GOM 3, chapter 4 (Patreon)

I don’t know why I can’t get back into the swing of writing.  I remember it being easier, but hopefully I can get into the rhythm If I keep plugging.

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“Okay now grab the front and the back of the saddle and hop to give yourself enough momentum to pull yourself onto the animal,” Dante advised Vk when she stared at the pebafri in horror. They were large, intimidating animals, but they were fairly easy to ride.

“Hop?” Vk asked.

Dante responded by demonstrating on one foot.

Vk looked at him in dismay. “My species does not hop.”

“Then we have two options. You can pull yourself up by your arms, or we can find something for you to stand on so that you can lift your leg over the pebafri’s back.”

Vk looked even more dismayed. “Or I could walk.”

Dante had handled more than one nervous tourist, and sometimes it took a firm hand to get them on the animal. “Then you are going to walk a long time because I want to explore, and Divashi’s Brown is dancing. When an animal does that sort of quickstep, it means they want to move. A lot.”

Vk honked. “You are a miserable individual who spreads misery to everyone around him.”

That made Dante laugh. “Thank you. It's good to know that I’m effective at something.”

With one last glare, Vk pulled herself up and threw her leg over the pebafri. The animal was even larger than Divashi’s Brown, but so far he had not shown an interest in anything other than chewing on its own fronts knees. Dante had even checked the animal to see if it had some infestation or wound, but it didn’t. It just liked scratching its own knees. It seemed like a good beginner's animal.

“Excellent. Now slip your other foot into the stirrup and make sure to keep your heels down.”

“That feels less comfortable than pointing my toes down,” Vk argued.

“If your toes are down and you take a fall, you're going to get caught in the stirrup and then the animal can drag you. Keep your heels down.”

Her nose crumbled like a knee sock with worn out elastic. “I begin to think this is a bad idea. I should get off.”

Dante prevented that by simply grabbing her pebafri’s reins and walking the animal over to Divashi’s Brown.

“You are a miserable creature,” she said accusingly, but she didn’t demand that Dante let her off.

“You've already said that.”

“It is true enough that the truth survives repeating.”

Dante grabbed the sides of Brown's saddle and launched himself up and over. The pebafri was as tall as a Percheron, but luckily not as wide. He settled himself into the saddle and urged the animal forward.

“What am I meant to do with my hands?” Vk asked.

“Do you want to learn how to use the reins?”

“Not particularly,” Vk said. Her head moved as if it were on a swivel, and she studied every individual who walked near them. No doubt she was watching for potential kidnappers or assassins, she was a security officer after all.

In some ways it made Dante sad to know that the universe was such a dangerous place. In other ways he was relieved that humans were normal in their pathological desire to use violence against each other. But Dante couldn't do anything about assassins or kidnappers, so he focused on enjoying his ride.

The planetary rings cast a glow in the sky that backlit the flat bottomed clouds. It was stunning, and Dante allowed Brown to wander towards the edge of town. He still found Kowri construction strange. The cobblestone lane had crowded townhouses on one side and untouched forest on the other. Apparently, no Kowri had invented suburbs. However, it made a beautiful ride with dappled sunlight drifting through the canopy of leaves and brightly colored flower-boxes and rugs hanging outside the townhouse windows. He felt like he’d escaped into some idealistic German painting.

Peaches was not as happy. She held his collar and chittered angrily when he let Brown start trotting, so he slowed to a walk. That was too bad because Vk actually had a fairly good seat on her animal. Still, he wasn’t going to argue with a poisonous hedgehog that rode his shoulder.

Smaller paths intersected the trail regularly, and Kowri carried baskets and pushed wheelless carts that hovered above the brickwork. They’d passed two small paths and one larger one before Dante noticed the plethora of law enforcement that seemed to be about. Devotees of Gavd with their pefabri-head pendants lounged at every intersection.

Dante glanced over, and Vk was studying their watchers with an intensity that Dante normally only saw at football games.

They followed a curve around another set of three-story high townhomes when the growing season temple came into sight. Like the cold season temple, it was an enormous structure that dominated the landscape. Kowri crowded the walks that led to the arched entry, even more than at the cold season temple. However, instead of being white stone with bluish accents and blue tinted carvings, the builders had used variegated brown rock with both live ivy and ivy carvings climbing the sides. A Kowri on one of their hover boards came gliding out of the temple and made a beeline straight for them.

“Incoming,” Vk said softly. Dante pulled Divashi’s Brown up short and waited while Vk’s hand rested on her thigh near her pocket. Dante assumed she had some Regi-approved weapon in there.

“I see. Only temple officials use the hover boards. Apparently Kowri are religiously opposed to vehicles.” Two Kowri were riding the board, and the one on back was significantly taller. It might be a da-male. Dante hadn’t asked for a detailed list of differences between the two genders the translator assigned as “males,” but he noticed that any males that were called “da,” like Bekdi a’Gavd, were larger.

