weeping softly in his chest.
^How damn touching.^ Uld spat blood on the ground. ^I’ll bet you wish that TELREC was here, little boy, so she could kiss you and fuck you.^
Dobrin viciously lunged at him with all his strength, punching him in the stomach, and chest, while Uld laughed a sickly laugh. Suld regretfully pulled him away.
^Enough, Dobrin. There will come a roa that his kind will not exist, when the people of this world have had enough of sin and depravity, and cry out for their salvation, cry out for love to reign where hatred thrives, cry out for a unity of man and woman that will be everlasting.^
^Oh save me from your pompous, self-righteous preaching!^ cried Uld, trying to pull away from the Kurd-meta. ^This world will never beg for your hateful morality, for your cowardly piety! The souman nature is one to seek out what is base and low. High-minded ideals such as yours would need to be forced on them, and eventually, you and your kind would turn into the very dictators you seek to overthrow!^ He laughed viciously, sending a shudder of fear even through the Kurd-meta. ^Ellore might hate me, shit, even Dobrin might hate me! But if they weren’t hurt by me, if they were allowed to grow up as other Novans do, they would worship me. They would buy my virtlives, patronize my fleshivals, sell their very sons and daughters into—^
In an instant, Suld brought the side of his hand down on Uld’s head, rendering him unconscious.
^Finally,^ cast Aeolle. ^I was getting sick of nesting that filth.^
The Kurd-meta lifted Uld onto one of its shoulders. ^We must return to Gan-Elldon.^
^Agreed. Ellore, this is Ciluo. He replaced Kurd, who was terminated several dcas ago. He is to be trusted, and will take care of you.^
Suld turned to leave, but Ellore held onto him, a determined look in her eyes.
^We’re coming with you.^
Suld shook his head. ^Not now—when you have healed. This fight has been a long time in coming, The TELREC want to destroy me? They will face the entire might of OLMAC, every ship we ever built, every meta we have at our disposal, every piece of weaponry created over the past millennia. From the depths of my heart I summon forth all the collective wrongs of all the generations of Novans who came before me, born into unwitting slavery, unwilling manipulation. They shall be avenged, on this roa, at my hands and the hands of those who believe as I do.^ He turned to Ciluo. ^Are you, and your kind with me?!^
^We are. The meta stand with OLMAC.^
^Then may the TELREC fall. May we stand side by side on Malhrer, over the broken, inert carcass of Mal!^
11
Around the twin globes, I’ll search
above all others, you come first.
Sweet love of mine, sweet love of mine.
When I find you corrupted woman,
don’t you run, don’t you struggle
You’ll be mine, love of mine, you’ll be mine . . .
- popular song about the hunt for Nahlai by Denged
^Why do you tolerate him?^
Denged nest Gilc’s words as they descended into another complex of suites, deep in the heart of Vieol, one of the few remaining cities on Novan. Vieol was an ancient city, created several centuries before the first downloads of Novanism. It was also the smallest of the three remaining cities, filled with more separatist elements than any other community. Many times the Monitors beseeched Mal to allow them to destroy the city entirely, but Mal always rejected their requests. Somehow it never drew the ire of the TELREC, never drew increased CRODAM patrols. Whatever elements lived there, knew how to keep quiet. Stealthily Denged, Gilc and Errece made their way through the labyrinth of its architecture, without the Maenids, as Denged wanted the Maenids to intensify their training.
The celebrations sickened him. Those his Maenids had, and those he nest about that Uld had, both made him physically nauseous, for they seemed too similar for his liking, too much as if they were both different aspects of the same foul creature. They also suggested a battle had been won, that an end was near. He knew it not to be so. He could feel it in the cast-net, the growing discontent, the festering malaise just under the surface. He had finally gotten detailed reports of Rhonva’s battle with Graid, and didn’t like what he found out. Suld was preparing for battle, and Denged knew that OLMAC would prove to be a formidable opponent.
It’s not the time for celebrations. It’s time for reassessment, time to quantify and categorize the strength of our opponents.
As Ellore consumed Uld’s thoughts, so Nahlai consumed Denged’s. She was his every waking thought, the first thing and the last thing he thought of every roa. It became great battle within himself. For so long he was able to distance Nahlai in his mind, able to abstractly hate her. Now, with the possibility of facing her real and near, he began to have doubts about whether he could kill her.
