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Chapter 48
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“He said no.”
Matt glanced at Dain, wondering if he was going to start yelling again. “Carryn said yes. The High Bishop said no. We aren’t allowed to interfere any more. Not allowed is the wrong way to put it. He fears the consequences should our interference have an unforeseen outcome. He doesn’t want to risk it.”
To Matt’s surprise, Dain only shrugged. “What did he say we can do?”
“Trust in the Gods. That was about it. He’s really weak, Dain. He’s supposed to preside at Taldic’s funeral tomorrow, and I’m not sure he’ll be able to.”
“People are going to see that he’s dying.”
“That’s likely,” Matt said.
“If you think they’re on the verge of panic because of Taldic’s death, just wait until word gets out that the High Bishop is failing.”
“Whether people panic or not is the least of our worries. You’re with him tomorrow.”
“Me?”
“You’re the strongest of the three of us, even in your split existence. If anyone can get him through this ceremony, you can.”
“All right, sure. There’s just one problem with that. The rest of me is going to be at that ceremony too. How do you suppose we’ll be kept apart?”
“Carryn is going to shield you.”
“You mean like the way Marc is shielding just about everyone in the Palace against Maralt? Carryn is going to shield me against myself?”
“Yes.”
Dain frowned, then rubbed his eyes. “This is giving me a headache. I guess I shouldn’t ask how it’s possible to do that.”
“You can ask.” Matt smiled while Dain rolled his eyes. “It’s because you’ve been separated for so long, and Carryn has gotten pretty good at making a shield.”
“Wish I could say the same.”
“You’ll get there.”
“Your brother has that one down pretty well. What’s happening to him?”
“He grows stronger every day. He draws power through the orb changing the inherent evil to good. Pure of heart, keeper of the great well...”
“Stop that.”
“If you ever read from the Book you’d already know.”
“It doesn’t say what he’s turning into though. He’s gone way beyond Healer. I don’t even know what you’d call him now.”
“There’s only one name for what he’s becoming,” Matt said, smiling slightly.
“What’s that?”
“There are seven Gods. One of them is dead.”
“Dead? How does a God die?”
“A term you can understand.”
“What are you...” He stopped, and Matt watched while he worked through the implications. “A God? Marc is becoming a God?”
“In him, the sacrifice of life restores the world. Only then shall God survive in the heart of man.”
Dain was frowning though, then looked at him sidelong. “How does that work, when you’re the one who takes him?” Matt blinked at that, seeing his point. It would seem that if Marc was to become a God then Marc would be the one to take Matt, but it wasn’t supposed to happen that way. “You’re already dead. Sacrifice number one. You take Marc, everything he is, everything he’s become, all that power goes into you. Marc isn’t the one getting kicked upstairs, Matt. You are.”
He shook his head, but felt a knot of certainty center in his chest. “I’m not doing anything though.”
“Your brother is. You get all that. You take it from him. He’s alive. He’s the only one who can take the power the Gods need to heal. He’s going to come in here and take all six orbs. Power that over the Ages has been stolen from them. Maybe he does all the hard work so that you keep your sanity. Marc’s not so stable with just the one he has as it is.”
Matt shook his head, frowning over it. “No.”
“Not so crazy about the idea after all, are you?”
“I never was crazy about it.”
Matt turned from him, watching the constant view the High Bishop provided them. Marc was with Shalis again, walking with her through the small ballroom of his quarters. He was smiling for a change. Those moments of happiness seemed to occur less and less frequently. Matt wanted to reject the idea that it wasn’t Marc who would restore strength to the Gods, becoming one. His brother suffered through the amassing of power, and the evil it represented. He thought if it wasn’t Marc, his soul would be lost. Marc Talryn would cease to exist.
“I’m not going to do this,” he said, watching his brother.
Dain looked at him. “Say that again?”
“I’m not going to do it. There won’t be anything left of him if I do. He’ll be lost. I can’t...If what you think is right, and I...I think you are, Marc will be lost. I can’t do that to him.”
“Uh, Matt, if you don’t, we’re all going to be lost, and in the worst possible way.”
“I don’t want to be a God. Not if it means I have to take my brother. I can’t do that.”
“You accepted it a minute ago.”
“A minute ago I thought Marc would be the one. That’s the only way I could justify betraying him. He gets nothing for what he has to do. He is destroyed.”
“And finds healing. Isn’t that what your Book says? If you don’t take him, he’ll never be free of this. They’ll take him, Beliel and Maralt. They’ll win. Marc is lost either way.” Dain stopped, then looked at him skeptically. “You’re just saying this to make me argue for it all. Nice trick.”
“No, I’m not. I’m not going to do this to my brother. I’m going to tell the High Bishop. I doubt I’ll be back. Goodbye Dain.”
