The Gate of Tears, Episode 34 (Epilogue)

Patrick Prichard ~ 4–26–2029, 9:23 AM EST

Patrick stands in the inner sanctum of the Lavender Cabal, their private audience chambers at the heart of the ancestral headquarters of the Ancient Brotherhood of Rarefied Light. Arrayed before him are the ten most senior members of the Lavender Cabal, the ultimate leadership of the Brotherhood. The sum of their combined years of life easily exceeds two millenia.

“Are we to understand, based on your report, Cabal Leader Prichard, that a single female Investigator was able to disable you for a period of fifteen minutes?” Councillor Hesselden leans forward to glare at him. His eternally young face somehow manages to be crotchety.

“I’ve known many capable Investigators, sir. I’ve likewise known women who I’m confident could beat me in open combat. I don’t think that’s terribly remarkable,” Patrick says.

“And, yet, this woman has been an initiate for a period of weeks. I find this story hard to credit.” Hesselden sniffs.

“Credit it or not, it’s true. I’ve sworn it in front of a Judge,” Patrick says.

“Truthreading is not infallible, Cabal Leader…” Another of the Lavenders, Councillor Kidby, says.

“The Cabal Leader’s loyalty is not the subject of this hearing, Councillors,” The man in one of the two central seats, Councillor Gwinnett, speaks for the first time during the hearing. His black hair shines in the low light. He smiles beatifically at Patrick, who feels his very real and very strong loyalty and ardor for the Brotherhood stir for a moment. Councillor Gwinnett continues, “We are holding this hearing to ascertain the extent of the threat posed by the Knights of the Rose Cross towards our project in Montana. Please continue, Cabal Leader.”

Patrick inclines his head and brings his fist to his heart. “Honored Councillor. The Valkyries of the Knights of the Rose Cross are a far more potent weapon than we’ve been led to believe. Each of them is certainly a match for an Executioner in single combat — ”

“A Technomancer, capable of thwarting an Executioner?” Hesselden sniffs incredulously.

“ — and is capable of inflicting massive casualties on softer targets, such as lower Castes or mortals,” Patrick finishes.

“If that’s true, we need to take steps. Our understanding from the Marshals was that the Valkyries were subordinate to an Executioner in capabilities, and moreover that they would never be deployed,” Another Councillor, Fitzhugh, says.

“You put your trust in diplomacy too often,” Kidby sneers at Fitzhugh.

“All of this is beside the point,” Gwinnett says, raising a hand. His tone is quiet, but the other Councillors fall into order. “They invaded the United States with a weapon they swore would never be deployed. Some action is called for.”

“Our belief is that the leader of the team in question, this Investigator, Mae-Ying Allen, is operating as one of Grand Marshal Waterhouse’s Ambassadors.” Fitzhugh says. “Perhaps with some support from Xavier Reed, who, incidentally, has convinced the British government to leverage sanctions against several of our enterprises. The other Marshals themselves may not be aware of her actions, as of yet.”

“Reed and Waterhouse alone are enough of a threat.” Hesselden says sourly.

“One of our people keeping an eye on Synesis, Tench, is demanding we take action against Allen and the Knights,” Kidby says. Patrick controls the urge to clench his jaw at the mention of Devona’s name.

“A member of the Green Cabal is making demands? Of us?” Hesselden’s expression is incredulous.

“I believe she’s simply…enthusiastic about this issue,” Kidby says, delicately placing his fingertips together.

“Perhaps she can find some way to turn the Marshals against Waterhouse, then,” one of the other Councillors, Bartlett, suggests. “More thoroughly than they already are.”

“Perhaps,” Gwinnett says. He smiles. “Certainly she deserves the chance to try, given her…ardor.”

#

Bryana Harrelson ~ 4–27–2029, 9:43 PM GMT

“His name’s Patrick Prichard,” Bryana says to Martin. She’s reading off of an aggregation query she wrote, pulled off of the Knight’s central intelligence database at the Masada. She’s had some downtime while her collation of the ginormous wad of Synesis data runs. “He’s the bigshot leader of one of their Battle Cabals.”

“How’d you find him?” Martin asks.

“Ria got some good shots of his face while he was beating the shit out of her. It was just a facial recognition query from there.”

“Which Cabal is he from?” Martin asks, leaning over her shoulder to look at her tablet. Bryana grimaces. Why does he smell so damn good?!

“Crimson. Their super killer one.”

“This is good work. Thanks, Bry.” Martin rises. “I’ll tell the Ambassador.”

“It’s weird that you call her that,” Bryana says. “She seems like such a…”

“What.” Martin’s tone is flat and pissy.

“God, chill, I was just gonna say she seems like a normal person!”

Martin relaxes a little. “Did you pull the Ophelia files?”

“The ones I could put together, yea.” Bryana rolls her eyes. “I wasn’t worried about keeping any of the bytes in order, I was just jamming information into my brain. I have algorithms to backtrack the random writes but…”

“So it’ll take some time.”

“Yea, that’s what I said.”

“Okay, that’s the kind of thing I need you to tell me sooner rather than later, so I can let the Ambassador know.”

