Page 50 of The Malevolent Eight

‘There’s no such thing as demerits among the higher orders.’

‘How do you maintain discipline, then?’

I thought back to my early years among the Justiciars. ‘When you get out of line, your comrades beat the shit out of you.’

We passed through the front ranks of the recruits. Ahead of us were a troop of Glorian Ardentors. ‘What the fuck do we do when they challenge us?’ Corrigan asked.

‘Simple,’ I replied with greater confidence than I felt. ‘We tell them exactly who I am.’

Chapter 27

Step 3: Blustering

‘You presume to take command of this parade?’ asked the Glorian Ardentor looming over me. He was even bigger than Corrigan; however, size is of comparatively little importance among beings blessed with various lethal Auroral abilities. What matters is making an impression.

Even when I really was part of the great Auroral Song, I’d never been especially powerful. The blessings I’d received from the Lords Celestine certainly set me head and shoulders above common military men, but among my comrades, I’d always been on the weak side. They attributed this to my lack of genuine devotion, which, in retrospect, was probably spot-on. What I lacked in raw power, I made up for in what we might call the subtler Glorian arts.

A Justiciar can’t just go around beating the hell out of every suspect, witness and victim who isn’t sufficiently forthcoming. Nor can you apply too much esoteric pressure on their minds to get the answers out of them, as that tends to, well, burn out their brains. A proper Glorian Justiciar employs what we called the Seven Gazes: a set of glares and stares that can, without physical or mystical violence, make you actually piss your pants.

You want to know what each of the Seven Gazes is called and what it does? How about a detailed description of how it works, what the particular combination of facial expression, posture, distance, variations of vocal tone and silences apply to each one? Oh, and would you also like to know the gradations in each of the Gazes and how one learns to perform them? Well, tough shit. This isn’t some poncey parlour game meant to pique idle curiosity. This is the story of how seven idiot wonderists tried to save the entire Mortal realm from eternal war. In other words, get your fucking priorities straight.

For now, I was dealing with a pair of Glorian Ardentors. These guys are kind of like Glorian Justiciars except instead of pursuing mystical fugitives and administering righteous sentences, they spend their time. . . Actually, I’ve never been quite sure what the hell the point is of Ardentors. It’s something to do with teaching and conditioning flawed beings to become more perfect instruments of the Auroral Sovereign– who, I shouldn’t have to remind you, doesn’t exist.

‘Well?’ demanded the Ardentor. He didn’t sneer at me, exactly, since that’s an unseemly expression on an ostensibly perfect being. But the effect was similar. ‘By what right does a fallen Justiciar seek to take control of my command?’

I hit him with the Gaze of Humility, which isn’t as the name might suggest, an expression and posture in which I show how humble I am. It’s more like the stare your grandmother gives you when she’s caught you masturbating at her kitchen table while eating cookies. At least, that’s the feeling I was instilling in the Ardentor.

‘What is my name?’ I asked him quietly.

Many of his fellows were passing us by on their way to the citadel.

‘Y-you are the Fallen One. Cade Ombra.’

I asked him the same question. Same voice, same cadence.

The Ardentor tried to whack me with the Gaze of Vengeance. ‘You are a betrayer of our order.’

‘Yourorder?’ I asked.

‘You. . . you know what I mean.’

‘I do,’ I conceded, letting him experience just the tiniest hint of victory before pummelling him with the Gaze of Clarity. ‘What is my rank?’ I asked him.

‘Y-you have no ran—’ He stopped himself. When someone hits you with the Gaze of Clarity as hard as I was hitting this guy? You figure out pretty fast that everything you assumed was rock-solid about your reality might be in need of reconsideration. ‘You are. . . Can you truly be the. . . ?’

I nodded without my eyes shifting from his even a fraction of an inch.

Here’s the thing about rank: if you have to tell somebody you’re a general or an Ascendant Prince, you’ve already weakened yourself. After all, anyone can put on the right clothes or insignia andpretendto have a high rank. That’s why having to tell someone your rank inevitably makes them– at least a little bit– suspicious. Makingthemcome up with your rank using nothing but the precision of the way you glare at them? That’s art, motherfucker.

‘The Paladin Justiciar,’ the Ardentor breathed. His colleague actually gaped at me open-mouthed.

‘Three demerits,’ Corrigan said.

So not helpful.

I kept my eyes on the Ardentor and shifted now to the Gaze of Conciliation. This was the only one of the Seven Gazes not meant to cause someone to shit their pants, but instead to feel the warm glow not only of your approval, but of your trust in them.

‘You understand now why I am here and what we must do next?’ I asked him.

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