Tales of Midbar: Religious Intolerance

“Come alone,” said the ghost girl.

The ghosts looked rather odd in red night as she, they, it didn’t reflect the red light properly. Then they vanished.

“Does she mean Fortress Park?” asked Breeze.

We were in Breeze’s room on the roof of her family’s house in the Vineyard. Ice had decided that this may be a good way to explore the ghost’s behavior. My parents had been unsure about it but didn’t like me having to deal with the ghost alone either. It must have been after midnight as Aleph had already risen.

“When I saw them in the park they said, ‘At night’. I think the whole message may be, ‘Help us! Come alone at night.’”

“Perhaps we should go to the park now,” She was already getting out of bed.

“The gates are locked until sapphire light.”

“I can unlock them!”

We got dressed and jumped off the edge of the building.

“Wait for us!” said Cloud.

He and Irvis landed behind us as we were starting to walk down the secret path to the gate. As it was red night, we could see fairly well although everything looked red and black. I don’t know how they knew we were going.

“The ghost told us to come alone,” I said.

We kept walking but the boys followed us.

“If both of you go, you won’t be alone,” said Irvis.

“It could be a trap,” said Cloud.

“I’m nearly indestructible,” said Breeze.

“Eleprin isn’t,” said Irvis.

“I can protect her,” said Breeze.

I wasn’t entirely sure of that. I knew that Breeze wasn’t very good at using her magis powers.

“You can do everything!” moaned Irvis.

“We could follow and rescue you if you get into trouble,” said Cloud.

“What’s the point when Breeze is the most powerful?” said Irvis. “She should follow and rescue us.”

“Boys should rescue girls,” said Cloud.

“Sexist,” I said.

“The ghost talks to us,” said Breeze, “so we have to be the ones to go first.”

“So we’re just going to be following you and not doing anything useful because you’re indestructible,” said Irvis.

“I’m not,” I said, “you might have to rescue me.”

Perhaps I shouldn’t have said that.

We continued down the path to the gates. It turned out that Breeze could open them, quiet easily.

Do I really have to go over this bit?

All right then! I suppose it is important.

We continued down the road, across the bridge with Cloud and Irvis trailing behind us. This meant that Breeze had to double back to lock the gate again. Then we went over the bridge to the high street near the shops. Then we went past the shops, it was odd to see them so deserted.

Breeze stopped and said, “Odd, I don’t feel any.”

“Any what?” I asked.

“I don’t know but I normally feel one about here.”

Then we went past the Cascade Hotel ...

What? You want me to jump right to the bad bit?

Why?

That isn’t the only thing about me, other stuff has happened especially you!

OK, then, if I must!

There weren’t actually any gates on Fortress Park, just a gateway in a stone tower with bits of geodeserine sticking out where gates should have been.

I’d rather not go over this yet again. I know you know because you’ve talked to doctor Uldrien about it. Why do I have to go over it yet again?

What do I have to understand?

You could just tell me.

That’s not good enough, I have to understand it. You suck!

If we must!

We approached the park and it was clear somebody about my height was walking around outside the gate in an agitated way. She turned to us and said, “Oh, hi, did you see the ghosts again?”

I realized that she was Iandris.

“They told us to come alone,” I said.

“Who did?” asked Iandris.

“The ghosts,” I said.

“They told us to come alone,” said Breeze.

“That’s what they told me,” said Iandris, “but it’s creepy in there at night, even red night.”

“Perhaps they want all of us to come but nobody else,” I said.

“Yes, I suppose that would make sense,” said Iandris.

There was something not really right about her thoughts. Although she was psychic, it was never easy to read her mind because it was rather chaotic.

“It could be that they just say bits of some recorded speech and it isn’t really thought out,” said Breeze. “Recording ghosts aren’t supposed to be interactive and Streculic minions shouldn’t be obeyed. These don’t really seem to fit either type though.”

“I’ve got some artifacts we could use to defend ourselves,” said Iandris.

“There’s a lot of associates bound to the ruins,” said Breeze. “They could interact with artifacts although normally the odd one isn’t an issue.”

“I’m sure my little things won’t be a problem,” said Iandris.

“Probably not,” said Breeze.

We went into the park and decided what ...

Is this really important?

I don’t want to talk about this, don’t you understand that?

I thought I did understand it!

Why must you be so cruel to me?

This is a very strange way of helping!

We got to the conservatory and went inside.

Once inside it was immediately obvious that something was different. I could hear what sounded like a small dog whining as if it was very unhappy. There seemed to be a lot of small objects on the floor and in the flower beds, although it was too dark to see clearly (all the plants and some photoorganisms looked black in red night). The hairs on the back of my neck started standing up and I was filled with a sense of doom.

Do I really have to go over this?

“Where’s the dog?” I asked walking in the direction of the sound.

“It can be dangerous to bring lots of artifacts here!” said Breeze.

This was her way of saying that there were lots of artifacts there without letting Iandris know that she was a magis.

“It sounds really unhappy!” I said, still looking for the dog.

Then I saw a cage, about 1m high and wide, with some sort of machine on top of it. Well it was the sort with wires and tubes and a bit going up and down, like you sometimes see on shows about hospitals and mad scientists. There was a table beside it. The cage and table took up most the path.

“Eleprin!” shouted Breeze. “Stop! It’s dangerous! Ah!”

I turned to see that there was a tube round Breeze’s body, as if it had fallen over her head, like a Winemaker wedding dress, pinning her arms to her sides. Didn’t explain that well. I don’t mean a narrow tube wrapped round her like a snake or hose pipe, I mean it was about her diameter and was over her body a bit like a Winemaker wedding dress but it covered her arms and pinned them to her sides with the hands sticking out the bottom. Of course a wedding dress just goes round your body and leaves the arms free so you have to stick your arms up in the air to put one on.

Doesn’t everybody know what a Winemaker wedding dress looks like?

What was your’s like then?

OK, that’s not important now!

Well it’s just a tube of undyed fabric. You put it on over your head and it either shrinks to fit you or you use a harness to get it to fit snugly around you.

Have I made myself clear?

There was a small flame in a metal ring in the center of her chest on the tube thing. I didn’t like the vibes I was getting from her at all. Then I found that I couldn’t move my legs. I realized that Iandris was standing behind Breeze pointing a stick at me.

“Sorry,” said Iandris, “I’m really really sorry. This is really important and I can’t risk an inexperienced magis messing it up.”