Gods Save the Queen

Book 1 - The Enchantress

by Duleigh

©Copyright 2025 by Duleigh

Foreword

It started in 1970 when my seventh grade English teacher introduced us to The Hobbit. I may not remember that particular teacher’s name, but I will always remember Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Gray, and Thorin, Fili, Kili, Balin, Dwalin, Oin, Gloin, Dori, Nori, Ori, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur. By the time I went on to high school, I had read Lord of the Rings and was in a position to accept the onslaught of fantasy. Authors like Anne Rice, Anne McCaffrey, Piers Anthony, Ursula K. Le Guin, Roger Zelazny, and Michael Moorcock overwhelmed me and almost drove a wedge between me and my beloved Science Fiction. They couldn’t do it.

Terry Pratchett could.

One day the monthly selection came from the Science Fiction Book Club. It was by a writer I had read once in the past (Strata, 1981) which was a science fantasy kind of thing. This new book wasn’t that. This was Terry Pratchett’s The Colour of Magic. I still have the SFBC edition of that book with rough-cut pulp pages and cover art by Alan Smith, kept in a place of honor in my library reserved for the Discworld. Eight years later, Terry Pratchett was firing out Discworld books at least one a year, and he had become the UK’s best-selling author throughout the decade of the 90s. And why not? He had a way with the English language that you don’t see anymore; he was brilliant as he painted broad murals with his keyboard, leaving no item unvarnished and no pun untouched.

He somehow made a flat, disk-shaped world on the back of four enormous elephants standing on a sea turtle as it swam through space sound almost reasonable. His stories were entertaining; his fantasy was fantastic; his world was side-splittingly funny; and his characters were deep and rich, filled with flaws and heart. I would give a year of my life if I could spend an evening on patrol with Sam Vimes of the Night Watch. Even Terry’s dragons are funny. Sam Vime’s wife cares for them like other women of a certain age would care for stray cats. Sam uses her dragons to light his cigars.

I was shattered when the world lost Terry Pratchett. He passed away as I was starting my problems with CTEPH, a chronic lung condition. But when I discovered that he wrote his last three novels while fighting the ravages of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, he inspired me to stop feeling sorry for myself and write. I’m known primarily as a writer of erotic romance, and my ‘Springville’ books are loved by many, but thinking of Sir Terry I wanted to write fantasy. Actually, a romantasy. But I don’t want to copy Terry’s Discworld; I want my own universe.

Work on my universe started years ago, and I finally got it where I want it - a small solar system with two planets and six moons. The planet is covered with countries and kingdoms. Elves, dwarves, humans, giants, fairies, and dragons, and a love between an impossible couple, a male witch and a female wizard. Together, they share a love that will last forever. Welcome to Uduithia, a small kingdom in a world where prophecy is almost always right, small-g gods walk the land, dragons still fly, and some of the kings are nice guys when you get to know them.

Preface

Translator’s note: This prophecy was recorded on the seventh day of the month of Ætherflame in the year of the gods 953. It was recorded in the Elven language of Mägede Keel, a language that was thought lost to humankind and elvenkind before 3200. It was discovered in the subbasement library of Waelmore Castle, in Uduithia on the twenty-second day of the month of Luminex, 3399. Translation attempts immediately began, and by the eighteenth day of the month of Astralar 3416, the translation was considered complete.

This prophecy was filed in the castle rectory and ignored for years. It was considered a tale of the rise and fall of the demon-god Zeddicus that happened in the year 902. That was until the translation was verified on the eighteenth day of Nebulara, 3430, by visiting Ergonian Elf musician/scholar of ancient languages Rys Oladi. The elf then told the translators his story, and the translators realized this was not a tale of an ancient battle at all; it was a warning of coming events.

Presented to King Uric II, King of Uduithia, on the first day of the month of Enigmaspire, 3430

It is now realized that this prophecy was presented to the king far too late.

The Prophecy of Fire and Steel

AKA the Two Virgin Prophecy

Upon the hallowed fields of Kodu, the dread demon-god Zeddicus didst arise from a temple wrought in secrecy by minions erstwhile loyal to their sovereign. They bartered their honour for whispered promises of might and committeth unspeakable foulnesses to liberate the demon-god.

The Lady of the Sapphire Flame was crowned in gold, yet void of affection - the favoured of a monarch whose heart meandered into darkness. Upon the eve of their wedding, with the crown still fresh upon her brow, ‘neath chandeliers of icicles and melody, he twirled with his hidden flame - a paramour clad in iron and cunning. And as the final note echoed, the king exhaled his last.

The Lady wept not, nor did she rage. Unseen, she kindled the sapphire flame - a fire that smouldered within her breast, nourished by treachery and constrained by promise. Unharmed, unchosen, yet still a widow, in wizard’s raiment she traversed Kodu with sorcery in her veins and hush upon her lips. Her heart, a sepulchre; her might, a reckoning.

The Keeper of the Mithril Blade was a forger of enchantments and iron, a peaceable spirit who filled tombs and reveries alike. His spouse, shrouded in lunar glow and enigma, was joined to him in a hallowed ceremony - a bond not yet fulfilled, yet bound in promise. Yet her heart frolicked in other realms, lured by the monarch’s flame, and upon the eve of the new queen’s crowning, she twirled her final jig.

The Keeper espied her cold and lifeless within the king’s embrace, their treachery inscribed in blood and hush. He uttered no foul oaths, nor shed a tear. He grasped the Mithril Blade - fashioned not for battle, but for verity. Untainted and unblemished, yet forever bereaved, in witch’s raiment he traversed Kodu with mithril and steel clasped, sorrow trailing in his wake. His heart a forge, his blade a curse.

When the betrayed tread as one - flame and blade, fire and steel, widow and widower, wizard and witch - Kodu itself shall quake. Their grief shall be the key, their virtue the lock, and their love the blade that sunders the demon god’s crown. For ‘tis only those who have known naught but loss, yet grasped not at all, may wield the sorrow that doth rescue the realm and consign the demon-god to hell.

Chapter 00 - My Blessing

How did I get to this point? I hated that woman! Just the sight of her once angered me, and now here I am. I sat in the familiar temple office wondering how my life had come to this point, and I searched my mind for the clues that would reveal the route of that voyage. How did I go from an orphan to captain of the Royal Guard, to village witch, and now to this?

I rested in the temple, trying to ease the beating of my heart and my spinning head by looking up at the mural on the ceiling. “Nick, I am exceedingly proud of thee,” said grandpa. “Thou art embarking upon the next illustrious stride towards the full realization of thy manhood.”

“Grandfather, I was the captain of the Royal Guard of the Kingdom of Breaze, I saved Queen Octavia from countless dangers, mostly against her will, I returned home and became the only male witch on Kodu…”

“Indeed, indeed, I have encountered such tales,” said Grandpa. “They might indeed bear semblance to the truth.” I was about to shout at him, but he leaned across his desk with a grin. “Pray, now shall you face the arduous trial. This indeed is the crucible that shapes a gentleman. The examination commences anew this very day and persists until the twilight of your existence; should you emerge triumphant, then may you rightly proclaim yourself a man.”

Grandpa was always very cryptic when he gave me advice. I was used to getting his advice in riddles and hints that didn’t reveal their meaning until long after I survived the test. “I have to wait until I’m dead to call myself a man?”

