Gathering of the Chosen (15 page)

Damn it,
Braim thought, frowning.
Probably should have expected it, but damn it.

Then he looked at Carmaz. The Ruwan was
squinting at his card with a frown on his face.

“What does yours say?” said Braim.

“I …” Carmaz scratched the back of his
head, looking somewhat embarrassed. “I can't really read it. I
never learned how to read.”

The idea that Carmaz was illiterate
confused Braim until he recalled that Carmaz was from Ruwa, an
island with a rather high rate of illiteracy. He had quite
forgotten that, seeing as Carmaz had behaved more like someone who
could.

“Let me look at it and I can tell you what
it says,” said Braim.

Carmaz still looked embarrassed, but he
held out his card for Braim to read. Braim leaned forward and read
the card, which had a layout and font similar to his:

CARMAZ KORVA

BRACKET: THE HUMAN GOD BRACKET

“It says you're in the Human God Bracket,”
said Braim, pulling back and looking at Carmaz.

Carmaz's face fell. He looked at the card
again himself, as did Saia, who was now looking over his shoulder,
and he said, “That can't be.”

“It is,” said Braim. “Sorry, man, but
that's what it says. Did you want to be in a different bracket or
something?”

Carmaz looked at Braim with desperation in
his eyes. “What bracket are you in?”

“The Skimif Bracket,” said Braim.
“Why?”

Carmaz looked like he was about to crumple
his card in his hand. He then glared up at Alira, who was looking
down at everyone from her platform as if to make sure that everyone
had received the correct card.

Braim, who was not entirely sure why
Carmaz was upset, decided to find out which bracket Raya had been
assigned to. He turned to her and said, “So, Raya, what bracket did
you get?”

Raya was so still that Braim almost
believed that she had somehow become a statue. She didn't even seem
to hear him at all. Worried, Braim reached out to lay a hand on her
shoulder, but then Raya said, without looking at him, “Don't touch
me.”

His hand freezing partway between him and
Raya, Braim said, “What?”

“I said, don't touch me,” Raya repeated.
Her tone was flat.

Braim lowered his hand and smiled. “Let me
guess, you didn't get put into the bracket that you wanted.”

“I got put in the
worst
bracket,”
said Raya, still without looking at Braim.

“Which one is the worst again?” said
Braim. “Is it the Spider Goddess's bracket? Because I don't like
spiders much myself, either.”

Raya thrust her card up into Braim's face.
He leaned back slightly so he could actually read the card, which
read—again in a similar layout and font to his and Carmaz's
cards—thus:

RAYA MANA

BRACKET: HOLLECH BRACKET

***

R
aya didn't even wait for Braim's
response. Nor did she care to hear it. She marched straight into
the crowd of godlings, her eyes fixed solely on Alira. The other
participants—some of whom, she realized in the one part of her mind
that wasn't consumed by rage, were also going to be in the Hollech
Bracket—parted as she made her way through, as if her anger alone
was generating enough force to move everyone out of her way.

About halfway across the room Raya
realized that Carmaz was walking beside her. He was quite a bit
taller than her, a fact that she had not realized when she first
saw him, but she could not remember asking him to come with her. A
quick glance at him showed that Carmaz was just as angry as she
was. She had no idea what bracket he was in—she had stopped paying
attention to everything when she read her card—but she found that
she didn't care. Maybe he was even angry about her placement,
though considering how rude Carmaz was, she doubted that
greatly.

Alira didn't seem to notice either of the
two coming toward her until they were halfway across the lobby, at
which point Alira's cold, objective eyes looked down on both of
them. To Raya's surprise, Alira's platform actually lowered down
closer to them, but then it stopped several feet above their heads,
although she didn't need to be face-to-face with Alira to make her
displeasure known.

Raya and Carmaz stopped ten feet away from
Alira's platform. Alira adjusted her glasses and, with a sigh,
said, “What may I help you—”

Raya held up her card and said,”What is
the meaning of this? Why am
I
in the Hollech Bracket? Do I
look like a deceiver, thief, or equestrian to you? Is this some
kind of joke?”

