Gathering of the Chosen

by Timothy L. Cerepaka

  Chapter Fourteen

  Although Raya was still angry at Carmaz for rejecting her every advance, she hadn't yet given up him. He reminded her of a story that she had once read, in which a handsome prince repeatedly rejected the advances of the equally beautiful princess who had fallen in love with him. The princess had chased the prince for years until he finally gave in, at which point the two were married, had ten children, and went down in history as the most loving married couple that had ever walked the face of Martir. Their relationship was even said to have been blessed by Yashira, the Goddess of Love herself.

  Now Raya sincerely doubted that that story had ever happened, but she liked its overall message: Never give up on your dream man, even if he doesn't know that he wants you at first.

  Even so, Raya had spent the trip from her apartment to the Stadium without speaking a word to Carmaz. She had no problem with admitting—to herself, at least—that she was upset at Carmaz's constant rejections of her advances, but even when she was stewing in her anger, a part of her was busy figuring out a way to woo him anyway. She knew there had to be some way to do it. Carmaz might have thought that he was not interested in her or in romance, but she knew better.

  But upon arriving at the Stadium, Raya had to put her plans on hold, because Alira told her to get in line with the other nineteen participants in the Hollech Sub-Bracket Challenge. Thus, Raya found herself standing in line with Yoji, the young mage from yesterday who had helped save her, Carmaz, and Saia from the assassin.

  Yoji, for reasons known only to himself, took this opportunity to brag about how he was the smartest student in his school, how he was even better than some of the teachers, and how he had originally been intending on graduating this year before he had learned about his destiny as a godling. Raya at first thought that Yoji might be attracted to her (a horrifying thought) and was trying to impress her with his accomplishments, but the more she listened to Yoji's endless bragging, the more she realized that he just liked to talk about himself and how awesome he was. He barely complimented her on her beauty or said anything else to even hint that he might find her attractive.

  Thus, Raya felt safe in ignoring most of his bragging, especially when it became clear that Yoji didn't even notice that she wasn't listening. She had a feeling that she could walk away for a few hours and then come back to find Yoji still bragging about his accomplishments to empty air.

  As as result, Raya had plenty of time to think about the Tournament. She still didn't want to be here anymore, now that she was no longer in the running for the position of Goddess of Martir, but during the night she had come to a change of heart. She had originally planned to intentionally throw this first challenge so she could go back to Carnag, but when she awoke this morning, it was like her subconscious had devised a counterargument to that idea that had convinced her to give it her all.

  Think about it, Raya, she had told herself earlier. Maybe you won't become the Goddess of Martir, even though you obviously deserve that position more than anyone else—especially more than Braim Kotogs—but if you give up now, then you won't ever become a goddess at all. If you try to win the Hollech Bracket, then you have an opportunity to rise higher still. You never know. Maybe down the line you will get an opportunity to become the Goddess of Martir.

  Of course, Raya didn't know for sure if she would ever get an opportunity to become the Goddess of Martir. But she figured that it was the gods themselves who had a higher chance of ascending to that position than anyone else. So—while she still found the position of Goddess of Deception, Thieves, and Horses to be horribly unfit for royalty such as herself—she decided that she would 'work her way up,' as some of her lower class servants put it, even if it took her a long time.

  Besides, being a goddess of any sort is still better than being queen, isn't it? Raya thought. I will still have more power than I know what to do with.

  The problem now was that Raya had no idea what the first challenge was going to have in it, so she couldn't adequately plan for it. Nor did she know who her challenger would be. It might be Yoji, or it might be any of the other eighteen challengers, most of whom she did not know except by sight.

  But Raya decided that she would give it a shot. Worse case scenario, she lost and had to go back to Carnag, which was really where she wanted to be anyway. Best case scenario, however, she won and would be that much closer to achieving godhood, which was also what she wanted, despite not wanting this position in particular.

  Yoji only let up on his bragging when the twenty Hollech Bracket participants went through the door into a room that was different from the lobby. First, it was much smaller. Second, it appeared more like a circular tunnel than an actual room, because there were entrances on either end that seemed to stretch on forever.

  In front of the group were two normal-sized doors that had a stylized horse on them. Raya vaguely recalled Teacher, in her studies about the relations between gods and humans, telling her that the Hollechians often used the image of a stylized horse to represent Hollech. In fact, when Raya looked more closely, she saw that this wasn't just a stylized horse, but an image of a man with the head of a horse, which was the usual form that Hollech had been said to take prior to his death at Uron's hands.

