Destiny's Queen 14

 

Chapter 14

 

 

Phaedros followed the thread of power to the side of the old temple to Selen. Doubtless there were many subterranean levels which Harkon had not entirely destroyed with his whirlwind passage out, in the part occupied by the worshippers of Aima.

“Who goes there?” a pair of rough-looking men stepped forward.

“I heed the call of the blood queen,” said Phaedros, dreamily.

“Who is that with you?”

“My body slave will see to my apparel whilst I satisfy the blood queen’s needs,” said Phaedros.

They regarded him. Rynn hung back, and kept her eyes lowered, dropping to the squat which was the position of submission of trógling.

“He’s pretty enough,” said one of them.

“I’ll show him to the high priest,” said the other.

Rynn followed as Phaedros was led forward. A building had been erected, probably using the labour of Nekrosti, and they were led inside. Rynn worshipped Kaz as well as Alethos, and made use of the spell to merge with shadows, which would make her almost completely ignored. There were a lot of shadows in the temple to Aima, and Rynn followed down several flights of steps, managing to slip through doors before they were closed behind her. She knew from Alethosian teachings that powerful bloodsuckers could put out a call of hunger and attract the weak minded to them; and not always the weak minded, if others were caught unawares.

They went into a luxurious suite of rooms where Rynn sensed undead, and fought to keep herself under control; here was the chief priest in candlelit splendour, the lighting doubtless for the convenience of the human servants and initiates. Several chained girls were reclining on the bed and sofas. They looked half drugged, and probably were. Rynn was careful to stay merged with the shadows and move slowly and with deliberation when the high priest bloodsucker looked away; he probably would not be fooled as human eyes would be.

“This one has felt our goddess’s hunger and longs to offer himself to her,” said the human.

“So young and full of blood, so fair, so lively,” murmured the vampire, cupping Phaedros’s face in his hand. “Oh, not a devotee to the joys of two snakes, eh? Well, perhaps if the Blood Queen finds him vigorous enough, she might share him before finishing him. I will take him through; you may go.”

Rynn was much relieved.

Following the bloodsucker would be easier than crossing the room under his eye.

 

If the bloodsucker’s apartment was sumptuous, that of his goddess made it look plain. Crimson velvet hung in drapes everywhere, and on the floor was a carpet of silk, in black with red roses. Golden roses and caryatids held the drapes, and a goblet shaped like an opened rose stood on a side table.

“You have brought me a most worthy gift, Antonax,” purred Aima, regarding Phaedros intently. “And he is not unpowerful so he will last better than some.” Phaedros was hiding most of his power by having placed a reserve on the godplane, in the way many gods used when wanting to interact with mortals, so as not to overwhelm them. Aima was not bothering to subdue her aura, but used it to intimidate and fascinate. Rynn fought it; she was used to being in the presence of more powerful deities than Aima, after all.

The bloodsucker bowed deeply, and withdrew. Aima regarded Phaedros. She was beautiful, with white skin, dark red hair, and red lips. The red eyes were more disturbing, but her pupils were large, making them seem merely dark.

“You may undress,” she said to Phaedros,  in a husky voice.

Phaedros undressed. It was part of the plan, as all his skin could glow, and the more available to glow, the better. Rynn admired his body as he revealed it; she had seen it in the bath house before, but this time, he was undressing carefully, for effect. Aima moved aside the blood red robe she wore, revealing herself naked underneath it. Her body was full, and lush, and rounded.  Phaedros managed an appropriate reaction, and Rynn suppressed a growl. There would be no point if he could not manage to act appropriately.

Phaedros was struggling. The damned woman was hypnotic! He had achieved a reaction by thinking about Rynn, as he did not find the Blood Queen especially appetising, but her voice, the scent she exuded, the power control were all making him dizzy. He was supposed to do something.

There was a sharp pain in one foot, and Phaedros shook his head as he came back to himself with Rynn biting one toe.

And he glowed. The dark sultry chamber became filled with daylight. Achingly, pure daylight.

And Aima screamed.

The door opened, and the bloodsucker rushed in, and screamed in pain and terror to be met with pure sunlight, the scream bubbling in his throat as his body dessicated and fell to dust in the brightness of Phaedros’s glow.

“That’s the way to do it!” crowed Rynn. “First time you’ve ever killed an enemy with your bum!”

