Other

“Call me Bleys,” said the figure, in a soft but resonant baritone that had the ability to send a thrill—of what, they did not know—through those now listening, even though they knew the man who used it. His eyes were dark brown, dark almost to blackness, under level brows and equally dark brown, slightly wavy hair, cut short about his head.

“I speak for no church,” he said in that oddly memorable, compelling voice, “for no political party or policy. If I am anything, I am only a philosopher: a philosopher in love with humanity; and concerned about its future…”

The voice went on, filling the car, holding the five people captive with its sounds and its words, in spite of their familiarity with the message and the one who spoke it. Only Joshua, glancing for a moment sideways at his father’s face, saw that Henry’s eyes had gone as hard as the blue-white stones of yard and field.

Now a political power on the planet Association, home of the Friendlies, and with his Others in place on all the new worlds, Bleys Ahrens is ready to take his message to the greater human public. He will begin with New Earth itself, taking on its powerful Corporate rulers and equally powerful Guildmasters. Bleys knows that the true road to control of a world is through the hearts of its common people.

But within his inner circle is Henry McLean, Soldier of God, and a True Faith-Holder. Henry fears for the soul of his nephew Bleys, and while he guards, he also watches, and judges.

And outside Bleys Ahrens’s control is Hal Mayne: the one man in all the human worlds who can challenge Bleys for control. For Hal Mayne is the true culmination of the Cycle’s grand design. Bleys would give anything to convert Hal Mayne to his purpose, or failing that, to destroy him.