David Farland - Lords of the Seventh Swarm

Felph shook his head, dismayed. “Replace him? You can do that!”

“You don’t need Gallen,” Zeus said. “It’s his mantle you’re after. If I took it, you could be assured that the Qualeewooh would be caught, and then I could go into Teeawah!”

Felph nodded, speechless for a moment, studied Zeus’s eyes. “I should have known,” he said sadly. “It’s my fault, not yours. I made you to hunger after power. I crafted you to be strong. I should have known you’d try to grasp for glory the easy way.”

Felph turned, shaking his head. “I … I’m sorry. I’ll send Arachne or Hera with Gallen, convince him to return with the Qualeewooh, as agreed. If we can’t …” Felph shrugged, signifying he would do no more. “Then Gallen will leave.” After a long silence, “If he does, perhaps you should go with him.”

That final turning of the back, the tone of abandonment, spoke volumes. Felph wanted someone to convince Gallen peaceably, and if he could not, then nothing mattered.

Nothing mattered. Zeus could go his own way, wander the galaxy. Like a broken toy, unwanted, a thing formed for the delight of its creator, now deemed worthless.

Felph’s most cutting words were unspoken. I’ll let you die. You’re not worthy of more life. You matter not.

“All right.” Zeus spoke before Felph could walk away. “Of course you’re right. I’ll convince Gallen to do as you ask.”

Felph turned, querulous. “How? Speak up. You had better be persuasive, or I’ll send Arachne!”

“Please, Father,” Zeus said,” send me! Give me this honor. The problem is … you give me nothing to barter with. You want Gallen to concede to your wishes, but he only wants assurance you’ll be fair. He doesn’t know you as I do. I’ll convince him you are just.”

Felph watched Zeus. Zeus had been able to speak with an urgency, a compelling tone, that demanded Felph’s attention. “How will you do this?”

“I … don’t know, yet,” Zeus said. “But I have Maggie’s ear, and she has Gallen’s. She was willing to serve you to win our freedom. In spite of our Guides, you required little of us. I’ll let her know. As for Gallen, I’ll tell him you were angry last night, that you could think of little more than vengeance-but your wrath fades quickly.”

Felph eyed him a long moment. “Whatever you do, don’t whine and wheedle.” Zeus had to stifle the urge to sigh in relief at the acceptance of his offer. “I want you to be a statesman, a diplomat-not a beggar, nor a thug. Go convince Gallen to keep his bargain. If you do, you’ll make me proud.”

Felph left, his still-bloody robes flowing behind him as he strode down the corridor. Zeus let out his breath. Almost his father had abandoned him. Almost he’d doomed Zeus to mortality.

As Zeus went back into his room, to Hera’s arms, he lay the night, unable to sleep, thinking. He considered ways he might convince Gallen to bring the Qualeewooh back to the palace, but in his mind’s eye, he could not envision any plan working. Gallen did not trust Felph. Gallen must have recognized a certain lack of character in the man, and all Zeus’s impassioned pleas might not change Gallen’s mind.

Zeus wondered. If he had Arachne’s insight into the human mind, he might be able to persuade Gallen that Felph’s intentions were honorable. But the truth was, even Zeus doubted Felph.

Zeus thought , Or if I had Herm’s cunning tongue, I could have lied so sweetly, Gallen would never know the truth. Or even if I had Hera’s basic decency and cunning, or Athena’s quiet wisdom, I might have found a way to twist Gallen to my will.

But Zeus lacked all such gifts. The truth was, that in the Great and Dreadful Game, Zeus was the worst player in the family. His bullishness left him ill disposed to intrigue and diplomacy.

The real problem, Zeus decided, was that Felph did not recognize a more viable plan, even when revealed to him.

Zeus considered the possibilities. If he murdered Gallen for his mantle, then killed Orick and Tallea-he’d still have Maggie. He liked the fiery redhead. Zeus had bet Herm he would sleep with her. Three points if he took her willingly one if against her will.

It would be ironic , he thought, if I won that last point after all. A pity Herm couldn’t have lived to witness it .

He imagined how it would be, wearing the mantle of a Lord Protector, hunting down the Qualeewooh. Certainly, if Zeus returned home with the quarry, Gallen and the others all dead, then Lord Felph could not complain. No one outside the palace would ever know what had happened to Gallen and Maggie. Felph would not tell, Zeus felt sure, not so long as Zeus followed his wishes. In fact, after the deed was done, Zeus decided he could make up a lie, tell Felph some reason why he had to kill Gallen in order to get the Qualeewooh.

Felph would have his Qualeewooh, and Zeus would get … what? The mantle? Then Zeus could get the Waters of Strength.

Yet as Zeus pondered the possibilities, he realized that giving the Waters of Strength What better way to drink from them , Zeus wondered, than to discover them myself? I could drink, and if they do me no good, Felph would get them in turn.

But if they give me the kind of power Felph believes …

So Zeus spent a sleepless night, plotting, wondering. It seemed so callous to consider murder so casually. Yet Zeus needed that mantle-and the Waters of Strength. Without them he would die. Felph would let him die. With them, he would never be under Felph’s thumb again.

Hera woke several times during the night, and Zeus rocked her to sleep. When he finally rose next morning, his eyes were gritty, his mind clouded from too much thought.

As Zeus dressed, he felt surprised Hera continued to sleep so soundly. She’d spent so much time weeping during the night, he did not want to disturb her. After kissing her gently on each eyelid, he slipped out the door just as a droid wheeled the breakfast buffet to his room. He grabbed a sticky Votifrian wafer and mango juice, then headed for the ship.

Arachne met him in a hall near the landing bay.

She sat, back to the wall. She looked calm. Of all Zeus’s children, she alone seemed unsurprised by death. Her dark eyes looked up with familiar intensity. Her silver hair was unbraided. She’d merely combed it behind her ears. This style so radically departed from the norm, she seemed undressed, incomplete.

“So,” Zeus said softly as he walked toward her. “Did you anticipate this? You knew of Herm’s death?”

“I hadn’t imagined it. His death was so … random. But I smell death in the air, more deaths coming. I spoke to Father. I know what he wants from you. And I know what you plan to do.”

“You know what I plan?” he asked in mock surprise. The truth was, even Zeus had not yet decided what he would do. He kept thinking yes, I’ll kill Gallen, then again no . Right now, he leaned toward no. He feigned ignorance. “So why are you here? Do you have some words of warning?”

“Don’t go on this expedition.”

Zeus laughed. He had imagined that she would give him some faint hints about how best to handle Gallen, or warn him not to kill the Lord Protector. “Surely you can be more direct. Exactly why don’t you want me to go?”

She studied his eyes. He could hardly bear her scrutiny, the careful way she studied his lips, his face. “You plan to kill Gallen. Even you aren’t certain that you’ll do it now, but the temptation will come, and when it does, you will succumb to it. I fear that nothing I say can change your mind. But what if I could tell you something you don’t know? What if I told you that if you kill Gallen, you will die? Would you stay here then? If I asked you to, would you walk away from this fine palace, from Lord Felph and his plots, from your dreams of glory?”