Chapter Thirty-nine

Gracious and kind-hearted? Really? The elves’ opinions of themselves was way too high and biased. I hoped it was just Toven and this monster named Fenirig Arte, because if this was the prevalent mentality among the elves, then I was going to do the impossible and get a headache without having a head.

Krissy’s lips began to tremble as soon as she heard Fenirig Arte’s words, but she just stared at him, unable to say anything.

‘Stop squirming, trainee!’ Fenirig Arte yelled at Krissy.

She didn’t dare move a muscle. Toven looked just as terrified, and he was someone who worked and had probably trained under the man. It was not a good sign. I felt more than just tempted to introduce the man’s soul to one or two of my tenties, but no matter how much my Tentacle Horror instinct approved, I knew it would have been a bad idea.

'You don’t have to go through with this, Krissy. We can just leave.' I said to her.

She did not reply — neither to me, nor to Fenirig Arte.

In the end, it was Tovaron Ento who spoke up.

‘Are … are you sure about this, Sir?’ he asked Master Fenar.

The man turned to look at the other two high-ranking elves. Toven looked at them, too, and they both nodded in approval.

‘And there you have it,’ Fenirig Arte said, smiling like a kid in a candy shop.

I wish I could have said his good mood was infectious, but chills and all sorts of bad feeling were running up and down on my nonexistent spine.

Tovaron Ento simply nodded, accepting both his and Krissy’s fate. Well, he was a soldier of a sort, a ranger, and orders were orders. But … why? Why had Fenirig Arte decided it was a good idea to train an outsider? More than that, why had two other high ranking officers agree to it? It must have been more than just the scarred elf’s desire to torture a spiritualist. What was in it for them? Then, as if Fenirig Arte had heard my thoughts, he turned to Krissy and said,

‘We’ll train you, Misery, as much as a human can be trained. And you will do something for us in return.’

‘In … return? We helped with the evil spirit … Sir,’ Krissy said, her voice cracking.

‘You did, you did,’ Fenirig Arte said, still smiling. ‘That’s why your Bureau sent you here, that’s what you said. So … no. You wanted a personal favour, and as it happens, we want one, too. Something for something.’

I was shocked: Krissy was considering it, wasn’t she? I could tell she was scared and I had expected her to politely but firmly decline the offer. Instead, she stood in silence, her eyes flicking left and right, thinking hard about this.

'Krissy, what are you thinking? Shouldn’t we be saying goodbye to the elves and go look for your brother or something?' I asked.

She didn’t reply. I wished I could have delved deeper into her mind and read her thoughts directly.

'Krissy! This is a bad idea.' I tried again.

‘So? What’s it going to be, Misery?’ Fenirig Arte asked. ‘Do you want to hear more?’

'Krissy! Talk to me!' I pleaded with her.

Krissy didn’t talk to me. She looked Fenirig Arte in the eyes and said,

‘What is it you want in return, sir?’

‘Oh, I’m glad you asked,’ Fenirig Arte said with a wide grin on his scarred face.

***

Tovaron Ento escorted us back to our lodging. It was a short walk, and I was amazed by how many muffled swearwords — both Treini and Elvish — could leave his mouth in half a minute. When we arrived at the door of our house, he stopped, shook his head and turned around to face Krissy.

‘Do you even know who those people were?’ he demanded.

‘How would I know?’ Krissy said, and judging by her almost vacant gaze, her attention wasn’t really on the man, but with her own thoughts.

‘One of them is Master Ketavel Ortig of the First Rangers. The other one is a liaison from the Defence Committee,’ he explained.

‘Alright, so?’

‘So? What do you mean: “so”?’ Toven cried out in exasperation. ‘So it means Master Fenar really went and got this scheme of his approved by everyone important in a single day.’

‘So?’

‘So you are not getting out of this now. And neither am I,’ Toven wailed.

He then looked up at the darkening sky, at the rising moon, as if seeking divine intervention to save him from what lay ahead. I felt tempted to ask Krissy to tell him that divine intervention was overrated, but on the other hand, I could picture a scene of Wensah — or one of her ilk — giving Toven a hard time.