Phaedros managed a chuckle as he reached for Aima’s throat with his glowing hands. Rynn’s sword burst into flame as she came to support him, thrusting it into the goddess’s heart, feeling it quiver against the burning iron of her sword.  Aima screamed, and Rynn handed Phaedros a knife, which he used to cut off her head. She was no longer beautiful, but like a thing of melted wax; but her spirit hurled itself on Phaedros in fury. Rynn could use her magical blade to distract the vengeful deity’s spirit, but Phaedros was the only one close to being a match, linking with his stored power to boost his own kormajaia to try to destroy her being, so that she could never reform on the god-plane even over long years. He slipped out of his body, trusting Rynn to guard it, as he clung to the spirit of the blood queen. Phaedros had come a long way from the rather naive, helpless demigod who had been so gently laughed at by the group around Kaz that he had joined, some years previously; he was now a hard-bodied warrior, who knew how to attack with his will in spirit form as well. Phaedros was accustomed to box and wrestle with Alethos; and he did not hold back.

 

oOoOo

 

“Daze! Do something! Aima is under attack by the son of Pollonis!” shrieked Selen.

“Oh, don’t worry about that fatuous fool,” said Daze. “I told you, I assumed the form of Pollonis to fool his mother and made sure he was not taught well. I had his tutors drawn from those who use all the old forms and posturing in swordplay, not the modern forms.”

“What do you mean, Daze? What modern forms? Is it true what Thanos was whining about, then, that the way of fighting has changed?”

“Oh, yes, these humans are pretty inventive. I don’t know how it works though; why would I care? If he became too efficient, you might have noticed him more than me. But Phaedros is no threat, he was mocked by the Alethosi, and no demi-god would take that without despising them.”

“Oh, no, of course not. That was foolish of them – arrogant bastards that they are, but there’s always been a rivalry between them and the sunspears. I suppose he’s attacking Aima to try to make a name for himself to show up the Alethosi. Well, even if he destroys the body she’s using she will rip him to shreds spiritually, and maybe she will then be able to use his sun powers to give her people immunity to the rays of the sun,” said Selen, diverted. “That would really be an advantage if our bloodsuckers could work in daylight!”

 

oOoOo

 

Phaedros was grimly aware that if Aima got the upper hand, his destruction by her spirit could hand her a weapon which would make her and her bloodsuckers ten times more deadly than they already were, and that this was the fight of his life. And it was hard. He was more powerful than he had been when he had first set out into the world, confident that as a demigod, he would be able to show the party he was to work with a thing or two; and his embarrassment at the foolish youth he had been was something he had lived down and accepted as part of the learning process. Phaedros had learned to take loving teasing from friends, and to improve himself accordingly. And that meant attacking Aima judiciously, not charging in bull-headed. He worked on testing her spirit defences, rather than overreaching himself, boxing small, always on his guard. Aima had protective spirits around her, also attacking him, small irritations, but as Kaz said, the best warrior in the world can be nibbled to death by an excess of mice.

Watching, Rynn was worried, spirits moved so fast, she was afraid to use her sword in case of hitting Phaedros. She cast mining cantrips on her finger nails to gouge but still, it was not enough.  She shut the door and locked it, removing the key, and made the stone surround creep forward, preventing the door from being easily battered inward. She had not separated her spirit from her body before, but she had seen it done, so she lay down, and eased her essence out of her body.

And then she was in the spirit world with Aima and Phaedros, and sundry protective spirits also attempting to attack her beloved. It seemed that believing in her fingernails being strong and sharp worked in the spirit world too, and she chased away the supporting spirits; and then dug her fingernails deep into Aima.

The blood queen shrieked at this extra attack. Rynn grabbed one of her pseudo-arms and cast the cantrip ‘wring’ to twist it. There were no counters to laundry cantrips, which had not been designed as offensive spells; it was merely a question of Rynn’s will overcoming that of Aima’s. And Rynn’s will was grimly firm in protecting the man she loved.

Aima attempted to bite; even as a spirit, her bite could drain essence from a foe.

Phaedros, nothing loth to use any and all means, bit her back. Only instead of going for her neck, he bit her nose. Aima flailed, wildly.

“Glow, Phaedros; you can still glow!” said Rynn.

Phaedros held his grip on Aima’s nose hard, and let himself glow.

It worked. And Aima screamed as the purity of a spirit of light burned her chaos and evil.  It was a rather nasal scream. Rynn raked her back, and dug in her finger nails, reaching round Aima’s head to stick them in the goddess’s eyes, and tear them out, thrusting into the seat of her thought.

And then, it was virtually over. Phaedros reached into Aima’s essence to burn the seat of her undead power, destroying the glyph that was a part of her being, directing Rynn to rip out the glyphs of death and fertility which gave immortality. He wanted nothing of the dying goddess for himself, being immortal already, save to prevent her from returning.  But that meant that he and Rynn between them must consume every part of her power.

It took time, and Aima fought bitterly for her existence, trying to break away from the two implacable spirits, who would not let her go.

“Please!” she cried.

