Sharon Green - To Battle The Gods

The male’s narration had grown grim, his voice turned nearly to a growl, his gaze now inward rather than upon me. We three sat and looked upon him as he spoke, yet were we silent in the face of his anger.

“Jalav joined the nine clans of her sister group, became their leader, then led them against Bellinard,” said S’Heernoh with a sigh which returned him to our midst. “Once Bellinard was secure she rode to Sigurr’s city with four of the Sigurri, overcame the trouble she found there, and raised the Sigurri the way she thought she was supposed to do. The truth of it was she was never expected to be victorious with the Sigurri, and when she was, the twisted children became frightened. They thought they knew where the people from the Union would land—that’s why they ordered the taking of Bellinard—and also considered the nine clans already there wild enough and blood-thirsty enough to destroy the Union people as soon as they appeared. They expected the Sigurri to take Jalav captive and hold her as a slave until the Unioners were killed, and then they would be able to reclaim her at their leisure. When Jalav emerged from it not only free but leading the Sigurri warriors as well, the twisted children decided it was time for her to die.

“The start of their plan for her death was to tell her she had to gain the leadership of the enemy clans,” said S’Heernoh, his dark eyes once again resting upon me. “They used their long-speaking device to get Ladayna to steal her life sign, then arranged things so that she would follow the gray-clad, so-called warriors of the Serene Oneness. It was a trap they set and one she fell into—but they weren’t including me in their planning. I helped Aysayn find the emergency healer and get it to her in time to save her life, made sure the twisted ones couldn’t turn it off, then went forward with my own plans to join her traveling group. The twisted ones were now determined to see her die, and I didn’t want to be too far away to prevent that.”

“These—followers of the Serene Oneness you speak of—” said Ceralt, a great disturbance holding him close—“From the Sigurri have I heard other references to them, and I find myself unable to understand what occurs. I—I am a follower of the Serene Oneness, and never would I or any I am acquainted with behave as they are reported to have done. For what reason did they do such things?”

“For the reason that they were being influenced by the twisted children,” said S’Heernoh, his visage again going grim as he looked upon Ceralt. “In the north there are many people who follow the teachings of the Serene Oneness, but in the south the main deities are Mida and Sigurr. The twisted children sought out every malcontent among the Sigurri, every misfit who thought he should have been chosen to be a warrior, every incompetent who blamed those around him for his own lacks, and gave them the idea of founding a city dedicated to the Serene Oneness. There were a few who tried to imbue the image of the new god with honor and strength of character, but the twisted ones preferred a god of viciousness, deceit and warped self-seeking. Their preferences won out, of course, and would have spread everywhere if the children had been allowed to continue unopposed.”

“So those who follow the Serene Oneness in the north are not as those of the south,” said Mehrayn, a thoughtfulness to him which seemed to be filled with gladness as well. “I had begun to suspect that that was so, yet am I pleased to have the belief confirmed.”

“And I have learned that the Sigurri of the south are not like those called Sigurri beneath Sigurr’s Peak,” said Ceralt, returning the grin Mehrayn sent to him. “Fully as honorable as followers of the Serene Oneness are they, and this I was pleased to have confirmed.”

“There is a thing I fail to understand,” said I, looking upon S’Heernoh, who grinned with as much enjoyment as Ceralt and Mehrayn. “As the Feridani had already decided upon death for me—and were clearly the cause of the various mishaps upon that journey—for what reason was I given into the possession of Mehrayn? And for what reason was a pit dug for me, the pit which aided me in avoiding the enemy Midanna who hunted me, and also allowed my healing? Had that pit not been there, I would surely have died.”

“That’s the reason I dug it,” said S’Heernoh, again somewhat discomforted. “Or, to be more accurate, the reason I had it dug. I wasn’t close enough to do it myself, so I had to work through—surrogates. The procedure is prohibited except in extreme emergency, so I won’t try to explain it. After you were in the pit I let the emergency healer take care of you, and merely stood guard. And, of course, when it came time to send Aysayn and his warriors after you to that village, I didn’t have to check with the computer to know where you were. I was already following your every movement. ”

“Then that mist upon the Snows was your doing as well,” said I, suddenly seeing the point. “As the device we know as the Snows is a doing of your people, the mist must be the same. ”

“No, it so happens it wasn’t,” said the male, surely aware of my upset upon the point. It had been the mist which had kept me from knowing of the terrible ending which had been Kalir’s, due to the wearing of my life sign. “That mist was caused by the children, it being their belief that you had avoided death till then by being able to check the computer probabilities. They misted the sequence to keep you out of it, which also kept them out, but they couldn’t use it to keep me out when I wasn’t Walking with you. And no, I didn’t know what would happen with your life sign. I don’t get to check the probabilities for any longer than anyone else—the time flow in that sequence is almost as fast as the flow in this place is slow. We’ve discovered that having it that way is best—my people are as human as yours, and if humans are given too long a look at the possibilities of the future, they get the urge to tamper. Despite what I told you about certain happenings being so sure to come about that all branchings lead to it, that still refers only to probability. If everything continues on the way it has been going, the computer is saying, the probability of the event is so high that it’s a virtual certainty. Even before Jalav was born, the probability of her achieving success in her efforts was so high that she was immediately incorporated into the computations of the computer, setting her presence so clearly into the Snows that any Pathfinder was able to see it. Her abilities plus the certainty of my protection against things she couldn’t be expected to cope with did that, but that doesn’t mean her success was totally unavoidable. If she had been accidentally killed in battle—highly unlikely because of her skill—or had fallen off her mount and broken her neck—again, highly unlikely—or had been ended by pure chance, the near-certain probability would have immediately been changed to absolute impossibility. Nothing is set immovably in the future; that’s why the computer deals with certainties only after the event has already happened.”

The male looked closely upon me to be certain I had absorbed his meaning, and indeed did I feel considerably better. It had not been he who had callously contributed to Kalir’s sickening ending, and the hand of the Snows was not wrapped about the throats of those who lived upon my world. No more than a mirror was the device called computer, reflecting the doings of those who lived, and then speaking of what likely would occur by cause of their own efforts. This, to me, was far more acceptable than that the Snows ruled us all, and now there was no need to contemplate the invasion of the White Land.

“Still do I fail to understand,” said Ceralt to S’Heernoh, drawing me back from my thoughts. “For what reason was this wench chosen to overcome all opposition, so surely that the doing was set even before her birth? That it was so is inarguable, for many Pathfinders have seen and reported the thing. And for what reason was it so certain that you would lend her your aid? Is she truly chosen by the gods, and you the guardian set to her protection?”