“A man of true merit doth not proclaim himself hence as a man,” said Grandpa as he leaned back and crossed his arms. “He doth furnish others with ample reason to portray him in such a light. It is reserved for posterity to deem thou a noble man, or a nefarious wretch.”

I had to know, so I asked, “what am I if I fall between great man or evil man?”

“A guy,” said Grandpa sadly. “ A fellow, a chap. One may transform into an honorable guy, a knave, or simply an ordinary fellow.”

“But not a man?” I asked.

Grandpa sadly shook his head. “Nay, good sir, the term ‘guy’ itself doth signify ‘nearly a man.’ Henceforth, thou possess the potential to embrace manhood from this very day.”

“Am I going to be a good man or an evil man?”

Grandpa thought for a moment, then said, “Yes.” He nodded his head to emphasize his point.

“You’re awful feisty today. This being dead suits you.”

“ I have been dead for a considerable span, and I find myself rather proficient in the art thereof,” said Grandpa proudly.

My parents were gone when I was at the age of five, so I was raised by my grandmother and grandfather, both of whom had died before I was born. Nana Peacock was my mother’s grandmother, and she was a powerful witch. I’m not sure how I was related to Grandpa. I asked him once, and he said something like, “I had three sons, Knute, Kaleb, and Karl, Kaleb had a boy and two girls Dolf, Anna, and Celest. Dolf had one son, Ruddie. Ruddie married a girl from Upper Moss Hallow and had two girls, Teddi and Roxie…” I fell asleep during Grandpa’s recitation of the family lore, but I think it was seven generations making him my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather. Either way, I took his name of de la Montesquieu; he’s the one that named me Pommeraie.

I still remember the anguish of the time when my life became a nightmare. I was an only child, raised by my mom, a witch, and my dad, who was a butcher, I think. All I remember of that time was the love that I was showered with, and the laughter, even though we lived in The Tubes, the worst slum on Kodu. To this day, I wonder if I will be able to show my own son such love as I first got. And then it fell apart. Something changed in dad and he became addicted to thyme. Not the spice, but the drug. Thyme makes you feel like time has no control over you, that you are powerful and pain-free. It was highly addictive, but the feeling it caused came at a price. Thyme addicts were violent, and hate filled the time between thyme trips. Ivo began beating my mom, Jutta, until she crawled off into the night to die. I was five years old when Dad slipped me some Thyme and I woke up alone in a trash heap with a puppy that I named Pepin.

Pepin and I lived in that trash heap for years, which was a surprise, because an abandoned kid in the Tubes rarely saw another birthday. Other kids would come and go, but Pepin and I stayed. I changed clothes as they wore out by stealing them from the corpses of dead kids. It was odd. I didn’t grow the entire time I lived in the trash heap, and Pepin remained a puppy for three years. I only crept out from under the trash to drink from rainwater puddles and slip into the Temple of the god of Divine Fools and steal the food offerings and drink the holy water. Soon, Pepin and I were having conversations. I believe it was the holy water we drank, but Pepin and I could converse.

Then one day we were caught. An acolyte or a priest grabbed me and placed his hand on my forehead and said, “are you Jutta Peacock’s child?”

“Yes! She’s dead! Leave me alone!” I fought to escape, but the priest wouldn’t let me go.

“She’s not dead, but she’s not well. Your great-grandmother loves you and can’t wait to see you.”

“She’s dead!”

“True, but she still loves you.”

I woke up the next morning to find myself in a one-room cottage. The cottage was a witch’s cottage that changed in size as the family grew or shrank. I ran outside to find myself on a small farm surrounded by forest, and to the north, an enormous mountain. I ran through the woods looking for Pepin and returned to the cottage exhausted. I must have cried for two entire days. I cried myself hoarse and refused to eat any of the food in the cottage until Nana Partridge, my mother’s grandmother, came to my aid. She raised me; she dried my tears and gave me strength. She taught me to feed and care for myself as I lived alone with her, and she did a good job raising me for being a ghost.

Nana taught me everything about plants and herbs and medicine, but when it came to needing to know ‘head things’ like reading and writing and cyphering, she sent me down to the village of Elm Springs, to the Temple of the Woods, where Grandpa was found. The Temple of the Woods was a non-denominational temple. There’s no (living) temple priest, so anyone can go in and pray to any god they want. Grandpa didn’t seem to understand my anguish, and he made me repeat over and over why I was crying. By the time he said he understood, I had stopped crying and accepted the fact that I was being raised by the spirits of dead ancestors.

It wasn’t an easy life being raised by two spirits that were a mile apart from each other, (they both get upset when you say ghost) but I learned, and I grew, and I had a home to return to when I was cold. I learned to travel from temple to temple, and finally Grandfather said, “You have gone as far as I can take you, if you want to continue in your education, I suggest going to the Kingdom of Breaze and studying at the Temple of Good Health.” I thought that would be a great place to continue my studying to become a witch, so I made the four-temple hop to Breaze, where they said my education would only cost twenty hours of guard duty per week. It included food and a cot, so I figured, why not?

I completed my education, but I stayed on as a guard because I was so good that they put me on the King’s detail, and I found I loved King Alfrich. And then he decided to marry HER, and my life went into another major upheaval. I hated her because she could read my mind… nobody else, just mine. Do you know how difficult it is when your future queen, who looks like a 21-year-old sex goddess, can read your mind? Even when you’re with your own fiancée and the king?

“Here,” said Grandpa, pointing to a drawer in his desk. I opened the drawer, and there was a silver key on a ribbon, exactly like the gold key I wore on a ribbon around my neck. “My gift to her,” said Grandpa, “Bestow upon her a kiss in my stead.”

“I will,” I said as I choked up. This was a temple key. With that key, you could unlock any temple on Kodu and enter. Once you enter a temple using a key, you can come out of any other temple without speaking to the temple god. Temple keys are never lost. If you are given one, and you lose it, it will turn up as you search for it. If it’s stolen, it will return to you. But if you die, it will return to the temple that gave it to you. “What does this mean, grandfather?”

He gave me a look that clearly said, ‘Are you stupid?’ “ This signifies the commencement of an utterly novel journey for thee and thy beloved bride.”

“I’m tired of wandering,” I said, and I was right. It was a long enough journey to get to this point in my life.

“This segment of our venture proves to be the swiftest; time shall swiftly take its flight. However, it may also present the greatest challenges if thou and thy fair bride do not find harmony with one another.”

“And where will this journey take me?” I asked.

“Only as far as King Uric allows,” he said cryptically. “Good luck my boy,” he added with uncharacteristic cheerfulness, and he faded from sight so I didn’t have the chance to ask him what he meant by that statement about the king. After all, I’m a witch. I don’t obey the vague desires of the king. I heal his people and livestock.

Then, as I was examining the silver key, my best man, Wayne Metzgar, stood at the door and said, “Captain, they’re ready for you.”

“Thank you Wayne,” and I got up and followed him out to the glade beside the millpond. It looked like the entire village of Elm Springs was there, along with several farmers from the outlying areas. Standing at the head of the group was King Lars, king of Teurnia, and his wife, Queen Raina, along with several other members of royalty.

Queen Elinor of Uduithia squeezed my hand firmly and said, “We’re so happy for you Nick. Now you have your very own queen.” She had such a sweet smile.

“Thank you both,” I said as the village minstrel, Rickets, began playing his lute, and the bridesmaids opened the flaps of the white tent where my bride was prepared, and she stepped out…

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Chapter 01 - Pommy and Ziska

“What do you want to do, Pommie?” asked Ziska as she gazed up at the puffy clouds that drifted overhead.

