Missing

Looking into the deep blue eyes of the black-haired man before her, Xialuote did not answer at once. She did not think this was likely to be coincidence. He had, in a single stroke, cut a price of 500 feierjin to less than half, which already ran against the way a deal ought to be made. The moment the free exchange began, he had come in close. He was plainly set on selling her the candlestick from the Tuduo Dynasty. If Brown Cloak had not spoken to her first, the words "I see you're interested in this" would probably have come out of the black-haired man's mouth. Could it be the divination Hengli had mentioned? But divination ought to require powerful spirituality and a fitting medium. A person could not know how much money a stranger was carrying from a single glance... Or had he only judged by spiritual intuition? She was an Extraordinary herself, though. He would need still stronger spirituality to manage that. Would someone of that sort waste a whole evening at an underground gathering like this for ten gold louis? Xialuote could not puzzle it out. Her gaze swept over his relaxed body, and at once she understood that her tension and wariness were entirely unnecessary. If this man had used Extraordinary power to judge exactly how much money she had on her, then his sequence stood far above hers, and she had only just become an Arbiter. Refusing his offer would instead bring on something more dangerous. On the surface, at least, it was only a Fourth Epoch antique. Once she bought it, she could go to the church and have Weiyefu or another Purifier examine it... Comforting herself with that, Xialuote nodded and said: "All right. I'll just set it at home as an ornament." From the money pouch inside her cloak she took ten heavy gold louis, gave the crowned profile portraits of Louis VI one last lingering look, loath to part with them, and handed them to the black-haired man. He took them, spread them in his palm, and counted them carefully one by one. When he was sure of the number, he put them away, satisfied. He was actually counting the money. Had she been overthinking it? Xialuote took the candlestick wrapped in old cloth and tentatively touched the cold metal frame. She felt no discomfort in her body, and no warning from her spirituality. This "relic" was either truly ancient, or it dated from last week... She grumbled to herself, did not go on talking with the strange man, and watched him walk of his own accord over to the hooded organizer of the gathering. He pointed this way, passed over several silver coins, and paid the transaction fee in full. Just then, from the corner of her eye, Xialuote noticed Brown Cloak—the one who had been peddling a fake "Knight" formula—staring from a corner at the black-haired man's back, open anger and malice in his gaze. Through the free exchange that followed, she sat quietly in a corner, pretending to admire the antique she had just bought while in truth watching everything around her. Someone mentioned that gatherings like this in Suxite were not limited to the one here. Participants moved from place to place, and the organizers did not stop them. Others lowered their voices to talk of the serial murders in the Old City. After that, every similar gathering had paused for a time, and they had opened again only once it was certain that the Church's attention was gradually shifting elsewhere. Unfortunately, no one mentioned any word of the Arbiter potion, or of potions of a higher sequence. Soon the hooded organizer took out a stack of paper slips, set them on the table, tapped the tabletop lightly, and said: "This gathering is over. Come up one by one for the place and time of the next, then leave by the exit." Xialuote took hers and glanced at it. The place had changed to an abandoned building in Xiakelusi District, and the time was eight in the evening on a Thursday two weeks later. Another area under the Church of the God of Craftsmen... She grew all the more certain that this exchange had always lain within Machinery Heart's watch. Only because its level was not high, and because it gathered common folk who took an interest in mysticism and were liable to stir up trouble, had it not been cleared away. People began leaving one by one. The black-haired man walked straight for the exit. Seeing that, Brown Cloak in the corner followed him out of the room at once, without even taking a slip. Once out the warehouse door, the man looked left and right and immediately found the black-haired man already drawing away. He hurried after him in long strides, then slowed as he drew near, knees bent and body stooped, afraid of being noticed. By the light of the Red Moon overhead, he followed across two streets in a row. Only when the black-haired man rounded a corner and entered a gloomy little alley did he speed up, rush in after him, and then freeze where he stood. The narrow alley held nothing but damp walls, a few broken wooden crates, and a heap of garbage giving off a sour stench. High warehouse walls rose on both sides, and the far end was completely blocked by a carriage set crosswise. Of the black-haired man there was no sign. Brown Cloak looked left and right, ran a few steps ahead, turned over the broken crates along the wall, and even kicked the garbage heap apart, trying to find some hole or hidden door where a man might hide. Aside from startling a few dust-gray rats, he found nothing. Just then, light footsteps sounded at the mouth of the alley. He jerked his head around and saw a figure in a lady's hat appear in the direction from which he had come. He was taken aback for a moment, then recognized the woman who, at the exchange, had refused his pitch and bought a useless antique instead. The anger that had had nowhere to go found an outlet. "You're following me?" He kept his voice low and took a step forward. In the next second, a sense of Majesty poured from the woman, lofty and looking down on all things, and the savage look on his face froze at once. "What's the matter?" The woman asked softly in return, each word pressing hard upon