The Shattered Land_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [36]
“He’ll kill you if you don’t give up the things you love?”
The sahuagin turned to face her fully, and for a moment he opened his mouth, revealing a double row of razor teeth. “Do you share the faith of your forebears, child?”
His voice was louder, deeper, and Lei instinctively took a step back. At that moment she knew how smaller fish felt in the presence of the shark.
“Are you faithful to their ways?” Thaask hissed, taking a step forward.
“Yes,” Lei said, holding her ground and staring at the sahuagin. “The Sovereign Host. I was taught to give thanks for their blessings.”
“And to fear the dark, yes? The six? The Devourer. The Darkness. The One Unknown?”
“To resist those things,” Lei replied, mustering her indignation. “Death, corruption, and chaos—yes, I was taught to stand against them.”
Thaask brought his talons together in a sudden movement, creating a loud, sharp click. “You would not exist without them. Passion and madness, these bring change, and you are a child of chaos.”
“What do you mean?”
Anger and curiosity warred within her. Part of her wanted to turn and go, to leave this savage who’d thrown her treasure into the sea, but she’d never actually spoken to anyone who worshipped one of the Dark Six before and interest lingered.
“You know of the force that brings change? The One who Remains Unknown?”
Lei considered this. “The Traveler?” Of the Dark Six, this deity was the most enigmatic; the tales could not even agree on form or gender. The Traveler was said to walk the world, spreading chaos in his—or her—wake. Many old traditions of hospitality were designed to placate the unknown Traveler.
“Yes,” Thaask hissed, letting his mouth hang open again just long enough to show his teeth. “Traveler. In the first days of my people, before we learned the rites of the Devourer, we were the slaves of a terrible force in the deep waters. A few implored the gods for mercy, for an end to this servitude. The One who Remains Unknown came to them in the depths and offered a sanctuary. With her guidance they wove a disk of roots and sat upon it, floating atop the waters.”
“They made a boat?” Lei had never heard of sahuagin boats before.
Thaask nodded. “The waters are our home, and at that time there was no land. None had thought to rise into the air, and they never would have. The god’s gift was the idea they could not see on their own.”
“What happened?”
“The deep masters could not follow them. They were safe, but time above the waters sapped the strength of the people. Their scales fell and lungs grew weak.” Thaask cocked his head, studying her. “The Devourer spoke to those who remained below, and with his strength they overcame the deep masters. Those who had fled could never return. They gathered floating roots and clots of mud, and slowly they built larger and larger shelters, until eventually those shelters took root and became lands. The world was divided into the nations of land and water, and so it has been to this day.”
“So we’re second cousins?” Lei considered the story for a moment. “But … because these people asked for help and trusted the Traveler, they ended up being banished from their homeland forever. Wouldn’t they have been better off waiting with the others?”
“Yes, but there would have been no land above to bring profit to those below. The world you know would not exist. You would not exist. The powers of your six carry pain and danger, but these are the forces that shape the world, and many who breathe the air know this, those who spawned you among them.”
“What?” Lei’s hand dropped inside the one of the wide pockets of her pouch, and with a thought her staff was in her hand. Lei heard the faintest moan; it might have been the wind, or the soft cry of the darkwood dryad. “What do you mean by that?”
Thaask took a step back, keeping his teeth in view. “I promised you words in exchange for your stone, child, and the Devourer has claimed the stone. I have work to do, and you will have