the legions to perform the auspiciums. Because of her membership in the Suffragat, she must be informed of any changes to the battle plan. She communes with us when she can to supply us with vital information. She is also the lone Suffragat member to whom the citizens may come bearing their supplications. As such, she is well informed regarding the mood of the Rustannican citizenry. I daresay that she is more in touch with the common people than is Gracchus or Vespasian, which is yet another advantage to her position. We cannot overemphasize her importance to our cause.”
“What are the ‘auspiciums’?” Wigg asked.
“The auspiciums are yet another of thePon Q’tar ’s carefully crafted fabrications,” a male voice said from across the table.
Tristan looked at theInkai who had been introduced as Jomei of the House of Water Lilies. Like Mashiro, he wore a drooping white mustache, and battle scars crisscrossed his aged face like lines drawn on a wrinkled old war map. His long white hair was pulled behind his head and secured with the traditional gold ornament. Embroidered white lilies adorned his white silk robe. Like Faegan’s eyes, Jomei’s seemed to burrow straight into Tristan’s.
“The auspicium is a ritual during which a host of white birds is released into the air by the reigning Femiculi,” Jomei added. “For propaganda purposes, this is usually done in full view of the populace, and always in view of the Suffragat. It is supposedly a sign of impending good or bad fortune and is performed before an important event. The direction in which the birds fly supposedly indicates whether the venture will succeed. As you might guess, Gracchus uses the craft to influence the birds’ direction of flight and thus help manipulate popular opinion.”
“And Julia understands that the rituals of the azure flame and the auspiciums are clever frauds?” Tristan asked.
“Yes,” Jomei answered, “but thePon Q’tar doesn’t realize that she knows. In many ways Julia’s existence is a great contradiction. She spent her entire life trying to acquire and hold a position that she knows is meaningless, yet it is that same meaninglessness that allows her to serve the highest calling of her right-leaning blood.”
“When will she next commune with you?” Wigg asked.
“When she has important information and can safely do so,” Kaemon answered. “Because of her dangerous situation, the timing must always be hers. Her survival requires that she perform the most delicate of balancing acts-that is, deciding when her information is of enough value to risk performing a communion. It took aeons for a League of Whispers member to rise to such a lofty station as reigning Femiculi, and we can’t afford to lose her.”
“You mentioned that Vespasian might not know that his blood holds the banned forestallments,” Tristan said to Mashiro. “What leads you to that theory?”
“Julia informs us that the emperor has been behaving strangely,” Mashiro answered. “During a recent coliseum spectacle he was taken ill and had to leave. As far as we know, Vespasian has never been sick a day in his life. The banned gifts in his blood might be adversely affecting him. His recent episode is not proof of our theory, but Julia is watching him closely, and she will report any other aberrant behavior that she sees. The other reason is that he made no mention of the banned forestallments when he proposed this unprecedented campaign to the Suffragat. Had he known, he would likely have assured the Suffragat of his willingness to use every power at his disposal. Moreover, one of thePon Q’tar- Gracchus, most likely-would surely have demanded it. This is not Vespasian’s first command. He has led other strikes into Shashida, some of them quite successful. Admittedly, not one of them was the size or scope of this latest one. But if he had known about his gifts during previous campaigns, he would have surely used them.”
“Are you saying that thePon Q’tar might have imbued these forestallments into his blood without telling him?” Tyranny asked. “Why would they do that?”