He turned and left him.
“That ought to make the old man happy,” Dain muttered, then shook his head. He turned back to watch Marc, eyes widening slightly because he was in the process of seducing his sister. Again. “Man, I can’t take this. Carryn. I am not watching this. It’s someone else’s turn. Come on. Have a little heart, for pity’s sake. This is my sister here.”
“All right, Dain. What is it now?” Carryn said as she appeared by his side. Dain pointed in answer and Carryn smiled after a moment. “I see.”
“Yes, and I’ve seen it before and I don’t want to again.”
“Afraid you’ll learn something.”
Dain sneered at her. “I’d rather it not be my sister who I learn it from, if you don’t mind.”
“Where’s Matt?”
“He’s gone to tell Gradyn that he isn’t going to take Marc like he’s supposed to.” Dain held up a hand when Carryn stared at him. “He just found out he’s headed for God-dom and he’s having a few adjustment problems. Trust the High Bishop to set him straight.”
Carryn’s reaction surprised Dain. She looked as though she’d known, nodding to confirm it. “How did he find out?”
Dain related the conversation, wishing he couldn’t hear either. A quick glance showed him that Marc had gotten Shalis out of her clothes and into his bed where thankfully not much could be seen. They were under a large pile of covers. “You don’t seem surprised.”
“I’m not. I expected this at some point.”
“Why?”
“It is written.”
“What, that Matt will refuse to do this?”
“Yes. In the Book of Truth.”
“So it’s written somewhere that he’ll change his mind too.” When Carryn didn’t answer, Dain looked at her. “Right?”
“No.”
“Care to elaborate on that?”
“I can’t.”
“Don’t you even think you can start that with me. He has to change his mind. What’s the point if he doesn’t?”
“The point is, Dain, that our untimely interference may well ensure that he won’t change his mind. He has to accept this just as Marc does. It isn’t a thing anyone can force, by persuasion or other means. The most we can do is support his decision, whether or not it seems the right one at the time.”
“So, you want me to keep my mouth shut.”
Carryn smiled. “And all this time I thought it impossible to teach you anything.”
“Seems a little chancy to me to leave it at that.” He turned for the tower window, looking over Rianamar’s lights. When Carryn didn’t answer, he found her watching Shalis and Marc in a rather clinical way. “What is it with him anyway? All of a sudden, he can’t keep his hands to himself.”
“What your counterpart did to him this morning is undoubtedly the cause, so you have no one to blame but yourself.”
“Like I had anything to do with that.”
“Of course you did. That particular aspect of your character remains as much a part of you as it does the other. You did the same thing to Dynan when you joined with him and now Marc has been made more aware of your rather unique brand of requirements.”
“And here I get to sit, aware of it all. What fun.”
“You’ll have your time again.”
“Yes, and I’m really looking forward to returning to the mess of a human being I’ve become.”
“Of all of us, Dain, you will be all right.”
Dain looked at her, wondering if that were true. He didn’t think so. “We’re different, you know.”
“You and Marc? I know—”
Dain shook his head. “Me, myself and I,” he said. “The other one. We’re different. Ever since I left him. It’s been months now. We’re not the same person any more.”
“A little worried you won’t get along?” Carryn asked with a smile, but saw that Dain was serious.
“Yes,” he said. “What happens when we join? If he’s stronger, do I cease to exist? Will everything I’ve learned survive?”
“You’ll remember what you’ve learned,” Carryn said. “That was the point of keeping you here, so that when you do go back, you’ll know what to do.”
“Unless of course, when these huge differences between us are forced into one person we just go completely insane. Then, I don’t think we’ll know what to do, because there’s going to be this argument going on...all the time.”
“Then you’ll have to work it out, Dain, and you will. He’s not so stubborn that he’s not going to listen. And you’re not so different from him that you won’t be able to understand. It’s not going to be that dramatic anyway. You might reconsider a decision or two, but it’s not like you’re going to be two separate individuals any more.”
Dain shook his head, not so sure she was right. He wondered when, as he had nearly every day since becoming aware of himself again and leaving Carryn, he wondered when he’d be allowed to leave this place.
“Soon,” Carryn said easily, smiling when Dain glanced at her. “You’re still in my head you know.” She nodded to the view. “They’re finished, or mostly anyway, and I have to go. Do you think you can manage this alone now?”
Dain nodded, returning to watch Marc with weary resignation. He was tired of it. “The other side has been awfully quiet.”
“Yes, they have been.”
Carryn left him, and Dain settled on the floor, smiling briefly at the happiness in his sister’s face, but that faded with the knowledge that she would soon see nothing but grief. It wasn’t fair, and he wanted more than anything to be able to keep her from it.