Carmaz raised his card as well and said,
“How am I supposed to help my people now? What kind of power does
the God of Humans have, anyway? What's the deal?”

Alira didn't look even slightly disturbed
by Raya or Carmaz's harsh words and tone. She looked rather
unimpressed, actually, as if they were nothing more than a couple
of annoying brats that she was stuck babysitting.

“Well, I
said
that the results
might surprise you,” said Alira. “Did not these results surprise
you?”

“That's not what we're angry about,” Raya
said. She waved her card in front of her. “What we're angry about
is the fact that we were not placed into the brackets that we
deserve
, the one that we were
destined
to be placed
in. This is righteous anger, the kind that Father always taught me
was an appropriate response to injustice.”

“For once, I agree with silver spoon,”
said Carmaz. “I only agreed to enter the Tournament under the
belief that I would get a shot at becoming the God of Martir. This
is not what I signed up for, not at all.”

Alira peered over the top of her glasses
at Raya like she couldn't believe what she was saying. “Oh, so you
two genuinely feel entitled to enter whatever bracket you want,
rather than accepting what you were given. I now see why the gods
tend to have a rather divided opinion over allowing the continued
existence of humanity.”

“It's not entitlement, only logic,” Raya
said. “As the Princess of Carnag, I am the most fit and qualified
person for the position of Goddess of Martir, not for the position
of Goddess of Deception, Thieves, and Horses. It offends me, as a
Grinfian, to even be considered for that position, as deception and
theft are both highly unjust actions.”

“I'm not entitled, either,” said Carmaz,
folding his arms over his chest. “I want to help my people most of
all, and the best way to do that would be as the God of Martir. I
might be able to help as the God of Humans, but the truth of the
matter is that I need more power than that to fix Ruwa.”

Much to Raya's surprise—and anger—Alira
chuckled. “Humorous, the both of you. I see I must not have
explained the Tournament clearly. You were not chosen for these
brackets based on what you
wanted
, but instead based on what
you are
suitable
for. And I believe that your current
brackets are the most appropriate categories for you two. I do not
believe either of you would make a good God or Goddess of Martir,
in other words.”

“I am going to tell my parents,” Raya
said. “And I will ask them to come here and make you change your
mind.”

“Well, if that's the case, then I want out
of this Tournament,” said Carmaz. He threw his card onto the floor
and stepped on it. “I never really liked the gods anyway. I'd
rather go home to Ruwa and continue to eek out an existence there
than live in this city as a god who can't solve the problems of my
people.”

“And now the two of you are throwing
tantrums,” Alira said in a sardonic tone. “I suppose I must have
also forgotten to tell you that when you enter the Tournament, you
can't quit. You must either progress through the Tournament's
brackets until you win or lose or break one of the rules and get
disqualified. Quitting is not an option.”

Carmaz's card reappeared in his hand. He
looked at it in surprise, though Raya ignored it. She just glared
at Alira with all of the hate she could muster.

“This is not fair,” said Raya. “You don't
even know me. How can you know that you put us in the right
brackets?”

“I need not know you on a personal level
to know what bracket each of you needs to be in,” said Alira. “It
is a mixture of my own research and what the gods have told me
regarding your character and abilities. Your own god,
Raya—Grinf—was the one who recommended you for the Hollech Bracket,
as he did not think you were an appropriate fit for any other.”

“Liar,” Raya said. “Lord Grinf would never
recommend me for such an unjust bracket. He should know better than
anyone that, with my royal training, I would make an excellent
Goddess of Martir.”

“Actually, I believe it is
because
he knows you so well that he recommended I assign you to this one,”
said Alira. “But please, if you have any complaints or issues with
this decision, feel free to blaspheme Grinf. Of course, I have
heard that he is not a particularly kind god, but I am sure he will
patiently listen to your complaints and understand your anger.”

Raya gulped. The idea of complaining to
Grinf … well, that was almost enough to defuse her anger
completely. She remembered too many stories about how Grinf dealt
with those who questioned his judgment to know that complaining to
him was not a very wise move to make even for royalty such as
herself.

