THE GOD BOX

by Barry B. Longyear

  I pondered the words of Zaqaros, since they did answer the question that had been vexing me. Is it even possible for me to understand the reasons why I had been chosen to be the Guide of the ancient prophecy? As I was turning this over in my mind, the servant called Eshkigal brought in a tray with hot tea, wine, and tiny little delicious things. After Delomas had taken something for himself, the tray was held before me.

  I took tea and was sampling one of the tasties when the two huge guards, Muzto and Bakku, entered dragging between them a fellow I suspected might be their ambitious superior, Nigiza. Considering his station, Nigiza seemed inordinately clad in gold, silks, and gems. Some early holiday shopping, no doubt. Judging from the smell that began to fill the room, he had been caught in midcelebration. The fellow was thoroughly bladdered.

  The trio came to a halt before Delomas's hassock, and the merchant motioned to the guards. "Not as close as that, Muzto. Back him up a bit."

  "Master," called Nigiza, "you are all wrong about me. I had absolutely no idea what those men were—"

  "Back farther," said Delomas to the guards. "Move him off the carpet."

  "Master, I beg you, I am innocent. I—"

  As Nigiza begged, the two guards pulled the fellow off the carpet. Delomas reached into a hidden fold of his hassock, pulled out one of the new pistols, cocked it, aimed, and fired, hurting my ears and sending a gob of lead straight through Nigiza's heart. As the echoes of the report died, Delomas replaced the pistol within his robe.

  "Muzto," he said, addressing his new guard commander, "Strip the scoundrel of all this finery, send it to his woman, and dump him in the sewer. Also, send in a wench to clean the floor."

  "As you wish, master."

  As they were dragging out Nigiza, Delomas leaned to his right. There was a lap desk there and he picked it up and began writing a note.

  "Delomas," I said, "I hesitate to interrupt such a decisive fellow, but wouldn't it have been more prudent to call in the city guard?"

  "My dear Korvas, it is a matter of societal symmetry. When a man strikes at me through the state, I call my lawyers and retaliate through the state. When a man employs his own private resources, I employ mine."

  When he had finished his writing and had marked it with his ring, he handed it to me. "There is a ship sailing on this morning's tide for Ahmrita. This is a note to the captain of the Silk Ghost telling him to give you, and whoever you have with you, passage to Ahmrita and no questions. The captain's name is Abzu. You will find the ship moored in the last slip on Corner Pier. Just follow the alley off the corner of Bay where it joins West River."

  I stood, and took the note. "Master Delomas, I . . ."

  "Was there something else?"

  "No." I shook my bead. "Nothing except to give you my thanks."

  "Do not bother. That note contains my thanks to you, and now all accounts are paid. The gods be with you."

  "And with you, Delomas." I bowed deeply, walked around the puddle of blood, and left the room. When I was once again outside, crossing the bazaar, I placed my hand upon the god box. I whispered to it beneath my breath, "I wonder how many times I will have to see you split the continent before I believe in you without reservation."

  A drawer opened and there was a note. I stopped by a lampmaker's stall and read it by the light there. It read, "You already believe. You don't believe you believe."

  I could tell I was slipping in my mind, for I was beginning to understand the comments made by this strange little wooden god.

  ▫

  ▫

  ▫

  2 5

  ▫

  ▫

  ▫

  As I was crossing the warehouse rooftops to where I had left Abrina, the dawn elf was beginning his climb out of Night's ocean. In the rosy half-light I saw Abrina looking toward the east in meditation. She appeared to be surrounded by rubbish. It was scattered around her on the warehouse's tarred roof. As I came closer I saw the rubbish for what it was: parts and pieces of torn clothing and mutilated humans. Fear for her closed my throat and I accidentally stepped upon a detached hand.

  "I'm terribly sorry," I said to the hand's owner, wheresoever he or she might have been. There were half-robed torsos here, a leg or two there, here an arm, there an arm, everywhere—

  "Abrina?" I stood looking up at her. I could see by her eyes that her mind was in another world. I reached out and touched her arm. "Abrina?"

  She turned her head, looked down at me, and smiled. "Hello, Korvas. I wondered if a back-alley blade had found you."

  "No, nothing like that. I've arranged passage on a ship that leaves for Ahmrita this morning." I swept my arm, indicating the human litter. "What happened here?"

  "Do you mean the bodies?"

  "Of course I mean the bodies!" I barked a little louder than intended.

  She closed her eyes and faced the rising dawn. "A misunderstanding," she answered.

  "Abrina, this had to be some misunderstanding."

  "They assumed I be helpless." She closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. "So many dead. I never saw anyone dead before."

  I pointed at a torso that had been ripped in two. "Did you do this?"

  "What difference does it make?"

  "Well, whoever did this thoroughly enjoyed the event. If it was you it might change things a bit."

  "What things, Korvas? Would it change how you look at me?"

