Godsforsaken

Chapter 57: An Overdue Conversation

Poseidon, Athena, Hermes and Hestia were still in conversation on the far side of the pool of water inside Poseidon's tholos so I figured I had time to talk to Alisha. Not only were there now several things I wanted to know but she seemed lost in thought, almost concerned, even.

“What's wrong?” I asked as I approached her and she immediately pressed herself against me, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing just a little bit. I couldn't really fault her for that. It had probably been a worrying sight when that goat-orc had tossed us into the water. I had been fine, of course, but still. Going under in full armor and a cloak would have been dangerous to a normal mortal. It might have been dangerous for me as well if my attacker hadn't been mortally wounded already. It clearly wasn't what had Alisha so worried but still, the small gesture showed me how much she cared.

“Hey, I'm still here,” I said quietly as I stroked her hair. “And I'm not going anywhere.”

“You better not,” she said as she cuddled into me.

“So, what's got you so deep in thought?” I asked.

She hesitated for a moment, then said: “Didn't those things look odd to you?”

They had. They had looked nothing like orcs. They hadn't looked anything like the orcs corrupted by the Black Goat we'd seen before. That pale, hairless skin, the full goat heads, the webbing...

Hold on.

“You're saying they look like Fomorians, right?”

Alisha didn't say anything but I felt her chin poke me as she nodded, just slightly.

I felt sick to my stomach at the thought.

Fomorians were sea-dwelling goat creatures, old enemies of the Tuatha Dé Danann and their followers. And Brigid's husband Bres was one of them.

Of course, saying it like that left out most of the context. The marriage between Brigid and Bres hadn't been one of love but one of politics, a way to prevent all-out war between his kin and her followers.

Was Bres our traitor? Had he brought a group of Fomorians here?

I had once described Fomorians as not as bad as goblins but that was deeply misleading. Fomorians were raiders. They came from the sea and attacked coastal villages, killing and pillaging and taking the women with them to their lairs beneath the waves, where they would use them as breeding mares. And the only way they were better than goblins was that Fomorians only violated women. They didn't torture their victims, didn't kill the ones that stopped responding to the torture. That made them better in a way but at that point you really were only differentiating between shades of black.

But even so.

“That doesn't make sense though,” I said. “You told me before that Bres insists that the Fomorians have nothing to do with the Black Goat.”

“I did,” Alisha agreed. “He's ardent about it. Of course, according to him the Fomorians aren't evil either, so...”

I pressed my lips together. “I still don't think it fits. There are different definitions of evil but even Dark Lords will kill followers of the Outer Gods on sight. I agree that the fact that the Fomorians are evil goat creatures makes them suspicious but... we don't accuse satyr tribes of being Black Goat worshipers, do we?”

Alisha considered this, then nodded. “I think you're right. Normal Fomorians aren't as pale as wendigo and they don't have cankers on their chests. But still, seeing goat creatures wearing that kind of gear...”

I nodded. “It does look suspicious. Gods, they might even be Fomorians who took up with the Black Goat. Do you suspect that Bres is our traitor?”

“That's exactly what I was wondering about,” she said. “I could see him betraying everything for power. He is that kind of person. But... we're looking for a god who could sneak an army onto Olympus through a secret passage, aren't we?”

“We are,” I agreed.

She nodded. “My goddess, his wife, doesn't even trust him with secret knowledge about Tír na nÓg. Why would he know about secret passages leading to the seat of an entirely different pantheon?”

I nodded. “Yeah. It makes no sense. I'm going to believe that the things we fought were simply more corrupted orcs but once this is over, maybe raise this topic with Brigid?”

“That's the other issue,” she said. “Remember when we talked about Bres in the Crystal Crown's dungeon?”

I did. We had already wondered if he might be the traitor among the gods. The theory had fallen by the wayside after learning that the traitor was apparently intimately familiar with the goings-on of Olympus but Alisha had said back then she'd talk to Brigid about it.

“My goddess told me that Bres has been spending more time with his kin lately but that she can't sense Outside corruption from him or them.”

“Is that suspicious?” I asked.

“She doesn't think so. Remember, if he tried anything against her that would nullify their marriage and their peace treaty. Nobody wants that.”

I nodded. “So he's most likely not the bad guy.”

“He is a bad guy, just not the one we are looking for,” Alisha said. “He is a Fomorian after all.”

“You know, I always wondered about that. All Fomorians are sea-dwelling goat monsters but Bres doesn't look anything like that. Do you know why?”

Alisha blinked in confusion. “I honestly never thought about it. But you're right. He looks like a handsome man, not a goat.”

“Maybe it has to do with belief,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“Remember when we talked to Melinoe on the boat to Hades?” I asked. “She told us that believers can change a god. Maybe people have been thinking of Bres as just Brigid's husband for so long that his appearance has changed to reflect that.”

“That might be it,” Alisha said. “Or maybe he's a half-breed, more human than the other Fomorians.”

