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“I’ve come to you now, at the turning of the tide.”
Gandalf the White, The Two Towers
“Everett417,” the knight said as he typed the
username. He looked to his left at Armand, then moved into the password. He
began to type, deliberately thinking about each letter as it spelled out
the protected word.
“What’s the password?” Sydney
asked as she stood behind Everett,
her arms crossed over her red, silk shirt.
“What would
every knight assume it to be?” Edgar answered from next to her, between the
dame and Ledger. “What would be the first thing you would try?”
“Chivalry, probably,” she said, shrugging.
“And you’d be right,” Everett nodded. He hit enter. The login
window disappeared and the whole screen went black. “I’m in,” he announced
grimly.
There was a knock at the door.
Morgan groaned as he opened the front door of his
house. Standing on his tiny stoop of a porch, Marilyn stood before him. “I
gave at the office,” he said, slamming the door shut before the college
girl could say anything.
There was another knock.
“Woman, will you drop it?” he shouted, opening the
door again.
“Everett
won’t answer the phone,” she said pathetically as she waited in the fresh
darkness of nighttime. “I need to talk to him about this weekend.”
“Go by his place,” Morgan answered, already moving to
close the door. Marilyn stepped into the doorway, putting her hand against
the door, having to put her whole body into the effort of keeping it open.
“I feel bad about doing that to him,” she argued,
straining against the closing of the door.
“But it’s okay to do it to me?” he groaned.
“Morgan, I…” She suddenly noticed that over Morgan’s
black pants and blue shirt, he was wearing an apron and yellow rubber
gloves. “Cleaning?” she asked with an amused smile.
“Blood requires a powerful detergent.”
“Are you joking?”
“Maybe,” he responded quickly. “If I’m not, will that
make you leave faster?”
Marilyn stepped back, an expectant look in her eyes.
“You really don’t like me, do you?”
“What ever gave you that idea?” he grumbled, turning
from her and heading back into his kitchen.
“Okay, guys,” Everett said as he came to the
collection of knights gathered around his living room furniture. “I’ve got
directions to the rally this weekend. It’s tomorrow in Louisville.”
“Um, Ev,” Roland ventured, holding up his hand. “I
don’t mean to be a dick about this particular issue, but I think the idea
of going to a KKK rally is a remarkably bad idea. You do realize that only
fifty percent of our population is white. And none of us are Orthodox
redneck racists or whatever they claim to be. And that’s not even touching
on the fact that the knights really, really hate the KKK, more than knights
hate the military.”
“And the KKK’s not too fond of us, either,” Ledger
added in support.
“That’s where the knights say they’re meeting,” Everett said, looking
down at the sheet of paper he had printed off.
“Yes,” Roland nodded. “And this is where that ‘take nothing
as law’ part comes in. A KKK guy could have started all that, just to get
knights to come to one of the largest rallies in the US, just to
start trouble. Because you know if a white sheet and a red shirt get into
the room together, there’s going to be a rumble.”
“What would you suggest?” Everett asked honestly, standing behind
his chair, the paper held limply in his hand. “Not going?”
“Something like that, yeah,” Roland nodded.
“No,” Everett
answered finally. “If even half the information on this ‘knightsnet’ thing
is true, then we need to be a part of this mobilization.”
“Everett,
there’s a reason that Roland and I haven’t shared the info on the
fortress,” Ledger said from the couch. “It’s the same reason that we all
didn’t go and stop, or help, Armand when he was all gung-ho with the World
Alliance about taking on the Brotherhood of the Sun. We give them too much
info and we could, and by could I mean will, start a war.”
Everett
looked at Edgar, but the older man nodded. “Guys, we can’t sit by and do
nothing,” he implored.
“Now you’re starting to sound like Marilyn,” Sydney whispered to
no one.
Morgan hung up the phone that hung on his kitchen
wall. He turned back to Marilyn who waited expectantly. “Who was that?” she
asked as she leaned innocently on the dinette chair across the table from
Morgan.
“You are nosey,” he sarcastically noticed as he
headed back to the sponge on the kitchen counter.
“Come on, Morgan,” she pleaded, moving towards him as
if to intercept his short walk.
“That was Everett,”
he relented. “Apparently, we’re going on some trip tomorrow. And I’m
getting my former-knight self drug along for the joy of it all.”
“Where are you going?”
“Louisville,
apparently,” he grumbled as he sprayed his counter with the white, foaming
disinfectant.
“Louisville?”
Marilyn exclaimed. “He is going to that rally.”
“What rally?” Morgan asked, looking back at her,
suddenly worried.
“Ah,” She said, grinning. “So suddenly, I have
information that you don’t. How’s it feel?”
“Not worth mentioning,” he dismissed, going back to
his cleaning. “I can just go on-line and get whatever info you’ve got.”
Marilyn ignored the chilling comment. “He’s going to
a KKK rally.”
Morgan clamped his eyes shut. “Oh lord,” he muttered under his breath.
“Are you guys going to be riding together?” she
asked.
“Probably not,” he answered. “Seven people’re going,
so we’ll probably take at least two cars.” He looked at Marilyn. “Why?”
“Take me with you,” she demanded.
“No,” he stated clearly, scrubbing his countertop
diligently.
“I’m going with you,” she maintained firmly.
“No you’re not,” he said with a lack of interest.
“Why not?” she asked.
“Because you’re a liability,” he began to rattle off,
scrubbing one spot in particular. “Because you won’t leave me alone. I
could be like Roland and say that it’s because you won’t sleep with me.”
“What?!” Marilyn said, her eyes going wide.
“Sorry, sisters” he said, standing. He tossed his sponge onto the counter.
“You’re going to have to give me at least one reason to take you.”
“Because,” she started with some trouble, still
recovering from his previous comment, “because I can help finance it.”
“I’ll be okay,” Morgan parried with a chortle.
“Because I can help,” she tried.
Morgan nearly
laughed.
“Because I’ve got to,” she begged. “I’ve got to help
you guys out. I know Everett
won’t let me.”
“This is true.
And neither will I.”
“So you’re my
only hope,” Marilyn continued, undaunted.
“Change religions,” he said, pulling off a few sheets
from his paper towel roll. He began to wipe off his counter.
“I’m going with you,” she repeated.
“Keep thinking that,” he said, still paying more
attention to the counter than her. “Right up until I get back.”
“You can’t leave me behind,” she begged.
“Watch me,” Morgan answered.
“Please,” she tried.
“Works on Everett, not me,” Morgan said.
“I’m going with you,” she restated.
“No. You’re not,” he said with a new finality.
“It’s decided,” Everett
said as he hung up his phone. He looked at the five gathered knights who
waited. “I’ve got us all reservations at the hotel. We leave tomorrow for Louisville Kentucky
to attend one of the largest KKK rallies in the US, in the vain hope of meeting
more knights.”
“I still have to protest this, man,” Roland said,
moving with uncertain steps towards the forefront of the crowd of knights.
“I really think we could be wasting our time. Or worse, we could be walking
into a trap.”
“And besides,” Armand added, “we’ll be leaving town,
all of us, just when the Brotherhood’s been going on the offensive. If we
leave, who’s going to handle them if they get uppity?”
“We’ll have to hope for the best,” Everett answered with cynical optimism,
“and get back here as soon as possible.”
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