Emily, above the Holding of Truvos, Harvest, 6th rot. 10th day to 7th rot. 1st day

Galt had taken me on a trip across the central and eastern part of the Erdos landmass, but now I was heading for home. My trip to play prophet was now over and I woke up in a place I had never seen before.

I was halfway up the side of a mountain looking west. Over the next ridge down I could see a path to my right leading to the west. There was also a road with a stockade gate across it to the left and a bit behind me. The jackets on the guards looked light blue so the cat god had put me down within the Foskan border.

At least I didn't need to attempt to cross the border at one of the customs gates. But which customs gate was it? I couldn't see any facings on the jackets from this far away.

In the distance, I could see a vast lake, three villages, and a town with a manse about a half wagon-day away. If this mountain was easy to get down, I could be at the manse before the sun went down. It was much later in the year than I expected because the leaves on the aspens were yellow and on the maples and oaks, bright red and orange.

I could see the giant late-season gourds and squashes the Cosm grew, waiting to be gathered out of the fields and stored for the cold season. Tiny figures of Coyn scrambled in the low bushes of irrigated berry bogs along the shore of the lake, picking the fruit the Cosm were too big to gather. The cold season wheat had already sprouted.

By elimination and by the size of the valley and lake, it had to be Truvos. Pinisla did not have a customs gate. The customs gates for Yant and Surdos were along rivers and the one for Kas was between a mountain and a basalt cone that erupted as recently as a thousand years ago. The customs gate leading to Black Falls was in a low pass dropping to an alpine lake that had no settlement and the two customs posts in Gunndit led to small valleys with an alpine lake and a village in each.

The path to the right looked like it would be kinder to my poor burnt feet, especially since it looked like there was a mountain stream next to part of it that I could soak my feet in. I was worried they were getting infected. The blisters has burst on my left foot and the blisters were oozing scary yellowish stuff mixed with what looked like it might be catalase.

I didn't see the scree field until I was right on top of it. Crossing in bare feet that had burns on the soles hurt. It wasn't as bad as a charm of discipline, so I chewed on my lip and put up with the pain. I reached the stream just before the fourth bell since I could hear a bell tolling the distance, ringing the arrival of midday. I wasn't making good time.

As I soaked my feet in the blissfully-cold water, I thought maybe I should stop comparing everyday pain to charms of discipline since there is nothing worse. There is nothing even close, excluding when Aylem killed me, including monthly cramps, root canals, and migraines remembered from my previous life.

My one remaining stocking had been destroyed when the mages attacked me in the palace in Toyatastagka so now I had nothing for my feet. I took my knife and sacrificed my linen undertunic, apologizing to the Coyn weavers who toiled to make the lovely high-thread-count cloth in the weaving shops of Surdos, Yuxvos, and Kesmat, where the flax fields were concentrated. Cloth this fine was made by skilled Coyn who spun and then wove it. Cosm fingers were too big to spin fine threads and weave them.

As I created bandages and then a cloth wrapping for my feet, I started thinking of the spinning wheels and drop spindles I had seen everywhere. Twessera loved to spin, weave, sew and embroider. She had what she called a lap loom, which was about the size of a spinet piano from my point of view. She couldn't spin or weave anything as fine as Coyn fabric but her tweed and twilled wools were very nice and she used them to make pants, stockings, tunics, and mantles for cold weather for her friends.

Given that she embroidered everything, her gifts were highly prized. I know I loved all the embroidery she put all over my clothes, though I never found out that she had made off with another of my tunics until it showed back up with her handiwork all over it. At one point, I had to leave instructions with the people who did the laundry that at least two sets of clothes had to stay unembroidered so I would have something to wear that I could get dirty when I made something, like pencils or the invisible ink I promised Troyeepay.

The path was hard-packed dirt. I heard the fifth bell ring as I got to the nearest village. I saw an all-leather-goods shop among a handful of other basic goods and craft shops. The counter window out front had sandals and shoes for both Cosm and Coyn, which was encouraging. It also had the customary back door on an alley for Coyn to use. My mantle would be good for credit anywhere in Foskos so I knocked and entered.

A scowling Cosm lady in a leather apron glared at me as I walked in. "What do you want?"

"Welladay, mistress. Might I purchase a pair of shoes or sandals? I have..."

"Get out of here. I'll talk to your owner but I don't deal with Coyn. Now go." She pointed and took a threatening step toward me.

This was not what I had anticipated. In a reasonable and nonconfrontational voice, I replied: "Mistress, surely you know that shrine Coyn may purchase for their own needs on account, reimbursable immediately at the local chapel shrine. I w...wear the staff mantle of the Healing Shrine."

