Maker of Fire

Lisaykos, Aybhas, Planting Season, 5th rot., 9th day

Emily was a little lump of misery in my lap, sobbing like she had lost everything she treasured in life. In a way, over the last two years, she had. I knew from the leakage of her thoughts that she was most upset over what she had just done to those three Coyn. What people don't realize about Emily is that she is more empathetic than most. Had she been born a spoot slave, she knew she might feel the same way as the woman she had just sentenced to a horrible death.

And it was a horrible death. I think the only reason I didn't lose the contents of my stomach is that I've had a lifetime of practice watching executions. I never thought I'd find an execution worse than the death by birds, but Emily's sentence of death by one of her nasty little bombs is a contender. It wasn't as slow, but watching someone's head on fire was its own version of gut-churning gore. When it comes to killing people, Emily is very creative.

Emily calmed down after a candle mark while her thoughts pondered if she could escape Aybhas and flee back to Tom. As is my habit, I did not intrude or interfere with her internal dialogue. I wanted to take her back to the main shrine. I wondered if she would let me.

I heard my daughter's knock pattern on the door. Before I could respond, she opened the door a crack. "Mother? Katsa called in a soft voice. Emily lifted her head from where it rested on my arm.

"You might as well come in, Katsa," I said.

Katsa did and then paid Emily and me a kneeling obeisance. When that was done, she pulled over the other chair in the room and sat facing us.

"I have news, Mother, Great One," Katsa looked grim. "The garrisons in Weirgos, Rigdit, Gunndit Town, and Yuxvos have uncovered stashes of clay bombs and shooting slings. Searches are still underway in Kas, Kesmat, and Blockit. Great One, your insistence to immediately question your attackers has prevented several slave riots," Katsa concluded with approval.

"I know the guards and justiciars will identify the ones who planned the riots," Emily said in her soft voice, which was weaker than usual. "What will happen to them? I'm not sure where these crimes fall in the new law."

"Inciting destructive disorder," Katsa replied with confidence. "The punishment under the old and new law is the same: those guilty will be sent to the mines for twenty years."

"That's a death sentence," Emily remarked with a grimace. "Most die before five years in the mines."

"Yes," Katsa nodded her head, "that is correct. I only know of one person who survived more than ten years. Even then, her health was destroyed by the time she was released."

"What was her crime?" Emily asked.

"She embezzled from the kingdom treasury. The Queen has no mercy for embezzlers, though she does spare their families, which I find both extraordinary and compassionate."

"Well, there are worse ways to die," Emily looked pained. I knew she thought our punishments were too severe. Her attitude was ironic given that today's punishment was horrific, and her punishment of Oyseray the leather worker — slow starvation in the dark — was considered extremely cruel by most people.

"In a way, this matches what Galt told me about the role of the spoot slaves in freeing the Coyn population of Foskos," Emily remarked while wearing her thinking face. "I think I understand better what he was talking about. Waiting to destroy the Great Crystal at the White Shrine indeed has created more favorable conditions for emancipation, but just barely. Or maybe Galt knew the spoot slaves would plan to riot and would be prevented. That would work too," Emily said, and she started to descend into one of her thinking trances.

Katsa was not privy to everything Emily disclosed after her attempted murder in Black Falls. My daughter would not be deterred from knowing more.

"What did Galt tell you, Great One, and when? I know nothing about this," Katsa leaned forward in anticipation, startling Emily out of her deepening contemplation.

Emily leaned her head back to look at me, "Did Convocation not tell the Lord Holders about what Galt told me?"

"Emily, I've not shared that with the Convocation," I said. "Only Aylem, Usruldes, and I know what Galt told you. We were the only ones at the table with you when you told the Queen and Usruldes about it."

"Oh, Surd save us," Emily shook her head. Then she told Katsa about how advances in plumbing put half of all the Coyn in Foskos out of work, thus creating better economic conditions for freeing the enslaved races.

Poor Katsa looked gobsmacked when Emily was done, asking her, "You've known for a year?"

"Well, almost a year."

"And the four of you have kept this to yourselves?" Katsa looked a bit indignant.

"Katsa, the Convocation has not treated Emily gently when the gods speak to her," I cut in. "The questioning and treatment of Emily on these occasions has not been gentle, and some members have been deliberately unkind. Emily is wary because of their treatment of her. The harassment is sometimes nasty.

"I've tried to protect her by being discreet with what she tells me unless it's a matter of national importance. The last thing I want is for Emily to stop trusting me. Trust is important when you live with someone. Emily has to be in control of when she shares divine information, not me."

"Seriously, Mother?" Katsa looked dubious. "Mistreatment of a prophet by High Priestesses?"

