The Alleluia Files (34 page)

Seeing Omar that night over dinner did nothing to improve his sense of security. The Archangel’s son approached him in the few minutes before the meal when they all milled about in the drawing room.

“My father told me you had honored the Eyrie with a visit,” Omar said with his usual suave smile. “How long are you here?”

“I’ve been persuaded to stay through the party tomorrow night,” Jared replied. “But then I must get back to Monteverde. I’ve been gone too long.”

“Oh? Where else have your travels taken you?”

To Ileah, where I consorted with Jacobites
, Jared thought about saying. He cursed himself for his unwary tongue. “I was in Cedar Hills a while back, and then in Semorrah with Christian Avalone,” he said easily.

“Business? Pleasure?”

“Wanderlust. I never stay still for long.”

“I like Christian, but I wonder at some of the company he keeps,” Omar said idly. He was studying his glass of brandy as if it was a scrying crystal, filled with visions. “Solomon Davilet, for instance. Christian knows how opposed my father is to rapid technological advances, and yet he insists on encouraging the very men who are investing all their resources in such development.” He looked up quickly to catch Jared’s frown. “I don’t know if he’s aware how much this has displeased my father.”

So; another warning, or so it looked to Jared. “Christian’s a businessman,” Jared said lightly. “He’s looking for the profit. I don’t think you have to ascribe to him any more ambition than that.”

“Well, Christian is a smart businessman,” Omar said. “He sees that my father has only one year left of his tenure, and he thinks the next Archangel may view his projects with more leniency.”

“But he has no idea who the next Archangel may be.”

“No,” Omar said. “That is why it would behoove him to move slowly with his developments.”

The supper bell rang just then, which Jared was grateful for, till he went into the dining room to find himself directed to sit by Annalee Stephalo. She gave him that dramatic look, suddenly raising her eyes to his face, as he took his seat next to her.

“Good evening, Jared,” she said in her soft voice. “I haven’t seen you all day. Have you been keeping busy?”

Worse and worse and worse. He knew it would be best to keep his head clear, but at this moment he couldn’t bear the thought of getting through dinner entirely sober. He signaled the servant for a glass of wine, and drank half of it with his first swallow.

But the morrow brought a welcome respite. Jared had just emerged onto the central plateau, preparatory to flying down to Velora for the day, when he happened to investigate the commotion of a new arrival coming up the grand stairway. It was a cadre of liveried servants carrying boxes, luggage, and cartons; beside them, holding up her skirts with one hand and looking very cross, toiled Isabella Cartera. Jared broke into a grin and paused, waiting for her to arrive at the top of the stairwell.

“Isabella! Invited to the Eyrie to partake in the grand banquet, I see!” he greeted her, clasping her hand and helping her up the last few steps. “I’m glad to know you are still considered part of the upper echelon of Bethel society.”

“Why is it,” she fumed, “that two of the most-visited places in all of Samaria require you to arrive on foot? You can travel by private bus all the way to Breven, and through it, if you choose. You can ride up and down the streets of Cedar Hills or Monteverde in your truck, and Luminaux can be navigated by any means possible. But to get to Semorrah you have to leave all your vehicles behind you on the banks of a river and ride a horse into the city—and to get to the Eyrie, you actually have to
walk
! You have to
climb
! This is not the life to which I have been accustomed, I assure you. If it were not for the honor of the invitation, which has been growing paler as the day progresses, I would not be standing before you now, hot, windblown, and in a temper.”

“Next time you must arrange to have an angel meet you in Velora so you can be flown into the hold in style,” Jared said,
amused. “Had I known you were coming, I would have been your escort myself.”

She put back the lace confection that had shaded her head from the warm spring sun. “Yes, and had I known you were here, I would have sent for you,” she said, gazing up at him. “Which reminds me to ask, why are you here? Surely not for Mariah’s little dinner party?”

He grimaced. “I made the mistake of dropping by two days ago and have been coerced into staying. I leave with the dawn tomorrow, I promise you.”

“Well, I am very glad to see you,” she said decidedly. “For I cannot bear any of the others who will be present. You must sit by me in the drawing room and flirt with me all night. It will make Mariah so angry. She does not approve of my morals at all.”

