I tore off a piece of bread, more out of nervousness than hunger. "I… I know there are three gods again," I said slowly. "I know Bright Itempas no longer rules alone."
"Try 'at all,' Lady Oree," Serymn said. "But you've guessed that, haven't you? All true followers of Itempas know He would never permit the changes that have occurred in the past few years."
I nodded, inadvertently thinking of Madding's bed, and our lovemaking, and Shiny's glowering disapproval. "That's true," I said, suppressing a bitter smile.
"Then we must consider His siblings, these new gods…"
One of Serymn's companions let out a bark of laughter. "New? Come, now, Lady Serymn; we are not the gullible masses." She glanced at me, and I was not fooled by the sweetness in her tone. "Most of us, anyhow."
I set my jaw, refusing to be baited. Serymn took this with remarkable equanimity, I thought; I wouldn't have expected an Arameri to brook much in the way of ridicule, even if most of it had been at someone else's expense.
"Granted, 'the Lord of Shadows' was a feeble attempt at diversion," she replied, then returned her attention to me. "But my family has had its hands full trying to prevent a panic, Lady Oree. After all, we spent centuries filling mortal hearts with terror at the prospect of the Nightlord's release. Better that we should keep him leashed than he break loose and wreak his vengeance upon the world; that was how it went. Now only a few feeble lies keep the populace from realizing we could all go the way of the Maro."
She referred to the destruction of my people-her family's fault-with neither rancor nor shame, and it made me seethe. But that was how Arameri were: they shrugged off their errors, when they could even be persuaded to admit them.
"He's angry," I said. Softly, because so was I. "The Nightlord. You know that, don't you? He has given a deadline for the Arameri and the godlings to find his children's killers."
"Yes," said Serymn. "That message was delivered to the Lord Arameri several days ago, I'm told. One month, from Role's death. That leaves us approximately three weeks."
She spoke like it was nothing, a god's wrath. My hands fisted in my lap. "The Nightlord was bored when he destroyed the Maroland. He didn't even have his full power at the time. Can you even imagine what he'll do now?"
"Better than you can, Lady Oree." Serymn spoke very softly. "I grew up with him, remember."
The table fell silent. A clock somewhere in the room ticked loudly. All of us could hear the untold tales in her inflectionless tone-and then there was the biggest tale, lurking beneath the surface of the conversation like some leviathan: why had a woman so powerful, so apparently fearless, fled from Sky in the first place? And now, imagining horrors in the ticking stillness, I could not help wondering, What the hells did the Nightlord do to her?
"Fortunately," said Serymn at last, and I exhaled in relief when the silence broke, "his anger fits well into our plans."
I must have frowned, because she laughed. It sounded forced, though only a little.
"Consider, Lady Oree, that we have been saved once already by the third member of the Three. Consider what that means-what her presence means. Have you never wondered? Enefa of the Twilight, sister of Bright Itempas, has been dead for two thousand years. Who, then, is this Gray Lady? You're acquainted with many of the city's godlings. Did they explain this mystery to you?"
I blinked in surprise as I realized Madding had not. He had spoken of his mother's death, grief still thick in his voice. But he had also spoken of his parents, plural and present. It was just one of those contradictions that one had to accept when dealing with gods; it hadn't bothered me because I hadn't thought it was important. But then, until recently, I thought I'd understood the hierarchy of the gods.
"No," I said. "He-they never told me."
"Hmm. Then I will tell you a great secret, Lady Oree. Ten years ago, a mortal woman betrayed her god and her humanity by conspiring to set the Nightlord-her lover-free. She succeeded, and for her efforts was rewarded with the lost power of Enefa. She became, in effect, a new Enefa, a goddess in her own right."
I caught my breath in inadvertent surprise. I had never realized it was possible for a mortal to become a god. But that explained a great deal. The restrictions on the godlings, confining them within the city of Shadow; why the godlings so carefully policed each other to prevent mass destruction. A goddess who had once been mortal herself might take exception to the callous disregard for mortal life.
