Gods and Heroes

  Chapter 6: The Toll Masters

  Fotio could not help but feel a twinge of regret as they rode out of the city of Enorganon. Knowing there were others connected to him besides his mother was comforting - he had always found it tough being an island in the sea. It would have been nice to know more about his father, if only so that he could find him and thank him for all his 'protection' over the years. Beneath the flippant curiosity, he could feel the roiling emotions that the news his father lived had stirred up - hurt, fear, abandonment - but what possible use could it be to examine them? He chose to ignore it all and, instead, looked down at his shiny new toys. 'I don't understand how I'm going to see what's shown in the shield,' he said, after a moment's reflection.

  'What? You just look at it.'

  'But I'm on the other side, if you know what I'm saying.'

  Akakion considered this and shrugged. 'I'll keep an eye on it for you.'

  'How far to Episkeros?'

  'It'll take us most of the day to get to the river Polinero, and Episkeros is on the other side. Then another day to get to the city of Plusia,' Akakion replied. 'Once we get past the toll bridge, it'll be easier riding. The road to Plusia is lined with inns and taverns. It's an amazing place.'

  The forest dropped away and the land flattened out as they travelled south, arriving at the toll bridge just as the sun was setting.

  'We can sleep in proper beds tonight if we press on,' Akakion said, as he led them towards the wide bridge that spanned the great river.

  Fotio followed in silence. The river Polinero was so wide that the far bank was lost in the evening haze. The bridge was, in a strange way, even bigger. The river was a natural thing, whereas the bridge was born in the mind of some mad bastard who'd managed to convince his fellows that it was possible to build something that big. It could accommodate twenty men walking abreast quite comfortably, and there were huge fortified towers on either end through which travelers had to pass.

  When they got to the foot of the nearest tower, Akakion stared at the many barred and shuttered windows on its northern wall. 'There can be no surer sign that war is upon us,' he said. 'The Tollmasters have abandoned their bridge.'

  The great, fortified gates in the towers were open, allowing travelers to cross. As they rode, Akakion told Fotio of the bridge's history. Fotio learnt, despite not being all that keen to know, that Prosoti built the bridge shortly after Hrima had made him King. At the time, Episkeros had been a rural backwater wedged between prosperous Enorganon with its master artisans, and the wealthy Graphion, which supplied Helvenica with most of her clerks and administrators.

  Before Prosoti's coronation, Episkeros was a wild land and dangerous for travelers, who were forced to hire armed escorts in order to pass through safely. It had been Prosoti's idea to build a magnificent road through Episkeros upon which people could travel in safety and comfort. When everyone laughed and suggested that the King would need to rob travelers in order to pay for his dream, he smiled and said 'Good Idea!'

  "User pays", he called it. Everyone using the road would pay two parathes to the Toll Masters at the borders - one to enter and one to leave. He sold land along the road to those wanting to build inns and taverns and made an absolute killing. And just in case people decided they would avoid the road and its toll, he made sure there was just enough outlaw activity in the 'wild lands' to make the trip interesting and even more expensive than the road. The complaints of those who tried to avoid the toll and fell victim to the surprisingly well-mannered bandits were a constant source of amusement for the King and his court. They never actually killed anyone; they just made sure they finished their journey naked and with just enough money to buy new clothes at one of the many emporia that had sprung up along the road.

  'Under Prosoti's rule, Episkeros has gone from the poorest of the Helvenican states to the wealthiest,' Akakion concluded.

  'You wouldn't know it by looking at it,' Fotio said, as they came to the end of the bridge, which was on a rise and gave a good view of the land ahead. Akakion got off his horse and stared out at the devastation that was Episkeros, the land of the free marketeers. It was obvious that this had once been a thriving thoroughfare - the road was wide and lined with ornate buildings - but those times were in the past. Debris cluttered the road and many of the buildings were smoldering ruins.

  'By The Twelve, how could this have happened?' Akakion said.

  'There's your answer,' Fotio said, pointing to a building in the middle distance around which several white-armored soldiers were busying themselves.

  'The bastards are going to burn it down!' Akakion said and mounted his horse. He bowed his head in prayer and then spurred his steed into action. Ormi, without so much as a 'by your leave' to Fotio, charged after the angry priest.

  'Wait, there are too many,' Fotio called, but Akakion either didn't hear or didn't care or, possibly, neither heard nor cared. They rode fast and hard, and it seemed to Fotio that Akakion grew as they drew closer to the white soldiers. By the time the priest vaulted off his horse and fell upon the unsuspecting invaders, he was a giant.

  Fotio was a little way behind - Ormi was not built for speed - and saw, to his horror, that there were people peering out of the windows of the building about to be burnt. A curse escaped his lips and he gripped his mace tighter. When he judged he was close enough, he stood up on Ormi's back and leapt into the fray, his mace tearing through flesh and bone as if it had an edge.

  From the perspective of the invaders, it was a terrifying - albeit brief - ordeal. Their two assailants appeared out of nowhere and fell upon them with unimaginable fury. The giant who towered over them fought with technical prowess - his movements economic, his defense flawless, and his attack lethal. The man in the golden armor was obviously untrained in the art of war, but he was strong as a bear and agile as a cat. Not for him the subtleties of defense - the shield he wore on his shoulder did little more than keep his left flank free of gore. His mace, on the other hand, was an agent of death and unlike the clinical detachment of the giant, each man he faced died with the certain knowledge that it was personal. To compound the invader's woes, the door to the inn burst open and a dozen Helvenican soldiers charged out to join the fray.

