The Broken Kingdoms (41 page)

She’s a strange one, the Lady.

Even more strangely, she listened to me.

I’ve now heard the news from too many merchants and gossips to discount: there are gods everywhere. Singing in rain forests, dancing atop mountains, staking out beaches and flirting with the clam-boys. Most large cities have a resident godling these days, or two or three. Strafe is trying to attract one right now; the town elders say it’s good for business. I hope they succeed.

Soon the world will be a far more magical place. Just right, I think, for you.

And—

No.

No, I know better than to think it.

No.

And yet.

I lie here in my lonely bed, watching for the sunrise. I feel it coming—the light warms its way along the blankets and my skin. The days are getting shorter with the coming of winter. I’m guessing you’ll be born around the solstice.

Are you still listening? Can you hear me in there?

I think you can. I think you were made that second time, when Shiny became his true self for me, just a little. Just enough. I think he knew it, too, like the Lady knew it, and maybe even the Nightlord. This isn’t the sort of thing he would do by accident. He’d seen that I missed my old life. This was his way of helping me focus on the new one. And also… his way of making up for past mistakes.

Gods. Men. Damn him; he should’ve asked me. I could die giving birth to you, after all. Probably not, but it’s the principle of the thing.

Well.

I hope you’re listening, because sometimes gods—and demons—do that. I think that you’re awake, aware, and that you understand everything I’ve said.

Because I think I saw you, yesterday morning when I woke up. I think my eyes worked again, just for a moment, and you were the light I saw.

I think that if I wait ’til dawn and watch closely, I’ll see you again this morning.

And I think that if I wait long enough and listen carefully, one day I’ll hear footsteps on the road outside. Maybe a knock at the door. He’ll have learned basic courtesy by then from someone. We can hope for that, can’t we? Either way, he’ll come inside. He’ll wipe his feet, at least. He’ll hang his coat.

And then you and I, together, will welcome him home.

Amn:  Most populous and powerful of the Senmite races.

Arameri:  Ruling family of the Amn; advisors to the Nobles’ Consortium and the Order of Itempas.

Art Row:  Artists’ market at the Promenade, in East Shadow.

Blood sigil:  The mark of a recognized Arameri family member.

Bonebender:  A healer, often self-taught, with knowledge of herbalism, midwifery, bonesetting, and basic surgical techniques. Some bonebenders illegally utilize simple healing sigils.

Bright, the:  The time of Itempas’s solitary rule, after the Gods’ War. General term for goodness, order, law, righteousness.

Darkwalkers:  Worshippers of the Lord of Shadows.

Dateh Lorillalia:  A scrivener, formerly of the Order of Itempas. Husband of Serymn Arameri.

Dekarta Arameri:  Most recent former head of the Arameri family.

Demon:  Children of forbidden unions between gods/godlings and mortals. Mortal, though they may possess innate magic that is equivalent, or greater, to that of godlings in strength.

Dump:  A godling who dwells in West Shadow, overseeing the Shustocks junkyard. The Lord of Discards.

Easha:  Local term for East Shadow.

Enefa:  One of the Three. Former Goddess of Earth, creator of godlings and mortals, Mistress of Twilight and Dawn (deceased).

Eo:  A godling who dwells in Shadow. The Merciful.

Gateway Park:  A park built around Sky and the World Tree’s base, in East Shadow.

God:  Immortal children of the Maelstrom. The Three.

Godling:  Immortal children of the Three. Sometimes also referred to as gods.

Godsblood:  A popular and expensive narcotic. Confers heightened awareness and temporary magical abilities on consumers.

God spots:  Local/colloquial name for locations in Shadow that have been temporarily or permanently made magical by godlings.

Gods’ Realm:  All places beyond the universe.

Gods’ War:  An apocalyptic conflict in which Bright Itempas claimed rulership of the heavens after defeating his two siblings.

Hado:  A member of the New Lights. Master of Initiates.

Heavens, Hells:  Abodes for souls beyond the mortal realm.

Heretic:  A worshipper of any god but Itempas.

High North:  Northernmost continent. A backwater.

House of the Risen Sun:  A mansion. One of several attached to the World Tree’s trunk.

Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, the:  Collective term for the world since its unification under Arameri rule.

Ina:  A godling who dwells in Shadow.

Interdiction, the:  The period during which no godlings appeared in the mortal realm, per order of Bright Itempas.

