“Everybody, listen, I know there's a lot on your minds after last night. I understand that. You're wondering when your time will come and if you'll have the measure of it.
What we learned last night is that we can beat them. These people, these Pretenders, are our peers, not our betters. We're going through the same thing they are. But now one of theirs is gone, by our hand. We seven have given notice.
Quickly, I'd like to mention a discovery I made last night. The fellow ironically calling himself ‘The Cursed,’ was doing some kind of short distance teleporting thing in little thirty foot hops. Every time I went for him he'd just disappear and reappear thirty feet away.
The last time he did this, a glowing red circle appeared in the sand behind him. I interpreted that to be a sign showing where he would pop up next. When he vanished, I ran straight for that spot and ran him through when he reappeared.
So, I'm the God of Truth. One of my abilities is being able to see through that kind of trickery I guess. I'm sure I have other powers and, like yours, they'll show themselves over time. But time is something we don't have.
My point is that we need to be doing everything we can to try to identify these special abilities. Especially the martials, May, Margrin, Pelisir, Milost, and me. We need every advantage we can get.”
In a quiet voice, Janiver hesitantly asked me to relate the details of our battle with the Wizard.
“Don't feel bad asking me about that, Janiver. I knew what I was getting into as did all of you. It's nothing you won't experience yourself soon.
Okay, here goes, he caught us standing in the middle of the Waste in our nightclothes. We took on god form as quickly as we could. He was perhaps a hundred yards away and May suggested we flank him, so we began to run to his left and right.
He was smug. Certain things were going to go his way. We used that to our advantage. Don't ever be afraid of talk.
He took a shot at May first, with, um, what was that spell, Love? You know I'm not familiar.”
", Darling. As basic as it gets but effective. He sent eight at me and I blocked five with my sword. The ones that hit knocked the wind from me and I've got some nasty bruises on my chest, but I'm fine. It did delay my entry into the battle to a degree.”
“Yes, , that's the one. Then he tried it on me, but my blade is far too fast. Seeing me unaffected, he sent a my way. I dove under that, then before we were on him, he started the teleporting around thing. That's when I discovered my new talent, and then we killed him.”
They all seemed suitably impressed.
"So you see, we all are gods now. We're all equally capable of facing these Pretenders. We just need to either attempt to predict their methods, strategies, timing, or go after them, on the offensive, turning the tables.
May, I believe you said that Carca is still recruiting. So we have a choice to make. Do we sit idly by while they recoup losses, or do we stop it all now? And a better question might be do we continue to recruit as well?”
It was May who posed the question “Who would we recruit, Tendil? Who could we trust?"
“I don't think it should be done immediately. I think we should see how this goes for now. But I'll offer four names: Father Vastila, Mother Felistia, Veralia, and Ranji.”
"Ranji is just a boy, My Love.”
"Tell that to the body of the Swalesian with a hole in his throat back in Kruklig. He's a young man, May. And he's been made a part of this by our enemies. He should have the option to defend himself.”
"I don't think any of us know him as well as we should,” May admitted.
"I agree with that,” I said, "and I think we should take the time to do that. We definitely need to decide if he's mature enough to handle what we would be asking.”
Janiver spoke up then. "He's been spending a lot of time with Veralia as you all know. Perhaps we should go to her first. She's also an accomplished Wizard. Her addition to our group would take some pressure off of Brevid and me.”
“We should let them all know our plan today, give them some time to consider their place in it and if they wish to Ascend, May and I will take care of that, starting with Vastila and Felistia. I think I know their hearts already.”
"On a different note,” Janiver began, putting her satchel on the table, "l worked the night through on these.”
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She began to hand out the lockets we had discussed. Silver things with the royal seal on the front and the numeral seven in the back.
“I made these before the discussion of new members, hence the number seven.”
"They're beautiful,” Margrin said, slipping his on over his neck. “Tell us how to use them, please."
“Patience, My Love. Margrin and I would also like to announce that we're getting married."
There was little surprise around the table, but they did get an enthusiastic reaction.
I suggested “We should get a bottle of something hard to celebrate!"
Of course this got nixed by the Queen.
“Absolutely not, Darling. As a matter of fact, there should be no drinking or use of any disorienting substances until this thing is over. We never know when we'll be drawn into combat. No one need be impaired for that."
“Argh! Gods, May! You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just happy and I need a drink after last night anyway. I've been behaving too much.”
May asked “When is the ceremony? Have you decided on a date?"
“Maybe this evening? Maybe the Prince can ask the Holies while he's with them?"
“Certainly, why not? You people do realize the irony that I'm the only one here who needs proper sleep while being the least likely to get it?”
