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Sime~Gen(tm) Inc.

Who Trusts a Traitor

Summary

by

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

After being cursed by the god usurping Vertum's place, Rozell runs for his life through the streets of Shrine City.

Far from Temple Square, pursued by a growing rabble set on burning him alive, he takes refuge in another temple - a new one which has no adornment, no Godname over the door, and nothing of the splendor of the twenty-two temples.

He finds an altar in the center of the otherwise empty hall, a shaft of sunlight from overhead beaming mistily onto the altar where a glittering array of mirrors collects and concentrates it.

He doesn't bother to ascertain the proper godname, just throws himself at the altar and prays as he's never prayed before. "Save me, save me dear god whoever you are, and I vow my service, my loyalty, and my unstinting devotion." He seals the vow with a drop of blood from one of his many lacerations, and a smear of his mother's blood which spattered all over him.

The rabble pushes through the main entry behind him, and suddenly, from a small door at one side, a white clad old man emerges. He's carrying a staff made of strands of ivory, wood, silver, gold, copper and bronze. The strands form a calyx at the top of the staff. When the old man holds up his staff and commands them to stop, his voice echoes through the hall as an Immortal's would.

Filling the crowd with the fear of the wrath of a powerful god, jealous of his sanctuary, he turns them back into the street, and hears enough to piece together the crowd's idea of what happened.

Meanwhile, a young woman dressed in white and dark gray pulls Rozell away from the altar and takes him to the inner chambers of the Creator's Sanctuary to tend his wounds. He is so distraught by this time that he's not even embarrassed that all he can manage is to mutter dazedly, "He crushed my mother. My mother. She's dead. This is her blood."

The old priest has Rozell change clothes with Avrul, another boy Rozell's size. Avrul runs out the rear of the Sanctuary and leads the hue and cry away. Avrul is a native of the city, and knows every back alley and sewer hole. He returns covered with filth, but sans mob.

Over hot food, Rozell has to recount his tale, his oath to the Creator verified by the young woman, Ethe. Rozell must convince them that the stone was always part of his flesh, from the day of his birth, and thus that the Immortal usurping Vertum's name lied. That Immortal also broke the Pact by doing harm to a mortal - his mother.

As improbable as that tale is, rumor verifies it. However, people are not regarding the falling statue as an Act of the Immortal - an Act which would have violated the Pact. They saw it as a result of the boy's attack on the god.

"An illusion," insists Rozell, "just like cursing me with the sign I already carried!"

"Why would a god lie?" asks the old priest, Matham.

"I don't know!" counters Rozell in anguish.

At length, they believe that he was born with the gem embedded in his bone, and that it has somehow evoked the jealousy of an Immortal, but not Vertum. Their best Seer can find no trace of a curse, mortal or immortal, on Rozell, though his past and future are shrouded in mist.

Matham goes to the High Priest of Vertum to convince him that the god who appeared as Vertum was an impostor. This does not work, for everyone in the hall saw Vertum himself, unmistakable. "An illusion," argues Matham. But it's no use. It is a known fact that no Immortal can appear inside the temple of another Immortal.

Matham is warned that if his group harbors or even advocates the cursed, it too will be cursed, as well as outlawed. The search of Shrine City continues, and Royal proclamations are posted condemning Rozell-the-cursed and all who aid him.

Matham returns to the Sanctuary and, convinced that Rozell is an innocent victim, offers him a safe haven on two conditions: he must vow at the Creator's altar that he will never again invoke the power of the gem; he must take formal induction into the ranks of the Servants of the Creator, and thus take a new name so they may all swear truthfully that Rozell-the-cursed is not among them.

Rozell is given to understand that to violate these vows and reveal himself to the outside world would be to bring down the mob to crush the small community of Creationists and tarnish the honor of their brethren in other lands. It is a very serious thing, but Rozell takes the vows, and the Creationist name, Truvere, without reservation and experiences a mysterious sense of renewal.

Satisfied, the Creationists accept Rozell into their community. Rozell is unsure how or why Matham is so convinced that Rozell is telling the truth. He does not discover, until the very end that the gem he carries looks like a chip off the gem hidden inside the calyx of Matham's staff.

To hide Rozell's gem, they fashion a heavy silver crest ring large enough to cover the gem. But it would be conspicuous if Rozell were the only one to wear such a thing, therefore, they make duplicates for each and every adult member of the sect, and they hold a formal ceremony in which they are publicly invested with the ring amid exorcism rites to keep any Immortal's curse, especially the "cursed of Vertum" from their doors.

This pleases the worshippers of Immortals, for it is a sign that the Creationists are taking the Immortals seriously at last, instead of just ignoring them.

Matham also arranges for a decoy to be clumsily smuggled out of the city, and he sets out rumors that this was the "cursed-of-Vertum," now gone from Shrine City for good.

Rozell is overwhelmed with gratitude, and in his heart dedicates himself to repay his benefactors.

But Rozell finds no tangible evidence of their God's presence among them. Still, they behave as if he were as present as any active Immortal, and ascribe all manner of random events to the Creator's doing, including Rozell's timely rescue.

The Creationists are severely persecuted by the worshippers of Immortals. It is said Creationists believe that their Immortal is superior to all others, and in fact created all Immortals as well as everything else. Without regard to the contradictions in the various charges, it is also said they keep their Immortal locked in a secret vault and refuse entry to those not of their sect. So they are persecuted for being jealous and self-important. And they are darkly suspect because their Immortal (which they claim isn't an Immortal) is not a signatory to the Pact.

In fact, the Creationists believe that beyond the Immortals there is yet another force which governs the universe - the force which in fact constantly creates the universe. All in the universe, including Immortals, was and is created by the Creator. Immortals are just another sort of people. The Creator is unique.

Since Creationists refuse to worship the Immortals, the favors of Immortals, and Kings, do not come their way, and they are poorer and less to be feared than any other sect - for no Immortal will come to their defense.

However, there have been times when powerful coincidences have worked in their favor, though no Immortal was seen walking among them. So the other sects have learned to be somewhat circumspect in their dealings with Creationists. Hence the reluctance of the mob to defile the Creator's sanctuary, even to extract a cursed-of-Vertum.

The Creationists are dedicated to winning worshippers of the Immortals to their creed, and they have been from time to time quite aggressive about converting Immortalists. So the Creationist community consists of many layers, some more dedicated than others to the Creator, some more educated in the beliefs of the Creationists.

Most people believe them to be a new sect, but in fact they are older than the Immortals. They had dwindled to a remnant before a modern renaissance has spread them through desert, mountains, hills and the delta of the Eight Kingdoms itself.

Since Immortals survive on the energy of worship from mortals, the obvious result of the spread of their creed would be the extinction of Immortals. But well before that, economic and political ruin would destroy civilization as it is known among the Kingdoms.

Those educated enough to make this connection regard the paltry numbers of the Creationists as a tolerable nuisance, not a real threat.

Still, lone Creationists are often attacked on the streets, taunted and robbed. Their Sanctuary is frequently defaced. They dare not let their women shop the markets alone. They put up with a great deal of harassment, and Rozell learns to take his share of the humiliations as one of them, thus gradually earning his way into their inner secrets.

For the first year, he is obliged to dye his hair and wear custom made boots to make him taller and change his walk. An herbalist among them treats Rozell to make him hirsute, and in a matter of weeks he has the beard of a man five years his senior, and body hair to match.

They put him to work in their kiln making large grain storage jars, and the heavy work soon puts bulk into his shoulder muscles. Within two years, nobody would ever recognize him as the cursed-of-Vertum.

With time, the popular hostility toward the Creationists wanes, and much of that mellowing is ascribed to their new rings, which become known as the symbol of their respect for the Immortals and the Pact. They also have deliberately restricted their proselytizing in the wake of rescuing Rozell.

The change in attitude in Shrine City becomes known among the Creationists among the Hillers, and even more distant sanctuaries. They send emissaries to find out why, and promptly take home the idea of the silver rings.

One Hiller Creationist, Lown, visits quite often. Rozell's first sight of him is a shock, for Lown is the broken nosed Hiller/Creationist he saw during his first moments in the city. He now knows that the charcoal gray he wears denotes a Creationist healer, welcome among the Hiller merchant's caravan for his superior skills.

Lown brings tales of the doings of the non-Pact Immortals among the Hillers - tales which lay down clues about Tyrnak's activities and political scheming. These clues do not appear significant until much later. However, Ethe is clearly fascinated by this young Hiller, Creationist born, who shares her fervor for the creed and her rank.

Rozell's attitude toward Lown is painfully ambivalent, and for the longest while, he doesn't know he's jealous.

Meanwhile, the political situation worsens. Crop failures, plagues of insects, floods that leave shipping channels badly silted, and an outbreak of banditry are weakening the economic heart of the River Kingdoms.

Little by little, the Pact is being turned and twisted back on itself, for as the situation worsens, people turn to ever more frantic importunings of the Immortals, and more fervent worship. It gradually becomes apparent that bad times are more to the Immortal's advantage in garnering the worship they crave than good times, and so the numbers of Acts above the obligatory 30 that Immortals perform each year begins to dwindle.

The Hill Kings become more aggressive, the Hiller merchants more obnoxious, and Hillers in general becoming more hated in the Eight Kingdoms.

Despite all the problems, Rozell spends happy and peaceful years among the Servants of the Creator. He wins a friend in Ethe and comes to be a part of her family. Her brother, Avrul, becomes his best buddy and confidant. Rozell is soon deeply embedded in the community, and intimately acquainted with how their god actually lives among them.

Little by little, their god becomes his god, and he goes with Ethe and Avrul to apply for training in the priesthood - which is not a celibate order, but is strictly monogamous. By this time, his heart belongs to Ethe. She is more than a friend, but still less than a lover. The three of them take their vows to the Creator's Service together, and it is one of the most moving and meaningful moments of Rozell's life.

Shortly after that, he is admitted to the levels converts rarely penetrate, and he learns the Creationists' primary secret, i.e. that there are secrets. There are mysteries and powers held at the core of the Creator's priesthood, and Matham, who holds the rank of Guardian, is the only living person who knows them all. His staff is a symbol of that knowledge, and is revered as a thing of power in itself.

