Voice of the Gods

Yranna. The balance would have been regained.

:No, it would have tipped in the favor of the Pentadrians, Lore said. They have Mirar.

:Who won’t fight, Saru reminded them.

Huan ignored him. We’ve never been in a better position to be rid of him, too, she pointed out.

:If all that worries you is balance, we can order Auraya to stay out of any battles.

:And she would obey, if the Circlians were losing?

Though the gods now began arguing about whether she was to be trusted or not, Auraya found herself puzzling over Huan’s claim that Mirar was in a good position for them to get rid of him. How could he be, when he was within the Pentadrians’ center of power? Perhaps there was an assassin here in the hire of the White. How had he or she managed to avoid detection by the Voices? Or were they unaware who their employer was?

:Auraya isn’t the reason the Circlians will go to war, Huan boomed suddenly.

Go to war? Auraya suddenly regretted becoming distracted. Were the Circlians actually going to attack the Pentadrians, or were the gods simply speaking in terms of possibilities?

:They won’t go to war, Lore replied. A few Pentadrian plots to convert Circlians aren’t enough reason to invade another continent.

Auraya felt relief.

:The White would only go to war if we ordered it, Saru agreed.

:So? Yranna said quietly.

:It’s not right to interfere, Lore said firmly. They must come to the decision themselves.

:I don’t see why we can’t nudge them, Saru said. Last time it was a mortal’s decision, why not ours this time?

:I will only agree to it if Auraya is not involved, Chaia said.

:You fool, Huan said, her voice seething with anger and contempt. You would have us return to the old days, when the world was crowded with gods and none of us could do anything without others spying upon us.

Spying... Remembering Chaia’s warning, Auraya reluctantly moved away from the gods as they began to argue again.

:... going to tell her...

:Once you have, which... kill?

:I don’t...

As their voices faded out of her hearing, she returned her awareness to her own self, and opened her eyes. Snatches of the gods’ conversation repeated in her mind. There was much to puzzle over. She listed what she had learned.

The gods want a war, they’re just not in agreement about the timing or who will be involved.

For beings that didn’t mind breaking their own laws in order to kill Mirar, they’re remarkably concerned that a war would be a fair fight between equals.

Chaia is still defending me. In fact, he seemed to offer his support for war in exchange for me being sent safely out of the way.

Mirar is not as safe here as he believes he is.

And if she warned him, would she be allying herself with the gods’ enemy?

Did she care?

Lu hadn’t felt so tired since... since after Ti had been born. Like that night, tonight she could not sleep despite her exhaustion. Back then it had been worry over Ti, who had been weak and sickly. Now she fretted for her whole family.

She turned to look at her husband, Dor. He was glowering at the night sky. His cheekbone was swollen and darkening into a bruise where he had received a blow from one of the warriors, tired of Dor’s attempts to talk his way out of this.

Might as well try to talk the stars down from the sky, she thought. Warriors and servants alike, we all follow our rules and traditions blindly. That’s what the Pentadrians said. She frowned. They said they could change Dunway, but nothing changes if the clans don’t want it to. They like things just as they are.

“It’s all their fault,” someone said nearby. Another voice murmured something in reply. Something defensive.

Whispered conversations had passed between the villagers and newcomers since the warriors had ordered them to lie down and sleep. She had listened to arguments and accusations, fears and hopes. All the while there had been the soft sound of weeping from all directions, and old Ger had begun coughing again.

“... do we believe? Her or them?” a voice said. Lu recognized it as Mez, the smith.

“She knows the truth. She’s got powers. She can read minds,” another replied. Pol, a farmer.

“She could be lying.”

“Why would she?”

“Because she don’t like outsiders interfering and making low people stronger. She got a deal with I-Portak to keep him and his warriors in charge.”

“The gods chose her,” Pol said. “I still follow the Circle.”

“This’d never have happened if we’d had our own priest,” a different voice lamented. Roi, the baker’s wife.

A short silence followed. Ger stopped coughing.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said hoarsely. “Nobody cares about us. Not the newcomers or the warriors or the White. If the newcomers cared about us they would have gone home, not got us all in trouble.”

“We were trying to make things better,” a different voice interjected. Lu recognized Noenei’s voice. Lu had admired the woman’s dignity and tranquil bearing. Now, on the road to Chon and judgment, such qualities didn’t matter.

“You shouldn’t have brought the servants here,” Roi said. “That got their attention.”

“We... we just wanted to help them.”

“Well, you didn’t. Look at us now. All of us are going to die because you didn’t know when to stop.”

Another silence followed.

“Why couldn’t you have put aside your gods for ours?” someone further away asked angrily. “Not one of you became a Circlian, but lots of us became Pentadrians. Seems to me if you wanted to be Dunwayan like you said, you would have.”

The answer came from another newcomer too far away for Lu to hear.

“Your gods aren’t helping you now, are they?” a woman said bitterly. “They’re not helping us, either. I wish you had never come here!”

Others voiced their agreement. Ger’s coughing grew louder. More accusations rang out. Suddenly lots of people were shouting. The air vibrated with pent-up anger and fear. Someone leapt up and Lu flinched as she saw them deal out a savage kick, though she could not see the victim. There was a cry of pain and several of protest, then people all over the field were scrambling to their feet - some to strike at the newcomers, some to get away.

Lu grabbed Ti as she rose and turned to Dor, but he was gone. She searched for him, heart racing with terror.

“STOP!”

A light flashed so bright Lu found she could not see properly. Ti began to wail.

“THERE WILL BE NO FIGHTING!”

The voice was the White’s. Vision was slowly coming back. Lu blinked hard and held Ti close as she searched