Maker of Fire

Emily, Toyatastagka, Growing Season,6th rot., 3rd day

"I don't want you to go there, Em," Tom was emphatic. "It will be nasty and upsetting. It's not like television. It's not cleaned up for general viewing. No, I don't want you in the city with the gross, mangled, bloated bodies of dead people, dead kids, dead pets, dead everything. And the ones still alive will be worse, because you will want to fix them all and the truth is, we can't fix any. It will tear you up inside, Mouse. I don't want you there."

Tom was being a little too protective, in my well-considered opinion. Spot had taken Tom's side. Twee was wisely staying out of the argument. His tongue would occasionally flick in and out rapidly which I knew was a thing the Chem did when they disapproved of something. I think he was uncomfortable when we argued.

"I have to go, Tom. I must see what I am responsible for, at least in part. It's in the current job description. I can't look away."

"Darling little mare," Spot nuzzled my ear, "we promised your friends to keep you away from the front lines. Please don't make us break our promise. Your Aylem friend is very scary. I don't want to explain to her that you got hurt because we let you go somewhere bad."

"You are all so frustrating," I stomped my foot without thinking. Then it hurt because I stomped too hard. It wasn't my day.

The three of them left me behind on my ketch. They ordered the crew to refuse any orders I might give them to go ashore.

Of course, as soon as they were out of sight, I told my crew to take me ashore. They refused just like I expected them to. I loaded up two shoulder straps worth of throwing spikes, strapped on two knives as long as my thighs, and hung my hatchet on my belt. I wrapped my tunic, trews, sandals, short bow and sixteen arrows in an oil cloth dry bag. Stripping down to my Ud shirt and underclothes, I then jumped overboard and started swimming. My crew followed me in the water, begging me to go back to the boat. I was closer to the city than to the ketch when I tired out, so my boys agreed to swim me all the way to the shore. The Chem are no match for my stubbornness.

I got dressed and started walking. I wanted to reach the palace to see what there was to see. I was curious if that fat emperor and the High Priest of Cragi were dead in the rubble. There was probably nothing to be seen, but I wanted to look regardless. I just had this odd feeling that I needed to look.

Tom was right. It was horrible. The first time I had to vomit was after I saw a Cosm girl around four years old torn…well, in pieces.

Tom was correct that it was also dangerous. About halfway to the palace, I picked up a tail–a noisy, clumsy tail that didn't care about following quietly. After listening to my tail for about three hundred hands, I loaded an arrow and came to a full draw.

It was a dirty, bloody Cosm nohair with eyes that had lost all hope and decency. Nohairs couldn’t feel the godmarks so I was just another helpless Coyn to him. He was undoing his belt when I turned. My first arrow missed. I never got the second off. He grabbed me and hoisted me off my feet one-handed.

He dropped me after I stabbed him through the wrist with a spike. I jammed my left ankle when I hit the paving stones. I had to ignore the pain because my attacker was now enraged and flailing his fists at me. I rolled to dodge him and then cut his achilles tendon with one of my knives and then cut through the hamstring on his other leg. He came after me on his knees, screaming his murderous intent. I put five throwing spikes into his face before he paused. I took advantage of his distraction, ran up his thigh, and sliced through his carotid artery.

Once he stopped breathing, I recovered my spikes, wiping the blood off on his tunic. Then I ran into the nearest alley and vomited behind a pile of rubble.

In the alley, I saw the heart wrenching scene of a momma cat with four dead kittens, crushed by falling debris from a now burnt-out house. A fifth kitten, a grey one with orange eyes, was still alive. It was trying trying to suckle the remains of its flattened mother. Surrounded by death and carnage, it still wanted to live. It noticed me and mewed at me weakly. It looked like it was five or six weeks old though that was hard to gauge since it was about the size of a small cat back on Earth. It looked like it would be smaller than Eskurt when it grew up, but not by much. Hoping it was weaned, I took out my packet of fish and fed it some. I tried to leave it behind but it followed me.

I rolled it over and looked at its back end. It was a girl kitten. She looked like she would grow up to be a longhaired cat. I put her into my oilcloth bag and scratched her until she fell asleep. Tom was going to give me grief about her but I'm a sucker for kittens. Who could I give her to? Taking a kitten to a war was not practical. Maybe Uncohegan could find her a home.