  There was no one else in the tunnel-like room besides Raya and the others, which made Raya wonder what they were supposed to do until Alira appeared before them without warning. The Judge still held her Rulebook in her arms, clutching it like it was the most important book in the world.

  “Greetings, godlings,” said Alira, adjusting her glasses as she spoke. “Welcome to the Hollech Sub-Bracket Challenge, the first sub-bracket challenge in the Tournament of the Gods. In this challenge, participants will be divided into pairs and the winner of each pair will then go onto the Hollech Bracket Challenge later on.”

  None of the godlings said anything in response to that, but Raya was annoyed at Alira repeating information that they already knew. She felt like Alira was talking down to them, like the Judge thought that they were stupid children who had forgotten what they were supposed to do.

  “As for what the first challenge is, you must compete with whoever you have been paired up with to be the first to tame one of Hollech's original Steeds,” said Alira, “of which there are twenty.”

  Raya frowned. She looked at Yoji, who was nodding along like he understood what Alira was referring to. “What are Hollech's Steeds?”

  “Well,” Yoji said, in a tone that clearly said he had been waiting for someone to give him an opportunity to share his vast knowledge of the gods with them, “at the beginning of time, when the Powers finished laying the foundations of Martir, Hollech was given the order to make horses. So he created twenty horses, which he called his Steeds, from which every single horse in the world is descended. The Steeds are said to be immortal and undying, but very few mortals have ever actually seen them.”

  “What happened to them when Uron killed Hollech?” asked Raya.

  “No one knows,” said Yoji, “but obviously, they must have survived, otherwise Alira couldn't have set up this challenge for us. A challenge, I might add, that I will easily sweep. I know everything there is to know about the Steeds, in addition to the knowledge I have on general horse behavior and attitudes, so I shouldn't have any trouble at all winning this.”

  Raya knew very little about horses. Carnag didn't have very many, and of those few that it did have, Raya never rode them, mostly because their job was to pull along the royal carriage. She had always thought that horses were large, ugly, and disgusting creatures, which made her wonder why anyone saw any beauty or majesty in them.

  But there was no way that Raya would ever admit her ignorance of horses to Yoji or anyone else. She just said, “Ah, yes, I, too, will have an easy time doing this. I ride horses all the time on Carnag, so taming these ones should be easy.”

  “The Steeds are a little different from most horses, though, from what I've read,” said Yoji. “For example, th
ey're almost as smart as humans and are stronger than most horses. One story I read said that one Steed alone is as strong as ten thousand raging stallions.”

  “You don't think they'll kill us, do you?” asked Raya, keeping her tone calm and disinterested in order to hide the very real fear now starting to creep up her spine.

  “Nah,” said Yoji, shaking his head. “Well, unless you anger them. All the old stories say that the Steeds don't tolerate stupid or disrespectful people. Like in the story of Abacos, the First Steed, who kicked off the head of the arrogant human who tried to tame him. His head went flying all the way over a mountain, or so the story goes.”

  Unconsciously, Raya rubbed her neck, right where it connected to her head. “Really? Well, that is certainly a … painful way to go.”

  “It's just a story,” said Yoji dismissively. “Only children believe in those stories. Still, all of the research I've done—which is quite a bit, more so than even the most respected Hollechian scholars—states that the Steeds are not to be taken lightly, but of course I won't, seeing as I know more about them than they know about me, even if you take into account that not all of the stories about them are true.”

  Raya didn't know what to say to that, but thankfully, she didn't have to say anything, because Alira continued speaking, causing the other godlings to stop talking among themselves.

  “After I pair you all together, you will then go through these doors,” said Alira, gesturing at the two doors behind her. She then pointed down either tunnel. “Along the tunnel walls at regular intervals are doors that each pairing will have to step through. But each pairing must enter the Stadium's field at the exact same time as the others. I will let you all know when to enter the field.

  “Now it is time to pair you all up.”

  Alira pulled another deck of cards from her robes and tossed them into the air. Raya had just enough time to see that there were about twenty cards in all, in a variety of colors ranging from blue to red to yellow and beyond, before the cards flew among the godlings. One of the cards flew toward Raya, causing her to catch it to avoid so it wouldn't fly into her face.

  Looking down at the card she'd caught, Raya saw that her card was purple and had no text or pictures on it at all. Beside her, Yoji had a red card, which he was studying as if he thought that it would reveal the secrets of the universe to him (which, based on his bragging, he probably already knew, of course).

  “Each card has a twin that shares it color,” said Alira. “To find your challenger, you must find the godling with the same color card as you.”

