Emily, Healing Shrine of Mugash, 8th rot., 9th day
Asgotl and I talked about Old Testament times and the god Jehovah and life as a large ocean-going mammal for about a half bell. Then I had an interesting idea. I got up off the lounge and walked over to Wolkayrs’ work table, where I snagged a bottle of ink small enough for me to carry, a blotting rag, and a pen. I wanted a Cosm pen for a change and not one of the quills that Wolkayrs so carefully made for me for my smaller hand.
“What are you doing, Emily?” Asgotl asked, looking a little worried. “You are wearing a very worrisome face that is about to do something outrageous.”
“Not,” I quipped. “Can I get a ride down to the east garden?”
“Maybe, if you tell me what you’re up to,” Asgotl sounded disapproving.
“Just a little defacement of a park bench,” I said. “I need to leave a message in reply to what was written there a few days ago.”
"Oh." Asgotl thought about it. Then his tone changed as he came to some conclusion. Taking at least two long breaths to draw it out, he said, "OH!" Then he got up, shook his feathers out, and headed for the doorway. He tapped on it with his beak and the wraith sentry opened the double doors.
“Great One,” the wraith bowed an obeisance, “are you done with the study?”
"Yes, we are, thank you. Coming, Emily?" Asgotl exited and turned left for the south balcony. I ran to catch up and then I was climbing up onto the saddle. It took only a few pumps of his wings to land in one of the few clear spaces in the garden, not too far from the bench where Tom had written the first line of "One is the loneliest number."
I climbed off Asgotl and knelt on the seat, facing the back of the wood bench. To be honest, it looked more like a church pew to me than a park bench. It was still amazing to me that the shrine bothered making Coyn-sized benches for the east garden.
I unstoppered the ink and started writing underneath what Tom had written: “It's just no good anymore since you went away. Now I spend my time just making rhymes of yesterday.” Underneath, I wrote in English: “Where do you live and what is your Fosk name?”
I cleaned up the messy pen strokes of the too-big pen with the blotting cloth and smiled at my addition to the graffiti. The bigger pen made fatter, easier-to-read letters.
“What does it say?” asked Asgotl. I keep forgetting that he doesn’t know how to read.
I translated English into Fosk and then explained the lyrics for the whole song.
It was then that a woman’s voice from behind Asgotl informed me: “Stay right there, young Coyn. I must arrest you for defacing the shrine’s property.” A guard gal of the Aybhas garrison stepped around Asgotl’s bulk and loomed at me politely but firmly.
A wraith appeared out of nowhere and made a bowing obeisance at me, "Great One, do you need assistance?"
“Could you get the High Priestess for me, please?” I asked. I couldn’t see any other way to dodge this well-meaning garrison guard whose duty it was to keep the east garden orderly so Coyn visitors could enjoy it without trouble.
"Wait!" the guard held up a hand. "You're the Blessed Emily?" I nodded and she looked a little panicked. Then she looked at the lazy griffin, "You're the Blessed Asgotl?"
“I am, indeed, lovely lady,” Asgotl laid on the charm.
“Oh gods,” the guard grimaced and pinched her nose, “what a muddle.” Then she got on her knees with her right hand over her heart, “May the blessings of the eleven gods be upon you, Great Ones.”
“And upon you too,” I said in a friendly way. “Please rise.”
Usruldes appeared on the path at a run and quickly closed the distance. “Thank you, Flea,” he nodded at the wraith. “Would you please get the High Priestess?” He looked at me, looked at the ink and pen, looked at the bench, and then took a second look at the bench, “Is that part of the same poem, Great One? Ah, and you ask Tom the obvious question that we need to know to find him.”
“It is a line from the third stanza of the song that the first line is from,” I replied.
“I was looking for you,” Usruldes’ eyes were stormy. “Aylem left the study and flew off. Then you and Asgotl took off from the south balcony and the sentry didn’t realize you only went as far as the garden. The High Priestess is most vexed with you for not leaving word where you were going.”
“But I didn’t go anywhere,” I protested. “I’m still right here. I haven’t left the Shrine at all.”
“You were nowhere on the fourth floor and you exited out of the building by the balcony door with the griffin,” he folded his arms. “The two of you could have gone anywhere.”
“And how did you find me?” I asked, knowing the answer already.
