Wolves of the Gods

had come from the human lands that a fabulous temple had been erected at a place in the Black Lands where two rivers joined. It was said to be near a small village named Caluz. The temple, Asper said, was shaped like an immense turtle and it rose out of the place where the two rivers became one. Water rushed through the center of the turtle, he said, rotating a huge wheel which in turn operated magical machinery inside the temple, sending out a constant stream of spells that nourished the spirit as well as the land.

There was one other thing Asper had said about the temple.

'Forgive my ignorance, holy one,' Safar said, 'but wasn't Caluz once known for its famous oracle?'

Talane nodded. 'It still is, my lord,' he said. 'It's called The Oracle of Hadin.'

Safar felt something move in his pocket, then a little voice whispered, 'Ask him about the turtle.' It was Gundara, stirred from his home by the mention of Hadin.

'What did you say, my lord?' Talane asked. 'Something about a turtle?' He sighed and took a sip of his brandy. 'I fear my ordeal has affected my hearing. All of a sudden your voice became quite faint.'

Safar pretended to cough. 'My fault,' he said. 'A chill coming on, I think. But, yes, I did use the word turtle. I was referring to your temple, where the Oracle keeps her home. Isn't it in the shape of a turtle.'

'Yes, my lord. It's in honor of the turtle god who carries Hadin on its back. That's on the other side of the world, you know.'

'That's my information as well,' Safar said dryly.

'Sorry. Of course you would know that. I'm told you are a great scholar. A learned man as well as a master wizard.'

Gundara snorted. 'If he only knew!' the little Favorite whispered.

Talane gave Safar a look of sympathy. 'The chill again, my lord?'

Another cough. 'Yes. Forgive me.' Safar gave his pocket a warning tap. Once more and Gundara was in for it.

'I'm sure you also know of the old tale that there is a holy force-you would probably call it magical-that runs between Hadin and Caluz. Like a river running straight through the world.'

'I've heard that tale before,' Safar said. 'Although never in detail.' Actually he had only just guessed it.

The priest's comments, plus Safar's years of studying Asper had led him to the conclusion. Talane told him about the temple and the great wheel inside that had churned out magical spells for many centuries.

'Our land was once a poor place,' he said, 'a bleak place of wild storms and mountains that spat fire.

But then a holy man, whose name is lost to us, found the magical springs running under the place where the rivers join. No one knows what he did there, but somehow word got out and other holy men came.

The first man vanished, the others stayed and built the first temple-the one standing now is much larger and more powerful. They cast spells to bless the land and when the wheel began to turn a miracle resulted. The land became rich, the weather tame, the mountains silent.'

'And the oracle?' Safar asked.

'Yes, the Oracle of Hadin came into being during that time. People came from all over Esmir to consult it.

Even Alisarrian made a pilgrimage on his way to conquer all of Esmir.'

'She gave him a glowing forecast I take it?' Safar asked with a touch of sarcasm. Methydia had taught him that there were notorious frauds in the oracle profession.

'Actually, my lord,' Talane said, 'it is written that the Oracle warned Alisarrian he would someday be betrayed by those closest to him.'

Which is exactly what had happened to Alisarrian-betrayal, death and the eventual destruction of his kingdom. At that moment Safar began to take the Oracle seriously.

'What do you require of me?' he asked. 'As the Grand Wazier I can authorize many things to assist our priests. Construction funds, increased temple subsidies, scholastic endowments. That sort of thing.'

Talane lowered his head as if in shame. 'What we need, my lord,' he said, 'is a means to make the wheel stop!'

Safar was surprised. 'But why would you want to stop something so wondrous?' he asked. 'The very source of all your happiness and wealth.'

'It is now the source of the greatest misery, lord,' Talane said bitterly. 'Something terrible has happened.

Only bad spells, malicious spells, are being churned up now. Our fields are barren, our newborn deformed and one of the mountains has even begun to spit fire.'

'I'm desolate to hear of your people's misfortune, holy one,' Safar said, 'but what's the difficulty? Why can't you stop the wheel on your own?'

'Perhaps we could have done it once,' Talane said. 'But now anyone who approaches with such an intent is killed the moment he touches the wheel.'

'What does your oracle say?' Safar asked.

Talane sighed. 'Only that she warned us this would happen and we didn't listen.'

'Perhaps you'd better tell me exactly what happened,' Safar said.

The tale was a simple one of human greed's many victories over common sense. It happened some years back-about the time, Safar guessed, he'd had his youthful epiphany in the mountains above Kyrania.

Talane said one day the Oracle summoned all the priests. When she appeared she was weeping, which frightened everyone. She said a great disaster had occurred in Hadin. And that tragedy would have so great an affect on the world that she couldn't see the future after a point not many decades hence. What she did foresee was that Caluz would be among the first to suffer. Their only hope, she said, was to prepare for the worst. Store food and drink and carefully husband all their resources in hopes they could weather the bad times to come. But most of all, she urged them to stop the wheel. Her final warning came as a great shock to everyone. Oh, they'd been frightened by her dire predictions and mysterious remarks about the disaster in Hadin. But in reality those things seemed so distant, so surreal, they couldn't imagine them.

The wheel was a different matter. All they could see was that the moment it was halted all the good things that made Caluz so rich would stop as well. Fortunes were at stake and important men were not pleased when the priests brought them the news. A great argument ensued, settled when the king ordered a royal commission to meet and study the Oracle's remarks closely. Perhaps the priests had misinterpreted her.

Maybe she meant some other wheel. All kinds of alternatives were suggested, each one more foolish than the others. Years passed, the commission continued to meet, but nothing was ever done. Early on a young priest was so scandalized by the blasphemy against the Oracle that he attacked the wheel with an ax. He'd chipped a large hunk of one blade off before they stopped him and carried him away to the dungeons.

'That's how we know it was once possible to destroy the machine,' Talane said. 'But when a team of engineers tried the same thing two years ago, every man was blasted on the spot by some mysterious force. All seven were killed, may their ghosts be at rest.'

Safar thought a moment, then said, 'I can't see how I can help you find a solution from such a distance, holy one. I'd need to visit Caluz and consult with your High Priest and best scholars. I'm not opposed to making such a journey, mind you. Even if I were so unfeeling that I didn't sympathize with your plight, I have personal reasons to come. Unfortunately, it will be several months before I can take leave from my king.'

Talane became agitated. But not over the delay. 'Oh, but you must not come, lord!' he said. 'The Oracle warned us you would want to, but she said you must stay away at all costs.'

Safar's eyebrows shot up. 'Why is that?'

The priest made a weary shrug. 'She didn't say. Oracles aren't always that forthcoming, you know. But she was most insistent. She said you shouldn't come until the machine is stopped.'

Safar was mightily confused. 'I don't understand,' he said. 'You want my help, yet at the same time you say I'm barred from giving it. What other way can we halt that wheel?'

Talane took a deep breath, then, 'By changing the course of the rivers that drive it.'

The rescue project Caluz proposed was not only costly, but an enormous engineering feat. Two rivers had to be forced to leave their natural beds and find a new course to the sea. Safar spent many hours with the priest, who came armed with facts and figures and memorized plans that he sketched on scraps of paper as he talked. In the end Safar was convinced it could be done.

Several weeks later Talane departed for Caluz with royal promissory notes and decrees calling on neighboring