Chapter 12: The Crooked Halo

Kai woke up with a headache that felt like something was eating his brain from the inside out.

He cracked one eye open, expecting to see the beach, but instead he was lying in a bed under a wool blanket, in a small gray room with a fishing net hanging on the wall and sunlight pouring in through the window. When he opened his other eye, he realized he recognized the room, because it was Tam’s house.

He lifted the blanket and checked himself over. He had his shirt and his vest, but no pants, and his tacos stared right back up at him.

"Oh, fuck," Kai said.

[Good morning. I see you are awake. You have a very large hangover]

"What happened?" Kai whispered.

[You fell asleep on the beach, and Dagna came and brought you here. She carried you over her shoulder]

"Where are my pants?" Kai whispered.

"Here," Dagna said.

Kai turned his head to the right and saw Dagna sitting at the small table by the window, stitching up the hole in the knee of his pants without even looking up at him.

"I told you I’d mend them," Dagna said.

"You could have waited until I woke up," Kai said.

"I could have," Dagna said. She bit off the thread with her teeth and looked over at him, and her eyes went down to his tacos and lingered there. "I didn’t want to."

[Her heart rate is increasing]

"Of course it is," Kai muttered.

The front door swung open, and Mira walked in carrying a basket of bread.

"Dagna, Widow Hesk has some—" Mira started, and then she stopped.

She looked at Kai lying in bed with no pants on, then at Dagna holding his pants, and then back at Kai, and nobody said a single word.

[Mira’s heart rate is increasing. Dagna’s heart rate is increasing. Yours is higher than both of theirs]

"Dagna was mending my pants," Kai said.

"I see," Mira said.

"I was sleeping," Kai said.

"I see that too," Mira said.

"She carried me here," Kai said.

"Over my shoulder," Dagna said.

Mira set the basket down on the table, grabbed a piece of bread, walked over to Kai, and handed it to him.

"Eat this," Mira said. "Garrick wants us all in the chapel in an hour."

She left and shut the door behind her a little harder than she needed to, and Dagna went right back to mending his pants with that same little smile on her face.

[Faith gained. Mira Vallen: +1%. Status: Jealous.]

"How does that make her believe in me more?" Kai whispered.

[I will not question this]

Dagna finished the pants and tossed them onto the bed, and she watched him the entire time he put them on. Then she left to go work on the dock, and Kai sat on the edge of the bed with his face buried in his hands.

"Syraphim," Kai whispered. "You said you had something to tell me when I was sober."

[You are not completely sober]

"I’m sober enough," Kai whispered.

Syraphim was quiet for a moment, and when she spoke again, she sounded just like she had on the day they first met.

[When we first met, I told you that you need 100 people who believe in you. I did not tell you what believe means. Someone who truly believes in you must have 100% faith in you. Not 18%. Not 22%. 100%]

Kai slowly lifted his head as a golden box appeared in front of him.

[True believers: 0/100]

[Days left: 363]

Kai stared at the numbers for a long time.

"Zero," Kai whispered. "I have thirty-one people who follow me, and none of them count?"

[They will give you power, but they will not keep you alive. Not yet. Your highest follower is Garrick, at 22%. Your followers would have to reach 100%]

"How do I get someone to 100%?" Kai whispered.

[I do not know. No one has ever done this with a god like you. If you were the Holy Champion, the church would hand you true believers. You will have to make them yourself]

Kai stared at the golden numbers until they finally faded away.

"Awesome," Kai said. "Great."

He stood up and walked to the door, and then he stopped with his hand on the doorknob.

"Um. Syraphim," Kai whispered. "About last night."

[We will not discuss last night]

"You said you were jealous," Kai whispered.

[I said I thought I was jealous. I was trying out new emotions, and I was incorrect. Please open the door]

Kai laughed, because it was the first time he had ever heard her sound embarrassed.

"Okay," Kai whispered. "But for the record, you looked sexy."

Syraphim didn’t answer him, but Kai could have sworn he felt a little tingle at the back of his head.

When Kai got to the chapel, he stopped dead in the doorway. The golden sun of the Radiant Mother was gone from the back wall, because someone had painted right over it, and in its place was a golden circle floating above a stick figure. The circle was crooked and tilted to the left, and old Tobin was standing right under it with a paintbrush in his hand and gold paint all over his fingers.