Pommie took a long time to answer. It wasn’t because the choice was difficult, but because he was almost asleep. It was so comfortable there in the soft grass, lying on a hillside, looking up at an azure blue sky at the white cotton ball clouds as they drifted by. The day was warm, and the breeze was gentle, so it was hard to keep his eyes open. Finally, he spoke. “I’d like to spend the entire day doing this with you… naked.”

“Men!” huffed Ziska, and she squeezed his hand. Then she rolled onto her side and looked at Pommie. “That may not be a bad idea,” she said with a lusty grin. To Pommie, Ziska was beautiful. She was shapely but muscular, her blond hair glowed in the sun and her radiant smile outshone it. Her breasts were firm and filled Pommie’s hand nicely, but he wasn’t in a grabby mood today. Ziska’s smile was the sweetest thing Pommie had ever seen. She rolled back onto her back and said, “I want to know what you’re going to do. Your enlistment is up in ten months…”

“Eight months,” said Pommie. “I was awarded two months for the Domissi take-down.”

“That’s right I forgot,” said Ziska. Landia Domissi was a member of parliament who tried to kill the king. Pommie stopped him, and the King awarded Pommy with two months of vacation, which he hadn’t used yet. “So, are you going to reenlist? Or are you going to get out and hire out as a mercenary?” she asked.

That caused Pommie to chuckle. “Can you see me as a mercenary? Doing uniform and locker inspections every morning?”

“I would spend gold to see that,” said Ziska.

“Reenlist? No. I’m done. I want to go home. I’m just a farmboy and I miss the mountains. If I find the right woman, and that’s a big if,” he said, teasing Ziska, “I want to go back to the farm. I want to get back to relying on myself, raising chickens and ducks and rabbits and goats. I want to plant corn and all the other good things we grew before I came here.” He said ‘here’ with a sneer.

“That sounds like a noble undertaking for an old soldier,” she said as she looked up at the sky. “Would you…” the question caught in her throat. For the past five years, it was Ziska and Pommy, Pommy and Ziska. They talked about everything together, everything about the future. He gets out in eight months. She has another year and a half to go.

Pommy sat up and said, “Come here lieutenant,” He said, and he patted his lap.

Ziska sat up and sat in his lap. She put her arm around him and said, “What would you like Captain?”

“I will always have an opening on my farm for you,” he said as he gave her a kiss. “And in my heart.”

“Yeah, but you’re getting out on the fifth of Nebula, I get out the following Starend. That’s eight months.”

“The king also owes me one favor, and I think I’m going to ask him for either an eight month extension, or an eight month early release for you,” said Pommy.

“What are you saying?” she gasped.

“I’m saying here before the gods of all that are, that I love you Franziska Thornhammer, I can’t see a future ahead of me without your smiling face and your loving heart.” He opened a small box and said softly, “Lieutenant Helga Thornhammer, without you I am lost, please join with me and together there is nothing we cannot conquer. Will you complete my life and marry me?”

“What? And be a farmwife chasing cows and chickens? I suppose you would want me to suck your cock during lunch too, isn’t that right?”

“Ziska I…” He was shocked. How did he deserve a response like that?

Her angry glare softened into a sweet smile. “Pommy, I’m just playing with you. I didn’t know you were going to propose… I thought I owed you a surprise too. Yes! I’ll marry you! Put that ring on my finger and mark me as yours!”

He slid the ring on her finger, and she studied it with tear-filled eyes. Ziska’s finely crafted Warrior Woman persona melted, and she threw her arms around Pommy and wept. She finally whispered, “I love you!” and they kissed passionately.

“You are my only reason for being here,” whispered Pommy. “If it wasn’t for your love, I would have gone home a long time ago.”

“I can’t wait!” she gasped and looked at the ring. “Franziska de la Montesquieu… Missus Pommeraie de la Montesquieu!” She sighed and rubbed her smooth cheek against Pommy’s cheek. “It’s so much easier to spell than Thornhammer.”

“How is that possible?” chuckled Pommy.

“M comes before T,” said Ziska. “Now when we line up alphabetically I can be closer to the front of the line!”

“My real name is much easier to spell,” said Pommy, then he regretted saying that.

“Real name?” asked a confused Ziska.

Pommy leaned back on the grass, and Ziska rested her head on his shoulder. “Pommeraie is not my first name, de la Montesquieu is actually my great-great grandfather’s name, he said it would work better than my real last name which is Stein.”

“Huh? How does that work out?”

“I was born in Torwin-Armistad,” said Pommy. Torwin-Armistad is the largest city on the entire planet of Kodu, as far as either of them knew.

“Fancy!” said Ziska, who was born in a little fishing village on the Breaze coast.

“No, not fancy at all. Torwin-Armistad is so big it takes two days to walk from one side to the other. I was born on the Armistad side which is mostly slums and cattle yards. I was born in the Tubes, the worst part of the worst city.”

“The Tubes?”

Pommy nodded. “It’s all narrow alleys; you can’t walk three abreast in most of them. The buildings are so close you have to keep your windows closed in the morning, otherwise when your neighbor dumped out his night-soil, it would end up in your apartment.” He sighed. “My mom was a witch but she married my dad Ivo, who was a dreamer.”

“She sounds like fun! I can’t wait to meet her,” chirped Ziska.

“She’s dead, I think.” Pommy frowned and then said, “In for a penny, in for a pound… my dad beat her to death. My last memory of my mother was her crawling off into the night leaving a trail of blood.”

“Pommy! Oh gods! So you had to stay with your father?”

“Yeah… until he got tired of waiting for me to die. He dropped me off in a trash heap behind the Temple of Saehrimnir, the god of Divine Fools. One day an acolyte dug me out of the trash heap and took me into the temple. We went into the temple of Saehrimnir in Torwin-Armistad and we came out in a little non-denominational temple in the mountains and he gave me to a witch to raise me. I spent the next eight years raised by a witch and a temple wizard.”

“That’s sweet,” said Ziska.

“They’re both dead,” added Pommy.

“What? What happened?”

“I don’t know. I never asked them.”

“What do you mean?” demanded Ziska.

“I was raised by two ghosts. Nana Peacock, the witch, taught me how to raise veggies and chickens, how to fish and trap rabbits and squirrels. She was my mother’s grandmother. Grandpa taught me my letters and numbers and how to navigate through the temples. I would hop back to the Temple of Saehrimnir, nick a loaf of bread and maybe a potato or two, and dash back to Elm Springs. Grandpa didn’t mind, he said the temple offerings would be eaten by the priests and given to the needy, and an eight-year-old boy living with a ghost is about as needy as you get.

“What do you mean, navigate through the temples?” asked Ziska.

“All temples on Kodu are interconnected through the æther. If you have magical skills you can get through, it’s fairly simple once you can see it, but you need the magical skill to see it. The trick is knowing where to go. We could go directly between here in Breaze to any one of five temples in Uduithia where I’m from, but the transfer would be too demanding. We’d suffocate.”

“There’s no air in the æther?”

“Not exactly suffocate, it’s more like overwork yourself. So, you take short hops with fifteen minutes to recover between each hop.”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” said Ziska.

“I knew I’d find you two here,” came a gruff voice behind them.

