by M. M. Perry
“Do you have a plan?” he asked remaining serious.
“I’ve had Viola researching something for me. I know it hasn’t gone un-noticed by you.”
“No, it hasn’t.”
“Well, I thought if there was one dagger that could kill a god, why not more? Or maybe that dagger would work on more gods? Who would make a god-killing weapon that would only work on one god? Seems an awful lot of wasted effort. Surely a god wouldn’t make such a dagger, they don’t need it. If they choose to, they could kill each other just fine. They just don’t like to, for the same inane reason they have those rules about not altering pacts, to ‘prevent chaos and anarchy from ripping the fabric of reality to tatters,’” and there Cass did a more than passable imitation of Timta, albeit it with a cruel edge of mockery that had been lacking in Gunnarr’s impersonation of Callan. “But now, the gloves are off. No more begging for morsels of knowledge from the big deities’ table. Even if Timta won’t give me access to that knife or similar weapons, or even confirm my suspicions that more exist, I figured if anyone could find out about god killing weapons, Viola could. She hasn’t yet, but I know she will.”
“What about Manfred? Maybe he can make some?” Gunnarr asked.
“I’ll find out when he gets back from Xenor. I hope he brings more Djinn. If he can convince them that the first part of the prophecy has come true as he predicted, then maybe they’ll trust him enough to help us.”
“Even though we have no clue if we are important to the rest of his prophecy?”
“I guess we’ll find out soon enough,” Cass said.
“Right,” Gunnarr said. “Well, until then, I’m going to continue enjoying this, if that’s alright with you.”
He leaned down and kissed Cass.
“Hey, you proposed to me at one point last night, didn’t you? Between when we…”
He kissed her again, silencing her, and little more was said.
Epilogue
I’m beginning to wonder why you continue to believe what I say when I preface these tales. You really oughtn’t too. I told you never to trust a god, save for when they tell you never to trust a god. Here, maybe this last tidbit will earn me some forgiveness for all the lies I’ve been spinning. This part is all true. How do you know? Well, just ask yourself, would I mislead you?
The field was scorched and blackened. Glowing ash floated upward into the sky until it winked out and disappeared into the darkness. Body parts were strewn all over the field, most unrecognizable as anything but charred meat. Almost all of the statues of the gods had been toppled. Only Natan’s still remained in relatively unharmed condition, save a large chunk missing where the serpent’s tail joined with the torso of a man. Cass found it curious that particular statue remained mostly unscathed, given Natan’s recent actions. She walked through the blackened grass, a half dozen warrior recruits following her. Gunnarr was at her side as he always was, his left arm slightly burnt and oozing from several places. She couldn’t worry about that now. Cass would tend to his wounds when they weren’t running for their lives.
They came upon what was clearly a dead god strewn in the dirt. Cass couldn’t put her finger on how or why it was so easy for her to tell gods from men even when they were dead. She described it to Viola as having a presence the other bodies did not. It wasn’t a visual thing, or anything so obvious and easily explained—it was a gut feeling. Everyone who had seen a fallen god described the same sensation and utter certainty, so Cass knew she wasn’t imagining it.
This body, she could see on closer examination, belonged to Freesus. It was badly scorched and only recognizable by her face, which had somehow managed to escape damage. Cass knelt down to look at the dead god more closely. After a quick rummage turned up nothing useful on the fallen deity’s person, she pulled herself back to her feet and turned to Gunnarr.
“We’re going to need a bigger army.”
END
Whom the Gods Hate
(Tanavian Chronicles II)
If you enjoyed reading this, try M. M. Perry’s first book in
The Tanvian Chronicles
Whom the Gods Love (Tanavian Chronicles I)
or the standalone novel
The Arbiter
Coming Soon (2014)
Whom the Gods Fear (Tanavian Chronicles Book III)