Islands, the:  Vast archipelago east of High North and Senm.

Itempan:  General term for a worshipper of Itempas. Also used to refer to members of the Order of Itempas.

Itempas:  One of the Three. The Bright Lord; master of heavens and earth; the Skyfather.

Kitr:  A godling who dwells in Shadow. The Blade.

Lil:  A godling who dwells in Shadow. The Hunger.

Madding:  A godling who dwells in Shadow. The Lord of Debts.

Maelstrom:  The creator of the Three. Unknowable.

Magic:  The innate ability of gods and godlings to alter the material and immaterial world. Mortals may approximate this ability through the use of the gods’ language.

Maroland, the:  Smallest continent, which once existed to the east of the islands; site of the first Arameri palace. Destroyed by Nahadoth.

Mortal realm:  The universe, created by the Three.

Nahadoth:  One of the Three. The Nightlord. Also called the Lord of Shadows.

Nemmer:  A godling who dwells in Shadow. The Lady of Secrets.

Nimaro Reservation:  A protectorate of the Arameri, established after the Maroland’s destruction to provide a home for survivors. Located at the southeast edge of the Senm continent.

Nobles’ Consortium:  Ruling political body of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.

Oboro:  A godling who dwells in Shadow.

Order of Itempas:  The priesthood dedicated to Bright Itempas. In addition to spiritual guidance, also responsible for law and order, education, public health and welfare, and the eradication of heresy. Also known as the Itempan Order.

Order-Keepers:  Acolytes (priests in training) of the Order of Itempas, responsible for maintenance of public order.

Order of New Light:  An unauthorized priesthood dedicated to Bright Itempas, comprised mainly of former members of the Order of Itempas. Colloquially known as the “New Lights.”

Paitya:  A godling who dwells in Shadow. The Terror.

Pilgrim:  Worshippers of the Gray Lady who journey to Shadow to pray at the World Tree. Generally High Northers.

Previt:  One of the higher rankings for priests of the Order of Itempas.

Promenade, the:  Northernmost edge of Gateway Park in East Shadow. A site popular with pilgrims, due to its view of the World Tree. Also the site of Art Row and the city’s largest White Hall.

Role:  A godling who dwells in Shadow. The Lady of Compassion.

Salon:  Headquarters for the Nobles’ Consortium.

Script:  A series of sigils, used by scriveners to produce complex or sequential magical effects.

Scrivener:  A scholar of the gods’ written language.

Senm:  Southernmost and largest continent of the world.

Senmite:  The Amn language, used as a common tongue for all the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.

Serymn Arameri:  An Arameri fullblood, husband of Dateh Lorillalia. Owner of the House of the Risen Sun.

Shadow:  Local/colloquial name for the largest city on the Senm continent (official name is Sky).

Shahar Arameri:  High priestess of Itempas at the time of the Gods’ War. Her descendants are the Arameri family.

Shustocks:  A neighborhood in Wesha.

Sieh:  A godling, also called the Trickster. Eldest of all the godlings.

Sigil:  An ideograph of the gods’ language, used by scriveners to imitate the magic of the gods.

Sky:  Official name of the largest city on the Senm continent. Also, the palace of the Arameri family.

Strafe:  A city along the northwestern coast of the Senm continent.

Teman Protectorate, the:  A Senmite kingdom.

Time of the Three:  Before the Gods’ War.

T’vril Arameri:  Current head of the Arameri family.

Velly:  A cold-water fish, normally smoked and salted. A Maroneh delicacy.

Wesha:  Local term for West Shadow.

White Hall:  The Order of Itempas’s houses of worship, education, and justice.

World Tree, the:  A leafy evergreen tree estimated to be 125,000 feet in height, created by the Gray Lady. Sacred to worshippers of the Lady.

Yeine:  One of the Three. The current Goddess of Earth, Mistress of Twilight and Dawn. Also called the Gray Lady.

Historical Record; First Scriveners’ notes, volume 96; from the collection of T’vril Arameri.

(Interview conducted and originally transcribed by First Scrivener Y’li Denai/Arameri, at Sky, year 1512 of the Bright, may He shine upon us forever. Recorded in fixed messaging sphere. Secondary transcription completed by Librarian Sheta Arameri, year 2250 of the Bright. WARNING: contains heretical references, marked “HR.” Used with permission of the Litaria.)

