He said none of this to Shekolni. ‘You know what the mathematician, Archimedes, had to say about levers,’ he observed instead. Because he was among his followers, he kept his tone light and accompanied the words with a half-smile, disowning their import even as he spoke them.
‘That with a large enough lever, he could move the world,’ Shekolni said.
Ber Lusim inclined his head. ‘And that is all Heather Kennedy is, blessed one. She moved Ginat’Dania, I know. We all know. And by this we know that she is a very large lever, or else one which on that occasion was very cleverly positioned, so as to exert a greater force than might have been expected.’
‘Forgive me, but I thought Archimedes was born of the Nations, not of the People.’ Shekolni did not smile and his tone was a little stern. ‘I was also given to believe that it was this Adamite man, Leo Tillman, who had found Ginat’Dania. The woman was with him, certainly — but it was Tillman, not the rhaka, who killed Kuutma-that-was. And it is doubtless he who hides behind this woman now.’
Ber Lusim turned to Hifela, his refuge in many storms. ‘Tell us again what happened at the warehouse,’ he ordered him.
Hifela made the sign of the noose. ‘One man went alone into the warehouse,’ he said, as formally as if he were reading aloud from a report. ‘A second remained outside, providing cover fire when he retreated. The man killed three of us and wounded four. None of us saw him clearly enough to identify him, but we believe it was Leo Tillman. Some footage survived from perimeter cameras. Red hair. Tall. Heavy build. Those are circumstantial details — but if you consider them in the light of the way he fought us, it seems almost certain.’
He didn’t need to add that for any Adamite man to kill three Messengers was a dark miracle in itself. They all knew that.
‘So,’ Ber Lusim summed up. ‘Tillman, moving against us in England. Depriving us of resources that were already allocated and about to be sent out. Throwing everything into jeopardy. And now, here, the rhaka, arriving — as it were — at the gates of our house. Yes, it seems possible that you’re right. That these two have made common cause again. It doesn’t follow, though, that we have anything to fear from them.’
‘Only observe her arrogance,’ Shekolni countered, his body leaning forward. ‘She comes. She stands full in our sight. She doesn’t even try to hide herself from us.’
‘Perhaps she does not hide,’ Ber Lusim said, ‘because she doesn’t know that there is anything to hide from.’
Shekolni grimaced, as though the suggestion were something unpleasant in his mouth. ‘Perhaps. Yes. That could be. But consider, Ber Lusim, the whole pattern of her movements since you first became aware of her. She begins by searching for the book. She finds your man, within a matter of days, despite two attempts to remove her.’
‘I spoke with Abydos,’ Ber Lusim said. ‘He could not say much, but I pieced together some of what happened. The rhaka had help, from another, younger woman. A woman whose identity we still haven’t managed to determine.’ The familiar fury and hatred rose in him as he said it, as he saw it in his mind — his men, the brothers of his heart, struck down by whores whose very strength and skill were abomination in God’s sight — but he still kept his voice perfectly level and the muscles of his face relaxed.
‘I believe my point stands,’ Shekolni said quietly. ‘But I have other points. She finds a copy of the holy book. A copy that should not even exist, if your Messengers had done the work assigned to them. And in this, we see, she is swimming up the waterfall, pressing herself against the very current of our enterprise. How does she do this? How does she find what your Elohim missed?’
‘Again, Blessed One, with help,’ Ber Lusim said. ‘Not alone. Not by some superhuman ability or intuition.’
‘Then, having read the book, she comes here.’
‘And does nothing.’
‘And does — so far as we can see — nothing. But what can we infer from that, Ber Lusim? If she came to search for us, why doesn’t she search? If she came to confer with someone, why doesn’t she meet them and confer? Why does she go from such wild activity to such complete stillness? What is she, perhaps, waiting for? I beg you to indulge me in this. If you’re right, you lose nothing by questioning her. If you’re wrong, you lose much by leaving her free to harm us. Despite the time you’ve lost because of events in England — the need, which you have explained to me, to re-route shipments and to source new equipment — we are coming to the final page. I beg you to question the rhaka and ensure that nothing she has planned can interfere with that.’
‘I will do this thing,’ said Ber Lusim, ‘if I’m brought to it. But precisely because of that lost time, Most Holy, I would rather not be brought to it. To secure the rhaka, and then to question her, would delay us still further. I would rather drive onward with the mission that we’ve set ourselves.’
‘Well, I am unschooled in these things.’ Shekolni’s voice was freighted with almost subliminal amounts of sarcasm and resentment. ‘I’m prey to foolish fears.’
It was necessary to bring this matter to rest, Ber Lusim knew. It was bad for the others to see the two of them at odds, even for a moment. An idea struck him. He caught Hifela’s gaze and held it for a moment.
‘Tell me this, Blessed One. If you’re right, and the rhaka knows we’re here — if she is about to call down some disaster on our heads — how should I cast my net, for such a fish? How should I bring this woman into my house, so that I can question her? No matter how many Messengers I send against her, she’ll merely eat them alive and excrete their bones.’
Nobody laughed. Nobody could be completely certain that their leader was joking.
‘Send me,’ Hifela suggested.
The words hung in the air. The Elohim, awed, waited for Ber Lusim’s verdict.
‘You, old Skull-bone?’ Ber Lusim enquired. ‘Well, I said that she was formidable. But if I approved this thing, I’d want her brought to me alive and your natural instincts tend towards death.’
‘No,’ Hifela said.
‘No?’
‘No, Tannanu. My instincts tend towards obedience. I wait on your will. If you say to bring her alive, I will be as protective of her body’s safety as her mother would be. But I will bring her.’
He knows me so well, Hifela thought. It was like a small piece of theatre that they had planned together. Perhaps, as the ending of days came closer, all conversations would feel more and more like this. As though the weight of many centuries pressed on every word.
‘Watch her, Hifela,’ Ber Lusim said. ‘Choose a few who you trust, and watch her close. So long as she does nothing, do likewise. When she moves, move with her. And if she does anything that concerns you, even in the smallest degree, take her. Take her and bring her before me. Let me speak with her and satisfy myself on some few significant points.’
He rose to his feet, signalling that the meeting was at an end. But none of the Elohim moved or spoke. They waited on his peroration.
‘It may be,’ he said, ‘that Heather Kennedy’s death is meant to be folded into the greater death. It may be that God has brought her to our door for a reason. Because he wishes us to make a sacrifice unto Him that is great in proportion to the greatness of what we do. If that’s so, we’ll sacrifice joyfully, as the commandment bids us.’