The Guild (20 page)

A
woman, strangely familiar, had appeared between her and the stone wall, though she was no woman that Rexei could recall seeing before this moment. Rexei took in her light complexion, her long dark brown curls that gleamed like the richest silk framing the rectangular face of a native Mekhanan, and wondered who she was. She even wore a knitted overgown similar in shape to Grenfallow’s, save that this one came in every natural shade of wool imaginable. From the creamiest white to the reddest auburn to the blackest of fleeces, it had been embroidered with a repeating motif.

That motif was the one which Rexei herself had created and described: a gear-toothed wheel with the spokes formed from the crossed shafts of a hammer, a scythe, and a narrow-tufted brush, one sized for either painting or writing. Machinery gears, farming tools, crafting tools, designing tools, all of those things decorated her gown . . . or rather,
Her
gown, for Her eyes gleamed with a light that made it impossible to say what hue those irises were; like
Her aura, Her eyes shimmered with the cool promise of water on a hot summer’s day.

She looked only somewhat like Rexei had imagined Her, but it was clear who She was.

“
You have an immense strength to your faith, Rexei,
” Guildra stated in a soft, pleasant voice not much louder than a murmur.

A quick glance behind at the crowd showed Rexei how the murmur echoed through the great meeting hall, reaching every ear and widening every eye. Rexei faced Her again, speechless at what was happening.

“
Your words in expressing it are well-spoken. You have convinced many here that I
should
exist, enough for Me to briefly manifest. I am . . . grateful . . . for My birth, and I will be honored to guide and defend you all . . . but you will have a long road ahead before you can achieve your goals of banding together as a new form of kingdom . . . and four more years before I can be Named and so take My place among My Brethren. Should you succeed,
” Guildra added in soft, sober warning.
“Only the past is immutable; the future must be seized and shaped. What you believe, so shall I be
.
”
She smiled.
“I would prefer to be a Goddess of Peace and Prosperity, as well as your Patron of Guilds.”

That radiant gaze shifted to the others. Released, Rexei discovered she had forgotten how to breathe while the Goddess,
her
Goddess, had spoken to her. Inhaling slowly, deeply, she tried not to shake too hard. No Mekhanan cared to have
any
deity’s attention, particularly a mage . . . but at the same time, Rexei believed with all her heart that
this
deity was what they needed and wanted, and thus She could not ever possibly bring them harm.

For several seconds as She regarded the crowd, Guildra said nothing more, until Her gaze came back to Rexei’s face. Lifting Her hand, She placed it on Rexei’s brow. It felt warm and alive, but not entirely solid, leaving a hint of cool waterfall in the back of the young woman’s mind.

“
Your task is well begun, Rexei. I place My blessing upon you,
” She stated. Sparks of light trickled down from Her touch, solidifying around Rexei’s neck as a heavy weight.
“Your belief, first and foremost, has created Me, so I name you the incipient Guild Master of My Holy Guild. Petition them for its entry, Guild Master. I shall return when your collective faith in Me as a new nation has grown substantially.”

Pinpoints of light shimmered through Her form, first as faint as starlight, then growing in brilliance until they flared and faded, leaving nothing behind. Nothing but that heavy weight on Rexei’s chest. Glancing down, Rexei blinked at the new medallion on her chest. Not the ribbon-strung one that marked her as a Master Actor, which was roughly the length of her thumb in diameter. No, this one had been strung on sturdy gold links. It was a flat oval as long as her palm and stamped with an engraved image she had never dared to carve so large.

Slowly, Rexei turned first to face the other men and women seated at the Consulate bench, then to face the breathlessly curious crowds on the pews and benches of the hall. She held herself still, trying not to tremble, and let them look long and hard at the tool-spoked wheel symbolizing her faith in the guilds the others represented and the Goddess she had envisioned for them.

It was all she could do not to faint. From journeyman to Guild Master in less than a quarter hour . . . Giving up, Rexei sagged onto the bench next to Grenfallow . . . and a storm of conversation erupted. It seemed that everyone in the meeting hall just had to comment, discuss, and argue over what had happened. Rexei let it wash over her while she struggled with the idea, the concept, the
fact
that
she
was now responsible for the spirituality of her nation.

Everyone knew where the Gods came from: They literally came from the belief and faith of Their people. Culture dictated Their focus; for example, if a culture believed that horses were the most important things in the people’s daily lives, they would have
a Horse God or Goddess. Equally important, the more people worshipped that God or Goddess, the more who believed in Them, the more their collective willpower fed that deity, permitting Them to grow strong and powerful.

The most often cited examples were the Patron of Fortuna, the Threefold God of Fate, believed by everyone to be the oldest and most powerful deity of all, and the second-most powerful deity in the world, Menda, Goddess of Mendhi and Patron of Writing. It was said They could even act well outside Their normal homelands because of this pervasive, worldwide belief in Them, though such miracles and manifestations were still exceptionally rare.

The terrible corollary to this belief-equals-power had been the bane of Mekhana for far too long, for
fear
could also keep a God in power. Sitting there, trembling from the draining effects of manifesting an actual deity, Rexei felt ill. If the priesthood in that temple
worshipped
whatever great demon they summoned . . . that demon could become a dark and vicious God—one with a small following, but even a small amount of belief could wreak miracles, regardless of whether they were malicious or divine. With that thought preying on her mind, she swallowed against the nausea raised by the possibility and swallowed again from nerves while people shouted questions and demands and argued near the top of their lungs.

The heavy cracking of the stone-headed mallet against its equally hard base cut through all the noise. Grandmaster Toric smacked his gavel again, a trio of sharp raps that demanded order. Looking up, Rexei could see the Guild Master of Masons wincing. Having been a Mason apprentice for four months at one point, she knew the stone used for the Consulate gavels was strong enough to withstand a fair amount of punishment, but it made a painfully loud, hard-struck sound.

