Wysper - Asena and Ishtar

"Asena, may I ask you a question?"

Asena and I are walking together through the main plaza towards the Temple district, past the fountain where women from the city are drawing water. They have all stopped what they are doing to watch us go by. The hood of my woolen cloak is up to cover my hair, especially my golden bangs, so I know I am not the one they are staring at.

On our right, street vendors are displaying vegetables and baskets of a purple fruit as Asena glances my way. "You're free to ask, but I can't guarantee you'll like the answers."

"I know... and yet, I need to ask anyway." I take a deep breath. "After I discovered Yun-Kax was a false god, I became despondent, and Titan told me you had been barred from the heavens and forced to live as a mortal, which is why I decided to become your priestess. Asena, did Titan speak the truth, or was it just a way to make me feel better?"

Asena gives me a sidelong look. "I've been wondering when you'd have your crisis of faith. All your life you've been told the gods are real, but now you're finding out that, not only Muzen, but Pan too, have been lying to you all along."

"I was punished for having doubts," I reply in a quiet voice. "Muzen used to test me in cunning ways to see if my belief in Yun-Kax and the rest of the pantheon remained strong."

"And in one night, the entire house of straw they built burned down into ashes." The open gate separating the Temple district from the rest of the city is getting close as she sighs. "I don't know if it'll help, but let me tell you the story, in brief, of the war the Celestials fought against the Daemo Princes."

Asena seems to collect her thoughts a moment before speaking again. "My old world, which we called the Heavens, is connected to Earth by way of the Shadowlands, as is the Daemo's homeland, which we named the Underworld. For thousands of years we knew all about Earth, but saw it as a place for the more adventurous among my race to travel to and explore. We also knew about the Daemo, who had set up petty kingdoms here and there, but didn't think much about them until their Princes began bringing large armies through the Grey to conquer as much of Earth as they could. The Dragon-lords of the Celestials, which isn't just a title, by the way, took counsel and raised an army to stop them."

I blink in surprise. "Dragons really exist?"

Asena chuckles. "Stuffiest bunch of scaly busybodies you'll ever meet... though I doubt any of them still remain here on Earth. Anyway, the Dragon-lords and other Celestials knew if they didn't stop the Daemo Princes from enslaving all the humans, we'd be next. Human blood's a much better meal than whatever they drink in the Underworld, but to them, Celestial blood's a meal fit for a king."

"Or a prince."

Asena nods. "You get the idea. We forged our weapons, built our war machines, and spent years crafting devastating spells which laid waste to their armies. We killed Daemo by the thousands, by the tens of thousands as the mana energy warped Earth's lands and its creatures, but Daemo kept bubbling up out of the spawning pits and the Princes kept throwing them at us."

I am trying to absorb everything she is telling me. "Asena, I fail to understand why the Daemo went to so much trouble just because your blood tastes better than mine."

"It's because of the mana. It makes the Heavens literally sparkle, its colors brighter than here and the air so sweet and fresh that, on the day I returned, before I realized there was no place for me there anymore, Ghostdog and I spent a long time just breathing. Mana flows out of the land, out of the seas, and out of us. Every Celestial's a living mana node."

I slowly nod. "Which explains why you fought so hard to push out the Daemo Princes. They would have raised a slave army of humans to fight alongside the Daemo, and eventually you would have been overwhelmed."

"Just so." The Temple district gate looms in front of us, and Asena stops and looks up at what little remains of the statue to Yun-Kax. "Celestials know how to craft their children in the womb however they want, and I was bred for war. When I traveled to Earth with a reinforcing army, I stood taller than Titan and was far stronger, trained to fight with all weapons or just with my claws and teeth, if that's all I had. The Dragon-lords encouraged us to become gods and goddesses to the humans, so they would fight for us, and many tribes in what's now Germania and the Celtic lands embraced me that way. They called me Wolf-mother, and together we hunted Daemo through the dense forests and rugged hills until the last Daemo Prince died and the war ended. Those were good days."

Still staring up at the broken base of the statue, she sighs. "We should've known those days wouldn't last. We should've realized we weren't doing your people any favors by continuing to pretend to be something we're not, or doing ourselves any favors by remaining behind to build empires of our own. I tell myself I was bred for war, that the Heavens would've never tolerated me coming back. That the choices I made were justified. But now, at the end of my life, the truth's gotten too big to ignore. I should've gone home when I had the chance."

