Page 5 of Alien God

“What is it?” I let my hand fall, and so did Maerwynne.

“I do not know. When my stars started going dark, I went to see Rúnwebbe. To see if she had answers.”

Rúnwebbe. The whisper weaver. Older and wiser than any stone sky god.

“And?” I pressed.

Maerwynne grimaced. His wings, deep red, gave an uneasy sort of flicker, making his long crimson hair shift behind his shoulders.

“She did not know what it was, nor where it came from. She did have other whispers for me, though. She told me that it was spreading among the mateless stone sky gods. She told me that Sceadulyr’s star map has completely gone out. He is trapped, now, in his Shadowlands palace.”

“Trapped?” I echoed, feeling suddenly off-balance. Maybe it’s the blood loss. I folded my wings and sat heavily upon the shimmering ground. I frowned down at my torso, slick with silver blood coursing from wounds inflicted by Skallagrim.

“Trapped,” Maerwynne replied flatly. “Every place that goes dark on your star map is a place you can no longer open a sky door to.”

I was glad I had seated myself. Because otherwise, Maerwynne’s words would have toppled me.

A stone sky god who cannot open a sky door?

It was unheard of. Impossible.

Maerwynne was no longer looking at me. He gazed at the gates of Heofonraed, his face unreadable, his star-dark hand opening and closing, over and over.

“Does it hurt?” I asked.

His fist clamped tight and stayed that way.

“No,” he replied, turning his black and red gaze back to me. “I feel nothing there, Wylfrael.” His voice caught strangely in his throat. “Nothing.”

I swallowed hard, looking down at my own hands, arms, chest, places that thrummed with the soft murmur of the star map’s power. I opened my wings and twisted, inspecting them. In a movement roughened by clumsy haste and blood loss, I stood, yanking off my Sionnachan leather trousers. I stood naked under my own fierce inspection. I was aware that Maerwynne was inspecting me as well, no doubt looking for the same thing I was. Any sign of star-darkness.

At least for now, everything seemed right with my star map. The blue flickers of the constellations glowed along my legs and across my groin as they always had. I fixed my trousers while Maerwynne turned his face from me. Not before I saw a strangled sort of emotion upon his features. I could not tell if it was envy or relief.

“You say this is spreading among mateless gods?”

“Yes,” Maerwynne said.

“Why then does the council block our entry? They should not be susceptible.” The Council of the Gods was comprised only of mated, mortal gods. It had always been so. Losing their immortality meant they acted with greater care, because they were more keenly aware of death and destruction. And because they died the moment their mortal mates did, it meant no god served too long a term and became entrenched in his power and place.

“I do not know,” Maerwynne said. “I am here for the same reason you are. To petition the council. I wanted to speak to them about the star-darkness, find out what they can do to stop it. I did not believe Rúnwebbe when she told me the council would not open their gates. I was flying up, trying to reach the top of the gates, trying anything to get them to open to me. That is when you and Skallagrim came through the sky door and I heard you calling.”

“This is unacceptable!” My roar caused the Eaforswynne to toss their bulky heads in warning. I ignored them, pointing a furious finger at the gates. “They are the only ones with access to the Heofonraed power of the stone sky relics!” They were supposed to use that power for the good of all of us, not hoard it.

“While they will not hear general petitions, they will allow mated gods to put themselves forth as candidates for the council.”

I sighed, lowering my hand.

“So, the only way to understand what is going on behind that gate and to talk to any of them is to be voted in by the current council?”

“It appears so.”

“Who is on the council now? Gunnarwyr?” I scowled, trying to remember the names of the other gods on the council before Skallagrim had sent me into my near-death slumber.

Maerwynne’s red eyebrows rose.

“Stone of the sky, no. He and any other council members you may remember are long dead. You have been gone for many mortal generations, Wylfrael.”

I tensed, letting out a harsh breath between my fangs. I’d had no sense of how long I’d been recovering after my last run-in with Skalla.

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