Toric whacked the stone anvil twice more, then set his gavel down as the crowd finally fell quiet. “Thank you. I have listened to
the chaos of your words, and I have gleaned three important questions. First, was that a true manifestation of a deity? Second, is this Guildra the sort of Goddess we actually want? And third, is Master Gearman Longshanks’ apparent elevation to Guild Master of the as yet unvalidated Holy Guild a
legitimate
elevation? These questions will be addressed by this Consulate meeting, but we will have
order
in this hall.

“Technically . . . there should be a fourth question in there,” he added dryly, “of whether or not we
want
a Holy Guild. I admit I am personally of the mind that I would rather do
without
any priests or any God . . . but then I have lost seven extended family members to the predations of the last group, who were less-than-stellar examples of what every other nation calls a priesthood. I acknowledge my prejudice, and must recuse myself from participating in any deciding votes on the particular subject regarding the validation of any new priestly guild . . . though I will oversee any arbitration needed with absolute neutrality.

“Let us begin with the first question,” Grandmaster Toric stated as everyone stayed respectfully quiet. The guilds depended heavily upon the Gearmen for that very neutrality and the fairness it carried, and were willing to listen to the debates. He dipped his head in appreciation of their respect and placed an hourglass—or rather, a two-minute glass, a standard length for timing short speeches in such meetings—prominently in front of himself. “So.
Was
that a true manifestation of a new deity?

“I will open the floor to short speeches of proof or disputation of the matter. Please raise your hand if you have something useful and unique to contribute. Remember, if anyone else has covered what you want to say, simply state that you agree with them and sit down, or move on to a new point to be discussed.”

The apprentices came around with a second set of refreshments, moving as quietly and unobtrusively as they could. This
time, Rexei accepted a mug of hot spiced cider and a wedge of cheese. It gave her something to do while one by one, various citizens of Heiastowne and the retinue of the visiting Guild Masters stood and gave their opinions on the matter. Most everyone was in at least tentative favor of it having been a true manifestation, save for one repeating question.

“Master Longshanks, as many have asked just now, answer us truthfully,” Toric finally stated, making her head jerk up like a deer hearing a noise in the woods. “Did you yourself plan for or attempt anything which would have caused that apparition?”

Caught in the mass of stares aimed her way, she shook her head quickly. “No! I swear, I wasn’t even expecting it. If you’ll remember, I was looking at all of
you
and . . . and just speaking from my heart. The only thought in my head was to hopefully sway you by the logic of my words and by the truths which we all know.”

Alonnen spoke up, addressing the grandmaster. “For my own part, Grandmaster, I believe I saw a near-manifestation several hours earlier while in a discussion with Longshanks about the sort of Patron we should have now that the, ah, False God is gone. Longshanks did not notice anything then, same as he did not notice just now until after She had manifested. But he was speaking from the heart, then as now. Given what my Guild manages, I can also say with strong certainty that there was no magic involved, either then or just now.”

“Your word on this?” Toric asked him.

“I give my word,” Alonnen confirmed, bowing his head. “It is for that reason, the earlier, barely discernible image of the same figure we all saw just now, that I requested Longshanks put his words and thoughts into a usable format, defining what sort of Patron we best need and what sort of Guild might serve as the facilitators for that Patron Deity.”

“So this is basically
your
idea?” Captain Torhammer asked dryly.

“Organizing it as a discussion, yes. Defining it, no,” he replied calmly. “That would be Master Longshanks’ purview.”

“Thank you. Given the general consensus of everyone present, I believe we can vote that this manifestation was a genuine Goddess event. Any dissenting votes?” Toric asked. A few hands rose, but out of the hundreds crammed into the hall, there were only four or five at most. “Any abstaining? Eight, right. Show of hands for agreement? . . . Five dissenters, eight abstentions, and over five hundred confirmations. Consensus confirmed. Moving on to question two, is a Goddess of Guilds, representing everything which we as members of many guilds believe the Guild System stands for, the sort of Patron Deity we might actually want?

“Again, please raise your hands only if you have something unique to contribute, or we’ll be here all night. Remember, this is a
discussion
question and not an actual vote by the guilds to accept any Patron Deities at this time . . .”

This time, the debate ranged longer. Some of the men and women called upon to speak even tried to define a different God or Goddess . . . but however fervently they spoke, however much the speakers peered around, nothing happened. Grandmaster Toric eventually ruled after the sixth or seventh attempt that discussing a
different
Patron was not the topic at hand and would not be further discussed. That sped things up a bit, until the general consensus was agreed upon that a Patron Goddess of Guilds was something most everyone could get behind.

More gratifying for Rexei was how even those who had suggested alternatives agreed that a Goddess of the Guilds seemed a reasonable sort of Patron for their culture to have.

Once more under scrutiny, Rexei found herself grateful that Alonnen had insisted she put her ideas down on paper. It had allowed her to revisit and refresh her ideas on what a proper Patron Deity should be, and more specifically the Patron for her people.
By being prepared enough to answer their questions—even if she had to think of a couple replies on the spot—she sounded competent, even professional. An equal among Guild Masters, however young she might be. Rexei felt relief and gratitude for that.

The third question, whether or not Rexei was a legitimate Guild Master of the as-yet unapproved Holy Guild, quickly morphed into whether or not Rexei was an
appropriate
Guild Master for a brand-new priestly guild. As the Grandmaster Gearman pointed out, it was a question partially wrapped up in whether or not they
wanted
a new priestly guild, but as more than one person expressed from the audience, if they wanted to be an officially recognized kingdom, it would help to have an official Patron Deity. That was a discussion which Rexei could not sit out of and ignore, for many of the questions and comments were directed at her.