I lay a tentative hand on her arm. "If you had, there would be no Greywolf. He saved me, not only by coming to rescue me, but by helping me open my eyes to the truth."

A ghost of a smile touches her lips. "You saved him as well, even though I was too pig-headed to realize it at the time." Her face grows serious. "Has he mentioned anything about what I forced him to do with the Daemo?"

I remove my hand, hoping I will choose the right words. "He does not want to speak about those times. They bother him, and I am guessing he is afraid I will condemn them for being too immoral... though shamelessly exposing my nude body to thousands of people cannot be any worse than whatever he has done."

"You would be surprised," Asena says cryptically. "Daemo have absolutely no sense of shame, and will play to a man's basest lusts, letting him degrade her as he wants, as a way to control him. They have no fear of death; why would they, when they know death only means that they'll immediately crawl out of the spawning pits looking exactly the way they did before, though with no memories of their previous life. Pain to them is pleasure, up to a point, and they can will their death whenever they want. So if you don't give the Daemo what she wants, there's no threat a man can make that'll work on her."

I shake my head. "But I knew several Daemo priestesses in Tesiphon, and none of them acted that way."

Asena gives me a shrewd look. "I'll bet they were great lovers, though, in exchange for a little nip off your wrist."

My cheeks grow hot as I stammer, "Asena... I..."

She chuckles as her black palmed hand gently squeezes my shoulder. "Do you understand now why Titan's so dead set against the Daemo?" She lets me go and sighs. "He was right to do to me what he did, taking my son away from me." Asena leans down until her face is close to mine. "What's past is past and I can't change it. Problem is, a lot of people remember what I made him do, and someday, someone's going to either use it against him, or try and get him to repeat the performance. Either way, if you ever learn the details, remember I was the one responsible for what he did, not him. Will you promise me that?"

Asena is so close I can feel her hot breath on my cheeks. "I promise."

"Good." She straightens, and turns towards the open gate. "So where's this Temple of Ishtar supposed to be?"

"Come, I will show you." Asena's frightened me with all her talk of the past, but I will not let it show as I lead us through the open gate and into the sunshine beyond. Then I stop short. Someone has built a long fence made out of scrub and scrap wood that runs parallel to the Temple district's walls. "What is this?"

From the shadows cast by the stone walls, a male voice says, "One of Prince Timur's funeral games is a Warghorse race, and this is the track." A guard in brass armor steps out into the sunshine, with several more behind him. "Are you Wysper?" I lower my hood so he can see my gold colored bangs, and he nods. "You're expected, but who's your friend?"

Asena steps in front of me. "I'm her protector," she says, baring her fangs in a grin. "Any problem with that?"

The guards trade a worried look. "Ah... no, no problem at all," the first says as the rest shake their heads. They remove a section to let us pass, then return it after we have gone through. I lead us past the pyramid painted black, past the central plaza where workers are constructing a wide stone platform between the four large pyramids... I am not looking at the workers, not looking at all... and on until we reach the women's quarters.

The doors to the main entrance have not yet been replaced, and looking inside, the entrance chamber's walls are being cleaned and repainted blue by men in rough tunics and trousers, who are talking in the local dialect among themselves. One of them looks at me and points to a place farther down. I nod to show I understand and keep going. "They must still be cleaning up after the fire. The building right beside this one is the guest quarters where we were put, before..."

I trail off, the memories of that night still too raw for me to speak of. Asena gives me a shrewd look, patting my shoulder, then moving ahead of me until we reach the other entrance. These doors are still intact, and Asena raps on the wood with her knuckles.

The door opens, and the young woman in white robes gasps as she looks up at Asena, who bares her teeth in a smile. "Go tell them Wysper's here." The young woman's mouth is opening and closing like a gasping fish, and Asena growls, "Go!" The white robed woman stumbles backwards before turning around and fleeing through the entrance chamber and down a hall, her footsteps echoing off the walls as she lifts her robes and runs. Asena chuckles as I shut the door behind us.

Before the night of terror, the entrance chamber had been covered in murals depicting Kax, the female side of Muzen's false deity, depicting a warrior woman with hair like flame. In one hand she always held a sword while the other held a tongue of fire. Now though, the chamber smells of fresh paint, light blue with charcoal sketches of the new murals soon to be painted on. As I look around the room, the sound of footsteps comes again, but more this time, and a moment later a half dozen people enter the chamber.

