Chapter 20: Sister Kaia Is Standing Right in Front of You

Nobody said a word while twenty-four spears pointed at the lift, where the last twelve exhausted miners huddled behind Kai and his friends. The other twenty-eight, who had come up on the earlier trips, sat slumped against the courtyard wall under the soldiers’ spears, too tired to run, and somewhere at the bottom of the hole, something was breathing.

"You were asked a question," Captain Brekk said after a long moment of waiting. "Which one of you is the god?"

[Do not lie to him. Elowen is right there]

"I wasn’t going to lie," Kai mumbled.

[Your heart is telling me something different]

Kai took a deep breath and stepped forward, and all twenty-four spears turned towards him.

"That would be me," Kai said.

Brekk studied the fisherman’s vest, the sweat and dirt, and the messy hair that looked a lot like his own.

"You don’t look like a god," Brekk said.

"I hear that a lot," Kai said.

Brekk stepped closer and looked Kai right in the eyes, close enough that Kai could smell the leather and onions on him.

"Your voice," Brekk said. "You’re the voice in my head."

"Yeah. Sorry about that," Kai said. "It wasn’t supposed to be public."

"It was about someone’s big butt," Brekk said.

"Yes," Kai said. "That part was very private."

Behind Kai, Garrick let out a moan so loud that one of the guards jumped.

Brekk turned to Elowen, who stood tall with her blindfolded face pointed right at him.

"Sister Inquisitor," Brekk said. "You brought these people into my fortress and told me they were yours."

"They are my companions," Elowen said, and her sword stayed dark.

"And this man claims to be a god," Brekk said. "Is he deceiving you?"

Elowen thought about it for a moment while Kai held his breath.

"He believes it to be true," Elowen said. "Many of the fishermen in Millbrook believe it too. And so do you, Captain. I can see it in you. There is a glow inside of you now, just like his."

Brekk’s mouth fell open, and he looked down at himself.

[She is very convincing. That will not help him at all]

"She’s been doing that to me for days," Kai whispered.

Brekk shook his head and counted the group with his finger, from Kai to Elowen, until his finger stopped.

"Sister Kaia?" Brekk asked, and nobody said a word.

"The priestess," Brekk said. "Tall, with black hair. Very cute. She came to my quarters last night and brought me wine." He rubbed the back of his head. "I was attacked right after that. Where is she? Is she okay?"

Kai opened his mouth with plenty of lies ready to go, but before he could use any of them, Brekk turned to Elowen.

"Sister Inquisitor," Brekk said. "Where is Sister Kaia?"

Elowen pursed her lips, and Kai could tell she was searching for an answer that wouldn’t expose them, and that she couldn’t find one.

"She is standing in front of you," Elowen said.

Brekk looked around, first behind Kai, then at the miners, then up at the sky, and then, very slowly, he looked at Kai.

"Hey, Captain," Kai said, giving him an awkward little wave.

The color drained out of Brekk’s face as his eyes went from Kai’s face to his arms to his legs, and his mouth opened and closed like a fish on a dock.

"I told you about my mother," Brekk said.

"Yes, you did," Kai said.

"I asked you to sit on my lap," Brekk said.

"I remember that as well," Kai said. "I said no, by the way."

"I wrote you a POEM," Brekk said.

"He wrote you a poem?" Mira asked, snickering behind Kai.

"I never read it," Kai said quickly. "He was going to read it to me tomorrow."

"I was going to read it to you tomorrow," Brekk said flatly.

[Faith update. Hallard Brekk: 8%. Status: Heartbroken.]

[He still believes in you. He just does not want to]

"Me neither," Kai whispered.

"Captain?" one of the guards asked, clearing his throat. "Do we arrest these people?"

Brekk didn’t respond, and he just stood there staring at Kai, and Kai tried his best not to look guilty, which wasn’t working at all.

"ARREST THEM!" someone shouted.

Father Oswin was running towards them from across the courtyard in his nightclothes, his ham-like face bright red.

"He is a heretic!" Father Oswin shrieked. "I can feel it! That man is radiating the light of a false god, and the inquisitor is helping him! Arrest them all, in the name of the Radiant Mother!"

The guards looked at Brekk, and Brekk looked at Kai. Kai looked at the twenty-four spears in front of him and the forty miners behind him who could barely walk, and when he did the math, it wasn’t good.

[You have limited options]

"Yeah," Kai whispered.