Krissy didn’t respond. Toven looked at Kenta and Tommi. He took a deep breath, then turned back to Krissy.

‘Alright. I … am calm,’ he lied, obviously. ‘We’re leaving for Gal-Themar in the morning, so be ready by sunrise.’ Toven then looked at Kenta and Tommi again and said to them, ‘You two won’t be allowed in the Ranger’s compound, but we’ll arrange a room for you in town. There’s plenty to see and do there, I’m … sure you can make yourselves useful.’

The sailors nodded, looking unconvinced. Krissy didn’t do or say anything — I wasn’t even sure she heard or understood a single word the man had just said.

Toven shook his head, opened the door to let us in, and he left.

***

I didn’t know how I felt about this. I was sure Krissy didn’t know how she felt about this either. But I was a passenger — a useful one, but a passenger nonetheless, and this had always been Krissy’s decision to make, not mine.

She sat on her bed in our room, silently, deep in thought. Kenta and Tommy were standing, staring at her, and by the look of it they were just as confused by her decision as I was. And they were waiting for her to say something, just as I was. And we waited. And waited. Then waited some more.

Kevin, are you alright with this? She suddenly asked me.

'You made your decision, and I’m going where you’re going anyway.' I said to her.

I know, but … don’t you have … I don’t know. Something? Something you want to do instead of … well … doing what I want? Don’t you want another host? A better host?

I thought about that for long moments. Of course there were things I wanted to do, but … they were things I could no longer do on account of not being human any more. And as far as hosts went, Krissy was mine, and I had no intention of replacing her.

'Listen, I’m sticking with you because I consider us friends, alright? Haven’t I said this before?' I said to her.

Yes, friends. Alright. She said.

'Besides, I am a stranger in a strange place, even more so than you. I don’t know anyone, I have no stake in this world, and I … have nothing. Except you, Kenta, Tommy and Akela. For the time being, your lives are my life.'

And that was the truth. They were all I had in this world. Maybe things would change one day, but that day was off in a distant and so far murky-looking future.

Finally Kenta lost his patience, unaware of the conversation Krissy and I were having.

‘My Lady,’ he said. ‘We’re stayin, aren’t we?’

Krissy looked up, finally, her eyes unfocused, looking like she had just been roused from sleep.

‘I’m staying,’ she stated. ‘As I said before, the two of you are free to leave. You’ve earned that much.’

‘Aren’t you gonna go lookin’ for your brother, My Lady?’ Tommy asked.

‘My brother …’ she said, lowering her head a little ‘… it’s been almost half a year. If he has managed to stay alive until now, then he’s probably safe enough. If not … then it’s too late anyway. Either way, going back to Thyssa as I am now … is … not feasible.’

‘Why not, my Lady? You got Kevin,’ Kenta argued. ‘He’s powerful, ain’t he?’

‘Thyssa has many spiritualists,’ Krissy said. ‘Terack has … I don’t know … two or three shrines there. We’d stand out. Kevin is an evil spirit after all. And I’d be considered a traitor anyway, so I … have to learn how to handle myself, even without Kevin, if necessary.’

‘But this … ranger training, my Lady, isn’t it a bit …’ Kenta tried to argue.

‘I am … scared,’ she said, then sighed. ‘But I need to do it.’

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‘What about what the elves want? You’ll have to do that, too, my Lady,’ Kenta said.

‘It’s not unreasonable. A little worrying and ironic, if you ask me, but not unreasonable. It also means we’re useful to them. And as long as we are useful, we’re safe.’ Krissy explained.

‘That’s … makin’ some sense, yeah,’ Kenta concluded. ‘Alright, so we’re stayin,’

‘We?’ Krissy asked, raising her eyebrows. ‘Aren’t you going? Don’t you have family or friends waiting for you?’

‘My Lady, if we’d wanted to be stayin’ with our folks, we wouldn’t have gone sailorin’,’ Kenta said, grinning, and Tommy was nodding approvingly. Krissy finally managed to produce a small smile.

I patted the two sailors on their shoulders with a Mana-gloved tentie each, expressing my own approval of their choice.

‘Aaah, Kevin!’ Tommy wailed. ‘It’s cold.’