All of them are wearing robes of white, except for Zanzabel, who wears robes the golden color of wheat, and a strange woman in robes of dark blue. Zanzabel moves away from the five bearing down on me, Thalia and Myra on one side of the blue robed woman, and Sybil the Daemo and broad faced Xaman the Traveler on the other. The strange woman's expression had been happy, even joyful, as she smiled at me with teeth white as sea pearls.

Then she looks beyond me and the smile winks out. "Asena? What are you doing here?"

Asena stops beside me and gives the woman a predatory smile. "Ishtar... or should I say, Ishi. I'm here to keep you from using your talent of beguiling humans so Wysper won't make a decision she'll later regret."

I look up at Asena in puzzlement. "She could beguile me?"

"That's how she's managed to survive for thousands of years." Asena puts one arm around my waist while her other clawed hand motions towards Ishi. "Remember when I said my parents bred me for war? Well, Ishtar's parents bred her to beguile humans into helping us win the war, and when the last Prince died, her talent made it easy for her to slip into the role of a goddess."

Ishi places her hands on her hips. "Under my influence, Babylon became the cradle of human civilization after the war." She gestures as if slapping Asena from across the chamber. "If you had been in charge, humans would still be living in tents, hunting animals and burning their dung for warmth."

Asena lets me go and folds her long arms across her armored chest. "Better that than a life filled with schemes and intrigue. Stop breaking wind out of both sides of your mouth," Asena stabbing her finger at Ishi's face. "You want Wysper as part of your cult, so you can feed off her mana the same way you're planning to feed off the younger Celt."

Ishi flings both arms into the air. "Oh, and you are so different? I am attempting to rebuild civilization, while you plan to do what? Guard more caravans for the silver you use to drink yourself to death while whoring out your son-"

Myra shrieks and I gasp as Asena snarls with her claws out. Xaman puts herself between the two groups. "Settle down, both of you. One of my skills is negotiating between two hostile parties, so this is what I propose: both of you step back and let the rest of us discuss this rationally."

Asena growls, "It would be five to one against Wysper."

"Four to two," Zanzabel says. "My lord Osiris has a proposal for Wysper as well, one that does not involve her becoming part of anyone's temple cult."

Asena appears ready to continue arguing, so I lay my hand on her arm. "Your son told me that he will back me on whatever I decide. He said he trusts me, and I give you my word that I will not betray his trust."

She exhales sharply. "Alright, I'll trust you as well. However," Asena glaring at Ishi as she bares her fangs, "if I catch the faintest hint that Ishtar's using her talent, she gets flattened."

Ishi stalks up to Asena and switches to another language, the two of them snarling at each other as the rest of us move to the opposite side of the chamber, where I stop and turn around. "I am listening."

Sybil innocently smiles as only a Daemo can. "When you led us away from certain death, I told you I was going to be your very best friend, and I meant it. Which is why, as your friend, I have to say how concerned we all are about your being trapped amongst the barbarians of the White Horde."

This is not the argument I was expecting. "The People of the Eternal Sky are treating me with respect."

"Now, perhaps, yet what about later? Even if Khan Khingla wins tomorrow's race and binds the other khans to his side with his wager, most of the warriors will still defect and join Prince Timur, leaving a gaping hole for the Black Dragon clan to fill."

"I have spoken several times to Hypam," I reply, "and while her nature is as fiery as her hair, we get along quite well."

"Fire can warm you," Xaman says, "but it can also burn. Wysper, right now everything in your life depends on who wins tomorrow's combat: Asena, or Titan. If she succeeds in beating him, you could well find yourself traveling the tracks they call roads out here, eating bad food and sleeping out in the cold."

"I am used to walking long distances, and hardships can be endured."

"But they do not have to be," Sybil retorts. "Ishtar's temple will be nothing like Muzen's den of punishment; here, you will loved, and honored, and respected. The people of the Sasnayam empire's satrapies already know that you are the one who brought them blood-corn. Once they realize you have become Ishtar's priestess, they will flock to our temple in ever greater numbers."

"Things are already better here than they were," Myra says, "even better than in Britannia."

Now that I can see her better, Myra is looking pale and drawn. "Are you alright? You seem unwell."