The Creationists have the keys to the universe, and are able to duplicate the miraculous Acts of Immortals. This is not an easy thing for a mortal to do. Lifetime dedication to the most stringent discipline is necessary, and often the price of the Act is life itself. For obscure reasons, the Creationists do not use these powers except in the most subtle ways, such as the establishment of a kind of guardian barrier around their Sanctuary, and their walled community.

Rozell comes to be able to perceive the glowing strands of that protection circling the Sanctuary.

Rozell reasons that they are quite logically afraid that should word of their abilities get out, all other mortals would become jealous and even violent enough to stamp out the small minority. Mere mortals shouldn't wield the powers of gods.

And those powers are puny compared to something greater about which the Creationists won't even speak, except in fear and awe. More is revealed only to those who are in line to succeed Matham, the Guardian of that great secret.

This is not Rozell's path. He, Ethe, and Avrul distinguish themselves among the novices and rise through the ranks very quickly. Their training diverges as Ethe takes training as a healer of minds, and Rozell specializes in liturgical music. Avrul, however, is elected to The Succession, becoming the youngest of Matham's possible replacements, and thus a spiritual leader of the community.

Ethe is strongly drawn to Rozell's singing, which has a very special quality. He helps her with her herb garden, attributing his green thumb to having been raised on a farm as the cook's son. They discover that they care deeply about similar things, and Rozell finds the highest moments of his day are in delving into her quicksilver emotions. He comes to delight in what makes her feel good, and to use that knowledge to comfort her over the rough spots of a healer's training.

She shares his growing devotion to the Creator, and reawakens that flame in him when he is discouraged because he can't complete a composition just the way it should be.

The warmth between them soon becomes love, and a bond of unspoken understanding. By Creationist custom, though, they are too young to speak of marriage, so they remain silent. This is agony for Rozell as he watches the intimacy between Ethe and Lown grow from one visit to the next.

These years are chronicled in a few strongly connected incidents of births, deaths, a wedding, a River King coronation, a Hiller King state visit, festivals, and rites in which Rozell participates. The most penetrating moment for him is the deathbed blessing he receives from the mother of Avrul and Ethe. He is included as a son, and given permission to court Ethe, but the most touching part is that nobody thinks this remarkable. All this time, they had accepted him as family - and he never knew.

He offers that moment to the Creator, vowing that the sensations blossoming within him are worth any amount of payment that may yet be exacted.

The gem embedded in his finger provides an undercurrent connecting all the high points of his life among the Creationists. Though he has the definite impression that Tyrnak, The Enemy, can't find or touch him while he's on the consecrated and magically guarded ground of the Creationist's walled community, the memory of that battle in Vertum's temple haunts Rozell.

He dissects the memory, gnaws on it, and gradually, as he learns the techniques of worship of the Creator, he applies them to the puzzle. He learns to raise his consciousness into the state of Worship at will. He learns to control and focus concentration. He learns to develop and focus the power of his body as well. As he learns to use these skills to evoke the sacred music, he is able to send forth the binding power of the Creator into the congregation. He also learns to work in tandem with Ethe in healing the mentally disturbed with light and sound.

But he can also focus himself into the ring - travel its axes as if they were roads, and discover memories buried there. The memories are so seductive they draw him into violation of his vow never to invoke the gem again.

Most of these memories are more like nightmares, and the rest are incomprehensible. The first one came when he activated the gem by touching it to Vertum's soul-ruby on the Pact Marble. He finds the rest of the memory of the silver wand memory, and is actually knocked unconscious when the blow lands on his forehead.

Only one thing he is certain of: what he finds in the gem is in fact his own personal memory, impossible as that may be. But there's something more in the gem - a sense of identity, a sense of self . . . and on the periphery of that, a sense of immense power.

The tantalizing hints bring him to a dedication to unravel the secrets of the gem that is as passionate as his very real inner devotion to the Creator. He comes to believe that he was given the gem by the Creator for some purpose having to do with the Immortals.

As his skill with devotional music grows, he advances in rank and is given more and more of the inner knowledge. The Creationists deliberately seek the extinction of the Immortals by starving them of worship energy. The Immortals, they hold, are not gods, but only people caught in a tragic trap through no particular fault of their own.

The Creationists' goal is to rescue them from that trap, and their method is the conversion of the public away from worship of Immortals. They believe that when the last Immortal has depleted the last of his worship energy, then Godsbridge itself will disappear.

The only reason given for desiring that ending is that then people would be better able to understand their lives and their world and see the Creator's hand in everything. The Acts of the Immortals only tend to obscure valuable truths and encourage slothfulness, for the Creator made the universe in such a way that mortals could fend just fine for themselves if they would put forth the effort. The presence of Immortals undermines the development of mortals' strength.

At first, Rozell regards the worship of the Creator much as the worship of any of the Immortals. But when he realizes that the extinction of Immortals is the goal of the Creationists, not a mere side-effect of their devotion, he draws back. Yet, he has vowed his service to the Creator, and the Creator has rewarded him well. After much soul-searching and many all-night sessions with Avrul and Ethe, he comes to accept the extinction of Immortals as his personal goal.

During his assigned vigils in the Sanctuary, he uses his time not just to meditate, but to explore his gem's power. He dreams of using the power for healing, fertility of the fields, the productivity of the chickens, and the richness of the wool shorn in the spring. Surely, if he could do these things, the Creationists would set aside his vow to eschew the use of the gem.

It occurs to him that the Creator may have gifted him with the gem so that its works could replace those of the Immortals, so they wouldn't be sorely missed.

As the Hillers become more demanding, the resources of the River Kingdoms are strained, and prosperity wanes. Unrest among the people translates into more incidents of persecution against Creationists, for they are known to have adherents among the Hillers. As Rozell studies and grows, and begins to visualize a long and happy life with Ethe, there comes a time when he knows how fragile his sanctuary is, Creator or no Creator.

He stops playing at the edges of the gem's potential, telling himself that he's not violating his vow, but is being called by the Creator to master the gem. Complicating this is the knowledge that through the power of the gem, he could make a safe place in the world for Ethe and the family he wants to raise. Are his motives really selfish? Or is he actually being called? He wrestles with his conscience as he continues to experiment, and one day he begins to suspect something truly unthinkable.

Cold with dread, he tells himself it can't be. It simply can't be. He couldn't possibly be Vertum. Could he?

The suspected knowledge becomes a guilty secret between him and Ethe, driving a wedge between them. He finds himself losing her to Lown. He can't confide in her because she is quite vocal about her opinion of those who betray vows of loyalty - as Vertum has, by not performing his Pact duties, or as Rozell has by probing the depths of the gem in violation of the vow he made on begging the Creationists' sanctuary.

Ethe emphatically denounces traitors, defined as someone who betrays a trust and an oath of loyalty. Rozell sees that his vow to leave the gem aside and become another person, to protect the integrity of each Creationist who must refute the accusations that they harbor the cursed-of-Vertum, to protect the Creationist community from the mob violence his presence would bring, is a vow of loyalty, and he has been trusted. What he is doing with the gem is traitorous. Try as he might, he can't bring himself to confide in Ethe. The more desperately he loves her, the more impossible the confession.

This, however, is not enough to deter him from his investigations. Exploring the gem has become an obsession.

While Rozell's struggling with this, Avrul takes an advanced initiation and is exposed to deeper secrets of the Creationists. He seems disturbed, withdrawn, even depressed. Ethe becomes worried that he'll quit the priesthood, for many do at Avrul's level. Rozell becomes so concerned for his closest friend that he corners him and gets him to open up.

Under dire vows sealed with blood, Avrul confides what he's learned. The Creationists originated out in the deserts, before they were deserts. Thousands of years ago, in their temple amid the thriving civilization far more advanced than the River Kingdoms, the Creator Himself revealed to them a method of tapping the root force that sustains the universe.

At that time, they believed they understood all there was to know about how the universe functions, and they tried to use the Creator's power to increase the prosperity of their world.

When they invoked the power, they could not control it, and their civilization was destroyed, leaving the desert as monument. But that's not the worst, for it was by that uncontrolled power that Godsbridge was created.

Worship of the Creator waned. For centuries, Godsbridge simply existed, but then people discovered the island where it touches down, and that one could try to climb it. Shortly after that, Immortals appeared, displaying all the greed and selfishness of mortals but with unbelievable powers.

With Immortals to petition and worship, people abandoned the Creator, and all past greatness was forgotten except by a few families. Matham is a direct descendant of one of those families. So are Avrul and Ethe.

Now, the Servants of the Creator are multiplying again, and the world's changing. "There's a chance we'll live to see the end of Immortals," says Avrul. "And Matham has chosen me as his successor - I'll be the next to carry the secret of the power that so disrupted the world it created Godsbridge, and could destroy everything. And Truvere, I'm going to be mandated to use that power, for when every Immortal is gone, the Guardian must attempt to destroy Godsbridge."

Rozell shares Avrul's chill over that. It is clear now why Creationists are dedicated to ending worship of the Immortals. They believe themselves responsible for the destruction of their own way of life and the loss of their own truths from the world.

While Rozell digests this, Avrul babbles on about how they must make the Immortals mortal again before destroying Godsbridge, for it would be cruel to cut them off up there. The proselytizing efforts of the Creationists are really an attempt to rescue those people caught in a trap of the Creationists own devising.

The weight of responsibility is too much for Avrul. He could become the one to destroy the world - if not all Creation. But he sets aside his personal concerns as he notices Rozell staring off into space as if he'd seen the ghost of his mother.

 

[Begin Hidden Comments]

WE NEED SOMETHING THAT ROZELL CONFIDES IN ETHE THAT HE CAN'T FACE AVRUL WITH, SO THAT HIS INTIMACY WITH THE WOMAN HE LOVES IS AS INTENSE AS THAT WITH HIS BUDDY.

[End Hidden Comments]

 

Still under the seal of absolute confidentiality, Avrul draws a confession from Rozell. "Avrul, I think - I think I am Vertum." And he tells of his adventures within the gem.

Rozell can hardly believe that his future brother-in-law is willing to keep his secret, even considering their vow of silence.

