* * * PARTHIA – MARY * * *

Hovering partially in the Gods Realm Mary waited in ambush. Her octopus form lurked beneath the leading edge of the melting sea ice. She shivered at the cold that seemed to be attacking her.

Sensing a vibration in the ice she stilled. It looked like Ice Heart was coming to inspect the damage, just as he had every morning for the past fortnight. Mary felt Ice Heart’s mana pour into the surroundings as the god of the southern ice lands sought to divert her current and shore up his sea ice.

Then the mana flow ceased, rather abruptly, and Mary knew Ice Heart had sensed something.

She moved and struck. Two tentacles wrapped around the god’s waist and legs. Mary pulled, yanking Ice Heart partially into the sea. He for his part gripped the ice and tried to haul her to the surface.

The two titans struggled, still partially in the real world. Ice shattered and the seas splashed wildly.

The fight moved south as Ice Heart sought to avoid becoming submerged. Blood flowed as both inflicted massive wounds to the other. Ice Heart using icy daggers whilst Mary tore at him with her tentacles and bit him with her beak, injecting poison.

One by one the New Gods materialized behind their champion, while the Old Gods did likewise behind Mary. They all strove to contain the damage that was being caused by the fighting.

Reluctantly Mary realized that now that the sea was merely thigh deep on Ice Heart that they were too evenly matched. For a while she fought on despite her better judgement. And because Ice Heart had a firm grip on one of her tentacles.

Twisting valiantly she managed to snap her beak shut on his wrist, severing it. After a shocked moment she expelled water and withdrew northward to where the sea was deeper. There she stopped and prepared to renew the fight.

Ice Heart snarled in rage but declined to enter his opponent’s domain. He cradled his left arm and worked to regrow his missing hand.

For the better part of a day the two glared at each other, then slowly, as if by mutual consent they slowly withdrew.

Irked that she hadn’t been strong enough, Mary took one last look at the shattered ice before turning to head home. She had regained nearly one hundred and fifty kilometres of sea from the ice. The warm southern current was still flowing so Ice Heart would be unable to claw back all that much. She had to be satisfied with that for now.

As she made her way back to the tropics she barely noted the signs of damage that had been caused by her battle, the shores of the narrow sea were covered by debris and stranded icebergs. The few towns were battered, but looked better than the rest. Mary realised Ocidon had been at work.

Once back at Blue Lagoon Mary materialized in her audience hall, she tossed Ice Hearts severed left hand onto the floor in front of her throne before collapsing into it. She sat back, careful of her wounds and stared at her trophy. Now that she was in the heart of her domain her wounds started closing – albeit slowly.

After half an hour or so she became more aware of her surroundings, she looked around at her court and winced. “Got to find somewhere to put trophies. Don’t mind the hand, it used to belong to Ice Heart. Guess it is dungeon treasure now.”

After staring at Ice Heart’s hand for some time, Mary looked up, pouted and departed for the gods realm. She materialised in Ocidon’s home. Ocidon welcomed her, but Mary noted that he wasn’t particularly pleased.

“So, do you count that as a win?” he asked.

Mary pouted again, “No, it was a draw, I had thought he was weaker than that.”

Ocidon sighed, “Don’t be so reckless in future. The New Gods are able to share their worshipers. Just like any properly set up pantheon.”

Mary narrowed her eyes in thought.

“Stop plotting, think. You’ve been doing well so far. Don’t get overconfident. We can and will win. Please don’t throw it all away because you are getting impatient.” Ocidon watched Mary carefully, “We did make progress today, the New Gods had to support Ice Heart. That allowed several of us to improve our positions.”

As Mary started to relax, Ocidon added, “But not me, I had to protect our followers in the coastal towns of the Narrow Sea from the swarm of near Tsunamis your fight caused.”

“Um, how come, I’m not usually that large?” queried Mary.