Pommy looked back up the hill. He saw a huge, muscular brute wearing an armored breastplate with no undergarment, and a pair of leather trousers. It was Jehans Du Gouey, the biggest man Pommy had ever seen. Also, one of the nicest. “Sergeant Du Gouey, what is with that get-up?” asked Pommy.

“My shirt and blouse are in the laundry, sir.”

“Why are you bothering us on our day off, sergeant,” said Ziska in a scolding voice.

“My apologies lieutenant, but the king asked me himself, he said ‘find those two lascivious miscreants and have them in my chamber by three of the clock!’” said Sergeant Du Gouey.

“Lascivious miscreants?” demanded Ziska.

“Aye, ma’am. The king said it himself.”

“Jehans, do you know what lascivious miscreant means?”

The demi-giant pondered a bit, then said, “Miscreants are troublemakers, but the word lascivious has me stumped, it does,” he said with a nod and a half grin.

“Our sovereign must be dealing with the healers again,” giggled Ziska.

“Could be worse, he could be dealing with the priests,” said Pommy, as he helped Ziska to her feet and they walked hand in hand to town.

“Well…?” said Jehans with a grin as they approached the city gate.

“Well, what?” demanded Captain de la Montesquieu.

“Did you ask her?” Jehans tried to whisper, but he’s not capable of such subtleties. He’s a demi-giant; they’re not quiet people.

“Yes, I asked her.”

“You told him?” demanded Ziska.

“I found him in the jewelry store when he bought the ring,” said Jehans with a booming laugh.

“What does the king want us for?” asked Pommy, hoping to change the subject.

They walked through the streets of Enkmaar, the capital city of the Kingdom of Breaze. Ahead of them were Mariseau Castle and the Royal Guard barracks. “I suppose we better dress for the meeting with the king…” said Pommy. He was upset because he spends every waking hour in uniform. A day off in linen trousers and a loose blouse and with Ziska dressed the same was a luxury.

They got to the portcullis and had to be vouched in by the on-duty Commander of the Gate, Ven Holsten. Rather than fussing that the gate guard should have known who he was, Pommy asked Sergeant Holsten, “Ven, what is going on? This was a touch unusual.”

“Threats against the king by the Palace Dawn organization,” said Sergeant Holsten.

“Legitimate threats, Ven?”

“Same as always, but we’re taking it more seriously this month.”

“Why?”

Ven shrugged, but as they got to the barracks in the lowest chambers of the castle, Ven whispered to Pommy, “I think the King will tell you more about it.”

Pondering what Ven said and not paying attention to where he was walking in the dimly lit hall, Pommy followed Ziska into her room. “Do you mind?” demanded Ziska.

“Huh, oh, sorry Missus Stein,” said Pommy, and he turned around and left.

“What? Get back here,” and Ziska. She grabbed his collar and pulled Pommy back into her room for a kiss, then shoved him back out into the hallway, colliding with a young troop that was returning from the chow hall.

“Shot down again captain?”

“Yeah, that’s how it goes.” Pommy turned through the next identical door into his own room/office/closet. He had a cot, a footlocker, a small desk and stool, and a rack to hang his dress uniforms. He sat down on his cot and smiled. She said yes! He wanted to leap for joy. He wanted to sing. He wanted to tell the world. Then came a knock at the door. “Yes?”

The door opened, and there was Ziska, wearing nothing but a small towel around her waist. “What uniform are we wearing for this meeting?”

Inside, Pommy was both thrilled at seeing her etched, but very feminine body, her firm breasts, her narrow waist… Outside he smoothly said, “I like what you have on, but let’s go with office dress.”

“You’re such a dick,” she said and blew him a kiss and returned to her room.

Pommy shook his head and chuckled. She said, Yes! May the gods have pity on me.

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Chapter 02 - The New Queen

Pommy and Ziska checked each other’s uniforms as they stood outside the King’s private chambers. While they made sure each other’s uniforms were perfect, the king’s butler sighed in impatience. “How shall you be introduced?” the butler finally asked in his whiny, nasal voice.

“The commander and vice commander of the Royal Guard,” said Pommy, like he always did. The butler always asks the same damn question. Maybe it’s because he’s required to, but Pommy and Ziska were getting sick of his weak yet haughty attitude. Then he realized he didn’t know the butler’s name. He’s been popping in and out of this chamber for over four years, and he didn’t know the butler’s name. King Alfrich just calls him steward. “What is your name steward?” asked Pommy.

“Pardon sir?”

“Your name. What is your actual name. It’s clearly not steward.”

“It’s Hodgkiss sir.” The butler was clearly miffed that he had been asked that question by a mere soldier. For his part, Pommy didn’t like men who got miffed.

“We are ready, Hodgkiss. You may announce us.”

“Very good sir.” Hodgkiss knocked once on the door and announced, “The commander and vice commander of the Royal Guard, sire.”

“Show them in,” said the king. “And bring us coffee… soldiers like coffee.”

As Pommy and Ziska crossed the threshold, the king’s clock chimed three times. They stopped four feet from the king and bowed deeply as Pommy announced, “Your majesty. Captain Pommeraie de la Montesquieu and Lieutenant Franziska Thornhammer of the Royal Guard reports as ordered.”

“On time as usual, now I know what I shall get you two as a wedding gift. Arise! Sit with me.”

“Sir, we… uh… it’s not…”

“Captain Montesquieu, the very nicest thing about being king, is that people tend to do what you ask them to do, now sit and we will talk.”

“Yes sire.”

Pommy and Ziska sat side by side on the couch across from King Alfrich, who looked out the window over the city and sighed. The monarch’s years of loneliness were weighing on him heavily. His only son, Prince Talon, was captured by anti-royalist rebels and burned at the stake. Three years later, Queen Elören, the last elf to sit on a throne in the Kingdom of Breaze, committed suicide. “My name, Alfrich, it means king of the elves, did you know that?”

“No sire, I did not know that” said Ziska in a soft voice.

“Where did all the elves go? There was once one elf for every human or demi-human in Enkmaar City. Now they are rare,” the king said sadly. “The elves despise war, even though they are best at it.”

“I believe they left for Edhellond,” said Pommy.

The king nodded sadly. “Elf Harbor. I wish to go there some day. My dear Elören came from Edhellond. She couldn’t take the loss of Talon” His voice trailed off into sad silence.

Pommy and Ziska let the silence last nearly a full minute. They looked at each other and came to a silent agreement. It was Ziska who had to break the king’s melancholy mood. “The reason you called for us my lord?”

As if waking from a trance, the king smiled at his protectors. “Congratulations on your engagement, I was wondering how long it would take you.”

“Huh, we’re not…” started Ziska, but Pommy stopped her. You don’t contradict the king. That’s his advisor’s job.

“How did you find out, sir?”

“I have a fairly adequate intelligence network but if you are wondering, no. I wasn’t spying on you, but if I mistook the meaning of your ring, Lieutenant, I apologize.”

“You saw that sir?” gasped Ziska.

“Lieutenant, when you enter my chamber I look at more than your eyes,” said the king.

“He just asked me today,” she said as she brought her hand up for the king to see the ring.

“Very pretty lieutenant.” Then the king called out, “Steward! Who won the betting pool?”

Hodgkiss stepped forward with a large pasteboard grid with dates and initials all over the board. “It was Baron Sotheby, sire. You were off by a full week, my lord.”