Avrul maintains that if Truvere/Rozell once was the Immortal Vertum, and is now Truvere/Rozell, dedicated of his own free will to the Creator, then that proves that the Creationists' goal of eliminating Immortals is a good and just one, for they would not be destroyed but only made mortal again, a healthy thing. If Matham is right, and the time to end the reign of Immortals is on them, then Vertum's becoming mortal could be the Creator's way of telling them so.

On the other hand, it is far more likely that he was never Vertum. Possibly, when he touched Vertum's ruby on the Pact marble, some hint of Vertum became imprinted on the gem, and that residue is what Truvere is picking up.

Clearly, the gem is an integral part of Truvere/Rozell, and the exacting of a vow never to use or even explore the potential and meaning of it was a mistake. Avrul is not yet fully empowered in his new rank, but he offers to use his prerogative prematurely to absolve Rozell of the vow forbidding him to invoke the gem.

Rozell agonizes, sorely tempted, but refuses Avrul's offer, contenting himself with the small relief that Avrul's trust has given him. He can't drag Avrul into his transgression, and won't lure Avrul into violating the terms of his Service to the Creator, certainly not simply for his own peace of mind.

But the mere fact that Avrul would offer such a thing relieves the tremendous guilt Rozell has been feeling, but loads on the sense of responsibility and obligation.

He fights ever harder to conquer the mysteries of the gem.

Meanwhile, Ethe and Lown have become the leading forces behind a Creationist based movement which is beginning to gain ground in the less worship-oriented Immortalist community. They regard Vertum as a traitor of the worst sort for he has abandoned his post to Tyrnak - or transformed himself into Tyrnak. They care not which. (There is a legendary mechanism whereby Immortals can change their names and talents.) The point is that the position of God of Abundance has been vacated, and as a result the security of the River Kingdoms is threatened.

Seeing that bad times are stimulating worship, and encouraging the gods' bad behavior, Ethe and Lown's movement encourages the withholding of all worship of Immortals until they resume their Pact duties with enthusiasm. This is legitimate within the terms of the Pact.

Matham objects, for it would be disaster if it ever became known that Creationists were leading Immortal worshippers away from their Pact duty to worship. Converting a few is one thing, leading a defection is another.

In heated exchanges, it goes even so far as to have Ethe accused of betraying the Creationists by endangering the community. But by that time, there are too many Creationists who see the entire movement as the simple, logical response of Immortalists abandoned by their gods. Dissent among the ranks of Creationists is quite heated, and it becomes clear that there are those who still don't trust Rozell, and feel that Matham endangered them all by taking him in. That, they say is a far worse betrayal of the community's trust than Ethe's actions.

Fortunately, those who support Matham are still in the majority.

Occasionally, in casual conversation, Rozell explains the Immortals' motivations as no mortal possibly could. His tone is always so matter-of-fact that people pass off his pronouncements as jokes. But Rozell, and Avrul, know that memories are pushing up to the surface.

At one time, Lown starts a discussion of the mystical significance of the Godsbridge, and whether a Creationist would have a chance to survive the climb and infiltrate the society of Immortals to advocate Creationist ideas to them.

Rozell comments in that "of course" tone, that Immortals fear nothing except the depletion of worship-energy, without which any Immortal would simply become mortal again. Any Creationist to survive the climb would forget they were ever Creationist and would adopt the Immortal's point of view.

This idea intrigues everyone, for it is not an accepted fact that Immortals automatically revert to mortality without worship-energy. Nor was it known that they forget their mortal identities. They take the "joke" as a theological hypothesis and go on arguing.

This leads Rozell into a contemplation of a fallen-Immortal's chances of climbing Godsbridge again. He doesn't remember when or if he ever did it before. He knows with the kind of sourceless knowledge that has come from exploring the gem that no Immortal remembers climbing Godsbridge.

He has no concrete evidence that climbing Godsbridge has anything to do with becoming Immortal. He does, however, have one indelible memory of falling off of something that might have been Godsbridge. It's possible that happened just after the silver wand hit him.

Confiding this to Avrul, who has been adjusting to his fated rise in rank, Rozell also tells of his oddly affectionate memories of Idalia, and they hatch a scheme to visit the temple of Idalia to ask her if Rozell is really Vertum, and if so, can she help him. They have no trouble finding a time when the temple is deserted for worship in Shrine City has fallen off due to the anti-worship movement. But getting away from Matham and Ethe is much more difficult.

Idalia does appear to them, but does not recognize Rozell, though his Vertum memories show her unchanged. Still, she listens attentively to their claim that Rozell is Vertum, and tells them a little of the Immortal's side of things.

Twenty-three years ago, when Rozell was conceived in his mother's womb, Vertum stopped doing the great number of extra Acts he was known for. He withdrew from the company of other Pact Immortals. Everyone simply assumed he'd finally tired of playing the fool and had come to his senses. For twelve years, he did his duties and bothered no one.

Then he made a mistake and was revealed to be Tyrnak, the desert nomad's god of battle, not Vertum at all. It was assumed that the replacement was recent. It was surmised that somehow, he'd done the unheard-of, the impossible, and stolen Vertum's store of worship-energy, thus forcing Vertum down into mortality.

That in itself was crime enough, but what stirred the gods to concerted action was the idea that one among them had the power to steal their worship-energy. He was the most dangerous being ever to walk the realms, and he had to be stopped.

The Immortals banded together and displaced Tyrnak, but due to his martial skills, they were unable to force him down into mortality. They presume he returned to the desert where he belongs, and if he tries the same stunt there, he'll be dealt with by his peers.

For the next five years, until Rozell came to Shrine City, the Immortals had taken turns doing Vertum's Acts, in order to preserve the Pact. They thought Vertum would soon return, for his soul-ruby on the Pact marble still glowed, meaning he still exists somewhere. How that ruby could be alive if he'd become mortal, nobody could understand. They theorized that he might have been tossed far away into another realm and be fighting his way back.

She confides that the soul-ruby compels the Pact signatories to adhere to its terms. An Immortal is deeply tormented if he does not fulfill the Pact. It's not a compulsion which can be ignored for long, so Vertum will no doubt surface again soon.

That will settle the matter of whether Rozell/Truvere is Vertum or not.

Considering that the worship offered Vertum did them no good, the Immortals' cooperation in completing Vertum's Acts was lackluster. None of them had Tyrnak's secret of using another's energy or entering another's Temple. Without an Immortal in residence in Vertum's realm, the worship accorded Vertum just dissipated uselessly. Or perhaps it went to Vertum wherever he was. She couldn't say.

Putting things together, Idalia guesses that Vertum's huge store of extra worship-energy garnered through all the years of doing extra Acts lasted Tyrnak twelve years, and then, he made his revealing mistake because he had no energy to continue his charade.

He went back to the desert, to his own worshippers, but five or six years later, when Rozell first petitioned Vertum, Tyrnak was instantly attracted.

How? She doesn't know. And why did he kill Rozell's mother and curse Rozell? The idea that Rozell is Vertum and Tyrnak knows it is the best explanation Idalia has heard. But she can't verify Rozell's identity, nor can she see what threat Rozell could possibly be to Tyrnak.

He is reluctant to show her the power of his gem, and doesn't exactly know why. But it makes sense that if the soul-ruby is a source of a powerful compulsion to fulfill the Pact, then, if he is Vertum, his touching his gem to it would have wakened his need to recover his identity and fulfill his vows. And that's where the gem's compulsion has been leading. But the relationship between the gem and the ruby is beyond him at this point.

While he has been contemplating this, Avrul and Idalia have been comparing notes on the trouble the Hillers have been causing the River Kingdoms. Matching dates of dynasty changes and political policy shifts both in the River Kingdoms and the Hills, they see the trend that has been hinted at all these years - that some external force has been fomenting the necessary antagonism to lead to war between formerly friendly neighbors.

What more logical force than a god of battle? Tyrnak.

Idalia promises to investigate among the Immortals of the desert and Hill people. She hasn't visited with her friends there in a few centuries. They probably wouldn't object to Tyrnak fomenting a war among mortals, but stealing an Immortal's worship-energy and throwing that Immortal down into mortality would arouse them against Tyrnak.

Other than that, Idalia has no help to offer Rozell. "If you are indeed Vertum, I am very sorry. We did have some good times." Apparently unmoved by his plight, she vanishes.

Throughout this interview, the relationship between Rozell/Vertum and Idalia stands in sharp and stark contrast to that which has developed between Rozell and Avrul or Rozell and Ethe, even with Lown coming between them.

The risk Avrul and Rozell took to consult Idalia seems to be fruitless, however, for they can think of nothing to do with the information they've garnered. The authorities are in no mood to listen to two Creationists alleging to have inside information on Immortal politics.

Shortly after that, the River Kings declare the rebellion against worship of the Immortals to be rebellion against the crowns, and the anti-worshippers (who often go so far as to vilify the Immortals publicly) are declared traitors subject to summary execution.

In an agony of conscience, Ethe cries herself to sleep in Rozell's arms, and the next day renounces all ties to the movement she has fostered. This does little good, however, for the movement has taken on a life of its own.

Curiosity aroused, Rozell visits the Pact marble to gaze at the soul-ruby he now believes to be his own. It takes a great deal of courage, but he touches his silver ring (which masks the gem) to the ruby, and experiences a muffled jolt. Nothing much happens except that his experiences within the gem intensify a hundred fold, and his problems with his conscience likewise burgeon.

He is pledged to starve out of existence those who have been his friends - even if they've forgotten him. His pledge to Serve the Creator, the greatest, best and holiest thing in his life, is being overridden by a deeper, undeniable compulsion to fulfill his duties to the Pact.

There are moments he regards the gem as his prime enemy, and other moments when it is his very soul.

Later that year, when the crops have been particularly poor, the celebration of All Kings Day becomes a crucial political symbol. All Kings Day is the time when all the River Kings come to the city to worship all the Immortals and present their petitions, as per the terms of the Pact. But with all the Kings present in one spot, it would be a wonderful opportunity for the Hillers to attack.

So, in a large public ceremony held just before the Kings are to arrive, the Immortals are to be petitioned by all the populace to protect the city and the Kings.

All the sects of the City are required to participate. Even the Creationists who usually quietly absent themselves from public adoration of the Immortals dare not fail to appear.