“Yea, whatever…”

#

Mae-Ying Allen ~ 4–27–2029, 11:39 AM GMT

“There’s a brief ceremony,” Reed is explaining to Mae-Ying. He is standing before Lydia’s body, which lies in repose in a coffin in the cottage’s study. Mae-Ying is sitting in her wheelchair next to him, Niva standing stoically behind her. The mortician has covered up the hole in Lydia’s throat with some trick of makeup. She doesn’t look alive, though. The force that was Lydia has abandoned her corpse.

Mae-Ying stares at her dead friend and lover. She blinks twice and looks over at Reed. “I’m sorry?”

“It’s…a tradition, in the Knights.” He pauses, seeming hesitant to make eye contact. “She was one, and thus…”

Mae-Ying considers for a moment. Lydia was only a Knight for a couple of weeks. But she was trying, so hard; she wanted to belong and to help. Mae-Ying glances down at her own delicate ring. She looks back at Reed. “How does it go?”

“You remove her ring, turn to me and say, ‘Until she returns to us.’ At that point I accept the ring and reply, ‘Until she returns.’ I give the ring into the Augusta’s care and, when Ms. Snyder reincarnates, if she returns to the Knights, the ring will await her…”

Mae-Ying nods. She glances at Niva, who gives her a watery, weak smile, and wheels her forward. Mae-Ying forces herself partially upright, so she can reach into the coffin. She struggles to remove the ring for a moment. Finally it comes free of Lydia’s finger.

Mae-Ying clutches it for a moment, staring down at Lydia’s quiescent face. A wave of grief and loss and foreboding washes over her. Lydia won’t be the last person she loses. She lowers herself back into the chair and clutches at Niva’s hand.

When she has more control over herself, Mae-Ying turns back towards Reed. She is surprised to note the Marshal’s eyes are glittering with unshed tears. His face is an iron mask, however, jaw clenched, lips stiff.

“Until she returns to us,” Mae-Ying says. He extends his hand and Mae-Ying drops the ring into his waiting palm.

“Until she returns,” Reed replies, his voice grave.

They turn back to Lydia’s body. Silently, Mae-Ying begins to weep.

#

Devona Tench ~ 4–30–2029, 1:04 MST

Devona finds herself sitting, once again, in the dim confines of the Synesis boardroom, now as a member of the senior leadership. Her position in the company was solidified weeks before the Lavenders’ ludicrous and patronizing gesture of making it ‘official’, thanks to Mireia’s help. If only the Lavenders knew what Synesis truly intended for them and their Brotherhood.

Harmon is, as always, at the head of the table, his fingers clenched, white-knuckled, around the wooden edge. Manson isn’t available to calm him, having been sent to Moscow for an allegedly important meeting. And so Devona finds herself almost alone in the room with Harmon and Garibaldi, whom Devona refuses to look at.

Harmon looks at Garibaldi. “Where is Orlandic?”

Garibaldi smiles across the room, towards Harmon’s scowling visage. “His staff informs me that he’s nearly here.”

Devona takes a moment to conceal her frustration. She has been called out of Washington — again — despite the fact that the Lavenders have finally given her carte blanche to act against the Knights, despite the fact that all of Allen’s inroads and provocations have remained unanswered, and now she has to sit in a meeting while an Invictus Princeps — no, the Invictus Princeps, a man the Lavenders expect is her sworn enemy —

The doors open and she finds her thoughts driven to a halt. Richard Orlandic steps into the room, his face all square-jawed magnificence, black hair perfectly parted and shining, his suit immaculate, despite the flight, despite the car from the airport. Devona wants to find his perfection irritating, wants to deny his aura of majesty, but she can’t. He is perfect and, worse, he’s a far more powerful Judge than she is. His aura commands her admiration; her lack of consent to the feeling does not come into it.

“Larry,” Orlandic says, his bass voice reaching every corner of the room, saturating it with his charisma, and Devona is surprised and annoyed to see Harmon’s knuckles relax, as the aging Technomancer leans back in his chair. “I’m sorry I’ve been away for so long. There were some complications with my personal projects, but everything’s cleared up now.”

“I understand your daughter’s pregnant. Congratulations.” Devona forces out the veiled slight as an act of will.

Orlandic’s eyebrows rise. He inhales and he smiles. “Thanks, Devona. That means a lot.”

“Richard, we need to get to the point,” Harmon says, recovering some of his frantic ire. “The Knights have provoked the Keepers egregiously, they have made off with god knows what data — ”

Orlandic raises a hand and Harmon falls silent. “Relax, Larry. Relax. Everything’s moving forward. We’ll deal with the Knights.”

“But the data — ” Harmon begins again.

“I’ve spoken to Baumann. We have a plan,” Orlandic says with a smile. “By the end of next year, the Ancient Brotherhood of Rarefied Light and the Knights of the Rose Cross will have ceased to exist in any meaningful way. I’ll control the Invictus in every way that matters, and the Argonauts will come to the table with us. There will be literally no one left to get in our way.”

Devona stares across the room at Orlandic and can’t resist the shiver of anticipation that runs up her spine. “The thirties will be a decade to remember,” she comments.

“Oh,” Orlandic turns to her with a smile. “You have no idea.”

The story will continue in The Twisted Mirror (Age of Endings 2) and Where Dreamers Tread (Age of Endings 0), both coming in Late 2021!