To Kill a God

Big Apples

Three hours passed before they reached a decision.

As it turned out, Cogs knew of a nearby wizard who was fond of doing slightly-very-illegal work on the side. The old wizard, a dwarf by the name of Fitzgerald, had his own unique code of morals, but was otherwise fine with helping out the members of the thieves guild. It was a rather unique moral code.

"We'll need something to cover up," Al said as he looked down at himself. He was wearing a pair of clean, well-tailored slacks and decent walking loafers. A clean button up shirt and his hooded jacket finished the ensemble. It was clean, without being too formal.

Zips had always chafed under his mother's fashion sense. She wore a slightly rumpled skirt that stopped just above her knees, and simple walking shoes. Both were modest enough and fit the Ardito image. She then ruined it by wearing black and white checkered stockings. Her midriff-length leather jacket hid a well-loved tank top covered in food stains and caked-on mud. Not exactly a model for the civil young lady she was supposed to be.

"I don't think the local fashion accommodates 90s punk," he said, pointing at his sister.

She gave him the bird.

"I think I can find you something," Cogs said. He had calmed down somewhat in the last few hours, whereas Mara seemed to grow more and more agitated. "I keep a few cloaks here for the guild. They always want me to add some darkness generating spell, or make them invisible. They might be a little short on you, but they'll otherwise fit."

Reaching into a large chest, the goblin pulled out two long pieces of cloth and handed them to Al. He flinched away when their hands met, then smiled sheepishly. "It's still a little strange to think that there are gods in my little home."

"We're not gods," Al said, for what must have been the thirtieth time that day.

"Oh, I'm most definitely a god," Zips piped up. "You may call me her majesty. Bowing and grovelling will give you extra Zippy points, which you may use for reincarnating into something other than a toad."

Al punched his sister in the shoulder. "Stop that. I don't want you starting a cult. Again." He handed her one of the cloaks, then whipped his on. It was a little short on him, only reaching down to his knees, and was a deep, dark shade of green with gold embroidery on the edges. He ran his fingers through the fabric, feeling the richness of it. "Nice," he said.

Years of living in the upper echelons of the mob had given him a deep appreciation of fine tailoring and clothwork. The cloak was of exceptionally fine craftsmanship.

He looked over and saw that Zips was wearing something similar, but of a dark crimson and with silver lining. She looked surprisingly good in it, with her long red hair pouring out of the hood. "I look like a tent," she stated as she drew the cloak around her.

"You look a bit like a wizard," Al said.

Zips reconsidered. "I love this cape. All my worshippers will hereby wear awesome wizard capes."

Al decided to let the subject drop, his attention instead wavering to Mara who was staring at him intently. No, not at him, at the cloak.

She turned to Cogs. "That's Reinhardt's cloak."

"It is. But it's the only one I have that would fit. It'll have to do," Cogs said. "Now, I think we might be able to bring some of these books with us. I've hardly had time to sift through them, but I'm sure Fitzgerald will be willing to help. He might even trade his services for a few." Cogs looked at Al. "If you're willing, of course. I suppose I shouldn't steal from a god."

"It's fine," Al said, waving his hand in dismissal. The books belonged to the public library, who was he to care if they were sold? "I think I'll keep one or two handy, though, in case I need some reading material." Sweeping down, he collected one of the tomes that he recognized, the guide to field tactics that he had been reading when everything exploded around him. He flipped it open and stared.

"Um..." he said. Passing the book onto Zips he turned it so that she could see the inside. The girl looked at him, then at the book.

Zips moved over to the half-destroyed bookshelf and pulled out a tome. He recognized the binding from earlier. She opened the book and looked in. "What's so interesting about these that you'd want to magic them here anyway?" She blinked, dropped the book and took another, opening it to a random page. She repeated this a few times. "Brother, I-I," her voice broke and she looked at Al. "I caught illiteracy!"

"Ah," Cogs said. The goblin ran a finger along his mustache and kept his eyes on the ground. "That might be my fault. See, I sorta used a translation spell on you and the books when you came here."

Al nodded slowly, the implications trickling in. "Which is why you're speaking English."

"English?" Cogs asked.

"Nevermind. Suffice to say, we can understand each other, but you switched the language in our books to... whatever language you speak. And we can't read that language so we're basically screwed over in that regard." Al stretched a little, then pointed at the door. "Should we go? I need to find books from this world to see if they're readable."

"Ah, well," Cogs said. He twiddled with his fingers. "I think I'm going to stay here. See, Fitzgerald has a bit of an issue with me. Also, I haven't left the house in years."

Al blinked. The goblin was a shut in? Perfect. "Can Mara lead us then?"

The fox-girl bristled. "I don't want to," she whispered. The sound was almost a hiss.

Zips, with characteristic good cheer, hopped over to Mara and gave her a side hug. "Don't worry. I won't let anyone take my fluffy-eared friend away from me. You're my first worshipper!"

Mara's eyes widened. "I'm not your worshipper."

Zips gave her a predatory smile. "Yet."

With a sigh, Al opened the door then stood aside. "Come on kids, time to go meet the wonderful wizard of... wait, what's the name of this city?"

Cogs was staring at the open door and licking his lips. "Oh, this is New York."