Matham instructs them to dress in their best, and to go through all the motions of worship of the Immortals, but to direct their worship at the Creator and none other. The Creator will save or destroy the River Kingdoms as he chooses, and the Immortals really have no more to say in the matter than mortals do.

At the ceremony, Rozell is profoundly moved by impassioned speeches by the High Priests and Priestesses about loyalty to the Pact which has made the River Kingdoms great and secure these many centuries. When the worship begins, he is caught up in the fervor, unaware that he's responding to the worship accorded Vertum as if he were Vertum, not Rozell. Rozell calls the power of his gem to protect the Kings, and the Creationists standing close to him can see the gem glowing through the chinks in the silver ring.

Here, beyond the wards protecting the Sanctuary of the Creator, the activation of the gem brings immediate contact with Tyrnak.

Tyrnak, finding Rozell for the first time since the day of the battle in the temple, manifests from Vertum's statue and points at Rozell, repeating his curse and adding that the Creationists have been harboring him all these years. Soon there's a riot brewing.

The Creationists flee. The crowd follows, with Tyrnak stomping after, fanning the rage.

Fighting all the way, they reach the steps of the Creator's Sanctuary. Rozell sees Ethe and the elderly priest, Matham, attacked by the mob. Avrul and Yown go to aid them, but are powerless to help. Yown is a particular target for his garb reveals not only that he is Creationist, but Hiller, too. He is separated from the others, and disappears.

Rozell, gripped by the memory of that moment when his mother was crushed by the falling statue, is unable to face another such loss. He turns on Tyrnak and unleashes a blast of power from the gem. Tyrnak, hit squarely, again disappears in a vortex of pyrotechnics.

The mob goes cold silent. They saw the god Vertum vanquished.

There is an ugly muttering, the growing of the mob beast coming to a decision, but before they erupt into a frenzied attack on the Creationists, some of the Creationists who have never quite agreed with the harboring of Rozell, now turn on him, pelting him with stones and noxious substances.

To Rozell's absolute stricken horror, Ethe hesitates only a moment, and joins them in sacrificing him to the mob. The dung she throws hits him square in the chest.

There is a logic to it. He was offered haven on condition he never invoked the gem again, changed his name and never betrayed himself as Rozell-cursed-of-Vertum. He activated the gem, attracted Tyrnak, and betrayed the community that had nurtured him at such risk to themselves. They had every right to turn him out now. But there's nothing out there to go to. The Service to the Creator is his life.

In his moment of abject defeat, he turns and runs into the Creator's Sanctuary and throws himself at the foot of the altar as he did when he was a boy. In tears of remorse and searing guilt, he begs forgiveness, vows eternal service to the Creator even to forsaking his very identity, if only the Creator will save the people he has condemned by his rash act.

He tries to yank off the silver ring and with it the gem embedded in his flesh. All his strength is not sufficient. He's willing to cut the finger off but the ceremonial knife kept at the altar is too dull. He wants to rid himself of the gem and whatever connection it has to Vertum. He wants to be rid of Vertum and just be a priest of the Creator.

He thrusts his whole hand into the core of the Creator's sacred fire, at the center of the nest of mirrors and throws his whole heart and soul into pure lament, seeking the mercy of the Creator, and for a moment, he believes he has been granted mercy.

But then the gem flares hot and brilliant enough to make the silver glow and outshine the sunfire of the Creator. The light races around the Sanctuary, tracing out the links of the warding symbols etched in invisible flame all about the hall. In the wake of that current, the wards go dead.

The inward gasps of the Creationists who have crowded in after Rozell is followed by a triumphal howl of the mob as it overruns Matham and his staff, charging into the hall.

But they are brought up short by a clap of thunder. Tyrnak appears in the glowing pillar of light over the altar. Huge, misty and ferocious, he laughs maniacally and tromps on Rozell's hand, grinding it into the polished metal dishes that form the mirrors and crushing them.

The light dims, but Tyrnak himself glows enough to light the hall.

Determined not to use the gem again, Rozell cries out, "Creator save us!" And somehow his hand comes free of Tyrnak's foot.

Tyrnak only laughs, and declares he will pull down the hall on the heads of the vile Creationists who have harbored the cursed-of-Vertum all these years. And the cursed-of-Vertum will die with all those who refuse the Immortals their due worship.

The mob shrinks back toward the huge doors, but not too swiftly, for they are as entranced by the confrontation as are the Creationists.

As Tyrnak declares he will destroy the Sanctuary, Matham gains his feet again and approaches the altar, thundering in the voice of wrath, "You have defiled the Creator's Sanctuary!"

Nobody can tell if he's aimed that at Rozell or Tyrnak, but he raises his staff, tilting it over Rozell's head to point the calyx knob at Tyrnak, pronouncing banishment on him in an ancient tongue Rozell has begun to study. The banishment uses several phrases he knows.

Tyrnak's form wavers but does not vanish, and Tyrnak laughs, "Where's your Creator now? Impotent and helpless Creator!"

That's too much. Rozell rises up, grasps Matham's staff near the knob, and pits his raging will against Tyrnak, saying the banishment spell with Matham.

New power gathers and the staff throbs and hums, vibrating under their hands, and the calyx on the end toward Tyrnak glows the color of Rozell's gem.

Tyrnak is in trouble, but far from beaten.

Avrul steps up and places his hand over Rozell's, joining their chant.

Tyrnak turns his attack to Rozell's gem, and nearly wrenches control of it from Rozell. Rozell counters by going into the gem himself, possessive fury driving him past his recent desire to rid himself of it.

Tyrnak taunts him that he is a traitor and an oathbreaker, and he'll never be able to give up the gem. Rozell retorts that he could give it up, but not into the control of a menace like Tyrnak.

He redoubles his efforts to gain total possession of it, daring to go deeper than he ever has before. The fragmented memories resolve into a full pattern, and his sense of identity solidifies totally. There is no longer any doubt. He is Vertum.

He remembers the blow from the silver wand, his own silver wand which Tyrnak snatched from his hands. He remembers the fall from Godsbridge, and Tyrnak's savage glee as he tried to force him into the twisted, defective body of a baby destined to be born dead. He remembers how he cast about and found a woman worshipping him at that very moment, a woman laying with her husband and crying out for the blessing of a child.

He took her worship energy, used it to create the gem which housed his soul, his memories and his power, and became that woman's child. By creating that gem and choosing his own mortal mother, he had evaded the fate Tyrnak had chosen for him, and now Tyrnak was trying to wrest possession of the gem from him.

On the next repetition of the banishment chant, Rozell/Truvere/Vertum raises his voice in song, calling in all his hard won skill with tone and vibration.

And Tyrnak vanishes.

The cry of triumph of the Creationists is drowned by the roar of the mob. But Rozell hears Matham groan in despair, "Truvere, what have you done to us?" The old man then collapses over his staff.

Violence erupts between the mob and the Creationists. Rozell turns and charges into the mob, using his bulk and muscle plus the advantage of surprise to crash through the wall of bodies and out into the street.

He takes the role Avrul took for him the first time - he runs, leading the mob away from the Creationists and the Sanctuary.

Losing them, he pauses to steal clothes that don't mark him as a Creationist, but he can't take the ring off. It would have to be cut off, and if it were, it would reveal the gem.

He's pondering this problem when he discovers where Yown has been taken. He's chained up in a cellar with some rough types who have been sold as oarsmen on a river trader's boat. His Creationist garb has been replaced by tattered Hiller wear, and his ring is missing, but it is Yown.

Rozell sets everything else aside and, at considerable risk to himself, rescues Yown, turning the others lose while he's at it.

In return, Yown takes him to a jewel merchant Hiller who cuts Rozell's ring off and replaces it with a thick gold band, masking the jewel. During this, Yown gets some of Rozell's side of the picture, and is guardedly won over. He scrounges a travel pack for Rozell, and helps him disguise himself. Rozell sends him back to the Creationists with the admonition to take care of Ethe - and tell her he's sorry.

Rozell smuggles himself out of the city, makes his way cross country and comes to the next river town. He hires onto a barge crew and works his way to the seaport where he joins a group of pilgrims chartering a ship to take them to Godsbridge island.

As he moves, he garners bits of news. The Creationists have been driven from Shrine City and are being hunted through the swamps. All Creationists are declared Outlaw in the Eight Kingdoms. Hiller armies have crossed into the territory of the Allied Kings. War is imminent. The Pact is or is not still in force. The gods are or are not on the side of the River Kingdoms. He even hears songs about himself. Every bit of rumor is contradicted by another, but the gist is that the Allied Kingdoms are not going to survive.

Rozell sees climbing Godsbridge as his only possible move. He has to confront Tyrnak on his own ground and throw him down into mortality where death will put an end to him, death in the war he, himself, has started.

Then he has to reunite the Immortals behind the River Kings, re-establish the Pact and oust the Hiller Armies. Then he has to convince the Kings that the Creationists harbored Vertum, not the cursed of Vertum, and because of Creationist charity, the Kingdoms have survived. Only three of the five tasks were impossible.

And Rozell feels wholly deserted by the Creator. His pleas for mercy and deliverance were ignored. He must regain his Immortality if he were to make amends for the disaster he's caused. And it would have to be by his own strength, for clearly there would be no help from the Creator.

As he travels toward Godsbridge island, he remembers Avrul's insistence that Immortals were an unnecessary and crippling crutch for mortals. That people had to learn to rely on their own understanding of the world and themselves to make things work. Well, that was just exactly what he'd have to do.

But he also mulls over the battle at the altar. His touch on Matham's staff had done something to the gem, and to him. This is the first time he's retained his sense of identity, and for lack of a better term, his soul, after withdrawing from the gem. It still seems to house his power, but he now feels he possesses himself fully. And he believes beyond any doubt that the Creationists' ancestors made Godsbridge, probably with that very staff that Matham carries.

There's more, but it blurs and hazes beyond his grasp.

By the time Rozell gets to the root of Godsbridge, he has come to know some of the Pilgrims he's travelling with and is hard put to resist the temptation to tell them his true identity and his true mission. It occurs to him, as it has to some of the others, that teamwork may be necessary to survive the climb.

But Rozell's instincts are to keep his own council.

