The J'Argon

Synopsis

The J'Argon sets the myth of the Fisher King and the archetype of the Willing Sacrifice in a future where the United States has become a repressive theocracy. In the rest of the world, ecology is balanced with economy, human rights are paramount, and metaphor and magic are natural aspects of life. In the New Confederate States of the Americas, the elements of earth, air, fire, and water, animals, and birds are commodities, and spirit is manipulated for material power.

The J'Argon is the leader of a spiritual alliance that has voice, but not vote, in 22nd Century global politics. She is the Fourth J'Argon, and the first woman to hold the title since the Covenant was formed to counter the Christian fundamentalists who dismantled the United States in the revolution of 2045. She is the Keeper of the Chalice of the Well, High Priestess of the Old Religion, and direct descendent of the aboriginal people of the British Isles.

January 2, 2157, is the eve of her annual Death Trance, during which she seeks spiritual direction for herself and the Planet for the year to come. When she awakens, three days later, she finds that her partner and lover, Michael Benedict, the Arch Deacon of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., has sent encrypted ID holographs to her retreat site. Once again, refugees need their assistance to escape the Confederate Regime. But these refugees -- fraternal twins -- are members of the Dominator Elite of Confederate Society. They are not fleeing economic or political injustice, but gross institutional evil.

As required by the laws of the Confederacy, Debbie Powers was separated from her family at age six, as all girls are, and sent away to the government convents. Her twin brother John, as is customary for boys, remained with the family -- and participated fully in the Base Communities of the Resistance. He was to overthrow the theocracy from the inside, and to that end, became a brilliant preacher, the young darling of the Confederacy's Guardian Elite. Their parents never dreamed that the Regime would have its own diabolical plans. When John chose a bride from among the elite women's schools, the Guardians made sure that he chose his own sister -- intending that their unwitting incest would breed a race of avenging angels to bring the entire world under the thrall of one belief system.

For years, the Arch Deacon has played a clandestine role in the Liberation Underground founded by his great-grandmother. He is an Episcopalian priest, grounded in both the official literalist religion and the prophetic liberation theology of the Resistance. He has been profoundly influenced by the J'Argon's wisdom, and her ability to walk between the realms of Spirit and waking consciousness. His Anglican mysticism and practical training in non-violence assure that when the Twins arrive at the Cathedral claiming Sanctuary, he is not unprepared.

The Arch Deacon, his associate, Father James (a Michaeline Adept), and the Twins borrow a sun-car and run for the border with the Dakota Federation along the Au Sable River near Grayling, in the former State of Michigan. The Twins and Father James escape across the partially frozen river, but the Arch Deacon is captured by the Confederate National Guard.

Michael's backpack contains damaging evidence of his liberation theology and his relationship with the J'Argon. He anticipates torture and death at the hands of the Regime. The Arch Deacon possesses a full measure of courage, but he will actualize his personal Power only when his faith and integrity are cruelly tested.

The President of the Confederacy sends Michael for interrogation by one of the most powerful Guardians in the American Church hierarchy, and orders a Colonel -- a bitter, angry, and violent young woman -- to assist. Michael is taken to the National Cathedral and confined to the Resurrection Chapel. Cardinal Augustine, a power-mad, sexually obsessed, fundamentalist terrorist, has sold out to the heresy that Satan is the ruler of the world. When the original plan for the twins is foiled, Augustine and his mentor, Cardinal Kramer, Prefect of the Vatican's Inquisition, create a substitute -- an Elemental, tied to Augustine's Will.

The Arch Deacon's captivity provides Augustine a perfect opportunity to bring the Elemental to life. He attempts to break Michael's spirit so that the Creature can feed on raw emotion, but a sympathetic Jesuit doctor dilutes the psychotropic I-V drugs. The Colonel murders the doctor, but Augustine defeats himself when he underestimates the Arch Deacon's strength of character. In a drug-induced vision, straight from the Revelation of John -- the founding scripture of the Confederacy -- the Goddess, crowned with stars, the moon at her feet, tells Michael that together they will fight the Dragon "as we have from the beginning, for those with the wisdom to see it." The Colonel tortures Michael, slowly slashing his cheek with a surgical scalpel, but he finds within himself authentic magic -- the art of changing consciousness at will -- and she succumbs to madness. Then, in the act that he believes will ensoul the Elemental, Augustine orchestrates a travesty of the Pagan Great Rite. Michael, his wounded cheek burned with a laser, his mind numbed by drugs and toxic incense, is compelled to rape the Colonel. The Elemental takes on corporeality as sexual energies build. Michael's Spirit arcs toward the Creature. But as he surrenders to horror, Michael reclaims his soul. Augustine, his purpose thwarted, beats Michael nearly to death.

The J'Argon goes incognito to Washington, D.C. to rescue the mortally wounded Arch Deacon, supported by an intrepid group of Liberation Warriors and spiritual allies, including her mentor, Native American Shaman, Shenandoah; Pèère Jean-Claude, S.J.; Marsha, a Liberation Warrior in charge of communications; Ibrahim, a Muslim taxi driver; Andy Kaye, owner of the Safehouse at 10th & O Streets; and Zeke, an African-American elder, who matches the J'Argon, spell-for-spell.

