Taltos (Lives of the Mayfair Witches #3)(46)
Author: Anne Rice

“Three hundred years hence?” asked Stuart. “Or tomorrow?”

“Listen to me, sir, I beg you,” said Marklin. “The spirit of Lasher possessed knowledge of what he had been, and what he could be, and what happened to the genes of Rowan Mayfair and Michael Curry happened under the spirit’s knowing vigilance and to fulfill his purpose.

“But we have that knowledge now—of what a Taltos is, and perhaps was, and what can make it. And Stuart, so do the witches! For the first time, the witches know the destiny of the giant helix. And their knowing is as powerful as Lasher’s knowing.”

Stuart had no answer for this. Clearly he had not thought of it. He looked at Marklin a long time. Then he asked, “You believe this?”

“Their awareness is even more powerful, perhaps,” said Tommy. “The telekinetic assistance that can be rendered by the witches themselves in the event of a birth can’t be underestimated.”

“Ever the scientist,” said Marklin with a triumphant smile. The tide was changing. He could feel it, see it in Stuart’s eyes.

“And one must remember,” said Tommy, “that the spirit was addled and blundering. The witches are leagues from that, even at their most naive and ineffectual.”

“That is a guess, Tommy.”

“Stuart,” Marklin pleaded. “We have come too far!”

“To put it another way,” said Tommy, “our accomplishments here are by no means negligible. We verified the incarnation of the Taltos, and if we could get our hands on any notes written by Aaron before his death, we might verify what all suspect, that it was not incarnation but reincarnation.”

“I know what we’ve done,” said Stuart. “The good, the bad. You needn’t make your summation for me, Tommy.”

“Only to clarify,” said Tommy. “And we have witches who know not only the old secrets now in abstract, but who believe in the physical miracle itself. We could not possibly have more interesting opportunities.”

“Stuart, trust us again,” said Marklin.

Stuart looked at Tommy and then back at Marklin. Marklin saw the old spark, the love.

“Stuart,” he went on, “the killing is done. It’s finished. Our other unwitting assistants can be phased out without their ever knowing the grand design.”

“And Lanzing? He must know everything.”

“He was a hireling, Stuart,” said Marklin. “He never understood what he saw. Besides, he too is dead.”

“We didn’t kill him, Stuart,” said Tommy, in an almost casual manner. “They found part of his remains at the foot of Donnelaith Crag. His gun had been fired twice.”

“Part of his remains?” asked Stuart.

Tommy shrugged. “They said he’d been a meal for wild animals.”

“But you can’t be sure, then, that he killed Yuri.”

“Yuri has never returned to the hotel,” said Tommy. “His belongings are still unclaimed. Yuri is dead, Stuart. The two bullets were for Yuri. How Lanzing fell, or why, or if some animal attacked, those things we can’t know. But Yuri Stefano is, for our purposes, gone.”

“Don’t you see, Stuart?” said Marklin. “Except for the escape of the Taltos, everything has worked perfectly. And we can withdraw now, and focus upon the Mayfair witches. We don’t need anything further from the Order. If the interception is ever uncovered, no one will ever be able to trace it to us.”

“You don’t fear the Elders, do you?”

“There is no reason to fear the Elders,” said Tommy. “The intercept continues to work perfectly. It always has.”

“Stuart, we’ve learned from our errors,” said Marklin. “But perhaps things have happened for a purpose. I don’t mean in the sentimental sense. But look at the overall picture. All the right people are dead.”

“Don’t talk so crudely to me of your methods, either of you. What about our Superior General?”

Tommy shrugged. “Marcus knows nothing. Except that he will very soon be able to retire with a small fortune. He’ll never put all the pieces together afterwards. No one will be able to. That’s the beauty of the entire plan.”

“We need a few more weeks at most,” said Marklin. “Just to protect ourselves.”

“I’m not so sure,” said Tommy. “The smart thing may be to remove the intercepts now. We know everything the Talamasca knows about the Mayfair family.”

“Don’t be so hasty, so confident!” said Stuart. “What happens when your phony communications are finally discovered?”

“You mean our phony communications?” asked Tommy. “At the very worst, there’ll be a little confusion, perhaps even an investigation. But no one could trace the letters or the interception itself to us. That’s why it’s very important that we remain loyal novices, that we do nothing now to arouse suspicion.”

Tommy glanced at Marklin. It was working. Stuart’s manner had changed. Stuart was giving the orders again … almost.

“This is all electronic,” said Tommy. “There is no hard evidence of anything anywhere, except a few piles of paper in my flat in Regent’s Park. Only you and Mark and I know where those papers are.”

“Stuart, we need your guidance now!” said Marklin. “We go into the most exciting phase yet.”

“Silence,” said Stuart. “Let me look at you both, let me take your measure.”

“Please do it, Stuart,” said Marklin, “and find us brave and young, yes, young and stupid, perhaps, but brave and committed.”

“What Mark means,” said Tommy, “is that our position now is better than we could possibly have expected. Lanzing shot Yuri, then fell, fatally injuring himself. Stolov and Norgan are gone. They were never anything but a nuisance, and they knew too much. The men hired to kill the others don’t know us. And we are here, where we began, at Glastonbury.”

“And Tessa is in your hands, unknown to anyone but the three of us.”

“Eloquence,” said Stuart almost in a whisper. “That’s what you give me now, eloquence.”

“Poetry is truth, Stuart,” said Marklin. “It is the highest truth, and eloquence is its attribute.”

There was a pause. Marklin had to get Stuart down from this hill. Protectively, he put his arm around Stuart, and to his great relief, Stuart allowed this.