And it's just as well. No sooner does he set foot into the mist that is the anchor of Godsbridge, than he loses all contact and touch with the others who are no more than arms' reach from him. Each must do this alone.

He walks for what seems like a day, unable to see a thing, and then he becomes aware that the squishy footing under his boots seems to be tilting up.

He struggles and slogs along interminably. Exhaustion finally overtakes him, and it becomes a desperate struggle just to put one foot in front of the other. Depression and despair nibble away at him as it seems for all the effort, he gets nowhere. It's no use. He's dead.

But something in him can't give up that easily, and he slogs onwards. He tries using the gem to create a light or penetrate the mist, but the glow is swallowed up inches from his hand. He can only see the glow if he puts his hand to his eyes.

His clothes disintegrate. His skin is encased in a frothy substance that blocks off sensation. There's no sound.

It is sensory deprivation at its worst, and the task is to keep slogging, getting nowhere, fighting fatigue and an immense sleepiness.

His mind plays tricks and he forgets why he's doing this. He experiences the hallucinations of sensory deprivation. But he struggles on, even walking into walls of flame that don't roar, and defying mobs bent on killing him. He fights Tyrnak-ghosts several times and is humiliated. This soaks up much of his energy, but he fights each time nevertheless. In the end, he's glad of it because a non-ghostly Tyrnak appears and gets in a few good licks before Rozell can counter.

Depleted as he is by the encounter, Rozell is ashamed to find himself chasing after the retreating god-figure, begging him to come back. He can't bear the isolation any longer.

He tries to worship the Creator, and can't find the energy or concentration. He tries singing, and can't hear his own voice, or even feel his throat vibrating when he puts his hand to his larynx.

It seems to have been a week or more that he's been at this, and now he's crawling on all fours, sobbing and totally defeated. He's not even sure if he's still moving his limbs at all, or if maybe he's just dreaming that, too.

But still, he's not quitting. He comes to a place where the grade seems to become suddenly steeper. Somehow, he forces himself to his feet and staggers on. But he no longer thinks he's going to make it.

And then there's light. Way in the distance, a window seems to have opened, and an image glows through the mist - Ethe. Warm, vibrant, invigorating energy flows to him, better than a full meal, better than a night's sleep. It goes on and on, and then suddenly peters out.

A part of him recognizes what happened. Ethe, somewhere on earth below, had gone to a shrine of Vertum and worshipped him. He can't discover why this improbable miracle happened, he can only accept it.

But in pursuing the distant image, he finds he's surmounted the nearly vertical grade and has emerged from the mist into blue brightness.

He seems to be standing on top of the arcing structure of Godsbridge, in the middle of the sky. He can see the ground below, and featureless blueness above. He recognizes the place. It is where Tyrnak defeated him and cast him down. He is so sure of it, he even looks about to see if his silver wand is still there.

When he picks up his feet, he moves at a good clip, riding the flush of worship-energy radiating from his now glowing gem. The gold band is gone. When he looks down, he hardly recognizes his body. But then he does. It is Vertum's body, not Rozell's.

It hardly seems long at all until he comes to a wall of thin white mist. If is intermittent and hazy memory serves him, this must be the last challenge. Those nearly defeated by the mists below would not be able to bear the thought of another such ordeal. Tarrying too long here, they'd sink into the quicksand-like bridge and be vanquished.

Bracing himself, he plunges on through and comes out on a grass covered mountain top, rimmed around with sheer drops. There is no way to climb down.

In the center of the meadow is a lake, crystal clear and sparkling in the diffuse blue light. He starts toward the lake, and is confronted by a ferocious creature twice his height and ugly enough to scare any mortal out of his wits.

"What are you doing here?" it challenges, offended.

The tone of recognition and mild outrage triggers a deeply buried memory, one he never had access to as Vertum or as Rozell. This is the Guardian of the Realms. And it knows him from his last passage through here.

The Guardian advises him that in having succeeded in climbing Godsbridge twice, he has earned the right to restored memory and powers as Vertum, and he may choose to add a set of powers to his abilities. He may also choose a new name.

Vertum feels that the powers he has already are more than he can manage, and he has enough names to confuse a royal heir. He doesn't want any more, but the Guardian insists tempting him with great things. At his repeated refusals, he offers in exasperation, "Well, then you can have the power to take and use the worship-energy garnered by other gods! You won't be the only one. See how much good it will do you!"

"What!" It all clicks into place. Now he knows how Tyrnak got his power to steal energy. Of course, that would be a war god's dream come true. And he is sorely tempted. He might be able to equal or best Tyrnak then. But if he did beat Tyrnak, what would he do with the power afterward? Wouldn't everyone feel about him just about as they must feel about Tyrnak? "No. I don't want that, either!"

The Guardian is shocked. He hasn't anything else to offer, and Vertum has to take SOMETHING or he can't get into the Realms. So in desperation, Vertum says he'll take the power to traverse Godsbridge at will without being impeded by the mists and visions. He wants to be able to manifest in the mortal world as Rozell or in godform as he chooses. Furthermore, he wishes to keep all his memories intact regardless of his manifesting form.

Apparently, the choosing of powers is some kind of test, and they are offered in ascending order of potency until temptation overcomes good sense and the candidate takes the power. When he'd rejected the ultimate, power over his fellow Immortals, Vertum had earned the right to almost anything he could imagine.

However, this one takes some arranging. A length the Guardian sends him into the lake with instructions to dive straight down and keep going.

This too is another test, not without its dangers. The exit into the gods' Realms is at the bottom of the lake, but even at this stage, the candidate could drown or lose heart and surface. He wouldn't get a second chance.

Thinking of Tyrnak and what he'll do if not stopped, Vertum hyperventilates and dives, clutching hard onto his determination to succeed.

It takes all he has, too, for the magnitude of the power he's demanded is greater than any that has ever been granted. The difficulty of getting through the lake is proportionate to the power to be conferred.

He does emerge, however, onto the emerald green hillside on a balmly spring day. This is the same point where he emerged as Vertum the first time, and he realizes it must be where all new Immortals emerge, their memories wiped clean.

But his is intact. He will not know if he really has garnered the power to traverse the bridge until he tries it.

But he now tries out his ordinary powers, the ones shared by all gods. He dresses himself in fine style with no more fuss than a gesture and a thought. Grinning, he conjures a mirror and inspects himself. Then he notices the gem has gone jet black.

He had half expected it to be gone. If it was just something he created to carry his powers in, and if his powers were now restored, then it should have dissolved along with all the rest of his mortal being. But there it is.

The blackness reflects perfectly. Squinting at the image of himself in that mirror, he watches enthralled as the image shifts and changes, showing him Matham's staff bobbing along in mid-air. He exerts will, and gets the image to show Matham carrying the staff through a swamp. A bit more, and he sees that Ethe and Avrul are beside him, others strung out ahead and behind. Many of the group survived, then. But Matham limps, and his face is beaded with the perspiration of effort. He looks ten years older than before the battle in the Sanctuary, but he survived to lead his people to safety.

Vertum's grin widens. Not only can he traverse the bridge and become flesh, he has a better source of news from that world than any other Immortal. Experimenting, he discovers he can focus on any of Vertum's temples.

Unlike other new Immortals, he already is being worshipped and he feels the strength of that energy flowing into him.

He also notices written words floating in the air around him, some whole sheets of words, others odd scraps and fragments of texts. Ghostly and smoky, the words are wafted on the breezes, and he realizes these are petitions aimed at him. They shouldn't be whirling about him like this.

Their presence means that his home, and his energy-well have been destroyed, for petitions should appear only on the well itself. He is as homeless as a new Immortal. He captures one particularly whole and vivid petition, written in a familiar hand. And as he gets a closer look, he sees it is from Ethe. It asks him, in the name of the Creator, to vanquish Tyrnak from the realms of the Immortals. Tyrnak, Ethe has discovered, was ousted from the Desert tribes by the desert Creationists, and so has dedicated himself to destroying the entire Creationist community. Since, as Rozell, he took oath to serve the Creator, as Vertum, he must stop Tyrnak.

In two brief vividly etched lines, she adds that she's sorry for throwing dung at him, and she loves him still. The truth of that comes across via this medium as it never could with the spoken word. Vertum hugs the missive to him and sets out for his own realm, more determined than ever.

There, he discovers shocking devastation. All is rubble, cold and dark. The tumbled remains of his energy Well pulse feebly, unable to store worship-energy.

He is beginning to clean up and put things in order when Idalia shows up, surprised but pleased to see him, and he tells her he was indeed Rozell. "I could have used some help."

"Well, I have been helping." She reports what she's discovered of Tyrnak's doings among the Hillers' Immortals.

"When I couldn't find Rozell, I told your friend Avrul that Tyrnak's campaign against the Creationists is no accident. It's the point of all this. He was driven from his desert home because the newly powerful Creationists among the tribes there wanted peace, not war. Starving, he arrived among the Hiller Immortals and began to foment trouble. He was so obnoxious, they wanted to get rid of him, and since he had so little worship energy they had no trouble throwing him down into mortality. Or at least they thought they had. He must have just escaped to someplace else where they do worship war gods because here he is again, and more powerful than ever."

Vertum lets that stand, for he's not sure how good an idea it is to tell Immortals they can get more power by climbing twice. Now he sees how Tyrnak's second climb came about, and how he got the power to steal worship-energy. His desire for revenge against Creationists must have sustained him through the mists. It's also now clear how Ethe discovered that Tyrnak was driven out of the desert tribes by Creationists.

Idalia reports that when Tyrnak returned, he sold a scheme to the Hiller Kings, promising to crack the unassailable defenses of the River Kingdoms if they would instigate a formal worship of him immediately. They figured the experiment wouldn't cost them much, even if Tyrnak didn't deliver, and they created him a priesthood complete with temple.

"It must have been shortly after that that he attacked you," she finishes. "But I'm glad you're back."

He tells her of the war below and his friends in the thick of it, and tries to get her to help him organize the Pact Immortals against Tyrnak. She can't understand why he's so concerned for a few mortals. They worship better when they're in a little trouble.

"Of course Tyrnak mustn't succeed in destroying the Creationists totally, but the fewer they are the better off we are. Let him play on a while."

Vertum is shocked at her attitude, but he knows he should have expected it.

