***
At dusk the first two gods appeared before Exinious’ throne. One god had a black mohawk that extended back into a long ponytail. He was bare-chested, except for jewels, and had long draping fabric covering him from the knees down. His skin was as white as Exinious’ but his gray eyes had a peaceful look to them. Beside him was a goddess who had to be Brekka. She had a large bosom concealed by a tiny white dress. Her hair was light blue and white curls that fell to the middle of her back.
“Egar and Brekka,” Exinious whispered to me. (I’d retaken my place beside his throne.) “This is wonderful. If they’re together Brekka must currently be his wife.”
“How have you been, Exinious?” Egar said this as though he had no choice but to ask. He did not meet Exinious’ eyes.
“I was very well until a few hours ago.”
Egar frowned and shrugged.
“What happened a few hours ago?” Brekka said.
I blinked. She had the same kind of dimwittedness I’d seen in younger village girls, but thought impossible for someone immortal. Egar leaned close to whisper to her.
A god with short flaming red hair appeared in a ray of light that was not quite as impressive as Helder’s. He wore a long tan waistcoat and black pants that flared before they cinched into tall boots. I felt he was the ugliest of them so far. He surveyed the room smugly and then made a deep bow to Brekka beside him. Brekka covered her mouth to giggle.
“Fizu,” Exinious whispered to me. “Helder’s minion.”
The sunbeam breaking through the roof brightened to an unbearable glare. When it receded both, Helder and Arma stood before us. The white-haired goddess narrowed her eyes at me. I gave her a cruel look in return. I no longer felt beholden to her.
Egar crossed his arms. “Alright, Helder, what’s this all about?”
My lips parted.
“Do you see that woman next to him?” Helder said. “He built her out of flesh, breathed his dark magic into her, and let her live a soulless existence. She’s not without a mind. She has a will of her own, but when her life ends she will crumble to nothingness. She was only made so he could have a plaything. He married this one, but there’s a whole village of these soulless creatures.”
Egar considered this with a stern face. Brekka stared at Helder with wide vacant eyes.
“So it’s bad because they won’t have an afterlife?” Brekka said.
“Exactly, my dear,” Helder said.
“He’s been marring the essence of human life practically his whole existence,” Arma said. “The radiant energy of mortal spirit used to glow with pure bright light. Now it’s darkened—become tainted. All of humanity is more wretched because of it.”
“I haven’t noticed,” Egar said.
Arma stuck her nose in the air. “I’ve told you before, it’s imperceptible. A change over the tiniest of margins. Be glad it’s not so terrible that it’s obvious. The effect is cumulative and worsens it with every soul he pollutes.”
“That’s unrelated,” Exinious said. “These people have no souls to pollute.”
Helder hissed to silence him.
“This is even worse than the crime of polluting souls.” Arma’s voice rose sharply. “There is a void where their life essences should be. There can be nothing darker than oblivion, and the god of oblivion has now pockmarked the stream of mortal spirits.”
“I took nothing out of that stream to create them,” Exinious said.
“Silence!” Helder said. “You’ll speak at the end. Keep your mouth shut if you want this trial to continue.”
Exinious remained stoic.
“What’s his sentence?” Egar said.
Now Exinious fixed an incredulous gaze on Egar.
Egar eyed him before continuing. “You can’t be suggesting he gets another thousand years for making himself company?”
“Fool!” Arma said.
“I’m not so unreasonable,” Helder said. “I gave him a choice. To serve another sentence with his abominations, or to simply abandon them and go free now.”
“That’s not the choice you gave him!” I screamed this. All their eyes fixed on me.
“Why is she here?” Helder said, as though just now noticing me.
“Wretched traitor,” Arma said softly.
“Hey.” Egar spoke louder than them. “I want to hear her.”
Brekka focused on me with a broad smile.
My heart now thundered. I clutched Exinious’ armrest to steady myself. “Helder told him he had to destroy us all if he wanted his sentence to end.”
Egar groaned. Brekka looked like a bee had stung her.
“Really, Helder?” Brekka said.
“No. I said for him to leave them to die off on their own. Without him to support their pantomime of human society.”
I gasped at his lie.
Helder continued arrogantly. “He refused that offer because he didn’t want to leave his wife.”
“So let him keep his wife!” Egar said. “You’re going to risk a war over something so trifling?”
