Champion of the Gods
Copyright© 2025 by QM
Chapter 56
Darras and Erren bathed, ate, and dressed comfortably before going to the shaded pergola, which had been changed to accommodate their expected visitors, as it always did.
“Any idea what he’s up to?” Darras asked as they settled into the comfortable padded chairs.
“Not this time,” Erren smiled. “Though no doubt it will be a litany of complaints that Serulon feels obliged to deal with.”
The three gods phased into view on the lawn, causing Darras to wonder if Erren had blocked her dark brother from his usual way of appearing. All three walked over to where Darras and Erren sat and stood there for a second.
“Colanthus has raised a complaint about the killing of his champion,” Serulon said into the silence. “How do you answer, sister?”
“As I have not been admonished or punished by Dad for breaking the rules and dispatching a redeemable, I think my presence here speaks for itself,” Erren replied.
“It is as I informed you, brother,” Serulon faced Colanthus. “Your choice of psychotic mass murderers as champions is your problem, not mine, not Erren’s and not the Allfather’s.”
“Yet she sits with a mass murderer,” the Dark Lord interjected.
“My executioner,” Erren replied. “There’s a difference.”
“Indeed so,” Serulon agreed. “You may examine his soul to see it is untainted.”
The Dark Lord stared at Darras. “Surely this is forbidden?” he asked Serulon.
“For a creature of our world, yes,” Serulon replied. “Darras, however, is not a creature of our world, hence his effective dealing with those scales you used to possess others not of your faith.”
“That was their nature,” the Dark Lord shrugged. “They were also my priests, though you disdained to notice that.”
“They had not the aura of priests, therefore they were not priests,” Serulon countered. “If this is all you have, then you’ve just wasted my time, your time, and Erren’s.”
“It is as I said,” the Dark Lord spoke to Colanthus. “She sides with our sister in defiance of fairness.”
“Oh, so that’s what this is about?” Erren smiled. “You’re losing and want our sister here to look the other way as you go on rampages?”
“I care not what a rulebreaker thinks,” the Dark Lord said haughtily.
“And which rules have I broken?” Erren smiled sweetly.
“The murder of my people and Colanthus’ champions!”
“Possessing anyone is forbidden in my book,” Erren replied. “That means I’m free to deal with the possessor as I see fit,” Erren replied. “Same with mass murderers, I just send them off to meet Dad early.”
“Pure sophistry, and you know it!”
“It is not,” Serulon interjected. “Her book does permit her priests and agent to deal with such.”
“You break my rules, I am free to act,” Erren added. “You’ll note that I did not interfere with the war in Orcatia, just with the one who ignored the laws of war in slaughtering my people.”
The Dark Lord and Colanthus vanished with a sharp snap, though Serulon remained and sat in an offered chair, sipping from a large goblet of wine.
“Sorry about that, they both insisted, claiming new evidence,” Serulon sighed.
“It’s of no matter,” Erren shrugged. “What they were here for was to examine Darras.”
“Looking for weaknesses?” Darras asked.
“In a sense, my dark brother was examining your ... aura, possibly as a means of detecting you to act as a beacon to some of his more unsavoury allies.”
“Ah, though I doubt many of those allies could slip unnoticed through a civilised society,” Darras chuckled.
“They can’t, though a champion of Colanthus could,” Erren mused.
“Ah, he’s hoping to raise one and draw me in?”
“Yes,” Erren confirmed. “The champion will also have all his forces to assist as well.”
“They would,” Serulon smiled. “Though, as you knew about it, I suspect they didn’t get a true value?”
“They didn’t, or rather, they got something close, as our dark brother is no fool and would notice something radically different.”
“I suspect I’ll be back with them if they fail,” Serulon sighed. “It’s not like I can demand to hear their evidence, as the rules say that if two bring a complaint, I have to act on it.”
“Talk to Dad about it,” Erren replied. “I suspect he’ll give you added authority if you think you’re being given the runaround.”
“I will if it happens again.”
“His aura is thus,” the Dark Lord said to Colanthus, giving the god the information he had scanned and compared to previous encounters with Darras.
“I will ensure my champions are enabled with the ability to detect him,” Colanthus replied.
“Do so and rid this world of a hindrance to our aims.”
“We have a new champion of Colanthus,” Erren informed Darras.
“As you suspected,” Darras nodded.
“Yes, so it’s back to Orcatia you go,” Erren smiled.
“Let’s hope he hasn’t figured out how you fooled him,” Darras chuckled.
“He won’t, the information he gained was similar to his previous encounters with you,” Erren replied. “Up close, the champion will detect you, but you won’t be getting close.”
“No,” Darras nodded. “I won’t.”