FIRST SCRIVENER Y’LI ARAMERI: Are you comfortable?

NEMUE SARFITH ENULAI1: Should I be?

YA: Of course. You are a guest of the Arameri, Enulai Sarfith.

NS: Exactly! (laughs) I suppose I should enjoy it while I can. I doubt you’ll have many more Maro guests here in the future.

YA: I see you’ve decided not to use the new word. Maroneh2—

NS: Three words, actually, in the old tongue. Maro n neh. Nobody says it right. Too much of a mouthful. I was Maro all my life; I’ll be Maro ’til I die. Not long, now.

YA: For the record, would you be willing to state your age?

NS: The Father has blessed me with two hundred and two years.

YA: (laughs) I was told you liked to claim that age.

NS: You believe I’m lying?

YA: Well… madam—I mean, Enulai…

NS: Call me what you like. But remember that enulai always speak the truth, boy. Lying is dangerous. And I wouldn’t bother lying about something so trivial as my age. So write it down!

YA: Yes, madam. I have done so.

NS: You Amn never listen. In the days following the War,3 we warned you to respect the Dark Father (HR). He is not our enemy—we told you—even if he is Bright Itempas’s. Before the War, he loved us better than Enefa (HR) herself. The things you must have done to him, to fill his heart with such rage.

YA: Madam, please. We do not speak… that name you mentioned, the—

NS: What? Enefa? (shouts) Enefa, Enefa, Enefa!

YA: (sighs)

NS: Roll your eyes at me one more time.

YA: My apologies for disrespecting you, madam. It is only… The absolute dominance of Itempas is the fundamental principle of the Bright.

NS: I love the White Lord as much as you do. It was my people He chose as the model for His mortal appearance (HR), and we were the first to receive His blessing of knowledge (HR). Mathematics and astronomy and writing and—all of that, all of it, we did it before any of you Senmites, or those ignorant bastards up in the north, or that bunch of pirates on the islands. Yet for all He gave us, we have always remembered that He is one of Three. Without His siblings, He is nothing (HR).

YA: Madam!

NS: Report me to your family head if you like. What will he do, kill me? Destroy my people? I have nothing left to lose, boy. That’s the only reason I came.

YA: Because the Maro royal family is gone.4

NS: No, fool, because the Maro are gone. Oh, if we get to making babies, there might be enough of us to limp along for a while longer, but we’ll never be what we were. You Amn will never let us get that strong again.

YA: Er, yes, madam. But specifically, it was the duty of the enulai to serve the royal family, was it not? As, ah, let’s see, bodyguards and storytellers—

NS: Historians.

YA: Well, yes, but much of that history… I have a list here… legends and myths…

NS: It was all true.

YA: Madam, really.

NS: Why did you bother to invite me here?

YA: Because I am a historian as well.

NS: Then listen. That’s the most important thing any historian can do. Hear clearly with just your ears, not with ten thousand Amn lies garbling everything—

YA: But, madam, an example, one of the enulai stories recorded… the tale of the Fish Goddess.

NS: Yes. Yiho, of the Shoth clan, though they’re all dead now, too, I suppose.

YA: The tale speaks of her sitting by a river for three days during a famine and causing schools of ocean fish to swim up the river—from salt water to fresh water—and fling themselves into nets.

NS: Yes, yes. And ever since then, those breeds of fish have continued to swim up the river to spawn, every year. She changed them forever.

YA: But that’s… Is the tale from before the War? Was this Yiho a godling?

NS: No, of course not. She dies an old woman at the end of the tale, doesn’t she?

YA: Well, then—

NS: Though the gods had many children.

YA: (pause) My gods. (sound of a blow) Ah!

NS: That’s for blaspheming.

YA: I don’t believe this. (sighs) You’re right, my apologies. I forgot myself. I was only… You’re suggesting that the woman described in the tale was… was a half-breed, a child of the gods—

NS: All of us are children of the gods. But Yiho was special.

YA: (silence)

NS: (laughs) What’s that I see in your pale eyes, boy? Have you suddenly started listening? Figures.

YA: Remembering, actually. Many of the Maro stories in my records prominently feature enulai themselves.

NS: Yes, go on…

YA: Every member of the royal family had an enulai. The enulai would educate them, advise them, protect them from danger.