"Katsa," I snapped at my daughter without intending to. "Just as an example, despite manifesting her first two godmarks last year, Fassex wanted to punish Emily, the revelator of Mugash, for not reverencing the door statues of Mugash."

"I can understand that," Katsa said in rebuttal and then looked at Emily. "Why were you so disrespectful, Great One?"

"I didn't know they were there," She answered truthfully, frightened by Katsa's accusing eyes.

"She can't see them, Katsa," I explained. "She's only seven hands, and the statues are on pedestals twenty-five hands high. We didn't build the shrine for someone as short as Emily. Even after I pointed that out, Fassex still wanted to exact some kind of punishment, and Irralray, Rakkalbos, and Moxsef were ready to back her up. That's just one example. So, no, I'm not Kamagishi. I don't blab everything Emily tells me to the Convocation."

Katsa pinched her nose, a gesture she inherited from me, "Gods. I get it, Mom, I get it. What a mess. I had no idea the Convocation could behave that badly. No wonder you dislike Convocation meetings." Katsa bowed her head to Emily and placed her hand over her heart, "Pray forgive my misplaced ire over how you choose to share divine knowledge, Great One. It was not my place to judge the decisions of a prophet."

Despite feeling intimidated by Katsa, Emily shrugged and replied with her remarkable empathy and insight into other people. "You're a lord holder. You assumed you should have known because such knowledge could affect your holding. I can hardly blame you for that."

Katsa looked at Emily with distress, "I am so regretful that charms of peace don't work on you, Great One. It pains me that I make you apprehensive. I would stop an army to protect you."

Yes, my magic powerhouse daughter was also affected by Emily's current aura and godmarks.

"I wish Kamagishi were back on her feet," I told Katsa. "Mugash said something to me that makes me think Kamagishi could cast a charm of peace on Emily."

- - -

Emily, Chapel Shrine of Mugash, Aybhas, Planting Season, 5th rot., 9th day

I was digesting the news that Kamagishi might be able to use the charm of peace on me when someone rapped a knock pattern on the door. Lisaykos turned her head and glared at the door as if it offended her. "Come," Lisaykos ordered. Kamagishi let herself in, looking visibly worn.

"I can try a charm of peace if the Blessed Emily will allow it," Kamagishi offered, sounding tired.

"You were eavesdropping at the door," Lisaykos accused.

"I was not," Kamagishi snapped. "I just got here a moment ago. I was waiting for a pause in the conversation before knocking." She sounded vexed with Lisaykos, "And I do not blab everything I hear to everyone in the Convocation, you old goat."

I flinched, stuck between these two oversized mages snipping at each other.

"That must have been a very long moment, young lady," Lisaykos delivered her insult in regal tones of condescension. "These walls are made so a Coyn screaming in pain will not disturb patients in the surrounding treatment rooms."

"Pardon me, Princess," Kamagishi now sounded angry, not just annoyed, "but how else was I to judge a good time to knock without using clairvoyance, given the thickness of the walls?"

By now, I had wrapped my arms around myself and was trying not to cower as these two giant monsters were heading toward an actual argument.

"Stop!" I managed to say. "J...just stop. It has been a b...bad day for me, and I do not think I can...can..." I closed my eyes, trying to regain my composure. I felt like I was losing the ability to stay in control of myself, and that realization was upsetting. With my age and experience, I should be able to keep myself together, even under circumstances like these. When had I turned into such a basket case?

"Great One," Kamagishi said from right in front of me as she put her hand gently on my shoulder, "Keep your eyes closed for a moment."

In a breath, I no longer felt anxious. In fact, I felt like I had just taken just enough dextromethorphan to feel pleasantly detached, a feeling as relaxed as the buzz from one of Tiki's pina coladas.

"That worked!" Kamagishi exulted. I opened my eyes to see her kneeling in front of me with an expression of both glee and surprise. "That actually worked!"

Kamagishi's wondering eyes turned to Lisaykos, "What did Mugash tell you, Sister?"

"That you were the only person in Foskos who could cast a charm of peace on me," Lisaykos said in a carefully neutral voice. "I determined that if you could cast one on me, then you might be able to cast one on Emily."

Kamagishi looked like she wanted to pepper Lisaykos with more questions. Then she composed herself and sat back on her heels.

"Sister Lisaykos, Great One," Kamagishi began in a solemn voice, "Galt woke me not long ago and sent me here. The King, the Queen, and Sister Foyuna are waiting for you outside in the forecourt of this chapel shrine, along with a growing number of onlookers. Great One, Foyuna says she is under a geas imposed by Tiki. She has come to offer you the use of her shrine's unique magic as Tiki's avatar, but it must be done outside. Will you please come and speak with her?"

"What's the magic?" I had to ask.

"Great One, she will not say without your presence."

(Continued in 2.75)