Monster Party Book Seven: There's some things you're never gonna help or change, but hunger is something we can turn around!
Chapter Seven: Take an eye for an eye.
"'The Circle of Darkness', do you make many friends with a name like that?" Alexander Diamondclaw couldn't help but ask.
Madar smiled back at him, still confident in the face of his guest's sarcasm.
"Yes. We have more friends than you might expect. Certainly more friends than Rega suspects."
"Rega?" Florence repeated Madar's words in confusion.
Alexander had told her about how he'd heard the guards mentioning that particular name shortly after the group had entered Zhukar, but none of them had heard anyone reference it since then.
Surprisingly, Petchko promptly provided them with an explanation.
"Rega is Yagno Petrovna's most trusted confidant. He is the Scourge of the Temple who runs Zhakata's Inquisition..." The transformed priest all but whimpered.
"Did he have anything to do with you current sorry state?" Alexander casually inquired.
"Rega did not openly involve himself in my trial, but he openly involves himself in next to nothing. People don't even know what his last name is. If there is a conspiracy to blind Yagno Petrovna to the suffering of Zhukar, to make its people unjustly hate him, Rega would have much to gain." Petchko admitted.
Alexander and Madar exchanged quick looks that said far more than words ever could.
"The Circle of Darkness exists to fight the rampant corruption that… Rega… has helped spread through Zhukar, and indeed all of G'Henna. Long have we struggled righteously against the burdens Zhakata has placed upon our shoulders, but I believe that struggle is now reaching a tipping point." Madar explained.
"Because?" Alexander prompted the black haired man.
"Because of two brilliant strokes of luck in our favor. The first was your arrival of course. The second was that one of our agents inside the temple managed to recently discover how to free Zhakata the Provider." Madar declared proudly.
"There's no such thing!" Petchko pipped up instantly.
Madar placed a comforting hand on the transformed priest's shoulder and favored his misshapen face with a warm smile.
"You say there is no such thing because you have been taught there is no such thing. In turn, you have been taught there is no such thing… because Rega has deafen the ears of the entire world, including Yagno Petrovna himself to the words of Zhakata the Provider." Madar insisted in a slow and soothing tone.
Petchko was neither relaxed or mollified by this explanation, but it clearly had at least some effect on him, because he didn't try to shake off Madar's arm.
"How could one man, even the Scourge of the Temple do such a thing to a God?" He replied, sounding more worried than unconvinced.
"The journals that we located explains how. Even beings as powerful as gods have weaknesses, and Zhakata the Provider is not a god itself, only an aspect of a god.
Zhakata the Devourer places burdens upon our backs so that we might grow strong, but if all was right with the world, Zhakata the Provider would eventually remove those burdens once strength has been justly gained. Just as Zhakata the Devourer takes food so that through hunger enlightenment can be obtained, Zhakata the Provider gives food so that enlighten life can be sustained.
They are two sides of the same coin, the dark and the light, the dusk and the dawn, never meant to be separated from one another. Except that Rega did separate them, and because of that he has cast a terrible darkness across all of G'Henna. A darkness, in which we must plot and scheme, or else light will never come." Madar further confided to his three guests.
"Do you believe it is possible. Do you believe that a god can just be sealed away?" Petchko asked Alexander, his voice quavering at the very idea.
"I've had some experience with similar situations in the past. " The silver haired man admitted with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Since you mentioned that we were one of your strokes of luck, I'm going to assume that there is some particular task that you need us for?" Alexander promptly "guessed" in much the same way that a man might "guess" that he wouldn't step out onto a cloud if he left his house without bothering to look down.
Madar turned his attention to the tunnel's other two occupants and nodded.
"Your are correct. The journals we have uncovered talk of a stone that is not truly a stone, but actually one of Zhakata's eyes. It can grant its wielder fantastical powers, and it was through this stone that Rega was able to seal away Zhakata the Provider." Madar further explained.
"Probably thorughly enraging whatever was left of Zhakata the Devourer in the process. Loosing an eye is not a pleasant experience." Alexander growled.
"Why though? Why would Rega do such a horrible thing?" Petchko couldn't help but wonder.
"Look around you former priest. There is no relief, no joy, no hope in G'Henna. By sealing away Zhakata the Provider, he has helped insure that the people of G'Henna would never rise up in rebellion against him." Madar answered.
Petchko could find no way to refute this statement and so he simply stood mute.
"So, you need us to steal this stone, which I'm guessing having been the key to sealing away Zhakata the Provider, is also the key to unsealing him? I can't wait to hear the explanation for why it has to be us rather than any of your fellow rebels..." Alexander once again began to connect dots.
"The stone is kept within the Prime Temple of Zhakata. If any citizen of Zhukar was captured by the Inquisition while attempting such a thing, they would never rest until they had turned half the city upside down and inside out, hundreds, thousand of people would be tortured to death. If foreigners are caught doing it..." Madar awkwardly let that particular comment trail off.