“They are religiously opposed to common sense,” Vk whispered back. Dante didn’t have time to respond.

Gimi a’Onidba called out a greeting. She was an exalted of the lady of logic, and their most ardent supporter. Dante smiled and offered a wave.

“Good morning,” he said as she slowed and then stopped the hover. The second Kowri had a hand looped around her waist, and he stepped off the moment the hover stopped.

“The gods’ twin blessings on you this morning, Dante.” She frowned. “I am unsure whether to refer to you as Dante a’Texas or Dante a’Divashi. Do you have a preference?”

Dante really needed to explain that Texas was a place and not a god. He would. Eventually. He just preferred to be out of Kowri space before he had to. “My people would simply call me Dante.”

She smiled, an expression Dante had learned to recognize more by the crinkling at the corners of Kowri eyes than by any movement of their mouth. “An answer designed to avoid offending any god,” she said.

“No one has ever before accused me of good sense in the avoiding of offending others.”

“Then perhaps others did not know you well, or perhaps they were deficient in logic. I assure you that I do not suffer a dearth of logic, and I find you unoffensive.”

She was one of the few on the planet then. Dante chose to not say that. “So, what new disaster or danger has you out this fine day?”

She cocked her head to the side. “Do you assume there is some danger afoot?”

“When I see you riding a hover, I do. I know that your people only authorize those when the situation requires speed. Saying good morning to me does not require speed.” Dante raised his eyebrows and dared her to deny it.

She puckered her lips, which was a concerning gesture. “Your people are not lacking logic.”

“Your people are not skilled in the art of avoiding an answer,” Dante counted.

She barked out a laugh, loud and raucous. “You are soaked in truth, Dante. I wish to speak to you about the wisdom of putting yourself in danger.”

Dante leaned back in the saddle and pushed his feet forward. “Seems to me that I have Vk here to keep an eye on me and there are devotees of Gavd at every intersection I pass.” He narrowed his eyes. “Unless you believe that devotees of Gavd are the threats, I would say I am exceptionally well-guarded.”

“You noticed them.

“It was difficult to miss them. I'm surprised I don't have one or two riding behind me.”

“You do, but they are remaining far enough back that they cannot be seen.”

Dante nodded. Of course they were following him. He truly disliked the way he was constantly on display, but since Kowri never saw aliens, he supposed it was unavoidable. If Regi or Gimi or any of the Kowri escorted Dante to Earth, they would certainly be stared at. Or have rocks thrown at them. Or both. Probably both. But then other humans would bend over backward to welcome the Kowri and anthropologists would want to ask them about their beliefs and physicists would probably try to figure out the energy that proved that the gods had touched someone. All those less homicidal drives seemed to be absent from Kowri who either hated Dante or avoided him.

“Is there a particular reason for this new level of concern?” Dante asked wearily.

“We have gone through Alb's records.” Gimi seemed pained even saying that, but the two women had been allies before it turned out Alb was a back-stabbing traitorous old bitch.

“Because she was the exalted of Oba, she had recorded the life stories of anyone who came to her, didn't she?” Dante sat up in the saddle. “And have you found something in there that's concerning?”

“Many things. We may need to require exalteds to visit the temple more regularly because some years ago she had recognized that the sacred animals no longer perceived her goddess’s touch.”

“Wouldn’t technically that mean she wasn’t an exalted?” He swung his leg over Brown’s back and slid to the ground. A lifetime of manners made him feel rude looking down at the woman to have a conversation.

“Had anyone known that her goddess no longer recognized her, yes, it would. It would also explain why the sacred animals turned against her in the temple.”

So aliens were as power-hungry as humans. Dante was more and more disappointed with aliens. Then again, the first aliens he’d ever met kidnapped him and used him as slave labor. The bar couldn’t drop lower. “While I’m sure that is cause for concern among your people, I can't say it concerns me. Whether or not your gods can withdraw their favor seems like a Kowri issue.”

“That is not the only issue that has come to light.”

“Can I also assume this new information has something to do with the Gavd monotheists and their assumption that Divashi doesn’t know her own mind or that she’s evil or whatever they believe?” Dante reached up and held a hand out to Peaches. She tumbled onto his palm the second she let go of his collar.

The new Kowri spoke, his voice low and gravelly. “Do you speak so blithely of heresy?”

“Dante, may I introduce Pertin. Pertin, I assume you recognize the outsider Dante who has featured so heavily in the news reports in recent days and weeks.”

The idea of being on alien news made him about as happy as when his father had shoved him in front of cameras back home in Texas. “Nice to meet you,” Dante said. “I don't take heresy lightly at all, especially when the last group of heretics tried to murder me. Siger might have succeeded if it weren’t for Divashi’s Brown here.” Dante slapped the big beast on his shoulder. Brown threw his head up and snorted heavily before he jerked his head to loosen the reins enough that he could strip a nearby branch of its leaves. Pebafri might be omnivores, but they were just as likely to eat the edges of the trail as any horse Dante had ever ridden.