"The Gray Lady is irrelevant to us," Serymn said, "beyond the fact that we have her to thank for the current peace." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. "We're counting on her intervention, in fact. Enefa-of whom this new goddess is essentially a copy-has always fought for the preservation of life. That is her nature; where her brothers are more extreme-quick to judge and quicker to wreak havoc-she maintains. She adapts to change and seeks stability within it. The Gods' War was not the first time Itempas and Nahadoth had fought, after all. It was simply the first time they'd done it, since the creation of life, without Enefa around to keep the world in balance."
I was shaking my head. "You mean you're counting on this new Enefa to keep us safe? Are you kidding? Even if she used to be human, she's not anymore. Now she thinks like any other god." I thought of Lil. "And some of them are crazy."
"If she'd wanted all humanity dead, she could have done it herself, many times over, during the past ten years." The table shifted slightly as Serymn made some gesture. "She is the goddess of death as well as life. And, please remember, when she was mortal, she was Arameri. We have always been predictable." I heard her smile. "I believe she will seek to channel the Nightlord's rage in the most expedient manner. He need not destroy the whole world, after all, to avenge his children. Just a part of it will do. A single city, perhaps."
I put my hands in my lap, my appetite gone.
Maroneh parents do not tell comforting bedtime tales. Just as we name our children for sorrow and rage, we also tell them stories that will make them cry and awaken in the night, shivering with nightmares. We want our children to be afraid and to never forget, because that way they will be prepared if the Nightlord should ever come again.
As he would soon come to Shadow.
"Why has the Order of Itempas…" I faltered, unsure of how to say it without offending a room full of former Order members. "The Nightlord. Why honor him just because he's free? He already hates us. Do they actually think an angry god would be deterred by that kind of hypocrisy?"
"The gods aren't who they're trying to deter, Lady Oree." This came from the man at the table's far end. I stiffened. "It's us they hope to appease."
I knew that voice. I had heard it before-three times, now. At the south promenade, just before I'd killed the Order-Keepers. On Madding's rooftop before all chaos had broken loose. And later, as I'd lain shivering and sick after my release from the Empty.
He sat at the far end of the table, opposite Serymn, radiating the same easy confidence as she. Of course he did; he was their Nypri.
As I sat there, trembling with fear and fury, Serymn chuckled. "Blunt as ever, Dateh."
"It's only the truth." He sounded amused.
"Hmm. What my husband means to say, Lady Oree, is that the Order, and through it the Arameri family, desperately hopes to convince the rest of mortalkind that the world is as it should be. That despite the presence of all our new gods, nothing else should change-politically speaking. That we should feel happy… safe… complacent."
Husband. An Arameri fullblood married to a heretic cultist?
"You're not making any sense," I said. I focused on the fork in my fingers, on the crackle of the dining room's fireplace in the background. Those helped me stay calm. "You're talking about the Arameri as if you're not one of them."
"Indeed. Let's just say that my activities aren't sanctioned by the rest of my family."
The Nypri sounded amused. "Oh, they might approve-if they knew."
Serymn laughed at this, as did others around the tabl
e. "Do you really think so? You're far more of an optimist than I, my love."
They bantered while I sat there, trying to make sense of nobility and conspiracy and a thousand other things that had never been a part of my life. I was just a street artist. Just an ordinary Maroneh, frightened and far from home.
"I don't understand," I said finally, interrupting them. "You've kidnapped me, brought me here. You're trying to force me to join you. What does all this-the Nightlord, the Order, the Arameri-have to do with me?"
"More than you realize," said the Nypri. "The world is in great danger at the moment-not just from the Nightlord's wrath. Consider: for the first time in centuries, the Arameri are vulnerable. Oh, they still have immense political and financial strength, and they're building an army that will make any rebel nation think twice. But they can be defeated now. Do you know what that means?"
"That someday we might have a different group of tyrants in charge?" Despite my efforts to be polite, I was growing annoyed. They kept talking in circles, never answering my questions.
