F Wilson - The Dark at the End

She was tempted to speak, but bit it back. She’d promised…

“You’re our spear, Jack,” Glaeken said. “I’d hate to think of you fitted with a locator.”

Exactly.

Jack looked at the Lady. “So you won’t do the naming ceremony.”

“Not on you.”

“Then who?” Jack said. “Glaeken?”

“That was a thought,” the old man said. “I’ve got the least to lose, and if not for Magda, I wouldn’t hesitate. But, even in her present state-or perhaps because of her present state-I can’t desert my wife.”

“Well, forget about Weezy,” Jack said. “No way that’s happening.”

“No, not Weezy,” Glaeken said. “Eddie volunteered-”

“No!” Weezy cried, her heart constricting.

He said, “I’ve lost my home, my business, and I’ve got no strings. I’m perfect, but-”

“But we came up with a better candidate,” Glaeken said. “There is one more in the room you might consider.”

Weezy had a sudden bad feeling about what was coming next. She slowly turned and looked at the baby, gnawing contentedly on its bone.

“Oh, no. You can’t be serious.”

During the time the cow had cried hysterically over her fallen pet, Rasalom felt the strength pouring into him. Even when her vocalizations ratcheted down to quaking sobs, the grief that poured from her remained considerable.

All for a dumb animal that was, in many other countries, considered an entree.

“I’m terribly sorry for your loss,” he said when she finally quieted.

She only moaned.

“My goodness,” he said. “I hope it wasn’t my fault.”

Her head snapped up. “What do you mean?”

“Well, just before he died I gave him a piece of my turkey.”

She sniffed. “You did?”

“Yes. I hope it didn’t cause a reaction or anything. He wasn’t allergic to turkey, was he?”

“No, he ate it all the time.” She was staring at him, although he knew he was just a blur to her. “That turkey was to help you regain your strength, yet you gave him some?”

“Well, he seemed like such a sweet, loyal dog.”

She began sobbing again.

Good… good. Keep it up. More. Give me more.

“I’m so happy that-that-that his last memory was of a stranger being kind to him.”

His last memory? The cow was pathetic. That creature had been little more than a quadrupedal appetite.

She broke down again, bending over the dog, placing her cheek against its back.

As Rasalom drank, he lifted the blanket and examined his burns. Healing nicely now.

He closed his eyes and sighed as he feasted. Too bad he couldn’t bring the dog back to life-just for a few minutes, just long enough to let her believe her pet was back from the dead-and then stop its heart again.

In his previous life he’d been so much more powerful. His very proximity could cause people to turn on each other, commit atrocities they would never dream of had he not entered their lives. He’d been able to make the dead move, walk, appear almost alive, even though they were not. But Glaeken had ended that life and Rasalom had been forced to wait until his rebirth to begin rebuilding his powers.

He was not yet powerful enough to make this carcass move. He could end a life, make a life a living hell, but he couldn’t restore a life. Never could. Dead was dead.

At least until the Change. After that, who knew?

Weezy had jumped from her seat and gone to the playpen. After recovering from his shock at what Glaeken was suggesting, Jack rose and joined her. He realized he should not have been surprised. Glaeken had wanted the child removed from the picture.

He put an arm around her shoulder as she stared down at the baby.

“I know how you felt about Dawn,” he said, “so I’ve a pretty good idea what you’re thinking.”

“Do you?” Her voice carried an edge. “Putting an infant in danger. Really?”

“Listen. Yes, he’s a baby, but that is why he will not be in danger: He’s not sentient yet. With all that q’qr blood flowing through him, he will most likely never be sentient in the fully human sense. And that’s the beauty part. The ceremony can be performed on him and he’ll have no cognizance of it. If he’s even listening during the ceremony, which I doubt, he’ll hear that name then and never again. He’ll certainly never be called by that name. He’ll have no idea that it’s even a name. He’ll hear it as background noise, just as he’s hearing this conversation. It won’t register in his conscious or subconscious. He’ll never even know he’s been through a ceremony.”

“And yet,” the Lady said, raising a finger, “if what Srem says is true, once that infant has gone through the Naming Ceremony, he will render the One powerless.”

Weezy turned to Jack. “What do you think?”

He found he had no easy answer. And their decision here would have momentous impact.

“Let me think out loud here.” He couldn’t stand still so he wandered the room. “First off, am I right in saying the Lady won’t perform the ceremony on anyone else?”

The Lady nodded. “Correct.”

“And it’s also a fact that if something happens to the Lady, no one else can perform the ceremony?”

He stopped and looked at Glaeken and the Lady. Both nodded.

Moving again, he said, “Now, because we’re on terra incognita here, we can’t say it’s a fact, but it seems a good bet that of everyone in this room, maybe even the world, this little guy here has the best chance of safely taking on Rasalom’s Other Name.” He pointed to Eddie. “Actuarial opinion?”

Eddie glanced at Weezy, then away. “Given the information at hand, true.”

Jack turned to Weezy but said nothing. After a long pause, she gave a reluctant shrug. “I suppose so.”

“So, if we do do it, Rasalom will no longer be the One, rendering him ‘powerless’ to start the Change. Not being the One might also rob him of some of his extra-human abilities as well, making him easier to take down next time we get a crack at him. Realizing he’s no longer the One has got to distract him, sending him searching for whoever else has his Other Name instead of plotting against the Lady. That search will bring him out in the open, making him an easier target.”

Jack paused. He had to admit those were strong arguments.

“Okay,” he went on. “If we don’t do it, it’s business as usual for Rasalom: He’s still the One and once he heals up he can go to ground and redouble his efforts against the Lady with no worries.” He looked Weezy in the eyes. “Considering what’s at stake, the effect on billions of lives if Rasalom brings the Change, I don’t see how we can not do it.”

Jack watched her stare down at the baby as he scored the bone with his sharp little teeth. He thought of another child: Vicky. She was the child he cared about. And after what Jack had done to Rasalom the other night, he had no doubt that if or when he brought the Change, he’d reserve a special place in that particular hell for anyone Jack held dear.

Rasalom had to be stopped.

But he said nothing. He had to let Weezy work this through.

“With so much at stake,” she finally said, shaking her head, “how can I object?”

He sighed. “Okay. It’s settled then. That means we’re looking at another trip to Johnson to find that sigil.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Oh? Yesterday you refused to go.”

“Yesterday we had no possible use for it. That’s changed.”

“Well, I’m set to go. I was getting ready to leave when you called.”

“Alone?”

“No. Eddie offered to go with me.”

He turned to Eddie. “You don’t have to now.”

“No, I want to go,” he said. “I haven’t been back in a while.”