John Wright - Orphans of Chaos

“You are not telling me anything I don’t know, Fraud. What’s your point?”

“Put someone on the Throne of Heaven. Anyone. I don’t care how you pick him. Throw lots, have a footrace, have a war.”

Lady Cyprian said softly, “Oh, did they finally decide to do it by the war method? I know who I’ll be betting on.” Her ladies-in-waiting tittered.

Mavors actually frowned at her. “There’s not going to be a war. Everyone loses in war, even the winners. The Uranians would rise up.”

She smiled at him, a sultry, mocking smile, and her eyes danced. “Then auction off the throne. Whoever gives the bigger bribe wins!”

Of all people, it was the Satyr who said, “Or hold a ballot.”

The ladies-in-waiting put their fingers to their mouths and laughed. The one with the dove on her wrist said, “That really comes out to the same thing in the end, doesn’t it, Pherespondus?”

The one holding the bow and arrows said gaily, “ ’Twould be a foregone conclusion, my sisters Graces. Mavors on his meager soldier’s pay could not outbid the Lord of Goldsmiths.”

Ap Cymru made a slashing motion in the air with his hand. “Milord, milady, it does not matter how you get someone on the throne. Just get someone. Make peace between the factions, restore the army to full strength. The Uranians will then be afraid to attack us because of our strength. Then we can let these hostages go, and to hell with them.

“The Late High King wasn’t just Diospater, the Father of Gods, and he wasn’t just Iopater, the High Father. He was also called Terminus, the Lord of Boundaries. The boundaries around the estate are weakening as the children grow older. We need someone to restore them. Here, and elsewhere, too. There are places in the Twelve Worlds where tears are appearing in the fabric of reality. So just pick someone.”

Mavors said, “We do not have the authority just to pick someone. We don’t have the right. The law of succession is set by primogeniture. No one believes me, but I actually don’t want the job. But I’m the only one in line. Phoebus and Phoebe are bastards; Trismegistus and Dionysus are both traitors and bastards.”

The man in tan coveralls with the metal eye in his forehead, Brontes, spoke. It did not sound like a real voice; it sounded like the words were made by machine. “Hephaestus is the son of Queen Hera and the All-Father Zeus. He is legitimate.”

Mavors shrugged. “Dad threw him out of Heaven. I don’t think Mulciber is any son of my father.”

“Do you think he is the son of Ixion?”

Mavors looked at him thoughtfully. “Be careful what you say about my mother. Pick your words very carefully. I’ll remember them to tell the stonecutter.”

“What stonecutter?”

“The one making your headstone.”

“Are you threatening me? Who will forge the thunderbolts if the Cyclopes are slain? There is no other weapon to drive back the Uranians.”

The headless man’s head, speaking from his plate, said, “That may not protect you, Brontes. Athena Tritogenia was one of the rebels, remember? And Zeus is dead. Who else can wield the lightning bolt? Dionysus is said to have learned the secret. But he was one of the rebels, too.”

Mavors said in a quiet voice, “I never threaten anyone. I don’t need to. But you could still work at the forge if I broke your kneecap. Your boss the Gimp does it.”

He paused to let that sink in.

Then he said, “So don’t talk about my mother. When she stood up to Dad and his philandering, everyone called her a bitch. When she was quiet about it, everyone called her a doormat. Well, I’m tired of it. No one makes fun of High Queen Basilissa. Are we clear?”

Lady Cyprian said, “Now, you leave my husband’s people alone, Ares. You’re the one who said Mulciber wasn’t Terminus’ son. But we all know he was Acraea’s son. You don’t really think it was a virgin birth, do you? How could it be? Your mother was married. Married people aren’t virgins. Not after a while, anyway. It’s just a dumb story. I think you’re the one who made it up.”

Mavors said to her, “If Dad can make Lady Wisdom pop out of his head, Mom can do the same sort of thing. And it makes me laugh, doll, to hear you, of all people, saying what’s possible and impossible when it comes to being born.

“Anyway. We’re not here to discuss paternity issues. We’re sort of off the topic. We’re all in a bind because no one is in charge. We’re divided and weak. We can’t kill the hostages because the Uranians will attack. We can’t let them go. Same reason. And we can’t keep waiting around, because Boreas and his crew here can’t keep the children from growing up, like he was supposed to.”

Headmaster Boggin puffed up. “Milord, the implication is most unfair. Most unfair! There are four boundaries to the estate, four places where the four versions of the universe touch this world. Had we moved the hostages in the early days, when the unfixed ylem in their bodies had not yet learned how to copy human organs, moving them too far away from a boundary would have killed them. Even now, I do not know what harm might befall them if we move them too far away. But this famous spot where the four boundaries touch, is also on a world entirely overrun with humans. The local laws of nature have their sway here. The local law commands children to grow. Your own son, Milord, after centuries of being a baby, grew up to manhood because of the time he spent on this world, with Psyche.”

Lady Cyprian frowned and rolled her eyes. “Pul-lease don’t remind me. Talk about marrying the help!”

“Milord, Milady, all I mean to say is that there were no other options,” said Boggin. “There are few, very few places where all four versions of reality intersect. His Imperial Majesty Lord Terminus stabilized this area, cast a Fate over it. We could not move the children away from this spot, because it might have harmed them. I asked the Imperator Cupid to wipe out mankind living in these islands, but he would not.

“Now that they are older, we might be able to move the Uranians to another location, but I am certain Your Lordship would wish this to be done under the supervision of someone you trust for the same reason Lord Mulciber would insist on it.”

Mavors gave a small and bitter grin, and said, “Because Mulciber knows that if he had Uranians on his side, he could stand a chance of winning. Same goes for Anacreon and the Maiden, and even Pelagaeus the Earthshaker, or whoever else thinks they have a claim on the throne. Same goes for me.”

Boggin bowed slightly. “I had been hoping, in fact, to make that the main topic of conversation at this meeting. If any child finds the boundary to his or her home, their powers will stir. The spells, the psionics, the manipulations of the geometry of space-time, the potions we use to keep them from changing shape or waking the chaos around them, are hindered by the fact that this estate is on a planet of humans, basically part of the materialistic paradigm of Aetna.”

Mavors picked up his shield. “I am not sure there is much to discuss. This estate belonged to Dad. We all know it is his land, and none of us has much influence here. Where else are we going to put these kids? One of my places? Mulciber wouldn’t agree. One of Mulciber’s places?”

Lady Cyprian said, “Which are kind of, you know, hot and, well, volcanic . Not the best place for kids.”

Mavors finished with a shrug. “If we throw them in the ocean, Pelagaeus gets them. You see?”

Ap Cymru said, “Hell. Put them in the Asphodel Fields.”

Mavors looked at the headless man.

The headless man said, “Everyone here knows what the power of the Unseen One is. You know he could take Olympus if he wanted to, and neither the machines of Vulcan nor the dragons of Mars could stand against him. If he wanted Uranians to serve him, he has the keys to Tartarus in any case.”