broke the steganography concealed within the images. Like us, they found that the first two paintings contained parts of the god-formula, and that the third was a ruse, blank of steganographic code.’
Hannah gasped. ‘So it was Vardan Flail who destroyed my parents’ records on the guild’s engines. The jigger realized that my mother had left hidden copies of the god-formula. Destroying my mother’s secret backup was just removing the evidence of his crimes.’
‘The evidence may have gone, but we now have two of the three parts of the god-formula,’ said Jethro.
‘Which of the three paintings of the rational trinity did you recover from the Joshua Egg?’ asked Hannah.
‘The second,’ said Jethro. ‘Discard your beliefs.’
Hannah murmured in appreciation. That image was captured in stained glass back in the cathedral. A man sitting cross-legged in a hall surrounded by the broken idols of a thousand religions, prophets and messiahs. ‘So we have two pieces of the god-formula. But why would Bel Bessant leave two pieces of the code for us to find but not the third?’
‘You will get there shortly. Once you understand what Bel Bessant was creating,’ Jethro continued, ‘you will understand why even a Circlist priest could be driven to commit murder – why William felt he had no choice but to kill his lover when he found out. I have little doubt that just developing the god-formula would have left Bel Bessant dangerously deranged. She may even have started manifesting supernatural powers as a side effect of her work. By the time William realized what Bel was doing, physical violence was probably the only way he could have stopped her before she ascended towards godhood. I fear that towards her end she was no longer right or rational. Your parents uncovered more facts about William in their research, history they decided to bury extremely proficiently. For example, William of Flamewall never actually went on the run from the police when his crime was discovered; he had already set off into the wilderness, acting as the priest on an expedition into Jago’s interior. He was following in the footsteps of Bel Bessant, who had filled much the same position herself with a party of trappers before she began developing the god-formula.’
‘Going outside the city walls with the trappers? That’s dangerous work,’ said Hannah. ‘Was William trying to get himself killed out of some sense of guilt for what he did to Bel?’
‘A little more than that. One of the documents your parents left us was transcribed in something distantly related to ancient Pericurian. It was discovered among Bel Bessant’s possessions during the militia’s investigation into her murder.’ Jethro pointed to Ortin. ‘The good ambassador here was kind enough to have it translated for us.’
‘Yes,’ said Ortin, excitedly. ‘It appears to be the text of a previously unknown tablet from the scripture of the Divine Quad.’
‘We know what it is,’ added Nandi, ‘and your father with his skills would probably have been able to translate it, but the text would have been a complete mystery to William of Flamewall and Bel Bessant. The Jagonese of their era weren’t to lay eyes on an actual Pericurian until many centuries later. Ortin and Chalph’s ancestors believed that Jago was a lost paradise sealed away by their gods somewhere inside the Fire Sea.’ Nandi dug into her satchel and pulled out a reel of paper that looked as if it had been spooled off a transaction engine. Dusting it off, she handed it hesitantly to Hannah. ‘Please read this. It was also among the contents of the Joshua Egg and will clear up a great deal for you, I think. It’s the last document your mother wrote for us, taken from her journal.’
Hannah unfurled the tape and began reading.
This is my last entry before I must leave Hermetica City. It seems as if our fears about who to trust were well-founded and not mere paranoia. George’s boat has been reported lost in the Fire Sea. I can only thank the Circle that our decision to keep Hannah safe here on the island with me was the right one.
The local newspapers say it was an unpredicted peristaltic flow that cut off the boat and then overwhelmed the craft. If that were true, then it would have been a very easy thing for the guild here to arrange. A small alteration in their model of the lava flows, and my darling husband would have been murdered as smoothly as sliding a stiletto blade into his back.
But