Nine
As Crowe stared at me, trying to formulate an answer to my question, I noticed that the panteras were still waiting beyond the garden. I wasn’t sure exactly how Staviti was keeping an eye on the party, but I was sure that he would never have just allowed this to happen unmonitored. I was also sure that he hadn’t actually turned up himself. It made me uneasy, as though we had walked into a trap of some kind even though this had beenouridea.
“What would happen to our world—tous—if Staviti’s control over Topia was relinquished?” Crowe finally responded to me, though he only gave me another question. “You are young, and in your mind you are still a mortal. You do not understand. You could never understand. He is ourcreator, so what are we without him?”
“He didn’t create your souls,” I responded, remembering what Terrance had told me not so long ago. “He shaped your bodies, gave you powers, gave you purpose—but the land itself is what gave you a life force. A soul. Your soul is what shaped who you are as a god; it even shaped how your gifted power would manifest. Did you see what remained of the faulty servers that Staviti had imprisoned?” I asked, waving my hand up above us to where the dark mass had hovered. “He couldn’t properly rid himself of them because he didn’townall of them. He could damage their souls, but he couldn’t destroy them. Not completely.”
“There was something wrong with those souls,” Crowe argued, and a brief shadow passed over his face. He had been disturbed by the wraiths.
Several murmurs of agreement followed his statement, and I waited for him to elaborate. When he didn’t, I decided to take a chance and assume that Staviti had lied about most things in Topia.
“The servers weren’t created by Staviti,” I announced. “They were only reanimated by him: dead dwellers, brought partially back to life with the will to do only his bidding, and nothing more or less. That is why the souls seemed wrong—because he had defiled them, and they longed to escape. To die in peace.”
“I felt their deaths,” Crowe said thoughtfully, and it sounded as though he was agreeing with me. “If this is true, if we are all truly independent of Staviti, then you will need to prove it.”
“Emmanuelle is your proof.” Cyrus answered for me. “Willa is not in control of Topia, and yet she has created a Goddess of Fertility—who is standing here as capably as all of you, and just as powerful.”
Crowe scoffed. “The flower girl? I truly hope that you don’t expect us to believe that thisdweller-turned-godhas created anotherdweller-turned-godjust because one stands here beside her?”
I was starting to get annoyed, and I could feel the urge to turn Crowe into a mudhog as I had Terrance, just to prove a point … but that wouldn’t be good enough of a demonstration. These were serious times, and they called for more serious measures. I turned away from the crowd and walked over to the servers still quietly playing their instruments as though nothing interesting was happening around them. I tapped the nearest server on the shoulder and he quickly set his instrument aside and scrambled to his feet. The others continued playing, completely unfazed.
“Sacred One,” he greeted quickly, “was the music not to your liking? We have other songs we could play, or we could ask Suzannah to leave.” He shot a quick look to the male server who had been seated right beside him and who, I realised now, was playing slightly off-tempo compared to the others.
“What’s your name?” I asked him.
“Brianna,” he replied. “How can I serve you, Sacred One?”
“Come with me, Brianna.” I turned, walking back to my spot on the stage, and though I didn’t want to admit that I needed them, I felt instantly calmed by the proximity to my Abcurses.
I positioned Brianna where everyone could see him, but before I closed my eyes, I found my attention misdirected by the panteras again. They were still gathered outside the garden. Watching. Waiting.
What are you waiting for?
I hadn’t actually expected an answer, so I was startled when Leden’s voice rang clearly in my mind.
We are drawn here, Willa Knight. The land is ready for change, and we need to witness that change.
I thought we were past riddles, I thought back, unable to help the way my eyes rolled a little. I imagined that if I had been standing beside her, I would have heard Leden’s snort.
It is only a possibility,she returned.You are only a possibility. We wait to see if possibilities will become realities.
I thought about what she had said as I closed my eyes and laid my hands over the shoulders of the server before me. For some reason I was stuck on one small detail: whether Leden’spossibilitieswere good or bad. Were they waiting with hope, or despair? It was impossible to tell, but it made me begin to second-guess myself. My grip began to waver a little, but heat quickly passed across my spine, and I recognised the familiar energy of my Abcurses drawing close. They weren’t actually touching me or hiding me from the view of the other gods and goddesses, but they had felt my insecurity and had moved in immediately. There were times when it was annoying for them to hear my thoughts, or disorientating for me to wake up inside one of their heads when I was asleep—but in this particular instant, I had never been more grateful for the soul-bond.
My hands steadied, and the frantic beating of my heart slowed into a normal rhythm, allowing me to focus on what I was doing.
“This may not be perfect,” I announced, projecting my voice. “I am not turning a sol into a god, as Staviti does. I’m taking the damaged soul that remains in this server and making it whole again. Then I will shape that soul into a god.” I trailed off at the excited exclamations that suddenly swelled around me.
I focussed my attention inward. I had expelled more energy than there was to spare already, and the last time I had turned someone into a god, it had sent me into a comatose state … so I wasn’t particularly confident. Unfortunately, it seemed like my onlycourse of action.
Live, I thought, sending the intention through the stiff, almost unresponsive body beneath my fingertips. It was the mantra I had used to save Emmy … but it had also turned into Emmy’s gift. I frowned, wracking my brain for a simple power that would hopefully drain my energy less than Fertility had. Finally, I settled on something that might help to win more of the gods over to our side: flattery. I was going to make a God of Flattery.
I focussed on that intention, repeating the word over and over in my mind as I gripped the server and willed him to becomemore. To make his soul whole again. To be filled with the magic of Topia; to become animated again with the life that had once driven his sun-cycles. The energy drained from me at a frighteningly rapid rate, but I held on until it felt as though I had poured the entirety of what I had into the body beside me.
When I stumbled back from him, strong hands quickly snatched me up, and I settled into the warm, familiar circle of Siret’s arms.
“Well…,” Brianna started, without an ounce of mechanical formality in his tone. “That wasveryimpressive. Very well done. Superbly done, in fact. You could make a living out of that old trick. I’m blown away by your skill. What was your name again? It’s a pleasure—anabsolutepleasure—to make your acquaintance.”
Before I could reply, there was a sudden onslaught of noise. The party had descended into chaos suddenly, and at first I thought it was just because of what I had done—until I realised that everyone was scattering into the trees. Cyrus’s voice boomed through the clearing, projected so loudly that it set my teeth together.