Our conversation petered out at that, nobody sure how to continue the discussion so I decided to raise the other issue I had.

“Speaking of Melinoe...”

Alisha looked up at me, her expression a bit apprehensive.

“What did she do there at the end? I thought that standard blocked all magic.”

Alisha relaxed a little at that and said: “I never did tell you about what magic Melinoe uses, did I?”

“No,” I said. “And neither did she. I've never seen lavender magic before.”

“Lavender?” she asked. “I like that. It fits her.” She took a breath and then started to explain: “What Melinoe uses is called penumbral magic.”

I frowned. I had never heard of this.

“You know how magic is brought into the world as pure mana and then breaks into different colors?”

“Like a prism?” I asked.

“Just like that,” she said. “Water, fire, air, earth, and so on. Pure mana contains every element. Break it open and it flowers into the others. But as mana enters our world one element is lost. Penumbral mana. You can only get it by recombining mana back into pure mana and then breaking it all over again. Melinoe taught the technique to Yume and me but it's incredibly inefficient for anyone but her.”

“Why is she the exception?” I asked. “Because Hecate trained her?”

Alisha shook her head. “You've got it backwards. She didn't become a prodigy at using penumbral magic because Hecate trained her. Hecate trained her because of her affinity for it. The only mage on record with an affinity for the most difficult kind of magic. Hecate was fascinated by that and decided to train Melinoe.”

“And what's so special about this magic?” I asked. “It's clearly powerful but...”

“Because of the way it's created very little resists constructs of penumbral mana. It's how she can unravel most spells. She doesn't so much negate them, she just runs her own mana through the cracks, which disrupts the spell.”

“And that's what she did with that banner,” I concluded.

“Kind of. That banner was special. It was so ludicrously powerful that I have to assume it was blessed by a god. It could devour even her magic. She had to study it for minutes and formulate a counter-spell specifically for it. Even then it would have devoured her spell if I hadn't powered it up with my Qi.”

I frowned at her. That was the other thing I still wanted to discuss. “Yes, about that.”

“A...bout what?” Alisha asked, as if she didn't know what I was talking about.

“So Melinoe can barely maintain eye contact with me for more than a few seconds before getting flustered,” I stated.

“True.”

“I keep finding this woman in bed with my girlfriends, all cuddled up.”

“You do,” Alisha agreed.

“And now I had to watch one of my lovers put a lip-lock on her.”

“You did,” Alisha agreed. Still no comments nor anything else.

I decided to just come out and ask. “Do I need to be jealous?”

Alisha began tittering. As I stood there feeling stupid her titters devolved into full-blown giggles as she damn near doubled over.

“Really not seeing the humor here,” I said and in response Alisha's giggles began to ebb away.

When she was no longer quaking with laughter she took a deep breath and said: “Are you worried that Melinoe is trying to steal us away from you?”

“Yes,” I said, keeping my voice steady. I knew it was risky to admit. There was a chance Alisha would get mad and accuse me of being paranoid. Did I have a right to be a jealous boyfriend when I had four, or maybe more like five lovers? Or did I have every right to be a jealous boyfriend because they were all my lovers? But I was laying all cards on the table, holding nothing back.

Alisha apparently understood the seriousness of what I had just said and I felt a momentary pang of terror when I saw her grab hold of the necklace I had given her. If she ripped it off her neck it would break my heart.

But she didn't. Instead she held it up, showing it to me. “I love you,” she said very clearly. “That will never change. This relationship, our lovers, and you, mean everything to me. Nobody will take me away from you. And that isn't what is happening here.”

“Then what is?”

“I can't tell you,” she said. “Please trust me for now. It will all make sense. I promise that if she were trying to steal us away from you you wouldn't have been finding her cuddled up with us. You would have been finding her beaten black and blue in her own bed.”

I took a deep breath and relaxed. This wasn't the answer I'd wanted to hear but it was enough reassurance that I decided to put my trust in her. I loved her, loved all my women, and I did trust them. I pulled Alisha into a hug and said: “I'm so sorry for doubting you. I love you.”

She melted into the hug and we just held each other for a while.

**

“Shall we get going?” Poseidon asked, now decked out in what little gear he had decided to wear into battle.

He wore a cloth around his waist that I charitably decided to think of as a kilt rather than the skirt it looked like to me as well as a pair of leather sandals. His upper body was bare, the better to show off his rippling muscles, and the only thing he wore for protection was an assortment of golden bracelets and bangles that reminded me of the ones Alisha wore.

“Any chance we can take your pet abyssal horror along?” I asked.

Poseidon narrowed his eyes at me. “Right now you are here to help save my kin so I'll forgive that comment. But consider your words carefully next time.”

This was why I hated talking to Poseidon. I didn't even know what I'd said to set him off this time. I muttered as much to myself as we started moving to the next tholos and Hestia whispered to me: “Maybe next time don't call his daughter a pet abyssal horror.”