Amber and Blood - Margaret Weis [12]
“Mina’s army,” Nuitari stated in bitter tones. “Coming to occupy her fortress. And you thought she was going to give it you!”
“They won’t get in,” said Chemosh.
Nuitari chuckled. “As our friend Reorx is so fond of saying, ‘Wanna bet’?” He gestured. “Once she comes to open the doors and let her Beloved inside, my poor Black Robes will be under siege in their own laboratory. The tower will be crawling with her fiends.”
As Chemosh watched, several of the undead creatures dragged themselves up out of the water and headed toward the massive double doors.
“Aren’t you the fool!” said Nuitari with a thick-lipped, sneering smile. “You had Mina in your bed and you kicked her out. She would have done anything for you.”
Chemosh made no response. Nuitari was right, curse him. Mina loved him, adored him, and he’d cast her off, spurned her because he’d been jealous of her.
Not jealous of another lover. Jealous of her—her power.
The Beloved served her, when they were meant to serve him. Mina had done to him what she’d done to Takhisis. The miracles she had performed in the name of Chemosh had been her own miracles. Men worshipped Mina, not him. The Beloved were subject to her will, not his.
And, if he believed Majere, Mina had done this in all innocence. She had no idea she was the god who had given the Beloved terrible life.
What a fool I’ve been! Chemosh reproached himself, but even as he did, an idea came to him. He remember the broken-hearted look she had cast him before she had leapt into the sea.
She still loves me. I can win her back. With her at my side, I can supplant that thick-skulled bovine, Sargonnas. I can cast down Kiri-Jolith and thwart Mishakal and thumb my nose at know-it-all Gilean. Mina will gain me access to the Hall of Sacrilege. I will seize all the artifacts. I can rule Heaven …
All he had to do now was find her.
Chemosh cast his immortal gaze upon the world. He saw all beings everywhere: elves and humans, ogres and kender, gnomes and dwarves, fish and hounds, cats and goblins. His vision encompassed them, surrounded them, studied them, all simultaneously, all within the splitting of a split second. He found every living being on this planet and all who weren’t living in the ordinary sense of the word.
None of them were her.
Chemosh was baffled. Where could Mina be? How could she hide from him?
He had no idea and while he was puzzling this out, he realized that back in his castle, Gilean was asking the gods to swear an oath they would not interfere with Mina. Whatever choice she made about her place in the pantheon, whatever side she might choose, or if she would leave the world altogether, the decision had to be hers.
If I take this oath, Gilean will see to it that the oath is enforced. I will be barred from trying to seduce her.
Chemosh was confident in his power over her. All he needed was to see her, talk to her, take her into his arms …
He could not search for her, not at this moment, not while Nuitari was watching him like a snake watches a rat; not while Sargonnas was eyeing him with dark suspicion and Gilean was demanding that each god swear. Chemosh could not search for Mina, but he had someone at his command who could. Fortunately, he had a little time. The Gods of Magic were demanding to know why they needed to swear the oath at all.
Chemosh sent out a call, his thoughts speeding rapidly through the castle to Ausric Krell, the former death knight, cursed by Mina to become human again. Chemosh had to hurry. He had to issue his orders to find Mina before he took the oath. He could not be blamed if Mina came to him of her own free will.
One tiny little shove in his direction would hardly count.
“We should not have to take this oath,” Nuitari was arguing. “We were not even born when this child-god came into being.”
“We care nothing about Mina,” stated Lunitari.
“She has naught to do with magic. Leave us out of this,” added Solinari.
“Oh, but she does