Gift of the Deceiver

Gift of the Deceiver

Lest we fail and fall again

Indoril Dorom

At last the people of Veloth had found their land of promise, and all the Chimer had spread from one corner of Resdayn to the other, but still the Prophet's heart was unquiet. Atop a hill of white stone on his land's eastern shore, he prayed to the fathers of his exodus.

"O divinity," his heart spoke, "O God-King, we you have led to the gift that was promised us, and to we who are faithful the gift is as was promised. It is a place of our thriving, and we are grateful. But on the long road we were drawn ever onwards, and our purpose was to reach its end and sweep aside all who stood upon our path. Now we have come to that place, and the purpose for which we were united is no more. My people are long-accustomed to peril and war, and they will not lightly let go of that for which they have long fought. Therefore, we are at war with one another, and the land is watered with our blood, and I fear that the law of retribution will doom my people. The Four Corners are amongst us. Please, o Prince, how can I restore peace to my people?"

Then the sky lowered, and a great thunder seemed to come out of the east, and the waves thrashed against the rock, and BOET-HI-AH was before the Prophet. The word of BOET-HI-AH was:

YOUR MASTERS WILL MAKE FOR YOU A HOUSE OF PROMISE YOU WILL WALK FROM THE HOUSE OF YOUR BIRTH TO THE HOUSE OF PROMISE YOU WILL BECOME MASTER OF THE HOUSE OF PROMISE

"This you have taught us already, o God-King!" The Prophet cried, "And still we die!"

Then the voice of BOET-HI-AH shattered the rock on which the Prophet stood, and he flung himself down and wailed, "O Prince, I understand you not!" But the God-King was not with him.

He found his feet again, and then meekly, wishing not to draw his God's ire again, prayed, "O Moonshadow, Queen of Secret Knowledge, you who are always listening: know the plight of my people, for which I pray. Do you know the hidden paths to peace?"

Then the bruised clouds parted, and aloft the stars shone, distant and without care, and from behind the moons AZURA came to stand before the Prophet. The word of AZURA was:

THE ANSWER I WILL GIVE TO YOU THOUGH YOU WILL KNOW IT NOT

PEACE IS A PROMISE THAT WILL BE FULFILLED AFTER YOUR DEATH

Then SHE was gone again, and the Prophet shivered in the sudden cold.

"I do not understand these words," the Prophet said to himself, "And so I must turn to the Deceiver to find the truth." Thus, he prayed, "O Black Hands, your Brother and Sister tell me they know the ways of peace, but they will not share their knowledge. Will you find it for me?"

What followed was silence. The Prophet had lost all hope of peace for his people. Then he saw before him, in the place where the God-King had rent the ground asunder with his voice, a yawning crack of darkness.

Into this the Prophet descended, and he struck no light, but followed his feet and his hands, just as he had when leading his people to the promised land. The crack wound ever deeper into the stone, and the blackness blackened, and the silence was ever more still, until the Prophet could no longer hear his footfalls, or the rasp of his hands upon raw stone.

Then, at last, he was before MEPHALA, and they spoke.

YOU HAD PEACE IN THE OLD LANDS AND THERE YOU KNEW IT TO BE THE STASIS OF DEATH I WILL NOT KILL YOU WHO I LED TO THIS PLACE I WILL GIVE TO YOU MY DAUGHTERS THEY WILL TEACH YOU THE VALUE OF A LIFE LIKE THE NYMPHS OF THE FOREST THEY MOVE UNSEEN THROUGH THE WORLD THEY MAKE OF DEATH A PROMISE FULFILLED NOT A PROMISE MADE IF YOU SEEK PEACE GIVE TRIBUTE TO MY DAUGHTERS AND THEY WILL BRING IT

"I seek peace," Veloth said. "What tribute do you demand?"

YOUR LIFE

"I will give it gladly, but then my people will be without leaders, and though they will not war, still they will surely die."

Then the voice of BOET-HI-AH came again, as it had before, though it came from the darkness that was MEPHALA. At last, the Prophet Veloth understood.

"I must depart, to teach our people of the God-King's wisdom, and teach them of your daughters," he said to the darkness. Though he had led his people from their cold hearths through lands perilous to the place that was promised, and though it cannot be countenanced, and though he is the greatest of his people, of death Veloth was afraid.

Spake the darkness:

THEY KNOW IT ALREADY

IN TIME THEY WILL REMEMBER

PEACE HAS BEEN GIVEN TO YOU

NOW YOU MUST PAY ITS PRICE