John Carr - Kalvan Kingmaker

"Yes," Dracar said nervously. "I need your hands and those of your supporters added to my ranks so that we can defeat Anaxthenes at his own game."

"How many of the Inner Circle can you count as standing by your side now:

"Twelve for sure, and two more who are leaning towards my ascendancy. Anaxthenes has promised his support and Sesklos his blessing, yet neither have been given openly and Sesklos' days grow increasingly shorter."

"If your words are spoken in truth and your heart is pure, you will have my support."

Archpriest Dracar had to stifle a loud sigh of relief.

"If, as you say, Styphon has truly claimed your heart, in turn, you will support my new Office of Investigation."

Dracar felt his heart sink. "Office of Investigation? What could this be?"

Roxthar leaned forward so that Dracar could almost feel his astringent breath. "Styphon's House is arot with the worms of unbelievers, ravenous ner'-do-wells, corrupt leeches, and all manner of blasphemers. It is our Holy obligation to root them out and restore the Temple to those who treasure her. The corruption has dwelt too long and bored too deeply within the Temple to be dealt with other than by the most stringent of measures. I will need your help to convince the Inner Circle-as corrupted by decay as the Temple itself-that we must purge even the lowliest acolyte to prepare ourselves for the war with Dralm and his minion, the Daemon Kalvan."

"Would you investigate the faith of the Archpriests of the Inner Circle itself?" Dracar asked, his face blanching.

"No. It is not necessary, now. First, we must attend to the foundation and walls of Styphon's House on Earth. When they are cleansed and strengthened, the roof will be trussed from the inside."

Dracar let out a breath he hadn't even known he was holding. "That is wise, Father. I fear that faith in Styphon is so lacking among the Brethren of the Inner Circle that they would turn aside your request, if they suspected they themselves were to be questioned." Not that he would like those steeling eyes searching out his beliefs, beliefs he was unsure of himself. Let the underpriests, novices, and temple-farm priests fend for themselves.

Roxthar made a strange barking noise that Dracar finally identified as a laugh. "You know our Brethren quite well, Dracar. They will much prefer the witnessing of those below them rather than undergoing an investigation of their own. I believe we will work together fine. You will have my blessing and support as Supreme Priest."

Dracar's head bobbed up and down. "Yes, Father, as you will have mine for your Investigation."

When Roxthar had finally left, Dracar walked over to his bed as if wading through a fog. He fell upon his bed and slipped into the best sleep he had had in over a year.

Highpriest Xentos looked out the window, made of real glass, at the busy Agrys City streets down below. Through the wavy glass, he watched as a caravan of flatbed wagons, chased by dogs, passed by. The barking reminded him of home; he missed Hostigos; not the bustling, preparing for war Great Kingdom of Hos-Hostigos he had left last summer, but the pastoral Hostigos of his youth and adulthood. Sadly, change was in the air and the winds of war were blowing in every direction. Some of them were changing the Temple, too. For several moons, the Council of Dralm had been meeting to discuss these changes and to set new policies for the Temple, but always they had skirted the most important issue-Kalvan's divinity.

Now, at last, in the Grand Hall of the Hos-Agrys Temple of Dralm, Xentos was meeting with all the highpriests of Hos-Agrys, Hos-Harphax and Hos-Zygros, who were about to decide whether Great King Kalvan was, as he claimed, only a man from the Cold Lands; or if he was a demigod sent by Dralm and the other gods to save mankind from the evil inequity of the Fireseed Demon; or if he was a devil in man's guise from Regwarn to lead the followers of Father Dralm astray? The decision reached today, at the First Council of Dralm, might well decide the fate of not only Allfather Dralm's worshipers, but the Six Kingdoms as well.

Xentos not only wished he had the answers to Kalvan's divinity, but most importantly whether or not the Temple of Dralm should commit its precious, and pitifully small, resources to what might well prove to be a long and fruitless struggle. Few outside the Temple realized just how far the Temple of Dralm had declined, as Styphon-formerly a minor healer god-had risen to prominence among the gods worshipped in the Eastern Kingdoms. Allfather Dralm, once the primary god of the Pantheon, had fallen as Styphon's followers persecuted and drove out Dralm's priests from Hos-Bletha and Hos-Ktemnos. The Styphon's priests claim that Dralm was the priest of slaves and farmers was now more true than not.

Should the Temple of Dralm commit its precious resources to the future of Kalvan and the new kingdom of Hos-Hostigos; there was a good possibility-that should Kalvan lose the war-it would mean the end of Dralm as a major religious figure and the destruction of his Temple On Earth. Allfather Dralm would truly become the god of outcasts, the poor and slaves. Already, half the princedoms of Hos-Harphax had raised Styphon above all other gods, and this practice had already gained a foothold in the northern Kingdoms of Hos-Agrys and Hos-Zygros.

Today another letter had arrived by messenger from Hos-Hostigos. Queen Rylla was, once again, asking why the Council had not come out in support of their new Kingdom of Hos-Hostigos. Sadly, there was no answer he could give her that Rylla would want to hear. He turned to the massive bronze statue of Father Dralm, dressed in an enameled blue robe with an eight-pointed white star on his breast, but no answers were forthcoming there either. He bowed down to pray, Father, I beseech thee. Please answer my prayers. My heart is torn asunder between my duties to my Lord and my duties to thine Temple.

As always, the bronze idol was silent. Maybe that was acceptable for a god, but men wanted, no needed, answers. Soon there would be more questions from the assembled highpriests, who were now just beginning to fill the room and take their seats at the massive walnut table. In the alcove, next to the altar, were two of the small terra cotta idols of Dralm, their robes painted white emblazoned with a blue star on the breast. The smaller figures were painted in opposition to the actual robes of the Allfather, because the peasants often broke the clay statues and in this way only the backwards image was destroyed, not the true reflection of Allfather Dralm.

Xentos turned away from his god and walked to his seat at the head of the table. As the only priest of Dralm to have seen and talked with Kalvan, he was offered this great honor, but on days like today it seemed more a curse than a blessing. He was a simple man with few answers.

As before, Xentos made the opening invocation to Father Dralm. After his prayer was finished, Davros, the Highpriest of High Temple, who sat at the foot of the table, rose to speak.

"Well, done, Highpriest Xentos. Today is the day we have all been anticipating-some with fear, others with great hope. The time has come to assay the official Temple position on the new Great Kingdom of Hos-Hostigos and its ruler, Great King Kalvan. We must cast aside those voices from the outside, like those of Great King Demistophon, who lost many soldiers in his unwarranted attack upon Great King Kalvan. We beseeched him to wait, but he was convinced by the agents of the Devil known as Styphon to do their will. Nor will we try to curry favor of those rash Princes who have, without our blessing and forgetting that Dralm is the God of Peace, formed the League Of Dralm in support of Great King Kalvan. Praise Allfather Dralm, we have been able to convince them to hold back their offers of soldiers, armaments and gold until after the Council makes its decision upon the divinity of the man, or demi-god, known both as Lord Kalvan and Great King Kalvan.