I was sore, tired and sick to my stomach by the time I reached the ruins of the palace and temple. Thankfully, the kitten stayed asleep. Looking on the rubble, I realized nothing was left standing. If anyone was still alive under the collapsed buildings, then they might as well be dead. It was take mages to rescue anyone and I was sure any sensible silverhair had fled the city long ago. The ruins were dreadful and awe-inspiring in scale. Vassu had to be satisfied with what we had done on her behalf.

When I turned to go back down to the waterfront, I saw I was hemmed in by six menacing nohair Cosm, four men and two women. Their expressions ranged from hostile to apathetic.

“You, slave, will come with us,” one of the women commanded in the nasal accent of Mattamesscontess. She looked like a meth head to me, though I wasn’t sure those sorts of drugs even existed here.

“No. I am no slave,” I replied. I occurred to me that might not have been the best thing to say. It would have been smarter to just play along. I put a new arrow on my bow and took aim.

“Put that toy down,” one of the men said.

“She can’t hurt me with that thing,” the ragged meth head woman said. “Look at how small she is. Now, put that thing down or I will beat you.”

“Leave and I won’t kill you,” I stated, taking aim. I hoped I didn’t need to defend myself. It would be a losing battle against six.

Several of them laughed at me and the woman started walking towards me.

“I could use some help, you absent and lazy pile of gods,” I addressed the aether in my head.

*I thought you’d never ask, kitten,* said the voice of Galt in my head.

Reassured of Galt’s protection, I unknocked my arrow and put it back in my belt quiver. “I am the Prophet Emily. If you do not leave now, your lives will be forfeit to the god of wrath. I am under his protection.”

“This one is good at telling stories,” one of the men said, snickering at me.

“Get over here,” the woman closed her distance and reached out. She died from the lightning bolt that came out of the black, rotating wall cloud that suddenly covered the ruins of the palace. It happened faster than I could describe it.

When the retinal burn faded from my eyes, I saw the four men and remaining woman running away from me. They didn’t get far before they too were struck by blinding bolts of lightning. The wall cloud spun for a moment longer. Then it was gone in a blink and the sun was back. Galt was sitting on his haunches beside me. He looked pleased with himself.

*Ah, yes. That was most satisfying. There’s nothing like a good smiting to round out a day’s work. Here,* He put his paw on my shoulder, *let me settle your stomach for you.* My stomach stopped feeling queasy, which I welcomed. He then licked his paw and brushed the backside of one ear. *Scratch?*

“You are incorrigible,” I rolled my eyes and was about to oblige the cat god when my oil cloth bag started mewing.

Galt had his nose next to my bag with a curious look. *Let me see her. Let me see.* I took her out and had to hold tight because she wanted to escape.

*Oh, she’s adorable. They always are at that age. She needs a home, yes? Let me take her off your hands. I have the perfect place for such a young soul, in a shrine with lots of good food and love and plenty of mice and bugs to hunt. May I?*

“Please, Galt, that would be a big help. Anyone I know?”

*In a word, yes!* He smiled. *You’ll meet up with this one when you get back to Foskos. She’ll be in good hands. Isn’t that right, little one?* Galt addressed the kitten. *What do you want to call her?* he asked me.

“Shouldn’t her new owner name her?” I protested.

*No. You chose to rescue her so I want you to name her.*

“Seriously, Galt? Alright, her name is House.”

Galt laughed. *I love your sense of humor. Now, don’t worry about getting back down the hill,* Galt told me. *This is a dangerous place for you right now so I’m watching though you will be safe riding back on Spot. And try to be patient with Tom. He is worried about you because your crew told him you escaped your ship. You really should have listened to him this time. You do take too many risks, kitten. He’s on his way here because he couldn’t miss my smiting these derelicts. Toodles, kitten. I have a delivery to make.* With those words ringing inside my head, Galt vanished as suddenly as he had appeared.

The Crystal Shrine of Tiki, Growing Season,6th rot., night of the 2nd day

Toyatastagka, Growing Season,6th rot., 3rd day

“I don’t know whether to feel privileged or scared that we live in such times as there, but why didn’t Galt intervene earlier?” Foyuna said to the Queen. “I’m amazed that Lyappis slept through that,” she looked over at the elderly healer asleep in an armchair with her feet up on a hussock. It was almost time for the second night bell to ring. The only other person present was the priestess keeping the record of the visions Aylem raised in the Great Crystal.

