(Emily, Healing Shrine of Mugash, continued from installment 119)

“Or they want us to think it’s me. I assume with the lovely Aylem not 20 hands from me, that I can finish my repast in safety,” I put my prong down. “Aylem, you looked all over this area for those 100 missing troops?”

“Of course.”

“Where else did you look?”

“Black Falls, Gunndit, Uldlip, Truvos, the Salt Pans, Pink Lake, Black River, Bull Trout Valley, Queenstown, Pinisla, Weirgos, Omexkel, Glass Butte, Gampff, ...”

“Did you look anywhere north of Is’syal?”

“No. Why would...?” Aylem frowned.

I remembered, just at that moment, what Galt said on the night before his revelation. I held up my hand, “Wait. Listen. Galt told me that the war with Impotu is over access to the crystals at the shrines and has its roots in...” I stopped because I saw what the deception was at the moment. “Aylem, you can mindcast anyone in the kingdom yes?” I asked, to confirm that she could do it. If Fassex could do it, then Aylem should be even better at it.

“Without the Great Crystal, there are limitations. Who do you want to reach?”

“Fassex, Irralray, General Lunhaydras, Imstay, the garrisons at Kas, Surdos, and Kesmat, and Imstay.”

"All of those I can do directly since they are all silverhairs. You said Imstay twice," she gave me a teasing smile.

I ignored it, "Contact Fassex right now and get her to shut the gates to the White Shrine. Send the garrisons at Surdos, Kas, and Kesmat to Yant immediately. Alert the Citadel in Is'syal to surround the Fated Shrine. The real targets are the crystals at the Fated and White Shrines. Do this. Now. I’ll explain when you’re done.”

Aylem closed her eyes and sat so still that it was almost fey. Then she returned to this reality, “It is done, and Fassex requires an explanation. What...?”

“Send Imstay back to Is’syal right now with the forces he has in Weirgos,” I directed. “Am I missing anything? Esso. There's something about Esso." I knew in my bones I was missing something." I turned things over in my mind about Esso and nothing surfaced. Maybe I needed to let it alone to stew.

“There are many things I don’t know so I might not have all the answers to questions you might have,” I started my explanation. “Galt told me that the war with Impotu was over access to the crystals at the shrines. It had its roots in something that Fassex’s predecessor did some 30 years ago. What happened 30 years ago at the White Shrine of Landa?”

Lisaykos blinked, “nothing that I know of but I wasn’t high priestess then either.”

“What shrine in Impotu was destroyed or damaged about 30 years ago?” I asked, making a guess.

“The Shrines of Landa and Mugash in Suapsepso burnt to the ground,” Lisaykos replied without pause. “The Shrine of Landa there was said to be the most beautiful shrine in Impotu, made entirely of wood without a single metal fastener. I remember working for an extra bell every day, copying our teaching texts and scriptures to send to the Shrine of Mugash, to replace the ones they lost in the fire. That was back when we had better relations with our sister shrines in the three great nations of the east.” Lisaykos sipped her breaker of tea while thinking, “Fassex can look at the journals of her predecessor, Aynaxsim, and see what may have happened that fits what Galt told you.”

“Was the Landa shrine’s crystal destroyed in the fire?” I asked.

“Yes, it was,” Lisaykos put her beaker down.

“Now I know I’m right,” I felt sick to my stomach. “Has Impotu had any problems managing its slaves in the last 30 years?”

Lisaykos’ face went white and the unflappable Usruldes sucked in a sudden breath. Aylem looked confused and then revelation crossed her face followed by, “no, that’s...that’s...”

“If Galt had not requested that I wait for certain economic conditions to develop, I would ask you to take me to Yant today, Aylem,” I spoke to the shocked silence.

“Why did Galt ask you to wait?” Lisaykos asked.

