He didn't remember what exactly happened before and during the fit. It seemed like this demon, Shavash, demanded something from him. A demon? How could it be a demon? Shavash is a Weian. But Yadan is also a Weian and he killed the White Elder. Only a demon could kill the White Elder. Then, are the zealots demons? No, they only invent demons. But if you invent somebody, you will turn into him…
Ashinik sat up in bed with a jerk. He remembered now. He, as a member of the first circle, was called to the sect's meeting. If he doesn't arrive, he will be outlawed. What if he arrives? It's crazy. The Earthmen are watching him. He will act as a bee leading them to its beehive and they will burn the beehive out with their rocket launchers.
Ashinik looked around. The room wasn't large and though he couldn't see anything out of ordinary around him, Ashinik felt as if the closed circuit cameras were zooming in at him from all directions. Ashinik dug in his clothing hanging on a chair next to him and fished out a flat pebble with two holes. They had given him this pebble at Inissa meeting and told him that the pebble had been bewitched and it would render all Earthmen electronic eyes impotent.
Ashinik smiled bitterly; he knew all too well that no sorcery would help against a video camera. 'If I don't come and use surveillance as a reason they will accuse me of unbelieving into the power of the holy talisman,' a thought glanced in his mind.
Why would they watch him though? He usually stayed in bed for a day or two after a fit. Who would figure it out that the foam on his lips came from a 'foamy nut' that he had chewed on and that he fainted from this nut for a couple of hours at most.
At the same time he needed to leave due to a very simple reason. Ashinik couldn't rely on Bemish's behavior. It's true that the Earthman had been very magnanimous so far but it had also been in his interest. Now Bemish was utterly interested in the destruction of the sect and he would doubtfully be particularly nice to Ashinik.
Ashinik stood and pulled on the door handle. It was not locked but the corridor it led to was blocked by a closed department door in two or three meters. Ashinik knew it for sure that unlocking this door would be dangerous. It was connected to the night alarm system in case of thieves and other accidents.
Ashinik stuck his nose into a couple of offices. They were mostly filled with medical equipment. Two rooms teemed with plastic paint buckets and other construction paraphernalia — they were being furnished. Sharp paint smell hadn't disappeared completely yet and the workers laboring here during the day had left a window ajar.
A couple of disgustingly dirty worker overalls lay on the floor.
The next moment, Ashinik's eyes gleamed and he rushed to where the paint was. Yes! A small white roll, about an elbow wide, was there, behind the plastic buckets. It was not a rope, no; it was just sound resistant insulation tape that was used for seal soundproofing linnit blocks. Ashinik knew, however, that the tape was incredibly strong — the construction workers loved to sell it on the side to the peasants who wove horse harnesses out of it. The tape length in a standard pack was sixty meters but the workers had already utilized some. By Ashinik's estimate, about one sixth of the tape had been used. It should be enough for eighteen floors. Ashinik pulled torn overalls over his pajama, walked to a window and wrapped the tape's end around the window frame. He briefly prayed to the White Elder and climbed out of the window.
The descent was hard. The tape was sticky just to the right degree and it was unwrapping slowly under Ashinik's weight. Sometimes it got stuck and Ashinik had to pull the tape off jerkily with one hand while hanging from the other one.
In five minutes, Ashinik jumped down onto a sidewalk and ran at top speed across stiff and booming thermoconcrete. This spaceport's sector was relatively empty — two helicopters stood next to its border and a hefty trans-galactic liner was being loaded far away. With an open mouth, Ashinik stared at the containers floating into the cargo hatch for several moments. What if he just crept in the ship and flew away from this damned planet? At least, nobody would kill or betray him there.
Ashinik raced to the fifth sector, squeezed through a hole in the fence and ran down an unpaved road, illuminated by silvery moonlight, to a small jeep that was perched at the curb. Earlier, he had asked a worker to leave a car there.
Ashinik jumped into the jeep and stuck his hand under the driver's seat. Thank God — the car keys were right where they were supposed to be, wrapped in a dirty rag. Ashinik turned the ignition on and a cold gun barrel touched his temple and somebody said quietly, 'Be nice and drive straight, cutie.'
Ashinik glanced aside — he could see the speaker in the rearview mirror. Ashinik recognized him to be a personal bodyguard of Shavash's, one out of five that he was rumored to hold in his complete confidence.
'Go!'
The jeep started moving slowly. The guard got his radio out and quietly reported,
'The fish is on the hook. Meet us behind the bridge.' Ashinik ground his teeth.
'Just wait,' he uttered, 'my master will learn that you seized me and you will get you butt kicked!' The guard laughed.
'Firstly,' he spoke, 'it would be difficult for Bemish to find out that we caught you because you escaped on your own. But if you are really interested in it, it was Mr. Bemish who handed you over to us. He told us where the jeep would be and suggested that we trapped you.
Ashinik's heart plummeted.
'You are lying! The master wouldn't do it!'
'Eh, my dear, the master didn't do it while he still hoped to make peace with the sect. And now he can only hope to find out where the Meeting of Choosing will occur and burn them all out with a laser or with DDT. We can learn where it is from you, right? Of course, Mr. Bemish could skin you himself but Bemish is a squeamish Earthman. Why should he get his hands dirty if there are other people around? That's why he sold you out, Ashinik.'
Ashinik drove silently. Nearby, the spaceships' exhausts hissed warming up and signal lights blinked behind the spaceport wall. The unpaved road finally ended, the jeep climbed onto a six lane highway and rolled towards Lannah Bridge.
'So, where is the meeting?'
'I don't know.'
The car raced over a ramp next to the spaceport eastern gates; a passenger car's lights blinked below.
'Ashinik, why are you so stubborn? Don't you understand that you are the third one on their extermination list, right after Bemish and my boss? You aren't crazy. You don't believe that Yadan was born out of a golden egg, do you? Tell us and we will let you go because my masters are normal people and yours are nuts!'
Ashinik suddenly swerved the steering wheel all the way to the right. The car hit the concrete sidewalk, jumped and hit the fence head-on. The guard shot and the bullet burned Ashinik's hair and made a neat hole in the windshield.
'Ouch! What are you doing, bastard?!'
The rail caved in, bursting. Ashinik threw the door open and rolled out. He was barely able to grab the poles at the ramp's edge.
The busted rail links glimmered on their way down and the car followed them spinning in the air. Ashinik heard it hitting the ground; the sound of a muted explosion came next.
Ashinik climbed onto the ramp and ran as fast as he could.
The next morning, barefoot Ashinik dressed in peasant clothing with a sack behind his shoulder stepped out of a bus three hundred kilometers away from Assalah.
In half an hour, he entered a village tavern on Mer Lake shore.
Five people in simple clothing sat in the tavern. It seemed that none of them paid any attention to Ashinik. It was as if not a man came through the door but just a bug flew in. 'Why have I come,' a thought desperately beat at Ashinik's mind, 'Why have I come? They will kill me like they killed the White Elder.' Ashinik sat on an unoccupied chair. Now all six chairs at the table were taken.
'Rashan is dead,' one of the seated people stated quietly. 'He is dead because he desired to make peace with the demons and the man who advised him to do so is responsible for his death.'
Rashan was the White Elder's name and it was forbidden to say it while he held this position. Since this