Ziska shrieked in surprise, but Pommy laughed happily. It’s not unusual for the people of Mariseau Castle to start betting pools on the oddest things. A previous king made it illegal to bet on competitive sports, but that didn’t stop the fair people of Mariseau Castle from betting on everyday things like the date of new births and how long it would take for someone to purchase a house. In betting pools like this, the winner gets half of the proceeds and the target of his or her attention gets the other half. Hodgkiss presented Pommy and Ziska with a fifty gold coin. “That’s a fair start to a new home.” Fifty dollars was several months’ pay!

“Actually sire, we want to return to the Snowcross Mountains. I have a farm waiting for me at the base of Morna Oron,” said Pommy respectfully, using the elven name of Black Mountain.

“Then that should get you what… three cows? Or maybe a pair of mules to work your farm.”

“That’s about six mules, sir.”

“You understand,” said Ziska happily.

“I know my people better than you think, but do you know me?” said the king with an amused smile.

“We’re here to guard you sire, never to judge or needlessly speculate,” said Pommy.

“You are the only people in the castle I can feel comfortable talking to. Did you know that I too am engaged to be married?” asked the king with a wry smile. He was trying to recover from his melancholy of moments ago.

“Really sire?” gasped Ziska. This was a surprise.

As Hodgkiss finished setting out the silver coffee service, King Alfrich said, “steward, could you ask the princess to join us? And bring a cup of tea for her if she would prefer that.”

“Yes, your highness,” and Hodgkiss disappeared into the depths of the king’s apartment.

“Both the parliament and the house of lords have been demanding that I marry,” said King Alfrich. “For the past month, it’s been a parade of eligible princesses and… gods! Do these nations attempt to educate their daughters? The only thing most of those candidates could talk about was flower arranging. I got to the point where I decided I would marry the first candidate that refused to talk about flower arranging.”

“Flower arranging? Are you still going on about that my liege?” came a feminine voice. “I can do flower arranging if you’d like, but why some people put so much importance on it is beyond me. Are you looking to marry a florist my king?” As she spoke, a vision of beauty entered the room. She was as tall as Ziska, but softer, rounder. If it wasn’t the gown that tugged her into a perfect hourglass frame, then she was a vision of perfection. Her hair was jet black and tumbled over her shoulders. Her face was divinely cute, with violet eyes, a tiny nose and full lips. Her breasts were large and, from what her neckline revealed, were flawless. Her waist was tiny, and her hips were round and wide. Pommy chuckled to himself about how the farmers in his home village of Elm Springs would say she had “childbearing hips.”

Pommy and Ziska snapped to attention and bowed, and the woman looked shocked at their display. “As you were,” said the king as the woman eased herself onto the couch next to Alfrich. Only when she was seated did Pommy and Ziska sit down. “This is the lady Octavia Anghart. Octavia, these are the commanders of my guard Captain Pommeraie de la Montesquieu and Lieutenant Franziska Thornhammer.”

“You are quite beautiful!” gasped Ziska, whom Pommy thought was the most beautiful woman on Kodu.

“Oh, it’s mostly makeup. And my figure… some people would say I have childbearing hips.” She looked directly at Pommy as she said that. For his part, Pommy steeled himself and didn’t show a reaction. He might as well have been deaf. “Captain de la Montesquieu, I understand you are from Torwin-Armistad. Are you familiar with the Temple of Saehrimnir?”

“Yes, I lived in their trash heap for several years with my dog Pepin.”

“I do not jest Captain; I was left at the Temple of Saehrimnir as an infant by my parents. I like to think they left me there as a foundling because it is the foremost center for wizardry. I was raised by the priestesses and earned my license to conduct magic. The Baron and Lady Anghart adopted me at the age of fifteen. It was a full, formal adoption.” In the kingdom of Breaze, a full, formal adoption confers royal blood onto the adoptee.

“I jest not either, my lady.” But he refused to speak further until the king ordered him to respond. “I was abandoned there by my father and I think it was because it was the nearest trash heap to our home. I was raised in the Tubes. Outside of the temple, it is a very dangerous neighborhood for small children to roam the streets, begging for pennies and drinking from rain puddles. I would sneak into the temple at night and steal the food offerings to the gods and drink the holy water, both Pepin and I. They blamed my thievery on a ghost named Nick.”

Lady Octavia looked both amused and shocked. “You are the infamous Nick?”

“That was my birth name, Pommeraie came later. I’m sure it was a kindhearted acolyte that allowed me to enter the tabernacle and pilfer the offerings. Another acolyte caught me red handed and carried me off to Elm Springs in the Snowcross mountains to be nursed back to health and educated there. I took the name of my great-great grandfather, de la Montesquieu.”

“What was your name before that?” asked Ziska.

Pommie shrugged and said, “Nick Stein. Not much of a moniker is it.” Then he leaned forward and stared deep into Octavia’s violet eyes. “I apologize for sounding gruff or suspicious, but this is out of the blue, even though we saw the other contenders filing in and out of the king’s suite. We didn’t realize a choice had been made.”

“I hope to allay any fears you may have Captain, and I know my place. I hope I can give the king an heir as quickly as possible, and learn the machinations of the castle so if need be I can give the king sage advice when asked.”

“Then I suppose we are here so you can choose who will lead your security contingent?” asked Ziska.

“That’s the primary reason,” said the king.

‘She’ll consider me because I’m the hometown boy,’ thought Pommy. ‘When the hell can Ziska and I get married with all this going on?’ but he kept his thoughts to himself. His thoughts were not the king and new queen’s concern.

“The other reason is to go over wedding plans and coronation,” said Octavia.

“Security first, my dear. The rest is all window dressing,” said King Alfrich.

“Wisely said, your highness,” said Pommy.

Ziska slugged Pommy in the leg. “You tell him that all the time!”

“And his majesty agrees with me… finally.” Then to Octavia he said, “My lady, here, inside of the apartment we don’t venture unless invited like today. This is your world. Unless a threat enters it, then it becomes our world. Outside these doors, it’s all our world. Your task is to select who will manage your security outside of these doors.”

“Hmmm, such a choice,” said Octavia. “I’m tempted to select the hometown boy, and I believe I would be more comfortable with Captain de la Montesquieu, but I believe that Lieutenant Thornhammer could escort me into places that men generally do not enter. Do you disagree Captain?”

Pommy was shaken from her parroting his words, but he continued without showing his emotions. “I concur with my future queen’s selection.”

“One thing bothers me however,” said Octavia. “Wouldn’t it be convenient if we get your marriage done before we start with our marriage and coronation?”

“We’re country folk,” said Ziska. “All we need is our friends and a witch.”

“And a keg of beer,” added Pommy, still covering his shock.

<><><><><>֍<><><><><>

Chapter 03 - Of Men and Gods

“What is wrong?” demanded Ziska. “You’re pacing like an expectant father.”

“No, I’m pacing like a security chief with a huge issue on his hands,” muttered Pommy as he paced around his office/dorm room. Finally, he grabbed the voice tube, blew into it, then called out, “Orderly! My office!”

“How do I get one of those?” asked Ziska.

“Marry me, we’re a complete set.”

A stern-looking young female corporal soon knocked on his door and stepped inside. “You rang?” Blowing into the voice tube causes a small bell to ring down at the Charge of Quarters desk.

“Lieutenant Thornhammer and I are going to interview a witch in Elm Springs. Tell Lieutenant Sandherr she will be in charge of security for the kings new fiancée, and Sergeant Du Gouey will cover the king. We should be back this evening for the king’s formal address.” He handed a signed document that said exactly what he had just told her. “For Lieutenant Elodie Sandherr.”