“You must never underestimate thePon Q’tar ’s legendary paranoia,” Hoshi answered. “Their marked tendencies toward suspicion and distrust-even of others who share their blood lean-were one of the prime causes of the War of Attrition. Although Vespasian is the ultimate product of their depravity, that doesn’t mean that they trust him. Despite the emperor’s supreme command of the Vagaries, the banned spells are so powerful and tempting that if he knew about them, even he might be unable to resist their use. Doing so without the supervision of thePon Q’tar could be disastrous, even to them. Or perhaps Vespasian’s blood or psyche wasn’t mature enough until now to survive the forestallments’ use and so thePon Q’tar did not tell him. It stands to reason that the forestallments were granted to him while he was too young to remember, or while he was in a suppressed mental state induced by thePon Q’tar, or both. With the maturation of his blood, these banned forestallments might be calling out to his mind, begging to be used. This could be the reason for his recent episode and why the empress seemed so eager to rush him away. Now that the Rustannican treasury is at the breaking point, had Vespasian not suggested this campaign, thePon Q’tar would surely have proposed something very much like it. In a way, he played right into their hands. ThePon Q’tar ’s ultimate weapon is ready for use, and his name is Vespasian Augustus.”
“If that’s true, then why don’t they influence Vespasian to use his gifts straightaway?” Wigg asked.
“For thePon Q’tar, one need stands far above the rest,” Kaemon answered. “If Vespasian uses the banned spells first, our gold supplies might be scattered to oblivion. Remember, the research in banned spells that thePon Q’tar has presumably carried out since the Borderlands Treaty likely remains untested. If so, even they cannot fully know what the results might be. Despite their other goals, thePon Q’tar needs our gold to maintain order at home. The gold simply must be secured and sent back to Rustannica before Shashida is decimated. Even thePon Q’tar can’t risk national bankruptcy.”
“But there is a more compelling reason why we believe that Vespasian’s blood carries these special gifts,” Hoshi said. “For research purposes, we once asked for a Shashidan volunteer of highly endowed blood into whom we might impart our own environmental spells. We had no intent to unleash them, but a host was needed to continue our studies. The results were much like what Julia sees in Vespasian, but far worse because of the volunteer’s less powerful blood.”
“What happened to him?” Tristan asked.
Hoshi’s face took on a sad look. “He succumbed to crippling mental terrors and died soon after,” she answered softly. “But he lived long enough for us to recognize the same signs in Vespasian, should Julia report them.”
“There remains another reason why we must believe that Vespasian carries these banned spells in his blood and that thePon Q’tar will soon unleash him on us,” Mashiro said quietly.
“And what is that?” Wigg asked.
“It’s too dangerous not to,” the worried elder answered softly.
For several moments no one spoke. Tristan looked out through the colonnaded far wall into the lush gardens to see that night was approaching. There was still much to learn, he realized. But one supreme mystery still haunted him. It was the same one that had burned in his soul since first discovering the Caves of the Paragon and learning that his and Shailiha’s blood and destiny were special. He was theJin’Sai, but even now he didn’t fully understand what that meant, or who he really was.
“Miriam tried to tell me something just before she died,” he said to Mashiro, “but she never finished the sentence. She said: ‘Your parents weren’t…,’ and then she passed. Can you tell me what she meant?”
“Perhaps,” Mashiro answered. “But it would only be an old man’s guess.”
“Tell me,” Tristan asked.
“Had she lived, Miriam would have probably said that your parents weren’tselected. ”
“Selected?” Tristan asked.
“It has to do with why your and Vespasian’s blood is so special,” Hoshi answered. “The appearance of your supreme blood quality was a very rare but also a natural occurrence. Vespasian’s, however, was engineered by the Heretics and thePon Q’tar. ”
“What do you mean?” Wigg asked.
“Like the Consuls of the Redoubt who serve your Conclave, the Rustannican Heretics serve thePon Q’tar, ” Hoshi said. “Many are legionary officers, second in power only to the eighty tribunes. But others of them once followed another, darker purpose. For aeons it was their task to examine the blood signatures of all newborn endowed Rustannican infants. They searched for one specific female blood signature and one male signature. Many centuries ago they found the female, and they kidnapped her. When she reached her prime childbearing years, she was granted the time enchantment so that she would grow no older. She was imprisoned in luxurious surroundings in Ellistium and zealously guarded by thePon Q’tar as they waited for the needed male signature
