Chapter 40. Is Enough to Start a Rockslide

Chapter 40. Is Enough to Start a Rockslide

The entire Divine intervention came and went while I was still trying to process the situation. I wasn’t even sure if I should feel happy that the looming issue had resolved itself so quickly or indignant that I was, once again, treated like a curious commodity rather than someone with free will.

In the end, I decided to accept it as something to be expected. I did extensively rely on the wermage selective blindness about murk slaves for a while — there was no point in scoffing at their gods, which they tried to mimic so much, having similar issues.

I couldn’t see past the veil of their goddess, but I did see the glowing shape of her eyes and mouth as well as the quick glimpse of her skin when she touched Anaise. I also had a very good look at the twin guards that loomed over us all. Huge, long-tailed, and blue-skinned humanoids with an unusual number of horns on their heads. One in the middle and two at the temples.

The three horns that all of Emanai swore by.

Their eyes didn’t glow as hers did but they were rather bright as well.

Just on that alone, I had a very good reason to think that, despite her heavy clothing and veiled face, Catriona Emanai looked quite similar to them. Aikerim had confirmed my hypothesis as well: the word ‘god’ or ‘goddess’ in the local language didn’t mean a title or a position. It meant their specific race. With distinct ranks within their system. Lesser ‘gods’ were known to act as Divine forces while Heurisks like Catriona Emanai Aethil stood above them all. And gave names to entire countries to boot.

It was a volatile mix of many different concepts that I hadn’t even imagined going together. Wermages saw them both as something similar to them yet something beyond their capabilities. They weren’t seen as all-powerful, simply powerful enough for us not to bother resisting. They also weren’t seen as all-knowing, they only knew what mattered to them. And the only way to avoid their scrutiny was to not matter.

Those were the words of Aikerim herself — she relied heavily on this strategy until The Divine Castle showed up in the sky.

The three horns and blue skin weren’t the only parts that I’d noticed affecting wermage culture. The ‘lesser gods’ had tentacles on their chins. There was some variability between them and the sample size was minuscule but both had a distinct pair of tentacles that originated around their ears and descended to their chests. And each was covered in jewellery and gems.

Just like wermages braided their hair.

And these were the obvious examples. Who knew how many other things were caused directly or indirectly by them? The sand playgrounds, for example, that every wermage was obsessing over. I didn’t see much of their tail movements, but I could see them literally drawing runes in the sand for the easily impressed audience.

Or possibly more than impressed. Sophia Chasya’s ‘divine’ tail made a little bit more sense to me now as well — I wouldn’t be surprised if there were gods of Emanai somewhere in Shebet’s ancestry. She certainly inherited the arrogance worthy of gods themselves.

Still, Heurisks... An unusual word for their language. Yet it was familiar to my ears. And the ears of Virnan Shah after I’d met him — the old guy had heart attacks anytime I tried to mention heuristics during the lectures.

But these types of curiosities wouldn’t be answered for quite some time. I had nowhere near enough influence and leverage to even dream about asking questions from gods. Moreover, the castle simply vanished a few days after Anaise’s interrogation. Gone to pursue its divine tasks somewhere else without even bothering to wait until the end of the Divine Ritual celebrations.

All that only highlighted the growing tumour of a problem that I was completely unprepared for.

I was trying to avoid Amanzhan wrenching me from Aikerim. With the help of Aikerim and Albin, I tried to ensure that The Divine Will would look the other way and won’t demand me or my family as sacrificial servants for their castle, never to be seen again by the people of the land.

I was completely blindsided by Anaise getting famous in the process.

Her previous status was high among wermage strata, but she had been somewhat of a nobody among the Emanai elite. Her House was the weakest of the seven Pillars. Her Manor’s influence over Emanai was almost non-existent — Aikerim heavily relied on her financial shrewdness and the general wealth of her House to stay afloat in the turbulent waters of inter-Manoral relations.

Her Manor was ‘young money’ among the established whales of power. A rash upstart that dared to dream herself as an equal. Obviously, nothing of that sort was said out loud. As per a Divine Decree — there was no strife among the Pillars. And other Pillars did rely on Kiymetl’s wealth from time to time. But the distaste lingered.