  The battle was over in minutes. Akakion, now back to his normal size, tended to the wounded. He retrieved a flask of stiporo from his pack and, after saying a silent prayer, gave all the injured men a mouthful. 'It will stop your wound festering,' Fotio heard him say to one of the soldiers. Akakion, Fotio realized, had not had a drink since their evening at The Temple of All Gods.

  It was only after he had ministered to the wounded and they had established a camp some distance from the scene of the battle that Akakion allowed the leader of the soldiers - Toll Master Psila who, not surprisingly, was known to him - tell them how the enemy had managed to trap them in the inn.

  'The King ordered all Tollmen back to the city and all the inns closed,' Psila said, as they sat around a newly built campfire. 'I counseled against such madness and for that, my Tollmen and I were banished. If I were not the Queen's cousin, I'm sure he would have thrown me into the dungeon,' he said, and grimaced. 'We were on the way to man the bridge when these white soldiers ambushed us. We lost many men in that battle, but some of us managed to survive and flee. They pursued us and were almost upon us when we came upon this inn. Knowing we were greatly outnumbered, we decided to try to hold them off here.' Psila looked back at the battleground and the piles of flammable material that had been stacked against the building. 'It would have gone badly for us had you not arrived when you did.'

  'These are difficult times, Toll Master,' Akakion said. 'Rest here tonight, but when the sun rises, make haste with all your men to Enorganon and tell the Queen that I sent you. Now tell me of King Prosoti. Has he denounced The Twelve?'

  The soldier looked shocked. 'He is a son of Mazi. Surely his madness would not extend that far?'

  'It a possibility. We have just come through Petham
enos where King Petrakefalo had renounced the Gods, a folly for which he paid with his life. Let us hope that King Prosoti's blood protects him from such madness.'

  'Do not look for a warm welcome in Prosoti's Halls, Lord Keeper. You may have once been good friends, but his mind has soured. War is upon us, and there are fewer merchants by the day. The city coffers dwindle and our King sits on his throne and gibbers.' The soldier cast his eye over the ruined landscape. 'They are unproductive, these lands.'

  The presence of such a large contingent of invading soldiers so far into Helvenica had unnerved Akakion, and he was eager to move off the road. Before he and Fotio parted company with the soldiers, however, he insisted on paying the toll of four parathes as well as giving them the packhorse and a good proportion of their supplies.

  Toll Master Psila accepted the money and horse graciously and saluted. 'Thank you, Lord. We owe you and Fotio our lives, but we will not abandon our lands so easily. In the morning, we will go as planned to the bridge and man the near tower. There is a cache of weapons and food inside that will last us many a day.'

  'As you will, Sergeant, but you must send word to the Queen. She must know that Episkeros has been abandoned to the invaders.'

  'Once we are set up at the bridge, I will ride myself to see the Queen,' Psila promised.

  (ii)

  Fotio and Akakion moved about a mile from the Tollmen before they stopped and set up their own camp, not that Fotio thought it was much of a camp. They just dumped their stuff on the ground and went to sleep. Nor was it much of a sleep. Akakion woke Fotio while it was still dark and handed him a honey cake. 'Let's get moving,' was all he had to say.

  They rode in silence, with the rising sun at their backs. The land was flat, with the odd hill or scrubby little wood in the distance. It wasn't quite what Fotio had expected. 'I thought you said these were wild lands,' he said, as they rode through the nearly featureless landscape.

  'They were once, but they have been tamed,' Akakion replied. 'There are wild forests further to the west, but they are well beyond Plusia.'

  'Where are the outlaws?'

  'Episkeros is a strange place. There are impassable cliffs on all sides, with only a few gaps through which people can travel. The outlaws tend to congregate near those gaps. The road is the only safe way in or out.'

  'Doesn't the road lead to Psila?' Fotio asked.

  'This way is far quicker. The road describes a wide arc. If we travel south west, we'll cut a couple of hours off our journey.'

  Fotio was finding that getting a conversation on the move was hard work, but travelling in silence invited gory images into his overactive imagination, inspired by the battle the night before. Anything was better than that, even talking to a surely priest. 'You know this place pretty well,' he ventured.

  'I spent a lot of time here with King Prosoti. He was the first Keeper, and when Hrima chose him to be King of Episkeros, Prosoti chose me to replace him. My first job was to drive the bandits out of Episkeros so that Prosoti could build his road.'

  Fotio looked around at the landscape and appeared embarrassed.

  'What's the matter,' Akakion asked.

  'Well, I want to ask something, but I have a feeling you'll go on about my lack of schooling again.'

  'I won't. Go ahead. Ask.'

  'Well, I know that the Keeper of the Order is important, and that he is second only to the Emperor in holiness,' Fotio said. 'But why?'

  'Oh, is that all? Well, it's because people are people and the Gods are short tempered,' Akakion said.

  Fotio listened in silence as Akakion launched into a history lesson that ate most of the morning. Being history, it had been embellished somewhat, but the upshot of what Fotio learned was that, hundreds of years ago, the Gods had no leader and being a quarrelsome bunch they spent much of their time feuding. The problem was that when the Gods feuded, their worshipers marched to battle. As a result, Helvenica was in a constant state of war.

  Then one day, a prophet rose who changed the way Helvenicans viewed their Gods. He went from city to city, preaching that the Gods weren't worthy of their worshipers - they behaved more like spoilt children than divine beings. Isiha's words resonated with what many had been secretly thinking for years. Resentment grew in the people of Helvenica, fed by the childish antics of several of the more notable Gods, until one day it came to a head.

  There was a huge, horrible battle in which over two thousand soldiers died, and all because Mazi and Pyros had a falling out about who should sit at the head of the table at official dinners.

