David Drake: The Gods Return

Cashel laughed with the joy of it, but he kept a firm grip on the quarterstaff. He knew he'd have need for it soon. With no sense of motion or past motion, Cashel stood on the Stone of Question in the court of the Tree Oracle. Liane was on his left side and Rasile on his right. He didn't see Gorand. Cashel turned. The women were looking around silently. Neither was the sort to talk just to be working her lips. They were good companions for when things got hard, which they were likely to do any moment now. There hadn't been anybody else in the enclosure when Cashel first found himself in it, but Amineus and two other plump, middle-aged fellows came walking out of the Priests'

House a moment later. One of the strangers led a goat; the other had a wax-stoppered wine jar with a pretty design in blue glaze. Amineus held a bowl, a knife with an engraved bronze blade, and a folded length of red cloth. They were talking to each other. They didn't see Cashel and his friends till Liane said, "Good day, Master Amineus."

The priest with the wine screamed, "Spirits!" and flung the jar over his shoulder when his limbs spasmed. The goat got away too, bolting across the enclosure. The brick wall there had started to come down, which the goat seemed to have noticed as sure as Cashel had. "Master Cashel!" Amineus said. "How-where-how did you get here?" The priest who'd lost the goat sat down on the ground like a little boy and put his face in his hands. "Oh, may the Lady help us!" he said, then started to cry. Cashel heard theWHACK! /thump of a catapult loosing, a big one. The bar hit the stop to release the stone, then the back legs of the frame slammed back down on the battlements. Not long ago he wouldn't have recognized the sound. He'd been around armies a lot since he left Barca's Hamlet; way too much, in fact. Cashel didn't mind a fight, but war was more like a slaughteryard than fighting. He didn't like slaughteryards even when it was sheep being slaughtered.

"The pirates are here?" he asked. "Yes, yes!" Amineus said. "They haven't released the Worm yet, but we know that it's only time before they do. We-my colleagues and I-came here to beg the Tree to send the champion Gorand to us, but everyone else in on the walls." "Gorand brought us here," said Liane, looking in the direction where the catapult had shot. When Cashel concentrated, he could hear clangs and the snap of bows from that way too. It was just skirmishing this far, though. "We don't know where he is now, though." "I'm here, your ladyship," said a voice behind them. Cashel turned, smoothly and not in a panic, but he wasn't wasting time either. Then he lowered his staff with a bit of a smile. The pod had opened; the eyes of the human face in it were open too. Even with the bark-brown color of the skin, Cashel could tell now that the face was Gorand's. He felt foolish not to have seen that when he first met the tall man sitting on the stoop of his cabin. "Hello, Master Gorand," he said politely. "Thank you for bringing us back so quick as this." The man in the pod-Gorand-chuckled. "It wouldn't been worth coming if we'd waited much longer, would it, Cashel? Not if I'm hearing what I think I am. I haven't been so long in the woods that I've forgotten what a siege sounds like." "They figure the pirates'll bring out the Worm pretty quick," said Cashel. "Which is likely enough. Rasile here-" He nodded to the Corl wizard. "-showed me what they did to Ombis on Telut, and it was pretty bad. But I guess you know that from your own time."

Gorand nodded. "I guess I do," he said. "Oh, mighty champion!" said the priest who'd dropped the wine. The first time they'd been in this place, Amineus had said one of them was Conwin and the other was Hilfe, but Cashel hadn't any idea which was which. "Tell us how to vanquish our enemies in this day of great trial!" "For a start, you greedy little toad," said Gorand, "you-all three of you-can shut your mouths. I'm going to take care of this, but the less I think about you and all the other city scum, the better I'll like it." "What's he saying?" said the goat-priest. Amineus clasped the bowl and other gear to his chest. With the hand thus freed, he tried to hush his fellow.

Who wasn't interested in being hushed. He pushed Amineus' arm away and said, "The oracle's not supposed to talk like that! There's something wrong, I-" A branch of the tree curled down and slapped the noisy priest across the back of the head. He yelped and threw himself on his belly, covering his scalp with both hands. He was bald now that his feathered hat was knocked off. Things got really quiet for a moment.

Liane turned to face the pod, but Cashel decided he'd better keep an eye the priests just for now. Rasile walked over to the ancient temple and spread her yarrow stalks. The priest who'd dropped the wine jar started moving back toward the house; the fellow who'd been knocked down looked fearfully over his shoulder and gathered his knees under himself to run. He'd be running away, though, nothing for Cashel to worry about… "That's right, Hilfe, time to flee," said Gorand with so much contempt that it made Cashel think of his sister. "Let somebody else do the dangerous part. That's what you Dariadans are good for, isn't it?" Amineus tossed his paraphernalia on the ground and faced the pod with his hands at his sides. He said, "What would you have me do, Lord Gorand?" Gorand laughed. "Go or be silent, Amineus," he said; there wasn't the edge in his voice that there had been a moment before. "All of you priests, go or be silent." Conwin walked away, taking a longer stride and quicker one each time his legs moved. Hilfe stayed on the ground, lifted his knees to his chest, and began to cry. Amineus folded his arms and said nothing. Cashel turned to Gorand. "Sir?" he said, leaning his staff into the angle of his elbow just like he had when they stood in front of his cabin in the woods. "The people of Dariada were very pleased that I'd saved them from the Worm, back all those years ago," Gorand said. He was talking quietly, but Cashel could hear the anger returning to his tone. "And they were pleased at the Tree Oracle, too. It wasn't long at all before somebody figured out that they could make a very good thing out of that. They're merchants, you see." "Yes, sir," said Cashel, just showing that he was paying attention. "But they didn't wantme, or that's what I think happened anyway," said Gorand. Another branch of the tree waved; just a wave this time. "They're nervous around my sort when it's all peaceful again. Our sort, Cashel. You'll need to watch out too, you know." Cashel shrugged. "Sir," he said, "I trust my friends. But anyhow, I miss peace myself. I'm not, well… I'm a shepherd." "The obol struck in my honor, that was the key," Gorand said. "My face is on it, not the gull's head for Dariada… or now the Tree, but in my time the gull was the symbol of the city. With that in my hand, I could go or stay as I liked. But they didn't put it in my hand, did they? Not till they needed me again!" "Sir," said Cashel, "I don't know what happened in your time. Neither does Master Amineus, I'll warrant. But like we said back at your cabin, it doesn't matter." Gorand laughed again, but this time he sounded sad. "You needn't worry, shepherd. I gave my word that I'd deal with the Worm, so that's what I'll do. Just like you would if you could. But there's something else that I'm telling you because of who you are. You can think of it as a free response from the Tree." Gorand's brown eyes shifted-to Amineus, Cashel guessed, but he didn't take his attention off the man in the pod to make sure. "Ordinarily a response from the Tree would be worth the taxes of your whole borough. Though as you can see, I wouldn't have been the one spending the wealth that came in."

"Sir," said Cashel, just a placeholder like before. He'd rather have all the answers straight out, but the tall man was angry and it sounded like he had reason to be. Letting Gorand talk himself out was better than pushing the business… though he would still do what he said. Cashel didn't doubt that in the least. "I'll take care of the Worm," Gorand repeated. "But Archas, the pirate chief who's handled the Worm in the past, he's left it to his one-armed lieutenant this time. Archas is in the city now. He arrived with the last group of refugees fleeing the terrible pirates. He'll be coming here, Cashel."