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Let all who live in this land open up their hearts and homes to those who do
not. Those who wish to join in the mission, whether wizard, soldier, slave,
dugger, half-human or inhuman, may meet me in this square tomorrow, either
physically or in your
SOUL RIDER: SPIRITS OF FLUX AND ANCHOR 303
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hearts. I will know, and reach you. I was ordained by the church as Sister
Kasdi, so that will be my name henceforth. Hell cannot stand against me.
Only you can." And she blessed them, turned, and walked into the Temple.
She walked straight back to the chapel and then to the altar, and knelt and
prayed and performed the sacraments that only a priestess could, and
reaffirmed her vows. Only then did she turn and see that there were others in
the chapel. They were people that she knew. There was Mervyn, looking very
spry and pleased with himself, and Suzl, and
, Nadya, too, in robes just like her own.
Nadya smiled and came forward, then took and kissed her hand. "They ordained
me as Sister
Tamara. I, too, will keep that name and proudly."
They embraced and kissed, and there were tears in both their eyes. Finally
Nadya said, "I knew, somehow, from that very start, that we were destined for
something different, something new-1
would never, however, have guessed this."
Cass smiled. "I know." She sighed. "I guess we'll have to postpone our
adventurous tour of World."
"Only until the next life," Nadya replied.
Cass smiled and turned to Suzl next. "And what about you?"
"I think you're a powerful wizard and a stark raving lunatic," she told them.
"However, this sounds interesting. As long as you can stand some-
body who's psychologically unfit for society hang-
ing around, and a cynic at that, I might just stick until I see how it all
comes out. If nothing else, you're gonna need somebody around with the guts to
tell you what lunatics you are, just to keep from vanishing into your own
little worlds. I may not be one of the faithful, but revolution kind of ap-
peals to my nature. Besides that, I'm unemployed.
I have to sponge off somebody and it might as well be somebody important."
Jack L. Chatker
304
Cass and Nadya both laughed, and Cass stepped forward and took her hands. "All
right, 'psycho-
logically unfit.' As much as I think you might be dangerous to have around,
considering the real wording of that chastity clause, I'm glad to do it."
She paused a moment. "Have you seen Dar?"
Suzl's face grew serious. "He's dead, Cass. He died bravely, from what I hear,
saving a couple of people's lives in the process."
She had no more tears to give to grief, but she felt it anyway. She let go of
Suzl's hands and turned to Mervyn. "Now, don't tell me you planned all this or
I'll make an exception of my love rule in your case."
"I primed the pump," he admitted, "but I was still surprised to find water at
all, and least of all a fountain." He sighed. "What will you do with it all
now?"
"What I said. if anybody returns, that is. Even if nobody returns."
"And what of the unfinished business?"
"I haven't forgotten it, but it must wait until we're organized here. I don't
think anything will be tried right away. They will be far too interested in me
to think about anything else."
"I agree," he responded. "I'll talk it over with
Tatalane and Krupe, but I'm sure we'll all help. It must be done. It is long
overdue. Otherwise we'll be stuck here like this forever and eventually
Haldayne's bunch will win."
She hesitated a moment. "You know who is be-
hind this, don't you?"
"I think I do, and my joy at this outcome cannot quite balance my grief.
Still, humanity lives again.
Empire is reborn as a concept, and, perhaps, as a reality. The Empire of Flux
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and Anchor. The con-
cept itself is staggering."
"Come," said Sister Kasdi. "We have much to plan and work out between now and
tomorrow."
19
ANSWERS
Five hundred and fourteen border troopers had ridden out from Anchor Logh, and
only two hun-
dred and twenty-seven had returned, although, thanks to Flux magic, their
wounds were healed and they felt pretty tough and proud of themselves.
They were also the objects of awe among the local population and their fellow
troopers, and told their battle stories time and again to enthralled
audiences.
Ultimately, though, even heroes have to go back to work, and they were all
returned to duty.
Because they were more than a quarter of all the
" remaining guards, it was inevitable that, in many cases, long stretches of
the border wall and the drains through it were guarded by these returning
soldiers. Because of this, the invading army had little problem in breaching
the wall along a more than two kilometer stretch halfway up, without, in fact,
the rest of the guard force even knowing that such an invasion had taken
place. They continued to guard the wall against attack from outside long after
the enemy had a fully established force and was marching in strength on the
capital.
There was little resistance because it was so obviously futile, and while
whole families wept as the conquerors marched by they could not resist these
battle-hardened veterans with anything but
305
306 Jack L. Chalker insults and more tears. Without guns, which were outlawed
in Anchor, there was no chance of even inflicting a minor blow. Most of the
population seemed dazed by it all, in fact, for this sort;-of thing simply did
not and never had happened as far as they knew. The compact between Flux and
Anchor upon which the church and its people de-
pended was suddenly in ruins, and it was a simply inconceivable event.
Anchor's own children, cast into Flux as a part of that compact, now returned
to it-
The Temple was the one trouble spot, and not easy to take. It was built like a
fortress of materi-
als so hard that diamonds could not scratch it, and it was guarded from within
by a force of armed wardens with electronic traps and devices. Bronze doors, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]