Carmaz, on the other hand, said, “Then who
recommended me for the Human God bracket? I demand to know so I can
find that god and tell him what I think about his judgment.”

“That is not information you need to
know,” said Alira. “I have no reason to tell any of you anything,
anyway. You are supposed to accept the role that I have given you.
You may not like it, but your own personal tastes about the bracket
you were assigned do not matter in the long term.”

Raya shook her head to get herself to stop
thinking about her fear of Grinf and said, “Can't you change it? If
you are the one who actually assigned us to our brackets, then
logically you should be able to change it, yes?”

“As Judge of the Tournament, when I make a
decision, it is
final
,” Alira said, putting as much emphasis
on the word
final
as if she were chanting a secret
incantation. “Even if I could change it—which I cannot—I would by
necessity be forced to reorganize all of the brackets. That would
be far more work than is necessary. Besides, not everyone is
whining about their placement in the Tournament, though I believe
that would change if I submitted to your pathetic wishes.”

Raya looked over her shoulder, suddenly
remembering all of the other godlings in the lobby. All of them
were staring at Carmaz and her. Some of them looked annoyed at
their argument with Alira, while others looked like they were happy
that someone was standing up to her.

Then Raya looked at Alira again. She
folded her arms across her chest and said, “What if I promised to
give you all of the money you could possibly want? My father is the
King of Carnag, after all. I can ask him for anything, and he will
give it to me without question.”

“Your father has nothing that would
interest me,” said Alira, though she sounded more confused than
anything now. “Besides, I have no need of anything. I desire one
thing and one thing only: To ensure that the Tournament advances
smoothly and that any rule breakers are promptly punished for their
crimes. And that is all.”

At this point, even Raya could see that
there was no point in arguing with Alira any further. There was
something final and authoritative in the Judge's voice, like the
authority that Raya had heard in the voices of some of the gods
back in the Temple. Alira was not a god herself, but Raya now saw
that the Judge clearly held at least as much authority as the gods,
at least regarding the Tournament and its rules.

Raya looked at Carmaz pleadingly, hoping
that he might somehow be able to come up with an argument to
persuade Alira where Raya had failed.

But Carmaz—though he looked at least as
angry about Alira's stubborn refusal to reconsider her decision as
much as Raya was—nodded and said, “Very well, Judge. If you won't
reconsider your decision, then maybe we just need to learn to make
the best of a bad situation.”

“Learn to make the best of a bad
situation?” Raya said. She slapped his arm, causing Carmaz to glare
at her in annoyance. “Carmaz, I was
counting
on you to come
up with a persuasive argument to make Alira rethink her decision,
not for you to defer to Alira's judgment.”

Carmaz shook his head. “Just because I may
not be royalty doesn't mean that I am one of your peasants to be
bossed around. If you want something done, silver spoon, then I
suggest you do it yourself.”

Raya's mouth fell open. She tried to come
up with some sort of comeback, but Carmaz's sarcasm stabbed deep
and nothing came out of her mouth.

Instead, she said, “Hmph!” and turned and
walked away from Carmaz and Alira back into the crowd of godlings.
As before, they parted to allow her through, but Raya barely paid
them any attention. She just marched through the crowd to the back
of the lobby, past Braim and Saia (who also parted as though they
were afraid that she might bite their heads off), and out the doors
into the city.

Far more time must have passed since Raya
had entered the lobby than she had thought, because the sun was
lower in the sky now and its dying rays were reflecting beautifully
off the windows and surfaces of World's End's skyscrapers. Yet Raya
hardly paid attention to that. Instead, she picked a random street
in a random direction and marched down it, grumbling under her
breath all the while.

Stupid Judge,
Raya thought,
scowling as she kicked at the street as she walked.
Stupid
Alira. She doesn't know me. And I doubt Grinf told her to put me in
the Hollech Bracket anyway. She just said that to take the blame
off herself for making a stupid decision.