“I think it’s possible to feel both scared and privileged when the gods have chosen to be active in our lives,” Aylem shrugged. “Those two things are not exclusive. I’ll be frank, Foyuna dear, what we just watched was scary. I was frantically trying to find a way to shield Emily despite the distance. I had forgotten how resourceful she is when cornered. My face might not show it, but I’m a mess after watching Emily and then Galt. I don’t dare unclasp my hands because I know they will shake if I do. This was the third time I’ve witnessed the wrath of Galt and this evening was as frightening as the first two. And look at Emily! She’s inhuman, chatting with Galt after he roasted those Cosm attackers like they were having an outting in the gardens.”

“Are all six really dead?” Foyuna asked.

“Gods do not miss.” Aylem’s smile did not reach her eyes. “I deliberately didn’t show the dead bodies because, well . . . you remember what that Coyn looked like who threw the clay bomb at Emily in Aybhas.”

“Yes, I do remember,” Foyuna grimaced. “I’d rather not be reminded of that, thank you.”

“I thought as much,” Aylem looked sympathetic. “Still, this is the first time I’ve seen a god appear in the crystal.”

“I wonder if we will discover who received a divine gift of a grey kitten,” Foyuna pondered.

“Galt did say it will be someone Emily knows, and we do know everyone Emily knows,” Aylem flashed Foyuna a mischevious grin. Foyuna hid her shock. With each passing day, Aylem displayed less and less of her Ice Queen persona. Then, something in the crystal caught Foyuna’s attention.

“Oh, look, it’s Twee and Tom on Spot,” Foyuna pointed at the Great Crystal, as the flying horse landed next to Emily in front of the ruined palace. “Look at the face on Tom. He looks like a storm cloud.”

“Well, he was blessed by the god of wrath, after all,” Aylem’s grin deepened. “Shh, I want to hear this.”

“Aylem, isn’t this evesdropping on someone else’s marital discord?” Foyuna chided, guessing that the Queen wouldn’t react badly. Three years ago, she would not have dared for fear of Aylem’s temper.

“Hush, cousin,” waved her hand at Foyuna and they watch Tom slide down Spot’s mounting belt whole Twee jumped down.

“Five? Five dead Cosm?” Tom demanded an answer, scowling.

“Six,” Emily pointed in back of her with her thumb and then sat down on a piece of charred rubble fallen from the palace wall. “Galt’s living up to his promise to deliver some divine wrath to anyone who wants to assault me.

The look on Tom’s face was unreadable. “Did you know Galt would do this?”

“To be honest, no,” Emily’s voice was soft and calm, and her face was resigned. “I had forgotten what he said in Aybhas. Galt didn’t show up when I killed the guy who tried to riprape me. Maybe Galt already knew that outcome and let me take care of the attacker. Or maybe it’s because I didn’t ask for help earlier but asked when I knew I couldn’t take out six Cosm.” She sighed, waiting for Tom’s reaction.

She was gobsmacked when he sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Why do I think you were an outrageous even as an old lady back on Earth? You’re always like this, Em, acting like nothing is ever going to harm you. One of these days, you’re really going to get hurt or even die, and I don’t know how I will be able to cope when that happens.”

“I’m sorry,” Emily said and sounded like she meant it. “You were right. I should have stayed on the boat. It was every bit as bad as you said it would be.”

He rocked her in his embrace, “You are incorrigible, but you already know that. You managed to get attacked and you didn’t accomplish anything that you wanted to do by coming here. Did you?”

“Well, no, I did rescue a kitten,” Emily said, hugging him back.

“What were you thinking? We don’t have any way to take care of a kitten, Em!”

“It’s alright. Galt said he’d find a home for her.”

“WHAT!?”

“Emprical evidence suggests he’s partial to cats.”

The Fated Shrine of Galt, Is’syal, Growing Season, 6th rot., night of the 2nd day

*Wake up, dearest Kamagishi,* the voice of Galt dragged the High Priestess out of her slumber. The water clock indicated it was just before the second night bell.

Kamagishi sat up in bed with her stomach clenched and her heart racing. Galt was sitting between her feet with a kitten in his mouth.

*I have a present for you, my dear lady,* Galt put the kitten down on the covers. *Her name is House. She is both hungry and thirsty. She’s barely weaned so some milk from the kitchen followed by some fish or ground meat would be good for her. Don’t let Garki steal her from you. I want you to have her. I’ll be watching. See ‘ya.*

“Mew,” said House as she waddled up the covers, climbed up Kamagishi’s nightgown, kneaded Kamagishi’s neck, and tried to suckle Kamagishi’s collar.

“Why me?” Kamagishi asked the empty bedroom, getting up to take a hungry kitten down to the shrine’s kitchens. “And what’s with naming her House?”