“Kings new fiancée?”

“That’s classified, until his address tonight. If I come back and everyone knows, I will hunt you down and fuck you up.”

“That’s not exactly a disincentive,” said Ziska, causing the orderly to snort, holding back the laughter.

“I’m sure Corporal Lockhart knows exactly… what… I… mean,” said Pommy, glaring at the corporal, who was quietly melting under his stare. “Dismissed.”

“Yes sir,” said the corporal, and she dashed off to try to find some cool, fresh air.

“Ok, why are we really going to Elm Springs? And how are we going to get there?” asked Ziska.

“We take the temple. Oh, and we’re going to Torwin-Armistad,” said Nick. “Grab your cloak. It may still be snowing in the mountains.”

“Wait, what… the mountains?”

“Shhh! Ok, the usual City Watch rules apply.” The usual City Watch rules were just to watch, and no matter what happens, don’t look surprised. They put on their cloaks and stepped out into the early morning darkness. Sunrise was an hour away, but Pommy wanted to be on the other side of the continent when that happened. He led her to the Temple of Tervis, the god of health.

“Isn’t it a bit early to worship?” asked Ziska. She tried the door, and it wouldn’t open no matter how hard she tugged the handle.

“It’s never too early to worship,” said Pommy. He grabbed the handle and held it, muttering under his breath. Ziska saw a slight glow around his hand and the handle and, with a soft click, the door opened. Pommy led a stunned Ziska into the silent temple.

“Can you do that everywhere?”

“I really don’t know. So far just temples and your bedroom.”

“My what? Are you sneaking in just to look at me sleeping in the nude?”

“Ah-ha! I knew you slept in the nude!”

They were bickering and teasing in soft voices when a tall young man entered the room. He wasn’t glowing, but there was light about him. He was very tall and in perfect health, and he was naked. Ziska fought to keep her eyes off of his ‘equipment’ which was abnormally large.

”Captain de la Montesquieu, it’s not often I see a keyholder in this temple.”

Pommy ignored his statement about being a keyholder and said, “Lord Tervis, may I introduce Lady Franziska Thornhammer, my lieutenant. Ziska, this is Tervis, the god of health.”

“You’re real? I mean I knew you were real, but I didn’t know you were real-real. I mean…”

”Lady Thornhammer, I am happy to meet you,” said the god as he bowed and kissed her hand.

“We need to travel, Lord,” said Pommy. “We need to travel to Torwin-Armistad and speak with the high priest at the Temple of Saehrimnir.”

”That is quite a journey,” said Tervis. ”Do you have a route planned?”

“I think the Temple of Sapona, then the Temple of Snupp, then the Temple of the Woods in Elm Springs, then on to the Temple of Saehrimnir.”

Tervis patted Pommy on the shoulder and said, ”I approve. Come back safe my friend!” and he faded from sight.

“What was that?” whispered Ziska in the dimly lit temple.

“That’s gods for you. He probably went back to bed, or whatever he was up to,” said Pommy.

“Is he always nude?”

“Yes he is,” chuckled Pommy. “That’s probably why there’s always a long list of applications for temple maiden at this temple.”

“So, he was just wandering around naked when we walked in?”

“No, he came out because I opened the temple door. I told him my plans, and he approved, left his mark, and went back to bed. Sometimes they hang around and talk, others don’t even come out.” Pommy turned toward what appeared to be four columns arranged in a square. “Here’s the portal, hold my hand tight and don’t let go.”

“Why? What’s…” as they stepped between two of the columns, something happened. The lighting changed around them, the air became thick and heavy, there was a sound around her, and then they stepped into a completely different temple. Ziska felt completely out of breath, even though whatever happened only took a moment.

“Are you ok?” asked Pommy. “We’re in Teurnia and we’re going to rest and recuperate here for about fifteen minutes.”

“I’m ok, and who is that?”

Pommy turned and saw a tall humanoid with broad shoulders and gray skin. He had a squashed look to his face and had black hair even more unruly than Pommy’s hair when it grows out. He was wearing a robe made of very substantial-looking canvas. “My lord, may I introduce my fiancée Lieutenant Franziska Thornhammer, Ziska this is Sapona, the god of Stone.”

“Welcome to my temple Captain de la Montesquieu, it has been too long. I took the liberty to inform the king of your arrival.” Then the god looked at Ziska and saw that she was pale and shaking. “Pommy, is she ok?”

“It’s her first temple hop. She’s never spoken to a god before.”

Just then, two guards entered the temple. “Captain de la Montesquieu!” shouted the taller of the two. His bluish skin told Ziska that he was from the high mountains of the Pellis range. “We are here to escort you to the palace!”

“Karl, relax,” said the second guard, a tall, fair, elegant elf. His stubby pointed ears and purple eyes told Ziska he was a mountain elf. “Pommeraie, my dear friend. It’s been far too long,” said the elf as he hugged Pommy.

“Leo, let me introduce you to Franziska Thornhammer, my Lieutenant, Ziska, this is Major Leomaris Autumnfall, we trained together at the Temple of Health for years.”

The elf that Pommy introduced as Leo took Ziska’s hand and kissed it, then standing he said, “This one is in love! Is it with you Pommy?”

“How did you know?” gasped Ziska. Did elves have the power to read a woman’s mind and dig out her romantic secrets?

“Elves can see subtle things that most humans would never notice,” said Leo with an air of mystery and superiority.

“He saw your engagement ring,” said Pommy as he put an arm around Ziska and patted his friend Leo on the shoulder.

“Yes, that was the key factor,” laughed Leo. “Let us be off, King Lars awaits!” Leo and Karl led Pommy and Ziska out of the temple into the cool morning air in the mountains. The palace area they were walking through was filled with gardens and fountains, but its beauty was lost on Ziska. Surrounding them were tall, craggy mountains, and she was entranced by their majesty and beauty.

Ziska was from a fishing village, and she had never seen mountains except far, far off in the distance. Now she was in the middle of them in the mountain fortress of Termagant’s Bane, where the sovereign of the kingdom of Teurnia resides. All stonework in the palace was made of the same dark, gray-colored rock. On the low garden walls, it was rough cut; it was smooth underfoot on the walkways; and on ornamental items like fountains, it was polished to a mirror finish.

Finally, they reached a patio where the king, queen, and three elf maidens sat at a large table. “Is this her?” asked the king. “Is this the one you write about?” He leapt to his feet and pulled a chair out for Ziska to sit down.

“Your Majesty, this is Franziska Thornhammer my lieutenant in the Royal Guard and my fiancée. Ziska this is his royal highness, the King of Teurnia, Lars Ranzau. Next to him is his wife, the Queen of Teurnia and Ambassador to Teurnia from Edhellond, Rania Haldir of Clan Neithaor. The elf maidens with them are his executive assistants Lana, Nora, and Olah Ulavaris,” he said, gesturing to the triplet elf maidens.

One of the elves said, “It’s now Lana, Nora, and Olah Ranzau.” The three elves smiled with pride.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the wedding?” asked Pommy. “I would have taken some time off.”

“It was during that whole Landia Domissi event,” said King Lars. “I couldn’t deprive a king of his guard right after an assassination attempt.”

Pommy leaned over to Ziska and said, “honey, when I was in class with Leo, we’d hop back here on weekends and King Ulrich’s day and Lars would hang out with us.”