She says she's tired from her long trip, and she'll think about his ideas. And she takes off for her own realm.

Vertum turns his attention to putting his realm in order. First he tackles the energy-well. He recreates the well-like structure, on the roof of which the petitions appear. And he once had a clever arrangement of "plumbing" leading to a "bathhouse" where he could immerse himself in the warmth and comfort of his energy.

Supporting such luxuries was one reason he did so many Acts, but as he works to restore his abode, he gradually recalls what the silver rod was all about.

He had been an Immortal for a very long time, and he suspected that he'd been one of the first to climb. Bored with idleness, he'd begun researching the nature of worship-energy and the Realms themselves. And he'd discovered a way to crystallize worship-energy into a form that could exist as a solid in the mortal realm.

The silver rod was just such an object, designed to be a miracle working tool that could be used by mortals to sustain their own lands in abundance without his help.

It had been his scheme to get free of the Pact and go travelling the far Realms of the non-Pact gods. Originally he'd just wanted to relieve boredom, but as he worked continuously at fulfilling mortal petitions, he'd come to appreciate the difficulties of mortal life, and his objective had become to provide them with the pride in self-sufficiency his silver rod device could bring.

It really had not been so very far from Creationist objectives, self-respect gained through strength and accomplishment with a keen awareness of free will decisions and their consequences.

As he toils at restoring his realm, he finds himself thinking as the Creationists trained him to. He is almost at the point where he can admit the hand of the Creator moving events, blasting Tyrnak loose from his comfortable niche and sending him to throw Vertum down into mortality. The Creator had led him to the Sanctuary the first time, and perhaps had arranged for his betrayal of their trust so that he'd have to climb again.

By the time he manages to clean up the stray petitions floating around and confine them all to the well roof, he dismisses the notion that the Creator is guiding him even now. What he's accomplished, he's done on his own.

At that moment, Tyrnak finds him. He wreaks casual destruction about the place, establishing that he, too, has the keys to this realm and he is letting Vertum exist here on sufferance. If Vertum behaves himself, he won't be molested any further. Then Tyrnak leaves, swallowing Vertum's meek act and his assertion that he snuck past the lake without gaining any extra powers, and emerged directly from the bridge into the broken well.

Tyrnak, being no scholar or researcher, doesn't know enough about the laws of nature in the Realms to realize what hogwash this is.

Vertum is sorry he didn't take a new name and found a new realm for himself, one he could defend from Tyrnak.

But even so, he's not going to "behave himself."

Checking the progress of the war via his well - which connects him to all the Vertum-temples, and to every worshipper of Vertum, he realizes that he must Act, and his only hope against Tyrnak is to move and keep moving faster than the war-god can follow.

Currently, all the Pact Immortals as well as Tyrnak himself are engaged in the struggle. Tyrnak's pranks are setting the eight River Kings against one another, and they are failing to loan each other troops and supplies and to cover one another's flanks. There are twenty-two Immortals, and eight Kingdoms - three Immortals for each of seven Kingdoms, and only one for the eighth. Each King is determined not to be the eighth, which would no doubt get the absent Vertum. Such a weak kingdom would be fed to the Hillers to appease them.

Vertum also picks up clues to some of Tyrnak's schemes to play off the Immortals against each other, fomenting a war among Immortals fought over the gaining of numbers of worshippers. Tyrnak has laid intricate schemes within schemes, so that although the Immortals are squaring off to fight each other as the humans fight each other, the Creationists are taking the blame for making war necessary.

Vertum climbs into his well, and descends to the mortal plane in his godform. Visiting his own High Priest in Shrine City, he demands a comprehensive list of the most deserving petitions of the last few weeks, ones that would most aid the war effort. He then makes the same demand of all the Priests of Vertum manning the outlying temples, and compares the lists, setting up priorities.

He also explains that he is the real Vertum. They can distinguish the impostor-Vertum by his deeds and manner.

He spends the next few days doing Acts for the war effort. He makes the few fields that have escaped destruction productive enough to feed everyone. He multiplies the fish in the river, endows the cows with milk, spurs cheese making, and causes the chickens to lay an abundance of eggs.

He provides birds whose each and every feather is useful for fletching arrows. He speeds up the spinners and weavers' operation to provide good woolen uniforms for the soldiers. He raises a vein of iron to the surface to provide an abundance of horseshoes, arrowheads, armor and wagon parts.

He brightens the minds of the soldiers in training so they may learn faster and better, and he banishes fatigue from those in the fields, so they may fight longer and more cleverly. He brings a horse herder safely across a tricky bit of mountain pass so the trained war horses arrive. Nevermind they're destined for Hiller troops. He arranges for an interception.

In many of his operations, he counters some miracle of Tyrnak designed to escalate the war, or weaken the Pact. His triumphs are small, and mostly private. He knows he doesn't have enough energy yet to challenge Tyrnak, who is being worshipped with mad fervor all over the extensive battle fronts.

While he's doing all this, he encounters his fellow Pact Immortals, and in these brief encounters discovers that his tactics in getting the most of his mandated power of abundance seem mysterious to them. Creative thinking is not a strong point of Immortals accustomed to centuries of sameness.

His exotic suggestions for how they might employ their powers to like ends meet with cold rejection. Gradually, from remarks here and there, he comes to understand that Idalia has let out his story of being Rozell and vowing to the Creator, then climbing the bridge a second time.

 

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WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN TYRNAK HEARS THE CONFLICTING STORY OF THE CLIMB?

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His Acts are viewed by his fellow Immortals with suspicion, for they've become used to treachery and deception among themselves since Tyrnak has been stirring things up. They aren't sure if he's Tyrnak masquerading as Vertum doing these things or Vertum acting to destroy Immortals as the Creationists want. Either way, they have no use for Vertum, the Traitor who abandoned his Pact duties and brought all this about.

Vertum feels this rejection very keenly. He's a traitor in the eyes of most of the Creationists, and he's a traitor to his fellow Immortals.

Wearied by depression, he slogs forward with his plan. Using his gem, which is still black when he's in godform on the mortal plane, he keeps tabs on the overall shape of the war and applies the sharp reasoning abilities honed through years of education among the Creationists to target his efforts where they'll do the most good for the Pact.

It isn't long before his efforts are noticed and rumors of the return of the bounteous Vertum of old circulate. Worship energy pours into his well, and he feels stronger and more vigorous. He recycles it in ever larger and more ambitions projects, once or twice over-reaching his abilities and disappointing people.

As the summer and the war progresses, he supplies rain in abundance to bog down the Hiller troops. This swells the rivers and he has a fine time keeping them from washing away loyal townships where his other manufacturing projects are under way.

As his reputation grows, the Kings begin to petition him, and he appears to them and announces his intention to deliver all the Acts he has not performed during the last few decades, but they must stop their troops from worshipping Tyrnak. It only gives Tyrnak the energy to Act against the Allied Kings.

They promise to try, but don't expect to succeed. Despite any amount of abundant materiel available to the Allied Kings through Vertum's largesse, the Hillers are winning because the Hiller troops are almost invincible in battle. Their battle-god is seen as the one to worship in order to survive.

Vertum argues that Creator is stronger than even Tyrnak, or all the Immortals together. He tells how he was Rozell, harbored by the Creationists until he could return to his duties as Vertum. He pleads for the Kings to sanction and support the Creationists, but to no avail, for even a King can't change public opinion by decree. The people hate the Creationists for depriving and weakening the gods when their strength is needed most.

Feeling abandoned, Vertum decides he must challenge Tyrnak in the mortal battlefield, and let the mortals see the gods contending. If he could beat Tyrnak, that would turn the tide. Maybe the other Pact Immortals would be importuned by their worshippers to reunite and join his efforts.

His blackened gem does not work as a weapon, as it once did. He no longer has the ability to force Tyrnak out of manifestation - for whatever good that ever did. He bends his mind to it and decides that the only weapon of his that Tyrnak ever feared was the silver rod.

In that last confrontation, the battle-skilled Immortal had snatched the wand away from Vertum and used it against him. It had knocked Vertum down into mortality. Perhaps it could do the same against Tyrnak, if he could just land one solid blow.

The last he'd seen of the wand, however, it had been sailing free through the air along with him as he pitched off Godsbridge. Tyrnak had lost his hold on it when he'd struck that telling blow.

Vertum, however, thinks he can find it, given time and patience. It is his worship-energy, and should thus appear in either the gem or his well, just as a temple does.

Thinking of a head-on confrontation, Vertum is glad that he chose the ability to traverse Godsbridge. If he gets thrown down again, he should have no trouble climbing. The problem is that it might take him twenty years to grow up again, and if that happened, this war and his beloved Ethe would all be of the far past.

As he comes back to his now overflowing well, he begins to plan his strategy against Tyrnak, and realizes that the well itself is his achilles heel. Tyrnak can drain his energies in a snap, should he decide to do so. That was probably why he'd just lain back and let Vertum evoke all that worship doing Acts against the Hillers. Tyrnak felt invulnerable.

Without trying, Vertum can feel the hot shame of being made traitor again. Tyrnak had only to take this worship-energy, energy accorded Vertum for Acts designed to oppose the Hillers and protect the Allied Kings' troops, and use it against those very Allied troops. Vertum would be the very worst sort of traitor.

Infuriated at the idea of how Tyrnak has trapped him, Vertum paces madly, concocting ever wilder schemes. At length, he grasps at a truly mad idea, and doesn't give himself too much time to think it through. It will work only if the Creator is on his side, and although he's seen some mysterious miracles out on the battlefield, he's not at all sure the Creator doesn't regard him as a traitor, too.

He prays, "Let me make amends." But he doesn't tarry over the thought. He has to move fast if he's to out-maneuver Tyrnak, and so he takes himself down to Shrine City, to the Pact marble itself.

Using his Vertum powers, the very same power that incised his name into the marble, he invokes the Creator, and removes his name and repossesses his soul-ruby. He has to stage his confrontation before anyone notices his name is gone - for they might assume this means he's deserting the Eight Kingdoms. They could turn against him and cut off his worship just when he needs it most.

To guard against this, he keeps a constant flow of minor miracles going, Acts that don't take much concentration or attention.

