Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
“An army,” Jemet says again. “She says she has seen omens that speak of a large conquering force heading this way. That when she pulls the strings, they are all knotted and clustered together. That means not one soldier, but many. A great, great many.”
“An army coming here? Here here?” I gesture at the temple plaza.
Jemet nods. “They come to where my Lord Kalos dwells.”
I swallow hard. Well, that can’t be good. I rub my forehead, trying to think. “Why is there an army coming here? He doesn’t want visitors.”
“Mistress…” her expression becomes grave. “They are not here to visit. They are here to defeat him and kill you.”
Oh.
Oh dear. I’d forgotten about that part. The part where he’s been split into four and he can only return to his immortality if the other three versions of him are defeated. And the only way they’re defeated is by getting rid of his Anchor.
As in…me.
Time for action. “She’s certain?”
“The thread-spinner is never wrong, Mistress. I wish that she was.” Jemet looks upset. “I am so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I got too comfortable, that’s all.” I rub my face, trying to think. “And we’re sure it’s another Aspect?”
“No one else would dare attack a god.”
“Do we know which one? Which Aspect?” Not that it matters. I can get equally murdered by any of them, but right now I need information.
“Arrogance,” Priestess Jemet says. “The most warlike one.”
Is he? It tracks, I suppose. Hedonism would just throw parties or something.
Lies would…well, I don’t know. I don’t know enough about this world and its history.
I do feel vaguely betrayed by Lachesis, though.
She’d made it sound like everyone was on board with the plan.
“But I thought the gods wanted Apathy—my guy—to be the last one standing.”
“I imagine they do, Mistress, but that does not mean that that particular Aspect wishes the same thing.” She gives me an apologetic look. “I know this is not ideal—”
I resist the urge to laugh hysterically in her face. An army coming to murder me is not ideal, no.
“—but perhaps it might be best if you go into hiding with Lord Kalos?” Jemet continues. “We are loyal to you and will do whatever it takes to help you escape.”
Escape. Of course. Escape sounds like a very good idea.
I glance over at the closed main temple, with the guarded doors.
Somewhere behind those doors is my Aspect, the one that just wants to be left alone.
How am I possibly going to get him to leave with me?
I can’t go on my own. I’m tethered to him.
We can’t stay here, though. Rolling over and dying is not part of the plan. “Where do we go?” I ask Jemet.
“I do not know, Mistress.” A tear streams down her worried face, and her hands twist fiercely. “We have failed you.”
“What? Hey, no, you have been amazing.” I pull her into my arms and give her a hug, because she looks like she needs one. “It’s not your fault the other guys aren’t playing fair. You and the others have been incredible and have taken care of us so well.”
“Oh, Mistress.” Jemet takes a deep, shuddering breath. “If you are fleeing, let me pack a bag for you. I can find coin and weapons. Anything you need.”
“I’d love that. Pack lots of food. Whatever money you can find.
” I’m not sure about the weapon part since I don’t know how to use one.
My thoughts are scattered, anxiety making my mind race.
How am I going to get Kalos out of here?
What do I say to him to convince him? “Whatever you can get for us. We’ll figure it out. ”
“And we’ll distract them for as long as we can,” she continues, her expression fervent. “We will lay our lives down for you and the Vulture God.”
“Wait, hey, no.” I shake my head and grab Jemet by the shoulders. “Laying your lives down is a terrible idea.”
“But—”
“No but. You won’t slow anyone down for long. What’s the point of you dying? Either we’ll escape or we won’t, but I’d feel even worse if you and everyone here died trying to save us. That’s not what I want.”
Jemet doesn’t look convinced. “That is what the Lord of Disease would want—”
“Yeah, well, we’re not asking him. I’m in charge.
” I think quickly, glancing around. “I’ll talk to Kalos and somehow get him moving.
You pack a bag for me as fast as you can and I want you to get everyone out of here.
Head to the farms—find Kina—and warn everyone you can to escape.
If the army is Lord Kalos’s, I’m guessing they’re going to bring sickness with them.
Avoid that. Avoid everything. Protect yourselves. ”
She shakes her head. “We should be safe. When the gods are upon the mortal plane, they are not allowed to use their powers.”
I don’t know if I believe that, given that Kalos infected me the moment we met. “Humor me, Jemet. Be cautious anyhow.”
“Yes, Mistress.” Jemet’s eyes shine with more tears. She drops to her knees, kissing my hem. “You are the kindest—”
“Nope, nope, no time for that,” I say quickly, trying to drag her back to her feet. “We have to move fast, remember? Let’s just get going.”
“I will pack you a bag,” she agrees, and moves to leave. She pauses again and turns back to me. “Where will you go?”
“It’s best if you don’t know,” I tell her. “So no one can try to get the information out of you.”
She brightens and nods, then races away. “Loyal followers,” she calls out. “To me! Our Mistress has orders!”
People flock toward her as she moves to the center of the temple plaza. They give me uneasy looks, making the salt-throwing gesture over their shoulders as I pass by. I’m getting used to it. I head towards Kalos’s sanctuary, trying to think of what I’ll say to him.
How do I convince a god that just wants to be left alone that he needs to abandon his sanctuary and flee with me?
“Mistress!” Kina races forward with Dingle prancing around her feet. She’s out of breath, her cheeks flushed and her hair mussed. As I watch, she hunches over, holding her knees as she struggles to compose herself. “Army. Heading this way.”
“I know. Thank you. We’re going to get out of here.”
She nods, eyes wide. “Will he join you?”
“He will,” I tell her with a confidence I don’t feel. “Help Jemet pack and get out of here yourself. Will your family be safe?”
“They are fleeing even now.” Her expression is worried. “We have our valuables and what food we can carry. I hope it is enough.”
