David Drake - The Gods Return

Rasile wagged her tongue in laughter. "Wait," she said. "And read when you see." The wizard settled herself arms-length from the stone and tossed the yarrow stalks onto the pavement. They fell-just fell as best Cashel could see-into a star with a hand plus two fingers of points. Rasile started to keen. Because Cashel had been around her, he knew the sounds were Coerli words of power instead of a bellyache. A column of wizardlight lifted slowly from the center of the star. It was as pure as the sun through a ruby. Folks watching from the other side of the guards shouted, some thrilled but the rest sounding scared. A soldier glanced back over his shoulder, saw the light and dropped his spear. He fell to his knees crying. The crowd wasn't pushing in the way it had been, though, so that didn't matter except probably to him. The rod of red light twisted over slowly like a pine tree in a high wind. When the tip of it touched the stele, it spread across the sand-scoured face the way water soaks into a cloth. Instead of coarse gray stone, the background was a pink shimmer on which burned letters as sharp and solid as if they'd been cut from carnelian. "If the Devouring Danger threatens again," Liane read, swinging into the business just like she'd been waiting for it, "the priests will speak the following words of power: "Abrio set alarpho…" Rasile yowled something that didn't have a syllable in common with what Liane had said. Cashel didn't think a human throat could even have made the sound. The cadence of the chant was the same, though. Liane read, "Alar alarioth…" She stood just as straight and calm as if she was talking to Sharina about how formal to dress for a meeting. As her words spilled out, Rasile sang them back in Corl fashion. The air was turning red like the surface of the stone. The crowd and soldiers had all run off by now. Some had opened their mouths open to scream, but Cashel hadn't heard anything over a sound like the wind rushing through a stand of hemlocks. Amineus was gone too; back into his office, Cashel supposed. If you hadn't seen it before, this sort of business was scary and no mistake. "Orthio!" said Liane and there were more Coerli screeches. It seemed to Cashel that Rasile was responding even before she heard Liane, though he hadn't any real way to tell. He couldn't understand the words either one of the women were using. The air glowed brighter than a ruby, as bright as pure flame. Cashel stood behind Rasile and Liane, his quarterstaff crossed before him. He wondered if he ought to turn to watch their backs, but this seemed the right choice just for now. A flash of intense light swept everything else away. Dry heat engulfed Cashel and his companions. *** Sharina could hear the click of tiny claws as Burne patrolled the mosaic floor. He was much more active at night, though he adapted to a human schedule as he had to. She smiled against the pillow. A year ago-a week ago!-she'd never have believed that she'd feel soothed by the sound of a rat walking around her bed… but she did. Still smiling, she slept; and as she slept, she dreamed.

"Come to me, princess," the voice called. She didn't see Black this time. Perhaps he was below her on the blue world rotating slowly. "You have nothing to fear. Lord Scorpion exalts you over all women: He has chosen you for His priestess." Land turned into view from the edge of the sphere, set off by a white border of surf. Sharina recognized the outline of the Isles against the Outer Sea: they'd been etched on the crystal floor of a room in the palace. Around the map cut by a great wizard of the Old Kingdom was written a legend added in the blocky New Script by a Duke of Ornifal before he seized the throne of the Isles: the navel of the cosmos. That had been a lie, of course. It was doubly a lie now that the Isles no longer existed as an archipelago but had rather become the periphery of a great continent. Valles was becoming a ghost town, sinking into a swamp because the River Beltis had drained into an Inner Sea which no longer existed. "Youwill submit, princess," Black said, cajoling her in a voice of thunder. "And even if you could resist, you would be mad to attempt it. From Lord Scorpion you will receive power and unexampled riches, but if the Gods of Palomir should take this world under Their suzerainty-" The new continent had rotated so that it was directly beneath Sharina's vantage point. For the first time since she'd begun to dream tonight, she realized that she had a body. Pandah swelled in her awareness; not the real Pandah of mud and wicker around a core of ancient palaces but Pandah as rebuilt in black granite to honor Lord Scorpion. "If the Gods of Palomir came to rule this world, princess," crooned Black as the great temple grew toward her, "then your best hope will be to be sacrificed quickly. Lord Scorpion alone can defend you against Palomir. You will have power second only to that of the God!" Black stood in the middle of the plaza, his arms spread to receive Sharina.

She rushed downward with no more control of her movement than water in a torrent has. The scorpion on Black's shoulder curved its barbed tail into the sky. Above, clouds swept together into a monster image of the God, as black and dense as the granite temple. Sharina fought, but there was no escape and- Black shouted and looked over his shoulder.

Sharina sat bolt upright in her bed; shards of the dream shimmered down the sides of her consciousness. Burne bounced back from the wall to the floor; he must've leaped while she was still asleep. His jaws clicked, scattering bits of chitin. "Go back to sleep, Sharina," he said. "No scorpion is going to reach you." "You can't do anything about my dreams," Sharina muttered, but she put her head down on the pillow anyway. To her surprise, she felt sleep returning as soon as she closed her eyes. She slept soundly until her maid Diora woke her at dawn. *** Ilna set the lantern on top of the box she'd just freed and backed slowly away. There might be a way out of the cave in the direction the hulking creature was coming from, but she didn't wasn't going to try going past the monster until all else had failed. There might be an exit on the other end too. That didn't seem likely, but Ilna wasn't in a mood to pass up even slim chances. She was reasonably confident that the pattern dangling from her right hand would hold the thing, whatever it was, butshe wouldn't be able to do anything else while she held it. Eventually she'd fall asleep, or faint, or the candle would burn out. She'd rush the creature with her little bone-cased kitchen knife rather than use her strength up in delaying what would shortly become inevitable. The creature walked on its hind legs, placing its feet with obvious deliberation. The rock shook beneath each step. She couldn't be sure how tall it was since the shadows might be exaggerating, but it was at least half again her own height and much, much broader. Ilna took the box with her because both Brincisa and Hutton had thought it was valuable. She took the lantern because without light the creature couldn't see her patterns, so they'd be useless. There was always the possibility that it was friendly. She figured that was less likely than her walking through a solid wall, but she was willing to be pleasantly surprised for a change. The creature suddenly lurched onto all fours, throwing its face into the lantern light. Its muzzle was as long as a baboon's; great tusks in the upper and lower jaws crossed one another. The deep-set eyes glittered a savage red. It snuffled Hutton's corpse, then lifted its head in a howl that made the cave shiver. Ilna's shoulders hit rock. There was no way out in this direction- And she no longer entertained the slightest hope that the creature was friendly.

It stepped forward like a beast, then rose onto its hind legs and shrieked in fury. Turning its head away, it clawed toward the lantern.