  Isiha was furious! He led a delegation of concerned worshipers to a temple dedicated to Mazi and smashed the altar, before occupying the temple. The news of Isiha's act of defiance spread, and soon people all over Helvenica were smashing altars and occupying temples.

  'That doesn't sound like something the Gods would take,' Fotio said. The sun had climbed high into the sky and his thoughts were turning to lunch. His attempt to get Akakion talking had been amazingly successful. The challenge now was to get him to stop.

  'I don't think they had a choice,' Akakion said. 'People were beyond annoyed and were starting to get violent, and if there is something the Gods understand, it's violence. The official history tells us that the Gods, hearing the wisdom in Isiha's words, settled their differences and created the council of the Twelve with Mazi at its head. All the other gods, and there were many, became spirits.'

  'Is there an unofficial history?'

  'Yeah, Mazi and his brothers Pyros and Psofios wanted to kill Isiha and send him down to be judged, but Aquina, who's a little smarter than most and could see the writing on the wall, suggested Mazi and his brothers focus their energies on their fellow Gods. When talking proved fruitless, Mazi and his brothers went around and beat the crap out of pretty much everybody, which led to Mazi being unanimously elected him as leader of the Gods. He often jokes that only a God of War could handle such an unruly bunch.'

  'That sounds more like it,' Fotio said, 'what have we got left to eat?' He added, in an effort to end the conversation and start the meal.

  Akakion, however, wasn't quite ready to drop out of school teacher mode. 'Once the Gods had settled their disputes and The Twelve had been chosen, Mazi built the Temple of All Gods, named Isiha as the first Emperor and appointed his son as Keeper of the Order. It was the Emperor's job to rule all of Helvenica, and it was the Keeper's job to make sure that everybody agreed with the Emperor.'

  'Didn't you say Prosoti was the first Keeper?'

  'Yes he was. He's Mazi's son. I'm sure I've mentioned it before. He was Keeper until just over twenty years ago when I took over.'

  Fotio made an incredulous noise.

  'Prosoti is immortal, just like you, and your aunty, and your mother,' Akakion said, in exasperation.

  'Are you saying I'm not going to grow older?'

  Akakion sighed. He knew it wasn't Fotio's fault his education had been limited, but it still exasperated him. 'Immortals age like everyone else until the day they feel an undeniable need to go to Mount Polipsilo. On that day, their aging stops and they remain as they are for eternity. That's why some immortals look like they are little more than children, while others are old and grey.'

  'I'm hungry,' Fotio said, in a final, desperate bid to turn the discussion to more earthly matters and thus end the history lesson.

  Akakion peered at the smudges on the horizon. 'Plusia is near, not much more than an hour away. Let's push on.' He reached around to his pack and pulled out a honey cake, which he tossed to the thief. 'Now, the story of how the bridge over the river Polinero was built is key to understanding Helvenican God-worshiper relations,' he said.

  Fotio groaned, and took a bite of his honey cake. This was far worse than any classroom he'd ever attended. Probably even worse than the ones he'd avoided, which were far greater in number. A bored student could always doze off in the classroom, but if he nodded off here, he'd fall off his horse.

  (iii)
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  The smudges on the horizon quickly took shape, and it wasn't long before Plusia dominated the entire skyline. It was tall and massive, and sat atop a hill. A single road - crowded with people moving into the city - wound up the steep incline from the east. They must have been expected because a group of mounted tollmen rode out to intercept them shortly before they reached the road.

  'Lord Akakion?' the lead rider asked.

  'Yes, Toll Master. That is who I am.'

  'The King has sent us to bring you to him with all haste. He seeks your advice urgently, and has watched your approach from atop the Keep with impatience.'

  Fotio looked at Akakion, who looked back and shrugged. 'Lead the way,' Akakion said to the soldier.

  The Toll Master led them to the tollbooth at the city gates, where Akakion paid the two parathes fee required of travelers who wish to enter the city, and then led them into the city itself. Fotio trailed behind the priest, looking at the amazing buildings that lined the road.

  'Staring at the buildings betrays you as a newcomer,' Akakion said, as they trotted along behind the Toll Master and his men.

  'It's amazing,' Fotio said, craning his neck as far back as it would go. 'Why do they build them so high?'

  'There is only so much room on The Hill. When you run out of space on the ground, it's time to move into the sky.'

  The road wound around the hill and it took some time to get to the apex, but it was worth the ride. A huge, impossibly tall building that looked like it was made entirely of glass rose up into the heavens.

  'The King awaits you at the Western Garden,' the Toll Master said. 'He has requested that you go alone.'

  'No. My companion will accompany me,' Akakion said, and his voice resonated with a strange harmonic that threatened to loosen Fotio's bowels.

  'My King commands it,' the Toll Master said, signaling to his tollmen, who lowered their spears to point directly at Akakion and Fotio.

  'AND THE GODS SAY NO!' Akakion said, and the sound of his voice shattered the spears and sent the soldier's horses bolting. Ormi and Akakion's mounts stayed put, probably because they already knew that a horse couldn't run far enough when Gods were involved. 'I am not prepared to be threatened by my own soldiers,' Akakion said, in a more normal tone of voice.

  'I'm surprised you didn't know him.'

  'He's been recently promoted, probably to replace Psila,' Akakion said, and dismounted. 'Come on. Let's get this over with before they come back.'

  Fotio had seen the faces of a few of the soldiers as their horses had carried them away. As far as he could tell, they looked like faces that belonged to people who were, in fact, happy to let their horses carry them away. 'I don't think we'll need to worry too much about that,' he said, confidently.

