Read Online Lucian: Dark God's Homecoming by Van Allen Plexico - Free Book Online
Authors: Van Allen Plexico
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had been holding my breath for some time, and exhaled in relief.
“Evelyn Colicos, meet Vodina of the Waters.” I smiled. “Our Lady of the Lake.”
Vodina.
Even among those so individualistic and jealous of their privacy as we, little was known of her. Seldom seen at court--or anywhere else within the realm of the City, for that matter--rumors always took the place of fact with regard to fair Vodina. And the rumors were not always kind.
One of Baranak’s former lovers? Perhaps. Cast aside by him, and thus bitter and resentful toward him, toward all of us, toward the City itself? Probably not, given so many other things I’d heard with regard to her strength, her will, her independence. Though I had heard tales of alienation and resentment whispered from time to time about a number of the golden god’s supposed conquests, contradictory stories inevitably followed. No one knew what to believe about Baranak and his love life any longer. And, aside from strategic considerations, I had never much cared.
Other rumors carried with them the virtue of at least being more colorful, if no less believable. Grenedy had once claimed, for instance, that Vodina was hiding out away off in her own pocket universe, building an army of mer-people, and dreaming up schemes to take power in the City for herself. This one in particular appealed to me, for obvious reasons; though, if it had proven true and she ever did manage such a feat, it would only mean she, instead of Baranak, would eventually fall to my next assault.
As far as I knew, though I had fully expected to have to confront her in battle, she had not been present at the time of the revolt. Baranak doubtless would have welcomed her participation, for her strength and her Furies would have served his cause well during my main, failed assault. Perhaps I would have been defeated even more quickly, though that scarcely seemed possible at the time, from my vantage point. The image of Rashtenn and the others bringing down the cosmic flame upon my supporters before we had hardly begun to fight haunts me still, and constitutes a dismal memory from which I shall never be free.
In the aftermath of the defeat, I had thought I had heard her name mentioned once as having been held in reserve by Baranak, should additional forces be required to deal with me. Perhaps. And perhaps she had only agreed to such an arrangement so that he would leave her alone, and leave her out of it.
Rumors upon rumors. The same with all of us, really. We lived in a never-ending swirl of doubtful fact and demonstrable fiction; of innuendo and gossip, layer upon layer upon layer, dragged out over millennia.
How to strip away the layers of this woman and know her heart when, for so many of us, the great fear was that peeling away so many layers might give way at last to nothing? No, I did not know her. Innumerable centuries had passed, even before the revolt, during which I had not encountered her in the City or elsewhere. Let it be, then.
Vodina. Emerging from the waters of her lake, she was as a clean slate to me.
“I do not know who it was,” Vodina was saying, “but they very nearly killed me. And that is no easy task.”
She was sitting up, leaning against a large rock, my coat pulled up to cover most of her torso, mainly out of deference to the expressed preferences of Evelyn. Her eyes, a radiant blue-green, flashed vividly in contrast to her pale skin and bare scalp. Out of the water, she seemed somehow less statuesque, less impressive—even the vivid green of her skin had faded to a pale imitation of itself—but she was still a being of unquestionable power and radiance. I had not seen her for many years even before my exile, and I admit I had nearly forgotten how impressive she was.
I squatted in the sand opposite her, studying her. The humans stood to my left, probably still fuming over the grudging and abbreviated introductions I had tended.
I had resolved to gain as much
“Evelyn Colicos, meet Vodina of the Waters.” I smiled. “Our Lady of the Lake.”
Vodina.
Even among those so individualistic and jealous of their privacy as we, little was known of her. Seldom seen at court--or anywhere else within the realm of the City, for that matter--rumors always took the place of fact with regard to fair Vodina. And the rumors were not always kind.
One of Baranak’s former lovers? Perhaps. Cast aside by him, and thus bitter and resentful toward him, toward all of us, toward the City itself? Probably not, given so many other things I’d heard with regard to her strength, her will, her independence. Though I had heard tales of alienation and resentment whispered from time to time about a number of the golden god’s supposed conquests, contradictory stories inevitably followed. No one knew what to believe about Baranak and his love life any longer. And, aside from strategic considerations, I had never much cared.
Other rumors carried with them the virtue of at least being more colorful, if no less believable. Grenedy had once claimed, for instance, that Vodina was hiding out away off in her own pocket universe, building an army of mer-people, and dreaming up schemes to take power in the City for herself. This one in particular appealed to me, for obvious reasons; though, if it had proven true and she ever did manage such a feat, it would only mean she, instead of Baranak, would eventually fall to my next assault.
As far as I knew, though I had fully expected to have to confront her in battle, she had not been present at the time of the revolt. Baranak doubtless would have welcomed her participation, for her strength and her Furies would have served his cause well during my main, failed assault. Perhaps I would have been defeated even more quickly, though that scarcely seemed possible at the time, from my vantage point. The image of Rashtenn and the others bringing down the cosmic flame upon my supporters before we had hardly begun to fight haunts me still, and constitutes a dismal memory from which I shall never be free.
In the aftermath of the defeat, I had thought I had heard her name mentioned once as having been held in reserve by Baranak, should additional forces be required to deal with me. Perhaps. And perhaps she had only agreed to such an arrangement so that he would leave her alone, and leave her out of it.
Rumors upon rumors. The same with all of us, really. We lived in a never-ending swirl of doubtful fact and demonstrable fiction; of innuendo and gossip, layer upon layer upon layer, dragged out over millennia.
How to strip away the layers of this woman and know her heart when, for so many of us, the great fear was that peeling away so many layers might give way at last to nothing? No, I did not know her. Innumerable centuries had passed, even before the revolt, during which I had not encountered her in the City or elsewhere. Let it be, then.
Vodina. Emerging from the waters of her lake, she was as a clean slate to me.
“I do not know who it was,” Vodina was saying, “but they very nearly killed me. And that is no easy task.”
She was sitting up, leaning against a large rock, my coat pulled up to cover most of her torso, mainly out of deference to the expressed preferences of Evelyn. Her eyes, a radiant blue-green, flashed vividly in contrast to her pale skin and bare scalp. Out of the water, she seemed somehow less statuesque, less impressive—even the vivid green of her skin had faded to a pale imitation of itself—but she was still a being of unquestionable power and radiance. I had not seen her for many years even before my exile, and I admit I had nearly forgotten how impressive she was.
I squatted in the sand opposite her, studying her. The humans stood to my left, probably still fuming over the grudging and abbreviated introductions I had tended.
I had resolved to gain as much
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