  "That, at least!" I looked around at the carnage. "How many of them were there?"

  She slowly shook her head. "I don't know. I've tried counting torsos, but I have more pairs of legs than I have torsos." She turned her head toward the east. "Url saw them attacking me, and immediately he went for them. He be just a wild creature and hasn't eaten anything since we be in the mountains, you know."

  "Where is he now?"

  "He took the last live one with him—a rather portly assassin—and flew off into the night for the Mystic Mountains, I fear. That be where his nest and mate Tonba be. Right now he and Tonba be having dinner and a nap."

  Sudden images leaped before my mind's eye, and just as suddenly I forced them out of my awareness. If there had been enough time to panic, I would have. There wasn't, so I didn't. "Abrina, our ship leaves soon."

  She stood and rested her ax on her shoulder. "Where be the ship?"

  I pointed north. "All of the way at the end of this row—it's the ship at the end of Corner Pier. It's called the Silk Ghost."

  The giantess began walking across the rooftops toward Corner Pier. I looked above me for a sign of the winged lion, then looked around at the roof. There were eleven torsos. I saw several knives, even one still clutched by a hand that had long since lost its arm. Despite the horror of the scene around me, I felt my lips tug into a bit of a smile. With eleven or more blades dispatched to the underworld, the odds of one or more of the three who had cut me being among them really weren't all that bad. I did a quick search for an ownerless purse or two, but found nothing. After a chill tickled my bones, I left those parts and hastened to catch up with Abrina.

  At the end of the rooftops we could see Corner Pier extending north into the river. There were three slips that branched off to the right, and on the riverside edge of the last slip, a large, gray and white four-masted ship, the Silk Ghost, was moored. The crew was preparing to get under way.

  As we walked down the pier there were hoots and rude remarks from the various crews of the ships in port. The remarks, however, were directed not at the giantess, but at me. From a distance it must have looked as though a normal-sized beauty was walking next to a midget. As we came closer, however, the hoots ceased. At the end of the pier we turned and stopped next to a man at the bottom of the gangway. Abrina stood on the other side of the man, looking up at the ship. Several members of the crew were looking back.

  The man at the bottom of the gangway was absorbed in some papers he was examining. He was in his thirties with a chunky build and a scrubby black beard.

  "Captain Ab
zu?" I asked.

  "Eh?" He raised his bushy black eyebrows, glanced at me, and looked back at his papers. "No, I'm not the captain. Captain's on board."

  "Who are you?"

  "First mate. My name's Lanthus."

  "I have a note for Captain Abzu."

  Lanthus held out a scarred hand. "Give it here."

  I placed the note into the first mate's hand and watched as his eyebrows went up. "You know important people." He scowled at my clothes and boots. "Are you traveling in disguise?"

  "Of course . . . not." This honesty business has its drawbacks, and I squirmed with anger as Lanthus grinned.

  He jabbed the note with his finger. "What's this, then? Do you have someone with you?"

  "Yes. A woman: Abrina, daughter of Shamas." There were a few chuckles from the crew.

  "Then she is not your wife or daughter."

  I shook my head. "What difference does it make?" The mate's face grew a leer that could make stone crawl. "Is she very pretty, friend?" There were more chuckles from the crew.

  I glanced over his shoulder at Abrina and shrugged. "Yes. In fact, she is a great beauty."

  "Is she your sweetheart?"

  "Not exactly."

  "She isn't Delomas's current bedwarmer, is she?"

  My face grew red. "Sir, you teeter upon the brink of unpleasantness."

  "I meant no offense." That leer came again. "I just inquired to see if she is fair game." The crew's laughter became very loud.

  I pursed my lips. "You consider women to be game?"

  "What else? Look, fellow, do you have a claim on her or not?"

  A smile worked its way to the surface. "No. I have no such claim on her. However, she can and does look out for herself." I took my note back, started up the gangway, and paused to look down at the giantess. She had her ax off her shoulder and was examining the ship's planking. "Come, Abrina. Let's get aboard."

  She swung the flat of her blade against the ship's side with a whack that must have sprung a few joints and sent whoever may have been leaning against the inside of the hull on a trip to the other side. Lanthus turned around abruptly, looked at her left hip, and slowly let his gaze increase in elevation until he was looking at her face. The crew's laughter was deafening.

  Abrina nodded, patted the mate on the top of his head, and said, "You have a solid ship." She walked around the mate and up the gangway.

  Once we were aboard, I leaned over the railing and whispered to Lanthus, loudly enough for all to hear, "I think she's partial to flowers."

  ▫

  ▫

  ▫

  2 6

  ▫

  ▫

  ▫

  As we raised sail and the Silk Ghost glided out of the river's mouth into the bay, I watched the seasoned merchant crew climb among the rigging, resembling so many pirates. I checked the flag on the mast, but there was only the red, white, and gold diamond-star of Kienosos; nothing black and bone-littered.

