Read Online The Artifact of Foex by James L. Wolf - Free Book Online

reluctantly perched at the edge
of the bed. They were going to be here for a while: Wetshul summer
storms usually lasted an hour or two. They had time... which meant
he might be able to find out what was going on.
    “What is the Raptus? Is it
holy?
” he
asked. Meaning, had a god created it?
    Knife glanced toward the front seat of the
van, which was cut off from the back only by a flimsy curtain. Chet
could hear gum popping on the other side. The prostitute was
clearly listening—they must be better than a radio soap opera.
Though the rain on the roof had become a heavier drumming and
thunder grumbled outside, the storm wasn’t covering their words.
Knife switched languages to the tongue of Tache.
    “No, it’s not a holy object. The gods never
had anything to do with it. Directly, anyway. It was created by the
Magicians Tene and Zang around 3900, Foex’s millennium. The
Raptus’s purpose is simple and direct: it’s a mind-control device.
The person with full control of the Raptus can control every human
within earshot.”
    Chet had books by both Tene and Zang,
respectively, in his bookcase back home. Also, admittedly, a few
condensed volumes by each of them in his suitcase at Clementina’s
house. He loved reading those two. Such different men with wholly
divergent philosophies, yet similar in tone and style. But this was
new information; how could these men have done something Chet had
never heard of?
    He scowled. “I don’t believe it. Why did they
create something like a mind-control device? I would have expected
more from the Magicians Tene and Zang than something a
stage
magician would use. In any case, I don’t understand
why it works at all. All the Magicians are gone. Their god is dead.
How did this thing just catch us like bugs on fly paper?”
    Knife and Journey looked at one another,
their expressions reserved. “We’re not entirely sure why it still
works, either,” Journey said. “Let alone why it just caught us.
Aureate would know more.”
    Who? Chet frowned at them and crossed his
arms. “The Raptus sounds like nothing but a cheap, showy
trick.”
    Knife snorted. “Oh, sure. Imagine being
forced to kill your own parents, or to slaughter thousands of
children, or to launch a nuclear assault, all against your own
will. Some trick.”
    Journey put in, as if to console him, “It
does other things, too. I recall there was some sort of shielding
power when it’s mostly unlocked. Don’t know how well it would work,
though, with something like modern bullets.”
    Her wording piqued Chet’s interest. He
glanced at the morningstar-shaped object, currently in Fenimore’s
lap. Fenimore’s mouth was closed tight and he cradled the device as
if it were his child. Chet felt a protective twinge, too. The
Raptus was an ancient tool of the Magicians, out of circulation for
three-hundred years. This was his milk and meat as an
archeologist.
    “Still, I’ve never heard of this thing," he
said at last.
    Journey leaned back and stretched; even in
the dim light of the storm, Chet could see her muscles flex. And,
um, other parts of her body move, too. “I’m not surprised. The
Raptus was lost and forgotten, save by us and the Shadow
Dancers.”
    “You keep mentioning the Shadow Dancers.”
Chet was trying not to look at her breasts, as he wanted to keep
his mind clear. Clearer. What had the Flame said yesterday about
Rory’s people? And Rory herself had acted affronted by their
presence, which wasn’t in character for her at all.
    “Aiena was the goddess in charge of
cataloguing Foex’s things after he drank himself to death. Some of
Foex’s creations she used or taught to other gods, like Pelin’s
barrier that has such prominence in the history of Palister. Other
creations were more difficult. Some she buried, and some she
destroyed.”
    Chet swallowed as a wave of self
consciousness washed over him. Journey wasn’t including herself in
this litany of historic events—and interactions with