"Those gooder-goody stuck-up healers can come and do their own purchasing like they always have in the past. Now, get out, smelly spoot slave before you get used as a rag for cleaning." She took two steps that closed the distance between us so fast that I could not dodge. She stooped and grasped my shoulder, digging her thick fingers in. Picking me up by my shoulder, she flung me out the alley door into the bushes that lined the other side of the alley. The bushes broke my landing but it didn't stop my shoulder from being dislocated from the rough handling. That hurt.

I pulled myself out of the bushes. I ignored the stares of two Coyn men from what looked like the local pewter ware and tinsmith shop, looking out their back door into the alley. Holding my dislocated right arm against my side, I picked out the nearest tree trunk and took a few running steps into it to force my arm back into my shoulder socket. It wasn't the first time I had dislocated a shoulder in this life.

I blacked out from the pain because I found one of those two men sitting me up and the other trying to get me to wake up.

"Speak to me, girl," one of them ran a damp cloth across my forehead. "Come on, girl, wake up now. You hear me?"

"Huh?" I opened my eyes to see a tall blond bearded man in a worker's apron, a pair of bronze shears stuffed in the side of his belt.

"You alright, there, youngster? That shoulder must hurt. I've never seen anyone do that before. We should take you down to the healers."

"Can you stand up?" the man sitting me up asked. He was a bit younger with dark brown hair and pale blue eyes, also in a working apron.

"I think so," I started to get up and accepted a hand up from the brown-haired man since I knew I couldn't use my right arm to regain my balance. It would probably be useless for several days. I stood and took a step forward and back, "yep, I'm good. I'll stop by the chapel shrine. W...which side of the manse is it on? Is it closer or farther than the manse?"

"The manse is closer. One of us really should walk you down. You don't look well, child," the blond one said, with obvious concern. I was about to take him up on it when a Cosm woman stuck her head out the back door of the shop.

"If she can walk herself, she should be fine, boys," the woman said. "I could really use your hands in here because I'm ready to pour the molds. I've already skimmed the slag, so the metal can't get any more melted than it already is." She turned and left the door ajar.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" the blond man asked. "You can wait in the back of our shop and one of us could walk you down after our work is done today."

"I should be alright. I can stop at the manse and get help there. Having a staff mantle from a shrine is good for that, but thank you for the offer." I waved with my left hand and started down the alley and onto the track through the village. The track didn't turn back into a path. It was a grassy track lined by white pines and it was a lovely walk.

As the fever I didn't know I had got worse, the track began to look like the Oregon Trail along the North Platte River coming into Fort Laramie. The prairie grasses in the pine trees looked a bit odd to me as I prodded the oxen pulling my Conestoga wagon to go faster before the thunderstorm hit. The ox that broke free came and shielded me from the worst of the rain. He covered me with his thick fluffy tuxedo fur and purred in my ear all night while he kept me company and kept me warm.

I had a vivid dream of the visit to Toyatastagka with Vassu and Galt, where I burned my feet. I rode on the back of Vassu, which was loads of fun, to be honest. In her aspect as a shark, she skimmed across the waves faster than one of those boats that smuggled cigarettes into Italy. The ride was exhilarating. The sight of a giant shark with Galt and myself on its back stopped all activity in the harbor.

Toyataskagka is a beautiful city. Colorful houses and shops climb up from the harbor front to the hill where the palace is sprawled. What was once a shrine of Vassu was now dedicated to the false god Cragi. Cragi moved in about fifty years ago, demanding tribute and worship, or else she would destroy the coast of the Mattamesscontess Empire, the most populated nation on Erdos. Cragi was a giant magical squid who had enough water magic to trash some fishing towns.

The clergy of the shrine preached that if the people were faithful to Vassu, Vassu would destroy Cragi. The Emperor of Mattamesscontess, who was short on courage, capitulated to the giant squid. The priestesses and priests of Vassu were hunted down. The ones who escaped started an insurrection. Half the empire sided with Vassu and as a show of her goodwill, Vassu destroyed Cragi forty-two years ago as she went to destroy the largest port in insurrection territory, Shinakosettcut.

Prompted by the clergy of Cragi, who refused to believe their god was dead, the empire eventually wore down the insurrection and reconquered its territory. The country has been a mass of discontent ever since. The illegal worship of Vassu exists everywhere because the sailors and seafood farmers believe in her. They never stopped believing because Vassu sends help to those lost at sea in the form of whales and dolphins who take them back to shore.