“That is a stain that will be on the temple for many generations to come,” Gimi said. “However, our larger concern is that Alb recorded stories from dozen-squared unidentified monotheists.”

Dante wondered if that literally meant a hundred and forty four or if that was figurative. “It seems like your gods are pretty good in getting involved. If they’re that offended, wouldn't they take care of business themselves?” So far, Dante had been pretty damn impressed at how involved Divashi got. Sure, she caused a lot of trouble, but she got the job done.

“Perhaps they did by having Alb's death cause the publication of the stories,” Pertin said.

Dante give a quick huff of laughter. “I can well believe that the gods had something to do with Alb's death given that I was there to watch a freio tear her into bite-size pieces after the dops poisoned her. But if the gods were as offended by monotheists as they were by Alb’s schemes, wouldn’t there be more bite-size chunks of Kowri laying about?”

Pertin puckered his lips. “The gods do not define our choices. They interfere only when they have no choice. Other than that, we must manage our own affairs.”

“Well said,” Gimi added.

“Fine, but is there a particular reason why these monotheists have you concerned for my safety? Is there a new plot to assassinate me?”

“Of that we are unsure,” Gimi admitted, her hands held low in apology. “Alb foresaw that she would predecease many of these individuals, so she used names from popular fiction to hide their identity.”

Dante took a moment to process that. “So you have a hundred people who believe that Gavd is all important and Divashi is evil. And they’re probably all out for my blood, and your response to this is having the chosen of Gavd protect me. Do you see any contradiction here Gimi a’Onidba?”

Her hair bristled. “I do not. The chosen of Gavd are seen by their god and any treachery would be punished much like Alb's was. But the average follower is no more visible than a grain of sand. They are free to indulge in whatever form of stupidity they choose, and apparently a good number of them have chosen to deny the pantheon that Gavd himself defends.”

Dante looked toward Vk to see if she understood this conversation, but she sat on her pebafri with a confused expression. So this wasn’t just him being stupid. “So what exactly do you want me to do?”

Gimi rested her hand on Brown's shoulder. He gave her credit for having balls because Divashi’s Brown was both huge and rather short tempered. There was a reason why the Kowri did not approve of riding pebafri through the middle of town, and it wasn't because the omnivorous pebafri had far more toxic shit than the average horse. They could easily kill a human or Kowri.

“First, I would have you know the danger.”

“And second?” Dante asked.

“The second is an option. I know you are safest in your ship, but the continued mechanical problems either speak of the inherent incompatibility of Kowri and Coalition equipment or they speak of the gods’ first blessing.”

“So you're diagnosing the ship with bad luck? I would love to see you tell Ter that. Really. I'm not joking. I would find that deeply and thoroughly amusing.” The man had no control over his mouth, and Dante missed foul-mouthed stand-up comedy. “What exactly are you looking for me to do?”

Gimi gave Brown one more pat before she turned back to Dante. “The first option is that you remain on your ship. That would maintain your safety and prevent any of the monotheists from having access. While we do not have any evidence that the ones who remain in hiding our violent, the potential exists.” She hesitated before adding, “The second option is that I would ask you to make yourself more visible.”

“More visible?” Dante frowned. “Are you suggesting that you want to use me as bait?”

“That terms has not translated. What is bait?” Gimi asked.

Dante sighed. He got very tired of having to explain himself. “How would you like me to be more visible?”

“Pertin has been tasked to create artwork for the cold weather temple. This requires him to travel into the forest and he has limited experience with pebafri. I would ask you to travel with him and be seen assisting the temple.”

Vk managed to get her animal to move forward, so she must have really given him a good kick. “You should not make an offer like that without clearing it with Regi first. He is in charge of security.”

“Not on this planet, he is not,” Pertin said.

Gimi put a hand on his arm. “Regi is, of course, welcome to come as well. I hoped to invite him, but he has been exceptionally busy with work on the outsider ship.”

Dante mentally translated that as Regi avoiding her.

“This request should still come through him,” Vk repeated.

Gimi backed up, her hands held low. “Of course. I will leave you to take my offer to Regi, and tell him that I would hope he would also escort Pertin.” She looked at Pertin and smiled before she climbed back onto the hover.

“I am pleased to have met an outsider who honors the gods,” Pertin said before he got on the hover behind Gimi. They headed back to the harvest season temple, leaving Dante alone with Vk. Well, other than the Gavd-chosen guards and the Kowri who lingered in the upper-level windows of the town houses they passed.

“I do not like this. We should go back to the ship,” Vk said. She looked more tense than ever, and Dante could admit that Gimi’s visit had bothered him. Sometimes he feared he would never again feel safe, but the Coalition ship would feel safer. Regi made it feel safer.

“Yeah, let’s get back,” Dante said as he got back into the saddle. Even Divashi’s Brown seemed much less interested in stretching his legs. When Dante turned him back toward the ship he obeyed without any objections.