David Farland - Lords of the Seventh Swarm

Orick stood there, flabbergasted. “That’s a pretty loose interpretation of that Scripture.”

“Is it?” Tallea said. “You take the Scriptures literally most of the time. Why not this one? Is it just inconvenient?”

“Well,” Orick said, “you’re stretching it. Besides, that’s just a line from the Tome. Not everyone accepts it as Scripture.”

“You told me if I prayed, God would answer my prayers,” Tallea said. “So here is my prayer: ‘God, you know I love Orick and Orick loves me. If you think his devotion to You is more important than his devotion to me, I pray that You will strike me dead by sundown. I’d rather die than live without him.’”

Orick gulped, fearing Tallea had blasphemed. It wasn’t right to say an insincere prayer. The problem was, he feared just as much that it was sincere. He looked about the room, wondering if God would strike her with a lightning bolt or if He would choose some other weapon. To tell the truth, if she was going to follow Gallen O’Day into the tangle, God might not need anything more than a cold-hearted sfuz.

“Don’t talk like that,” Orick said, taking a sudden chill. “I wouldn’t want God to answer that prayer.”

“It’s too late,” Tallea said. “The prayer has been said. But I’m not afraid. You said God loves me, and I know you love me. God won’t deny me your companionship.”

“We seldom appreciate what God has in store for us,” Orick said. “We all seek comfort in our lives, but God just gives us problems, to make us grow.”

“You forget how many difficulties I’ve already had to contend with,” Tallea said. “God can only stretch a person so far before He begins ripping them apart.” She sounded angry.

“Don’t go getting all riled at God,” Orick said. “He’ll never let you be tempted beyond that which you are able to bear.”

“Of course not, you and I both can bear more than the next man.”

Orick. wrinkled his nose at the pun. “Back on Tihrglas, there always seemed to be a few folks who’d make such puns at a bear’s expense. I grew tired of hearing such jokes as a cub-everything from tales of bear-breasted women to those old stories of a bear named Repeating who always repeats everything you say. I get so mad when I hear those jokes, I can bearly stand it.”

“I’ll try to remembear that,” Tallea said, “next time I bear my soul to you.”

“If you’re going to bear your sole to me, at least put a little fish sauce on it, please,” Orick said.

Tallea said, “Ah, no fish jokes. I had a pet sole, once. His name was Full.”

“Soulful?” Orick said. “Was he your sole possession?”

Tallea winced. “Okay, I won’t play that game with you anymore. I’m beat.”

“Bear me no malice,” Orick said.

With a growl, Tallea leapt from the bed and landed on Orick’s back. She nipped his ear, and Orick backed away, put one paw on her chest to hold her down. He planned to chew her for a minute, but suddenly she had her paws around his head, and Tallea began licking his eyes and muzzle, kissing him passionately, and Orick’s heart pounded with excitement.

He kissed her in return, more lustily than he first intended, and in moments she held his face and began alternately nipping his lips and licking him. Tallea was on her back, and Orick straddled her, his nostrils filled with the scent of her. Knowing how much she wanted him, Orick found himself enticed beyond measure.

But to give in to her, to give her control of his passion would lead to only one conclusion. Am I a beast, that I must be so controlled? Orick wondered. It seemed so base, so corrupt. How could Orick aspire to godliness, if God gave him such lusts. God help me , Orick prayed. God save me from her.

It was not until hours later, when they were marching through the tangle, that Orick considered the prayers that he and Tallea had both uttered, and realized that God could only answer both their prayers by taking Tallea’s life.

Zeus could not sleep. Though he had a couch in the common room of the ship, and though the lights were turned down to simulate darkness, his eyes stayed wide open as he wondered if he should kill Gallen and the others.

Zeus did not count himself brave. He couldn’t make light of danger. Some people could ignore danger, just as they ignored pain. Not Zeus. His sense of self-preservation was too powerful, too encompassing. Maybe ignoring danger isn’t really brave, Zeus considered. Maybe it’s just a form of stupidity, and I’m too smart to fall into that trap .

When Gallen had found the Qualeewoohs, Zeus had been tempted to slay the Lord Protector then. But something stayed his hand. At first he told himself it was curiosity-the simple desire to find out what Gallen would do with the Qualeewoohs.

But his reasoning went beyond that. Killing Gallen for his mantle would have been easy. Zeus had no feelings for the man. But Orick’s sermon had shamed Zeus.

Killing Gallen was one thing. Zeus had been framed to crave power, to take it at any price. He’d killed Arachne without much thought. But killing an innocent like Maggie or the bears was beneath him.

This realization struck Zeus to the core. Zeus had not often made such self-discoveries. And when Gallen asked Zeus whether to kill the Qualeewoohs, Zeus had declined. Once he’d seen Herm’s killers, Zeus couldn’t sustain his rage. The birds were so regal, so worn, so repentant. He couldn’t kill them, not when their deaths gained him nothing. But Zeus told himself that it was more than compassion that caused him to spare Gallen and the Qualeewoohs: it was knowledge.

He felt that some deep, subconscious sense guided him. Despite his lightning bolts, Zeus did not believe he could make it into the depths of the tangle alone-not fighting the sfuz. The creatures were too numerous. No, to make it to the cisterns, Zeus needed Gallen’s help. Perhaps that’s why I left him alive. In my heart, I knew I’d need him. His help could be worth more than the mantle. And looking back, Zeus realized that he could not have held Gallen’s trust if he’d killed the Qualeewoohs. The deed would have lessened Zeus in Gallen’s eyes.

Zeus realized, if Gallen takes me to the Waters, fighting beside me, all I have to do is drink. Then I will gain such power that I won’t need his mantle any longer . But Zeus recognized that if the Waters of Strength flowed in some cistern deep inside the cliffs of Teeawah, Zeus could not afford to let the others drink. The Waters would make Zeus a power without equal.

Then Gallen’s mantle would mean nothing, and Zeus could kill them all. Indeed, he would be forced to kill them all.

After all his dealings with the dronon, Gallen was surprised that the dronon hadn’t begun searching the tangle before he left his ship.

He’d turned off the engines when he first landed, ceased all radio transmissions, and manually dismantled the ship’s transponder. Gallen feared the dronon would commandeer the starport facilities at Felph’s palace and use the computers there to demand that each ship send its code. The ship’s Al couldn’t ignore such a request; it violated the ship’s programming, and once a ship sent its code, it automatically broadcast its exact latitude, longitude, and altitude.

After Gallen had verified that his ship wasn’t emitting any gravity, radio, or heat waves he felt somewhat secure. The dronon wouldn’t be able to find him using the passive sensors that detected such emissions.

This meant that they would have to begin using active sensors-directing energy and particle streams in an effort to search the planet for large metallic objects. It would take time to scour the surface of an entire planet, but the dronon had plenty of ships capable of helping in the search. It wouldn’t take much time.