Book of Glitch - Chapter 4

While I trust you remember Grand Duke Elder Caleb, at the time I regarded him as one of our more foolish Elders. After all, he knew what the Shamans were and what they had tried to do to countless Elders—me in particular! Yet he still lacked the sense to stay away from the creatures and even claimed one as his “wife” no less.

If it had been put to a vote at the meeting later that day, I would have requested he be stripped of his rank and title on the basis of insanity brought on by senility.

“Hello all,” he said while trying to make his smile spread around our stalemate. “Abraham, I see you’ve met my wife Miasma here.”

I began to choke as Caleb reached down to kiss the beast’s hand. It took several none-too-gentle thumps from Phit before I could recover myself.

“Caleb, have you actually lost your mind?” I exclaimed. “Of all the foolish things… Marry a murderous? Should I send you an asp for your next centennial?”

He stepped forward to leer at me from over Syena’s head.

“Now see here Abraham. We are all welcome to our opinions, but she is my wife you and it would serve you well to show some respect to the newly appointed Madame Shaman.”

If your eyes are bulging at the sound of such an office, you’re shock is well warranted my friend. The thought of a Shaman holding any title amongst the Grand Council had just about swept my feet from under me. I admit I had not attended a council meeting in well over four centuries, but I could have never dreamed they would allow a Shaman to meet with the rest of the governing variants. I imagined the next thing they’d tell me would be that the Tamers now enchanted their packs straight onto the tables in front of them for slaughter…

 “Oh and indeed good Caleb, I truly ought to when it is so evident that this she-Tamer has done such an exquisite job in training her pet!” I said. “Tell me, does he do any tricks? If I throw a stick will he bring it back to me?”

“Abraham, I will not…”

“There now, darling. Do not lose your temper over such a sorry relic,” she crooned. “Why not show me and the young ones to our seats before you give your speech?”

His rage seemed to abate at an unnatural rate, and I supposed she had enthralled him to that effect.

“Yes, of course, dear. Come along Lucretia, Joshua and I will show you and your sister to your seats,” said Caleb.

Aside from his poor choice in companions, the man had all of the qualities of a great leader. He was well-spoken and managed to maintain a commanding air, which was only reinforced by the soft tone at which we Elders speak. His knowledge of the archaic law systems from his life before the glitch was unmatched, and further served in keeping him above all the most diplomatic among us on the grand council.

Yes, at the very least he was an honest fellow and fiercely loyal, especially to that nephew of his and evidently to that dark enchantress beside him. I suddenly feared the thought of that unfortunate boy sitting with not only one but two of those things.

“Please, Caleb. It has been so long since I have seen young Joshua here. Couldn’t he come sit with us during the service?” I pled.

At the time I had not noticed that the younger Elder had been watching me, or more specifically had been watching Syena. It was at the suggestion that he join us for the service that he looked toward his uncle, almost pleading to the man with his stare.

“Well, I’m not sure that Joshua would want to give up his seat with…” Caleb had begun to say.

“Not at all, uncle,” Joshua spoke up. “Abraham is right. I have neglected to pay him so much as a hello for over a century now.”

I could not help smiling at the wise manner with which such a youthful Elder could speak.

“Besides, Caleb, I could use all the pleasant company I can keep on such a day,” I said. “Was it not His Majesty who said, ‘Friends bring about the healing faster’?”

Caleb began to nod in agreement with me, and more so with any words spoken by the king. I suspect he would have conceded had it not been for the unwelcomed interjection by the lively young Sham standing beside Miasma.

“Grand Duke Abraham, I could not agree with you more,” she said. “But would it be just to take such a dear friend from me and my older sister under such circumstances. We are Shamans as you say, and this being our first time visiting the Elder realm and having never been invited to the palace, surely you will take pity on us and grant us your companion for the afternoon?”

She smiled up at Joshua in such a sick, sweet manner that I feared she was enthralling the young man before me. He did not show any signs of her influence, but he did seem to agree with her words however regretfully he felt for doing so.

I then felt guilty for speaking so harshly of the child’s sister right before her. She had to have been within a year of my dear Syena. And try as I might to deny it, she was truly a lovely creature. I imagine Miasma’s own beauty once rivaled that of her younger sister’s before she fixed her face in that seemingly permanent sneer. Thus, I too accepted her appeal.

“Fair one, may I call you by your name? Yes Lucretia, you are correct. As much as I would delight at having Joshua in our company, I am not so cruel as to force him away from his companions when they themselves are amongst strangers.”

Lucretia took Joshua’s arm and held it to her as she set her gaze on me. I did not feel the same irksome sensation come over me as with Miasma, and the charm in her smile made me reflect on Basal’s words from earlier that morning.

“Excellent,” Caleb said with a clap. “Joshua, please show our guests to our seats and I will go rehearse my speech before the service commences.”

Caleb kissed Miasma’s hand and nodded to his nephew before leaving the four of us. Miasma glared at Syena and her brothers as she proceeded around our formation.

“I’ll see you soon Abraham, dear,” she trilled. “You can’t keep these walls with you forever.”

Syena, bless her heart, stood firmly in front of me as she barked at the witch.

“You forget yourself, Shaman. Your life is numbered at a hundred years, and that’s if you’re lucky. Meanwhile, I’ll live at least three times that long,” she snarled. “And by the looks of it, you’ve already put more than your allotted years behind you.”

Phit began to tremble beside me and I could hear the laughter he was repressing rumble in his hollow throat. Gray merely smiled down at his younger sister. Miasma dashed past us without another word, then Joshua and Lucretia followed. The younger Sham seemed to study Syena as they passed in front of us, while Joshua appeared to be apologizing to her with a weak smile.

