“True.” The Silverback made his way to the door. “And once we find him, he’ll wish he knew nothing.”
Chapter 6:
The False Preacher
EMBARGO BROKEN: SILVERBACK SPEAKS OUT AGAINST KING
The Daily Penance
14th Day under the Moon of Macha, AC403
A two-day-long trade embargo on Penance was broken yesterday after Argyll the Silverback addressed the people at the steps of the Triad.
“King Diarmuid has accused us of crimes we have not committed,” said the Silverback, “just as the Gods accused our ancestors of the sin of striving to be better than Man.”
Earlier this week, the Crown claimed that the Silverback and his followers – campaigning for a separate state of Old Simia – murdered Santos, chief engineer of Penance. In yesterday’s speech, Argyll vehemently denied such allegations.
“Diarmuid makes these claims from the safety of the Grey Keep of Cruachan, but he does not dare to put me on trial, for he knows his accusations are baseless. I have a thousand alibis placing me in this city on the day of the attack, but evidence and reason do not concern the King of Alabach. If he wishes to bring this issue to the rest of the Triad, I’ll be more than willing to oblige.”
The Triad of Penance rules Alabach in parallel to the Crown. Comprising a human (Cathal Carríga), a Simian (Borris Blackhands), and a king (King Diarmuid Third and Nineteenth), the governing body was formed to represent the voice of the people, but Argyll disagrees.
“Having Diarmuid on the Triad does a grave disservice to its original intent. Yesterday, the other two members were pressured into closing our ports, purposely making us appear guilty and weak to the rest of the kingdom. As of this moment, the gates of Penance are open once again. And rest assured, the Crown will no longer interfere with our city.”
***
The Tower of Sin was exactly as Farris had remembered it. The huge stone monument to Simian ingenuity defined the city of Penance, with each district spanning out from it like spokes on a wheel. The tower itself loomed a hundred feet over Farris’s head, but one could only guess at how high it once been before it was ruined. Each stone block was as large a mammoth, arranged with precise cyclopean masonry. The other buildings of Penance were constructed using more recent advances in Simian engineering, but none came close to sheer scale and fortitude of the old, broken tower.
Indeed, even the Lord Himself could not finish the job of tearing it down.
Garth stood beside Farris, taking in the sight of the Tower.
“Sure,” said Garth. “On the outside it looks as fine as it did before you left, but you’re in for a shock when we go in. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“I won’t,” said Farris. They made their way up the cracked stone steps which led to double-wide iron doors at the tower’s base. Human men and Simians loitered around the entrance, some huddled in groups, others standing alone. Sin had been a common meeting place for as long as Farris could remember. The upper levels housed the airships of the skyfleet, while tradesmen and merchants sold their wares closer to the ground.
At least that’s how it used to be, Farris reminded himself, eyeing a woman walking by who wore the symbol of the Sons of Seletoth.
The doors of the tower were set open as the two Simians approached. A thick, meandering staircase stood on either side of the entrance, winding clockwise and anti-clockwise all the way to the top of the tower.
“Ruairí says that the preachers occupy the second floor,” said Garth, gesturing to the staircase on the left. “And we have no way of recognising the druid, other than the passcode King Diarmuid gave you, correct?”
“Yes,” said Farris. “If the ship had arrived as scheduled, then he would have met us on the quay. If what Ruairí told us is right, it’s possible he’s a regular here.”
Garth smiled. “You don’t trust Ruairí.”
“I’ve always had an aversion to the religious types.”
“Apart from Derelith, right?”
“True, but I knew him from before he had his….” Farris trailed off, trying to find the right word.
“They call them ‘Seeings,’” finished Garth. “The Sons say that Seletoth contacts them directly, and they learn of truths that the Church has hidden from the world.”
“Truths….” mused Farris. “What kind of things do they see?”
Garth shrugged. “Very few Sons like to talk about their own Seeings. From what I gather, each Seeing differs from person to person. Most go on to dedicate their lives to Seletoth afterwards, while some feel the need to climb Mount Selyth and confront Him themselves. Those are the ones we never hear from again.”
Farris suppressed a shudder. He could relate, and that scared him. Back when he first left for Cruachan, he didn’t believe in the innate power of the Móráin bloodline, but the evidence he found supporting Divine Penetrance changed his mind on that. Then, before he left Cruachan, he had believed he was in control of his own destiny, and all of his choices were his own. Then he met Sláine the White, and her story about a little girl with a head injury.
And the Sons… were they just normal Humans before? A single vision away from giving their lives to their god?
He recalled the image of the woman he had seen at the bottom of the cliff at Roseán, but he dared not name her.
Farris shook his head as they reached the first floor. Stalls and stands were set up all around, selling everything from jewellery and rugs to Simian-made arms and armour. On a good day, one could have found a black-market dealer selling crystals for healing or other minor spells. But those days were long gone now, with the Crown clamping down on smuggling from the Seachtú.
“Derelith told me that some Sons go mad after their Seeing,” said Farris as they continued on up the steps. “Have you heard of anything like that?”
“Well, one could argue that you’d have to be mad to even consider climbing Mount Selyth, but there have been some incidents. I met a Son once who claimed he saw Seletoth with his own eyes. He went blind immediately afterwards. Even the healers couldn’t explain what happened. Others lose their ability to think straight, as if their minds broke upon learning what they call the Truth.”
“Maybe they learned that their whole religion doesn’t make an ounce of sense.”
But Garth did not laugh. “There was a Human navigator on a ship called The Rising Sun, who had a Seeing. Like most of his Simian colleagues, he didn’t care much for the Trinity. Then he became a Son. After that, he was obsessed with the stars of the firmament.”
“Sounds like normal behaviour for a navigator,” said Farris. “Aren’t they all well-versed in astronomy?”
“Not like this. When he became a Son, he left his job and spent every waking hour observing the stars. Not for any practical purposes, no. He just studied them for the sake of it. He was found dead in his lab after a week, from dehydration. He never left to eat or drink or defecate.”
“Is this a true story?” ventured Farris.
