Book 2 The Gods of Light and Liars

Chapter 27: The Queen of Heaven and Earth

There was a great squawk from the musicians as they struggled to swing from one of Argon's martial tunes to something more Nasheth's style. She held up a hand, and they silenced themselves entirely. Then she turned to her Archon. "I will see these outsiders. Immediately."

"That'd be us," Em said, getting up off the pile of pillows. "Me, him, and him." They pointed at Dyson and Kaiser. "Just saved all of us a whole lot of posturing."

"And took all the fun out of it," Henry muttered, from the other side of Hawk.

"Hush," said the Light Archon, desperately.

"Nonsense," Nasheth said, in a different sort of voice. "I recognize this bravado. Earth produces some of the best sorts, doesn't it?" And she at last crossed to her newly grown throne. "And look who else surfaced. Hello, Kaiser. It's been quite some time."

"Couple months for me," he said, still standing. He was studying the new hole in the tent ceiling. "Bet it's been a bit longer for you."

"You're right." She kept smiling, and watching him with leaf-green eyes. There was a greatness to her gaze, but also something overripe. "And you were right back then. This is the ticket to effective immortality. Thousands of years and counting. Our control population did very well too. The normal four-score-and-ten years per human, but they live robustly. My selections for Bittermoss School have paid off...and my breeding population is better than yours."

"But you don't have my contacts back home now any more than you did then. And I know my Naomi—"

She raised a hand, and he cut off with a terrible choking sound. She gestured, and he was lifted off his feet, still choking. "You don't understand, do you? I'm as far beyond you and your little fiefdoms as an ant is from a mortal. And you are no more important to me than that." She dropped him.

"Then why come here?" he choked out.

"Because you four are a novelty. Oh, yes, I said four. Don't think I'm stupid. The Archon of Light's pretend successor. Child, you're several shades darker than our breeding programs permit at this point. I assume the two wayward children over there are more of your precious Ararat Project scientists. So who are you, my mystery maiden?"

Hawk stood up with a shrug. Her game was over now. She felt the Earth Archon's angry glare at the back of her head. "I'm Doctor Haven Centered..." She paused, as sudden panic gathered in her throat. One game was done. That didn't mean she didn't have another game to play. "Rayne," she finished.

Nasheth, Master of the Earth and God of fertility and death, glorious creature in her own right, looked at Hawk with disgust. "Haven Centered What?"

"Rayne," Hawk said, and spelled it. "My preference is Hawk."

"That's an improvement, certainly. Doctor of what? Medicine?" she said with fresh contempt.

"Ants." Hawk said.

Another long, slow look. "I beg your pardon?"

"Specifically, I have a doctorate in Entomology with a specialty in Myrmecology and a focus on varieties of Myrmecocystus. And to be less of a pretentious twit, that means I study bugs, specialize in ants, and focus on Honeypots because I think they're cool." Deep breath. Time to try and get the Archon off the hook. "I...fell off the Nexus. I guess the Archon found me. I woke up in his Temple, and decided that I'd pose as some kind of penitent, maybe a wanna-be novice, until I got a better handle on what the hell this world even is. And things just...spiraled out of control."

"Or you're covering for him, because rescuing an outsider and convincing her to pose as his acolyte is exactly what he tends to do." Nasheth sounded tired in that moment, almost resigned. Then she waved a hand, which fortunately did not mean someone was about to get force-choked by magic-whatsis. "Besides, you made it here, and you weren't in chains or tortured, which means you're smart and you know when to keep your mouth shut. I like people like you, Dr. Rayne."