With Zeke and Marsha as guides, the J'Argon, Shenandoah, Father James, and John Powers enter the Cathedral to liberate the Arch Deacon, but John is enamored with the legend of the Grail Finder who dies for the wounded Fisher King. He is convinced that if he takes the Arch Deacon's place, the people will rise up and overthrow the Regime. The J'Argon knows John is a spiritual naif who has no concept of the nature of the occult evil Augustine is dabbling in. She warns him this spiritual wasteland has long forgotten any connection with the Grail metaphor. Their argument results in nearly disasterous delay and they narrowly escape the returning Guardian Patrol. Zeke and Marsha forcibly remove John from the prison. He cannot understand the nature of the Resistance where leadership is flexible, and commitment is absolute. He is determined to start the Rising on his own, regardless of the circumstances.

The Arch Deacon, marked by the gods with a white lightning blaze along his cheek bone, awakens to a new spiritual partnership with the J'Argon. With the Adept assistance of Father James and Shenandoah, the J'Argon takes Michael through a ritual confession that heals all psychic trauma. He asks her forgiveness for everything he was forced to do while drugged and/or unconscious. Mairi must take this injustice into herself and forgive him, or she will deny him his true Power. Her forgiveness heals their relationship, and reveals his vision: The J'Argon, as the manifestation of the Lady in Revelation, and the Arch Deacon, as the manifestation of the Archangel Michael, will defeat the evil embodied in Cardinal Augustine -- but one will die in Michael's place.

As the Company prepares to leave the City through an underground path beneath the Capitol Dome, John Powers deliberately turns himself in to the authorities. When the J'Argon and the Arch Deacon try to stop him, all three are arrested and taken back to the Cathedral.

The J'Argon enchants the Colonel into putting her into an adjoining cell with the Arch Deacon, who is desperately weak. A stab wound sustained in his side during Augustine's murderous attack has reopened and become infected. To heal him, the J'Argon raises a magical sphere, which takes her deep beneath the Cathedral foundations where the bones of long-forgotten Ancient Ones are buried. At first these spirits are angry at her disturbance. But she brings them moonlight as her gift, and promises to bring reconciliation between them and the people if only they will assist her in healing the Arch Deacon. The Spirits agree.

Meanwhile, John is confined in the Arch Deacon's place in the Resurrection Chapel. He confuses his perceived role as martyr to the faith and savior of the Fisher King with his own desire for personal power. He attempts to make a deal with Augustine, and is sent to his death. As the soldiers hustle him past the J'Argon's cell, she sends her spirit after him on the afternoon sunlight, but she is too late. Augustine murders him and drains his blood into a silver bowl as sacrifice to the Elemental. John does indeed die in the Arch Deacon's place, as he wished. The J'Argon, in devastating grief, is determined to confront the Cardinal then and there, but the Arch Deacon at last blossoms into equal Power and Partnership. He pulls her back from the Astral Planes, and reminds her that they will fight the Dragon together.

The Colonel sarcastically applauds this scene from the door connecting their cells, and announces they are next on the Cardinal's agenda. She takes them out to the Bishop's Garden. She mocks them, and fires laser bursts, which traumatize the J'Argon with auric spasms of migraine. Then the Colonel tosses her suncar ignition card to the Arch Deacon. One last full-power laser sends Mairi into total collapse in Michael's arms. He invites the Colonel to come with them, but she laughs and walks away into the maze.

The Arch Deacon drives his disabled companion back to Andy Kaye's Safehouse, and finds that Marsha and Zeke have brought John's martyred body. Deb calls for the Rising.

With the offering of John's blood, it is time to test the Elemental. Kramer suggests using it to terrorize Pèère Jean-Claude, in retaliation for the Jesuit's call for the abolition of Kramer's Vatican position. At midnight, Augustine at last surrenders his own mind, will, and blood to the Creature. His identity disintegrates into a wraith of smoke in the young Jesuit's bed chamber. At first Augustine thinks he can just suffocate him, but Jean-Claude wakes up and throws the casement window open. Augustine/ Elemental is sliced to ribbons on tendrils of icy air.

The J'Argon wakes at her lover's call from the dream world. She trances into his dream, and joins him in combat with a winged creature made of fire and smoke -- Augustine. Together they attempt to defeat him, but instead they are all transported to a quiet cave, where the Arch Deacon offers salvation. The J'Argon, Keeper of the Chalice, also offers eternal life through the communion of the Holy Grail, but Augustine rejects grace, and morphs into his control, Kramer. The scene shifts to a wooded glade, where the Goddess and her consort, the Horned God, offer love. Kramer has nothing but contempt for them. The J'Argon, as the Lady, speaks the Word, and banishes him from the Garden. Michael and Mairi return from the dream world as fire consumes the Bethlehem Chapel, trapping Augustine.

But the Cardinal is not dead; he has spontaneously entered his own Death Trance. In a final public ritual, the J'Argon reconciles the Spirit of the Land with the Spirit of the People, and Augustine wakes. It was not his plan. He did not wish to be reborn.
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