Alexander did not enjoy being someone else's catspaw, but it wouldn't be the first time he'd done it.
"Well that explains how we can help you. How can you help us in turn?" He insisted.
The silver haired man might be willing to be a catspaw, but he was at determined to at least get something out of the experience.
"We can help your friend. Being companions of those who have been unjustly persecuted by the priests of Zhakata, the Circle of Darkness has extensive connections with others who have been likewise transformed. We can get him out of the city and help him find those who will not judge him because of how he looks. Likewise, when you inevitably need to exit the city surreptitiously and with great haste, we'll allow you to use those same methods." Madar offered.
"That is a nice start. How much in the way of coin or magical items can you offer us also?" Alexander demanded.
As much as he was willing to overturn Yagno Petrovna's applecart on general principle, his pack didn't live on the well wishes of others alone, and so he had to take a hard line on such matters.
There was a long silence and as the silver haired man saw the expression in Petchko's eyes he realized that this might be a somewhat overly secular discussion to have around him.
"Florence go run ahead of us and make sure this tunnel doesn't lead into some kind of trap. Take Petchko with you so he can heal you if you end up getting hurt." He suggested.
Alexander personally suspected that Florence Bastien's magic was far stronger than Petchko's, but she wasn't supposed to use it inside Zhukar. Besides, any excuse to leave him and Madar alone to discuss business would be a good excuse.
It worked, and soon the silver and black haired man had some privacy as they gazed at each other in the light of Madar's flickering torch.
"Do you know how much the people of Zhukar tithe to the priests of Zhakata? Not just food, but other valuables as well..." Madar inquired cautiously.
"Something like ten percent?" Alexander knew the answer based on what he'd heard in the market place.
"We'll provide you with a way into the Prime Temple, not to mention arrange a few distractions around the city so that most of its guards are pulled away. The Eye of Zhakata must be recovered, but along with it, you may take whatever you desire from the corrupt priesthood." Madar offered.
"You're being awfully quick to spend other people's money. Do you even know where this Eye of Zhakata is kept? Even if most of the guards are distracted and you have some method of getting us inside, having to wander randomly won't end well." Alexander predicted.
"There are other priests of Zhakata like your friend who still mean well. Not only do they mean well, but they've had the veil of ignorance lifted from their eyes. You will not only be given maps, but I can provide you with genuine cloaks of priesthood. Anyone can wear red, but the cloaks that priests of Zhakata wear have magical spells laid upon them that will automatically deactivate some of Temple Prime's defenses. Wearing those cloaks not only will the guards not bother you, unless they have good reason to suspect you they will obey any order you give them." Madar promised.
Alexander's single eye widened, that was a quite an attractive offer.
Which meant that it was time to deal with the other matter that would have been inconvenient to talk about when Petchko was around.
"You talk a good game about the evils of Rega and his corruption, but what does the Circle of Darkness really have planned for Yagno Petrovna?" Alexander wanted to know, if only so that he might get a chance to take part in it.
"You have seen Yagno Petrovna with your own eye. He is a man aged beyond even his considerable years. Zhakata has made him powerful, but he has no idea how to properly wield that power. When Zhakata the Provider rises again, he will supplicate himself blindly before his renewed god." Madar insisted.
"What if he doesn't?" The silver haired man preferred to have a backup plan as always.
"Zhakata the Provider will undoubtedly bestow great gifts upon those who free him from his imprisonment. If Yagno clings to his foolish notion that there is only Zhakata the Devourer who grants only burdens to those who follow him, we will increase those burdens until they crush him." Madar answered with a wicked smile.
Alexander could approve of that particular plan.
XXX XXX XXX
The tunnel exit, or at least the one that Madar guided them to came up still inside Zhukar's walls. It wasn't even too far from the guesting house where Alexander was staying. Petchko stayed behind with Madar, it would be safer for him to be outside the walls with the other transformed than inside with an entire city full of people who would happily abuse him on sight.
When Alexander returned to his room he found James, Mirri, Cal and Devi sitting there waiting for him.
"Hey boss we figured out what that strange symbol you were looking at is about!" The alchemist declared proudly.
"So did we Alex, it belongs to a group called..." James added hastily wanting to make it clear that he hadn't been loafing about all day either.
"The Circle of Darkness." The silver haired man interrupted them.
James' face fell so thoroughly that even his hat drooped.
End Chapter.
AN: XCOM 2. Way too much XCOM 2. Well, XCOM 2 and listening to a few new books from audible on my way too and from work that want my full attention so I don't do any writing. I should be able to do these at least once every two weeks and I know this chapter was super short anyway. Well it is here so at least I got something done and sometimes it is hard to come up with a creative way to do exposition. At least I won't have to worry about XCOM 2 playing for a good long while, I finished my Commander (Classic) Honestman (save as much as you want, but only reload either your most recent save, with the possible exception of reloading further back if errors/glitches cause your most recent save to become corrupted) run. It only took me about six tries, and only one try that got past the first month! So, yay!
