Jays face radiated misery. Dont think so. She didnt say anything, she just vanished as soon as we reached the fields around the village.
Horst turned to the demon sprite. But it had gone. He started to hustle Jay out of the church. You are to go straight home to your mother, and I mean straight home. Tell her what you told me, and tell her to get the other villagers organized. They must be warned that the Ivets are near.
Jay nodded, her eyes round and immensely serious.
Horst glanced about the clearing. Night had almost fallen, the trees seemed much nearer, much larger in the dark. He shivered.
What are you going to do, Father?
Just have a look, thats all. Now go on with you. He gave her a gentle push in the direction of Ruths cabin. Home.
She scampered off between the rows of cabins, long, slender legs flying in a shaky gait that looked as though she was perpetually about to lose her balance. Then Horst was all by himself. He gave the jungle a grim glance, and set off towards the gap in the trees where the track to the savannah homesteads started.
Sentimental fool,laton said.
Listen, Father, after what I did today Im entitled to show some sentiment,camilla retorted. Quinn would have ripped her apart. Theres no need for that kind of bloodshed any more. We have achieved what we set out to do.
Well, now this idiot priest is heading out to be a hero. Do you intend to save him as well?
No. Hes an adult. He makes his own choices.
Very well. The loss of Supervisor Manani is vexing, though. I was relying on him to eradicate the rest of the Ivets.
Do you want me to shoot them?
No, the hunting party is returning, they will find the horse soon enough, and the trail Quinn Dexter has left. They would wonder what killed them. There must be no hint of our existence. Though Jay
Nobody will believe her.
Possibly.
So what are you going to do about Dexter? Our original scenario didnt envisage him surviving this long.
Quinn Dexter will come to me now, there is nowhere else he can go. The sheriffs will assume he has run off into the wilderness, never to be seen again. Not quite the perfect solution, but no battle plan survives the opening shot. And Anns ova will be a welcome addition to our genetic resources.
Is my provocateur duty over now?
Yes, I dont believe the situation requires further intervention on our part. We can monitor events through the servitor scouts.
Good. Im on my way home; have a bath and a tall drink waiting, its been a long day.
Quinn looked down at Powel Manani. The naked supervisor had regained consciousness again now they had finished lashing his badly crushed legs to the mayopes trunk. His head hung a few centimetres from the ground; cheeks puffed out from all the fluid that was building up in the facial tissue. They had spread his arms wide, tying his hands to small stakes in the ground. The inverted cross.
Powel Manani moaned dazedly.
Quinn held out his hands for silence. The Night grows strong. Welcome to our world, Powel.
Dickhead, Powel grunted.
Quinn flicked on a pocket-sized thermal inducer, and pressed it against Powels broken shin. He groaned, and jerked about feebly.
Why did you do it, Powel? Why did you drown Leslie and Tony? Why did you kill Kay? Why did you send Vorix after Douglas?
And the others, Powel wheezed. Dont forget them.
Quinn stiffened. Others?
Youre all thats left, Quinn. And tomorrow there wont even be you.
The thermal inducer was applied to his leg again.
Why? Quinn asked.
Carter McBride. Why do you think? Youre fucking animals, all of you. Just animals. No human could do that to another. He was ten years old!
Quinn frowned, turning off the thermal inducer. What happened to Carter McBride?
This! You dickhead. You strung him up, you and your Light Brother bastards. You split him in half!
Quinn? Jackson Gael asked uncertainly.
Quinn gestured him quiet with a wave. We never touched Carter. How could we? We were out at the Skibbow homestead.
Powel pulled at the vines holding his hands. And Gwyn Lawes, and Roger Chadwick, and the Hoffmans? What about them? You got alibis for them, too?
Ah, well now I have to admit, you have a point there. But how did you know we followed the Light Brother?
Elwes, he told us.
Yes, I should have realized a priest would know what was going down. Not that it matters now. He took his fission blade from his dungarees pocket.
Quinn, Jackson said hotly. This is weird, man. Who snuffed out Carter if we didnt?
Quinn held the blade up in front of his face, regarding it in a virtual trance. What happened after Carter was found?
What do you mean? Jackson yelled. What are you talking about? Shit, Quinn, snap out of it, man. Were gonna die if we dont move.
Thats right. Were gonna die. Weve been set up. The blade came alive, radiating a spectral yellow light that gave his face a phosphene hue. He smiled.
Jackson Gael felt a deadly frost settle around his heart. He hadnt realized how insane Quinn was before this; nutty, sure, a psycho streak thrown in. But thisGods Brother, Quinn was actually enjoying himself, he believed he was the Nights disciple.
The other Ivets were giving each other very edgy glances.
Quinn didnt notice. He leaned closer to Powel Manani. The supervisor sagged, giving up the struggle.
We are the princes of the Night, Quinn intoned.
We are the princes of the Night, the Ivets chanted with numb obedience.
Camilla, get back there now. Eliminate all of them immediately. Im dispatching the incorporated to help you clear away the bodies. If the hunting party arrive first, use a thermal grenade to obliterate the scene. Its hardly elegant, but it will have to suffice. Quinn Dexter must not be allowed to divulge our existence.
Im on my way, Father.
The Ly-cilph moved its identity focus between Quinn Dexter and Powel Manani, extending its perception field around all the people in the cramped jungle clearing. It couldnt quite read individual thoughts, not yet, the complexity of human synaptic discharges would take some time to unravel and catalogue, but their brains emotional content was plain enough.
The emotional polarity between Quinn Dexter and Powel Manani was enormous; one triumphant and elated, life loving; the other defeated and withdrawn, willing death to come quickly. It mirrored their religious traits, the diametric opposition.
Right out on the fringe of awareness, the Ly-cilph could detect a minute transmission of energy from Powel Manani into Quinn Dexter. It came from the basic energistic force which pervaded every living cell. This kind of transference was extraordinarily rare in corporeal entities. And Quinn Dexter seemed to be aware of it at some fundamental level, he possessed an energistic sense far superior to that of the priest. To Quinn Dexter the black mass sacrifices were a lot more than an empty ritual of worship, they generated a weighty expectation in his mind, confirming his belief. The Ly-cilph watched the sensation growing inside him, and waited with every perceptive faculty extended eagerly to record the phenomenon.
When the false lord leads his legions away into oblivion, we will be here, Quinn said.
We will be here, the Ivets repeated.
When You bring light into the darkness, we will be here.