'Gods!' Legana breathed, for a moment stunned into stillness, then she dropped to one knee. 'Lady.'
'Just one of us, my dear, but you got there in the end.'
Legana could feel Fate's assessing eyes on her.
'Oh, do get up, girl. Grovelling suits neither of us.'
Legana obeyed, but she kept her eyes low, desperately trying to remember her childhood lessons. They'd all thought it a big joke when the temple-mistress had told them the protocols for addressing their Goddess, but now Legana found herself wishing fervently that she'd paid a little more attention. Catching sight of her short swords on the floor at her feet, she felt a pang of shame and tried to nudge them behind a drape with her toe.
'Never mind those,' the Lady said. 'Why don't you fetch me a glass of that wine?'
Legana surprised herself at how eagerly she complied.
'And it looks like you'll be needing another glass too,' Fate called out from the balcony.
Legana looked back to see the Goddess leaning out over the balcony, looking down and, of all things, blowing a kiss to someone shouting below. There was nothing to interest a Goddess out there; it was just a minor street in Coin, the city's financial district. There were no temples here not even to Fate, the variously named Goddess of Luck – which was why Zhia Vukotic had wanted her to take rooms here.
Oh, piss and daemons, Legana realised, did 1 drop that glass on someone? Quickly she joined her mistress on the balcony and, a little hesitantly, handed Fate her wine.
'Ah, thank you.' Fate had a sly smile on her face as she sipped the wine and settled into a chair. After a moment she indicated Legana should take the other. Legana did so feeling awkward and heavy-limbed next to the Goddess, who had sat as gracefully as silk billowing on the wind. 'I think you caused a young man to wet himself in the street,' she said abruptly. 'Did the vampire not ask you to maintain a low profile then?'
Dark Place take me, she's here about Zhia, Legana thought with a sudden sense of dread. I'm dead – dead and damned.
'She, ah, I-' The words faded in her throat as Fate made a dismissive gesture and Legana felt her entire body freeze; all too like a dog responding to its mistress's command.
'I'm not here about the vampire, not principally, anyway,' she said after a moment.
'So why are you here then?' Legana tried not to sound curious, and afraid.
The Goddess gave a soft laugh that felt like icicles prickling down Legana's spine. 'To do what I do best; to present a choice.'
'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.