Darras was grossly overcharged in Frestap again, though he handed over the coins without comment. The market was showing signs of abandonment, as goods no longer came to Frestap because of taxation and fighting.
“Starvation?” Darras asked.
‘No, the local Grāve has realised he’s killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, ’ Erren replied. ‘He’ll negotiate soon.’
“I doubt he’ll ever make as much as he did in previous times,” Darras nodded.
‘He won’t, but he’ll know better now.’
Darras left the town, following Erren’s directions, avoiding any scouting parties from the warring forces. The champion had set up his encampment in an open area, thinking that he could at least spot an approaching Darras. The slight flaw was that Darras approached at twilight, when, in the dark land and a still-bright sky, he was difficult to spot, particularly with his cloak obscuring his shape.
Using his spyglass, Darras scanned the camp and smiled grimly. “Colanthus can really pick them,” he chuckled.
‘He’s scanning for your supposed aura, ’ Erren confirmed. ‘But stupidly doing it out in the open.’
“Irredeemable?”
‘Yes, far worse than normal, at that, ’ Erren sighed. ‘A dreadful example of a twisted soul.’
It was a long shot, even by Darras’s usual standards, though Darras trusted his instincts. Watching the smoke from the cooking fires, Darras drew back the bowstring and released as he exhaled. In less than a second, the champion was pitched backwards, an arrow through his heart and the camp erupted into chaos. Darras was already moving away, the darkness covering his retreat, though he suspected the armsmen would likely be looking far too close to their camp, initially.
It was fully dark when Darras finally called a halt and set up for the night. Sipping water to wash down jerky and bread, he relaxed, knowing Erren was guarding his back.
‘Colanthus is already bitching to Serulon, ’ Erren informed Darras with an infectious laugh.
“I suspect he’s having a difficult time convincing her that his champion was an innocent soul,” Darras chuckled.
‘I also suspect his confidence in my dark brother has taken a hit, too.’
“I hope so,” Darras nodded. “We could do without petty distractions like this.”
‘True, but you’ve kept Orcatia from exploding into an atrocity-laden civil war.’
“I take it the central Grāves are now taking action?”
‘They are, the Grāve of Frestap is being forced to lower his taxes and to restore order in his domain, ’ Erren confirmed.
“They don’t normally come down that heavily,” Darras mused.
‘Frestap is a vital part of their internal trade network. The Grāve’s activities had attracted the attention of Miront, and the last thing Orcatia needed was a Rachtelinian invasion.’
“No doubt something Colanthus was hoping for,” Darras smiled.
‘I don’t think he plans that far ahead, but he’d no doubt welcome one.’
“True, for a god, he doesn’t appear terribly smart.”
‘He’s actually very intelligent, we all are, but he’s lazy and just sticks to his remit, picks a war, selects a champion and sits back to enjoy the carnage.’
“A bit more thought put into choosing a champion would stand him in good stead,” Darras sighed.
‘It would, though he’s more entertained by savagery, not tactics, ’ Erren explained.
“He must hate the modern tactics.”
‘Probably, though you may have noticed we rarely speak, ’ Erren giggled.
“Understandable, he is rather fragrant.”
‘He thinks it fits his remit better, but yes, he stinks.’
The greater Dark Lord pondered options; his sister Erren had fooled him yet again by disguising the aura of her agent. Serulon had her senses fixed on him, and every attempt to disrupt the narrative came to a crashing halt when the agents of his brothers and sisters intervened to restore it to its original course.
‘This is intolerable!’ he thought. ‘Yet what can I do?’
Darras was relaxing at home whilst Erren prepared a meal. When Erren suddenly paused and turned to face the front door, a knock came. Darras frowned, knowing it was likely the Allfather, as he doubted any other god could go close to surprising Erren.
Darras went to the door and opened it, finding the Allfather and Serulon standing there. “Be welcome,” was all he could think to say.
“My thanks,” the Allfather replied.
The two sat, and Erren brought beer and wine across for them all and sat beside Darras, facing the pair.
“This world seems destined to give me trouble,” the Allfather began without preamble. “No other world has my children so at odds with each other.”
“Sadly, I’m forced to react at times to restore the narrative in the face of some possibly forbidden intrusions to deflect it,” Erren replied carefully.
“Yes, my daughter here has indicated what was done and what she suspects,” the Allfather nodded. “The issue being, I cannot act unless I have evidence.”
“My dark brother knows Serulon’s gaze is upon him, so he has resorted to proxies, including the champions of Colanthus,” Erren replied.
“And your agent here has been sending them to me, I know,” the Allfather grimaced. “That last one being the most evil of souls I’ve come across in millennia.”
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