“Welcome back to the land of the living, My Prince. You had us worried.”
"Did I die, May?” I sat up rather too quickly, making my head spin.
May laid me back down in her lap.
“No, My Love, but it was closer than I would like. You're a hero though. You saved those two boys’ lives."
“I remember saving Timmins. So, Waldinor made it?"
“Yes, My Dearest, thanks to you and Father Placét. He'll be getting a medal too, as will Timmins and Waldinor."
I pretended to be offended, “It's not fair that Waldinor should have two medals and I only the one!”
May slapped my wounded arm pretending to be outraged.
"You'll be taking orders from him before it's all said and done.”
"Well it's good to know who the competition is. That way it's not a surprise when they come for me.”
I hope she knew that I was kidding. I was sometimes unsure. Elves do have humor in their culture but it's very dry and they're very practiced at the art of being straight-faced.
I had to ask May, “Are you nervous about seeing her, Carca? You haven't seen her yet have you? With scrying.”
She was patient with me. "You can't scry a god, Tendil. That would take all the mystery out of everything."
There it is! Good example of their humor. Very subtle and not even a smile to go with it.
“Well, what happens now? I mean I know what a lich looks like; do the ones like Carca and Syndial remain in that form as gods?"
She gave me that look again. Patronizing, exasperating.
"Just how many gods do you think I've met, Love? I've only seen two in person, so to speak. You were with me for that. I imagine it will be intimidating. Like the power that Mag’stula exuded. As with Janiver. But amplified a thousand times. I don't know, Tendil. There's really no sense in speculating. We'll be there shortly.”
"What about the skeletons? Who sent those? My guess would be Carca, to intimidate us or toy with us.”
"I don't know, Darling. My feeling is that our ultimate goal on this journey ends with the Black King. I think Carca is a step we might use to get to him somehow. I think he doesn't want that to happen.”
"Why not attack us with a force large enough to beat us? Certainly he's more powerful than that.”
"Tendil, gods don't have unlimited power. He may have so many other things going on right now that's all the power he could spare for us. I think that whatever he's up to is draining his strength too quickly. That's why he's recruited Carca.”
"Or maybe that's why he was recruited; to aid another god who was using too much of their own power,” I suggested.
“There is much to this story, I'm certain. Many of these celestials and infernals are young by whatever metric you'd use to age a god. You hear of many ascents. Cases like that of Syndial. Young gods replacing old ones. Maybe this is all about stopping that cycle, achieving insurmountable power.”
I don't know much theology. That's a fault of mine. My neglect has left me having to rely too much on others for my information. I must fix that when this is done.
Looking out the carriage window, there wasn't much traffic. It was approaching midnight. There were a number of Spotted Gnolls about, sitting outside small cafes, fondling produce from vendors selling out of carts, there were soldiers, the occasional street performer, some Human Bedouins.
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By heredity, Gnolls are nocturnal. But the necessities of maintaining a modern civilization overruled that in their makeup long ago. Still, I expected to see much more activity.
We got many evil glares from them, fresh off that humiliating defeat in the Taliswood. And that's when it hit me, we had just killed much of this city's population. More than that, this was all of them. Yis-Gláz was home to the preponderance of their species. Mag'stula had put her entire race on the line just for a shot at godhood. Hopefully they would choose a better leader this time.
As the clatter of wheels on cobblestone turned to the crunch of wheels on gravel, I realized I had drifted off, my head still resting on May’s lap. Sitting upright, I could see we were pulling up in front of the Royal Palace.
My gods, what a beautiful place it was. An enormous central dome that rose to a point in the middle of four smaller replicas. The whole surrounded by columns that looked like elongated calla lily blossoms, all carved from pink marble and limestone. Large braziers hung between the columns creating a flickering pseudo daylight that cast dancing shadows across the well-manicured palace grounds. Enormous date palms bristled in the warm night breeze coming from the West off the Plains
As we exited the carriage and stretched, our foot guard came to order on the walkway before us. Lieutenant Marval took his place at their lead and we all walked up to a menacing, fifteen foot tall bronze double door — bas relief depicted battles of the past against Bedouins and Elves in which the Gnolls were victorious.
We stood there for several minutes until, finally, the doors slowly opened of their own volition. I'm guessing it was an attempt at the dramatic, but it came off as a parlor trick. Perhaps Carca was playing down her power to give us a false sense that we might be her match.
We were met in this grand atrium by a palace guard of ten Gnolls and a figure I assumed must be a Wizard by her wardrobe. From her great height, I assumed her to be female at least. She spoke to us in a booming voice, an Eastern accent flavoring her speech.
“Welcome to Yis-Gláz, Your Majesties, She awaits your presence. I am Sha’gul, Her Vizier and Secretary of her temporal affairs. I trust you had a safe and pleasant journey?”
"Well, actually …" I began before May cut me off.
“We had some minor difficulties, but nothing unexpected," May finished for me. "I'm so eager to see Carca that time just flew right by.”
Looking at May with a wilting glare, Sha'gul corrected,
"Nay, Your Majesty. We do not use her worldly name here, nor her new name yet. We simply use the pronouns ‘She,’ and ‘Her’ as befits the newly ascended. You shall address her directly as ‘Divine Lady.’ Are we clear?”
We answered in the affirmative.
"Obviously you had some trouble on the road,” she said, seeing the blood on my clothes, “I'll have baths prepared before you retire for the evening and fresh clothes.”
"That would be lovely, Your Grace,” I replied. Honestly, I would have preferred to be there then, soaking away the tightness in my muscles and the road dust from my body.
The throne room was stunning. More of the columns and more of the braziers. A long, wide carpet of rich purple spanned the hundred feet from double doors to a raised dais at the room's other end, topped by a throne carved of alabaster and bones that came from some form of Humanoids. Sitting on the throne was Carca.
“Welcome travellers! Welcome to my cozy little hideaway!"
She had changed much. Still white as chalk with the hair and eyes to match, She wore maroon robes, open in front to reveal that she was nothing but bones from the neck down. Her ribcage opened to reveal its emptiness, skeletal hands and feet, in her right hand a long scythe, and on her head an elaborate crown of black iron and diamonds. Her face had grown more beautiful, as strange as that seems, contraposed against her decomposed body.
May spoke first, “Divine Lady, we wish to offer our many thanks for your cordial welcome and for your hospitality. I must say, I didn't think it possible, but you've grown more beautiful over the past few days.”
"Well, Your Majesty, truth be told, as a god, I choose how I appear at any given time. I think this look encapsulates the beauty and horror of death very well, don't you agree?”
May searched for appropriate words, "I think it offers a nearly lyrical interpretation of the concept of death. The best poets in my kingdom could surely do no better.”
“Well thank you, Darling. You're quite the wordsmith yourself with your flattery. And please allow me to offer my congratulations on your marriage. I can't say I didn't see it coming because I did. With the help of the included amber, I had begun to be able to scry the future to a limited degree."
I interjected, “Perhaps we could have had advanced warning of the skeletons we encountered.”
"Is that what it was?" she asked coyly. “When I scry the future, I don't have the ability to see magic created by someone stronger than me. Gracious, you've made some powerful enemies, My Friends,” she laughed.
May answered, “Yes, Divine Lady, which is the purpose of our visit. To find out who and why we're in this position.”
Carca rose from her throne, "A question we shall revisit in the morning. I know you must be exhausted. We'll all think better with some rest.” And she stepped behind the throne and vanished.
Sha'gul indicated that we should follow her and led us to our rooms. Opulent couldn't begin to describe our accommodations. And, in the middle of the room, a marble bath big enough for four. May and I exchanged glances and began to disrobe.