“How many poor souls pleaded with you as you drained them dry?” said Rynn. Phaedros had wavered, but this hardened him. Beauty was not always truth or goodness. And finally, with a thin scream, Aima’s spirit disintegrated.

Two weary young people collapsed back into their bodies, lying on the preposterous crimson-covered bed.

Rynn kissed Phaedros.

“Darling, I love you, but not here,” said Phaedros. “It would soil us.”

“Good point,” said Rynn. “What about the women?”

“I’ll call in Cousin Thyella; part of her portfolio is women who have been hurt who are finding themselves,” said Phaedros.

“Perfect,” said Rynn. “I’m hungry.”

“There’s bound to be a kitchen for the human initiates,” said Phaedros, getting up and starting to dress. “If I glow as we go, it’ll take care of any undead, and we kill everyone else as we go, get something to eat, and go join Harkon in the new temple to Alethos.”

“And fortified with food we can take out more bloodsuckers and the temple spirit,” said Rynn, happily.

“You Alethosi!” laughed Phaedros. “Yes, it makes sense. Oh, and you’ll have to let us out.”

“Oh, yes,” said Rynn. “I hear hammering on the door. You glow, and I’ll hit people with my burning sword, and then we go looking for the kitchens.”

Those hammering on the door turned out to be some human initiates backed up by nekrosti; but the nekrosti were moving slower, and in an unco-ordinated way. The magic which held their bodies together was failing since the passing of the goddess whose power made them, and they were imbued only with what the human or bloodsucker creators had given them, the least part of their makeup. Rynn abjured them with Alethosian spell, and, already damaged, they fell into dust. The humans tried to flee, but did not get far.

“Thyella!” called Phaedros. “Come and rescue these women!”

Thyella turned up with the inevitable smell of ozone.

“Goodness, Phae, this is not the sort of place your mother would like you frequenting,” she teased.

“Funnily enough, I find myself entirely unmoved by that thought,” said Phaedros. “See you around; we’re looking for the kitchens.”

Thyella sniggered.

“They’re so very young,” she murmured, before releasing the bloodsucker’s captives, and taking them back to the temple of Latrika.

It seemed the easiest thing to do.

 

“What will happen to the bloodsuckers?” asked Rynn.

“As I understand it, when they reach glyph level, they ritually commit suicide, and Aima binds their souls back into their bodies.  And at the full moon they have to feed, though they may feed at other times; but their ability to convert blood to maintain their bodies is essentially a glyph-spell which she is no longer going to power, so they are going to start to decay.”

“So, we’re still going to have to kill them in the meantime?”

“Yes, but not until we’ve eaten some of the beef which is on that spit,” said Phaedros, as they found the kitchens. “You lot! You’re free to go, now get the hell out of here!” he barked at the servants. “You can serve yourselves a meal first,” he added, compassionately, “As long as there’s plenty for us too.”

 

Destiny;s Queen 13

 

Chapter 13

 

Phaedros left Harkon and his fellow Alethosi to their rapid disassembly of the Thanusi hierarchy and the replacement of the consecration to Alethos.

“Kaz was spitting nails to be left,” said Rynn. “But someone has to watch various children and look out for Mesolimnos; and she needs to be on top form to handle the trickster and then help with Selen.”

“We have her prayers, and the offer to draw on her for power,” said Phaedros. “You could stay with the others, you know, and be safer.”

“You need someone to watch your back,” said Rynn. “They will write me off as your slave.  How are you going to find her?”

“I am following a thread of power,” said Phaedros. “When I am close, doubtless we shall be challenged; but in the open by those worshippers short of glyph-rank, who are still human, and aspire to the dubious status as blood suckers. They are as nothing, but will take me to her, for a good looking man who seeks her will intrigue her. And I think I am not ill looking.”

“You’re beautiful,” said Rynn.

“You are lovely to me, you know,” said Phaedros. “And though I may compliment Aima, in order to get close to her, it is you that I admire.”

“Can you really feel so?” asked Rynn.

“Dost question it when it is thee I ever turn to as mine companion?” asked Phaedros.

“Would... would a kiss for luck be out of place?” asked Rynn.

“Not in the least,” said Phaedros, and kissed her.

Rynn clung to him.

“I will help you rend her,” she growled.

 

oOoOo

 

Ralthur put a hand on Sjurgi’s arm; not a restraining hand, but one to get her attention.

“You’re bubbling with anger,” he said. “It’s not wise, going into a fight of any kind. Do you want to talk about it?”

“Thanus failed me,” said Sjurgi. “But it’s all of a piece. You will have heard that I took lovers to rise, and to learn, and gain me position, and it’s true enough; and I hated every minute of it. I have hated men, who accord me no respect, but expect me to respect them for nothing more than having their privates dangling in the wind, and not subject to the monthly curse.”

