The Brothers of Light weren't present at breakfast when Lady Jaye and Lola entered the dining room. The crowd was much lighter as well. "The masters like to sleep in. Sometimes they take breakfast in their room. Many disciples do that as well, or if they are working in the fields that day, they'll eat outdoors." Lola explained, "I used to be on laundry duty a lot, but since my pregnancy, I'm on light duty. I'm hoping to learn to use the sewing machines and become a seamstress in the future."
Lady Jaye was pleased to hear her sister speaking enthusiastically about doing some kind of labor. It was an improvement on her character. In the past, Lola was only interested in partying and trouble, while she had been more down to earth, kicking off her military career at the same time.
After they ate, Lola showed Lady Jaye around the grounds. They walked past a bleary eyed group of people working in the fields. They passed a few barns and warehouses. Lola waved to some grim faced guards in red who gave her slight nods in return. "I'm saving the best for last," she said, pointing to the amazing ivory structure sitting on a high hill, looking as if it had been carved out of a mountain.
It was a long walk to the structure, which was mostly surrounded by a huge lake. They would have to cross a bridge to get close to it. It was slow going because of Lola's advanced pregnancy, but she was enthusiastic and hearty. On the way, Lola explained how the commune worked. "The post office and UPS won't come all the way out here, so Masters use private couriers to bring us any supplies we are unable to make here ourselves. One time a driver who used to come here a lot decided to make it his permanent home. The Brothers of Light wouldn't allow it at first, saying he had to get the truck back to the company or it might cause them trouble. He obeyed but still made his way back later. That was Brother Daniel you met coming here. We don't get many shipments because we have a surplus stored in the warehouses. The couriers were the reason I got a letter to you. I didn't have a stamp and had to rely on the mercy of a driver to get it out. Luckily, he was nice enough to put postage on it when he returned to where ever he came from."
Lady Jaye interrupted her asking, "Who orders the supplies and how?"
Lola replied, "Masters have a computer with internet access in their private wing. They use it to order supplies, mostly luxuries and home schooling supplies for their children, although sometimes they can download some educational materials for free."
Lady Jaye resolved to look at this computer. Maybe it would give her a clue as to the purpose of this cult fiasco. "Are there other computers around or just that one? How many children do the twins have?" she asked.
"Here we are," Lola replied as they got to the bottom of the stairs leading to the amazing globe held by the twin atlases. "This is the Temple of the Brothers of Light, the place where our lords and supreme rulers impart their wisdom and demand our faithfulness. To answer your question, there's only one computer and only they have access to it. All children here are theirs; when mine is born, I believe it will be number twenty nine."
Lady Jaye was stunned. She flinched as she noticed Tomax and Xamot loitering by the door of the temple, arms folded into the generous sleeves of their priestly robes. Priests of their own religion.. she thought as it dawned on her what the temple was for. Then she got more than a little irritated. "-So you're telling me only your 'supreme rulers' have internet access to the outside world? What exactly do these 'healers of soul and psyche' do all day besides make children? Do they ever take a turn at laundry or farm field duty?" She looked over at the twins as she said this. The one with the scar slowly reached down with his right hand while the other reached down with his left. Each tried to look nondescript giving his balls a scratch through his robes. Each failed miserably. The brothers noticed her looking their way and shot her squinty-eyed cheesy smiles. She looked away, disgusted.
Lola laughed. "Oh, masters are much too important for menial labor," she said, "Their work is in the temple, where they focus their powers to heal the broken world and ponder upon the mysteries of the universe so they can later teach us their wisdom."
"Oh, I see," Lady Jaye said, rolling her eyes.
Without warning, a wild-eyed figure was seen vaulting up the sides of the stairs, seemingly from out of nowhere, shouting "DEMONS!". The two women watched in shock as this man wearing the typical garb of the disciple tackled the scarred twin, grabbing him by his throat and slamming his head on the ground. The other had flopped down in the opposite direction and appeared to be slamming his own head against the ground. Guards in red quickly came to the twins' aid, shocking the attacker with their staffs. The Brothers of Light struggled to stand, faces contorting into furious scowls. The scarred one pointed a finger and shouted, "LOCK HIM UP IN ISOLATION!"
"Who was that?" Lady Jaye asked as the guards dragged a stunned man past them. "Why did one of the twins slam his own head against the ground instead of helping the other one?"
"That's Brother Jacob," Lola replied, "He is our resident troubled soul. He keeps flipping out and attacking Masters for no reason. If you ask me, they should throw him out, but Masters are so loving and forgiving and don't like to give up on anybody. They keep working to heal him. Xamot must have been so overwhelmed sharing Tomax's experience through their psychic bond that it felt like it was happening to him as well."
Lady Jaye watched as the twins walked past without looking at them. Their faces were fixed into stern, judgemental glares. -Or wait...was the scarred one pouting? -And the other..his eyes were darting around furtively, anxiously as he put a possessive arm around his brother's shoulders. She wondered at how the attacker had called them demons. As she observed them tottering away on their skinny birdlike ankles and feet that were almost dainty for such large men, she could almost imagine they had goat legs hidden under those big blocky robes. -And the guards..the staffs they carried almost looked like pitchforks. No, but that was ridiculous. She resolved herself to try and speak with this Jacob, right after she gained access to their computer.