[Use Minor Voice on him. He is a believer. He will hear you]

Kai’s eyes widened as he realized that maybe he didn’t have to fight his way out of here after all, and maybe he only had to talk to one man. He closed his eyes and thought of Brekk and only Brekk, the scar and the onions and the poem he was never going to hear.

(Captain, please. These are fishermen from Millbrook. Draven took them from their homes. If you arrest us, they’ll go back down that hole and never see the light of day again. I need your help. Please)

Kai opened his eyes just as Brekk’s head shot up. Brekk had heard it, and so had every other believer Kai had.

Three days downriver, old Tobin screamed "THE GOD IS IN DANGER!" and promptly fell out of bed. Wren grabbed a gaff hook and ran halfway to the river before remembering that Kai was three days away, and at the toll chain, Pell dropped his spear back into the river right after he had finally fished it out.

And three hundred feet below them, the broodmother lifted her head.

The ground began to shake, and soon the lift was rattling on its chains and the iron gate was shaking.

"What is that?" one of the guards asked.

[Kai, your Minor Voice reached all of your believers]

"No," Kai whispered.

[Including the one at the bottom of that hole]

"NO!" Kai said.

[Her status has changed]

[Faith update. Follower: Unknown (Broodmother). Faith: 6%. Status: On Her Way.]

A growl rose from the hole, growing louder as something climbed towards them, and Father Oswin finally stopped yelling.

The broodmother burst out of the hole and dragged herself over the edge of the pit with rocks tumbling off her body, spreading across the courtyard until her shadow covered half of the guards.

Every guard dropped his spear at the same time, and it sounded like a kitchen full of pots hitting the floor, and then Father Oswin passed out.

The broodmother swept her eyeless head across the courtyard, past the guards and Father Oswin, past Brekk, until she found Kai.

She lowered her huge head and laid it on the ground right next to him, like a cat lying at its owner’s feet, and she purred.

"That’s a... good girl," Kai squeaked.

[She heard you call for help]

"I called BREKK for help," Kai whispered.

[You called everyone for help, Kai. You never realize when you do that]

The guards were huddled against the far wall, where one was praying to the Radiant Mother and another was praying to Kai, which was somehow even scarier.

Captain Brekk looked at the beast resting beside the man he had written a poem for, and then at the starving miners his own lord had stolen from their homes. Then Captain Hallard Brekk got down on one knee.

"Captain?" one of the guards asked.

"Drop your spears," Brekk said.

"They already are, Captain," the guard said.

"Then leave them on the ground," Brekk said.

He looked up at Kai with tears in his eyes.

"Lord Draven chained that creature in a hole," Brekk said. "You walked into his fortress disguised as a woman, fell on top of me, and left with his creature following you. I don’t know what you are, but you are not a liar."

"I’m the biggest liar you’ll ever meet," Kai said.

Elowen’s sword stayed dark, and Brekk laughed through his tears.

"Then you’re the best liar I’ve ever met," Brekk said.

[Faith update. Hallard Brekk: 19%. Status: Loyal (Heartbroken).]

"Brekk, I need you to help me get these men home," Kai said.

Brekk nodded and got to his feet, turning to face his men, who were still huddled against the wall.

"The god has spoken!" Brekk barked. "Get those miners blankets, water, and food! Get those chains off of them, and somebody get that priest off the ground!"

The guards ran to get blankets and water, keeping as far from the broodmother as they could, and Dagna walked up to Kai with Tam still on her shoulder, looking from the broodmother back to Kai.

"That thing killed my neighbors," Dagna said.

"Yes," Kai said.

"And now it’s your pet," Dagna said.

"I know," Kai said. "It wasn’t supposed to happen."

Dagna stared at the broodmother for a long time before she looked down at her brother, alive and passed out on her shoulder.

"Draven created that thing," Dagna said. "So Draven will pay for it."

Mira, Garrick, and Elowen joined them as the sky over the mountains began to turn gray.

"We have time," Kai said. "We have the miners, we have the captain, and we have a... very big friend. Draven won’t be here until sunset. We have all day."

[Kai]

"What?" Kai whispered.

A horn blew from the gates of the fortress, so loud and deep that it boomed across the mountains, and then another horn answered it, and another. The guards froze, and Brekk went pale all over again.

"That’s Lord Draven’s horn," Brekk said.

For the tenth time that night, Kai’s stomach dropped out of his body.

[Lord Draven has arrived. 12 hours early]

Kai looked at the miners, the priest passed out on the ground, and his new best friend resting her giant head right next to him.

"Well," Kai said. "Of course he did."