“You’ve discovered that Latrika has remedies to ease that, I hope?” said Ralthur.

“Yes, and I appreciate it. And I also find that Alethosi men treat me with more respect,” said Sjurgi. “I... I find I can have friends, besides my brother.”

“I like you,” said Ralthur. “I have always admired you, as a warrior, and as a woman. I would like the opportunity to court you.”

“I... I do not know,” said Sjurgi. “What is expected in the bedroom is painful and humiliating.”

“It is not supposed to be painful or humiliating,” said Ralthur. “Will you give me the opportunity to show you that I can give you pleasure, not pain?”

“I... I know you speak truth as you believe it,” said Sjurgi. “I will give you the opportunity to show me; but I want to make it clear that if you respect me, you will stop when I say stop.”

“That is fair enough,” said Ralthur. “And if you do not like it, I pledge that I will not pester you, nor will it stop me seeing you as a friend and a comrade.”

“That... nobody can say fairer,” said Sjurgi.

 

oOoOo

 

Lelyn wrung, scrubbed, ironed,  and folded the temple spirit, whilst the rest winnowed through the pitifully few priests and initiates in the temple of Thanus; there were scarcely thirty of any rank, which was no challenge to Harkon, Ralthur, Protasion, and Sjurgi, especially with Crondion, Dróg, and Tallys along. The lay servants hovered.

“Stay out of the way, and your jobs will be secure,” said Harkon. “If you object to the temple being changed to that of Alethos, I suggest you leave, and seek employment elsewhere.”

They disappeared into their quarters below.

And then Thanus manifested in the temple as Harkon was about to reconsecrate it.

“What are you doing?” demanded the Selenite god of death, shrilly.

“Desecrating your temple and stealing it for Alethos, old boy; what’s it look like?” said Harkon, offensively. He could sense the approximate level of power of the god, and gasped. “Really?” he said. “How have you managed to remain so feeble? You’re scarcely any more powerful than a tough hero, have you seriously been wasting your time mooning after Selen – no pun intended – when you should have been working on your worship base and growing your portfolio? You poor sap, you have, haven’t you?”

Thanus gaped.

“Run and flee from me, for I am the god of death!” he cried.

“A god of death, and a fairly feeble one,” said Harkon. “Why not give it up? Come back to Alethos, come and be our brother, and forget this foolishness. We would welcome you and aid you if you just abjure that manipulative wench.”

“I love Selen, and I will not turn my back on her! I will obliterate you!”

Harkon sighed, shrugged, and turned to Sjurgi.

“He’s all yours,” he said. “He’s an idiot, and he knows he’s an idiot, but if he cannot renounce it, then he needs to be a dead idiot.”

“Thanus! Do you know who I am?” demanded Sjurgi.

“Why should I know you, wench?” said Thanus.

“Considering you trained me, on Selen’s command, I cannot think that you have trained so many female warriors,” said Sjurgi.

His eyes widened slightly.

“Thea Drex? Though of course a female warrior is a contradiction in terms. You learned enough for Selen to show off, like a dancing dog,” said Thanus, dismissively.

“It was the name they saddled me with,” said Sjurgi. “I go by my birth name, Sjurgi Gordsdottir now, and stand by my brother, Harkon. I see now that your poor training of me was deliberate because you did not want or expect me to succeed.”

“I taught you everything you could learn, you wretched wench,” said Thanus. “And now I will punish you, and have you weeping and begging my pardon.”

“In your archaic dreams,” said Sjurgi. “Fight me, you bastard. I have worked hard to make myself a heroine, and I have sworn to oppose you.”

“You have asked for this; but your friends had better not interfere.”

“We’re Alethosi; we don’t interfere in an honour duel,” said Harkon, scornfully. “Sjurgi is in theory an equal match to you, since you chose not to grow.”

Thanus took up a stance, which Harkon absently named to himself as ‘hawk hovers above;’ classically this was the forerunner to ‘stooping falcon descends upon its prey,’ or ‘waterfall brings icy retribution.’ Of the two, the former was the more subtle, but either could only theoretically be countered by a defensive move like ‘swinging gate bars the way.’ Sjurgi did not attempt to parry the vicious downstroke, but stepped to one side away from it for a push stroke on Thanus’s forearm where it descended unprotected, her sword swinging in a moulinet to meet his blade at the end of its stroke and put pressure on his wrist.

“What? That is not the proper counter, I did not teach you that!” said Thanus.

“No, because all you taught me was to posture. Alethos and his followers taught me how to fight,” said Sjurgi, in scorn. “You are open to me, because you have spent that stroke, and become off balance.”

“But there is only one counter to it,” said Thanus.

“No,  there is only one counter that you can see, you old fool,” said Sjurgi. “Because there are new styles.”

“That is cheating!”