“Especially on King Ulrich’s day,” said Lars with a knowing grin, and he raised his coffee in salute.

Queen Rania leaned over to Ziska and whispered, “We got married on King Ulrich’s day.” She added a wink, which only confused Ziska.

“What is King Ulrich’s day?” asked Ziska.

“This castle is under a curse,” said Queen Rania. “Four hundred years ago, King Ulrich was facing unrest and political threats from all factions in the city, so he made everybody’s clothing disappear. Every year for one day, everyone is naked.”

“What happens to their clothes?” asked a shocked Ziska.

The triplets giggled, and Leo, who also joined them, said, “They just go away.”

“Everyone wears rags or paper dresses, or just start the day naked,” said Pommy.

“Most people prefer to experience the Great Unrobing at noon,” said Leo.

“So, I take it that the city empties out and everyone comes back after it’s over?” guessed a shocked Ziska.

“Oh hells no!” laughed the triplets.

“It’s amazing!” said Olah. “It’s the great equalizer.”

“Imagine, for one full day there’s no class distinction, nobody is wearing rags because that’s all they have,” said Olah’s sister Lana.

“Friendships are made between the oddest of companions!” gushed Nora. “Pauper and prince gather in the park to play chess for years to come because they met in a naked game of chess on King Ulrich’s day.”

“I am proud to say it’s the biggest celebration in the Lark Spur mountains,” said King Lars.

“I’m really impressed with the people,” said Queen Rania. “It’s an enormous party with food and booths and the children running naked in the streets having fun. Then, after the fireworks and the children go to sleep, the party really starts.”

Ziska glared at Pommy. “And you come here for this and you still tell me that you’re pure?”

“I even came with an incubus, and at most I got a kiss and a handjob.”

“There’s no such thing as an incubus!” insisted Ziska.

“Yes there is!” said the triplets, who then broke up into giggles. The king raised his hand sheepishly.

“He has a tail!” said Nala, the mischievous elf.

“It’s a big one,” said Olah, Nala’s younger sister by a few minutes.

“I can vouch for your future husband,” said King Lars. “Believe me, some very beautiful women tried very hard to change his mind.”

“I knew you were out there somewhere, waiting for me,” said Pommy, and he gave Ziska a kiss.

The rest of breakfast was a conversation about young Pommy before he joined the guard full time to satisfy Ziska’s curiosity. After breakfast, they strolled back to the temple, the triplets and Queen Rania walking with Ziska, while Pommy followed with Leo and King Lars. “Why are you making this trip, Captain Pommeraie?” asked Leo. “It’s not like you to hop up and temple hop halfway across the Edux continent.”

“I need to talk to the priests at the Temple of Saehrimnir. I’m doing a background check on our future queen.”

“Is there a problem captain?”

“I believe she can read my mind,” said Pommy. “This could be a security risk. If she were affiliated with a terrorist organization like the Palace Dawn group she could read my thoughts on securing the king and plan accordingly.”

“You need to find her background,” said Leomaris Autumnfall as he idly carried two sausages wrapped in a napkin. “But check her training. Was she trained to do that? Is it a natural talent? Did they even notice it? And can she read someone else’s mind?” He handed the wrapped sausages to Pommy. “For your next stop.”

“Thank you Leo. And I will follow that line of questioning.” As they entered the temple, they said their goodbyes. “We will be returning this evening, I don’t know when but if the hour is reasonable we’ll say hello again.”

“If you can come for dinner, our chef is making venison roast, it is incredible,” said King Lars.

“We will try,” said Pommy and, holding hands with Ziska, they entered the temple’s gateway and stepped out into a dark, dusty temple. There were cobwebs hanging in every corner, and ancient and desiccated loaves of bread sat on the offering plate. “We just need to rest,” said Pommy quietly.

“What is this?” whispered Ziska.

“This is the temple of Snupp, the god of Wolves,” said Pommy as he laid one of the sausages he carried on the offering plate.

“Where are we?”

“Elbreshowth on the Moor.”

Ziska gasped. Elbreshowth on the Moor is the location for every ghost story she’s ever read as a child or recited by the fire on a bitter winter night. “Where’s Snupp?”

”Right here darling,” came a smooth, almost oily voice from the shadows. Pommy winced when she said that, but she didn’t call on the god of the wolves. She just mentioned his name. Even the staunchest atheist knows that when you call on a god and he hears your plea, he will do your bidding for a fee. Snupp finds ways to make you wish you never called on him.

“Lord Snupp, we are weary travelers. We left you an offering so that we may rest for a bit.”

They could hear the god sniff for a moment. ”Mutton!” roared the voice, and out of the shadows stepped a half man, half wolf. Like the two other gods that Ziska has seen, he stood over eight feet tall, was covered with black and brown hair, and while he didn’t have a muzzle like a dog, he had a similar nose, teeth, and ears. ”I smell Teurnian mutton!”

“We brought a sausage from our meal with King Lars,” said Pommy.

”King Lars?” asked the confused god.

“He’s the king of Teurnia.”

”Lars? Lars is king of Teurnia now?”

“Yes, his father Eric chose to retire soon after Lars married Princess Rania.”

The wolf-god closed his eyes and thought, then nodded. ”Yes, I remember now. News is slow to get here, and it is quiet on the moors.”

“Thank you for allowing us a quiet respite Lord Snupp, we shall be on our way.”

”Next time you come through, bring news, that’s always red meat to a solitary god,” growled Snupp. ”I would like to hear what happened at Breaze.”

“Breaze?” gasped Pommy and Ziska.

”No, that isn’t right,” muttered Snupp. ”That’s later… It’s so confusing when you move about in time and space.”

“Good day my lord,” said Pommy as Snupp pondered the thought that rang in his head. He took Ziska’s hand and headed through the temple portal.

Pommy and Ziska were long gone when Snupp got it right. ”It’s what WILL happen in Breaze, that is the question. How is that going to work itself out?” Then he looked around and found himself alone and sighed. ”Humans are hind sighted when it comes to time,” he muttered. ”And they don’t even taste good.” He snatched the sausage off the offering plate and disappeared into the shadows, leaving the old bread behind. Wolves don’t eat bread.

<><><><><>

They emerged in the temple of the woods, out of breath and their chests aching. “What’s going on?” asked Ziska.

“We didn’t wait long enough in Snupp’s temple,” said Pommy as he tried to catch his breath. “I think this is the gods way of making you ask yourself if this trip is necessary.”

“Dolt,” said Ziska, and she banged her hip against Pommy, almost knocking him over.

“Grandpa! Are you here?” called Pommy. He was home. This little temple of the woods in tiny Elm Springs is where he learned to be free of the terror and hunger of his youth.

The temple was tiny compared to the three they had seen so far. The temple portal was small, the columns narrow and so close together that two could barely fit between them shoulder to shoulder. The offering plate was brimming with fresh fruit, even though Pommy said there was no temple god and the temple priest was a spirit.

“Who used to be the god here?” asked Ziska.

“The original goddess was Thitune, goddess of Fertility, which occurs naturally here on chilly mountain nights,” said Pommy with a grin. “Grandpa said she moved on to a more profitable location.”

“More profitable?”

“To a god believers are currency. It’s what keeps them going. The more believers a god has, the more power he has.”

“So, the people here don’t believe in the gods?” asked Ziska.

“Oh they do, but they believe in gods the same way they believe in trees. Gods are a part of life here, but when the thunder rolls and the lightning flashes, they don’t think about Ides, god of the Sky, they think ‘I better get the sheep in from the pasture.’ That’s tough on a god.”