Vassu the shark swam up to the quay where the slavers docked their boats, huge three-masted abominations filled with captured Chem. They blinded them on the boats with quick lime and then put them in pens while the chemical burns healed, leaving opaque scar tissue that blinded them. I used to be rather squeamish over physically-cruel punishments, but I could live quite happily with throwing quick lime in the eyes of every slaver in Mattamesscontess.

I climbed up the ladder onto the quay and a horse-sized Galt laid down so I could climb on his back. The Cosm at the harbor were paralyzed in fear and did nothing to us. The Chem who could see auras started a great noise of several thousand Chem clicking and hissing. It was one of the strangest things I have ever heard.

Galt stopped amid the slave pens where the words I needed to say appeared in my head. I held up my hand for silence and received it.

"Sssssssssssshave you wordsss for usss, beloved of Vassu?" a voice cried out.

"The gods have heard your cries of anguish, people of Vassu," I said as loud as I could. "The hands of the helpers of Mugash will come to restore your sight, not today, and not tomorrow. Not even next year, but they will come in the year after and those who were blinded will once again see and will be free to return to their homes in the Waterland of Sussbesschem. Tell your people to abide and rejoice for the Great Breaking has begun."

The noise of hissing and clicking rose again even louder than before as Galt carried me through the city to the palace. He carried me inside to the great audience chamber where the Emperor was sitting with his court. I got off Galt as he told me: "You must enter on your own. They must be free to heed your words or to choose destruction. Some will heed you and they will be saved. Remember, once inside the audience hall, nothing above the ground can harm you so do not fear the magics of the mages who follow the dead Cragi."

It must have been quite a sight, as my undersized self strode through the crowd of Cosm. The palace guards tried to attack me with their halberds which broke upon the divine protection that surrounded me. It was an incredible heady feeling to know that nothing could hurt me here. Now I knew how Daniel felt inside the furnace. Amazing.

I walked right up to the dais where the throne was placed and looked up at the Emperor of Mattamesscontess, "I am Emily, the Maker of Fire. I bring a message from the eleven gods of Erdos, who made the world and everything above, below, and beside it. Cragi the false mage is dead and her worship is an abomination in the eyes of Vassu. Renounce the worship of this fake god, give up your piracy and extortion of foreign traders, abandon the enslavement and blinding of the Chem, and return to Vassu. If you do this, Vassu will forgive your transgressions and spare your lives."

"Die, Blasphemer Coyn!" A mage in the robes of a priest of Cragi threw a huge river of fire at me. It didn't touch me but it made the tiles of the floor heat up so much the soft leather sole protector on the bottom of my remaining stocking started to smolder and smoke. I had to move away as my feet became too hot to stand in one place.

The mage laughed and advanced, thinking to push me out of the hall. He retreated in panic when I started to approach him at a fast walk instead. It had to be a fast walk because the floor struck by the fire was burning my feet. He fell over in front of me as the carpet of the hall started on fire.

"Hear me now, apostates!" I started the second part of the message. "Drive away Cragi, amend your ways, and return to Vassu. If you do not, then this place will be destroyed by fire along with the harbor and the imperial navy will burn to the waterline. What does not burn today will burn next year. All who follow Vassu should leave this city if they wish to live."

After that, I lost track of time. I woke the next day in the forests of Truvos with fever dreams still running a whole movie lot of visions across my eyes. Gene Kelly with his umbrella and his dancing shoes tapped-danced me through the woods to the alleys of the Coyn part of town and sat me down on a bench on the porch of the Coyn social hall just a little after the seventh bell rang. There was a lovely baritone inside the hall singing to a guitar while dishes rattled and people talked. I faded in and out of reality and consciousness, listening to the guitar and the singing.

I heard my version of "All my trials" as a hymn to Surd with verses added. That made me very happy. It reminded me of what Vassu had told me, about how even the words I spread would make a difference in this world. For the first time, I experienced this in person, and even in my delirium, I began to believe it in my gut instead of just in my head. It was there on that porch in Truvos that all the nonsense the gods had been telling me became more than nonsense. I knew, for the first time, that I could do this thing. I could beat my butterfly wings in Truvos and Toyatastagka and Aybhas and Uldlip, and the world would change for the better.

There I was on the Mall in D.C. with Joan Baez and 300,000 other people, singing in Foskan, since this was Erdos, after all: "We shall overcome, we shall overcome, we shall overcome someday. Deep in my heart, I do believe that we shall overcome someday." I don't remember anything after that. Fever dreams are strange.

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