I liked the pair of them.

Krissy was right: I wanted to do things, and as I looked at the two sailors, I suddenly knew how I could do those things: by proxy. Oh, Kenta and Tommi were in for a ride. But that was for tomorrow. Tonight, we needed to rest — well, they needed to rest.

‘Good thing I’ve been keeping an eye on you since the kraken,’ a brand new voice barged in on our conversation, and bloody hell, I recognised that voice instantly, even before the red dress and all the beautiful, blond nastiness it contained manifested in our midst.

***

Krissy, Kenta and Tommy flinched as one, then they froze as Wensah popped into existence in the middle of our bedroom. Then we all stared at Kitala Iwani — or in my case at Tilry — both of whom also appeared out of nowhere for some reason, standing next to the blond wench, looking as shocked and confused as my humans looked.

Akela was suddenly in the room with us, too.

I should have been surprised, but I had seen too much of Wensah’s deus ex machina bullshit already to be actually surprised — and this was only the third time I saw her. Despite all the complaints I had about cryptic, unavailable deities, I was beginning to see the allure.

'Are you okay, buddy? Did she hurt you?' I asked Akela.

There was no answer; Akela stood frozen for a few moments, just like the rest of us, then he trod over to Krissy, whimpering, and jumped on the bed next to her, pressing himself to her side.

It wasn’t just me: they could all see her.

Then I felt a cloud of invisible Essence blanketing the room, and Wensah looked at me.

‘Do you take me for the kind of person who’d hurt someone’s pets?’ she asked.

‘Yes, you’re exactly …’ I said, wanting to unleash a tirade at her, but Kenta interrupted.

‘Kevin?’ the sailor asked, looking at Krissy. ‘Is that you?’

‘You can hear me?’ I asked, staring at the sailor, absolutely gobsmacked.

Tommi and Kitala Iwani tore their eyes away from Wensah, too, and gawked at Krissy.

‘Can they hear me, too?’ Tilry asked.

‘Who was that?’ Tommi wailed, looking around, confused.

‘I … think they can,’ the elf woman said.

Krissy finally broke out of her momentary bafflement, stood up in front of Wensah and asked,

‘Kevin, what’s happening? Who’s this?’

Her voice wasn’t as panicky as I thought it would be — perhaps she was getting used to all the weirdness as much as I was.

‘This is Wensah,’ I groaned.

The room went quiet, everyone’s attention snapping back to the woman in the red dress. Akela’s whimpers were the only sound in the room, but I still wasn’t getting any thoughts from him. I checked on the Essence wires, and … they weren’t there.

‘What have you done?’ I demanded. ‘And where is his girlfriend?’

‘Oh, you really are stupid, aren’t you?’ Wensah said, laughing. ‘Did you think your threads are that durable? I’m surprised you even figured out how to make them.’

‘Alright, listen here you …’ I began to say, but Wensah just waved her hand and spoke over me.

‘Now that you all know who I am, let’s get to the point,’ she said, then gestured to Kitala Iwani an Tilry. ‘Firstly, why did you let them go? Did you think they wouldn’t go crying to Sivera about a strange, tentacled spirit showing up?’

‘Is that why you brought them here?’ I asked.

‘Yes. I could have done it myself, but I thought you’d like a snack,’ she said. ‘I take care of my pets.’

Kitala Iwani paled instantly, and Tilry seemed to shrink in size.

‘I’m not going to just murder people, not like this,’ I said, deciding to ignore her comment about pets.

‘Why not? You’re a Tentacle Horror,’ Wensah said, looking at me with eyebrows raised. ‘You’ve done it before, haven’t you?’

‘Self-defence, Wensah, self-defence,’ I groaned in exasperation. ‘Just what do you take me for?’

Wensah snapped her fingers, and I felt a fresh wave of … something flowing into room, filling the place in a single second. It was Essence, I thought, but yet another kind I had not felt before. In another second, this new cloud moved to surround me, it condensed, and it stuck to every inch of my spiritual body. Then everyone else yelled and jumped away from Krissy as much as the small bedroom allowed them to. They all stared in horror, and even Krissy’s eyes widened as she led her gaze along … one of my tentacles, hanging in the air in front of her. Then she turned her head and looked straight at my spherical body, hovering about half a meter next to her head.