He showed her around the tiny temple and went back to the priest’s office, where Grandpa appears when he’s in the mood. “Grandpa?” but Pommy got no response. There were several chairs, shelves of books, small schoolhouse-size slates and a bucket of sticks of chalk and a potbelly stove. “We used to have classes here. I taught the other kids reading and cyphering.”

Outside, the rain was pouring. Pommy wanted to show off his tiny village, but there wasn’t much more to see than a tiny general store, a watermill, a blacksmith shop and a couple of houses. They stood by a window in the small office, which looked more like a confused bookstore, and watched the rain come pouring down. “Thank you for coming with me,” said Pommy. “I hope to gods I don’t anger the king by doing a background investigation on his fiancée.”

“It’s your job,” she said softly and gave him a sweet, reassuring kiss. “You’re doing it for the good of the kingdom.”

“What am I missing?” He hugged Ziska close, a nagging feeling of impending failure clawing at him. He hoped it was just pre-wedding jitters.

“We will see in Torwin-Armistad,” said Ziska.

“Are you recovered?” asked Pommy.

“I think so,” said Ziska. “What causes that?”

“Grandpa told me that when we temple hop we are fighting the stream of the Macrocosm, which is a fancy way to say everything.”

“I don’t follow,” said Ziska.

“Ok, picture yourself having to get from one place to another and it’s 500 miles. You can magically squeeze those two places together but that causes a river to form between the two locations. The non-magical thing to do is to walk around the river but that’s still 500 miles. Using magic, we swim that river. It’s not a long swim but we’re fighting a current so we have to relax when we get to the other side before crossing the next river. Magically it’s a lot of work but we didn’t walk 500 miles. Does that help? That’s how Grandpa explained it to me.”

“It’s incredible, I’ve never heard of such a thing before,” said Ziska. “Is there a way to build a bridge across the river so you don’t have to fight the stream?”

Pommy grinned. Such a brilliant question! They’re going to have such a wonderful marriage. “Yes it is, it’s called a tunnel but magically it’s expensive so you only want to do it between two temples that are very far apart, and you need permission from a very powerful god.”

“Is all that true,” asked Ziska as they walked back into the sacrarium and approached the four columns. The next time they stepped out, they were in the vast temple of Saehrimnir, the god of Divine Fools.

<><><><><>

“Welcome seekers of truth,” said a hooded acolyte that met them as they emerged from the portal. “Would you enjoy refreshment as you recover from your travel?”

“Yes, we would like fruit juice,” said Pommy.

“I’d rather have water,” insisted Ziska.

“Not in Torwin-Armistad,” whispered Pommy. “It usually comes from the Armistad river, and you don’t know how many kidneys it was strained through first.”

Ziska looked at Pommy and smiled. “Fruit juice sounds good.”

They relaxed in the large open sacrarium, sipping apple juice and looking around at the amazing round room. The sacrarium had four sets of portal columns, and quiet people were leaving and arriving. High above was the fabled dome of Saehrimnir, which was covered with mosaic murals of different deities. “Which one is Saehrimnir?” whispered Ziska.

“The stag,” said Pommy and pointed out that many of the images were centered around a huge buck with gigantic antlers.

Ziska noticed Pommy was silent, and it wasn’t out of respect for the large sacred enclosure. “Are you ok?” she whispered.

“Yeah, just soaking up manna.”

“What?”

“Magical energy. It flows into our world through these temples.”

“You’re not a wizard are you?” she asked.

“No, don’t be silly,” said Pommy as he rose and urged Ziska to stand. “I’m a witch.”

“You’re a riot,” said Ziska. She clearly didn’t believe him because everyone knows a witch is a woman! “I’m glad you told me before we got married…”

He led her, protesting all the way, to the library where he found records of the Saehrimnir University. “Let’s see… she’s about my age so she should have graduated last year?” He found nothing but her name under the list of students in 3425. He looked through 3424 and 3423 and found her name, with no record of classes or grades received or even what subject she majored in. He stopped looking at university records and switched to Temple records and found the following entry:

Lady Octavia Anghart

{i}Temple Priestess - training complete, Nebulique 15, 3422
Ordained at the Temple of Saehrimnir Luminex 13, 3422
Enrolled at Saehrimnir University, Whorl 2, 3422, majoring in advanced magic and divination.
{/i}

Graduated Æther 16, 3429.

“Ordained on Luminex thirteenth,” said Pommy softly. “It’s when the stars cast dancing shadows.”

“Yeah, so, what do you mean?”

“The nearness to Zigu it causes the stars to dance,” said Pommy. Zigu, the planet of the gods. It orbits the sun Thaal, and every 88 days it passes between Thall and Kodu, causing Kodu to shudder, which makes the stars in the sky dance.

“Everyone knows that. It happens on Whorl twenty first, it’s called a stardance.” Ziska spoke to Pommy as if she were speaking to a child.

“It actually happens four times a year, the stardance on Whorl twenty first is the most pronounced. The one on Luminex thirteenth is the least pronounced but it’s considered highly magical.” He slid the tome back onto the shelf and said, “We have a problem here. She’s not listed in the University records, but she’s listed in the temple records.”

“So, maybe there was a mistake,” said Ziska.

“No organization makes a mistake that big,” said Pommy. “There’s a reason for everything and…”

“…the only difference between a conspiracy theory and the truth is legwork,” sighed Ziska. It was one of Pommy’s favorite axioms.

He led her back into the massive sacrarium to an information desk in the center of the sacrarium and said, “I need to speak with the University Viceroy.”

The slim, balding man with a huge nose behind the desk looked at Pommy like he was a worm. “Why would I allow that?” the clerk asked in a nasal voice that sounded like a moan.

“I’m with the Breaze Free Press and I’m writing a story on an alumni of the Saehrimnir Temple University.”

“You still haven’t answered the question,” moaned the clerk.

“Fine, and when Viceroy Chrezius Sanguine discovers you denied his chance at an interview when an honor graduate of this university marries King Alfrich of Breaze, I’m sure you’ll have a proper response.”

“Which alum?

“Lady Octavia Anghart. She graduated in 3429.”

“No, I don’t see anyone here by that name. Sorry,” said the clerk.

“That was just last year! She’s listed in the temple records as having graduated from the university.”

“Then there must be an error in the temple records,” said the clerk. “Have a good day.”

“Wait,” said Pommy. “The temple records are the word of Saehrimnir himself, are they not? Let me summon him and he can tell us how he made such an error.”

The clerk snickered. A nobody in an odd military uniform summoning a god? It’s not possible. But Pommy turned his back on the clerk and clapped his hands three times and shouted in ancient Metsa Keel, the language of the forest elf, ”Issand Saehrimnir! Ma anun teid!” (Lord Saehrimnir, I beseech you!)

Just then a twelve foot tall man appeared as if stepping out of a mist. He was handsome, with masculine features and curling sandy hair, and he radiated an aura of power. He wore a simple toga with a belt that showed off his muscular physique and sandals, as if trying to hide the fact of his omnipotence through the common clothing of 3000 years ago. Everyone in the temple stopped; most fell prostrate on their knees and lowered their heads to the polished granite floor. The temple went silent, then Saehrimnir boomed, “Pommeraie?” He looked around, then smiled. “Pommy?” when he saw Pommy. “It has been a long time.”