  Yoji immediately leaned over to look at Raya's card, leaned a little too close to Raya for her liking, before he pulled back and said, “Darn it. Our cards have different colors, so it looks like we'll not be competing against each other today.”

  Raya nodded, but before she could say anything, an older man came up to her and said, “Do you have a purple card?”

  Raya looked at the older man. He was probably middle-aged, though he looked a lot younger than that. He was quite muscular and fit, with a graying mustache which made him look a little odd to her. He wore a black tunic, similar to hers aside from the color and size. While he wasn't the largest man Raya had ever seen, he still looked like he could go toe-to-toe with an adult baba raga if he wanted.

  “Um, yes,” said Raya, holding up her purple card for the man to see. “What about you?”

  The man held up his own card, a smile appearing under his thick mustache. His card was the same purple hue as hers. “Yep. Nice to meet you. My name is Zaos.”

  The man held out a large hand, which Raya's own, rather tiny hand disappeared into when she shook his. His hand was rough and dirty, like he was the kind of person who worked outdoors.

  “Princess Raya Mana of Carnag,” said Raya, looking up at the large man who was smiling at her as if she was his own daughter. “And you are from …?”

  “Zinza,” said Zaos. “You've probably never heard of it. It's a tiny, though wealthy, island located in the Friana Archipelago. Born and raised there.”

  “Ah,” said Raya. “No, I have not heard of it, but now that you have told me about, I guess that I have.”

  Zaos nodded. “But I've heard of Carnag, even visited the island a few times in my youth. They make the best boots there. In fact, I'm wearing some Carnagian boots right now.”

  Zaos raised one of his tall, thick legs to show that he was indeed wearing a genuine Carnagian leather boot. “Fits better than any boot I've worn in my life, which is hard to do, believe me, because we Zinzans tend to be big people, so finding clothes and footwear that actually fits is always a challenge.”

  “Well, on Carnag, you can find high quality, affordable boots in a variety of sizes and styles,” said Raya. “We make only the best.”

  “And I believe that,” said Zaos, lowering his boot onto the floor. “But you're the first princess I've ever met. Zinza doesn't even have royalty. It's such a small island that we practice a democratic government, where we vote in the Mayor of the island along with a Council to help him govern.”

  Raya made a face. “Ah, yes, democracy. I've heard of that, but it's not quite as good as a monarchy, if you ask me.”

  “Eh, both types of government have their upsides and downsides,” said Zaos with a shrug. “Each nation needs to go with what works best for them. But in truth, I've always admired the great kings and queens of the Northern Isles, even though I'd never actually want to live under them. King Malock, your father, is someone who I have particularly respected, mostly because he was such a mischievous, adventurous sort in his youth, unlike some princes, who just sit around in their palaces all day waiting on their servants to meet their every whim.”

  “Yes, Father is certainly a great king, and I am proud to be his daughter,” said Raya. “Anyway, what gods do you worship on Zinza?”

  “All of them, more or less,” said Zaos with a shrug. “Unlike most other nations, we Zinzans aren't united under one religion. You got your Grinfians, your Xocionians, your Kanonites, even a few Tinkarians here and there. In the last decade alone, we've had a Grinfian Mayor, a Tinkarian Mayor, and a Kanonite Mayor, in that order.”

  “How interesting,” said Raya. “What kind of work did you do on Zinza prior to coming to World's End?”

  “I was just a simple day laborer, is all,” said Zaos rather humbly. “There are a lot of rich people there who don't like getting their hands dirty but still need physical labor done, so they hire me to do it. Sometimes I get some of my friends to help, but most of the time it's just me. Been doing it for forty years now, ever since I left home and decided to make my way in the world.”

  “Very interesting,” said Raya, though in truth, she found herself losing interest in Zaos when he said he was a day laborer, because she had found the day laborers back in Carnag to be very boring conversationalists. “How have you taken to World's End?”

  Zaos smiled. “It's huge. Bigger than Zinza or anywhere else I've ever been. But I am quite honored to be in the Throne of the Gods, you know. Never thought I'd live long enough to get a chance to come here, but I did, and now I even have a shot at becoming a god, of all things.”

  Despite Raya's general dislike of day laborers, she found something infectious in the older man's excitement. He seemed so genuine and sincere, which she found a rather refreshing difference from the stiff and formal way most royalty tended to behave.

  So Raya said, “I guess you don't mind possibly becoming the God of Deception, Thieves, and Horses, then?”

