The newcomers were locked up in a barn as the elders and all the people in the village with any say gathered for a meeting.
Around fifteen minutes earlier, the oracle, accompanied by the warriors, had gone to talk to the students and get the gist of the story. And it was fascinating. A call from another god through the power of their own messenger, and a tenth chosen who wasn’t related to their village or deity.
Now, everyone was gathered in a big round house, apparently used as an arena for training and fighting, but now serving as a meeting place. The location change was due to the usual meeting house’s inability to accommodate all the parties, insisting they should hear what was decided, especially since everyone was arguing that it was their god, too, so they should be part of the discussion.
So right now, around fifty people were crammed into one big room with throne-like chairs carried over from celebrations for the main elders.
The place was filled with a cacophony of excited, angry, and scared voices, talking and theorizing about the whole happening. Finally, once everyone got their fill of gossip, the chief stood up.
He took a large breath and spoke in a loud and commanding voice. “My brothers and sisters. We have gathered here due to rather unusual circumstances. As you might already know, a tenth priest was chosen, but she is neither from our people nor does she carry the mark of our God. As this pertains to us all, each of you will have a chance to speak. If you have something to say, please raise your hand, and I will give you time to speak. If not, then stay silent, or we will descend into chaos.”
As he finished, half the people raised their hands.
“I will go in the order of seniority,” announced the chief and pointed at one of the elders.
The man stood up, walking a bit to the front for everyone to see him, and started speaking. “I do not understand why we are even having this meeting. We should kill the usurper and be done with it. What is there to discuss?”
This proclamation was quickly echoed by quite a few voices from the crowd. Some people started nodding, and others even announced their support with a couple of shouts.
But before the decision was made in the spur of the moment, another elder raised his hand and was given permission to speak. “Do you want to bring down the wrath of our god?” He spoke loudly.
“But it was not our God who chose her, was it? It was some other, an imposter, a false god, I reckon. We should kill the heretic, and maybe we will get a new priest. One sharing our blood,” the previous man finished, practically screaming the last words, as more and more people agreed.
But then an old woman’s voice, belonging to the oracle, strangely cut through the racket without even being loud, the words spoken somehow coming to the front of all the other voices. “We cannot kill her. Although she does not bear the mark of our God, the vision I was granted by the messenger was clear. She is to be the tenth. She was recognized by the messenger as his charge, meaning he shall descend bearing gifts for her.”
This quickly cooled the murderous enthusiasm of the people. Silence descended as everyone mulled over the words, no one wanting to contradict the oracle.
Finally, the man who was our guide before the celebration spoke up.
“Well, then maybe someone cheated our God, or used him somehow, or is using the messenger for their own plans. I think we should all at least discuss that possibility, and we should discuss it without servants of other Gods present,” he said, pointing at me and Q’Shar sitting in the back. His face twisted into a mask of disgust and anger, practically sure of our fault.
I raised an eyebrow at the blatant hostility, but before I could inform him of the precise direction in which he should embark to go fuck himself, the cat jumped onto my shoulders, covering my mouth with his tail.
“If I may?” he said, and getting a nod from the chief, continued. “While we are understanding of your confusion and suspicion directed at us, please do not forget that our presence was requested by the oracle herself.” He paused for a second as everyone who was ready to shout at us calmed down a bit with the call to authority. “As for the reason, I’m sure your knowledge of your God and his messenger is as deep as the ocean and wide as the great forest, but this case seems to involve other gods. And when it comes to other gods, my friend here is among the most knowledgeable on the subject.”
Not gonna lie, from the tone the cat spoke in, to the arguments presented, even I was absentmindedly nodding my head.
“Normally, when one of our own gets chosen, I’m granted a vision. The first part is about the chosen. I walk to them through an ancient forest and then draw a mark on their forehead.” The old woman was explaining, with everyone hanging onto her words. “And the second part is about the sacrifice. There I see the messenger. He holds massive wooden scales. On one side is the chosen person, and on the other, the sacrifice to balance it. But for the girl, on one side, I saw her much like any other future priest. But on the other, I just saw a wooden carving of a human figure. The symbol simply means ‘human,’ so I interpret the vision to mean ‘any human life as a balance for the power given by the outsider god.’ A price always has to be paid, but a sacrifice is not chosen.”
This calmed the gathering a bit.
“What if the person who gives their life will not be taken to the endless forest, but instead to the realm of the other god? No one would risk their immortal soul on that.” Said one of the people gathered.
But before another wave of discontent could erupt, the chief spoke up. “We will not kill any of our own. None of the villagers will be sacrificed against their own will.”
“But what if no one volunteers? Will we not incur the wrath of God?” Asked someone, and we were back in the starting position, this could be argued in circles.
“Yeah, maybe killing her before the ritual is the better choice? If we are to risk angering the Gods, let’s show that we will not follow any other god but Taipo, that like faithful children we make mistakes, but they are out of devotion,” Shouted someone. The idea to kill the girl once again started to gain traction.
I wasn't that surprised. If I had to make a guess, judging by the terrifying possibility of your soul being taken to some strange usurper God, no one would ever volunteer.
But there was an easy fix.
