Shadowplay

CELL 19

In the village three bodies were laid on improvised biers before the village Wikhouse, the Mehewik, a boy and two girls, none older than seven. The Wik priest stood on the steps of the Mehewik and spread his hands in helpless grief. He could not meet the accusing eyes of the Maka, nor could he blame them, whatever happened. He'd pushed for a probe Into the deaths, pulling every string he could get his hands on though he was warned off, told he would be severely disciplined if he persisted; he even tried to reach the Wapaskwen Gospah, but all that brought him was a visit by a triad of Na-priests and an order from the Gospah to cease and desist if he wanted to retain his seat; if he refused he would be declared contumaceous and brought to Aina'iril for re-education at the hands of the Question. He was from a relatively poor but unusually gifted Kiser family and was deeply devoted to the service of Oppalatin and to the Poor Ones beloved of God, the Make working the soil who were His Own Children. The Wik priest looked at the dead children and their kin and was bitterly angry at the hierarchy, at the greed and the maneuvering for influence and power, the corruption of those who should have cared for these Little Ones. He sighed and stared down into his open hands, then quietly took off his cassock, stood there shivering in his underwear. "Wait," he said. He tossed the cassock into the dirt beside the steps and went inside. When he came out, he had on the trousers and sweater he wore when he worked in the garden. He left the door open'behind him and•came down the steps to join the men. "I'll bring him out to you," he said. "What you do, do it quickly and without unnecessary pain; he is a beast, not a man. Give him the swift death of a beast."

They went silently to the?Ispisaco, but the man they sought was not there and no one would say where he had gone.