  When looked at from the soldier's perspective, taking on a famed warrior like Akakion would be daunting enough, but when he's accompanied by a wild eyed bear of a man in gleaming golden armor, then it's probably best to let the horse take the lead.

  They left Ormi and Akakion's horse, recently named Plod for his boundless enthusiasm to do nothing, at the foot of the building with the rest of their apples to keep them company and went inside with only their weapons. The door to the castle was like nothing Fotio had ever seen. It had four pieces of glass in wooden frames mounted on a central axis, and jutted out of the building in a strange semicircle.

  'This is one of the famed revolving doors of Plusia,' Akakion explained. 'Follow me.' He walked into the door and spun it on its axis so that he was half in the building. 'Hop in,' he said over his shoulder.

  With some reluctance, Fotio walked into the next compartment. Akakion pushed on the panel in front of him, and the panel behind Fotio dragged him forward. He would have revolved right back out again had Akakion not dragged him from the door before he could scoot past.

  Without a word, Akakion led Fotio through many corridors and rooms, most of which showed Hrima indulging in divine behavior. Fotio was pleased to see that violence was rare, but a little concerned that the God appeared to be, more often than not, luxuriating in a bathtub filled with golden coins.

  They climbed five flights of steps on their journey through the castle before Akakion finally pushed open a door that led to a small garden and strode out into the sunshine, with Fotio following closely behind. The young thief looked back and saw that the building rose at least as high again.

  A tall man stood at the far edge of the garden with his back to them, looking out over the city and the lands beyond. Fotio assumed he was the King. If he wasn't, then his hat was far too ostentatious for everyday wear. Soldiers lined the wall on either side of the entrance, but the path to the King was clear.

  'Ah, Keeper, so good of you to come,' the King said, without turning.

  'Your Majesty, I would have left Enorganon sooner had I known that you wanted to speak to me.' Akakion replied. He was standing on Fotio's left and had his spear at the ready.

  'The world is changing, my friend,' the King said, still facing the other way. 'The old Gods are fading and new ones are rising to take their place.'

  'The Gods, of whom your father is one, are not fading. They are as powerful as ever.'

  'Then why haven't they done something about the armies massing on our borders?' the King snapped. 'Instead they send some halfwit oaf on a ridiculous quest, with you tagging along to hold his hand. Your duty lies here, with my men and I, in defense of this city. Not keeping some fool out of trouble.'

  Fotio's eyes hardened and his hand tightened on his mace.

  'Don't do it,' Akakion said, aware that Fotio was readying to let fly. He half turned to look at the thief, caught sight of the shield and his jaw dropped in surprise. He looked back at the King and hurriedly mumbled a prayer, begging the Gods to banish illusions.

  'Your Majesty,' said the guard by the door. 'The Lord Keeper is not alone.'

  There was a loud 'crack', as if someone had struck the universe very hard with a very big hammer, and a small fat man appeared behind the King with his hands somehow inside the Kings back.

  There was a collective gasp from the soldiers. Akakion made to throw his spear, and then thought better of it, probably because there was a chance that the little man didn't physically exist. Instead, he stepped forward and brought the haft down hard on top of the small man's shining cranium.

  The spear made an unusual 'boing' noise when it connected, dispelling any doubt that it was a physical head it had struck. The blow made the small man squeal and take his hands out of the King's back so that he could rub his pate, in a vain effort to soothe his damaged skull.

  The King spun around, swung his fist back as if he wanted to hit the small man, and then collapsed onto the floor, his punch un-thrown. The small man turned, shot Akakion a look of pure hatred, and vanished with a soft "pop".

  'Who was that?' Fotio said.

  'I think it was Monos,' Akakion replied and rushed to the King's side. He pulled a flask of blessed stiporo from his belt and forced some between the King's lips.

  Color returned to Prosoti's face, he spluttered once or twice, then snatched the flask from Akakion's hand and took a long, unbroken drink. 'I don't think I've ever been so happy to see your craggy face,' he said, and stood up.

  'That was Monos?' Fotio said, sounding incredulous. 'He was tiny, and more than a little plump. How can twelve of the mightiest beings ever to walk the Earth be afraid of that?'

  'You must be Fotio,' the King said, 'he thought of you constantly. Don't be fooled, he is mightier than all The Twelve put together,' he paused and took another swig of Akakion's stiporo. 'He has already won a victory over them many years ago, and now he returns to complete what he started. But he fears you, young Fotio. I could get a sense of what he was thinking when he was controlling me. He knows you are the only one who can defeat him. Prophet, he names you. '

  'Fotio is a prophet? Now it all makes sense,' Akakion exclaimed. 'Not even immortals heal like you but prophets, well, they're another story.
'

  'You mean I'm like the first Emperor?'

  'Exactly. Prophets are catalysts, people who change the world. The Great Oracle predicted three prophets in Helvenican history, but only one has come forth. Isiha was the first, and he revolutionized the deity-worshiper paradigm. It's a pity he wasn't immortal because I can't see him standing for any of this Monos nonsense.'

  'That's where you are completely wrong, Lord Keeper,' King Prosoti said. 'Isiha would certainly stand for this Monos nonsense because Isiha is Monos!'

  'Isiha? The first Emperor?' Akakion said. 'I thought he died at sea. There's even a painting devoted to his death in the temple at Aquinos.'

  The King sighed. 'You know that his death was set up by the Gods, who thought him mortal?

  Akakion shrugged. 'There is nothing official in the scriptures, but many in the priesthood suspect that the God's conspired to end Isiha's reign.'

