Kandah
continued, “Ok, well, we know that she's the mother of human kind
as we know it, yes?”
“Erm,
yeah”
“That
wasn't a question Anjali. Right, we also know that she fought the
Great Enemy, and that she was almost defeated, but she managed to
wound it somehow.”
“Yeah”
“And
that because she only wounded The Great Enemy, our race has been
fighting The War ever since. And the rest of history is about how we
came from virtual savagry to what we are today. But, it was Victori
who started it all.”
“Yeah,
ok, I'm with you so far.”
“So,
the question is...actually, what is the question? You haven't asked
me anything other than what I already knew.”
Excited
that she might know something that Khandah might not know, Anjali
relished the moment perhaps a little longer than she would, or
should.
“Anjali,
what is it? You've got that look about you, like you know something!
What is it?”
“What
would you say if I told you that today I was holding a copy of the
original document written by Victori herself?”
“What
do you mean a copy of the original? You really didn't learn anything
in Humanica did you? Only first hand evidence counts, so either the
original, or nothing at all. What did it say?”
“I
don't know, I didn't get to look at it that close, I mean, I had it
in my hand, but just for a moment, then Vedas … “
“Vedas!
That old fool? What's he doing with it?”
“I
dunno, he said he was a Keeper or sommet.”
“You
mean a Keeper of the Makarium?”
“Yeah,
that was it, he said he was entrusted to keep special documents and
artefacts.”
“You
know that The Makarium tried him once, under the anti-heratical acts,
'cos he claimed to be in possession of artefacts that questioned the
existence of human-kind!”
“Yeah,
I think I heard something like that, thats why nobody really belives
what he says though, isn't it?”
“Well
the story goes that he was to be tried, but the then Grand Laywer
held a hearing in secret and old Vedas came out as a Keeper of the
Makarium.”
“Part
of that is true at least, cos he did have that copy, I even held it
in my hands for a bit, managed to see something.”
“Really?
What?”
“Just
a name, doesn't mean much to me, even when I looked it up.”
“What
name, what name?”
“Wulfren.
Does that mean anything?”
“Hmmm,
I've heard that name before, I'm sure it was mentioned in class, let
me see, what would it be in? Ah, I know, the Encyclopedia Humanis.”
Reaching
up to her upper most shelf, Kandah pulled down a large old book, what
the librarians of old would have called a Tome, it's leather cover
covered in years of dust. It fell onto the table with a loud thump,
as though the knowledge held on it's pages actually had mass. It's
spine creaking as Kandah opened it's pages.
“Wulfren,
Wulfren. What would that be under then? Hmmmm”
“Isn't
there a list of contents or something, like with a Vault-Pad? I guess
there's no search bar!”
“Ah,
actually Anjali, you're wrong there, there is a search bar, of sorts
anyway, it's called an Index!”
Flipping
to the very back pages, Kandah showed Anjali the index, and quickly
found a reference to Wulfren there, just a single article in the
whole Encyclopedia. Turning to the page, and flowwing her finger
down, she soon found it, and was sorely disappointed.
“Is
that is? Is that all it has to say?”
“What?
What does it say? Kandah!”
“Oh!
Sorry. It says;
“Wulfren:
The mythological opposite of Victori.
He was once her partner. The
Enemy
made it's war, and he was lost, this is why The
Sign of the Makarium
is shouting a battle cry. This cry is the inspiration of the whole of
humankind society.”
Nothing
that says if he actually existed or not though!”
“Gawd!
I knew that already!”
Immediately
Anjali knew she had slipped up, that she was going to have to tell
Kandah about her trinket. Maybe she didn't hear her, maybe she got
away with it.
“What
do you mean, you knew that already?”
“Erm,
just that, I know that...”
“You
were actually listening in class then?”
“Err,
yeah, sort of …. “
Anjali
was gald of the escape route that Kandah had just given her, she had
to keep her trinket a secret, for now anyway.
“Strange,
I don't remember that class, I must have missed it”
“Yeah,
I think you did, you had extra science or something, that was why I
listened for once, cos I didn't have you to tell me what happened
after”
“Hmm,
makes sense. But doesn't help us any, that article says nothing much,
and by the sounds of it, thats all there is, oficially anyway.”
“Yeah,
a dead end. Now what?”
“Anjali,
we need to see Vedas' copy, or whatever it is he's got!”
“What?
How? We can't just walk in there and pick it up you know!”
With
a hint of a plan in her eyes, Kandah replied, “Maybe we can, just
maybe”
