The Crippled God

Above, seven steps away, the edge of the altar, the platform’s white quartzite glistening in the thin light. Drawing upon her strength for this last effort, she pushed herself upward. And then, at last, she stepped on to the windswept expanse. The Altar of Judgement, white as freshly fallen snow, the carved sunburst of blood channels leading out from the centre, cut deep, shadowed into darkness.

Reverence strode forward, loosening her thick cloak as the heat bloomed up and out from the crater’s mouth surrounding the Spire, rank with sulphurs. Behind her, the four other Pures spread out, finding their own paths to the centre-stone.

Her lone eye fell to that blackened, rotted abomination, the boulder that was — or, perhaps, encased — the heart of an alien god. She could see no rise and fall from its mottled form, yet to set hand upon it was to feel its stubborn life. The sky tore him apart. Flung across half the world the flaming debris that was his body, and pieces fell and fell, upon one continent and then another. Into the shocked seas. Ah, if there had been more. If there had been enough to annihilate every human on this world, not just the ones whose hubris was so brazen, whose madness reached across the Abyss, to take this wretched thing.

Soon, they would pierce the centre-stone, the Heart, and that alien god’s blood would flow, and the power would … feed us. With that power they could fully open the gate of Akhrast Korvalain; they could unleash the cleansing storm, and it would sweep the world. Drown on your hubris, humans. It is all you deserve. Indeed, it would finish what the Summoners in their insanity had begun.

You chain what you can use. As the gods have done to him. But when its usefulness is at an end … what then? Do you simply kill? Or do you squeeze the last possible drop of blood from the carcass? Fill your belly?

Is there a use for endless pain? Let us see, shall we?

‘Sister Reverence.’

She turned, studied the younger woman facing her. In the few paces between them there was a gulf so vast there was no hope of ever spanning it. ‘Sister Calm.’

‘If we are to hear naught but reports on the disposition of our armies, Sister, was there need for this ascent?’

‘“Need.” Now that is an interesting word, is it not?’

Calm’s eyes remained flat, unwilling to rise. ‘The siege belabours us, Sister. The Watered who command are insufficient to the task.’

‘Whom do you suggest we send, Sister Calm?’

‘Brother Diligence.’

Ah, next to me in seniority. My closest ally. Of course. She turned to the slope- shouldered man standing nearest the Heart. ‘Brother Diligence?’

He glanced over, his pale eyes cold as the seas behind him. ‘I will break the defenders, Sister Reverence. None there can hope to stand against me.’

‘It remains an option,’ murmured Reverence.

Again, Calm did not react.

Reverence looked to the others. ‘Brother Abide?’

‘It is known where blood soaks the sands,’ the Mystic said, ‘that other forces are arraying against us. Beyond the Glass Desert.’

‘We have other armies,’ said Calm. ‘Enough to meet and defeat each one.’

‘Sister Calm is correct,’ added Sister Equity. ‘Brother Diligence can destroy the humans who by treachery gained the North Keep, and indeed he can return in time for us to meet the new threats from the west.’

‘But only if we do not linger too long in reaching a decision,’ said Calm.

And so it divides. ‘Brother Diligence?’

‘The risk remains,’ the warrior said, ‘that we have underestimated the commander of those invaders. After all, they appeared as if from nowhere, and their successes to date have been … impressive.’

‘From nowhere, yes,’ muttered Brother Abide. ‘Cause for dismay. A warren? Most certainly. But to guide an entire army through? Sister Calm and Sister Equity, we cannot discount the possibility of those in the keep simply leaving the way they came, should matters prove too precipitous. In which case, when and where will they reappear?’

‘A valid point,’ said Diligence. ‘For as long as they are held in place, they are no threat to us.’

‘Even so,’ countered Calm, ‘your presence and command of our besieging army will ensure that you can respond to anything unexpected. There will come a time — there must come a time — when it is expedient to drive them from the keep and, if possible, annihilate them.’

‘Indeed there will,’ agreed Reverence. ‘But as Brother Abide has noted before, we are not yet certain that we have accounted for all the threats assembling against us.’ She gestured. ‘The Great Spire, the Altar of Judgement, this is where we remain the most vulnerable. Diligence in command of the Spire Army ensures the Spire and the Heart hold inviolate.’ She paused, fixed her single eye upon Sister Calm. ‘Our remaining Pures command the outlying armies inland. Do you suggest that, in the end, they shall prove unequal to the task? Sister Belie? Sister Freedom? Brothers Grave, Serenity and Aloft? Which of them falters in your regard?’

Calm glanced away. ‘I hold that it is best to eliminate each threat as it arises, Sister Reverence.’

Reverence frowned. ‘And should the enemy in the keep vanish as mysteriously as it arrived? Only to, perhaps, reappear here, at the very foot of the Great Spire? With Brother Diligence stranded at the far end of Estobanse Valley? What then?’ she asked. Yes, best we argue here, alone, beyond the hearing of our Watered and Shriven servants. She resumed, this time taking in all the others. ‘All of Kolanse has been cleansed — how could we have done otherwise, when, upon reaching these shores, we witnessed the terrible damage done to this land? Estobanse remains, because for the moment we require that it do so. To feed the Shriven and Watered. When the Heart is sacrificed upon this altar, brothers and sisters, even our need for human armies will be at an end. The end of the human world begins here — we must protect this place above all others, even Estobanse. Do any of you deny this?’

Silence.

Reverence met Calm’s gaze. ‘Sister Calm, in the name of your ancestors, patience.’ At that there was finally a response. Calm’s face tightened, and she rocked as if struck. Satisfied, Reverence blithely continued. ‘All that is required is in motion, even as we speak. There will be rain before the storm. There must be. I ask that you set out once more, upon the dead lands, that you be our eyes so set as to forewarn us should any threat emerge from an unexpected quarter.’ She gestured. ‘Indeed, take Sister Equity with you.’

‘Sound tactic,’ said Brother Diligence, with a dry smile.

Calm bowed stiffly. ‘As you wish, Sister Reverence.’

Catching something avid in the younger woman’s eyes, Reverence frowned, suddenly uneasy. Ah, have I been anticipated here? Have I stepped blind into a trap? You wish to be sent out into the Wastes, Calm. Why? What am I unleashing?

‘Our disposition, Sister Reverence?’

Curious, she nodded. ‘As you desire.’

‘Sister Equity shall take the south lands, then, while I journey into the west.’

Again? And what did you do there the first time out? What did you find? ‘Very well,’ Reverence said. ‘Now, we stand upon the Altar of Judgement, once more united in our endeavours. With humility-’

‘Blessed Pures!’

The shout came from the edge of the stairs, and they turned to see Watered Amiss, his face flame-flashed with exertion. They had left him at the Third Landing, against the eastern flank of the Spire.

Reverence strode towards him. ‘Brother, what word do you bring us with such haste?’

He stumbled on to the altar and pointed to the east. ‘Blessed Pures! In the harbour — ships! Many, many ships!’

Reverence noted the alarm and consternation in the faces of her kin, and felt a surge of satisfaction. Yes, unseen threats assail you all now. ‘Brother Diligence, assemble the Defenders and awaken our warren in the Watered sub-commanders. Akhrast Korvalain shall be our bristling wall this day.’ And Sister Reverence? Ah, well, perhaps she will be the Gate.

Calm and Equity had rushed to the eastern edge of the altar. Both stared for a moment before Equity turned