He cradled the dragon in his bare hand. It felt warm to the touch. 'Stop!' he cried. He raised one arm to throw the dragon-then halted, stunned.
All the villagers, Venessi included, looked at him as though entranced. The bauble was bathed in an eerie glow. A miracle!
'The sign!' Hederick breathed. 'Sauvay is with me! Blessed be the Seeker gods,' he intoned, raising his voice. 'People of Garlund!'
They gaped. Some actually beamed inanely. 'Look,' said a woman who'd berated him earlier, 'it's young Hed shy;erick. Hasn't he grown! Venessi must be proud.'
Venessi emitted a beatific smile. 'Certainly, Marta. Hed shy;erick is the joy of my life. All my trials become nothing when I see his triumph. Everything I have done, I have done for him. I am blessed.'
Now all were speaking, smiling, pointing. 'What a pious young man!' 'Aren't we lucky to have a saint among us.' 'He is destined for great acts.' 'I always saw promise in the lad.' 'He has been set apart for a higher calling.' 'Blessed be the Seeker gods!'
They cheered, and the boy who stood above them felt the power of their acclamation. Sauvay had been bounti shy;ful beyond Hederick's imagining. He stroked the dragon and sighed a prayer of thanks.
'People of Garlund,' he repeated, purposely pitching his voice low. The villagers had to fall silent to hear his every word. 'We are at a holy crossroads tonight. Venessi has led us down a false path. For a long time we followed
her fraudulent gods, but the real gods, the gods of the Seekers, cry out for justice. Venessi deserves punishment. She cares nothing for us.'
Frowns fell across their dull faces like flickering lamp shy;light, and they began to mutter. 'Lad's right.' 'Venessi would see us damned before she'd admit to being only a common woman.' 'She's too proud.' 'She murdered her own husband!' 'See her fine house-so much nicer than ours.' 'We fed her, served her, and for what?' 'She must think we are fools.' 'Cast her out! Banish her!'
'People!' Hederick interjected forcefully when their emotions had been raised to fever pitch. All heads turned his way. Venessi backed away from the wagon, but two women caught her arms and prevented further retreat.
'This woman tricked you into duplicity and sin!' Hed shy;erick cried, pointing at the woman who had been his tor shy;mentor for thirteen years.
'That's true,' one man shouted. 'Listen to Hederick.'
'This woman used your piety against you!'
'That's so,' another man responded.
'This woman stole from you!'
'Yes.'
'She starved you and your families!'
'Vile witch.'
'This woman endangered your souls by leading you to a deity she knew to be false-and by spurning the very gods who could redeem you!'
Peren Volen spoke from behind him. 'She is evil,' he said.
'This woman led her own daughter to witchcraft, sent her away to study the black arts!'
'She is evil.' Jerad Oberl added his voice.
'This woman slew her own husband!'
'She is evil,' Willad Oberl agreed.
'And you would do no more than banish her?' Heder shy;ick's eyes blazed, and he raised his hands before the crowd.
'Kill her!' Peren and the Oberls howled.
'You would leave her alive to lead others into blas shy;phemy?'
'Kill her!'
'The Seeker gods watch you now, people of Garlund, to see if you will prove your faith. Do you love the New Gods, villagers of Garlund? Do you fear them, adore them?'
The people screamed and shouted. They danced, leap shy;ing into the night air as though ecstacy forced them to take vigorous action or die.
'Kill the sinner!' Hederick shouted. He swept his hand toward Venessi. She struggled against the women who held her, then cowered as strong, determined hands twisted her arms and vicious fingers pinched and pulled at her.
'Let not such an evildoer remain alive to infect you and your children. Kill her!'
With a roar, the crowd fell upon Venessi, drowning out her screams with their cries of righteous rage. Hederick caught one last glimpse of his mother's terrified face, then she was swept under clawlike hands and booted feet like a leaf in a whirlwind.
At length, the people drew back. Some looked bewil shy;dered, as though they had awakened only that moment to find Venessi inexplicably trampled and beaten to death on the ground before them.
'People of Garlund.' Hederick held the dragon aloft and offered another silent prayer to Sauvay. 'See what you have done,' he remonstrated quietly. 'This dear woman lived only for you. She risked her life bringing you out of the decay of Caergoth to the richness of these plains. Venessi gave up her beloved husband for you because he had sinned and no longer could set the exam shy;ple she knew you needed. She sent her daughter away for the same reason: to keep you safe. It was through her actions that you, the people of Garlund, came to the altar of the New Gods. She tried her utmost to warn you about the false priest, yet you have so little love in your hearts that you…'
Hederick sighed, gesturing at the body. He clasped the dragon so tightly that the diamonds cut his hand; tears welled in his eyes. He let a few drops spill onto his cheeks. 'She was my mother, never forget.' He forced more tears to flow, and several villagers began to cry. All avoided looking at Venessi's dead body.
'This is murder,' Hederick whispered, so piercingly that all could hear him. 'You have sinned, people of Gar shy;lund. You know such a heinous act cannot be expiated by prayer and fasting, or by sacrifices and gifts to the gods and their priests. There is only one punishment for such a crime.
'Willad, Jerad, Peren, attend me.' The three men straightened as if hypnotized. 'I order you, in the name of Sauvay, god of power and vengeance, to execute the sin shy;ners of this village.' To the villagers, Hederick said, 'I order you, in the name of Sauvay and the Seeker pan shy;theons, to accept your just punishment.'
The villagers stood, sheeplike, awaiting their fate. Hed shy;erick rejoiced inwardly to Sauvay.
The three men set silently to work. Not one villager ran or struggled. The Oberl brothers and Peren Volen stran shy;gled the life's breath out of each. Frideline Bacque, who'd worked so hard to attract Peren Volen, did not even blink when he killed her.
When there were but the three men left, Hederick ordered Peren to slay the Oberls. Then, at Hederick's com shy;mand, Peren Volen walked obediently down to the river and drowned himself, and the people of Garlund were no more.
Soon Hederick had the Oberls' best horse harnessed to the wagon. A short time later, the back of the vehicle was piled with items for his travels. Then he set fire to Gar-lund.
'Fire purifies,' he murmured, reveling in the heat and cleansing power of the blaze. Once again flames lit Heder-ick's way as he left a place of sin. Soon he and the horse and wagon were miles away, and the sun had begun to rise.
'Think of the converts I can bring to the Seekers, and to Sauvay!' he whispered to himself. He wrapped the dragon figurine in a scrap of leather, tied a thong to it, and slipped it around his neck, inside his shirt.
Hederick faced the world alone, but he knew a god watched over him.
For more than three decades Hederick traveled the lands, a wandering Seeker priest, bringing the words of the New Gods to the people. The Praxis, his constant com shy;panion, served as both inspiration and confirmation that his purpose was preordained by the gods themselves. As he grew older and more experienced in the ways of the world and its peoples, his gift of oratory grew accord shy;ingly. Soon he was able to assess a crowd in moments and know how best to handle it. Some needed fire and brim shy;stone, some only gentle persuasion.
And just as he made good use of his gift for speaking, he made use, also, of the sleight-of-hand tricks that