She gasped.

Then I gasped.

She could see me. They could all see me. Somehow Wensah made it so they could all see me.

‘That. Tentacle Horror. The worst of the worst,’ Wensah said with a satisfied smile on her face. ‘I hope you’ll work on your disguise.’

I wished I could somehow wipe that smile off her face, but she was … a goddess — all-powerful, at least compared to me. Because of … Essence.

She possessed a divine mastery of Essence, that much was clear, and an obviously enormous supply of it, too. Familiars. Of course. Who knew how many familiars she was collecting it from. Essence and the skill to manipulate it, to change it and to shape it — it was the basis on which godhood was build, wasn’t it? It was the power, the currency, the very foundation. No wonder grand spirits wanted these shrine-things, renting out spirits to people. But … could I do it? Could I grow enough to have an Essence pool or pools comparable to Wensah’s? Could I learn to manipulate it and use it as she did? Hm. For how long would I have to experiment with Essence? How much would I have to eat to grow enough? And would I be able to appear as a human then?

I glanced at the elf woman and her familiar — bronze soul and blue spirit-stuff. Food. Growth. Levels. My Tentacle Horror instinct’s intoxication with the sight was almost infectious. Oh, damn it, Kevin, baby steps, baby steps, baby steps! Godhood wasn’t going anywhere, so I gently told my Tentacle Horror instinct to shove it for the moment, and I refocused my mind on the horrified people who had been staring at me for a number of seconds now.

‘Well,’ I said, waving all seven of my free tenties around. ‘That’s me, Kevin, and I want you all to know that there was a time in my life when I was average looking bordering on handsome. Now I have tentacles.'

Krissy was the first to snap out of it. She shook her head, let a shiver run through her, then straightened her posture.

‘Alright. So ... spirit-kraken. I … can see the resemblance,’ she said, then she looked straight into Wensah’s cold, blue eyes, and bowed as she addressed her, ‘Lady Wensah, I am Krissintha Arlonet Dar Ghelain. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.’

I was once again impressed by Krissy — she just knew how to talk to people in any given situation, even if it was a goddess. I suppose there were a few things I could learn from her.

Wensah leaned closer to Krissy, as if studying her. Then she smiled.

‘It seems we’ll be able to have a somewhat intelligent discussion after all,’ she said, giving me a glance of unmistakable scorn. Krissy must have sensed the retort I was going to unleash.

‘Kevin, not now!’ she shushed me before I could say anything.

‘Good. I see you got a handle on him,’ Wensah said with an uncharacteristically sweet voice, then pointed a finger at Kitala Iwani. ‘Now, if you’d be kind enough to get him to consume the woman and her familiar, that would be grand.’

The elf woman and the spirit seemed unable to move, their squirming and the desperate look on Kitala Iwani’s face telling me it wasn’t for the lack of trying — it must have been Wensah’s doing.

‘Before we do that, Lady Wensah,’ Krissy said with a measured, neutral tone. ‘Perhaps we should discuss more important things. I don’t imagine someone such as yourself would come all the way here just to feed some people to my familiar, am I wrong?’ She then looked at Kitala Iwani and said, ‘We can decide their fates after. Perhaps we could even find a use for them, other than … food.’

Wensah stared at Krissy, just for a moment, then she began to laugh in a very lady-like manner.

‘I like you, Krissintha,’ she said. ‘Fine. Let’s talk first.’

Krissy pulled the only chair in the room and offered it to Wensah. The blond wench took it, and Krissy sat down on the bed. Everyone else remained standing: Kenta and Tommi frozen with fear, Kitala Iwani frozen with something else, courtesy of Wensah.

‘I have been watching you lot since the kraken incident. I’m not unhappy with how things went, but there is one particular thing that piqued my interest. I hate to admit it, but even Stupid can come up with some good ideas.’

‘I’m not stupid,’ I protested.

‘Good ideas?’ Krissy asked, ‘May I ask what it is?’

