They were brought back to the procession with a minimal amount of fanfare, at least until they reached the field of lights surrounding the moving baggage train. When the newcomers were safely surrounded by increasingly eager young acolytes (all in green and gold, of course) a handful of green robes broke off from the general glut and ran for the forward portions of the procession. Hawk, who was feeling very stiff by now, could only brace herself and hope the explosion of egos weren’t going to be very bad.
The Light Archon returned to her side, with a very overwhelmed looking Dyson and Emile. “Here she is, intact, as you can see. I had limited time, and few functional options. So I made her my apprentice. It seemed the thing to do at the time.”
Em looked like they wanted to hit something. Or someone. Probably the one in the mask.
“I can get up off the litter now?” She said, hopefully. She’d need to be ambulatory if she wanted to protect the Archon from the punchy enby scientist.
“No,” said the Archon, and Em, and Dyson all at once.
“Actually, you may. In a moment, when we’ve replacement robes. In white.” And now it was his turn to glance around. “Hawk-of-the-West,” and damn if Em didn’t immediately choke on their tongue, “You must listen to me. It would have been better for you if you’d returned to the Nexus. Earth, my sibling-in-service, has decided that she wants you, and she’s going to petition the God for you.”
“Nasheth,” she waited for the approving nod, then turned to Em and Dyson. “I’m ninety percent sure that Nasheth is Naomi Studdard. Only like the Ape,” she said, reminding them about the gorilla trapped in a Prism who had become something…more when the Prism was activated. They were calling these things Archetypes, because they seemed to protect the species around them from the effects of Glass energy.
“You could say that a bit quieter. It’s been a full day since my Sibling-in-Service has sacrificed the Blood Gift to her God, and I think her knife is getting twitchy.”
“Blood Gift. Sounds emo.” Em said.
“Sounds murderous.” Hawk corrected.
“And it sounds to me,” said the Archon, “like your companion, Kaiser, has the charm to keep tonight as bloodless as can be…if he can be counted upon.”
“Are we going to get another chance to escape?” Hawk asked.
“Nothing short of the Shadow will let you slip through the Earth’s fingers…and even then, I have low bets. We’ve been watching for people from the God-world for longer than the Nexus has existed. Our liturgy begs for witness. Our Gods demand it.”
“Gods. Plural.” Em said.
“You wear Astru’s hammer.” Hawk said.
“I wear it because it symbolizes stuff I like, it irritates the brighter sparks amongst the Karens, and I adore the mythology. And Astru doesn’t give Loki his own symbol. But it doesn’t matter, Hawk, because that’s a dead pantheon. They never existed.”
“Our Gods exist,” the Archon said.
“Let me guess. You feel them when the wind blows, or when there’s enough water for your crops.”
“We feel them,” the Archon said, carefully, “when they strike us. And not as a bolt of power from the sky, or hands beneath the earth. They hit the way parents hit; when they feel justified.”
“Bet you’ve never seen them in person,” Em said.
“When I was eleven cycles old, on my blessing-day, I watched as Illyris drowned a half dozen of her worshippers in a bubble of water. It hung over all our heads like prayer for a half hour, while their bodies floated in gentle harmony with the water. She sat beneath it and watched, She said, the refraction of light through Her waters. Two hours later I was claimed to the service of the Earth, sorted as all eleven-year-olds must be. We are presented to all the Gods, and they choose us. Usually by pointing fingers and saying ‘there. That one, in the purple.’” A sigh. “or ‘the blue’ or ‘the pink’. It’s very unwise to wear the Gods favored colors on your eleventh blessing-day. It usually means you join their throng.”
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Em had listened to all of this with growing horror, as if the idea of an actual, living god had never occurred to them. At the end of it, they looked like they were ready to faint.
But it was Henry Dyson who interrupted them all. “You said the God Nasheth—” he stumbled a bit on the unfamiliar name. “—she’s watching for people from the God-World, which seems to mean us. Would this Nasheth rush to join us here?”
“I suspect She will arrive as soon as she receives word.”
“So we have a few days,” Henry said.
“Days? Boy, you have hours. The message has already been sent on wing, or is about to be. It will take perhaps four hours of flight for a Swift to arrive there.”
“But it will take time for this ‘god’ to travel, right?” Henry said.
This brought laughter out of the Light Archon. It was bitter and cold, but it was laughter just the same. “Ah, child. If I did not already know you were from the God-world, I would assume something with you wasn’t right. I suspect we shall behold Nasheth’s beauty this very evening…and I quite strongly recommend you lot brush up on your flattery. You’ll have Her full attention. And, I am sorry to say, Hawk, our ruse will not last in her presence.”
She shuddered a bit. “Should we try running now?”
“Look around you. The only thing that could get in or out of the procession now is Shadow.” He gestured around with his walking stick…and then stopped. “What is that?”
Hawk leaned back in the litter. Doing even that much movement was something of a mistake, and she had to gasp to get her breath back. She didn’t recognize what he was looking at. It looked like cold light. A very warm cold light, but cold-light. It didn’t flicker as a flame would, didn’t promise any more heat than an ice cube, but it had an ember-like redness. Heat, without any of the things that make heat desirable.
“It’s Fire. The gathering of the Archons has begun. I must now revise my estimate of how quickly Nasheth will arrive, downwards, by several hours. No, it is all too late for running, now. The spokespersons for the Gods are here, and that means the Gods are fast behind them. And if the first to arrive is Argon…no matter, yet. Don’t buy trouble before it arrives.” Another deep sigh. “Very well. Keep close to me, and make it very clear that you are with me, and no one else. Let your gregarious friend distract the Archons. If we make it through this coming sleep, we’ll have a better chance for flight on the morrow.”
Hawk nodded, then decided to act on a sneaking suspicion she’d had for quite some time. “Can you and Henry give the Archon and me some space?” She said, to Em. “I need to talk to him about something.”
There was a hesitation, but the other two drifted closer to Kaiser, who was having a delightful time regaling the people surrounding him with tales of their adventure with the Shadow-beasts. Then Hawk turned to the Archon and studied him from her place in the litter. No. This wasn’t enough privacy. She started trying to get out. Which hurt like hell, but she didn’t mind anymore.
“Stop. Stop. You’re still wounded,” The Archon said.
“You’ll want to send the litter away for my next question. It’s important.”
So he sent them away. The litter was carefully folded up and carried between two of the gold robes. The other two simply vanished into the growing throng of people around them. There was a respectful space around the Light Archon and Hawk, but it was the newcomers who had all the attention. Not only were they officially from the God-World, but Kaiser was at his absolute best and brightest. She realized just how much Alex had kept him in check, because this was the man he wanted most to be. He smiled. He laughed. He told slightly off color jokes in English that had the acolytes around him blushing. He was aged beautifully, like old wine or new plastic surgery. He oozed charm from every pore.
“You’ve found the perfect prophylactic in that man,” The Archon said, softly. “She will eat his compliments up and spit out the rind. I’m presuming you would only be pleased with that development if there is no rind.”
The thought of feeding Kaiser to the Earth Archon had occurred to her. She wrote it off as too much trouble. “That’d be fine, but I wouldn’t underestimate him any more than I would the Earth Archon.” And she took a deep breath, because it was time to take a plunge.
“Why did you have me clear witnesses, Hawk?” He whispered.
“I thought you’d appreciate the privacy for my next question. How long have you worked for a man with violet hands?” She said.
He turned to her, frozen in place. Likely open mouthed behind his mask. But he knew what she meant.
How long had he worked for the Shadow?