“Less bloodshed,” I sighed. “Galt said sitting on my hands for one to two years while waiting for a certain set of economic conditions to develop would save millions of lives. It was the difference between 27 versus six outbreaks of warlike violence. It’s hard to argue with those sorts of numbers.”

“So, the war is really about gem magic?” Aylem asked.

“The war is all about Impotu wanting to steal the crystal at the White Shrine of Landa,” I frowned, “plus any others they can lift and make off with. I will bet that 30 years ago, someone requested that the White Shrine make control gems for Impotu, which had just lost its control gem source. If one of the big crystals breaks, all the gem magic made by that crystal will fail, right?”

"Yes," Usruldes was holding his head, "you are exactly right and I will not take that bet. I don't like losing. We need to fortify Yant until it's time for Landa's revelation. What a mess."

“What sort of economic things did Galt want to happen?” Aylem’s question caught me by surprise.

"The sustained infrastructure investment by a government in indoor plumbing and water treatment," I explained. Looking at Aylem's fish face, I remarked, "Yes, civilization will advance because everyone wanted a shower with good water pressure and a flushing toilet.”

“Excuse me,” Aylem got up, “my presence by mind casting is requested. I will do my best to explain all of this to everyone. You better not be wrong, Emily, about this.”

“I know I’m not,” I pondered, “which I find odd. I usually can see the flaws and weaknesses in the things I say, but this feels different. I can’t describe it, but I know down to my toes that this is correct. Galt gave me the pieces and I just had to complete the puzzle.” Was this what it was like to be a prophet? My mind wanted to go running from that thought and I let it for a moment or two. Then I needed to nail down some loose threads.

“Lisaykos, dear,” I smiled in apology.

“I know that look, so it better be good.”

“I need to speak to Usruldes in private for a bit, please?”

“That’s hardly an imposition at all,” she got up and headed for the door. “Next time, ask for something difficult, like a new way to serve mutton.”

Usruldes waited for his mother to close the door behind her, charmed the door, pulled off the hood, and pulled down the face covering.

“It’s a weird silverhair thing,” he smiled, “but I’ve had this feeling since yesterday that you wanted to talk to just me.”

I nodded, “Galt said that if I asked, you would tell me or show me the contents of the Holy Uaysserex’s Prophesy of the Great Breaking and the revelation of Tiki to Aylem.”

“I don’t see why not. Has the Convocation kept them from you?”

“Yes.”

“You will not like what they say, Emily. Are you sure?”

“Will I like to hear that I’m the prophet? No, but I already know that it’s a fate I will have trouble avoiding.” I was getting used to the idea, but I hated it worse than I hated beets and my second husband.

“Aylem was nine when she received her revelation," Ursuldes was grinning for some reason. "It's very simple as if written by a nine-year-old. It goes something like: 'I will be queen. All the slaves in all lesser five races in the two empires and the two kingdoms will be free. There will be lots of nasty wars. It will be the third age of miracles. There will be a prophet with funny eyes like priestesses who can see the future but she won’t have any magic at all. She will be really little. There will be a griffin that was a fish and he will be a revelator. There will be an eagle and a flying horse and a lizard man and they will all be revelators. The little prophet will destroy the biggest city in the world because the greater race of rulers made the kitty cat mad.’”

“Say what?” I couldn’t believe it. “Seriously?”

“Emily, I’m not joking. The only way to get the revelation and escape the vault at the Crystal Shrine where the records are locked up was to memorize it. It really read like that, as you might expect from a revelation written by a nine-year-old.”

“What’s the biggest city you know of, Usruldes?”

“The City of Salicet, the capital of Impotu.”

“Gods,” I didn’t know what to make of that, but it would take a lot more than just gun cotton to destroy a city. Wouldn’t that make me a mass murderer? I didn’t want to be anyone like that. Destroying a city because Galt gets mad? I did not like that at all. I wasn’t going to murder millions of people because some god got mad. They’re all-powerful. They can do their own killing. Damn gods. I would have to have a talk with Galt about this

“I don't like the thought of destroying an entire city," I couldn't help scowling. "That's terrible sounding, but there's no such thing as a war where innocent people don't die."

