The Accidental Archmage - Book Five Edmund Batara (classic children's novels .TXT) 📖

“You mentioned Hellas. How are they holding up?” The mage was genuinely curious. It wouldn’t be in everybody’s interest to have an undead realm between Skaney and Kemet.

“The same as us, fortunately; holding their own. Hades was able to keep his realm under control. And that new god of war of theirs is doing a great job. Much better than his father,” Odin winked at him.

“And what has Ares been up to all this time? I am curious and you know the reason why,” asked Tyler.

“Ah, the god of cowardice. Of self-preservation. He’s gaining a number of followers in these dangerously uncertain times. Though you might have missed something in demanding such a punishment for him,” suggested Odin.

“Don’t you think being cast down from being the god of war to the deity of cowardice punishment enough?”

This is going to be another fucking insight after the fact.

Noticing Tyler’s consternation, Odin pushed the mage’s shoulder with a finger.

“Don’t worry about it, Havard. What’s done is done. You did it with the best intentions at heart,” said the deity.

“I did not wish to take a life. Or lives,” maintained Tyler.

“Not that part. But you might have forgotten that treachery is a facet of cowardice.”

Oh, fuck. I just created the god of stab-in-the-back? The thought immediately blazed an incriminatory trail through his conscience.

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” said Odin. “They do say cowards die a thousand deaths before they go to the underworld. It won’t be a happy experience for them.”

“But they also run away to attempt to knife your butt another day.”

The deity chuckled. “That they do. Put it this way; it’s good training to watch your back all the time.”

“Let’s change the subject. This is starting to make me uncomfortable,” requested Tyler. The topic was making him ill at ease – another threat to be extremely wary about, Ares was one deity not to be underestimated. “Now, what’s this plague all about?”

Odin didn’t look at him. Instead, the deity looked toward the faraway edge of the human territory bordering the Barrens.

“Loki might say that Ragnarok will never come to pass. It didn’t happen back in the First World,” said the deity softly. “Don’t look so surprised. You’re not the only recipient of his version of events. But you see, Havard, the prophecy is still alive. It will be a long unfolding process.”

“You mean it will happen here?” asked Tyler. Odin’s perspective was one he hadn’t thought about.

“Could be. Prophecies are intentionally vague, lest its actors are led into actions that might hasten it. Yet, it could be the misguided or drug-addled musings of a bored deity or a self-proclaimed seer.”

“You do have a colorful way of describing things,” remarked Tyler with a laugh.

“But Ragnarok will come, though not necessarily in the form people and magical beings expect the prophecy to unfold. All things must eventually come to an end, and Ragnarok merely refers to the end of a skald’s tale. Whether the song is worth one’s time is not for us to say. Unfortunately, gods must live or die in this adopted world of ours. There is no other place to run to, unlike before,” explained Odin.

Tyler was quiet, his mind assessing the implications of the deity’s words.

“Then this plague is more than it appears. An attempt to wipe you out?” he asked Odin.

“Not only deities, Havard. Men too, but I noticed the more powerful revenants were ones needing our utmost attention before. Your question indeed crossed my mind. It will be a hard and difficult war, but we do have two main advantages,” the deity answered. “The first would be the knowledge that we beat them before and second is they all appear to have the same weakness – the head.”

“That does make sense,” commented the mage wrly.

“Ha! You should have been here at the beginning. Every time we went to battle these creatures, we didn’t know what their weaknesses were. It’s a lot simpler now – a glimmer of hope as long as one discovers the golden vein in the awfully dark morass in which we find ourselves,” grinned Odin.

“And I assume the lessons I just heard have something to do with your sudden appearance,” said Tyler finally. “Before you showed up, I intended to visit Fossegrim first and let the companions have some days off in Maljen.”

“That reminds me, the Gothi will have something to show you when you get there,” replied Odin with a meaningful smile. “But about my sudden appearance, I usually make it a point not to bother you. There is something about you, one which makes me greatly hesitate to interfere with your path. Even giving you gifts might interfere with Fate’s plan for you. And the attention of Fate might not necessarily be a welcome one for those who meddle in her affairs. Mimir’s wisdom screams at me to leave you alone.”

“And yet here we are,” smiled Tyler.

“Desperate times. Desperate measures. I would do anything to save Skaney and ensure the pantheon’s survival.”

“So, what’s the extremely difficult and unbelievably dangerous task you have for me?” asked the mage, though in a lighthearted tone. The atmosphere was getting too gloomy for his taste.

Tyler couldn’t get himself to blame Odin. The deity did have his reasons for involving him in dangerous pursuits not only lethal in nature, but also apt to lead to more convoluted complications.

The mage hated being used, but he could now understand what drove Odin to such lengths of deception and subterfuge. Tyler was surprised at himself for taking a more positive view of the deity’s motivations. But he guessed that came after seeing what deities of other pantheons were capable of, particularly those of the Aztecah.

“You might have felt the sudden energy fields bracketing areas of this region. By now, it’s a familiar, though undesirable, aura which usually means a major undead event is going to happen. There’s only one target worth taking or destroying in this territory – Hedmark.”

“Don’t tell me you want me to do another Scarburg!”