got here?"
"Dhaika led me."
"Not quite. Ghyakulla did. You're dream-walking, in the realms of the Entities."
That caught his attention. "Entities? I thought there were only Gods."
Once more, Vartra tugged him gently onward. This time he didn't resist.
"There are no Gods and Goddesses, Tallinu, only Entities," he said, stopping in front of the cottage door and opening it. He stepped aside, waiting for Kaid to enter.
Automatically, Kaid scanned the main room, assessing the exits, looking for potential traps and threats, but the room couldn't have been simpler. It was a typical highland cottage, not unlike Noni's. On his right, a large kitchen range was set into the outer wall, sharing the flue with the small smithy on the other side. A table with four chairs stood in the center of the room. There were three doors, but only one looked like it led out of the room, probably to the rest of the house.
"I hadn't expected you to be living so simply," he said, lacing his voice with heavy sarcasm as he entered. "Where's the lab? All the scientific and medical equipment?"
"There is none," said Vartra, moving past him to sit at the table. "Those days are long gone, Tallinu. I fulfill a different role now."
Kaid grunted his disbelief. "You said there are no Gods, only Entities."
"I did. Won't you sit with me? We only have a short time."
"I'll stand for now." He couldn't sit at the same table as this person who'd betrayed him and abused his mind and body. "What is it you want with me? Get it over with, Vartra. I've more important things to do with my life than waste it here!"
"Still so angry. Yet I did my best to warn you. It isn't easy for me to come to you the way I did the night you took ill with the fever."
Despite his best efforts to stop them, Kaid could feel his ears begin to lie back in shock. It hadn't been a fever dream, it had been real. Feeling suddenly dizzy, he held onto a chair back for support.
"It was you? You were there, in my rooms?"
"Didn't I just say so? Sit down, Tallinu."
Vartra's voice was persuasive, and, still reeling mentally from the shock of discovering the visitation had been real, he sat.
"Every hunter is in his turn the hunted, Tallinu. What I did in the past when I still lived, had to be done. If I hadn't, you'd still be under the heels of the Valtegans. I was driven as much as you are, only I've been honest with you about it. The Entities don't have to reveal themselves or their plans to anyone."
There was that word again. "What do you mean, Entities?"
"A living concept, or archetype, that one uses to understand the forces of nature that govern our world."
He tried to absorb it. "It's the same as a God."
Vartra flicked an ear in a negative. "Entities are the forces they represent. Gods and Goddesses are personifications of those forces."
Kaid frowned, feeling the anger returning. "There's no difference, Vartra. You're playing semantics with me again."
"No. It's important that you understand the difference. Gods don't just represent a force of nature, we imbue them with older powers, make of them magical beings."
Kaid shifted uncomfortably, remembering a conversation with Noni about Gods and worshipers.
"Yes, worshipers maintain their Gods with the power of their prayers. Most Gods were folk heroes once, their very essence kept alive by those who believed in them."
"Like you. So how do you fit in, Vartra, except as a God?"
Vartra began to laugh, gently and self-mockingly. It was a laugh Kaid had heard many times in his mind.
"Stop it!" he snapped, hands clenching where they lay on the table.
"The Cataclysm changed many things, Tallinu. Many of the old Gods were swept away, many were forgotten as new ones sprang up. I was one of the new ones, taking over from one called Varza, a warrior who'd set aside his weapons to show that though there's a time to fight, there's also a time for peace. The people replaced him with me, refused to let me pass on to the next life. I became, for
"Dhaika led me."
"Not quite. Ghyakulla did. You're dream-walking, in the realms of the Entities."
That caught his attention. "Entities? I thought there were only Gods."
Once more, Vartra tugged him gently onward. This time he didn't resist.
"There are no Gods and Goddesses, Tallinu, only Entities," he said, stopping in front of the cottage door and opening it. He stepped aside, waiting for Kaid to enter.
Automatically, Kaid scanned the main room, assessing the exits, looking for potential traps and threats, but the room couldn't have been simpler. It was a typical highland cottage, not unlike Noni's. On his right, a large kitchen range was set into the outer wall, sharing the flue with the small smithy on the other side. A table with four chairs stood in the center of the room. There were three doors, but only one looked like it led out of the room, probably to the rest of the house.
"I hadn't expected you to be living so simply," he said, lacing his voice with heavy sarcasm as he entered. "Where's the lab? All the scientific and medical equipment?"
"There is none," said Vartra, moving past him to sit at the table. "Those days are long gone, Tallinu. I fulfill a different role now."
Kaid grunted his disbelief. "You said there are no Gods, only Entities."
"I did. Won't you sit with me? We only have a short time."
"I'll stand for now." He couldn't sit at the same table as this person who'd betrayed him and abused his mind and body. "What is it you want with me? Get it over with, Vartra. I've more important things to do with my life than waste it here!"
"Still so angry. Yet I did my best to warn you. It isn't easy for me to come to you the way I did the night you took ill with the fever."
Despite his best efforts to stop them, Kaid could feel his ears begin to lie back in shock. It hadn't been a fever dream, it had been real. Feeling suddenly dizzy, he held onto a chair back for support.
"It was you? You were there, in my rooms?"
"Didn't I just say so? Sit down, Tallinu."
Vartra's voice was persuasive, and, still reeling mentally from the shock of discovering the visitation had been real, he sat.
"Every hunter is in his turn the hunted, Tallinu. What I did in the past when I still lived, had to be done. If I hadn't, you'd still be under the heels of the Valtegans. I was driven as much as you are, only I've been honest with you about it. The Entities don't have to reveal themselves or their plans to anyone."
There was that word again. "What do you mean, Entities?"
"A living concept, or archetype, that one uses to understand the forces of nature that govern our world."
He tried to absorb it. "It's the same as a God."
Vartra flicked an ear in a negative. "Entities are the forces they represent. Gods and Goddesses are personifications of those forces."
Kaid frowned, feeling the anger returning. "There's no difference, Vartra. You're playing semantics with me again."
"No. It's important that you understand the difference. Gods don't just represent a force of nature, we imbue them with older powers, make of them magical beings."
Kaid shifted uncomfortably, remembering a conversation with Noni about Gods and worshipers.
"Yes, worshipers maintain their Gods with the power of their prayers. Most Gods were folk heroes once, their very essence kept alive by those who believed in them."
"Like you. So how do you fit in, Vartra, except as a God?"
Vartra began to laugh, gently and self-mockingly. It was a laugh Kaid had heard many times in his mind.
"Stop it!" he snapped, hands clenching where they lay on the table.
"The Cataclysm changed many things, Tallinu. Many of the old Gods were swept away, many were forgotten as new ones sprang up. I was one of the new ones, taking over from one called Varza, a warrior who'd set aside his weapons to show that though there's a time to fight, there's also a time for peace. The people replaced him with me, refused to let me pass on to the next life. I became, for
Similar Books
