“. . . Thank you for that rather blunt and tactless piece of truth,” Kerric said dryly in the silence that followed Alonnen’s shout. “But as it is the truth, we shall take it as a given that this is our responsibility, however much our various governments and our neighbors will complain about it. You may find your single, if vast, empire inconvenienced, Guardian Suela, Guardian Marton . . . but the reach of my Fountain covers fourteen kingdoms, five of which rely heavily upon mirror-Gate travel, and nine more of which rely modestly upon it. Gate travel which may also be affected, though at a lesser rate than the great Portals will be.”
“Most of us are not accustomed to having those Portals, and so it will be a miniscule inconvenience for us to have that inability continue for a little while longer,” Guardian Tuassan stated, his dark brow furrowed into a pointed look. “If you need something to say to your nation’s people, Guardian Suela, then remind them it will be good for your nation’s character to suffer a little in the name of helping save the entire world.”
“Actually, I was going to suggest blaming me,” Queen Kelly offered, raising her hand. “After all I, above and beyond all the rest of you, will suffer far more, because having these inter-dimensional Portals sealed by these spells means I will not be able to reach, contact, or even see the world where I was born. Yet I do grasp the absolute necessity of this. If we can use these vibration resonances to disrupt all cross-dimensional Portals, including to the Netherhells, then there is no way for these demons to invade. Problem solved.”
“Not exactly, Kelly,” Dominor told his queen. “As Guardian Tipa’thia pointed out, it’s only a temporary solution. The aether will only be disrupted for about two years. But it will give us time to hunt down the would-be summoners and prevent them from ever trying again . . . one way or another.”
Alonnen saw Ilaiea inhale and had the feeling from the arrogant look on her face that she was going to try to dump that responsibility strictly upon his lap. He spoke quickly, beating her to it. “As we know from the various prophecies involved, the ex-priests here in ex-Mekhana—which we’re going to start calling Guildara—the ex-priests will probably flee this region once the aether-disrupting spells have been applied, and they have come to realize they cannot summon demons here. From my point of view, that is a very good thing.”
“A good thing?” Ilaiea argued.
“Yes, a good thing,” Guardian Saleria stated, quelling the older woman’s outburst. Once she had Ilaiea’s attention, the blonde Katani priestess looked like she was trying to meet the gaze of every other Guardian as well in the scrycasting link. “The Gods are constrained from intervening directly and have been ever since we evolved from animals into thinking beings. We have free will; therefore, we are responsible for doing whatever we can to alleviate the trials and troubles we must face. The Gods cannot wave a hand over every last one of our problems.
“Some of them, yes—and I am deeply grateful Holy Kata and Holy Jinga saw fit to smooth over most of the problems plaguing Their Sacred Marital Grove here in Katan, which I guard . . . but They did not fix everything, and the other Gods and Goddesses will not fix everything for us. They may not even have that much power to spare. In the last two weeks,” Saleria continued, pointing off to her side, “I have met priests and Gods from kingdoms that have held less than a hundred thousand people for their worship base, and thus their prayer-power base.
“There are very, very few kingdoms and empires that have millions of worshippers to support the miracles of their Patrons. But our many Patrons can give us clues as to how to fix these problems ourselves via the words They give Their Seers to pass along to us . . . and I, for one, am grateful for even the littlest piece of help They can give in the face of power constraints, free will, and what other problems there may be out there.”
Alonnen liked her, too. And I think I know why, he realized, as Suela grudgingly asked Serina another question on the effects of the proposed Portal-disrupting spell. Since his people didn’t use such things, and weren’t going to complain about their lack, the answers were of no use to him. There’s something of that same . . . how to define it . . .
Certainty of purpose, that’s it. The same certainty of purpose with which Rexei speaks of her concept of Guildra. Only in Guardian Saleria, it’s much more mature and refined. There were some priests after all, he realized, that he did like and trust. Not just Rexei, but this woman as well. Not because she was a Guardian, though that had gained his trust initially, but rather, because she was a priestess. A true holy servant. Now if only our kingdom had known such goodness in its priests . . .
A silly thought, he dismissed. We wouldn’t be suffering what we’re suffering now, if it weren’t for the selfish bastards we did end up having to deal with . . . and not even the Threefold God can turn back the clockworks of the universe itself just to rewrite the mistakes of the past.
“. . . Right, then. Back onto the topic of carrying this project through,” Kerric directed the others. “We acknowledge that the people of . . . the region overseen by Guardian Alonnen are not equipped or trained to completely eradicate on their own the problem of demonic summoning as foreseen by forescrying mirror and Seer-based prophecies. We acknowledge that prophecy does indicate there is a way to eventually stop these people, and that we should seek to send them out of Mekhana’s former borders, into territories that do have the necessary resources to whittle down their numbers. And we acknowledge—however much it may inconvenience everybody—that we do have a means of forcing that escape into more favorable lands and of buying all of us more time to find a better solution to this worldwide problem. Is everyone in agreement on these points, even with all the problems that still remain?”
Most of the Guardians nodded firmly. A couple—Ilaiea and Keleseth—rolled their eyes, plus an impatient look of “get on with it” came from Guardian Daemon, who looked sleepy, but it was enough for Kerric to continue.
“Very well, then. The spells have been carefully learned by Priestess Orana Niel, Pelai of Mendhi, and Morganen of Nightfall. Orana has business in former Mekhana, and Pelai is the foremost authority on the new spell, aside from Guardian Serina,” Kerric said, “but as Serina is a new mother, we are not going to ask her to travel everywhere. Morganen may be newly wed, but with his wife’s permission, he has agreed to journey in Serina’s place. He will do so via the Fountainways to Guardian Shon Tastra in Darkhana, where he will begin instructing various Witches in how to cast aether-disruption spells.”
The blue-and-black-robed Guardian bowed his head, acknowledging the plan being outlined. “We look forward to hosting him and will be happy to allow him to travel back and forth in this manner. It will be much more pleasant by comparison than the other method we Witches have at our disposal.”