Tamora Pierce - The Realms of the Gods

A blurred face hung over her. Daine squinted, trying to see. The face became clearer: blue eyes, a dimple at the corner of that smiling mouth, creamy skin, straight nose, high cheekbones. The whole was topped with a braided crown of heavy golden hair.

In a second the girl forgot the last four years. She was twelve again, and in her bed in Galla. ‘Ma?’ she croaked. ‘I dreamed you was dead.’ With a frown, she corrected herself – she knew how to speak like cultured folk nowadays! ‘I dreamed you were dead.’

Sarra Beneksri – Daine’s mother – laughed. ‘Sweetling, it was no dream, I am dead.’

Some of Daine’s confusion faded. ‘Well, that’s all right, then.’ She tried to sit up. ‘Where am I?’

Sarra moved pillows to help her. ‘You’re in the Realms of the Gods.’

Moving dizzied the girl. ‘How’d I get here ? And why do I hurt so?’

‘We brought you. Sadly, passage between realms was fair hard for you. Here’s something to drink against the pain.’

‘Talk about familiar,’ Daine grumbled, taking the offered cup. With each swallow, she felt an improvement; by the time she’d swallowed all of the liquid, her pain was nearly gone. ‘Your messes have got better,’ she remarked with a grin.

‘It’s the herbs here.’ Sarra pinched Daine’s nose gently. ‘They’re stronger. Open your eyes wide.’ She used her fingers to pull back Daine’s eyelids. ‘Where were you born?’

‘Snowsdale, in Galla. Why are you asking?’

‘To see if your mind’s unhurt – though it being you, I wonder if I’ll be able to tell.’

‘Ma!’ squeaked Daine with a laughing outrage.

‘How old are you?’

‘Sixteen.’ Memory returned in a rush. ‘Where’s Numair? The Skinners—’

Her mother stopped her from getting up. ‘Easy. Master Numair is here, and safe. The badger took care of those skinning monsters. He turned them to ice, and they melted. They won’t trouble anyone now.’

‘So I didn’t dream that.’ Daine sank back against her pillows gratefully, fingering the heavy silver badger’s claw that hung on a chain around her neck. ‘Where did they come from, do you suppose?’

‘You know as much as me,’ was the reply. ‘I’ve never seen the like of them.’

‘Sarra?’ The voice coming from the next room was deep, male, and unfamiliar.

The woman’s face lit up. ‘In here, my love. She’s awake.’

The door opened, and a man dressed in a loincloth entered. Although the doorway was unusually large, the crown of antlers firmly rooted in his brown, curly hair forced him to duck to pass through. He was tan and heavily muscled, with emerald eyes. Daine was unsettled to notice that there also were olive streaks in his reddish brown skin.

‘So.’ He touched his antlers uneasily as she stared at them. ‘We meet at last.’

‘This is your father,’ Sarra told Daine. ‘This is the god Weiryn.’

He looked so – odd. No one else’s father had antlers, or went half naked. What was she supposed to say? ‘Hullo, Da.’ She hid trembling hands under her blankets.

‘Daine!’ Sarra cried. ‘Is that the best you can do? He’s your da!’

The girl couldn’t begin to describe her feelings. Only months ago, she had learned that the horned man she saw in visions was her father, and that he was a god. She had tried not to think about it ever since. ‘It’s not like you ever told me who he was, or what he was,’ she reminded her mother. ‘Not even a hint .’

‘I thought we’d have time later,’ replied Sarra. ‘I never meant to be killed by bandits!’

‘Daine?’ Numair came to the door, looking pale and tired. ‘You know that the badger destroyed the Skinners, yes?’

‘Ma told me. You don’t look so good.’

He smiled. ‘I’ll survive. Are you all right?’

‘I hurt a little.’ She couldn’t help but note, with some amusement, that except for the tips of his horns, Weiryn was shorter than her friend.

Numair smiled twistedly. ‘I am informed that passage between the realms has an adverse effect on mortals.’ He clung to the doorframe.

Silver fire glimmered on the floor, and a large badger appeared. Daine smiled as her mentor waddled over. He looked up at her with black eyes that were bright in his vividly marked face. ‘Hullo,’ she told him. ‘So we’ve you to thank for handling those Skinners?’

‘You wouldn’t rest until you knew they were dealt with.’ Balancing on his hindquarters, the god rose to plant his forepaws on her covers. Her nose filled with his musky, heavy scent.

Gently she scratched him behind the ears. Since she had left her Gallan home, the badger had visited her, teaching her the use of her wild magic, and warning of danger to come. The claw she wore around her neck was his; he could always trace it to find her.

Sarra frowned at Numair. ‘You are supposed to sit, and stay sat.’ She made a tugging gesture at the wall beside the mage. That part of the room began to move; the floor buckled and rose. The wall stretched to meet it, then sagged to create a chair. ‘Down, Master Salmalín!’ ordered Sarra. Meekly, he did as ordered.

Daine’s jaw dropped. ‘But – Ma, you can’t— You never—’

‘Things are different here,’ the badger said. ‘In the Divine Realms, we gods can shape our surroundings to suit ourselves.’

‘Sometimes,’ added Weiryn.

‘Wonderful,’ the girl said weakly. She was not sure that she liked to see unliving things move about under their own power. ‘Tell me – how did we come here? The last thing I remember is the Skinners.’

Weiryn and Sarra traded glances. ‘You were in danger of your life, against a foe you could not fight,’ the god said. ‘We had meant to bring you only, but this – man ’—he glared at the mage—‘refused to let go of you. We were forced to bring him as well.’

‘I just thank the Goddess that you met the Skinners on one of the great holidays, when we could pull you through to us,’ added Daine’s mother. ‘Otherwise you would have been killed. It fair troubles me that no one we’ve asked has ever heard of those creatures.’

Light bloomed through the curtains on a window that filled one of the walls, growing steadily brighter, then fading. Just as it was nearly gone, another slow flash came. ‘Oh, dear,’ remarked Sarra as Weiryn opened the curtains. ‘They’re still at it.’

‘What’s going on?’ Numair asked, lurching to his feet.

‘Will you sit ?’ cried Daine’s mother. ‘Men! You’re so stubborn!’ Numair quickly sat, this time on the bed. Sulkily, the chair that Sarra had made for him sank into the wall.