“Your wraith shadow informed me when I inquired of my staff after your whereabouts,” he replied, sounding a little miffed.
"The wraiths who were not supposed to be surveilling my meeting with Aylem and Asgotl?" I grumped, folding my arms.
“They didn’t,” he retorted sharply. “Flea was waiting patiently in the hallway for you to leave the study.”
“Ah,” I gave him a look. Then I noted Lisaykos walking sedately up the pathway. The conversation stopped until she arrived.
“I hear you have just been arrested for defacing shrine property,” Lisaykos raised one neutral eyebrow.
"That was what this conscientious garrison guard told me," I replied in a neutral voice, gesturing at the now-embarrassed and miserable-looking guard lady.
“You should have left me a note,” Lisaykos glowered.
“I should have left you a note that I was going to write on one of your park benches without asking?” I gave her an incredulous look. “Why would I do something like that?”
“Well, I was expecting you to,” she tucked her skirts under her knees and knelt to speak to me at a less-looming height. Then she sighed with exasperation, “Emily, Aylem took off and then you and Asgotl vanished and the Eagle the wraiths have posted to keep track of Asgotl didn't know where he went. We had no idea where you were. Hostile actions by Impotuan or anti-Coyn Foskan agents are a danger to you. I am not going to apologize for being worried about you when you're living under my roof."
I knew she had a valid point. I dragged the tip of my boot through the dust on the paving stones of the pathway. I looked up at her expression of tested patience, “We should do something about this poor garrison guard who was just doing her duty, Lisaykos, before she falls to pieces in front of us.”
Lisaykos closed her eyes for a moment and then looked up at the guard, “Guardswoman, there are five of you currently on duty, yes?”
“Yes, Great One,” the guard bowed a brief obeisance in reply.
“Then, right now, please absent yourself long enough to find Captain Tyoep and request that she make an appointment to speak with me as soon as it is convenient about this rather special park bench and some instructions about it that the garrison needs to be aware of.”
“Your will, Great One,” the guard lady saluted. “No arrest?”
Lisaylos smiled with amusement, “no arrest.”
The guard nodded and fled.
Lisaykos let out a great sigh, “I am relieved that you are here in the garden making trouble. I do worry and you know I worry and not without reason.” She looked frustrated. “Emily, where is Aylem?”
“She went to Salicet to run an errand for me,” I explained in a helpful voice. “She’ll be back by the half-night bell, if not sooner.”
“WHAT?” Lisaykoy and Usruldes said almost in unison.
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Lisaykos’ hand was over her face as she shook her head. “Emily, dearest, please explain to me what errand Aylem is doing for you in Salicet, the capital of the country we are at war with?”
“She will be casting a compulsion to evacuate the city,” I said as my stomach started to sink toward my feet. I hadn’t given any thought to how anyone here would react to my plans to destroy Salicet. I was now faced with explaining something that would likely appear outrageous to anyone not on the receiving end of a god’s command to raze a city.
“Evacuate?”
“In two days, Aylem will take me to destroy it, which is what Galt has commanded.”
Usruldes and Lisaykos were both shocked speechless.
I realized with dread that I had a long day full of explaining ahead of me.
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Aylem above Salicet, 8th rot., 9th day
Five wagon-days above the city of Salicet, I cast the greatest set of spells I have ever crafted. I had to drop the suppression of my power to do it. I compelled nearly two hundred thousand people to leave the city, taking only food, warm clothes, their animals, and each other. For the birds and beasts of Salicet, I compelled them to stay with their people if they had owners or caretakers, and otherwise to depart.
I gave all of them, every living creature with enough intelligence to be compelled, the urgency to flee five wagon-days to the south of the city gates. I destroyed the walls and pens of the slave markets and compelled the slaves to flee wherever they chose, so long as it was at least five wagon-days away to the east or south. I compelled the Coyn to guide the blinded Chem and free residents to help each other in their flight and check houses for shut-ins.
So I would not be recognized, I cast the charm of light upon myself. I blazed at least as bright as the sun to eyes other than my own. Because I dropped the suppression of my power, no one could approach within a half wagon-day of the place where I floated high above the half-ruined city. I drew a circle with fire around the city which was ten wagon-days in diameter. I told those I compelled that they would be safe beyond that perimeter.