  'The Gods were all a bit upset by it, actually. Aquina had taken special care with the storm, and my uncle Psofios had set aside a special place for Isiha to spend eternity, but he never turned up. The sailors who accompanied him all showed, but none knew what had happened to the Emperor. There was some conjecture that maybe he'd caught wind of what the Gods were planning and made other arrangements, or that he was an immortal. So the Gods waited at Polipsilo for him, but he never showed there either. Now we know what he's been up to and I'm not surprised. He always was a jumped up little oink of a man, always meddling in things that were none of his business.'

  'Monos is Helvenican?' Akakion said in an incredulous tone. 'Why is he coming with an army?

  'He told me it was time Helvenica was free of her chains. I tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't listen and I was powerless to stand against him. Have you ever had one of those dreams where you can't move, or speak, or anything? It was like that. I could see what was happening, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. I was completely under his control.'

  'If he can control a King, then no one is safe. How can we know who to trust?' Fotio said.

  'It pushed him to the very brink of his power,' King Prosoti replied, as Akakion made an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve his flask. The King took another long mouthful before handing the drink back to the priest. 'There were times when I felt that I could almost shake him off, like when my wife's cousin defied him. Whenever I felt hope or gladness, his hold on me grew weaker. That is why he refused to look at you, for fear that seeing my old friend Akakion would raise my spirits so much that I would be able to cast him out.'

  The King sagged as if his bones no longer wanted to support him, and looked pale and weary. 'You both have my eternal gratitude,' he said, 'but for the moment, I must rest. If half a bottle of Akakion's finest healing draft could not shift my weakness, then it is time to give in to sleep. Sergeant, have these men fed and quartered at no expense. Today they saved your King and possibly all of Helvenica. We will meet in the throne room for the evening meal to discuss this most dire of threats.'

  (iv)

  Fotio stood in front of a floor to ceiling window in an opulent room, looking out over an opulent city. Everything in Plusia was ostentatious and over the top. The furniture, the food, the soldier's uniforms. Everything. Even the door handles were inlaid with precious metals. It came as quite a shock after the earthiness of Enorganon.

  'Another honey cake?' Akakion asked. He was reclining on a lounge at the center of the room.

  'No thanks,' Fotio replied. 'The gold tastes strange.' In truth, he was tired to the back teeth of honey cakes, probably because Akakion had developed an almost alarming addiction to them and insisted on adding them to every meal. In fact, Fotio hadn't eaten much at all since arriving at this strange city. Even the food was too rich. There were meats laced with so many rare and exotic spices that he couldn't recognize what animal they came from. The vegetables floated in pools of butter, and the rainbow-colored sweets were so full of sugar that they began rotting his teeth before he had eaten any. And to top it off, there was gold dust or gold leaf on just about everything. In the end, he'd made do with a couple of oranges and a plum.

  'I can't believe we've made such good time considering everything that's happened along the way,' Akakion said, carefully picking the precious metal off his cake before taking a mouthful. 'The enemy camp is no more than a week's ride from here, just beyond Graphion. If we stock up, we can ride straight there.'

  'How long are we stopping here?'

  'We can't linger too long because Monos knows we're coming and we don't want to give him too much time, but before we go I want to talk to Prosoti about his plans for the defense of the passes and the city. There will be an army marching through here soon, now that the King has ejected Monos from his head. '

  Fotio continued to look moodily out the window. 'The army will only march if we fail,' he said. 'It's strange, but I just can't get my head around everything that has happened. I started this journey as an underemployed errand boy and now I'm some sort of immortal prophet and savior of my people. It's all a bit overwhelming.'

  'You're growing as an individual. What more can I say?'

  'It also bothers me that it's been a bloody business so far, and seems destined to get bloodier.'

  'How could you expect anything else? War is almost upon us, lad, and there are dark forces bent on our destruction. We didn't attack those harpies, or ambush anyone on the road. We simply reacted to protect ourselves,' Akakion said, and took another bite of his cake.

  Fotio sighed. 'I don't consider myself a violent man and actively try to avoid it whenever possible.'

  A mouth full of honey cake muffled Akakion's exclamation of derision. 'You're not serious?' he said, after swallowing. 'As far as I can tell, violence is your first and favorite option for dealing with anything more unexpected than a sneeze.' Akakion stood up and put his hand on Fotio's shoulder. 'Face it lad, you're an immortal, which means you've got violence in your blood. Your first reaction to a threat is to smash it into a million pieces, and you don't think of the consequences until later. Just look at what happened today. If I hadn't intervened, you'd have sent Prosoti back to the Mountain. Imagine trying to explain that to Mazi.'

  'Why does being of divine blood translate to being blood thirsty?'

  'Because everyone of divine blood is bloodthirsty,' Akakion said, 'and you've yet to demonstrate otherwise.' He sat back down and finished his honey cake. 'You've told me more than once about the pictures in the temples,' he continued after wiping the crumbs from his unshaved chin. 'Well, that's where you come from. Anyway, it's not as if death is the end. We know that Helvenicans go to Psofios's domain after they die and reside there for eternity, and I'm sure Monos's people have come to a similar arrangement. You may kill the body, but the spirit persists and will continue to do so, regardless of what we do.'

  'Not if Monos wins,' Fotio said.

  'Why? The cycle of life will continue regardless of the Gods we worship. If Monos banishes our Gods, then Helvenicans will stop going to Psofios's domain and start going to where Monos's followers go. They'll still persist after death, just in a different place.'

  Fotio's face contorted as he tried to think his way through this strange philosophical maze. He wished there were some way he could hit it with his mace. 'So what you're saying is that, even though I killed some people, no one has actually ceased to exist because their spirits persisted.'