  “Why should I?” said Zaos. “Sure, I'm no big fan of lying or thieves or lying thieves, but I love horses and would love to be their god. Though truth be told, I'm not sure how good a god I could be to them, because I don't look much like a horse, which I think would make it harder for the horses to worship me.”

  Why does it seem like everyone else here loves horses but me? Raya thought, but aloud she said, “Well, if you win, then I'm sure the horses will respect your auth
ority. Not like they're smart enough to rebel, right?”

  “I don't know about that,” said Zaos. “Horses are pretty smart. Not as smart as us humans, but smarter than we give them credit for. I used to own a horse that understood every word I said. Sometimes he tried to play dumb when I was telling him to do something he didn't like or didn't want to do, but that just goes to show how smart he was.”

  “I never thought of horses as being particularly intelligent creatures,” said Raya.

  “Well, you should, if you are going to respect them,” said Zaos. Then he looked down at the purple card in his hand and looked back up at her. “But it looks like you and I are going to compete against each other, which means only one of us is going to get a shot at the title of God of Deception, Horses, and Thieves. Wish we could both win, but I guess there's only enough room in this world for one god or goddess like that, eh?”

  “Yes, it would be nice if the two of us could win, but unfortunately we can't,” said Raya. She held out her hand. “Let the best man or woman win, eh?”

  Zaos took her hand and shook it again, but this time, he shook it a little harder than before, almost as if he was trying to harm her. When Raya looked into his eyes, she briefly saw a distaste in them that contrasted sharply with his friendly tone from before.

  “Yes, Princess, sounds good to me,” said Zaos, letting go of her hand and letting his own hand fall to his side. He then looked around at the other godlings, who were still trying to find their partners. “Sure would be awful if that assassin that tried to kill you last night showed up again, huh?”

  Raya froze. She almost asked how he knew about that, but then realized that it wasn't exactly a secret. Still, just his mentioning of the assassin caused fear and panic to return full force to Raya's mind. She wanted to run away, but she kept her position, because she didn't want to look weak in front of him.

  “Ah, yes, well, that would indeed be a bad thing,” said Raya, brushing strands of her hair out of her eyes with a nervous laugh. “But you know, I don't think that that assassin will try to get me or anyone else today. If he tries, he'll be captured and stopped by the Soldiers.”

  “Mmm hmmm,” said Zaos, though she didn't like the tone in which he said that. “Yep, the Soldiers are supposed to be real good at that. Still, if I had been attacked by an assassin like that just the night before, why, I'd never be able to concentrate on the challenge. Nope, I'd be watching every shadow, jumping at every sound I couldn't identify the source of, and not think clearly. I might even hide under my blankets and never come out again.”

  Raya's hands shook, but she quickly stopped that before Zaos could notice. “Yes, well, I think I will be just fine. That assassin was scary, yes, but I have nothing to worry about.”

  “And that is why your hands were just shaking a second ago, yes?” said Zaos. He leaned closer to her, his smile no longer looking quite as friendly. “Just a tip, princess: If you want to win a competition—any competition—then you don't show genuine fear to your competitors that they can exploit.”

  Raya gulped, but wasn't sure what to say to that. All she knew was that Zaos was not nearly as friendly as he appeared. In fact, she had a feeling that he had put on that friendly face as an act, and nothing more.

  Zaos stood up to his full height again, while at the same time, Alira said, “The last of the challengers have been paired up. Now go down the tunnels until you find a set of doors for each of you to enter. After everyone is set, I will then tell you when to enter the field.”

  Zaos, nodding at Raya, walked over to the two doors in front of the group. He took the right door, while Raya took the left, but Raya no longer looked at him. She kept her eyes resolutely on the door, now wondering just how much of Zaos's story had been true and how much of it had been false.

  And he is probably wondering the same about me, Raya thought. Unless he thinks I'm too naïve to lie about my past.

  In any case, Raya was quite glad when, about five minutes later, she heard Alira say, “Challengers, prepare to enter the field and begin the challenge. The first to succeed in taming their Steed will become one of the chosen ten that will go onto the Hollech Bracket Challenge. All of the Tournament rules apply and any cheaters will be punished accordingly.”

  Raya prepared herself mentally for whatever she was about to face. She still didn't look at Zaos, but she could sense that he wasn't looking at her, either, probably preparing for the challenge just like she was. She almost prayed to Grinf for aid before catching herself, as she was not certain that praying to the gods for guidance counted as cheating or not.

  Finally, the doors opened before them and Alira said, “Let the first challenge of the Tournament begin!”

  ***