Amber and Blood - Margaret Weis [61]
The most dangerous of these gods was Sargonnas. He had some nefarious plot in the works—of that Chemosh was certain. His spies had reported that an elite troop of minotaur soldiers had been dispatched to an unknown location on some sort of secret mission. Chemosh might have thought nothing of this; the God of Vengeance was always scheming and plotting. But this troop was under the command of a minotaur named Galdar—former compatriot and close friend of Mina. Coincidence? Chemosh did not think so. He had to act and he had to act fast.
Chemosh had ordered Krell and his Bone Warriors to accost the monk while they were on the road. Chemosh was not so consumed by his desire for Mina that he had forgotten the holy artifacts the monk carried. He had ordered Krell to search the monk’s body and bring anything he found to him. Krell had set up an ambush on the road, but before he could attack the party, Mina had thwarted Chemosh’s plans by racing to Solace with the speed of a comet.
If she could perform such a miracle, so could Chemosh. Ausric Krell and three Bone Warriors arrived in Solace only moments behind Mina. Chemosh’s orders regarding the monk and Mina were the same: kill the one and kidnap the other. While Rhys and Nightshade and Mina slept, Krell spent the night in Chemosh’s temple in consultation with the priests, forming a plan of attack. The riot that morning was Phase One.
The Temple of Chemosh in Solace was the first temple honoring the Lord of Death to be built in the open. Before now, the priests of Chemosh had kept their dark doings hidden away from public view and most still did, preferring to perform the mysteries of their death rites and rituals in dark and secret places. Now that the leadership of the Dark Pantheon was within his reach, Chemosh realized that a god who wanted to be a leader of gods could not have his followers skulking about raiding tombs and cavorting with skeletons. Mortals feared the Lord of Death. What Chemosh wanted now was their respect, maybe even a little affection.
Sargonnas had achieved this. The minotaur God of Vengeance had been demeaned and reviled down through the ages. His consort, Takhisis, had sneered at him. She had used him and his minotaur warriors to fight her battles, then discarded them when she no longer had need of them. When Takhisis had stolen the world, she had left Sargonnas in the lurch, just like the rest of the gods.
All that had changed. With Takhisis gone, Sargonnas had gained power for himself and his people. His minotaurs had raided the ancient elven homeland of Silvanesti, driven out the elves, and taken over that lush land. The minotaur empire was now a force to reckoned with. Minotaur ships ruled the oceans. The Solamnic Knights were said to be negotiating treaties with the minotaur emperor. Sargonnas had built a grand (if ostentatious) temple to himself in Solace, constructing the temple of stone shipped at great expense from the minotaur isles. His minotaur priests walked the streets of Solace and every other major city in Ansalon. Vengeance had become fashionable in certain circles. Chemosh watched the horned god’s rise in jealous envy.
Thus far, the balance had not yet been disturbed. Kiri-Jolith, the god of Just War, proved an excellent counterpoint to Sargonnas. Minotaur warriors who valued honor prayed to Kiri-Jolith as well as to Sargonnas and saw no conflict in this. The priests of Mishakal, working with the mystics of the Citadel of Light, were spreading the belief that love and compassion, the values of the heart, could help ease the world’s problems. The Aesthetics of Gilean were advocating and promoting education, claiming that ignorance and superstition were the tools of darkness.
Not to be outdone by his fellow gods, Chemosh ordered a temple built in Solace, constructing it of black marble. The temple was small, especially compared to that of Sargonnas, but it was far more elegant. True, not many people dared venture inside and those who did departed rapidly. The temple’s interior was shadowy and dark and smelled heavily of incense