  'Pretty much. It can be gory and I'm sure it hurts but, ultimately, it's just like moving house but without the packing.' Akakion picked out a sugar-encrusted morsel and popped it into his mouth, where it made a strange crunching noise as he chewed. 'Gosh they're good,' he said. 'Who would have thought you could make cockroaches palatable? Anyway, that's partly why there is so much death in religious art. Killing a person is the Gods' way of letting them know that it's time to be judged.'

  Fotio sat down on a couch opposite Akakion. 'That is so insane that it's almost believable.'

  'Do you really think you'r
e the first to notice what's in those paintings? Nearly every neophyte at some time or another asks that very question - why so much death? And the answer is always the same; death is the pathway to judgment. It's especially important when the individual has erred. The sooner they get started on their penance, the sooner they'll be free to enjoy eternity.'

  'I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say,' Fotio said, 'because it sounded to me like you were suggesting that sometimes a person needs to die for their own good?'

  'Yep.'

  For the first time since the magical hour he spent with Geneka in the village of Putami, Fotio laughed. He threw back his head and let the madness of the past few weeks pour out from him in great, braying, lung full's of air. 'You priests are crazy,' he said when he finally regained his breath. 'Do you really believe that no one ever actually ends?'

  'Of course I do! Death is definitely not an end. You've met Psofios! How can you doubt?'

  'Because that means that mortal life is nothing but a test; a huge, convoluted sham; a waste of time. If that's how it works, then you might as well just die the moment you are born.'

  'Why would you do that? The longer a person lives, the more they can influence their eternity for the good. It's the only true justice - everyone gets what they deserve.'

  'I never thought of it like that before,' Fotio said.

  'History is littered with men and women who thought they could cheat their fate after living evil lives. They would leave vast sums of money to the various churches, or build magnificent temples, but it was always for naught. It's impossible to bribe the Gods if only because there is nothing we can give them that they cannot get for themselves. Every person is judged by the state of their soul, by their thoughts and deeds during life, and not by the weight of their purse.'

  Fotio's big, honest brow furrowed as he engaged in unaccustomed cogitation. 'That sounds almost reasonable, but what about those people who have to die for their own good? Don't they deserve the chance to atone for their sins and create a better eternity for themselves?'

  Akakion sighed. 'Yeah well, I did say that raising the awareness of judgment is only part of the reason. The other part is that the Gods like violence. Not many people make the connection, and we don't like to talk about it much in case people start to lose respect,' he said. 'You see, God's and immortals never die so they never face judgment. No judgment means that there are no consequences. No consequences mean, well, you just have to look at Helvenica's history to see what happens when there are no consequences. When you strip away all the theology and associated mumbo jumbo, what's left is a bunch of vicious, blood thirsty, psychopaths who don't know right from wrong.'

  'You're blaspheming again!' Fotio said, and scooped up his mace from the floor. 'Are you under Monos's influence?'

  'Put the mace down! I'm under no one's influence but my own. All senior priests know this, as do all the Kings and Queens, even the immortals like Prosoti. It's a truth that we try not to dwell on. In a way, it's the job of the Kings and Queens to stop the Gods getting annoyed. That's why Prosoti became King here. Hrima lost his temper and filled the old temple with molten gold. He was threatening to kill everyone in the land and only Prosoti's promise to build this temple stopped him.'

  'That's, um. That's, ah.' Fotio began, failed to find the right words, and then abruptly stood up. 'I'm going to have a nap,' he said, and marched out of the room.

  'It's not as bad as it sounds,' Akakion called after him. 'No one really dies so it's all the same in the end.'

  (v)

  It felt to Fotio as if he had barely gotten his head down when some bastard shook him awake, and that bastard was Akakion.

  'Come on, the King has summoned us.'

  Feeling like he should have bathed instead of slept, Fotio followed the priest through the labyrinthine passages of the enormous building that served as the Temple of Hrima and the palace of the King of Episkeros. He couldn't help but notice that Akakion had shaved and donned clean clothes, while he had simply unbuckled his armor and collapsed onto a couch without even washing the grime of the road off his face.

  They walked through what felt like miles of identical corridors to Fotio, and the further they went the more that Akakion's scrubbed face annoyed him.

  'This place is enormous,' he said to take his mind off his growing irritability, 'are you sure you know where you're going?'

  'I was here when it was built,' Akakion replied, 'and the hill was all but bare in those days. Plusia started as a garrison to protect those who mined the gold and precious stones in the hills to the southwest. If it weren't for those mines, nobody would ever have settled here. Previous Kings focused on the gold in the ground and ignored everything else. They built a mean little temple to Hrima on the outskirts of the biggest mining village and spent all their time digging, but Prosoti saw the potential for more. There was good land for farming once he cleared some of the forest, and the neighbors were both rich and in need of passage.'

  Fotio nodded at the impromptu history lesson. If anything, it had made him a little more irritable.

  Akakion stopped abruptly at a doorway that looked no different from the dozens of others that they had passed. He self-consciously adjusted the set of his clothes, and pushed open the doors. The lights in the room on the other side were so bright that Fotio spent a moment blinking while his eyes adjusted.

  'At last. I was about to send someone to see what was keeping you,' said a female voice from out of the glare.

  'We came as soon as we could, Princess,' Akakion said. 'My companion was fatigued from the journey and it took a while to rouse him.'

  When Fotio's eyes had finally adjusted, he saw that the owner of the voice was a young woman, about his age, who was sitting beside King Prosoti at a table against the far wall. Smokeless torches, similar to the ones in Pethamenos, stood in candelabras along the walls and filled a massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The only other occupants of the room were four guards, standing in respectful silence at each corner of the room.