I cannot imagine how Syena must have looked to them. Such a young, female Stonie shielding an aging Elder as though she were six meters tall rather than a little over one and a half. She waited until they were fully out of our sight before I heard her exhale.

“Are you all right now, Abraham? Can I get you anything?” she asked.

“No, my dear. I can ask nothing more of you, thank you,” I said with a smile. “As for you two, let it never be said that you never learned firsthand what it is to regret your wishes coming true.”

Gray looked toward where the Shamans had walked off with a grim expression on his face as he nodded, while Phit rolled his eyes.

“Oh, come on, Abe! That Sham was hardly a threat,” he grinned. “I mean, did you see the way she cowered in front of Syena. She practically cried just because Sye called her old.”

I smiled down at her and she beamed up at the three of us. Gray also smiled briefly, in his solemn way.

“Come, let us find mother and Grand Gab before the service begins,” he said.

We fell back in line with the procession and proceeded to the back of the hall. The numbers dwindled the closer we approached the altar while other variants had branched away from the main line to sit in their respective sections.

We finally came to the end to meet Granita and Gabbro amongst the ranking members of the Grand Council in the front rows. I looked further down the rows in our section to see if any of the surrounding Elders were under the influence of Miasma amongst our ranks, but I did not see her or Joshua. I began to search the hall in fear that he might have never made it to our section after all.

Across the aisle from our section I saw the acting Admiral Cerulean Dewla and her escort of about a hundred and fifty Ceruleans racing around in those bucket-chair contraptions that they use to keep from drying up. I always enjoy an opportunity to watch that group of Incantare, but I could have done without the trail of puddles they left in their wake as they splashed around trying to wait on Dewla and her officials. I almost laughed at the irony of them trying to retrieve dry handkerchiefs for their leader while leaving behind such a watery mess.

Behind the last row of the Elder section sat the Aero guard with Professor Reginald, the top leading Cerebra researcher, in their midst. I was surprised at first that he was not amongst the other Cerebra scientists trying to investigate the cause of the unfortunate affair. I was more shocked to see that Reginald had brought that gorilla companion of his to such an auspicious gathering.

Honestly, the king was quite forgiving, but I still think he was asking a bit much of her dearly departed spirit. Then again, the two sat their grieving in such a way that I pondered how close they might have become to His Majesty throughout Reginald’s career.

Across the Aero section, and behind the Ceruleans, sat a mix of Dragoons and Bolts. They were a strange sight to behold that day. You, of course, may still remember how odd those Incantare look to begin with.

The Bolts with their almost transparent flesh and perpetually charged hair sticking up much like your late mother’s. And the Dragoons with their shiny, hairless bodies and coal black eyes. The lot of them were hardly wearing anything at all, but we have of course all come to tolerate their nakedness. Plus, they had all managed to at least dawn some sort of black garment for the occasion.

What was peculiar that day was that up until then, I had never once seen a Bolt or Dragoon shed a single tear. I’m sure most of us were under the assumption that their variant was incapable of that function what with the incomparable body temperature of the Dragoons and the heightened electrical activity of the Bolt anatomy. Yet there they were, sobbing and weeping against one another right along with the rest of us.

Next to that sulky group sat the Terrans who appeared just as moved, but much as is their stoic nature they simply allowed their tears to run without so much as a groan passing their lips. In their front row sat King Hector, and he was clad in his finest armor made from tortoise shell encrusted with the precious earthen gems of his territory.

I was amazed to see how many of them had emerged from the soil to come pay their respect. They practically overwhelmed the last sections of the hall so that I could only make out a few spare Tamers here and there—some of whom had also brought their companions much to the displeasure of myself and the unfortunate Terrans around them. Then I noticed that even further behind them sat a great deal of the Elders’ Minor children, their Shaman mothers, and Joshua.

There between that she-devil Miasma and her sister, Lucretia, Joshua was staring up at the apse as though he were in no danger at all. I almost leapt from my seat to see that Joshua had placed himself in the midst of not two but well over a dozen eager Sham seductresses.

“How could the boy be so foolish?” I whispered.

“What was that, Abraham?” Syena asked as she sniffled.

Poor child, I would often forget how difficult it was to be a Stonie. Such an emotional variant class, yet not a single bodily function to express just how deeply moved they might be. Her gentle eyes looked heavy with grief, but not a drop could roll to relieve them.

I glanced around the hall to see the same sorrowful expression on so many of the Stonie guards around us. Some shook with bitter, twisted expressions on their faces while others looked dazed with sallow cheeks, as though they had not been feeding themselves consistently during these distressing weeks since we had all learned of the king’s departing. I shuddered to imagine the repercussions of a Stonie starving him or herself in mourning, only to stand guard over so many warm-blooded Incantare and their animal companions.

“It was nothing, dear,” I said.

I patted her heavy head back onto my shoulder and chose to ignore Joshua’s reckless behavior until I could speak with him at the meeting that evening.

Once everyone had finally made their way to their seats, Caleb approached the lectern and began the service.

“My fellow variants, it was with such deep regret that I cannot convey with mere words that I stand before you today. Like you, my heart is weighty with the loss of such a noble and compassionate ruler, His Majesty the king.”

A moan erupted from all corners of the hall and it took a moment for Caleb to reclaim the audience’s ear.

At last he continued, “Let us bow our heads, and pray that his beloved spirit finds safe passage to the realm beyond.”