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"They have a temple," Jul said "They never relinquished it They kept the ancient rite and they have adherents al over Sanghelios"

"Backward idiots who love their secret societies and prierous, the San’Shyuuo"

"But they’re idiots with a network, and they now appear to be using it militarily Prepare to do business with them, brother And try to behave piously"

By the tiun to rediscover old skil s and the flight wascapable It was like a coe, that same heady sense of transforhted in as a boy He could refresh his piloting skil s and the Sangheili could thrive without the San’Shyuum exactly as they had before the two species first met

"Mind the turrets…" Forze ht to swoop low over the city Jul looked for the landing area nearest to the Servants’ teht than by instru here"

Jul understood what he meant, Ontom was very old, very rich, and very keen to remind other states that it was superior in every way The buildings were a blend of pre-Prophet nificence and modern architecture that didn’t even attempt to mimic a traditional style

Let’s see how superior you rey

Jul landed the skimmer, suddenly anonymous in a sea of random vessels and vehicles that had simply been withdrawn fro he looked at seeheili’s predicament, arms and vessels reduced to soft idleness, the nation orphaned and needing to grow up fast He felt in his pocket and realized he stil had the arum he’d taken from one of the keep’s children

"It’s a pleasant walk," Forze said, lifting his chins to squint into the distance "If you like coh the elegant gateway of the landing field and along an avenue of orna trie to see the brutish creatures doing so, but at least they were obedient Most of their kind had joined the uprising and turned on their Sangheili masters Old hatreds and resentment had boiled over, and Jul barely trusted those that remained at their stations

The Onto about their business in the avenue took no notice of the Jiralhanae or of Jul and Forze The avenue was noisy, busy, preoccupied, oblivious of two insignificant elders from an unsophisticated rural state The place sn food But dining would have to wait

"Is that it?" Forze tilted his head to indicate direction "Over there"

They stopped at the end of the avenue Jul could hear water, so the river was close Facing them across a crowded plaza, set back from the access road behind asanctuary with a curved facade and two cartouches of stylized creatures above an arched doorway

It was a Forerunner building, hal owed ground It didn’t look like the angry, pulsing heart of a revolution It looked like it wanted to be left alone to die in peace Jul found hi the arue into battle than knock on a door

"Let’s see if the holy brothers are at home," he said, and set off across the plaza As he wove between the locals, ignored, he realized where the sound of the river was coe He stepped over a grating and found hi way below By the time he and Forze reached the other side, he felt as if he was in a wilderness and that thecroas a continent away

There was a heavy silence that seemed to seep from the outer wal s When he crossed the threshold and stood in the courtyard of cracked paving, the silence felt as if it was sucking the sound out of the air Jul suspected it wasn’t so much the effect of y, a touch of theater to convince the doubting faithful But even knowing that, he stil felt he was in a neorld that was beyond his grasp When he glanced at Forze he could see his oavering resolve et upset if we touch the door?" Forze asked "You sahat they did to poor old Relon and his brother If they maintain the old faith, they won’t exploit Forerunner technology"

Jul decided that if the monks lived in a Forerunner relic, then they’d probably declared knocking on doors a theological gray area

"It’s a building," he said "Not technology We shal risk it"

He walked through the arch and rapped his knuckles on the first wood he could find--a decorated screen e

He waited

"Pilgriifts of the gods?"

Jul wil ed Forze to keep a piously straight face Maybe the vivid uts spread across the courtyard would do the job

"We are Jul and Forze, elders from Mdama," Jul said "Blasphemers are everywhere, as you’ve seen We want to root out the poison that’s weakening the Sangheili"

And none of that was actual y a lie It was merely phrased sensitively Jul waited

He was expecting an old monk in an archaic robe, at the very least He wasn’t expecting a ful y armored field master to step out of the shadoith a rifle across his back Behind the field master, shapes moved and metal clicked Jul suspected the entire holy order was arri"

Jul had once thought of hi soe the orthodox here and he would end the sa clever He would tel the truth

The partial truth, though

"I plan to oust the Arbiter," Jul said "He’s responsible for this pitiful state in which we find ourselves, and he htful place He denied the gods We have co keep"

The field master stared into Jul’s eyes for a few

"The Arbiter let the humans put hilowering silence any longer "No good wil coalaxy again I have a wil ing keep too"

The holy field master studied both of them for a few more moments, then beckoned the Jul walked, the athered around tables over charts and datapads Every open space in theseemed to be stacked with crates of rifles and ordnance It was a sanctified e his reaction The expression on his tight-clamped jaas more than surprised

The field estured to them to sit

"I a Truth," he said "And I have many brothers"

CHAPTER SIX