01 Taxilas Children

TAXILA'S CHILDREN
His excitement carried over in the mental picture he tried to create. He described signs and
portents that urged him to lead his people to the Place Of Worship, early one morning, at the
start of the Season of Growth. The signs meant nothing to Steve and the old man didn't
elaborate to any great extent. They indicated that something of great importance was to occur
on that day.
They had celebrated some sort of dawn rite - again, Jabez did not explain in any great
detail. They waited for a while and it seemed that they were going to be disappointed. Jabez
was torn between two responsibilities, one, to ensure that his quota of work was completed
for the day and the other, to ensure that the indicated portents were fulfilled. He was about to
signal a return to work, when the event took place. In the most holy spot, where they had
brought their sacrifice, there had been a kind of movement. It was something outside of their
experience and they sank down on their knees in terror and then to their faces. Jabez
described the movement in the only way he could.
"Lord, it was as if the air within shivered - like it does sometimes when you look into a
heat haze in the fields - but it was not exactly so -"
"Where did this shivering happen?"
"Within the Holy Place, Lord - the place of your revealing."
It seemed that the shivering of the air had not stopped at that. There had been a
coalescence, a solidification. Steve had stumbled forth into the light of their star, his eyes
clamped shut tightly. He had held out one hand as if in a blessing, while the other clutched a
strange cubic device. In the hand of blessing was a wonderful sign and portent. It was the
opinion of Jabez and his followers that Steve was either a god, or had been sent by them. The
apparition had stumbled and cried out and had then sunk to his knees and then to his face.
At first, they had not dared to go near to him or touch him, but then, they had summoned
up courage and had carried him to the dwelling of Jabez and Caela and had waited many days
before he came to consciousness.
Jabez had finished his story and was waiting for a reaction. Steve stared at him across the
table and wished that he could look into his mind in the way that the old man could look into
his. Now he knew the outcome of stepping from the vortex into which he had been plunged
with the dissolution of the five sided chamber.
"You spoke of a device I held, Jabez. Where is it?"
Jabez looked at him and Steve knew that he was aware of his visitor's wandering around
the house.
"We removed it in case you should hurt yourself, Lord. You were very restless and cried
out as if in torture. I will bring it to you."
It was plausible, everything Jabez said was plausible. Steve watched the old man disappear
into the side room and waited for him to return with the Pentacle. He reappeared, carrying it
gingerly, as if he was uncertain of what it could do to him. Steve accepted it without a word
and looked at it. Very deliberately, he placed it around his neck. It gleamed in the light of the
lamp and he thought Jabez shivered.
"I thank you, Jabez. Tell me, do you recognise the image of the this man?"
Jabez hesitated and the thoughts were blocked.
"It is a man of the Lynxe, my Lord Steve-Holt."
Steve nodded, Jabez knew who he was.
"I look forward to a visit to the Place of Worship. Now, tell me about the Thane and his
household."
Once again, it was necessary to strip away the verbal froth. The man was so used to falling
on his knees in the face of authority, that half of what he said wasn't relevant. He elaborated
on the responsibilities of the community. They had to care for a certain portion of the Thane's
lands. Other communities looked after adjoining areas and there were others, those who were
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