Fizu looked as though he’d actually gone paler. “No one spoke of war.”
“I did,” Exinious said.
Fizu gave Helder a look of shock.
“I said be silent until you’re given leave to speak,” Helder said.
“Exinious is being more unreasonable than you know, Egar,” Arma said. “This wife he chose is the village healer. She’s desperately needed by her people. She refuses to abandon her duties, and he refuses to relinquish her.”
Egar groaned again and put his face in his hand.
Exinious and I exchanged a glance. We’d both just unraveled Helder’s ploy. Arma presumed my devotion to my post would be enough to force Exinious to accept another thousand year term. The superfluous intricacy of the plan just baffled me. Exinious’ enemies were cunning imbeciles. It was a wonder how they’d ever imprisoned him in the first place.
“Let him leave,” Egar said, “with or without his wife. That’s up to her. But if he doesn’t go today then he has to serve another thousand years.”
Everyone went quiet after this. Egar, Brekka, and Fizu looked at Helder.
“Is that fair, Helder?” Fizu said.
Helder glanced at Arma.
“Are you going to abandon your post as healer, Ashla?” Arma said. “Will you leave wounds to fester, illness to cripple, and mothers—like your own mother—to die in childbirth?”
I stared at her wryly.
Exinious took my hand. “Yes, she’ll leave,” he said.
“I didn’t ask you!”
“This is your final warning, Exinious,” Helder said.
“Of course I’ll leave with him.”
Arma flared her clenched teeth. “So you don’t care about your own people?”
I returned her look of ire. “I don’t think I have my powers anymore.”
“You do, you foolish wretch.” She spoke more softly. “You may keep them so long as you stay here.”
Egar looked confused. The rest of them waited on me.
Exinious squeezed my hand. “Say you’ll come with me, Ashla.”
I stayed focused on Arma. “I already said I would.”
She scowled and turned away.
“Are we finished here, Helder?” Egar said.
Fizu scratched his ear. “He still has to answer for his crime.”
“He’ll serve another thousand years,” Helder said. “I refuse to accept any less!”
Arma hooked her arm into Helder’s. “Indeed. We’ve more than proven our case against him.”
I shook my head, aghast.
The black tendrils of Exinious’ aura poured from him once again. I stood beside his darkness both proud and stern.
I could see the fear in Fizu’s eyes. “Are you…are you going to be unreasonably defiant, Exinious?”
“What do you expect!” Egar said. He g
lared at Helder. “It’s too flimsy. I can’t justify another sentence.”
“It’s not your choice,” Fizu said, while looking downward.
“Yes, but Thina’s vote goes to Exinious—“
Helder drew breath to speak.
“…and Brekka’s voting with me. It’s a stalemate.”
Helder darted a look at Brekka. She looked at Egar, then Exinious, and then me.
“I mean…if she wants to go with him, then fine, right? Everyone’s happy.”
Arma threw up her arms in exasperation. “Fine! Then she has to leave with him right now.” She glowered at me. “I hope your little brother dies of a pox!”
Her curse felt like it struck me across the chest.
“This isn’t what I wanted, Arma.” Helder spoke to his wife through clenched teeth. “His evil needs to be vanquished once again.”
“This is all for your idiotic bible, isn’t it?” Exinious said.
“Silence!” Helder said.
“No,” Egar said. “I’m fed up, Helder. Let him free.” He crossed his arms and scowled. “No one’s going to go to war for you.”
“How about against me?” Helder said.
Egar eyed him. “You don’t want that either.”
Exinious cleared his throat.
Arma drew near to Helder. “This is fruitless, Helder. If you can’t punish him, at least make the girl miserable for me.”
Helder scoffed. He forced himself to look at Exinious. “Abandon this world and take your despicable wife with you. That’s it. That’s the totality of my sentence.” He looked at Egar. “Surely you agree to that pittance.”
Egar nodded. Fizu and Brekka gave their affirmations in turn.
Helder looked at me. “You’re exiled from your home. That’s what you wanted, correct?”
I didn’t hesitate to nod, but it was with anguish in my throat.
Exinious rose from his throne. “I must abandon this world at once with my wife. I accept this, and only this, and nothing more. We’ll leave and never return.”
“Yes,” Helder said. “That’s my decree.”
He pulled me against him. “Farewell.”