The Younger Gods

"We've got it all worked out, Narasan," Gunda replied. "We're falling back on toots. When Ekial and his men hear the horns blowing, they'll get clear. Then the catapult crews will set fire to enough bug-people to persuade the other ones to go play somewhere else."

"That's the most brutal way to make war on somebody that I've ever heard of," Trenicia said.

"In the long run, it probably saves a lot of their lives, dear," Narasan told her. "Even the stupidest enemy in the world will turn and run when he sees his friends engulfed in fire. The bug-people aren't any too bright, but even they will probably turn and run when it starts raining fire."

"Then we've just won another war, wouldn't you say?"

"I'm not at all that certain, dear," Narasan replied, looking out at the massed Creatures of the Wasteland marching up the slope. "We don't have an unlimited supply of fuel for our fire missiles, and when we run out, the enemies will most probably resume their advance."

"Right up until they reach the poisoned stakes," Gunda added. "Then after they come through the stakes, the archers from Longbow's tribe and Kathlak's Tonthakan archers will shower them with poisoned arrows. If any of the bug-people get past that, the Matan spear-throwers will greet them. I'd say that dear old Vlagh's going to lose about half of her army on that slope, and then they'll come face-to-face with this fort. They're not going to get past us, but even if they do, they'll come up against Andar's fort a mile or so down the pass—and more forts farther on down the pass. The Vlagh may have started out with a million or so soldiers, but she'll be lucky if she's got even a dozen left after a week or so."

CONFUSION

Chapter One

Rabbit was fairly sure that Fat Bersla and tiny Alcevan would be nowhere near any place along the rickety southern wall of the temple where most of Aracia's priests were engaged in honest work and endless complaints about it—and about the steady diet of beans. Gimpy and Squint-Eye were Maag ship-captains, but they'd been put in charge of the construction of what passed for the south wall more because they'd irritated Sorgan than because they were good builders. Rabbit was quite sure that the two of them weren't certain just how many of Aracia's lazy priests were supposed to be working on that wall. That should have made it quite easy for Bersla and Alcevan to slip away. "Except that there won't be much for Bersla to eat—except maybe for cobwebs," Rabbit muttered. "I think I'd better go see if I can find those two," he decided. "If they're still trying to come up with a way to kill Aracia's little Dreamer, I'd better stay right on top of them."

Given Bersla's need for lots of food, Rabbit was quite sure that they wouldn't be too far from the nearest kitchen.

He roamed around in the dark, dusty corridors near the rickety south wall of the temple, searching more with his ears than his eyes, and as luck had it—or possibly destiny—he heard the priestess Alcevan talking in her peculiar voice. "Stay calm, Takal Bersla," she was saying. "I still have my hands on a fair number of novice priests. In the light of all this chaos, nobody's really paying much attention to the various corridors leading from here to the central temple, so sooner or later one of my agents will get through and kill the spoiled brat Lillabeth, and that should put Aracia back under our control."

"I'm not sure that you're right, Alcevan," Bersla disagreed. "I know Aracia much better than you do, and she's totally independent now. The old Aracia would never have dismissed me the way this new one did. She's not at all the same as she was before that cursed pirate Sorgan arrived. She used to rely on me for all things, but now she turns to Sorgan instead."

"That's the work of the younger goddess Enalla, you fool," Alcevan declared. "Once Enalla's gone, Aracia will be ours again. That's why we must kill the child Lillabeth. She's Enalla in disguise. When she dies, Enalla also dies."

"You could be right, I suppose," Bersla admitted dubiously.

That struck Rabbit as more than just a little bit peculiar. Bersla was the highest-ranking priest in Aracia's temple, but it seemed to Rabbit that the Fat Man was falling in line with the recently arrived Alcevan every time she opened her mouth. She seemed to have some kind of overpowering grip on the head of the Church of Aracia. "I think that maybe I'd better go warn Veltan that these two still want to kill that little girl," he muttered.

"She's still sending those low-rank young priests through the corridors to come here and try to kill Lillabeth, Veltan," Rabbit advised Zelana's younger brother when they met in the cabin of the Ascension later that day. "She's absolutely certain that Lillabeth is really Enalla in disguise, and that if Lillabeth is killed, Enalla will die as well."

"She doesn't fully understand what's happening, Rabbit," Veltan replied, leaning back in the bulky chair near the broad window on the stern side of the cabin. Then a rueful sort of expression came over his face. "Of course, I'm not all that sure that I do either. When Eleria started to refer to Balacenia as 'Big-Me,' it startled me more than a little. The Dreamers and the younger gods are connected in ways that Dahlaine didn't anticipate when he came up with his scheme, and they're connected with each other in ways that none of us could have imagined."

"They share their dreams with each other, you mean?"

"Exactly. We weren't ready for that. We tend to avoid each other as much as possible, but our younger counterparts are much more closely linked."

"You know that you could take Lillabeth over to the cap'n's fort on the west wall. If he put out the word that no priest will be permitted to go there, Alcevan's scheme would go to pieces, wouldn't you say?"

"It probably would, Rabbit," Veltan agreed, "but I think I'd better keep her right here. I can protect her here, and I've got a strong feeling that I should stay very close to my big sister. Aracia's more or less come to her senses, but she might start veering off again. That priestess Alcevan is about ten times more clever than Fat Bersla will ever be, and if she wheedles her way back into Aracia's presence, she'll probably start pushing big sister off balance again."

"You could be right, I guess," Rabbit agreed. "When we first got here, we were all sure that Fat Bersla was the main one in your sister's priesthood, but when I heard the Fat Man talking with Teenie-Weenie, she was calling all the shots. There's something very strange about her, and I think maybe we should all do what we can to find out just what that is. Fat Bersla makes speeches, but 'Teenie' spends all of her time whispering to your big sister." Then Rabbit stopped, and he felt just a bit foolish. "You could listen to those whispers, couldn't you?"