"I feel wonderful," she replies, her face lighting up as she smiles. "Once I had been initiated into the sacred mysteries, Ishtar drew mana from my body on a wave of ecstasy I cannot begin to describe." An expression of rapture takes over her features as she turns towards Ishi. "If Ishtar asked it, I would die for her."

"Ishtar would never demand such a sacrifice," Sybil says quickly as my eyes narrow, a chill running through me at Myra's words. "Wysper, once the prophets fan out for the satrapies, they will be actively looking for female magi and others with mana potential to recruit to our temple. Your dual magic and previous sacrifices make your mana flow like a fountain, and once you are one of us, Ishtar will not have to lean on Myra and the other, lesser, mages, meaning all of you will remain healthy until the new priestesses come."

"You make Ishtar sound like one of the Vampyres Greywolf fought."

"Wysper," Thalia's voice cracking like a whip, "that is disrespectful. Clearly, you have been away from us for too long, and that cannot be tolerated. You will submit to Ishtar's authority right now and stop mooning over this boy. Do you understand me?" I instinctively cringe, all the old emotions rising up and telling me to follow her orders before I am punished.

Then I look at Asena and straighten as if my spine has become a rod of iron. "Everyone always claimed Thalia was the wisest while Myra was the most beautiful, while poor little Wysper was too thin and too ugly for anyone to want."

"They spoke the truth, especially about you."

"Not in Greywolf's eyes," I snap, Thalia's eyes widening as Myra gasps. "He sees me as beautiful, even if I cannot, and he risked his life to rescue me. No one else will care for me like that... and you demand that I leave him?"

"Young men are fickle," Sybil replies in a soothing voice. "Leave him, and within a fortnight he will find-"

"Men may be fickle," I say, cutting her off, "but I am not. I would need a much greater reason to leave Greywolf than my own comfort or the needs of your temple."

"What if the future of your people was at stake?" I turn towards Zanzabel with a confused look, and she says, "My lord Osiris received an initial report from Ghostdog, and while he would give me no details, I fear the worst. Wysper, what my lord is proposing is that you and Greywolf join his father, Ghostdog, and travel to Aegyptus... not to stay," Zanzabel holding up her hands to stop me from protesting, "but to recharge his body's mana like you did for Asena, and recharge certain Artifacts."

My eyes narrow. "In exchange for what?"

"Aid for your people. My lord Osiris sees the survival of the Brittani people as essential, and in exchange for a few more years of life your mana can give him, he will give you several important Artifacts and whatever other aid he can. What do you say? Are you willing?"

"Let me think." I draw apart from the others, glancing at the freshly painted walls where traces of the old murals can still be seen underneath as my choices make themselves clear. "Zanzabel, before I commit to anything, I want to hear from Ghostdog just how bad things are, and then make the decision with his son and no one else." Zanzabel inclines her head as if expecting that answer as I turn towards the other four priestesses. "Sybil, for Myra's sake, Greywolf and I will replenish Ishtar and recharge her mana stones as soon as we can, and continue to do so until the People move east in the spring, or I take to the roads with Greywolf and Asena. No more can I promise."

Thalia stamps her foot upon the floor. "You will do no such thing. Accept Ishtar as your goddess, and obey her will, or Myra and I will turn our backs on you forever."

"Ishtar is not a goddess." Something inside me is dying and I want to weep, yet I only shake my head as I finally accept the truth. "Neither is Osiris, nor Asena, nor Yun-Kax. Nor is Pan the god we once believed in. There are no gods or goddesses in this world, only a race of powerful beings who saved all of us from enslavement a long, long, time ago."

Sybil's face has gone cold. "Turn your back on us now, and you will lose your chance to have your name become part of history, when Prince Timur forges a new empire out of the ashes of the Sasnayam's."

"So be it." Instead of the sadness I had expected, a fierce joy wells up inside me. "Do you know what? I hope with all my heart that Asena wins, and there is no need for me to be anything except just plain Wysper. No need to do anything other than travel with my new family to the ends of the known world and beyond, free as the wind and beholden to none." I turn towards the two waiting Celestials. "Wolf-mother, I believe we are done here."

"Then let's go."

I hurry over to where she is standing, as from behind us, Ishi says, "Asena, you have not heard the last of this."

Asena turns and gives her a grin. "Titan told me he's going to win tomorrow because he's got something to fight for." She grasps my shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze. "Now, so do I."

Together, we walk through the door out into the bright sunshine.