inquisitors guard this knowledge carefully.” Across the table, Sister Ilusha concurred.
Hesaya addressed Ogden. “What do you propose we do, then?”
Ged answered instead. “We have to make sure the Church can’t send anyone to Zal Fel through the Cathedral Gate.
” He lifted his fist, showing them all the dark metal ring once worn by Avram Semira.
“I’m High Lord now. My inquisitor”—he jerked his chin at Sister Ilusha—“knows how to access the white room in the Cathedral. I can travel there and lock it from the inside.”
“Senior members of the Council have the same permissions as the High Lord,” Ogden objected. “And Akkani will be prepared for the possibility we’ll use the Gates against her. It’s too risky.”
“So, what do you propose?” Hesaya repeated. “You sound like you’ve thought this through.”
Ogden folded his hands. “I have, over the last few decades, planted a number of explosives around the Citadel. Should it become necessary, they can be detonated remotely. Not from here—but Zal Fel should be close enough.” He paused, as even Urien turned toward him in surprise.
“Brother Kheris can attest they’re still in working order. ”
Jacen remembered, then, something Ogden had said as they fled Zivora—something he had been almost too preoccupied to hear, let alone process: I planted enough to demolish the White Cathedral. A sinister cold trickled down his spine.
“With the touch of a button, we could set off a chain reaction.” Ogden reached inside his robes and produced a metal cube, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand.
“It would level the Cathedral and a good portion of the surrounding area. It would destroy the Church’s easy access to Zal Fel.
I estimate it would remove from the equation .
. . seventy percent of the Church and fifteen percent of the City Guard.
Most of their loyalist leaders. The bulk of their resources.
” He tapped the cube. “All in one move.”
A shocked silence fell over the chamber. Urien stared at Ogden as though he’d never seen him before.
From her refuge in the shadows, Nines blurted, “No.”
Jacen might have been the only one who heard her. Several others spoke up, drowning her out. Neri alone did not react. His mind seemed far away, oblivious to the turmoil around him.
“Why didn’t you use that when we were losing the battle in Zivora?” demanded a square-jawed young knight.
“The Citadel is one of the most densely populated districts in Zivora,” said Hesaya sharply.
“More so since the coup. Thousands have taken refuge around the Cathedral. To destroy it would kill them all, and it’s not just Guardsmen and inquisitors inside.
There are lay priests, staff, their families.
Every child acolyte still trapped inside those walls. ”
Ged appeared to take Hesaya’s side. “It’s worse than that.
The mechanisms in the white room control Zivora’s infrastructure—lighting, cooling systems, the dock elevators, irrigation, and gods know what else.
If all that shuts down at once, it’ll be chaos.
Along the deepriver, laborers will be trapped if not outright killed—to say nothing of water shortages and spoiled food stores in a city already on the verge of famine. ”
The cost was unfathomable. The immediate, staggering death toll would pale in comparison to the suffering that followed.
“They designed it this way for a reason,” Jacen muttered, half to himself. The Church would not be destroyed without carving out the city’s heart.
“Put that away,” Hesaya told Ogden. “We won’t be using it.”
“You cannot underestimate Drusa Akkani,” Ogden said.
“She may join the fight here and discover any ruse we attempt. She may already be at Zal Fel, waiting. If she discovers us, I guarantee she’ll have her best inquisitors after us within minutes.
What do you plan to do? Pray you avoid her?
” His tone turned scathing on the word pray.
“You need to limit her options. What I propose is merely—”
“An atrocity,” snapped Commander Azaharo. “You’re proposing killing thousands of innocents as a preemptive measure.”
“It’s a calculation we have to make,” Ogden countered. “Thousands of innocents against the future of this planet.”
“We can limit Akkani’s options by locking the white room from the inside,” Jacen said firmly.
He refused to entertain the part of himself that wondered whether Ogden was right.
“And then, yes—we pray that our plan proceeds in secrecy. She can’t be everywhere at once, and if I were her, my focus would be here on Otavok.
We won’t achieve anything without risks, and this is a reasonable one to take. ”
Ogden shook his head, impatient. “Must I remind you all that Var Naxal is not integrated? Should we fail to reach the orbital station, we don’t have the means to destroy it from the ground.”
“Enough,” Hesaya snarled at Ogden. “Do not suggest that again, or I’ll have you removed from this hall.”
The old man’s face might as well have been stone as he slipped the cube back into his robes. From the shadows, Jacen sensed Nines’ relief.
“Hold on a moment,” Ged cut in, raising both hands. “You said he’s not integrated.” He looked at Ogden, then Neri. “You can’t access the demon’s full power?”
Neri stared at the table, shoulders hunched.
“Are you telling me,” Ged went on, “that it would be possible to destroy the station itself—and yet we won’t do it?”
“Var Naxal would have to be integrated to access the necessary power,” Hesaya said tightly.
“He’s had days of training, and that station is almost as massive as Ixion.
If he were to lose control—if something the size of a moon were to collide with this planet—it wouldn’t just mean defeat. It would mean extinction.”
Because he owed it to Seth, Jacen added quietly, “If Neri were to integrate, we also remove any possibility of an exorcism.”
“And there’s the matter of our own people on the station,” Hesaya said. “My sources estimate two or three hundred have already been Harvested from Zivora this cycle, likely more from Alendal and Lun. We may yet save them.”
Ged was skeptical. Ysira’s face remained utterly blank. She leaned back against the wall, crossing her arms and hooking one foot over the other. She refused to meet Jacen’s eyes.
“I killed Rakalem,” Neri said at last. “If we get to the station and I save my energy, I . . . I can do this. It’s enough.”
“Integration cannot be forced,” Hesaya agreed.
“In due time, perhaps Var Naxal will take that step. But now? It would be a drastic last resort. The power it took to destroy Rakalem is . . . a mote of dust before a sandstorm. We cannot trifle with it. I’m prepared to face the Holy Mother, should it come to that, because I would sooner run afoul of her than Naxal. ”
“I’ve been to the station,” said Neri. “I know what to expect, and I know we can win this without . . .” He wouldn’t say the word. He held his father’s gaze, half-pleading, half-daring him to argue. “I’m the one with the demon. I decide. And I say”—his voice hitched—“we’re not there yet.”
Though Ged carefully concealed it with his usual bluster, he had been watching his son with something just shy of trepidation. He may not have been convinced, but he nodded shortly and turned to Urien. “If we’re doing this, you’ll have to come along.”
“Out of the question,” said Ogden.