'A choice? For me?' Legana's startled look only amused Fate further. 'Why? What sort of choice would you need to offer? I'm a devotee of your temple, I'm yours to command.'
'Oh come now, you've never been the most pious of women, have you? I hardly think a divine proclamation would be appropriate.'
There was no anger in Fate's voice, but Legana still trembled slightly, fighting the urge to fall to her knees. She knew that was the effect the Gods were supposed to have on mortals, but it was alarming to experience it in person. She wasn't frightened of much the Land had to offer, and she'd been trained to be a killer of the highest calibre, and yet the merest hint of a smile from her mistress sent shivers down her spine.
'I'm afraid I don't understand, my Lady.'
'I do have a mission for you, that is true, but first I have a proposal.' The Lady leaned forward suddenly and Legana flinched involuntarily before finding herself once again mesmerised by the unnatural emerald shine of Fate's eyes.
It reminded her of a friend who'd won a set of dice with emeralds marking out the numbers on each face. A week later he'd offered her all the money he'd won to take the dice off his hands. Few mortals would survive such luck for long.
'You were in Scree; you saw what happenedthere.'
'I saw, but I didn't understand much of it,' Legana admitted, unable to hold the Lady's gaze for long, though she found herself continually drawn back to it.
'For a time the Gods were driven out of the city; the natives turned against my kind.' Fate spoke in a whisper, now no trace of a smile on her face. 'It was never intended to last, that much we do know, but the precedent is, let us say, concerning us.'
'And the fervour?' Legana asked timidly, unsure what reaction her question would receive. 'I've heard mild-mannered priests are suddenly preaching fire-and-brimstone; that it's driven some to violence already.'
'I am mindful of the situation,' the Lady said, a fierce look in her eye, 'but there are others whose anger is unmatched since the days of the Great War. There was hurt done to several of the Upper Circle, and they demand vengeance.'
Legana shuddered. That sounded distinctly worrying. 'And what would you have of me, Lady?'
'A bargain,' Fate said. 'The mistakes of the past should not be repeated. Our greatest failure of the Great War was to pay insufficient attention at the outset. Immortals are not suited to the mundane details of mortal life, yet I suspect that is the battleground on which we will soon be fighting.'
The Goddess paused and inspected Legana's clothes, which looked even shabbier than usual when compared with Fate's dark green dress, which flowed around her in a breeze Legana couldn't detect. After a moment, she said, 'What I would have you do is to join me. Normally I make little use of priests or champions, but I believe this — and more — will be required if we are not to be left behind in the coming conflicts.'
'The coming conflicts? What do you mean by "join you"?'
Fate hesitated. 'We have reached the Age of Fulfilment, and I am blind to what may come to pass. There are so many possibilities, and all conflicts are as one; dark portents feed off one another. There is no single enemy to face, but a hurricane of potential to unravel, to comprehend and map. The Gods are not united. They have different goals, and will not share followers willingly — we will never again see Nartis commanding Menin armies, or Death walking the streets of a city to rally its poorest in its defence. The deeds of the Great War broke us in many ways.
'As for what I mean by joining me, I mean just that. I suspect I am the first of my kind to make such an offer but I doubt I will be the last.' She produced a delicate golden necklace of the finest workmanship, studded with emeralds. 'We Gods need mortal agents such as we have never required before. Legana, I offer you the chance to become part of me — to share my power and act in my name.'
'You want me as your Chosen?' Legana gasped. Of all the things she might have imagined, this would never have occurred to her, not for a-
'Nothing so feeble,' the Lady said with a sniff. She did not yet offer the necklace to Legana, though it was plainly part of the bargain. T intend you to be part of me, not my servant. I wish you to be a Mortal-Aspect. You will walk the Land with my strength and my authority.
'Place this necklace around your throat and you will become an Aspect of Fate, no longer fully mortal, but not entirely divine. I require a mortal mind to see what I cannot, a mortal body to fear what I may dismiss.' She looked at Legana, something like sorrow in her eyes. 'My dear, this will not be an easy decision. Such a thing has never happened before, and I cannot promise you I am certain of the effect. But I cannot wait long. I give you until dawn to make your decis-'
'There's no need,' Legana said with a sudden surge of confidence. 'My Lady, I accept.'
Fate gave her a quizzical look, but this time Legana refused to let her gaze fall. The word 'Chosen' had sent a thrill racing through her body. She had been raised by devotees of the Lady, treated with nothing but kindness; even punishment for misbehaviour had been lenient by comparison with tales she'd heard about the cruelty some novices suffered at other monasteries and temples.
The day she'd left the temple, Legana had realised the firm hand of the devotees had tempered her impetuous nature, and made her a better woman. She owed them — and her Goddess — a lot, and she would serve the Lady however she could.
And Legana was smart enough to know that this offer would never be surpassed. It was more than she'd ever dared to dream for.
'Are you so sure?' Fate said after a moment!. 'This is not something to be undertaken lightly, and I have no wish to bind myself to an unwilling soul.'
'I'm certain,' Legana said, looking her Goddess directly in the eye, her fear gone. 'I have never felt I belonged, other than inside your temple — any lack of piety on my part was because I felt insignificant, not worthy of you. I'll not betray my people, or my lord, but I wish to be more than an agent of a man I barely know.
'I'll take your gift and pay the price it demands.'
Fate studied the young woman, then broke into a sudden, brilliant smile. 'I have indeed chosen well. Now, listen before you put the necklace on, for I suspect the sudden sense of mortality will come as an awful shock to me, and I may have to retreat to the Palace of the Gods to recover.'
Legana nodded quickly, her eyes glimmering with eagerness.
'Consorting with necromancers and vampires will no longer do. Deal with your current companions, then go to my temple in Hale. You may live there; Zhia Vukotic will not come after you there.'
Legana nodded again, her eyes flickering to her fallen weapons. Neither Mikiss, the vampire asleep in the next room, nor Nai, the necromancer she'd last seen the previous night, would be easy to kill, but with the strength of a Goddess what could she not achieve?
The Lady had seen Legana's eyes move to her swords. 'Good; kill them both, and then look to the voices in this city. The crossroads of the West is divided into quarters, but to get through whatever is coming, it will need to stand united — and believe me, the crossroads of the West must survive.'
The Lady spoke quickly now, and handed over the necklace to Legana.
She ran her fingers over the emeralds without taking her eyes off the Lady's face.
'I suggest you start your work by killing the High Priest of Alterr
here in Byora. He's a waddling little misery of a man who goes by the name of Ayarl Lier.'
Legana's eyes widened. The Qods are turning on each other now? 'We have never been the most harmonious of entities,' the Lady said with a smile, guessing correctly what Legana had been thinking. 'Alterr is one of those whose rage flows unabated. She will lead us to rashness if her strength is not curtailed, and Lier has great influence, both within the court of Natai Escral, and with the common folk of Hale. It is best that influence be removed. And anyway,' she added with a mischievous smile, as though she had suggested nothing more than a mild prank, 'Alterr is of the Upper Circle of the Pantheon, while I am not. Ambition is not limited to mortals.'