Jared grinned; Isabella was fast recovering her customary good humor. “If you wish, I will take you down to Velora with me now, and we can commence the flirting right away,” he suggested.

She laughed up at him. “I have just
come
from Velora,” she protested.

“This trip will be much easier. I will carry you.”

“Very tempting. I should—but all right. Give me twenty minutes to find my room, change my clothes, and rejoin you out here.”

“You must greet Mariah, too, of course. I should give you half an hour. Maybe an hour.”

She grinned. “I will not trouble Mariah just yet. Twenty minutes. It is good to see you, Jared.”

Therefore, his second afternoon in Velora passed much more pleasantly than his first Isabella could not resist dragging him back to the bazaars he had frequented the day before (“Say what you will about Velora being the most provincial of the angel towns, it still has a market that far exceeds the merchandise at Shepherd’s Pass”), but he didn’t mind that. He didn’t mind carrying her purchases for her, either, or allowing her to hold up a sweater to his chest to determine if it might fit her son (“For you’re about the same size, though you’re a little more muscular”). Isabella was like a chorus of harmony after a month of dissonance, and he was glad to be in her company.

Later, they sat at one of the outdoor cafes and sipped iced drinks laced with alcohol. “So tell me the grim roster,” she said. “Who besides me is expected at this dismal dinner?”

He laughed. “I’m not sure of the entire guest list. But I did hear Mariah mention a few names.” He reeled them off; Isabella alternated between nodding agreeably and grimacing sharply. “And of course, we have the usual assortment of Bael’s court— Omar is here, and Annalee Stephalo, who has been my particular bane this visit.”

“Has she really?” Isabella asked with her throaty laugh. “Throwing herself at you, is she? You’ve been a friend of mine for fifteen years, Jared, but if you marry her, I’ll never speak to you again.”

“Glad to hear it. Now at least I have a reason to give Bael when next he proposes her as my bride. Sorry, can’t do it, Isabella Cartera will drop me from her list of friends.”

“Although Bael is right. It is time you married. Or at least took a lover or two.”

“I have had my share of lovers, though I thank you for this interest in my life,” he replied, amused but a little discomfited. “As for marriage—”

“I know, it is a wretched business, and I was much happier after my husband had the good sense to die,” she replied. “But you do have a position to uphold. And there are people who might think you a little less—flighty—if you were settled with some sober girl, raising your family and staying home of nights.”

“From you of all people! Bael, yes, or even Mercy, but you—!”

“I have always been respectable, Jared, whatever my other failings. It is good advice. Though I do not blame you for rejecting Annalee Stephalo or any other bride of Bael’s providing. But surely, among your own people—the Manadavvi must have produced some charming young women who are only too eager to share your bed and your fortune.”

“Dangerous to dally among the Manadavvi,” he told her. “They’re too near Monteverde. Too much ill will is created if nothing comes of it. You must see that.”

“Yes, unless there was some great and overwhelming attraction … But I know! You must come to me at Cartabella. I am having my own party in two months—one which I trust will be
much more pleasant than the one we are suffering through now. I am hosting a wedding for my niece, and there will be all sorts of young women present. Girls from good families, too—bright, educated girls who have been schooled at Luminaux and Semorrah. You might find one there who is a little to your liking. How does that sound?”

At present, one more social engagement—even at Isabella Cartera’s—sounded dreadful, but the offer was a kind one and he knew he should not refuse. “It sounds most delightful,” he said. “Tell me exactly when it is, and I shall be there.”

She laughed at him. “You must try to feign more enthusiasm when you arrive,” she said. “Don’t worry, I shall entertain you royally. And who knows? Perhaps you will find yourself a romance.”