"There goes our chance to see the inside of the temple," Lola sighed, "We don't go in there unless we are invited individually or called all together for a public speech. The guards wouldn't let us in now. I so wanted you to see the beautiful statues inside."
"That's okay," Lady Jaye replied. She kind of wanted to see the inside for the novelty, but kind of didn't at the same time, now she had an idea of what it was for.
As they walked off, Lola seemed shaken and unsteady on her feet. Lady Jaye assumed it was her pregnancy wearing her out, but then she said, "Whenever Jacob attacks masters, it affects all of us disciples because we're all connected telepathically. I feel a little weak, but I've heard others say they've felt their faith wavering after every incident. It's not fair to the Brothers of Light. Of course their mortal bodies would be as vulnerable as our own. If Jacob were to attack them in their angelic forms, they could crush him like a bug under their feet if they chose."
Lady Jaye's eyes widened in shock. She could have laughed if it wasn't so disturbing. -Priests of their own religion with themselves being the gods. How could those two ridiculous, self-proclaimed 'deities' have conned so many?
After that strange event, the sisters spent a good part of the day hanging out, talking and playing cards in the garden. At one point, Lola wanted to take a nap sitting up, as she slept badly at night because of heartburn. Lady Jaye took that opportunity to do some reconnaissance and find out where Jacob was being held so she could try and talk with him. After wandering around for ages and asking people about him, only to get blank stares in return, she found him by accident. There was a wing of the living quarters that turned out to be inaccessible when she tried the door. Two guards noticed her feeling around the edges of the entrance to see how the door worked. They told her nobody was allowed to go there by orders of the Masters. She took a wild guess and said, "Jacob is supposed to be in isolation, huh?" They nodded. Oh well, she'd focus on getting to the computer for now. When she got back to her sister, Lola was awake and wondering where she had been.
Later that night, when her sister was asleep, Lady Jaye decided to try and sneak into the twins' private wing to look at their computer. They had such a massive part of the building all to their own she figured she could be in and out without them noticing. Maybe she'd get lucky and they'd be asleep? She didn't plan on being long because Lola slept badly, and she didn't want her absence noticed. As it turned out, she had no luck getting anywhere near the twins' rooms. There were guards posted on every entrance leading to them.
Lady Jaye was discouraged for a moment but then got the idea to sneak into the forbidden wing through the ventilation system near the ceiling. She stacked a few crates up in a supply closet, thinking with great paranoia, ..PleasepleasePLEASE don't let me accidentally knock all these over and have every guard in here wondering what I'm doing in this closet in the middle of the night! It was a needless worry, as she was able to deftly get herself where she needed to be.
Lady Jaye wondered how long she would be crawling around in the dust and spiders before she found what she was looking for. Then she heard a high breathy voice say, gasping, "You are such a tease, Brother To..Tomax...AHH..AHHHHHH..." She turned a corner, looked through a vent, then put both hands over her mouth, barely suppressing a scream as she found herself both lucky and unlucky at the same time. There was the computer, but the twins were in the room as well, and they were having inappropriate relations with one another. Pornographic images played on the over sized computer screen in the background as they writhed together in their bliss of shared passion. They certainly looked more manly with their priestly robes off. Lady Jaye squeezed her eyes shut, frozen in place with her heart slamming in her chest. She was paralyzed by the horror of what she had seen.
The Brothers of Light were so caught up in the moment that a fear of someone spying on them couldn't have been further from their minds. They had been loving each other on a messy pile of soft blankets. Xamot was such a passionate and intense person who often came to pleasure too quickly for Tomax, who had held him down and had his way with him slowly. Xamot had relaxed and given in, sobbing for release over and over. Then Tomax had suffered a moment of weakness, trying something that caused them both pain. That's when Xamot stopped indulging his brother and took charge, reminding him that he was the stronger, the protector. When they rested a bit, wrapping themselves in their cocoon of blankets, Xamot held Tomax's trembling, sated body possessively, stroking him and whispering words of devotion in his ear. "I only want to see my little brother coming to pleasure, never in pain." he said. Tomax murmured contentedly in response, reaching around to rub between his beloved's shoulder blades.
Lady Jaye eventually calmed herself and felt she could dare to move. She decided to wait a few more minutes to see if the twins would leave the room now they were done with their obscene pleasure. The scarred twin got up and left the room, giving her hope, but then he quickly returned with a plate of food. The two sat side by side, cuddling and sharing a snack. She gave up and slowly backed away.
Lady Jaye decided to try and get to Jacob one last time. The guards were gone for the night in that area of the building, but she still couldn't figure out how to get the door to open. Then she had an idea. First thing tomorrow morning, she would describe her military training to the Brothers of Light and ask to become a guard in red herself.