After the compulsion was complete, I mindcasted every sapient being in the area so they would know why they had to leave: *You will flee this place. Doing so is a mercy. The ruling Cosm of Salicet angered Galt, the God of Justice, Knowledge, and Wrath because they destroyed his shrine and burned his library. Galt will destroy this city as punishment for these crimes. The prophet Emily, Revelator of Tiki, Mugash, Giltak, and Galt, interceded to save your lives so only the city will die. The God of Wrath heeded the prophet’s intercession to save your lives. The god agreed to let you flee this doomed city, which will be destroyed two days from now. So take your food, your family, your friends, your neighbors, your birds, and beasts, and leave this place. In two days, Salicet will be no more.*
A cavalry soldier on an eagle flying into the city from the north tried to reach me.
*If you come closer, you will die for I am the demon of death.*
The soldier chose to ignore my words and continued his approach. He and his eagle fell from the sky. I felt sorry for the eagle so I caught it with my mind’s hands and floated it down to the ground. Alas, it was already dead. Both the soldier and the eagle approached too close to me and paid the price. There are days that I hate my power.
Satisfied that my efforts would meet Emily’s expectations, I flew back to Foskos. Because I wanted to check the progress of the city’s evacuation, I first dropped by the Crystal Shrine. I had to ring the bell to alert someone to man the recording table. I was surprised when Foyuna came out. She was wearing slips and a house coat was thrown over her nightdress.
“I figured it would be you," she said as she sat down at the table next to the throne. She took out an ink stick and started rubbing it on the ink platter, "You and that little troublemaker Emily have raised quite a ruckus in Aybhas. The news is already up and down all the shrines. Both Sisters Kamagishi and Losnana are having precognitions of death and destruction and violence, by the way." Foyuna then gave me a funny look, "Aren't you cold at all? And where's the Blessed Asgotl?"
“Asgotl stayed in Aybhas with Emily. I flew myself. I used a barrier like Kamagishi does at times, so no, I'm not cold at all," I admitted as I seated myself on the throne and extended my clairvoyance toward the Great Crystal. I willed it to show me Salicet. Despite what Foyuna had just related, I expected to see people packing handcarts and carrying bags. Maybe some people would be leaving already, though I expected most people would start to leave in the morning.
I didn’t expect what I did see, which was an armed force setting up barricades at all the city gates. Under the light of charm gem lamps, city guards argued with mounted cavalry soldiers while nervous citizens milled about watching. Along the river bank, the wharves and boats tied up to them were ablaze and soldiers blocked the alleys and lanes leading to the river landings. Downstream of the city were boats adrift on the river while on fire.
“Is that Salicet?” Foyuna asked, wide-eyed at the visions in the crystal.
“Yes, which two days from now will no longer exist,” I said as a hot rage grew within me. How dare the rulers of Impotu prevent the mercy that Galt extended the residents of Salicet at Emily’s pleading. Would they make a mockery of everything that Emily had done to save those who were innocent of the destruction of the shrine and library?
As we sat there watching, I saw the signature great fireball magic of the Impotuan nobility flare up down the river, engulfing a boat in the distance in flames. I realized my clenched hands were shaking, I was so angry. My fingernails had dug into the skin of my palms deep enough to make them bleed. I stared at the blood in a daze, incoherent in my madness.
*Take a deep breath, child,* I thought I heard Ud’s voice in my head, *and count to ten.* Surely, I imagined that, but regardless, the thought gave me something to do to break the impasse of my anger. I counted and then exhaled.
As the muscles in my neck unknotted, Foyuna stood up, took one hand and then the other, and healed the gouges I had made on my palms. I could see the fear she was trying to hide from me, and the worst of my anger drained out of me in response. Thank the gods I didn't do anything worse than cut myself.
"Dear sweet Foyuna," I smiled at her, "thank you."
She looked at me with both unease and sympathy, “What is happening in Salicet? Why is the Impotuan army keeping the Salicetans inside the city, even using the extremity of burning the boats on the Ahkeseld river?”
“I do not understand why the Impotuan military is preventing the citizens to leave," I sighed in frustration. "Galt wants Salicet destroyed, and he gave Emily a deadline of doing it before Convocation meets in Weirgos if she wanted to evacuate the city first.
“That last bit wasn't in the news shared among the shrines," Foyuna's eyes grew wide.