  Akakion bowed and entered. Fotio, unsure of how to behave in the presence of royalty - his life as an errand boy and thief rarely brought him into contact with the monarchy - imitated Akakion. He even followed him to the seat beside the young woman. When he realized his mistake, Fotio scuttled to the empty chair on the other side of the table.

  'Our prophet is not comfortable in our presence,' the King said, but his tone was gentle and his smile welcoming. 'I must admit that I myself struggle with the niceties of the court, but one must do one's duty.'

  The young woman rolled her eyes. 'You're looking well, Keeper,' she said.

  'And you are exactly as I left you all those years ago,' Akakion replied.

  'Father tells me that you and Sharon are no longer together, but he's been a bit strange of late so I thought I'd come down and see for myself.'

  'Sadly, it's true,' Akakion replied.

  'Yes, well,' the King said. 'This was meant to be a private audience in which we discussed the dire situation that our beloved nation finds itself. The emergence of the second prophet is a serious development, my dear Leni, and you are only here because your father indulges you far too much. So please, restrain yourself.'

  'Your majesty,' Akakion said, 'your daughter was simply greeting an old friend.'

  King Prosoti gave Akakion a tired look. 'My request for restraint also applies to you,' he said.

  Fotio was only half-aware of his surrounds during this exchange because the mouth-watering feast on offer elbowed everything else out of his mind. The table groaned under the weight of the food piled upon it: there were deliciously spiced meats, delectable vegetables in luscious sauces, and tempting sweets.

  He piled his plate high and fell upon the banquet with enthusiasm and passion. His fellow diners cut short their conversation and watched in awe for a few minutes.

  'He's a big boy with an appetite to match,' the King said, eventually.

  'He's going t
o challenge Monos? What's he going to do? Eat him?' Leni said.

  'Oh no, definitely not,' Akakion said. 'I've gotten to know our prophet fairly well over the past couple of weeks and I can tell you that the first thing he'll do is hit Monos with his mace.' He watched Fotio eat for a short while. 'He may eat him afterwards,' he conceded, 'but it'll definitely be mace to skull to start with.'

  'I reckon you should starve him for a bit, and then tell him that he can eat after he kills the Mad God. I don't think anything would save Monos then.'

  Akakion laughed a short, humorless laugh - more a snort that a giggle - and leaned back in his chair. His face became serious. 'Hopefully Monos won't be at the camp. Our job is to break the artifact that protects his followers, not fight the new God himself.'

  'I have felt the power of the God of Men, and I don't hold much hope for your mission,' King Prosoti said. 'Even the strength of the second prophet may not be enough.'

  They all looked at Fotio, who seemed oblivious to their existence. He appeared totally engrossed in his meal, and was humming a happy tune to himself while he ate.

  'What preparations are you going to make for the war?' Akakion asked.

  'We must hold the Road Pass, so that is where we'll be concentrating our efforts. It's the only way through from Graphion that is open enough to accommodate such a force,' King Prosoti said. 'I'll send some men to guard the smaller passes in case he tries to flank us.'

  Akakion nodded. 'And the city?'

  'If he makes it through the Pass, then the city is all but lost. Our best hope would be to flee to Enorganon and drop the bridge behind us.'

  'It would be wise to start evacuating some of your people right away. Queen Filia is already preparing for refugees.'

  The King sighed. 'We have time yet, my old friend. Monos will take Graphion before moving against us, and I hear that the Guardians of Eternity are marching this way. Hopefully they will arrive in time to help us hold the Pass. The only positive is that we know King Ipalilos is incorruptible because he's such a dour bastard. He wouldn't do anything unless it was accompanied by official paperwork.'

  Akakion nodded, grim faced. 'The Guardians have been ordered to attack the enemy's camp. They are the mightiest warriors in Helvenica, but they only number three hundred. Only with the power of the Gods behind them can they hope to triumph against the thousands mustering on our borders. They are doomed unless we can destroy the staff.'

  The three descended into a gloom and sat silently watching Fotio eat. Even Leni lost her effervescence. She and Akakion sat absent-mindedly holding hands, while King Prosoti stared into the middle distance. All three jumped in surprised when the young man sat back in his chair, hunger apparently sated. 'The armies of Monos will never march,' he said. 'The Keeper and I will see to that.' He pushed back his chair and stood up. 'If this is a council of war, then I am all but useless and I'd like to get some rest. One final ride awaits us and who knows when I will sleep in a bed again.' Fotio looked at Akakion, who looked at Leni and then shook his head.

  It finally dawned on Fotio why Akakion had taken such care to spruce himself up and couldn't help but smile. He turned to the King. 'I would be grateful if you could ask one of the guards to show me to my room.'

  'I think the prophet has a point,' King Prosoti said. 'In reality, there is very little for us to discuss at this time. You know what is needed of you and I know what is needed of me.' He looked towards Akakion and Leni, who were quickly receding into their own private universe, and reached a decision. 'I'll show you the way myself,' he said.

  (vi)

  Despite his heroic nap in the afternoon, Fotio collapsed into a deep and dreamless sleep the moment his head hit the gold embossed pillow. He could barely remember the walk back to his rooms, recalling only that the King had told him that Akakion and Leni had been very close many years ago, when Akakion was helping Prosoti establish his reign. So close, in fact, that they would have married had the Mountain not called Leni.

  Akakion had waited for her to return, but the days became weeks, and the weeks, months. When a year had passed with no word from Leni, the Keeper decided he could wait no more and left Plusia for the Temple of All Gods.