Serymn seemed unoffended. "Perhaps-but which group? Every noble clan and ruling council and elected minister will want the chance to rule the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. And if they all strive for it at once, what do you think will happen?"
"More scandals and intrigues and assassinations and whatever else you people do with your time," I said. Lady Nemmer would be pleased, at least.
"Yes. And coups, as weak nobles are replaced by stronger or more ambitious ones. And rebellions within those lands, as minority factions jostle for a share. And new alliances as smaller kingdoms band together for strength. And betrayals, because every alliance has a few." Serymn let out a long, weary sigh. "War, Lady Oree. There will be war."
Like the good Itempan girl I had never quite been, I nevertheless flinched. War was anathema to Bright Itempas. I had heard tales of the time before the Bright, before the Arameri had made laws to strictly regulate violence and conflict. In the old days, thousands had died in every battle. Cities had been razed to the ground, their inhabitants slaughtered as armies of warriors descended upon helpless civilians to rape and kill.
"Wh-where?" I asked.
"Everywhere."
I could not imagine it. Not on such a scale. It was madness. Chaos.
Then I remembered. Nahadoth, the Lord of Night, was also the god of chaos. What more fitting vengeance could he wreak upon humanity?
"If the Arameri fall and the Bright ends, war returns," Serymn said. "The Order of Itempas fears this more than any threat the gods pose, because it is the greater danger-not just to a city, but to our entire civilization. Already there are rumors of unrest in High North and on the islands-those lands that were forcibly converted to the worship of Itempas after the Gods' War. They have never forgotten, or forgiven, what we did to them."
"High Northers," said someone else at the table, in a tone of scorn. "Darkling barbarians! Two thousand years and they're still angry."
"Barbarians, yes, and angry," said Hado, whom I had forgotten was there. "But did we not feel the same anger when we were told to start worshipping the Nightlord?" There were grumbles of assent from around the table.
"Yes," said the Nypri. "So the Order permits heresy and looks the other way when Itempas's former faithful scorn their duties. They hope the exploration of new faiths will occupy the people and grant the Arameri time to prepare for the conflagration to come."
"But it's pointless," said Serymn, a note of anger in her voice. "T'vril, the Lord Arameri, hopes to put down the war swiftly when it comes. But to prepare for earthly war, he's taken his eyes off the threat in the heavens."
I sighed, weary in more ways than one. "That's a fine thing to concern yourself with, but the Nightlord is"-I spread my hands helplessly-"a force of nature. Maybe we should all start praying to this Gray Lady, since you say she's the one keeping him in line. Or maybe we should just start picking out our personal heavens in the afterlife now."
Serymn's tone chided me gently. "We prefer to be more proactive, Lady Oree. Perhaps it's the Arameri in me, but I'm not fond of allowing a known threat to fester unchecked. Better to strike first."
"Strike?" I chuckled, certain I was misunderstanding. "What, a god? That isn't possible."
"Yes, Lady Oree, it is. It's been done before, after all."
I froze, the smile falling from my face. "The godling Role. You killed her."
Serymn laughed noncommittally. "I was referring to the Gods' War, actually. Itempas Skyfather killed Enefa; if one of the Three can die, they all can."
I fell silent in confusion, but I wasn't laughing, not any longer. Serymn wasn't a fool. I did not believe an Arameri would hint at something like a goddess's murder unless she had the power to do it.
"Which, to come to the point at last, is why we kidnapped you." Serymn lifted her glass to me, the faint crystalline sound as loud as a bell in the room's silence. Our dining companions had fallen silent, hanging on her every word. When she saluted them, they lifted their glasses in return.
"To the return of the Bright," said the Nypri.
"And the White Lord," said the woman who had commented on my sight.
" 'Til darkness ends," said Hado.
And other affirmations, from each person at the table. It had the feel of a solemn ritual-as they all committed themselves to a course of stunning, absolute insanity.
When they had all said their piece and fallen silent, I spoke, my voice hollow with realization and disbelief.