"What is that?" Kai asked.

"Your halo," Tobin said proudly. "See? It’s crooked, just like you."

"Why is it crooked?" Kai asked.

"Well, your first halo fell in the river," Tobin said. "So we figured your halo should fail too. We all agreed on it."

Kai looked at the painting, and it was horrible. The stick figure was horrible too, with one arm longer than the other, but somebody had made it for him, and that was something nobody had ever done before.

"It’s beautiful," Kai said, and he was surprised to realize that he actually meant it.

[Faith gained. Tobin: +4%.]

The rest of the village filed into the chapel behind him. Garrick sat in the front row with his hammer on his lap, and Wren sat down next to him, much closer than she needed to. Mira leaned against the wall with her arms folded, refusing to look at Kai, and Dagna came in and leaned against the wall right next to her, and neither of them looked at each other either.

[They all seem very tense]

"I noticed," Kai whispered.

Garrick stood up and faced the room.

"Draven’s mines are at Ironwatch, three days north of here, up the river," Garrick said. "If the fishermen are still alive, that’s where they’ll be."

"Then we go and get them," Dagna said.

"Ironwatch is a fortress," Mira said. "I’ve been there before, when my father took me as a girl. You can’t just walk in. There are walls and guards, and a gate that only lets Draven’s men through."

"Then we won’t walk in," Kai said.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"Every robbery has a weakness," Kai said. "If the gate only lets Draven’s men through, then we become Draven’s men."

"How?" Garrick asked.

"Give me one second," Kai said.

He sat down on the edge of a bench and closed his eyes.

"Syraphim, show me my skills," Kai whispered.

The golden box appeared in front of him again.

[Divinity points: 13.]

[Minor Voice (1 point): Allows you to speak to everyone who believes in you, from any distance.]

[Lesser Glamour Upgrade (5 points): Allows your glamour to change a person’s appearance to look like someone else for one hour. Breaks if they are struck or forced by holy power to tell the truth.]

[Lesser Blessing (6 points): Allows you to bless up to three people at a time.]

"The glamour upgrade," Kai whispered. "That’ll work."

[It will break if you get hit]

"I’ll try not to get hit," Kai whispered.

[You will get hit]

"Upgrade the glamour and learn Minor Voice," Kai whispered. "I’m not getting caught without it again."

[Skill upgraded: Lesser Glamour. Skill learned: Minor Voice. Divinity points remaining: 7.]

Kai opened his eyes and found that everyone in the chapel was staring at him.

"He does that," Mira told the villagers. "He talks to his voice."

"We’re going to Ironwatch," Kai said as he stood up. "And we’re going as Draven’s men. Garrick, you’ll be the blacksmith, since the mines always need blacksmiths. Mira, you know the place. Dagna, you know what Tam looks like. And I can be whoever I need to be."

"What if things go wrong?" Garrick asked.

"They will go wrong," Kai said. "It’s kind of my specialty."

Tobin burst out laughing, and the rest of the village laughed right along with him.

Wren stood up from the bench.

"I want to go," Wren said.

"No," Garrick said.

Wren gave him a look, and Garrick dropped his eyes to the floor.

"We need someone to watch the chapel," Garrick said, a little more softly. "Someone who believes. Someone I trust."

Wren’s face turned bright red, and she sat back down.

[Faith gained. Wren: +6%.]

[That was more Garrick than you]

"I’ll take it," Kai whispered.

The villagers scattered to gather food and supplies, and Kai stepped outside and squinted up at the sun, which was not helping his headache at all. Mira came out a moment later and walked up beside him.

"Nothing happened between me and Dagna," Kai said.

"I know," Mira said.

"I was asleep," Kai said.

"I know," Mira said. "You snore."

"How do you know I snore?" Kai asked.

Mira didn’t answer him and just kept walking, but her ears were bright red.

That was when they heard someone shouting from the dock, and Kai turned to see a lone rider coming down the road towards the village. She wore white armor and a white robe, with a strip of white cloth tied over her eyes, and Kai’s stomach dropped when he realized it was Elowen.

She stopped her horse right in front of them and turned her blindfolded face towards Kai.

"Kai Mercer," Elowen said. "We need to talk."