  The ship's deck was as spotless as a surgeon's theater, almost as though the blood had been recently scrubbed from it by leering crewmen who had cutlasses in their teeth while they wielded their scrub brushes.

  Behind the quarterdeck railing stood First Mate Lanthus, his cruel face and shifty eyes probably plotting mutiny or some other outrage. Before we passed the New Dock light and turned at Grave's Point, however, he was joined by the captain. Captain Abzu was a powerful-looking man with gray hair and beard and fierce black eyes that seemed to shout their joy at observing hapless crewmen being picked apart by the lash.

  He was a man of priorities. First he checked the position and speed of the ship against the navigation lights and the topmost wind pennants. As his gaze worked its way down the rigging I had the feeling that if there were one knot, nail, or thread out of place anywhere on board, Abzu's eyes would find it, and some poor wretch would be over the side to feed the fishes. Satisfied that his ship was afloat and headed in the correct direction, he looked up at Abrina and down at me.

  "Abrina the Ax, I would very much like to see you swing that blade. It must be a magnificent sight."

  "I would be happy, Captain Abzu."

  "Is there anything I can do to make your stay on board more comfortable?"

  "Yes. I cannot easily fit through the doors in this ship, all of the ceilings be too low, and the beds be too short and narrow."

  Abzu's face winced. "Lady, they are hatchways, not doors; they are bunks, not beds; and they are overheads, not ceilings."

  "My apologies, captain. Your hatchways be too small, your bunks too short and narrow, and your overheads too much overhead."

  The captain chuckled and turned to Lanthus. "As soon as we round Fort Chara, put some of the crew on fixing up the forward hold for her quarters. Scrub it until it smells like a forest. I want the hatchway to the deck built twelve feet high, and a bunk constructed with a sleeping surface of twelve by five."

  "Aye, aye, Captain."

  Abzu looked up at Abrina. "If you need anything else, please let me know."

  He turned back to his business. I looked at Abrina's face and thought I detected a smile.

  ▫

  That evening, as the ship rounded Point Nepri and entered the Straits of Chara, I stood alone in the prow of the ship listening to the carpenters put the finishing touches on Abrina's quarters. I looked eastward and watched the endlessness of the ocean called Ilan after the father of oceans. Before we would see dry land again, there were over five thousand miles of water to cross. The smaller swells of the Sea of Chara grew to become the watery hills and valleys of Ilan.

  The Straits of Chara were named after the ancient Itkah sea goddess, patroness of those who go down to the sea to do battle with water monsters. It struck me as strange how what we know to be rank superstition in the daylight on land can become tenable theory as night falls on the tossing waves.

  Since this was my first time at sea, I had entertained thoughts about becoming seasick. I was grateful to find out that, although my stomach was sour, at least this experience wasn't going to cost me any dinners. That it was going to cost me somehow, however, I had no doubt.

  There was a knot in my guts. The sky was darkening, as was the water, and we were heading directly into the dark. I was used to trusting to my own devices to keep alive, and now my existence depended upon Captain Abzu's honor, judgment, and skill, the performance of his crew, and the dependability of the Silk Ghost. Once I began to appreciate the size of Ilan, Captain Abzu's magnificent ship began looking rather small and leaky, and he and his crew a band of incompetent buccaneers.

  "With your fear upon your shoulders, Korvas, you may as well be ridden by a demon." I turned abruptly but could see no one. I strained my eyes and, against the deck and the house that they had built to cover the forward hold for Abrina, there was a shadow. The moon was behind a cloud and could cast no shadow.

  "Syndia? Nanteria?" I studied the shadow but it didn't seem to move, which was strange because the ship was moving. "Are you the goddess of shadows and smoke? Or am I seasick, seeing things, and unaware of the fact?"

  "How many times must you see the continent split, Korvas?"

  "Bah!" I turned my face back toward the sea. "Talking with shadows!" It was very silent, and I turned to see if the shadow was still there. It was. "Why do you remain silent?"

  "You wanted silence."

  "This is maddening. I—how do I know that I am not hallucinating? I haven't slept for days. I could be seeing and hearing things."

  "Yes. Or you could be seeing my shadow and hearing my words."

  I fumed at the shadow for a moment, then asked the question that the goddess had wanted me to ask in the first place. "What did you mean about the demon? I knew a fellow who had one of those invisible curses that never left him. He used to complain about the thing. He said that it constantly called him names and ridiculed him. I don't believe in demons, myself. I'm convinced it was the beggar's conscience."

  The shadow laughed. "Korv
as, I thought you believe in mean little spirits."

  I wrapped my robe about me against the sea's chill. "I suppose I do. But I don't have a demon myself, and I've never seen one."

  "You have a mean little spirit of your own, Korvas. It's called fear. It rides you harder than any demon and enslaves you more harshly than any master."

  I felt the anger rising within me. "I give my fear to the god box when it's necessary."