“Does the sacrifice have to be willing?” I asked.
The chief furrowed his eyebrows at me. “You don't suggest we drag one of our own against their will?”
“No, I suggest you drag one of the people who came with the girl.” I gave a simple suggestion. I could see people realize the same as me, if the sacrifice had to just be a human, and the god was not their own, then it was not one of their own who had to be the price. I continued in the silence. “The only reason you risk the anger of God is because the choice whether to go through with the ritual or not is yours. You bear the responsibility. The simple solution is to let go of it. Place the girl in the ritual, place her with a person of her choosing from the people who came with her, and you will have done your part. No punishment shall come. If the girl can't go through with it, then she will be the one who went against the will of the Gods, and she will be the one who incurs any wrath. None of you should be killed in turn.”
That was a bit of a bullshit. Gods weren't always reasonable as history taught us, but if the girl would not go through with it, it should be interpreted as saying no to the gifts offered. The village should be safe.
People were looking at one another. They seemed like they weren't happy about the plan coming from me, but happy there was a plan at all.
“This is a good suggestion,” croaked the old oracle. “We shall leave the burden of choice on the girl and her people. From this point forward, this will have nothing to do with us, and we will keep to our nine future priests. Is there anyone against such a solution?”
Silence.
It seemed there was no one with anything to say. Then there was a bit of a discussion about the logistics of the whole thing, and the plan was set.
“Good, the elders shall see to it, so that the girl is given a fair treatment in the ritual,” Announced the chief.
What followed was a bit of the usual talk about the festival, about tomorrow’s ceremony and what to prepare for. At the end, the chief announced that the matter of the girl and the stranger god would be handled according to the agreed way.
As we were about to walk out, he caught my gaze and tilted his head a bit, telling me to stay.
Once everyone was out of the building, he took me and Q’Shar into a different building where the chief’s wife, the oracle, and, to my surprise, Astrid, were.
The house was more akin to a meeting place with a long fireplace in the middle, and a table and chairs to the side. On the walls, there were animal skins and stuffed heads, the whole place illuminated by fire, giving it a rustic, homely feeling.
He sighed and took off his elk crown, showing the rest of his face. Now, without the large headware, I could see he was a fairly handsome man with black hair with streaks of gray showing.
“Please, take a seat,” he said, pointing at one of the chairs in the room. “Would you like some ale?” He asked and poured himself and his wife some after picking up a bottle from one of the shelves in the second half of the room.
I agreed to some alcohol and sat down, curious about the discussion we would be having.
“We want you to handle the girl, break the news to her. You are from the outside world, understanding outside thoughts much better,” announced the chief, sitting down at the table, “and you seem to know outside Gods much better as well.”
Q’Shar chuckled at his words. “Well, Samuel is not exactly silver-tongued, but we will gladly help with that.”
“Thank you. But there is another thing I want you to help with,” the chief told us, and looked towards the oracle.
She nodded and locked her white irises with my eyes. I was sure she saw me, somehow.
“We want you to help us find out about the foreign god. Even though it doesn’t seem they are hostile, we don’t like it when there are aspects of our own beliefs we don’t understand. And much like every power out there, a lot of our knowledge was lost, some due to war, some due to the inquisition. Secrets locked in the brains of our priests, burned on a pyre.” She said the last part with sadness clear in her voice. “Also, I would like for you to take Astrid with you, let her see you work, witness the investigation, see how others perceive gods. As a future oracle, she must learn much.”
I was surprised for a second. I locked eyes with Astrid, who just looked at me with an expression of self-importance you might see on an old CEO. She then broke the expression and smiled.
“Sure. The first part is nothing much, so we can do that for free. But investigating gods is not cheap. It takes knowledge,” Q’Shar piped up in his business voice just as I was about to agree.
Honestly, I just wanted to solve the riddle. But if my broker could get us some deal, then sure, why not?
“We already paid you with the ritual and the Ent creation, which shall be taught to Samuel once the messenger accepts the sacrifice brought by you,” said the chief.
“Yes, but that is for the fire giant bloodline. This is a separate matter. Not only are you employing a specialist, but you want him to teach. Teach techniques that might be secret or at least costly. Normally, things like that would be passed on by generations, and you are asking for them to be revealed.”
Wow, he was laying it on thick. I would be just using basic knowledge about divinity and how gods function. Nothing too sacred, but judging by the chief’s face, he was buying it.
“Okay, we can—” He was about to agree, to the great pleasure of the cat, when his wife cut him off.
“Wait. If you want a reward for so-called techniques, then we need a guarantee. If you can’t figure out the god, then we shouldn’t have to pay, since it would mean that the techniques aren’t worth much,” she said with a grin on her face.
“Well, you would be right, however—” started the cat.
“Fine. We agree. You pay extra if I get the god right. Now, what is your offer?” I decided to speed it up, to the great annoyance of the cat, who would have bitten me if not for the company.
After that, the negotiations took another two hours, with Q’Shar somehow getting me a spell of Death’s Grasp in addition to the Ent technique. I have to say, although annoying and long, his negotiations were impressive, at least the part I didn’t sleep through.
With the deal made, it was time to get a good look at the foreign god.