Vassas was grinding his jaws so loudly that Avery could hear it. “Damn them,” he said. “Damn them all to hell, these fuckin’ priests. They think they can come into my world and pull this shit? Bad enough they take a few here and there, but in numbers like this?” He shook his head. In a lower, more dispirited voice he said, “Better not get like this in Muscud.”
The soldiers scanned the crowd even as they held them back. A few behind the front lines were holding up photographs and comparing them to the faces in the crowd.
“They’re looking for us,” Avery realized. “For my friends and I—and the general, too. We’d better get moving.”
“We should help those people,” said one of Vassas’s men.
“Ain’t nothin’ we can do,” Vassas said. “Soon enough those poor bastards’ll be on the altar. But maybe … ‘cause of what we did today …” He didn’t finish the thought, as if not wanting to jinx it.
With the others, Avery hurried down
the next ramp, screams chasing him as he went.
Chapter 6
Vassas’s fears proved all too germane, and by the time he’d been in Muscud a week Avery had begun to think that coming there had been a terrible mistake. The terror gripping Givunct had spread to all corners of the Underground—spread, and deepened.
He tried to tell himself that it would all work out. Yet, as songs from the Collossum church drifted over the town and through the grimy windows of the apartment, he felt fear twist in his guts, and he knew he was right to be afraid. Janx, who had been nearly vibrating with energy earlier, paced and swore, clenched-jawed, drinking bottle after bottle of beer to calm his nerves. By the sweat on his face, it didn’t seem to be working.
Layanna stood at the window, too, on the opposite side from Avery, staring out into the darkness of the town with its streets swarming with activity, and he couldn’t read her thoughts. Perhaps, he imagined, this reminded her of home: hordes of devoted followers singing and sacrificing.
Another scream rolled out.
“Who are they sacrificing to, anyway?” Hildra said. With a glance around at the others, she added, timorously, “You don’t think ... don’t think the Collossum arrived, do you?”
For a moment no one spoke, then Layanna, “I would have felt him this close. It’s more likely they’ve constructed an altar. I think I feel something from the church. A pulse. That’s probably what it is.”
Hildra slouched at her table, a cigarette in her hand. “Wonder how Hildebrand is,” she said morosely.
“To me it sounds like they’re ... gearing up for something,” Avery said.
Layanna could only shake her head in answer.
“It’s getting louder,” he added. “More frenzied.”
Even as he watched, a group of zealots burst into a listing tenement down the block and, with chilling efficiency, began to haul the screaming people that lived inside toward the church. Avery couldn’t see the church itself over the rooftops of Muscud, only an eerie violet glow he knew emanated from it. As Layanna had indicated, the glow pulsed, going dim, then throbbing brightly, painting the buildings—indeed, the whole town—in that otherworldly hue, then fading again. The converts had been going door to door for hours, snatching those within and bearing them away toward the church. With every dwelling they entered, they drew closer to Vassas’s casino.
Someone pounded on the door, and all those inside jumped.
It opened to reveal a tense-looking man: Muln Evers, one of the men Vassas had assigned to watch the Collossum chapel.
“Got a report?” Hildra said, recovering.
“Yeah. We’ve moved back to the rooftops and the underneath, but we’re still keeping watch.”
“Has there been some activity?” Avery said.
“That’s why I’m here. The priests are readying a boat. Just a few of ‘em, but some of ‘em are high ones, you can tell by the hats. There’s some big event goin’ on, it looks like—not here, you understand, but that they’re going to. What with all the excitement I figure they’re journeying to the holy place. I figure all the goings-on here are just a side-effect of what’s going on there.”
“That would make sense,” Layanna said. “I wonder what the event could be.”
“Could have somethin’ to do with what’s goin’ on up top,” Evers said.
“Yeah? What’s that?” Hildra said.
“You didn’t hear? Admiral Haggarty is having some big event tonight. A huge thing over at the City Square. Lots of people and press.”
Layanna passed a hand across her face. “This must be it. When he makes the announcement that Ghenisa is now a Collossum-worshipping state.”
“That’s the rumor. There’s rioting up top. People are freaked. This’s what we fought the war to prevent. A month ago, I thought Octung was down, out for the count. Now it’s almost like they won after all.” Evers made a sour face. “Some folk’re glad, though.”
“Glad?” Janx said.
“If we convert, the Starfish’ll spare us. That’s what Haggarty’s been sayin’.” Evers shrugged. “Not that I’m a believer or anything. Anyway, should we follow? The priests, I mean. I know that was the plan, to follow them back to the Collossum, but ...”
“It’s more important now than ever,” Avery said. “If we can locate the Collossum, we could kill it.” In theory. “Kill Haggarty’s god and Haggarty’s regime falls apart.”
“But the Starfish—”
“We have other plans for the Starfish.” And, of course, there was the matter of the Atoshan relic. Avery had never forgotten about that. The Collossum would have it nearby.
Layanna opened her mouth to say something, perhaps about the destroyed crane and the impossibility of boring a hole in the Starfish’s exoskeleton, but Avery shushed her into silence with a shake of his head, and thankfully she complied. The last thing they needed was more fear to spread among Vassas’s crew. Avery’s group must be seen to have a plan and the ability to carry it through.
To Evers, Avery said, “Can you and your men follow the priests?”