“Galt visited Emily last night,” I explained. “Giltak and Erhonsay were there too. Erhonsay helped Emily make a deal with Galt. If she destroyed Salicet before Convocation met, he would allow Emily to empty the city of living sapients, birds, beasts, pets, and livestock beforehand. Emily enlisted my help to compel the Salicetans to leave the city. I cast a compulsion on all there to leave the city. When I return with Emily in two days, she will destroy it with my help.”
“Surd save us,” she put her hand over her gaping mouth.
“So I am a bit vexed to see the Impotuan Army preventing people from leaving the city when we’ve given them a leave-or-die deadline backed up by the strongest compulsion I’ve ever cast. I’m tempted to return and remove those soldiers tonight. But if I do, then I won’t have any sleep, and Imstay, who is waiting for me in Aybhas, will worry. Dammit,” I barked, “I am not happy about this.”
“Would it be possible to wait until tomorrow before returning to Salicet?” Foyuna said in a flat voice, eyes burning. “If the lives of those living in Salicet are that important to the prophet, then it is incumbent upon us all to see that her desires achieve fruition. If the Impotuan forces can be kept out of the city, and we can assemble an armed force to protect us, then I can assemble the senior clergy of the Crystal Shrine to stop time for those inside the city so they can flee.”
“But the charm of stopped time is a lost magic that might not have even existed, Foyuna,” I protested. “The only mention of that magic is in the first book of Tiki's saga of creation, and that account is over four millennia old."
Foyuna smiled sweetly at me with a glint of mischief in her eyes. That look told me all I needed to know and I was gobsmacked by the knowledge. “Great Gertzpul, you know the lost charm to stop time.”
“Not even Kamagishi knows what is hiding in the vault of Tiki,” Foyuna looked smug. “The language is so old on the scroll, the second oldest in the vault, that even I have problems reading it. I’ve been updating the shrine’s translations of the most ancient scrolls into modern Fosk. The misnamed charm of stopped time is one of the Crystal Shrine’s hidden treasures, and it will take at least 30 astromages of Tiki to cast it on a place as large as Salicet. If we can get other silverhairs to assist, it will be easier on those of us who can cast time-and-motion magic."
“Shall we send to our colleagues at the Hospitable Shrine of Gertzpul?” I suggested. “I’m sure some of the priestesses and priests of Sassoo will also help.”
“Shouldn’t you talk to Imstay first? We will need an armed escort if we are to infiltrate Impotu and either contain or run an army away from their own capital city,” Foyuna remarked. “Tell you what, let me wake my people and prepare them. You should zip back to Aybhas and rouse Imstay to rouse the Army of Foskos. I will catch up with you in the morning, at the first bell in Aybhas.”
"That sounds remarkably organized, Foyuna," I admitted, knowing that I was a bit lacking when it came to making plans on short notice. "But why? Why should the Crystal Shrine become involved in this business in another country whose affairs don’t affect it at all?”
“You’re being oblivious, Aylem dear,” she rolled her eyes and smiled at me. “There’s an army preventing a chosen prophet from carrying out a divinely-granted act of mercy offered to thousands of innocents. How can I not respond to that? I am a high priestess and the business of the gods is the business of the shrines. Silly woman, you need to go talk to Imstay King, and then you need to get some sleep."
“Your advice is sound,” I admitted, finally feeling some fatigue. “I will head back to Aybhas and hope someone saved me some dinner.”
“Oh, blarg," Foyuna made a face like she had just downed sour wine.
“What?”
“If Imstay can assemble enough soldiers to make this work, we’ll still need to invite Fassex,” Foyuna grimaced.
“Why bother? She is such a pain to deal with," I felt bemused.
“You know how she is about researching and cataloging both new and lost magics. Inviting her to witness lost magic will be less bother than trying to explain afterward why we didn't. We would never hear the end of her complaints if we left her out."
“Oh gods, I think I'm getting a headache," I admitted. "If we invite Fassex, how will we keep Fassex from spooking Emily?"
“Well, that should be your responsibility, cousin," Foyuna grinned at me. "If you're casting some unfathomable magic that can destroy an entire city, you won't be involved with the charm of stopped time. That leaves you to keep Fassex away from poor little Emily. Problem solved."
“Oh joy,” I wondered how things had gotten so muddled so quickly.