“Do you think the ultimate god of truth would permit cheating?” said Sjurgi, sword on low guard waiting for him. “No, it is that Alethos can learn, and change, and adapt, and you cannot. Now, fight, old man, and try to at least make it a match.”

Thanus yelled in anger, and raised his sword to chest height, attempting to cross cut; and Sjurgi’s blade met his, parried small, and followed up to cut his thigh. Again and again, Thanus came in to attack, and every time Sjurgi stopped his best efforts, often making a follow-up move to wound him.

Thanus started blowing, his breath sobbing in frustration and pain.

“Don’t play with him, sister,” said Harkon.

“He loved to play with me, and hurt me,” said Sjurgi. “He resented being told to train me.”

“You are better than that,” said Harkon.

Thanus thought to take advantage of her preoccupation in speaking to Harkon, and made a lunge; Sjurgi knocked the blade further down, turned on the moulinet, and brought her blade up into the god’s belly, cleaving him almost in half. And Thanus realised in horror that within his own temple he was more vulnerable to wounding than anywhere else, even as he would be in his own portion of the underworld. He could not heal damage to what was his actual body, not a pseudobody made to manifest, and he had no power to draw on in the bound temple spirit, which was being attacked, and indeed, destroyed, as he fought. He had taken himself into a trap, and he suddenly, in awful clarity, realised it.

“But it cannot be!” Thanus managed as blood bubbled out of his lips.

“Let Alethos take you, brother!” called Harkon to his departing spirit.

“He won’t,” said Sjurgi. Her spirit engaged that of Thanus, seeking for, and tearing out the glyphs of immortality, for her own use. She left the rest of his spirit to flee; now he was truly dead, and could not re-form a body, even in his own domains.

“I had to try,” said Harkon. “Well! Let us consecrate this place.”

 

Alethos joined them as Harkon chanted the proper prayers.

“Did he...?” asked Sjurgi.

Alethos shook his head; tears stood in his eyes.

“He is constant to his love, even though he knows deep down she is not constant to him. And now, she will expend him in her attempts to save herself, and he will be destroyed. I loved him like a son.”

“Go to Kaz, and cry your fill, dear Alethos,” said Harkon, embracing his god.

“I shall,” said Alethos. “Well done, Sjurgi.”

“I was disappointed at how easy it was,” said Sjurgi. “I... I thought I hated him, but I feel numb.”

“It’s because, in the end, he is less important in your mind than you realised, dear one,” said Alethos. “And as such, you pity the poor limited thing that he was more than you exult over having prevailed.”

“That makes sense,” said Sjurgi.

Ralthur put an arm around her; and she leaned into him.

“You can move on,” said Ralthur. “He was... ossified, as all of us who trained under the old forms were, until shown new ways. I am here;  and you can now grow.”

“Yes. Yes, I can,” said Sjurgi.

 

oOoOo

 

Selen was drawn to the underworld, to the place of souls, where she scowled at Alethos.

“Which of my worshippers have your people massacred now?” she demanded.

“Depends if you count his people in with yours,” said Alethos, laconically. “Thanus chooses to go to you, not to come to me.”

Selen stared.

“Selen! I am loyal to you!” cried Thanus.

“You fool! How did you get yourself killed?” demanded Selen.

“I... it was Thea Drex,” said Thanus. “She was fighting in a different style to the one I taught her, and she did not use the forms and postures at all! I could not counter it!”

“Is this why so many of my people who worship you are killed? Because you can’t teach them the new ways things are done? What a waste of time it was to attract you to me, you have done nothing but hang around me, without keeping up with what’s going on!”

“You can talk!” cried Thanus. “You snatched my people and sent them to their deaths without arranging food for them, or other supplies!”

“Well, there was plenty of dirt around, humans grub in dirt for food, why didn’t they eat it?”

“Because they don’t eat dirt, they plant seeds which grow into plants!” growled Thanus. “Are you stupid, or something?”

“Oh, I can’t allow you to speak like that to me, my dead hero,” said Selen. “I shall have to think of a special punishment for your soul... maybe I will consume it almost to fully drained, and then make you gain it back without worship, as I will take all your people from you.”

“Thanus...” said Alethos.

The soul turned to him, insubstantial tears on his insubstantial cheeks.

“I... chose. And that may have been wrong but....”He turned to follow Selen.

  

 

After Alethos had been to see his followers in what was now his temple, he went in search of Kaz; and enjoyed playing with Iphianira and Chionea, who were learning the complex skill of throwing a ball, and making it go forward rather than lifting it above their heads to lose it behind them, or dropping it straight down. And once they were bathed and put to bed, he might take Kaz to bed as well, and then tell her all about it, and weep for the bright young hopeful hero Thanus had once been.