I didn’t care about it much; those were Aikerim’s problems, not mine. I ended up using it to further my plans to some extent without even realising: eager to show herself as an equal, Aikerim was extremely receptive to my inventions. My soaps, dyes, and glass turned her trading Manor, which was ‘stealing’ the wealth of others by the means of ‘speculation’, into a manufacturing one that worked hard to bring the life of luxury to those that mattered most.

It was impossible to know how my life would’ve turned out if I ended up at some other Manor.

Now, however, Anaise wasn’t just the firstborn daughter of a trading Manor. She was a wermage that was touched by Goddess herself. Heads and ears turned across the city of Samat once the whispers of the event spread like wildfire. The rumour mill was whipped into a frenzy by the potential ramifications of recent actions.

Now every Pillar Manor knew that something was brewing in the House of Kiymetl. Something that had drawn Divine attention to them. The benevolent kind. Most didn’t have any idea what was going on but many knew the name by now.

Anaise Kiymetl Hilal.

On the second day after her Feast, the streets were absolutely sure that The Divine Heurisk fancied the little fox and even gave her some new magic as a token of affection. Something that could turn an entire mountain into a pile of pebbles.

Aikerim was inundated by guests once again. Most were nothing to worry about. Small gifts and trinkets as a show of ‘friendship’ and hasty assurances to punish a nonexistent slave that ‘lost his way’ or ‘forgot’ to deliver the before-mentioned gift during Anaise’s Feast. That was expected.

But a few were troubling. Ones who set their eyes further than a mere friendship between Manors.

XXX

“Ah, young Erf! Please join us!” Aidar Kiymetl Daniar clapped his hands, ordering a servant nearby to bring wine over to me.

“I admit,” I let my cup get filled as I cautiously leaned on the couch provided to me, “your invitation was not something I had expected to receive today.”

“That is exactly why I am here.” Aidar glanced at his younger half-brother sulking on the third couch. “I wish to be a mediator of sorts.”

I silently raised my eyebrow.

“Amalric?”

The younger brother harrumphed and looked away, “My actions have been rash in the previous days. I acted with the safety of my family in mind without knowing the whole picture.”

“Well, there you have it.” Aidar smiled. “You have shown yourself to be of good character and wisdom; I trust that you can let bygones be bygones.”

“You have my unending gratitude for your actions. And my promise to keep bringing prosperity to your Manor... So, what you are saying is I need to grow even faster?”

“Do you have a tool to slow down time? Oh, my ever-growing Alchemist?”

“Not on me, no.”

“...I shouldn’t have asked that. Well, you have surprised me in the past, no matter how prepared I saw myself for your revelations, so you might pull it off somehow. But you have very little time — I can’t keep one of the Pillar Matriarchs waiting with her hand extended like this. A few days, maybe a tenday at most. Any further silence will be seen as a refusal.

“Talk to your wives and my daughter and come see me tomorrow. Know that I hope to hear good news from you but I would like to avoid any potential bad will between my House and theirs.”

I sighed and palmed my face. “You know, I am not sure what is worse: to wait for the inevitable, knowing that you’ve done everything in your power with the rest being beyond your control, or having to choose between two equally unpleasant options while desperately searching for the third.”

“Welcome to the politics between Pillar Houses, Erf. Expect to make similar choices in the future. Just like the Goddess said herself — this is the consequence of our actions. They might be unpleasant for you, but you have to realise that many would kill to be in your shoes right now. To be the first husband of a Divinely-touched wermage, to consider one of the prominent young bachelors of Emanai not worthy of your sadaq.

“Every Pillar House is watching you now. Watching Anaise. There is no room for mistakes anymore. Tread carefully or grow strong enough that none would dare to point at them. And, if you can’t do either, let my daughter grow so that she could protect your sadaq in turn.”

Aidar Kiymetl Daniar

“Why in ten hells did I have to bend my back to that murk!” His brother whined.