Janiver looked at me pointedly while addressing the table, "Ahem, like I said, I was up all night despite needing some trance time to create these lovely yet very practical lockets for us all to wear. As you should be able to see, there's a tiny button on the side opposite the hinge. Just press that and a spring I've devised causes the lid to pop open.”
We all tried it successfully. Inside was what looked to be a normal mirror.
"Now look into the mirror. When your face is in it, you should see smoke.”
We all did as she suggested and saw what she predicted we'd see.
"Now, I'm going to think of you all at the same time.”
Suddenly, the smoke in the locket cleared and Janiver's face appeared.
“Now you can both see and hear me as I'm talking."
And we could. Her voice could be heard coming from all of the lockets at once.
“May, say something to me."
“Okay, um, congratulations?"
Before May even spoke, her face had appeared in all of the lockets.
“It switches to whomever is talking. And the dustance at which this thing can work is over 1,000 miles. If you're farther away from me, it will tell me where you are anyway.
Further, it protects you from being teleported against your will. I'll also add that the material I've used for these is adamantine, so they're well nigh indestructible.
I know how important these things are to our plans. But it's left me very tired. I used the amber to help me. It can dramatically speed up your thoughts and enhance your creativity, but it's draining.
If you'll all excuse me, I need to go lie down and have some trance time. I've a big night ahead."
“Of course, Janiver," May said consolingly, “Get as much rest as you need. What time is the wedding?"
“I would like to do seven bells, but I guess that depends on the clergy. I'll check when I finish my trance and I'll let everyone know using the lockets,” she replied.
"Wait, Darling,” Margrin said, "I'm coming with you. Thank you everyone. We shall look forward to seeing you this evening.”
The day was hot, overbearing, even in the shade of the redwoods. I was beginning to sweat just making the walk over to the seminary. I had valets go ahead of me to gather Father Vastila and Mother Felistia together in his office.
The room was actually fairly cool when I arrived, the two clergy already there. Then I saw the reason it was so comfortable. There was a tub in the room full of ice and a young adept with a large fan, fanning cool air directly at Father Vastila’s desk.
They both stood when I entered.
“Ah, Prince Tendil, an unexpected surprise!" Vastila greeted me, extending his hand. Felistia and I exchanged brief bows.
Seating myself, I said “I apologize for the unannounced visit, but I have matters of great importance to discuss with the two of you.”
“Well, what on earth could it be? asked Felistia.
“We'd like to ask you to consider joining us. Also, Margrin and Janiver would like to have a wedding ceremony performed this evening at seven bells."
"First things first,” Felistia had a curious look on her face, "do you mean as gods? Is that the question?”
May answered, "Yes, Mother Felistia. We don't know ultimately how many enemies we'll be facing in this war. We need powerful allies like the two of you. And both of you are Clerics. I could be wrong, but I don't see the Pretenders recruiting any holy people.”
"Well, My Dear, you have some grim surprises awaiting you. There are many Clerics devoted to the Black Arts and evil. The Black King himself has quite a number of them. It remains to be seen if any will follow Carca with her change of alignment.”
"I can say that we haven't seen her with any Clerics to this point.”
Father Vastila said, "Have you been following events in Yis-Gláz?”
May answered "As you know, we can't scry gods, but we do have some of Janiver's underlings watching who enters and exits the palace there. She's not recruiting Gnolls. Not yet at least. So, the people to whom we need pay attention stand out from the crowd. We haven't seen any new faces of consequence.”
Father Vastila leaned forward in his chair, “Should the two of us join you, what do you think our chances are fighting against gods?"
Without trying to sound like I was bragging, I told him "We've already defeated two gods and we've lost none. May and I together slew one of Carca's, one calling himself the ‘Cursed.’
And on the day we Ascended, Janiver took us to the Ethereal Plane to test our powers. On that day we faced and defeated one called ‘the Defiler,’ a monstrous thing, all tentacles and eyeballs.”
Father Vastila was incredulous, "You mean to tell me that you did combat with Nug’hibboreth and were victorious? Combat with one of the Elder Gods?”
"I should have said, it was against our full complement of seven. In force like that, we are a formidable foe. Oh, I should add, we were in god form for both of those battles — over a hundred feet tall.”
"Still,” he said, "that's an incredible feat. And that's an incredible amount of power to lay in a mortal’s lap. You're immortal now as well, Prince Tendil?"
“That's what they tell me, Father. I guess we'll see. If it means a day more of life with May, it's worth it."
“The two of you seem very happy," Mother Felistia said with a smile, “Do you think Janiver and Margrin will do so well?"
“It not for me to say, Your Grace. What I can say is that they appear to be very much in love. They seem to compliment each other."
Father Vastila was rubbing his temples with his fingers saying "So much to consider. So great a responsibility. What do we do, Mother?”