I take off my three golden necklaces and the bangles going up my arm and put them on her. “Here. Sell these when you get to a safe town. Get what you can.”
She shakes her head, worried. “But, Mistress, you’ll need them—”
“We’ll be fine. I promise. I’ll have a god with me, remember?” I smile at her with a confidence I don’t feel. “Now, hurry. Leave Dingle with me and get going.”
Her eyes fill with tears. “May the gods watch over you, Mistress Elsie. You are too good.”
The gods are the problem right now, but she means well. I hug her and turn toward Kalos’s doors. Jemet flutters at my side, all anxiety.
“You should go, too,” I tell her.
“I will wait until you are on your way,” she says staunchly. “It is my duty as his priestess.”
I nod and take a deep breath before I open the double doors and enter Kalos’s temple. It’s pitch-black inside, which is incredibly eerie. All the braziers are out. Of course they are; no one has been tending to them. Has he been sitting in darkness? For how long?
With an unpleasant curdling in my gut, I turn toward Jemet. “Do we have a candle?”
I don’t want to go in blind, stumbling all over myself. I need to seem calm and in control if I’m going to get him to listen to what I say. I wait as one of the servants finds a candle bowl and lights it, then hands it to me. I thank them and step into the darkness.
Immediately, they close the doors behind me.
My candle sputters. My nerves flutter too.
Did they have to do that? So quickly? I know they’re scared of Kalos.
Hell, I am, too. He’s a god, and he might be apathetic right now, but that doesn’t mean he won’t change his mind.
That doesn’t mean he won’t remember everything that happens.
They want to please him, and my instructions were to keep his doors closed. Well…they’re closed.
Yet…the room looks exactly as I left it. It looks as if no one has been living here, and that makes me anxious, too. What if he’s gone and I’ve failed? What if he’s been gone for an entire month already? What if—
The candlelight falls upon a pale white figure in the darkness.
It’s Kalos, yet seated on his throne.
I’m both relieved and unnerved at the sight of him. Striding up to him, I drop into a curtsy since that seems polite. “Lord Kalos—”
“You lied.”
His words are bored. Disappointed. His gaze barely flicks over me as I straighten.
I still shiver. “I know. I’m sorry. I wasn’t intending on bothering you, I just…do you have something on your face?”
He doesn’t blink. Doesn’t reach up to touch his face. Just shrugs. He doesn’t care.
I move the candle closer, looking to capture that strange wisp I’d seen out of the corner of my eye. As I move in, I realize…it’s a spiderweb.
His face has spiderwebs on it. They trail down the front of his bare chest and when I look at his fingers, they have webs on them, too.
Cobwebs. Because he hasn’t moved since I left him.
Holy shit.
I knew he was Apathy, I just…I didn’t realize what that meant. Not really. If I’m the one that must eat and drink for the both of us, there’s no reason for him to move from his seat…and I guess he hasn’t. I’m disturbed. “You’ve got cobwebs on you.”
“So?”
I reach out to brush them off and hesitate, because he’s going to give me a disease again if I touch him, I just know it. “May I?”
“May you what?”
“May I clean off your face without you giving me a disease? You can control that, right?”
He shrugs.
I push aside any guilt I feel at his condition.
He’d asked not to be bothered. We were just honoring his wishes.
Yet I can’t help but think that if he was back home, no one would abandon him.
But he’s not a depressed manager or a CEO with ennui.
He’s a god. That makes things different.
“A shrug is not an answer. You know what? You can wear the cobwebs. I was just trying to be nice to you and if you can’t be nice back, then I don’t need to bother.
I came in here because we have a problem. ”
“I don’t care.”
“You need to care. One of your aspects is on his way here with an army. He’s coming to destroy you.”
Those vivid green eyes focus on me. “You mean destroy you.”
I flinch. He certainly knows where to hit a girl. “You can’t stay here, regardless.”
“I don’t see why not. You swore I’d be left alone.” He flicks a hand at me, dismissing me.
“Plans change. I need you to come with me. We’re leaving this place before the army arrives.
I need you to get up and get dressed, because we’re probably not taking the road out of here.
The sooner we leave, the better it is for us.
” I make my tone chirpy and positive, as if everything is already under control.
“Why should I leave? If they want to kill me, then let them kill me.” He leans back on his throne of skulls and closes his eyes. “At least then it’ll be silent.”
I manage a chuckle. “You think a conquering army is going to be silent? They’re going to come in here and kill everyone, and they’re probably going to throw a party right on your bones.”
“Yes, but you’ll be dead, and I’ll be back to myself, or closer to it.” He shrugs again.
This is not how it’s supposed to go. I knew he’d be difficult, but I didn’t realize he’d be willing to just roll over and die. Well, that’s not going to work for me at all. Leaning over him, I manage my sweetest smile possible.
“You think it’s bad now with me talking to you?
Bothering you? If you don’t come with me, I’m going to surrender to the other Aspect and tell him to keep me alive until the very end.
That it tortures you to have people talk to you.
That the worst thing he can do to you is to have someone at your side every day, nattering away.
” I make a talking gesture with my hand, like a puppet, and snap it in his face.
“It might not go on forever, but who’s to say that you won’t be tortured for months on end?
Months with someone in your face, never shutting up, months with entire rooms full of people all over you, maybe even years, just yak yak yakking away—”
He reaches up and grabs my hand. He glares at me.
I keep smiling.
Kalos sighs. “Fine. I’ll go with you. Just shut up.”
My triumphant laugh dies as I stare at the hand grasping mine. “Did…you just give me the plague again?”
“No. I do not give the plague out every time someone touches me. That then was just to teach you a lesson.”
I resist the urge to strangle him. Just a little light strangling.