“It was my fault I lost him,” he sighed.

“I doubt it; but why do you think so?” asked Kaz.

“It was in the time of the Maelstrom Madness,” said Alethos. “My sisters and I went to heal the gods of storm and wind, and draw them out of the Maelstrom. And whilst my eyes were turned away, Selen saw my poor naive, impressionable Thanus, and made herself beautiful to him, and consumed him with lust for her, and what he thought was love. And when I returned, it was too late, and he ambushed and robbed me, whilst I was weakened, for she made it seem in his mind that there was no dishonour in taking what he saw was his birthright, as if he were my son, deprived of inheritance.”

“She has a way of making the gullible betray even themselves,” said Kaz. “Weep for him; I will try to save any remnants of his spirit she leaves, to return to you, when I stand head to head with her beside Rogaz.”

“I will not expect it of you, but if you are able, I will be grateful to have something of my wayward and foolish protégé,” said Alethos.

 

Destiny's Queen 12

 

Chapter 12

 

“I don’t believe it!” cried Selen. “I sent more men to ensure the downfall of Mesolimnos, and all that happened was that they fought amongst themselves, and now they have run away! Any that come before me on Moonday shall be beset with boils  and virulent pustules in punishment!”

“Didn’t your priestess die of disease? What did she say?” asked Daze.

“Oh, she made some stupid comment about me sending men to starve because they could not live on thin air, and that there were not enough provisions,” said Selen.  “I am punishing her because she should have ensured that there were enough provisions as soon as they arrived; and all she does is ask how she was supposed to do that. I don’t have to take control of every detail! That’s what glyph-lords and glyph-priests are for! She and the other priestesses should have found a way!”

“How would you expect them to get provisions?” asked Daze, interested.

“How should I know? We are not mortals and we do not need to eat, that mundane nonsense is up to the mortals,” said Selen, haughtily.

“Yes, indeed, I wouldn’t even know what sort of things they do eat,” said Daze. “The peasants spend a long time grubbing in the dirt; perhaps they eat dirt. There was plenty of that, so I don’t see why they were making problems.”

 

oOoOo

 

“I think the problem with Selen is that she does not understand the needs of humans,” said Alethos to Kaz as they lay cuddled up together.

Kaz sniggered.

“Now, I could say I don’t want my husband bringing Selen into our marriage bed; but I confess myself too interested in why you say that to protest,” she said.

“Gods have no need to eat nor use latrines,” said Alethos. “We elder gods have grown in power alongside the needs of our worshippers, heard their small woes and needs from time immemorial, and have come to accept the limitations of a mortal body. Selen and Daze appeared in the world in near historic time, at such time that mortal populations had learned how to handle infrastructures, like drainage, like planting and harvesting protocols, like disease management. They see mortals as a source of power for their own needs and forget the many things mortals need because they do not see such things in their worship.”

“That’s an interesting insight,” said Kaz. “It’s a bit like imposing a new ruler on an established population, one who has no idea of their customs and mores, and so tramples on them without even realising it.”

“I discovered that with the coming of the blood moon, I was losing some female worshippers, because being at war was harder when dealing with the monthly flux.  Seren deals with it by making it hard for women to be warriors – except slave gladiators who have no rights – and the idea that women should stay at home; I dealt with it by relaxing my geasa and adapting them around a woman’s flux, and asking my sister to invent medicines to make the time shorter and easier.”

“And very helpful such medicines are,” said Kaz. “I think the older gods are more like mortals in their understanding; there is something horribly alien about Selen, Daze, and their pantheon.”   She wriggled. “And as you don’t need sleep, and I need less, I think the time for conversation is over as I have other mortal and immortal needs.”

Alethos laughed, kissed her, and demonstrated how well he knew her needs. He wanted his wife happy and secure; she had a dangerous and dark path ahead of her. She had planted ideas in the past to make Daze both create tróglings and to curse her to give her immortality to be his beloved, but she must face the crazed god of trickery once again, in order to obliterate him, and take from him the chaos, and make it into random chance, so that change was tempered with order. This was the greatest task of any of the young heroes Alethos had care of, and the most taxing, and he could not stand beside her to do it. It wrung his heart, but Alethos knew that if he did not leave Kaz to do it alone, she would fail. But he could give her love, and support; and hold her whilst she slept, dribbling into his armpit, and making gentle sleeping noises.

 

oOoOo

 

Kaz was getting used to more worship from trógling; Rogaz had been good to her word, and instructed her priestesses to tell trógling to worship the deity who was their new racial mother, who would lead them to freedom, when toróg were also freed of the curse. Not all understood; many trógling, whose gestation was short, had the mental capacity to understand all that was said, and more to the point, what was not said. But they whispered prayers in hope that times of trial should come to an end. Rogaz went further than Kaz had asked, and banned the eating of trógling, though not all worshippers of Tor took much notice of that.