‘That bureau-thing of course,’ she said, clapping her hands together, smiling at Krissy. ‘The name is too long and it sounds stupid — which isn’t a surprise considering where it came from — but the idea itself … well, I thought of a way to use it.’

‘What?’ I blurted out my thoughts.

‘The … Bureau?’ Krissy asked, looking as confused as I felt.

‘Yes, the Bureau. Please don’t stoop to his level and try to keep up, Krissintha,’ Wensah said. ‘Setting up a shrine is an old practice. Tradition. That’s how it has been for thousands of years, and that’s how it will be for a long time. It’s a difficult thing to do: the others are very protective of their territories. In fact, they even go as far as to encourage war among the material races, just to gain territory where they can set up more shrines. Like in Thyssa. Hah! I imagine the old fool, Terack, isn’t happy that Ohsot is replacing his shrines there.’

‘Thyssa?’ Krissy asked, her eyes narrowing. ‘You mean the civil war?’

‘Yes, but that’s not important,’ she said, shrugging. ‘If the place and the circumstances are right, I might not need shrines. I think something like this Bureau of yours … it could work if set up properly. It could fulfil the role of a shrine without being a shrine. It’s worth a try.’

‘I … see,’ Krissy said, slowly and carefully. ‘So … you want us to …’

‘Yes,’ Wensah said.

‘And we don’t have a choice in this, do we?’ Krissy asked.

‘No,’ Wensah said, smiling at her.

‘Hold on, we have some training to do here,’ I interjected.

I never would have thought Fenirig Arte’s plans for Krissy would become a desirable alternative, but I reached the point where I considered just about anything better than to quietly go along with the whims of the bitch-god.

‘Do your training. I have time.’ Wensah said, shrugging. ‘I’ll keep an eye on you, and I’ll tell you where to go when the time comes.’

‘I see,’ Krissy said, nodding with a contemplative expression on her face.

I wasn’t sure why, but it seemed Krissy had accepted this rather quickly and easily — maybe hearing about her homeland was to blame. I hoped she wasn’t getting some dangerous ideas. I’d have to talk to her later.

‘So we settled the important things, and I am now the patron god of your Bureau,’ Wensah announced, standing up from the chair. She looked at Kitala Iwani, then at me. ‘Time for a meal, isn’t it?’

‘Wait,’ Krissy said. ‘Why not recruit them into the Bureau instead?’

‘Are you … squeamish?’ Wensah asked.

‘Uhm … I … don’t follow. Squeamish?’ Krissy said.

‘If you don’t want to see a Tentacle Horror eat, you can just go to another room. His tentacles are long enough,’ Wensah said.

‘I don’t want to eat them,’ I interjected again. ‘And Krissy isn’t squeamish. She just doesn’t like to waste resources. I recall you dislike waste yourself, don’t you?’

‘Oh, you really aren’t as stupid as you look, are you?’ Wensah said, then turned to Kitala Iwani and Tilry. A small, black Essence cube appeared in Wensah’s hand, and she held it up for the two of them to see. ‘So, what will it be? Will you serve, or will you die?’

A sudden sense of deja-vu came over me.

‘We’ll join,’ the elf and the spirit said at the same time and without hesitation, almost crying.

Wensah tossed the black cube to Tilry. I wasn’t sure if anyone other than spirits could see it, but Tilry caught it. I sensed all sorts of Essence moving around her — I guessed Wensah was somehow hijacking Tilry’s connection to Sivera. And with that, Kitala Iwani and her familar had become members of a Bureau that was no longer just a convenient lie. I hoped the two of them weren’t expecting a welcome party.

‘Well, that’s done, so be good and don’t do anything stupid,’ Wensah said to us. ‘See you soon.’

She snapped her fingers and she vanished as abruptly as she had arrived, taking with her all the strange, refined Essence that had made me visible and audible.

No-one said a word. Krissy, Kenta, Tommi, Kitala Iwani, Tilry and even Akela … they were just gawking at the spot where Wensah had been standing moments ago. A minute passed like this. I knew no-one but Krissy could hear me now, but I took a deep mental breath and I grumbled,

‘We really are being bossed around, aren’t we?’

END OF PART ONE