  The story stuck in Fotio's mind because he thought Akakion was many things, but a romantic was not one of them. When he expressed this to the King, Prosoti laughed.

  'From all I have heard, Akakion all but lost his mind when Sharon left him,' Prosoti said. 'He is probably the most loyal man in all of Helvenica. He is devoted to his people, to his friends, to his country, and to his Gods. Consider yourself fortunate to have such a man at your side, young prophet, because you will never have cause to doubt his allegiance.'

  The dreamless sleep carried Fotio through the night and deposited him, without ceremony, on the cusp of a bright new day. He stumbled into the living area of their rooms to find Akakion ravaging the breakfast spread.

  'Hey, slow down,' he said, afraid that the priest would leave him nothing but honey cake crumbs for his morning meal.

  Akakion looked up. 'Still hungry after last night's effort?' he said. 'You ate a three course meal for four people. It was awe inspiring.'

  'Yeah, well, prophesying is hungry work,' Fotio said, and sat down opposite the priest. 'And what did you get up to last night?'

  'Oh, you know, catching up with old friends,' Akakion said, his face carefully neutral.

  'No, I don't know.'

  'That's right. You've said.'

  Fotio's face colored. 'I hope you got some sleep.'

  'Plenty. In fact, it was the first night I've slept properly in a long time. When I saw Leni again, I remembered what it was like to feel alone and abandoned. In my head, I heard once again the words Sharon said to me when we first parted, but this time I understood what she meant. She was right. It was time we parted.'

  'What did she say?'

  'She said she was lonely.'

  'Oh.'

  Fotio harvested as much as he could from the breakfast tray without overloading his plate and they both ate in silence for a while.

  'What is it like, on the Mountain?' Fotio asked, when his hunger was no longer burning.

  Akakion shrugged. 'I've never been, but from what I've been told, it's paradise. That's why the Ogres wanted back in, and why Leni lingered for many years after being summoned. Only mad buggers like the Harpies, who have a thing about human flesh, ever leave it willingly.'

  'I went there with my mom when I was a child. She wanted to go to the temple at its foot for some reason or another. All I remember was that it was big, but surely it's not big enough to hold all the Gods, immortals, and human souls?'

  'Mount Polipsilo is the doorway. The immortal lands themselves are endless.'

  'Is Leni going back?'

  'I assume so. She didn't say.'

  'But what about when we get back? Isn't she going to wait for you?'

  'She said she could visit me in Psofios's domain after I have served my penance.'

  Fotio made to say something, and then stopped. The realization that Akakion did not expect to survive their journey hit him like a well-aimed mace to the forehead. He felt shame that he had spent much of the journey behaving like a spoilt child when the man he rode with did so in the certain knowledge that he would die at journey's end.

  Akakion saw his struggle and put down his honey cake. 'Don't feel bad,' he said, 'death isn't the end.'

  Fotio was almost in tears.

  'Look, don't worry about me. It's you that's got the tough job. I'll just go to Psofios's domain but when Monos sends you back to the Mountain, you'll have to explain to Mazi how you lost his favorite mace.'

  'But we're not fighting Monos, where just going to destroy the staff.'

  Akakion sighed. 'Lad, he knows you're coming. What are the chances he's going to leave the defense of his greatest asset to an underling?'

  'If you're so sure we're going to fail, why are we going?'

  'Because I'm not sure we're going
to fail, I just think it's the most likely outcome. What I am sure of is that if we don't stop this mad bastard, he'll start a war in which thousands will die. We owe it to all those soldiers, Helvenican and followers of Monos alike, to try. '

  'Don't you get extra eternity points or something, for dying in a holy war?' Fotio said. He looked directly at the priest and, for the first time, saw doubt in his eyes. 'You don't really believe that no one comes to an end, do you?'

  The priest shrugged. 'Life is a hard habit to break.'

  'But what about all that stuff you said about having met Psofios? How can you doubt?'

  'The God's have proved less than reliable.'

  Fotio let out a sigh and slumped back in his chair. 'This is all so confusing,' he said, eventually. 'I don't understand any of this Gods business, and I don't really believe in all that death is not the end stuff, and I certainly don't believe that I'm some sort of immortal prophet. What I do know is that Monos exists because I've seen him with my own eyes.' He paused a minute. 'At least I think I did? He was there, wasn't he? I saw you hit him with your spear.' Fotio lapsed into another confused silence and then stood up abruptly. 'I want to take a bath. Not even the Gods know when I'll get a chance to have another.'

  They stayed in Plusia another two days, but Fotio spent most of the time alone because Akakion was either consulting with the King or looking soulfully into Lena's eyes. Not that it bothered Fotio all that much. He had secured a writing quill and a notebook from one of the King's guards and had busied himself with the unfamiliar task of organizing his thoughts.

  So it was late on the morning of their fourth day in Plusia before Fotio and Akakion were ready to depart. King Prosoti, this time accompanied by a roiling cloud of flunkies, was there to see them off. As was the custom of the land, he presented Akakion with an itemized bill but in a rare break with tradition, he extended credit until after their dangerous mission was complete. Customs such as these had made Episkeros the wealthiest of the Helvenican states.

  Leni was also present and had eyes only for Akakion. 'This time it's me waiting for you,' she said, 'so make sure you come back.'

  Akakion smiled sadly and mounted Plod. Without a word, he turned to the road.

  Fotio mounted Ormi, but hesitated to follow. 'I'll make sure he comes back,' he said.

  Leni gave him a bright smile despite the threatening tears. 'After so many years, three nights were not enough.'

  Feeling a little lonely, Fotio turned to follow the priest.