Tales of the Five Kingdoms

Gara, Warlord of Thandor (Part One)

    "What must I do?" Gara whispered.

    "I have told you, Chieftess, you..."

    Gara thrust her palm towards Vaan. "Silence, male. I do not speak to you, but to God."

    Vaan rolled his eyes and sighed once more. "Shades-forsaken heathens..."

    "Shall I remove the foreigner?" Gara asked.

    Accept the knowledge he offers, God answered. His people are nearer to the truth of this world than your own. Yet, you must take the whole of what he gives, not just that which you find most palatable. You will find that a piece of knowledge can be deadly without the context within which it lies.

    Gara frowned. Ever since becoming God's saint, she'd found she rarely liked the answers He gave. But then again, she supposed that was to be expected. Anyone who claimed following their god was an easy path was full of shite.

    If being faithful was easy, of what use could their deity be?

    Gara frowned in Vaan's general direction as she addressed God. "This will give us victory over Shoen and his Empire of Scales?"

    I am not Nashal or the Imprisoned One to see all ends. What I see is the final end at which all mortals must arrive. For I am Death. Many of your people have passed through my care because they lacked for knowledge. My blessed saint must not pass Beyond before her time has come. You were chosen to hear my voice and bear my mark, because you alone of your people understand the truth that will see the Betrayer's corruption purged from the world.

    "And what truth is that?" Gara asked.

    The truth of why mortals bear the capacity to hate.

    Gara waited for more words— a further explanation— but it didn't come. God rarely spoke, even to her, His blessed saint. He'd been more talkative as of late, but even then, just once or twice a week. Gara usually went longer than that between communions, and she could count the number she'd had since being chosen without needing to remove her boots.

    Vaan made a show of twiddling his thumbs until the communion passed.

    Clucking her tongue at the foreign mystic, Gara sat back down. "So be it. I will learn what you teach, male."

    "Come to your senses, then?"

    "I do as God requires of me."

    Vaan raised a dubious eyebrow. Mystics were atheists. Of a sort. They claimed to acknowledge the existence of spirits but refused to believe gods were the same thing, only greater. Mystics said gods were nothing more than superstition, and those who claimed to be their blessed saints were delusional at best. Gara had no doubt that Vaan believed her to be an absolute lunatic.

    He wasn't altogether incorrect. It took at least a little lunacy to face wizards and scriveners with just sharpened iron as a weapon. Fortunately for Gara, she now possessed something a slight bit more potent than just iron. God said that all Thandi now possessed it, and she only needed to show them how to use it.

    Vaan gestured towards the table Gara flipped over during her minor tantrum. "If you're done being a child, we'll need a surface for your studies."

    Muttering to herself, Gara stood and righted the table. She didn't like the way Vaan ordered her about, and she despised the fact she usually ended up doing what he wanted.   

    Once she was seated again, Vaan slid the wrinkled parchment across the table to her. It was covered with chicken-scratches he called runes.

    "Please, Chieftess, read this first line."