 

oOoOo

 

Alethos sorted the souls who belonged to Thanus; it was telling that there were an increasing number of Selenite soldiery who did not care enough to specifically choose Thanus. Alethos nodded to Harkon, there in a rather stunned capacity for Ombros to collect one of those who chose to pray to him, when he had sent them a deer, who had been too badly injured to survive.

“I’m happy to take you, ah, Starnus, but I won’t keep you from any family you might have elsewhere,” said Harkon.

“Mighty Stormlord, you’re the only god who I’ve felt accept my worship; I ain’t about to give up on that,” said the soldier. “And you even know my name!”

This was down to Alethos, but Harkon did not disappoint the man by revealing this.

“Perhaps you’d like to be one of my personal spirits,” said Harkon, realising that the poor fellow would not be treated well by the average dead Ombrosi, who were an uncouth bunch on the whole, and not likely to welcome a one-time Selenite.

“I’d be honoured!” said Starnus.

Harkon left Alethos with an embrace.

Alethos turned to Thanus, who watched with a wistful look.

“I’d take you back, you know, if you apologised for stealing from me in your eagerness to achieve apotheosis,” he said.

Thanus sneered.

“I broke from you because you disparaged my beloved Selen. And if you associate with those louts of the clear starlight, I can see why. You, stern, and with nothing but duty to warm what you call your heart, you know nothing of love.”

“On the contrary; it is you who know nothing of love,” said Alethos. “Giving death without love is nothing but murder. And I love my worshippers; even when some of them disappoint me. What you have is lust for a clever and manipulative goddess, whom I wager finds excuses not to be in your bed; whereas I am happily married. You could ask Phrodine, you know; she understands love in all its forms, sexual and otherwise.”

“I pity your wife; you are cold and passionless,” hissed Thanus. “You only married to bring forth a putative godling who might, or might not manage to combine the red and the blue moons in order to heal the blue.”

“Oh, you will believe what you want,” said Alethos. “I can see that you have made up your mind. But I had to make the offer.”

The chime was a sad one.

“What was that in aid of?” asked Thanus.

“I assume some prophecy I don’t know,” said Alethos. “I’ve stopped questioning Fate over her chimes.”

Moraia appeared.

“When Death offers his hand to the apostate, either much carnage will be avoided, or the thief will choose to go onwards to his own destruction without redemption,” she said. “The one-time pupil will come for vengeance over the former master.”

“And I will not protect you when she does,” said Alethos, to Thanus.

 

oOoOo

 

“Harkon, what are you doing?” asked Thyella.  Harkon was labouring over a map with a parchment beside him divided into squares some of which he had painted in various colours. The names of regions went across the top, and months ran down the side.

“You told me I needed to shed weather where and when it seemed appropriate, and I am working out where and when is appropriate,” said Harkon. “I suppose Ombros kept it all in his head, but I’m learning from first principles when a storm is appropriate.”

Thyella opened her mouth and shut it again.

“Ombros mostly went where he felt like, or when he was called in to relieve a long period of hot and dry, in  Summerscome, Hottest, and Harvestime mostly,” she said. “But of course he also helped reduce the cold in Winterscome and Coldest, and sometimes in Fairmonth and Leaffall.”

“Yes, I’ve been trying to recall when most storms occur,” said Harkon. “And add them to the chart.”

“Ombros was never that... organised,” said Thyella.

“What can I say? I’m an Alethosi,” said Harkon.

“I love you the way you are,” said Thyella. “But don’t let people get too complacent over avoiding storms in Springstart or Leaffall just because they are less common.”

“True,” said Harkon. “Because sometimes they happen.  Why is there lightning over a volcano that you had to go and deal with it?”

“It has to do with a build up of lightning-stuff in the atmosphere, caused by the heat,[1]” said Thyella. “I have to tap it and draw it off before it goes crazy and causes a disaster.”

“Oh, right,” said Harkon.

 

oOoOo

 

“How did anyone, even a god, destroy my temple?” screeched Selen, who was taking a while to catch up with what was going on. “Why was Ogeron Cass allowed to die? It was to be the wedding of the year! Where is that little bitch? I can’t feel her at all!”

Selen was unaware that Harkon had destroyed her temple from the inside bursting out, which made a difference. As Ogeron Cass, she had sealed his fate herself when she ripped from the empress’s bed to send to Mesolimnos.

“You have troubles, I have troubles,” grumbled Daze. “For some reason I’m getting fewer dying trógling; maybe the damned Toróg are treating them better so they don’t die. And I took a hit to my power when I fashioned the egg of discord, expecting to get plenty of power back through the strife it caused, and those damned Alethosians went and destroyed it!”

