The Goddess Gambit
Page 40
"Don't you worry about that," Miller interrupted. "We can handle all that."
Quiteke nodded in agreement. "We can talk to them. We will make it work, man."
"You need to go, Maya," Miller said. "You need to finish this. Find the Anvil before the Harvesters organize a counterattack. There's no doubt that Umbra and his brood won't be happy about losing their crop. They may have lost Warbak and the easy pickings, but they will be back. Bet on it."
Maya nodded. Jon did too. He agreed. It wouldn't be easy to leave Home in such chaos, but Miller and the others would have to handle it.
"Besides, only the Anvil can save the good lieutenant here from the serum," Miller added.
At this painful reminder, Maya turned to Jon, a look of deep guilt on her face. "I never meant to put you in such danger," she said softly.
"It's fine," Jon said, taking her hand in his, trying to reassure her. "I knew the cost. Lucy told me everything. We have plenty of time."
"He's right," Lucy interjected. "All Lanstar's notes say that the serum won't burn up the subject until nearly a half-year has passed."
Jon smiled at this and patted Maya's hand. "See? Plenty of time." She did not smile back, only stared deeply into Jon's eyes. She looks like she wants to say something... Jon was just about to ask her what it was when the door to the café slid open. Loud, jubilant voices rushed in, announcing the new arrivals.
"Look who's out of surgery!" Ratt called as he entered.
"Carbine!" Jon exclaimed, relief and joy washing away any nagging doubt or worry about what was on the goddess's mind.
"Hey, hey! Check it out!" Carbine called back and stepped up to the table where the companions sat. He stood back a couple meters and hiked up the leg of his cargo pants. The overhead lights caught the steely surface on his new prosthetic leg, which glinted brightly.
"He takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'!" Ratt beamed at his handiwork.
"Nice to have you in da club," Miller grinned and shot Carbine a thumbs-up.
"Not bad, eh?" Carbine said as he spun in place, showing his leg off. "And what about you, Lucy? You next?"
"No. I think I can manage fine with just the two arms," Lucy smirked, holding her two remaining arms out wide. "I prefer the human look over the monster that Warbak tried to make me." She had lost two of her arms and her tail in her battle with the Spartans and had been patched up as much as she apparently wanted. Jon did not doubt that she would still be able to protect Maya as well as she had already and tended to concur with Lucy's opinion on the matter of appearance.
"Did you, uh, bring her?" Jon ended Carbine's showing off with the question.
"Of course!" Ratt answered and turned to the café's entrance, which was still wide open. An elderly woman, To-kan, and Wyntr entered hand in hand.
"Well," Jon said, standing and nodding with an air of authority. "Let's do this."
Within the hour they were outside, standing high up on the surface of the Zigg's southern highway. Jon could see the Shanty below, and although it looked as it had the last time he had been on this sky-road, it wasn't the same. It would never again look the same.
"Are you ready, Jon?" Maya asked, stepping up to him and taking his hand.
"Yeah. I was born ready. Let's finish your mission."
Maya nodded and left him to bring Wyntr. Jon knelt before the foreign girl and waited. The girl looked up to Maya with questions in her eyes.
"It's okay, sweetheart. Go ahead and show him."
Wyntr collected herself and faced Jon. She suddenly looked far older than her young years. There was mystical wisdom in her face. She slowly closed her eyes as if she were falling into a standing sleep. A glow, not unlike when the serum within Jon kicked into overdrive, began to emanate from within the child. Jon squinted as a buzzing sound grew in his ears. The glow within Wyntr grew to without her and, to Jon's astonishment, the child began to levitate.
He watched in rapt silence as the little girl shaped her Strange. The buzzing sound grew so loud that it became uncomfortable. Just as Jon was about to cover his ears, the sound stopped entirely, and the girl dropped back down to the surface of the highway. Her small eyes opened, and Jon saw a fire within them. Without a word, she stepped forward and reached a single finger out to Jon, touching him gently in the center of his forehead. A rush of cosmic wind blew through Jon's mind, and he felt the pull of both time and space, as well as something unknown yet familiar.
Then it was over. The girl withdrew her hand and stepped aside, allowing Jon an unobstructed view of the spanning vista beyond.
There, somewhere off to the south, far beyond the lands known as the Far Rough, rose a glowing column of golden light, a beacon that called to Jon, pulling at a hidden part of his soul.
He knew, then and there, that at the source of that light he would find his true destiny.
The End.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
B. Michael Stevens writes science-fiction, fantasy, and horror when he isn’t busy working on his global escape plan.
He lives in Texas with his wife and son in the Stevens House for Wayward Animals.
Published before in Magazines and Anthologies, The Goddess Gambit is his first full-length novel.
He is currently worked on Book Two of the No Gods, No Masters Trilogy, as well as assembling a collection of previously published and never before released short stories.
Visit his website for updates and to subscribe to his newsletter.
Bmichaelstevens.com
SPECIAL THANKS
I would to like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped make this book possible.
First and foremost, I need to thank God. I couldn’t do anything without the grace and talents you’ve given me. And although I didn’t find you until this book was nearly finished, I look forward to writing the book you want me to write.
A very special thanks to my wife, Breezy, for putting up with a husband who locked himself away for years writing the damn book and the near-constant daydreaming.
I want to thank my professional team, Ethan, my editor, Matt, my designer, and Jason, my publisher. You guys are awesome and a real pleasure to work with. Thank you all for your hard work.
Thanks to Mom and Dad, Rene Alarcon, TJ Gates, Juan Gutierrez, and Scott Rinehart for the moral support.
Thanks to Scott McClellan for the rewrite ideas.
Thanks to everyone in Writers of the Storm, CLFA, and Superversive Readers. You guys are the best.
Thanks to Noe Reyes and Jose Nieto for help with the Spanish.
Thanks to everyone else I didn’t mention that supported me then, now, and tomorrow.
And last, but certainly not least, thank you to all the readers.
AFTERWORD
(WARNING: SPOILERS)
It took me most of 5 years to write this book. From it’s humble beginnings as a story meant purely to entertain my son, to the slow dawning that I wanted to write professionally, to actually learning something about both the craft and the industry, to completely starting over from scratch to make the book you just finished reading.
Five years of blood, sweat, and tears.
Then, on the night I finished it and was mere moments away from emailing it to my publisher, I nearly deleted the whole thing.
Here’s why.
Around the time I finished the third draft of this book and began the arduous task of editing it, I found God, and converted to Christianity.
This is something that has brought me great joy, as well as a deep meaning in my life. It’s something that I do not expect all of you dear readers to understand or even agree with.
However, it’s important for me and my conscience, to let every one of you know that some of the themes and events, both mundane and cosmological, in this book are really quite wrong and blasphemous. Lucifer CERTAINLY isn’t the misunderstood good guy, for example.
That said, this book, and the sequels to follow, are meant to be understood as Fantasy Fiction.
And while things like sorcery, magic, and ‘shaping strange’ are not to be trusted to defeat evil in our real lives, they work fine in this fantastic tale.
Please know that the mythology of this story in no way represents my true beliefs and should not be taken seriously in the slightest.
The reason I went ahead and published this story, is, that despite its ontological faults, The Goddess Gambit and it’s coming sequels, are ultimately about love and goodness triumphing over evil. And that, I think, makes it worthy.
Take this for what it is, and be entertained, but when the last page turns and the story is over, trust only in the grace of God to conquer the real evil in our shared world.
Thank you all and God bless.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
000
001
002
003
004
005
006
007
008
009
010
011
012
013
014
015
016
017
018
019
020
Epilogue
About the Author
Special Thanks
Afterword