Errece could sense it. She had grown more distant of late, hanging a little further back when they traveled. She was quick and curt in her thoughts, her looks becoming furtive and full of suspicion. Denged wanted to cast with her, find out what was wrong, but knew better. Errece more than any other responded to strength, and despised weakness. She thought in absolutes, and could not live in any grey area.
^Why do you tolerate him?^ pressed Gilc again as they opened a door to a suite, supposedly a residence of Nahlai’s. Chronicle irregularities pointed to this and several other locations as possibilities. As the door slid open, several figures could be seen scurrying inside, their minds closing shut. Denged strode in, a tired expression on his face, his long sienna and gold robes flowing open behind him.
^You will be still and null,^ he ordered. ^You must comply with the TELREC.^
Denged saw one of them reach for a small emdec weapon. In moments all of them lay unconscious, sprawled on the floor, casual victims of Denged’s power. Errece came forward, her knife drawn, and peered into their minds.
^They are . . . Iganinagi.^
Denged stood over the bodies. ^Kill them.^
Errece plunged her knife quickly in and out of the bodies as Denged slumped against a wall. Gilc joined Errece, slicing and hacking at the bodies, as she cast to Denged.
^Why won’t you answer me?^
^What do you mean?^
^Why do you allow Uld to live?!^ she demanded, viciously severing a man’s jugular.
Coincidentally, Denged had been thinking on Uld recently, off and on. Something didn’t seem right to him. Not Uld—he seemed as hateful and full of malice as ever. It was the circle Uld kept. Something was wrong about them, and he couldn’t quite nail down what it was.
I just haven’t been paying much attention to Uld. I don’t want to pay much attention to Uld.
Gilc and Errece stood, wiping their blades. Denged looked at both of them.
^Did you nest about Ilgin?^ he asked.
^Yes. They were about to leave to meet with him.^
Denged whistled. ^Imagine that, he finally would consent to a meeting with the Iganinagi, and we just happen to stumble on their emissaries?^
^You suspect a trap?^
^Yes, but we’ve handled many that were much tougher before.^ He pulled out his emdec weapon. ^We will fulfill their obligations.^
They strode out quickly, moving back out into the tight streets of Foundation, Gilc coming alongside Denged.
^You want an answer?^ he asked, growing irritated.
^Yes!^
^Uld is not important. He is not a Rell, not a subversive. He’s a Novan, one who lives his life according to the freedoms we have granted them.^
^He has delusions, Denged—I know you can sense it! He won’t be happy until he rules even the TELREC.^
^Then he will fall, as all others have who have shared his dream.^
They made their way through the crowds to a nearby hoverport, where they boarded a small TELREC transport. They sat, as the meta at the controls brought the craft into the air, then ascended into the thick, slow-moving traffic of Core. Denged glanced for a moment out the window at the Novan landscape, and for a brief
moment, wanted to hold Gilc’s hand.
Why do I do this to myself? What does it benefit? It seems as if the more I struggle to deny it exists, the more it strengthens within me.
They landed halfway around the planet, and began their descent into Foundation. One of the older sections of the planet, large steel and iron doors still separated many of the levels. Now home to hundreds of thousands of apathets, addicts and isolationists, it once was a great basin that housed much of the water for the planet. The three of them descended in a tight lift into the great metal shell that formed the lowest populated point on the planet. It stretched several thousand tils before them, illuminated by thousands of barely-functioning mitters. The air was close and damp, as some water was still stored in smaller compartments along its length. After almost a droa in the lift they finally reached the bottom, standing on one of the lowest points on the surface of the planet.
^It’s been a long time since we came down here,^ cast Denged, surveying the area.
Errece nodded, looking around, scanning the area. Denged glanced up at the great cavernous metal ceiling hundreds of tils above. For a moment, the massiveness of the world impressed itself on him, and he could almost nest the thoughts of the untold trillions living above.
^He is supposedly two ticks ahead, waiting in a side chamber,^ he cast, focusing on the mission. ^Let’s move.^
They broke into a run, racing through the landscape, hurdling over the dead and dying, moving with a blinding swiftness between the debris of long ago. Gilc watched as Denged ran, her