He does however take some time to adjust to the new feeling washing through him, a relief so profound it leaves him weak. The constant driving compulsion to fulfill the Pact is gone. The shackling loyalty to the other twenty-one Immortals is gone. He is free to be a Servant of the Creator. He falls down before the Pact and repeats his vows to the Creator in the most heartfelt outpouring since the day he first came to the Creator's altar.

But he does not forget his purpose. He needs the ruby to be able to fulfill his vow to the Pact, which if cancelled by his removing his name, still binds him by his naked word.

He takes his soul-ruby up to his Realm, and using the most powerful and sacred Creationist liturgy he knows, he invokes the Creator's protection around the well and installs the ruby to guard it. He uses the ruby, and the properties of the Realms, combined with the knowledge of the mortal universes provided by the Creationists, to set bright and powerful wards around the well, wards stronger and more formidable than those which protected the Sanctuary.

He is mindful that Tyrnak had no trouble breaking the Sanctuary wards once Rozell had invoked the power of the gem at the altar. But he and the gem will not be here.

With the wards in place, Vertum uses the well to search for the silver wand. Instead he finds the Shrine City Creationist refugees.

They have established themselves in an archaic and crumbling Temple of Vertum, using the old building as their headquarters. They are camped in lean-to's and bush shelters all around, eeking out a bare living from the edible mosses farmed by the swamp-dwellers and marketed down the river.

And then he discovers the silver wand, in the hands of Avrul, who is standing with Matham and Ethe in the Temple of Vertum, discussing what must be done to consecrate and ward it as a Sanctuary of the Creator. From their conversation, he learns this Temple of Vertum is the original Sanctuary of the Creator established on this side of the mountains by desert refugees thousands of years ago. It was abandoned when the Creationists dwindled, and then it was converted to the worship of Vertum.

Vertum takes this as a sign from the Creator that he's back in favor. Somehow all that's happened makes a kind of sense.

The Creationists feel very safe in their hideaway, and it seems this is because this Sanctuary is more than just a building. It is somehow a very special place, but Vertum does not discover how it is special. He's disconcerted to hear they are planning to deface the statues of Vertum in the Temple. He's pleased however, to hear Ethe oppose the plan, even though she loses the debate.

The moment Avrul is left alone in the temple/sanctuary, Vertum uses one of the Vertum-statues to manifest to Avrul. After getting reacquainted, Vertum brings Avrul up to date. Avrul has heard of Vertum's renewed activity, and has been hoping that Rozell succeeded in taking his place back, but warns him that Matham is violently opposed to Vertum/Rozell whom he now sees as a traitor who can never be trusted.

Vertum dares to tell Avrul that he's removed his name from the Pact and belongs wholly to the Creator now. He explains why he must do what he's about to try, and what role the silver wand must play. He then instructs Avrul to keep it behind the wards of the Creator until he comes for it.

He has Avrul put it into the hand of one of the Vertum statues still intact, and then he uses the power of abundance and the energy from his overflowing well to duplicate the rod (though the duplicates don't have the dense power of the original), so that each of the Vertum statues has a rod. Then he casts the illusion of stone coloring around the rods. Nobody would notice if a Vertum of a minor shrine carried a device which might once have had significance to the locals.

As he works, he makes up a tale which he tells Avrul over his shoulder, a tale of some Act Vertum once performed here which caused this Temple to be consecrated to him. It's half memory and half fabrication to account for the rods each statue carries.

He leaves, admonishing Avrul to see that the Creator's wards are set more strongly than in Shrine City's sanctuary, and he explains that once battle is joined, he will call the rod and all the statues will then lose their rods.

"I didn't know Vertum could translocate material," replies Avrul wonderingly. "I thought only Abaris could do that."

"Too true." Vertum is relying on a theory, and the grace of the Creator. He expects that once wards are set here, that he can connect his warded well with this temple because both are simultaneously dedicated to the Creator and to Vertum, and he'll be able to touch the wand just as if it were stored in his well where it was made. "This is going to be complicated, and if you deface my statues here, that may ruin everything. I don't know. Maybe not. But see if you can convince Matham it's not necessary."

Doing some quick creative thinking, Vertum uses his power, and gifts one of the statues with multiple faces so that if one is chiseled away, it's features will reappear in the stone several times. "If Matham insists, then see that they try this statue first," he instructs Avrul.

"I didn't know you could do that either. Are you sure it will work?"

"Certainly," I hope.

"You know, you're not Vertum at all," muses Avrul, and Vertum has a bad moment thinking he's about to be rejected by the only one who believes in him. "You're Truvere," adds Avrul affectionately, "the same crazy Truvere I always knew."

Vertum laughs, and confides behind a shielding hand, "You know, I'd rather be Truvere. Being Immortal isn't all it's said to be."

Vertum departs on that light-hearted note, but the amusement wanes swiftly once he's on his way. If he can't pull off the trick of fetching the rod to him through the well, it could easily be the end of him.

He goes to set up his challenge of Tyrnak. He arranges things so that Tyrnak will feel confident and superior, and he meets Tyrnak on the field of battle in a carefully orchestrated event touted to decide and end the war one way or the other.

The other twenty-one Immortals are aghast. Vertum doesn't have the authority to take it all on himself, and he's sure to lose. They try to stop him, but events move too fast, and Vertum sees the hand of the Creator in the way random events are conspiring to aid him this time. He challenges the other Pact Immortals to guard his back, making sure that none of the Hiller Immortals take part against him. "This is just between Tyrnak and me."

Vertum has learned a great deal since his last fight with Tyrnak. Most of what he's learned, however, has not been the martial arts. When battle is joined, Vertum does much worse than he'd intended.

Much sooner in the contest than he'd hoped, he has to reach out to draw the silver rod to him, but realizing that his opponent's only weakness is his blithe confidence, Vertum desperately tries something he hadn't considered before. He draws to him one of the copy-rods, hoping it will stay separate from the others.

As he expects, Tyrnak captures it from his grasp in just a few moves, gloating about how he'd beaten Vertum with that very weapon before.

Then Vertum draws in the genuine rod, letting it absorb all the copies and become even more powerful. It looks the same, but it hits harder. He's hoping Tyrnak won't realize this until it's too late.

But power isn't everything in battle. Tyrnak avoids Vertum's blows and lands enough of his own to knock Vertum silly. Tyrnak drives him back, and half by choice half by Tyrnak's relentless will, he finds himself retreating up Godsbridge, hoping his power to traverse the bridge will let him pass where Tyrnak can't. Tyrnak doesn't know Vertum's choice of power on his second trip through the fountain.

Tyrnak pursues him doggedly. The mists confuse and distract Tyrnak at first, however the war god has a formidable will and the trained focus of a warrior. He boasts that he defeated Vertum on the bridge the first time, and he found Rozell on the bridge the second time and would have vanquished him permanently then but for the interference of the cursed Creationists worshipping where they had no right. This time, however, he won't lose.

Even with his advantage of being able to walk the bridge as if it were a sunlit highway, Vertum is hard put to lose Tyrnak who dogs his steps as if Vertum is carrying a lantern to lead him. It finally dawns on Vertum what Tyrnak's advantage over him is - Tyrnak can tap into Vertum's power and energy. Vertum's gem, black or colorless, is his power, and Tyrnak can track and possess it for himself anywhere any time.

The mists are no barrier while he homes in on the gem. So his own power to walk the bridge freely is also partially available to Tyrnak, thanks to Vertum's refusal to change his name.

At this point, Tyrnak invades Vertum's gem and causes it to project an image of what's happening below, in the Creationist's Sanctuary in the swamp.

Hiller soldiers have over run the clearing and have chained the Creationists they haven't killed outright to the pillars of the Sanctuary. At the moment when Vertum withdrew the silver wand and its power, the Sanctuary wards had collapsed. Now, the Hillers are in the midst of consecrating the Sanctuary to the worship of Tyrnak with a blood-sacrifice offering of Creationists butchered on what had once been the Creator's own altar.

Vertum's chances suddenly seem paper thin and hopeless. He falters, and Tyrnak gets in a few good licks that leave Vertum prostrate.

They are on the arc of bridge that overlooks the mortal world. Tyrnak is right behind him, and in the very spot where he was defeated before, Tyrnak prepares to deliver the last blow. Vertum is driven to the edge where he fell last time, and below, he sees the Hiller Immortals and the Pact Immortals fighting just as the largest battle between Hiller troops and Allied Kingdom's troops is engaged. The Immortals wreak more wanton destruction upon the once fertile land than the soldiers. And the Pact forces are losing.

While he's staring aghast at this, Tyrnak comes at him swinging the silver rod just as he did last time. Vertum lets go his hold on the bridge and uses both hands to swing his silver rod which connects resoundingly with Tyrnak's copy, and in ringing reverberation, absorbs Tyrnak's weapon.

But in that instant, Vertum falls, knocked out by the force of the connecting blows of the silver rods. He hangs onto the rod this time, though.

He lands on Tyrnak's altar inside the Sanctuary/Temple in the swamp, surrounded by chained creationists and Tyrnak priests. But he's in Rozell's body with the clear colorless gem embedded in his finger, the silver rod under him, embedding itself into the altar stone.

His arrival disrupts the scheduled sacrifice, and Rozell is chained with the other Creationists while the priests retreat to consider the matter of Tyrnak's wishes, although nearly half of them feel they should sacrifice Rozell first, since he was so neatly provided.

Matham, Ethe, Yown, and Avrul are among those chained up awaiting sacrifice, and as soon as the priests leave, an argument breaks out about whether they should even speak to Rozell. Matham is the leader of the faction that refuses to trust Rozell with a word, but in the argument it slips out that they have a plan.

Because Rozell was privy to Avrul's crisis of conscience about the use of Matham's staff, he deduces what the Creationists are planning. They have heard of the wild destruction being caused by the warring Immortals, and believe they have no choice but to attempt the destruction of Godsbridge.

Rozell feels that's terribly drastic. It should be sufficient to destroy Tyrnak, though he's lost hope of doing that himself.

He tries to deal himself into their plans, but Matham and many of the other seniors flatly refuse to trust a traitor.

Exasperated, Rozell tries to prove his allegiance by setting them all free. This is quite easy since this time he retains all his Vertum memories and he knows just how to apply the power of the gem - and there's plenty of worship energy pouring through is well.