“Because that murk has the attention of the Goddess herself. She met Anaise because of him. If you worry about our Manor as you tend to proclaim, you need to shut up and acknowledge your losses before it is too late.” Aidar shook his head. “I spent my last few years in the Forest. And I’ve seen enough idiots who not only lost their lives but doomed their fists just because they were too proud to step back.”

“But you heard him yourself — he had no intention to bring this up ever again.”

“That is what he said, yes. Just be thankful that I did it for you. Trust me, if Anaise or even our mother would’ve seen it necessary, they wouldn’t have been satisfied with your pathetic attempt at an excuse.”

“Yes, yes, dear brother. You are so wise and smart! Now tell me the real reason for this charade. What did that wermage tell you that you were cooing around him like a cock?”

“It is irrelevant now. The rumours are wrong.”

“What rumour? About our sister and the mountain?”

Aidar scratched his chin in thought. “No, there is a rumour among the Kiymetl right now that Daimon’s seed improves magic. Don’t make a face like that Amalric, you aren’t a child. Anyway, that rumour is wrong.”

“Not that I really wish to know, but...”

“It’s our mother,” Aidar murmured as he looked out the window, deep in thought. “The daimon didn't lay with her and I believe him. Yet our mother’s growth is as surprising as the growth of Anaise...

“I hear that the Divine numbers came from him as well... Perhaps I should see if he is looking for a student rather than a lover.”

XXX

“She should leave,” Shahin murmured while nursing her bribe.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Mnh... A begging Erf is an unusual but welcome sight.” She sniffed at her cup of coffee and shuddered in delight. “I do not know who supplies you with beans but I am very eager to meet them. The answer to your problem is simple — Anaise should make herself unavailable so that it is physically impossible to make her choose. They can insist, but this would change the nature of their gesture, giving you the ability to ‘politely’ decline. Throw some gifts to shut them up afterwards and you have nothing to worry about.

“They could also wait, but you will have some time to come up with another solution. Or you could just stop whining and accept the second husband into your sadaq — what do you have to fear?” She thought for a second, “Well, your lack of Spark is an issue. But you seem to have enough influence over Anaise that you can bar him from visiting her bedrooms. Keep it up long enough and he would leave sadaq under his own will.”

“It erodes the meaning of sadaq for me. Since I’ve managed to accept such a social construct, I will keep it as I want it to be and not a political tool to forge alliances and hoist tag-alongs to the rising stars.”

“A murk daimon with a naive streak a thousand paces wide. Truly there are things I would have never imagined seeing in my life. An exile it is, then — she is welcome to enjoy Yusuf, you could even come along and see my land in its glory. Perhaps you will like our glass blowers enough to stay.”

I shook my head in silence and stuck my nose into my cup. Shahin Esca didn’t bother to hide her ambitions, but her suggestion was sound. At worst, it would be one of the leads that I would discuss with my sadaq. Yusuf was out of the question, however. It didn’t matter how much rapport I’d built up with Shahin, I was nowhere close enough to trust her with the well-being of my sadaq. Or trust the other lamias that came to free her.

But where else could we go? I wasn’t dealing with some tiny Manor that couldn't project its force beyond nearby fields. Kamshad was present throughout Emanai. Should we head for the Mountain clans and enjoy ‘Shahin adventure number two: the glass is steel’? Or some other country I barely knew about? Pretend to be hermits and head for the mountains? Anaise would divorce me after two days of living in a cave and she would be absolutely right. Besides, that would probably piss off the Pillar House anyway.

I needed a way out that Kamshad would respect. A way to avoid unnecessary marriage...

I scoffed at myself as my mind brought to my attention the specific sash patterns on someone I was pretty familiar with. It wasn’t the ideal option but it was better than any alternative so far.

“You thought of something.” Shahin also noticed my sudden change.

“Perhaps. I will still need to discuss it with my sadaq first.” I rose and stretched myself. “Thank you, Shahin. Your ideas gave me something to think about. You can keep the rest of the coffee beans for yourself.”

She nodded at me in silent gratitude and I returned the gesture before quickly turning away and heading for my rooms.

There were many things that we needed to consider. Things that would affect us for years to come.