Wysper

  Asena stopped beside Wysper and gave 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."

  Wysper looked up at Asena in puzzlement. "She could beguile me?"

  "That's how she's managed to survive for thousands of years." Asena put one arm around the young woman’s waist while her other clawed hand motioned 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, she found it easy to slip into the role of a goddess."

  Ishi set her hands on her hips. "Under my influence, Babylon became the cradle of human civilization after the war." She gestured 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 let Wysper go and folded 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 feeding off the younger Celt."

  Ishi flung 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’s shriek drowned out Wysper’s gasp as Asena snarled with her claws out. Xaman put herself between the two. "Settle down, both of you. One of my talents 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 growled, "It would be five to one against Wysper."

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

  Asena opened her mouth to continue arguing, but stopped and looked down as Wysper laid her hand on Asena’s furry arm. "Your son told me that, if the priestesses wanted me to make some kind of a choice, he would support me no matter what I decide. Greywolf said he trusts me and I give you my word that I will not betray his trust."

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

  Ishi stalked up to Asena and switched to another language, the two of them snapping at each other as everyone else moved to the opposite side of the chamber, where Wysper stopped and turned around. "I am listening."

  Sybil innocently smiled as only a Daemo could. "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 among the barbarians of the Crimson Horde."

  This is not the argument I was expecting. "The People of the Eternal Sky are treating me with respect," Wysper replied in a wary voice.

  "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," Wysper said, "and while her nature is as fiery as her hair, we get along quite well."

  "Fire can warm you," Xaman said, "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 retorted. "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."

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "Things are already better here than they were," Myra said. "Even better than in Britannia."

  For the first time, Wysper noticed how pale and drawn Myra looked. "Are you alright? You seem unwell."

  "I feel wonderful," she replied, her face lighting up as she smiled. "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 took over her features as she turned towards Ishi. "If Ishtar asked it, I would die for her."

  Now I understand what Asena meant. This isn’t like Myra at all. "Ishtar would never demand such a sacrifice," Sybil said quickly as Wysper’s eyes narrowed, a chill running through her 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 said, her 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?" Wysper instinctively cringed, all the old habits rising up like old ghosts telling her to follow Thalia’s orders or be punished.

  Then she looked at Asena and straightened again as if her spine had become a rod of iron. "Everyone always claimed Thalia was the wisest while Myra was the most beautiful, with poor little Wysper too thin and too ugly for anyone to want."

  "They spoke the truth, especially about you."

  "Not in Greywolf's eyes," Wysper snapped. Thalia's eyes widened as Myra gasped, while Wysper continued. "He sees me as beautiful, even if I cannot, and risked his life to rescue me. No one else cares for me like that.” Wysper took a step forward, her hands unconsciously clenching into fists as she said, “And you demand I leave him?"

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

  "Men may be fickle," Wysper said, 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?" Wysper turned towards Zanzabel with a confused look and she said, "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 and travel to Aegyptus... not to stay," Zanzabel holding up her hands as Wysper opened her mouth to protest, "but to recharge his body's mana like you did for Asena, and recharge certain Artifacts."

  Wysper’s eyes narrowed. "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." Wysper stepped away from everyone, glancing at the freshly painted walls where traces of the old murals could still be seen underneath, as her choices made themselves clear. "Zanzabel, before I commit to anything, I want to hear from Ghostdog just how bad things are. Once I have, then Greywolf and I will decide what to do. No one else." Zanzabel inclined her head as if expecting that answer as Wysper turned 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 stamped 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 Wysper was dying, making her want to weep, yet she only shook head as she finally accepted 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 had 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 sadness, Wysper felt fierce joy rise inside her like a fountain. "Do you know what I hope for 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 other than travel with my new family to the ends of the known world and beyond, free as the wind and beholden to none." She turned towards the two Celestials, who had stopped arguing and now watched her. "Wolf Mother, I believe we are done here."

  "Then let's go."

  Wysper hurried over to where she was standing as Ishi said, "Asena, you have not heard the last of this."

  As Wysper reached her, Asena turned and gave Ishi a grin. "Titan told me he's going to win tomorrow because he's got something to fight for." Asena grasped Wysper’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Now, so do I."

  Together, they walked through the door and out into the bright sunshine beyond.