“What do you mean?” Usruldes looked honestly confused.

“You know, people who have nothing to do with a war: the folks who grow the food and make crafts and build houses and teach in schools.”

Usruldes looked even more confused and maybe even a little upset, “That’s a very strange way of thinking, Emily. There is no innocence or guilt in war, just gradations between direct involvement and indirect involvement. Every war affects every person in the countries or tribes who fight each other.”

He paused and studied me, "That's a very interesting face you're making, Em. Having been raised as a noble, I was schooled that war was the most violent means to have access to resources. They aren't the only way, because every country has several different ways to gain power over resources. War is just one of the tools countries use to ensure there are enough materials and labor to provide everyone with the means to keep living. Some wars are to protect or take back resources, to eliminate someone who steals your resources, or to gain the resources you need for the people whose lives you protect as a ruler. It's all about protecting and preserving the society that is a ruler's burden and responsibility."

I was in shock. It was alien to Saint Augustine’s philosophy of the Just War that dominated the thinking of western civilization in Europe and the Americas. It hit me that these people had no equivalent of the Good Samaritan, the stranger who does a good deed because that’s what good people ought to do. It was a profound realization and one I knew I had to think about before the cognitive dissonance derailed me. What place did the sanctity of life hold in the world view of this society or in the thinking of the gods who owned this reality?

“What I said has upset you,” he got up and knelt next to me, cradling the back of my head with his hand. "It's times like this that I'm reminded that you have a different way of thinking that I don't always understand. If things were not so dire right now, I would take you someplace where we could talk and not be interrupted, because I have a feeling you need someone you can say outrageous things to – well, other than that goofy griffin.” He smiled sadly, “Say something, little one.”

I gathered my wits back together and dragged myself back to dealing with the business at hand, “Tell me about the Prophesy of the Great Breaking.”

“Ah, that one is a bit more literary,” he sat back on his heels, “though a lot more vague and mysterious. It goes like this:

When the maker of fire

the counselor of prophets

and the greatest mage meet

the world will change in the third age of miracles

Dag Gadol is the counselor of prophets

who will frighten the third prophet to fainting

Dag Gadol will catch the prophet’s fish

and but will let the prophet get away

Her path will pass through rock and wheat and water

bridges will fall before her

Two without feet will walk

The swimmer will see again

Two of the four great nations will burn

The five will demand their right of the sixth

and will receive their due

To seven of all six, the Gods will reveal new words

the girl with the golden eyes

will free the winged ones to fly

and arm the scaly tails to rise

The greatest mage she will save

who will make the great breaking

of the charm gems of the slaves

of the two unjust empires

of the racism of the shrines

and the chains of land and greed

She will set the nations aflame

beneath the mage queen all to tame

without magic, she will start the fire

and find once more her heart’s desire

Wrath will bless her and love her

Wrath will take her and mark her

Wrath will save her and heal her

Wrath will hide her and steal her

and she will be lost to Time

Mercy will hold her back

until she turns her back on Mercy

and Wisdom returns to her

the heart she shares with a drum.”

“What demented mind came up with that?” It certainly sounded like the sort of mumbo-jumbo you’d expect for a prophesy, complete with bad poetic structure.

“I can see stuff in there,” Usruldes was thoughtful. “The maker of fire has to be you. The greatest mage is certainly Aylem so the counselor of prophets has to be Asgotl.”

“Asgotl?” I gave him a look. “That goofy griffin? The counselor of prophets? Oh, please. That just can’t be right, and what’s with this Dag Gadol bit? That’s a weird name or title. You know what it is, Usruldes?

“Not at all.” He shook his head.

“Can you write that down for me? I’d like to stare at it in consternation at my leisure.”

“Of course, I can,” he laughed at my turn of phrase.

(continued in installment 121)