“And my worshippers are diminished by going and dying on me because they couldn’t be bothered to eat enough dirt!” mourned Selen. “And there’s trouble in Selenopolis! They are revolting!”

“Yes, but all mortals are pretty revolting,” said Daze, admiring himself in his magic mirror, which showed only his handsome aspect.

“Don’t be a fool,” snapped Selen. “In revolt!”

“Well, scare them back into good behaviour, m’dear,” said Daze.

Selen’s smile was predatory.

“I think Aima will bring them into line.”

“That should be funny,” said Daze. “All those fat little burghers thinking they have the right to complain – being prey to Aima’s people will give them something to whine about.”

 

oOoOo

 

“Lord of Storms! Please help us! Sardio won’t appeal to you, he scoffs about you being a god, he doesn’t believe in gods!” Tallys was close to panicking.

“Considering how little Selen and her pantheon do for any but priests, I can’t say I am surprised,” said Harkon. “What’s wrong?”

“Aima! She’s here herself, and a whole army of bloodsuckers and they are turning the dead into nekrosti!”

“I’ll put together a team and be with you presently.”

 

 

“See? And what did your praying do? Nothing,” sneered Sardio SubDoxus.

There was a rumble of thunder, and a crackle of lightning as Harkon turned up. He had his sister, his wife, Ralthur, Protasion, Lelyn, Phaedros and Rynn with him.

“Why, I do declare, what a most stimulating and jolly way to travel, my friend!” cried Phaedros. “It is a little noisy and smelly, but far more exciting and immediate than merely going to the sunsphere and then drifting down in a ray of sunlight. I declare, I am jealous of thy means of relocation!”

Rynn poked him.

“You’re being ponderous again,” she said.

“It is considered proper when addressing others in the presence of mortals, my sweet friend,” said Phaedros. “For surely these people who gape at us so uncouthly are mortals, startled out of their normal veneer of good manners?”

Rynn caught his eye, and saw the twinkle within it.

“In sooth, my puissant lord, I have neglected the proper protocols in striving for herodom,” she said. “I must apologise, in proper form, that those who have invoked our aid might regain equilibrium during our most formal discourse.”

“I’m surrounded by comedians,” grumbled Harkon.

“Verily, my brother, ’tis but the proper usage when dealing with those of mortal status, since ’tis their expectation. How canst thou expect respect for thy manifestation of apotheosis if thou wilt speak and act as one more glyph lord-priest?” said Protasion, grinning.

“I don’t really want to... oh, never mind,” said Harkon. “Tallys says you have trouble with Aima and her bloodsuckers, Sardio, but that you did not see fit to inform me that you had troubles out of your expectation of expediting?”

“I... I did not realise that prayer would reach you,” said Sardio.

“It goes with the territory of having become a god,” said Harkon. “And I know fine well that Thanus is no more than a jumped-up hero with delusions of adequacy, and who does not provide glyph spells to handle the undead as Alethos does. And as I’m a hero of Alethos before I’m a temporary weather god, I’m rather good at handling undead. And Ralthur killed the bloodsucker priest here before we left, so he’s not inexperienced; Protasion and Lelyn are old hands, but Lelyn is here as medical backup, being associate priest and lord of Latrika, and being with child. It’s time for Aima to go; we killed her brother, Lycos, now it’s her turn. I take it things were going well enough before that, Sardio?”

“Oh! Yes. All the soldiery disappeared for no apparent reason, and we stormed the secret police, hanged Osedax and Julus Helio. We’ve spread the rebellion to other cities, and the soldiery has gone from them as well,” said Sardio.

“Selen picked them up en masse and dumped them outside Mesolimnos to join the siege; but neglected to provide them with any provisions,” sniggered Harkon. “Gods aren’t necessarily wise, however powerful they may be, and Selen and Daze lack something the older gods have – an understanding garnered over time immemorial of how their worshipers think and react.”

“Er... right,” said Sardio. “The gods have never done anything for me.”

“Well, we can go away and leave you to your bloodsuckers, if you like,” said Thyella, waspishly.

“Er, no, lady, if you please, if you can do anything....” Sardio trailed off, unsure what to say.

“Let us go and occupy the temple of Thanus, and overthrow its priesthood and guardian spirit in order to turn it into a proper temple of Alethos, and then we have a bit more godly backup for those who don’t automatically count as a temple in their own right,” said Lelyn.

“I’m in,” said Dróg.

“And me,” said Crondion.

“Then let the hunt begin,” said Harkon.

“And Aima is mine,” said Phaedros.

 

---

[1] As Thyella understands it, not understanding the build up of static caused by the friction between volcanic particles. The gods of this world work at an instinctive level.