"You want to kill the Nightlord," I said.
"Yes," she said. She paused as another servant came over. I heard the cover being lifted from some sort of tray. "And we want you to help us do it. Dessert?"
9
"Seduction" (charcoal)
THERE WAS NO FURTHER TALK of gods or insane plots after dinner. I was too stunned to think of further questions, and even if I had asked, Serymn made it clear she would answer no more. "I think we've spoken enough for tonight," she said, and then she'd laughed a rich, perfectly measured laugh. "You're looking a bit pale, my dear."
So they'd brought me back to my room, where Jont had left me nightclothes and spiced wine to drink before my evening prayers, in the Maroneh custom. Perhaps she'd looked it up in a book. Suspecting observation, I drank a glass and then prayed for the first time in several years-but not to Bright Itempas.
Instead I tried to fix my thoughts on Madding. He had told me that gods could hear the prayers of their devotees regardless of distance or circumstance, if they only prayed hard enough. I was not precisely a devotee of Madding's, but I hoped desperation would make up for it.
I know where you are, I whispered in my mind, since there might be listeners in the room. I don't know how to get you out yet, but I'm working on it. Can you hear me?
But though I repeated my plea, and waited on my knees for nearly an hour, there was no answer.
I knew Madding was in that dark, sensationless place-the Empty-but I wasn't sure where that was. For all I knew, only the Lights could open and close the way to it. Or perhaps only their scrivener-trained Nypri could. Figuring that out would be my next task.
The next morning I awoke at dawn, having slept fitfully on my cot. Already there was activity in the house. I could hear it through the door: people walking, brooms sweeping, casual chatter. I should have guessed that an organization of Itempans would start their day well before sunrise. More distantly, echoing through the corridors, I heard singing-the Lights' wordless hymn, which was far more soothing and uplifting than the Lights themselves had turned out to be. Perhaps there was some sort of morning ceremony taking place. If that was the case, then it would be only a matter of time before they came for me. Trying to quell unease, I dressed in the clothes they'd given me, and waited.
Not long afterward, the lock on my room's door opened and someone came in. "Jont?" I asked.
"No, it's Hado again," he said. My belly tightened, but I think I managed not to show my unease. There was something abo
ut this man that made me very uncomfortable. It was more than his participation in my kidnapping and forced assimilation into a cult; more than his veiled threat the night before. Sometimes I even thought I could see him, like a darker shadow etched against my vision. Mostly it was just the constant feeling, impossible to prove, that the face he showed me was just a veil, and behind it he was laughing at me.
"Sorry to disappoint you." He had caught my unease, and predictably it seemed to amuse him. "Jont has cleaning duty in the mornings. Something you'll become familiar with, too, eventually."
"Eventually?"
"It's traditional for a new initiate to be put on a work crew, but we're still trying to figure out a placement that can accommodate your unique needs."
I could not help bristling. "You mean that I'm blind? I can clean just fine, especially if you give me a walking stick." Mine, to my lament, had been left behind on the street outside Madding's house. I missed it like an old friend.
"No, Eru Shoth, I mean the fact that you'll escape first chance you get." I flinched, and he chuckled softly. "We don't usually put guards on the work crews, but until we're certain of your commitment to our way… Well, it would be foolish to leave you unsupervised."
I drew in a deep breath, let it out. "I'm surprised you have no procedures for handling recruits like me, if kidnapping and coercion are your usual practice."
"Believe it or not, most of our initiates are volunteers." He moved past me, inspecting the room. I heard him pick up a candle holder from one of the wall sconces, perhaps noting that I'd blown out the candle early. I didn't exactly need the light, and I'd never liked the idea of dying in my sleep from a fire. He continued. "We've done quite well at recruiting among certain groups-in particular, devout Itempan laity who are disaffected with the Order's recent changes. I imagine we'll do well in Nimaro when we start setting up a branch there."
"Even in Nimaro, Master Hado, there are those who feel no need to worship Itempas in the same way as everyone else. No one forces them to do what they don't want to."
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