They stayed in Velora until the last possible moment, then flew back to the Eyrie in time to change for dinner. Isabella told Jared that she could only bear these events by dressing in the most outrageous manner possible, and true to her word, she appeared in the drawing room attired in a flimsy white gown that was almost transparent. She had also bedecked herself with ropes of diamonds around her throat and her wrists, and in the braided coronet of her hair, so that she glittered wickedly when she made the smallest movement. Mariah stared at her wrathfully and almost could not bring herself to cross the room to greet her, but Omar, Bael, Richard Stephalo, and most of the other male dinner guests were by her side in moments. She laughed delicately, extended her hand to each man in turn, and sipped from her wine while keeping her eyes on the face of whoever happened to be talking. Jared, watching from a distance, couldn’t help smiling. To such heights of sophistication Annalee Stephalo could only aspire.

He had been resigned to having Annalee as his dinner mate, and he was right, but when he arrived at the table, he was pleasantly surprised to find the oracle Jecoliah seated on his other side. She was peering about in her usual shortsighted way, but smiled at him cheerfully when he sat beside her.

“Jared! I thought I heard your voice across the room, but since I could think of no reason you would be here—”

“Ill luck,” he responded, which made her laugh, though she
tried to strangle the sound. “How are you, Jecoliah? I have not seen you since the Gloria.”

“Well, and happy to have spring here again,” she said. “Quickly, before the others are seated. Who is sitting near us and on my other side? I see very poorly these days and I am too embarrassed to ask for the names of people I should know.”

So he obligingly sketched in the composition of their table and pointed out the luminaries at the other tables. Then, while the meal was served, he took advantage of this rare chance to have an extended conversation with the oracle.

“You might be able to answer a question for me,” he said, leaning back in his chair and sipping his wine (Manadavvi vintage, unless he greatly missed his guess, and very good). “Someone questioned me about the oracle Alleluia the other day, and I found I knew little about her—except that she was Archangel briefly, and oracle forever—”

“And the Jacobites have taken her up as their patron,” Jecoliah added calmly.

Jared started violently, then glanced around quickly to make sure no one was paying attention. “Well, yes,” he said, in a lower voice, “but here that’s a word that it isn’t even wise to whisper.”

Jecoliah rolled her milky eyes but obligingly left off discussing Jacobites. “She was truly a great oracle,” she said. “Any question she put to the god was answered immediately. Anyone who came to her for advice left knowing exactly what to do. She trained hundreds of acolytes and priests, and she had a great reverence for the power of Jovah.”

“You sound as if you knew her.”

She smiled. “No, she died before I came to Mount Sinai. But her successor was the oracle Deborah, who had known Alleluia her whole life, and Deborah trained me. And so I heard all her reminiscences about Alleluia’s greatness. And of course, had it not been for Alleluia, neither Deborah nor I would have been acolytes, let alone oracles.”

“How so?”

“In those days, as today, acolytes were most often chosen from the wealthy families—it has always been considered an honor to have your son or daughter serve the god for a year or two. But Alleluia felt acolytes should be culled from the poor as well as the wealthy—and from those who were disadvantaged
in other ways. Deborah was almost completely deaf, you see, as I am almost completely blind. In fact, we both came from the village of Chahiela, where people with disadvantages such as ours can live in comparative freedom.”

“Chahiela,” Jared repeated. “It is in southern Bethel, is it not? Almost on the ocean.”

“Exactly,” Jecoliah confirmed. “It is quite a prosperous little place now, though when it was founded, it was very small. And it still boasts a large community of the deaf and the blind, in what is the older part of town. As I say, Alleluia brought Deborah in from Chahiela, and when I was a girl, Deborah brought me to Mount Sinai. I myself have made it a practice to bring in acolytes from the school in Chahiela—and had a great deal of success, I might add. I find that a child who is deaf can somehow concentrate more intently on the words of the god, and someone like me who can scarcely see a man’s face can with ease read the words the god prints on the interface. I do not know why this would be so. But I am thankful for it.”

“Very interesting,” Jared said, and he meant it, though he didn’t see how any of this benefited him in his search. “Though I can’t imagine how you or anyone can read the words of the god. I have been to the oracles’ retreats and seen the holy language written on your screens, and I have not understood a thing.”

She smiled. “That is because it is written in the divine language, which common men have forgotten,” she said primly. “You must study a long time to learn it! Although most of those who are to be oracles simply one day look at the words and understand. It is one of the ways we know we have been chosen by Jovah.”