Ocidon sighed again, “You were both partially in the gods realm when you fought. That greatly magnified the results of your fight in the real world. For the heavens sake, Mary, think out the consequences of your actions.”

Ocidon shook his head ruefully, “Congratulations on the results, you forced the New Gods to actively support Ice Heart with the strength of their followers. Something we Old Gods didn’t need to do in your case. But that is going to cause you problems in future.”

“But, how was I able to take out the narcissist on Ambuila? If the New Gods can share worshipers?” Asked Mary.

“It is difficult to transfer that kind of support across worlds. I suspect you didn’t give them enough time.”

* * * PARTHIA – MEADOWS * * *

Captain Meadows perused the ExPat Chronicle with some interest. He wondered idly for how long Mary would tolerate its existence. Admittedly it hadn’t published anything groundbreaking, being basically a local gossip rag for the Earth natives on Parthia.

He noted that it mentioned the upcoming departure of the Paul Jones, and the upcoming commissioning of ships belonging to the UK, France and Russia. He wondered how long it would take China to take an interest too.

He placed the weekly paper on one of the scattered small tables in the embassy lounge and headed out. He was due at the harbour soon.

Meadows watched the newly commissioned USS John Paul Jones leave harbour under sail. Her captain had looked as if he wasn’t sure whether he had won or lost the lottery. They had bought the clipper from Mary, and then they had completely reequipped and rearmed her. They hadn’t found any bugs, but none of them were sure she was bug free.

The scary part was that their latest navigation aids all worked. This had caused some waves back at the Pentagon. Just what tech did Mary have access to? And what kind of satellites did she have orbiting the planet?

The USS John Paul Jones carried a marine detachment, several disgruntled diplomats and a team of delighted scientists. Meadows hoped they found somewhere that would welcome one of their bases... ah, embassies.

He watched a bit longer before making his way back to the embassy. As he walked, his mind slipped back to the sight of that giant blue crystal hand that had been lying on the floor of Mary’s reception room. It shook him that everyone believed – truly believed – that it was the hand of a god.

And as for Mary, she had looked battered and bruised. And she hadn’t been hiding her wounds from anyone.

He found it all to be in bad taste; he would never have guessed that Mary would want to collect that kind of trophy. It certainly seemed to impress the local dignitaries, and as for the locals... Well, he wasn’t sure what they truly thought about it.

Soon as he got back to his office he was planning to see what Tod – as a dungeon – thought about it.

* * * AMBUILA – MARKOWITZ * * *

Markowitz had dithered for almost the entire day, and then he had seen the airship heading back the way it had come.

Very cautiously he had made his way back to the village. Once in sight of it he had used one of the low rises to look it over. He had been unable to see anyone new, or any signs that one of the flimsy huts was occupied.

Despite being ready to bolt at any moment, he picked up the two giant horned marmosets he had caught that day and made his way into the village as if nothing was wrong.

As soon as they saw him, the villagers assailed him with the news. It was the most exciting and unusual thing that had happened in the village’s history. A flying ship that could move without sails, even against the wind. And the people on board weren’t fully human.

The village headman was deliriously happy. He had been able to swindle the strange cat and wolf men. They had traded metal fishhooks and a few knives for their dried and salted fish. And the wives had gained some superb mirrors.

Markowitz winced, a few cheap trinkets for near on half a ton of preserved fish. And then the headman had handed him a letter the visitors had left for him.

Markowitz had retired to his hut, having had to speak to almost all the gossip hungry villagers.

He opened the envelope and withdrew the single sheet of paper it contained.

“Mr Markowitz,

I hope you are enjoying your new life. I can assure you that I have no intention of bothering myself with you, despite what your patron gods desire.

That is, unless you continue trying to irritate me.

Mary Silvestre, Mother of Monsters.”

Markowitz folded the letter carefully with shaking hands. He felt a curious measure of relief and rage.

“Just you wait, Ms Silvestre. I’ll grow strong again – then we’ll see who’s boss,” he shouted at the roof of his hut in English.