Quest for the Ark by Taggart Rehnn

Author:Taggart Rehnn [Rehnn, Taggart]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-12-21T22:00:00+00:00

21—Tony confides to Conrad

After a pause, and before anybody could ask any questions, like a conductor calling the orchestra to silence, Conrad simply said: “If you ladies and gentlemen would be so kind to excuse us, I know now Tony wants to talk to me in private. We will be back momentarily.” He than cocked his head signaling Tony to follow him, and the two walked away.

“Are you sure you he hasn’t planted that idea in your head?” Haim asked Tony, visibly displeased, as the latter kept walking.

“If he had,” said Severian who had just arrived, “he would have also made you agree or stay silent. So, no, he hasn’t. Conrad could also get inside Tony’s head and read his thoughts, so he could have silently talked to him. If he chooses to talk as humans do, is out of courtesy to him, to spare Tony a hideous headache, and as a token of honesty to you all. So, let’s give these two gentlemen time and space to talk in private, if they so wish.”

Conrad bowed to Severian, and winked to the Countess. The Countess blushed and smiled, then pursed her lips, as Tony and Conrad prepared to leave the room. As they were leaving, Tony overheard Severian say to Haim: “I appointed myself Master of Ceremonies, if you need to know,” then chuckled, but kept walking with Conrad towards the castle’s veranda overlooking the waterfall.

Once there, Conrad went straight to business: “Nobody can hear us now. You can talk about you worries. I can see you fear the ‘Oracle’,” he said.

“Yes,” mumbled Tony, “For the Oracle, I used to experience nothing but reverence, although I only met ‘him’ in person once, ten years ago. For the Order, I have much respect, even though many of my missions in its name had been…unsavory. As we say, what is necessary and what is right need not be one and the same,” admitted Tony, stopping and sighing. “Our Order is old, supposed to date as far back as at least the days of Martin Luther, the early 1500s or so. The Oracle is even older. No one knows exactly how much older. And ‘he’ can only be consulted at night. After the latest events, I am getting a bit…uneasy.”

“Understandably,” quipped Conrad.

“I guess,” continued Tony. “Still, within the Order we have legends; and legends about people who mysteriously die after telling some of those legends, as well.

The Monsignor who used to be ‘the conduit’, the one capable of leading us to the Oracle, has called me to ask about our quest’s progress. He was the one who last spoke to Father Lajos, whose handler was sick when Lajos last reported to the Order from Budapest. Soon after, Father Lajos was butchered. So I lied to the Monsignor: I told him we were still very confused, unable to make heads or tails of all this yet.

He said perhaps I should take the cylinder and its contents to our Mother Lodge. But I requested a delay—which he granted, rather reluctantly.

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