In its white form, the gem itself is quite a weapon. It's hardly a matter of minutes until all the chained Creationist leaders are free. They accept that, but still refuse to trust him, saying he abuses power and has no control of the gem. Rather it controls him.

Avrul helps him explain about the Pact ruby compulsion, but they're not buying that. Only a fool trusts a proven traitor, and if they'd known of his previous vows they'd never have let him vow to the Creator, for if a person is willing to break one vow to make another, what could possibly keep them true to the second?

The argument wakens all Rozell's inner torments. By accepting the Creator, he's a traitor to his own kind. But by refusing the Creator, he's a traitor to his own deepest self. Looking far into himself, he discovers that his sojourn as a mortal triggered off deep and abiding changes that simply could not have happened when he was Immortal.

Furthermore, looking at Ethe - who can't keep her eyes off Rozell though Yown is right there - looking at Avrul who has come to mean so much to him, Rozell realizes that the boredom he was so desperate to escape as an Immortal simply can't exist among the intense, deep, meaningful and growth inducing relationships of mortals. Immortals don't relate to each other because they're not in any way dependent on each other. There can't be a relationship where there is no meaningful interchange of values.

He goes to the altar and takes one of the sacrificial knives consecrated to Tyrnak, offers it up to the Creator, and gouges the gem out of his finger nearly slicing the finger off in the process.

Fountaining blood, fighting a screaming pain and a hideous panic that was more than from the injury, he gives the gem to Ethe.

Her fingers closing over it wring a scream from him and he drops to his knees. Instantly, she becomes the healer again, and her touch on the gem soothes his soul. His wound stops bleeding. They begin to understand the intimate connection between him and the gem, and he explains Tyrnak's connection to it. It would be best to destroy it, and if that destroy's him, then so be it. However, they realize that they don't have time to destroy the gem. An object like that really can't be destroyed, but only neutralized and incarcerated beyond mortal reach.

But they are all impressed by his action. In his gem resides his power, and that means the power to climb Godsbridge. He says he won't need that power again since the bridge will be gone. He willingly sacrifices his immortality and his power.

The battle that has raged on the fields now reaches close to the Sanctuary in the swamp, and outside, the Hillers form up and march off to battle, taking most of the priests of Tyrnak with them. The consecration is postponed, and so the discovery that the prisoners have escaped is postponed. They see the hand of the Creator in this, and the Creator's approval of Rozell.

They clear away the signs of Tyrnak's altar and quickly rededicate it to the Creator, bringing Matham's staff out of hiding.

It is almost noon, and they have the power to open the roof to let the sunlight - what filters through the trees - into the temple.

They plant the staff on the altar, and Rozell learns the last of the secrets of the Creationists. Here, under this altar, resides the power to destroy Godsbridge, and Matham's staff is the key that unlocks that power. He has to remove the silver wand which had embedded itself inconspicuously in the stone of the altar when he materialized there. Then Matham's staff goes into a socket in the middle of the altar, and the bowl of reflecting metal mirrors rises from the edges of the altar to focus the sunlight.

Rozell is quickly coached in the words of a secret verse to a common liturgical melody, so that he can sing the invocation while Matham pushes his staff down into the altar. When it has disappeared into the stone, it will activate the power residing below. At that point, anything might happen. The last time staff and source were joined, it created Godsbridge - or so legend has it.

At first Rozell croaks out the notes, and thinks that his voice went when he gave up the gem, but he feels Ethe's steady hand on the gem, and finds the power of music rising like a tide.

As the sun arcs to its apex, the power gathers, and soon they are all feeling the strain. Just when Rozell is daring to believe they're going to succeed, Tyrnak appears bearing in his hand Vertum's soul-ruby. He claims that when the Creator's Sanctuary was dedicated to him by the sacrifice of a Creator (which happened just before Vertum was thrown from the bridge), he gained access to Vertum's well, the ruby and all the energy there. And now he has total control of Rozell's will, and he's come to put an end to the Creationists.

Matham collapses and dies, but before the power can explode outward uncontrolled, Avrul smoothly steps in and takes his place as successor.

Tyrnak is unimpressed. He uses the ruby to stop Rozell from singing.

Ethe steps forward and clumsily uses the gem to fight off the compulsion of the ruby.

Rozell's voice booms out again, and the power of the Creator's Servants grows again. Avrul manages to shove the staff another few inches in.

Tyrnak reaches out a huge, tenuous arm and grabs the face of one of the Vertum statues, laughing into Rozell's face as he crushes the image. Rozell feels the pain as his own.

Ethe's healer's touch restores him, and the white gem glows. The same white light pulses out from the cage at the top of Avrul's staff, illuminating the gem there. Rozell sings out another refrain. Avrul gets another bit of staff to sink.

Meanwhile, the face that Tyrnak crushed regenerates. It is the statue Vertum gimmicked to replace its face a few times. Rozell grins in that direction, and Tyrnak sees what's happened and gapes.

Rozell intuitively realizes that the god is not all that sure he can defeat the Creator, and that uncertainty may be their only real ally.

Holding the ruby between two fingers as if aiming a weapon at one of the statues, Tyrnak reaches out and snatches off one of the heads. Vertum's power of being able to manipulate matter is tapped. Tyrnak drops the head on one of the reflecting mirrors nesting about the altar, disrupting the concentration of sunlight from which the Creator's power flows.

Rozell snatches up the silver rod and uses it to restore the flow of concentrated energy at the center of the altar. Tyrnak eyes the rod with astonishment, never having suspected it was anything but a weapon. Avrul's staff sinks a little deeper. Tyrnak, tiring of playing games, reaches down and snatches up Ethe bodily, grappling with her to get at the gem, which now glows brightly.

Rozell's voice chokes off, and only Avrul's look restrains him from jumping up onto the altar to fight Tyrnak. As Tyrnak's attention is diverted, the staff sinks a bit deeper.

Struggling without regard for her own pain, Ethe tosses the gem to Avrul.

Rozell feels the change of touch deep in his gut, and feels at that moment that he must surely die. But Avrul inserts the gem into the cage at the top of the staff where it touches the gem that's already there and is somehow absorbed into one piece with that gem.

The staff lurches deeper into the altar stone.

To Rozell everything goes black, the universe shifts, power flows in silver rivers. When he comes out of it, he finds himself singing in the richest voice he's ever had, and every bit of stone in the temple dances with wisps of lightning the power of his voice made tangible.

But he's never been so scared in his life, mortal or Immortal. Ethe is tucked negligently under one of Tyrnak's arms, her face red from the pressure on her body. Tyrnak's attention is on his closed fist, which is white knuckled and trembling. Through the cracks between his fingers, a pulsing red glow seeps out, ever brighter, as if the god is being eaten alive by a fire demon.

As Rozell watches, Ethe's eyes close, and she goes limp.

Simultaneously, Yown breaks ranks and leaps up onto the altar with a blood curdling Hiller battle cry. He tries to snatch Ethe from Tyrnak's grasp. Absently, Tyrnak uses his closed, red fist to punch Yown in the nose.

The entire front of Yown's head caves in, and blood and brains explode all over.

Avrul gives a strangled cry, but the staff sinks lower.

Rozell, choking on a mortal outrage, trembling with more fear than he ever knew a body could experience, does not think. He heft's the silver rod like a spear and, in the moment Tyrnak is distracted by the gout of blood, hurls it at Tyrnak's eye. Simultaneously, he shouts out the last words of the secret verse with all the vibratory power of his trained voice and a desperate plea to the Creator.

The silver rod sinks into the godform's eye and bright white light explodes outward in a fountain that splashes off the ceiling, cascades down the walls, and limns the floors in silvery light.

The staff is sucked down into the altar stone with a whistling sound.

Time stands still. Branching trees of lightning tracks are frozen in the air of the temple as the power began to explode.

The only thing that moved was Tyrnak.

Gradually, he let go of Ethe's form to use both hands to clutch the fist with the pulsing ruby to his middle. Ethe hung in mid-air while the godform collapsed inward on itself, folding over and over and downward onto the top of the staff which still protruded from the altar stone with only the cage and the glowing white gem exposed.

Over and over and around and around the godform folded, becoming ever more solid as it transformed from non-material to material. And in the center of the solidifying image, there was the intense red glow of the ruby.

Redder and redder the godform became as it folded, ever more solid and ever redder. And when it was over, and time began again, there on the altar between Ethe and Avrul was a huge, clear red ruby encasing the top of the staff. The edges of the ruby penetrated deep into the stone of the altar, sealing the top of the staff away from the now fading light of the sun.

Lightning flashes find their grounding points and crack doom through the building.

Concussion rocks the solid stone and powder sifts down.

Fire continues to dance on the surfaces of all the stone, flames that refuse to die, seeming not to know that stone can't burn.

Heat increases. At last Rozell comes to his senses. "The place is burning down! We've got to get out of here!"

He pulls Ethe off of the altar, slings her over his shoulder, and drags Avrul until Avrul begins to move on his own. Leading the small remaining group of Creationists they make their way outside.

Lighting is strange for noon of a cloudless day, and looking up they see the sun obscured by a black orb. At the same time, the arc of Godsbridge, which Rozell half expects not to see at all, is glowing with a cascade of color such as it's never had before. It looks like a rainbow made out of solid mist and set to glowing - not by the reflection of the sun, but with the power of the sun itself. It sheds particolored light over everything.

The distant sounds of battle have stilled completely.

A mud covered soldier staggers out of the underbrush, heading for Tyrnak's temple until he sees the stones burning. Then he squints at the sky, and says even Tyrnak can't save them now. All the Immortals have disappeared, nobody knows where, and the fighting has stopped out on the fields.

Now he can see why. The world has changed. Nothing will ever be the same again.

Rozell wonders what might have happened if he'd been accepted as an apprentice scribe and had never come to Shrine City to touch Vertum's soul-ruby.

He looks at his hand and there's only the slightest scar where the gem had once marked him as different.

END SUMMARY

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Chapter 1 of Who Trusts A Traitor

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"Who Trusts a Traitor" Copyright © 1986, 1999, 2000 by Jacqueline Lichtenberg

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