Brown Cloak's heart. "N-nothing... I was just, just asking." He forced out a broken answer, then ducked his head, hugged the wall, and squeezed past her. He had not gone many steps before he tumbled into a garbage heap at the roadside. Foul water soaked him from head to foot. He scrambled up on hands and feet and ran off into the night without daring to look back. Xialuote did not give him another glance. She only looked, puzzled, into the alley that had no way out, unable to make sense of it. Had he climbed over the carriage to the other side? He couldn't have used Invisibility... She thought for a moment, lowered her eyes to the inverted candlestick in her hand, and decided to go to Saint Luoke Cathedral tonight and have the Purifiers deal with it. ———— Once her identity was confirmed, the clergy on duty at Saint Luoke Cathedral took her up to the work area above the church. Before long, Weiyefu came in. She wore a white outer robe, her blonde hair gathered beneath a veil, and her manner was as gentle as ever. She glanced at the antique on the table, and her brows shifted slightly. "You bought something there?" "It's only an antique, and the price wasn't high," Xialuote answered, a little guilty. "I hadn't meant to spend anything, but the seller came to me on his own. I was afraid a conflict would start, so I didn't refuse the trade." Weiyefu nodded. She did not touch the brass candlestick directly. She took the Sun Holy Emblem from her chest and set it aside, then brought over two candles, rubbed them alight with her bare hands, and set them on the table. Rising, she used a ritual dagger inlaid with gold thread to form a Wall of Spirituality beside the two of them, then bowed her head in piety and began to recite in the Hermes language Xialuote had only just learned: "Eternal Blazing Sun, You are the light that never dies, the embodiment of order. "Your believer prays to You, prays that You grant me the light of purification, prays that You purify this evil thing." This ritual was called the Binary Ritual Method, the standard way for a believer to pray directly to a deity and receive aid. It was recorded in that booklet of Weiyefu's as well, so Xialuote was not alarmed. She only admired the course of the rite, every movement of the nun seeming to carry a beauty of its own. The Hermes language echoed inside the Wall of Spirituality, which had been made by guiding spirituality out through the dagger's tip. Bright light spread slowly from the edge of the Sun Holy Emblem and fell across the candlestick like a thin sheet of morning light. It slid along the traces of rust and the asymmetrical arms, raising no black smoke, no strange sound, and no obvious reaction. At that, both of them breathed a sigh of relief. "No obvious corruption, and no Extraordinary power that can be identified," Weiyefu said. She dismissed the Wall of Spirituality, picked up the inverted candlestick, and looked it over with care. "It does, though, seem to be an antique from the Fourth Epoch." "Is it worth 240 feierjin?" Xialuote asked the question that mattered most to her. Weiyefu glanced at her. "The price of an antique is hard to judge. Some are worth only what their materials cost. Others can set historians and collectors fighting to get them. What matters is artistic value and archaeological value. "As for use, it is certainly no match for a candlestick of today. Many objects of the Fourth Epoch have a very strange sense of beauty—asymmetrical houses, inverted candlesticks, clothing pieced together from different colors, and shoes of uneven length, one long and one short. No one understands what sort of surroundings people lived in then, to have formed a style like this." "What is symmetrical is the most beautiful," Xialuote said, unable to keep from nodding, and then she probed, "I mean to give it to an elder. He takes a great interest in history. Since the thing isn't dangerous, may I take it with me?" Weiyefu answered without fuss. "Of course. The Church does not seize harmless objects as it pleases, unless they are tied to certain special rituals. Even if you later buy a mystical item or Extraordinary materials, so long as they are not extremely dangerous, you will only be asked to report and register them. They will not be treated as Sealed Artifacts." Xialuote relaxed a little at that, and followed the thought out of curiosity. "What about that dagger I turned in before?" "For now it has been classed as a Grade 3 Sealed Artifact. The formal number is not settled yet," Weiyefu answered as she cleared the candles and the holy emblem from the table. "The tests show that its edge is sharper than an ordinary weapon's, and that it strikes a target's weak points more easily. While it is held, the holder also becomes more sensitive to others' hostility." "The ill effect is that it makes the holder arrogant, and the longer it is held, the clearer that influence becomes." That did fit the way Aidian had ended... Every Sealed Artifact of the Church had its own number. Grade 0 was the highest and the most dangerous, and Grade 3 was the lowest... Recalling what she had only just learned, Xialuote found her interest in the dagger had faded a good deal. What she was more curious about was what grade of Sealed Artifact that holy canon—the one that could tell whether words were true or false—belonged to, and what ill effect it carried. But it was plainly an important object within the Church, and in the end she held the question back. When she had put the candlestick away and was about to leave the church, though, Weiyefu stopped her. "There is one more thing. "We have found a new lead on the evil cult." ———— In an underground secret room, Luosaier Gusitafu stood before a long metal table, watching the Savant potion that was his being blended, little by little, to completion. The oil lamp overhead lit the brass pot on the table, and the liquid in the pot as it slowly fused and took form. Luosaier swallowed on instinct. At last he was about to step, truly, into the other side of this world, the side hidden in the shadows.