“She shouldn’tneedpeople to intercede on her behalf,” Oyenar said. “This coup, when the Kingdom isat war,is ridiculous, and you’ve been a part of it, haven’t you?”
Dolok gazed at Syla instead of answering Oyenar. He almost seemed to be gazing through her, lost in thought, and Oyenar reached out to grip his shoulder.
“What’s been going on here, Dolok?” he asked, forcing the general’s gaze to him. “Who’s been whispering in your ear, and why have you, of all, people been listening? You’ve forsworn your oath to defend the royal family.”
Syla kept expecting belligerence from Dolok, but he sent a haunted look toward Harvest Island, then opened the door to the lighthouse. The great beacon inside glowed with magical intensity as it pointed out to sea.
“Let me speak with you alone, my lord.” Dolok tilted his head toward the interior. “For a moment.”
“You’ll not drag me over to the side of traitors,” Oyenar said.
“I suspect not.” Dolok stepped inside.
Oyenar rolled his eyes heavenward but held up a finger to Syla, then stepped in after the general and closed the door.
This isn’t what I expected,Syla thought to Wreylith and peered through the telescope. It was, indeed, pointed toward Harvest Island, the bottom portion of the volcano visible as well as the sea where the fleet had been anchored while Syla and Tibby had worked on the shielder. Since they’d departed, new crevices and craters had appeared in the lava rock, and an angry lightning bolt struck down as she observed.
Have you a way to reach out to your gods?Wreylith was also gazing to the south, probably not needing the telescope to see everything in detail.
We pray to them, and some people think they answer or send signs for us to interpret, but it’s more widely believed that they left this world after battling the storm god, directing humans to these islands, and creating the shielder artifacts.
One has returned. Or is at least in the process of coming fully into this world.
The storm god,Syla said, not surprised by this point.That’s what the stormer dragons were doing in those caves, right? Performing some ritual to call him?
I believe so. I’d not known that was possible, but there are elders who’ve survived since the time when the gods were among us, and they may have recalled how to reach out to them. Tohim.
Wonderful. It would have been a shame if that knowledge had been lost.
Visible through the window of the lighthouse, Oyenar and Dolok spoke, the lord righteous and animated, Dolok barely reacting. What had happened to the general in the weeks that Syla had been gone? Before, he’d been determined and condemning as he strode about, barking orders. Maybe he, too, knew what the clouds heralded. Did he believe the storm god would bring an end to the Kingdom? To all those who lived within? Did he think they were doomed and that there was no point in fighting? Nowayto fight a god?
Syla wasn’t ready to believe that. They had managed to defeat the creatures he’d left behind to guard his laboratory. There had to be a way to defeat him too. Or at least drive him away.
His return is imminent,Wreylith continued, not remarking on Syla’s thoughts if she was monitoring them.That is why I ask if you can call to theothergods for assistance. Dragons are powerful, but only a god may fight a god. Even if all the dragons togethercouldfight one, they will not.
They called him. This is what they want.
Some of them, yes. They want someone to end the threat to their kind.
Syla wanted to scoff and say no human was a threat to their kind, but her gaze was drawn to the harbor. She couldn’t see theFanged Whalefrom her vantage point, but she had no trouble envisioning the weapons platform strapped to the deck. Its reserves and ability to fire its powerful projectiles had dwindled, but the dragons probably didn’t know that.
I can try praying and willing my words to reach the moon god—oranyof the other gods.Syla eyed the moon-mark on her hand.But I have no idea where in all the heavens they went after leaving our world. There have been a couple of times when it has seemed like some divine influence has helped me inmy various quests, but… that may have been a coincidence and nothing more.
If I were you, I would try your praying.
I will.
Thinking of the weapons platform again, Syla wondered if praying fromitmight enhance her ability to reach the gods with her words. If nothing else, maybe it could send her mind across the sea again to speak withVorik. He probably didn’t have the sway to tell the stormer dragons to call off their summons, but maybe he would have some idea about how to influence them. If nothing else, if the end was coming, Syla would prefer to face it with him.
The door opened, and Dolok stepped out onto the platform. Oyenar had gone down the interior stairs, disappearing into the bowels of the lighthouse.
That surprised Syla—she’d assumed he would remain close in case Dolok tried something—but with Wreylith perched right above, maybe Oyenar didn’t believe that necessary.
Dolok walked to the railing on the side opposite the telescope to look toward the cliffs and the churning sea below. Since the lighthouse was perched outside of the harbor, the waters that swirled and frothed, crashing against the rock face, were rough. Syla had never learned if the stormers who’d fallen while fighting Vorik had survived. Later, she’d found out that the various confrontations he’d engaged in to supposedly protect her from the stormers had been for show, but people had genuinely fallen.
“I saw you on your ship, using that marble structure to send out projectiles that slew dragons.” Dolok turned to wave toward the volcano. “Later, I saw a flash of light as you activated the barrier, but it doesn’t seem to have an effect on those clouds, onhim.”
“The storm god? No, I think gods can go where they please and send their magic through anything.”
