In the Heart of Darkness by Eric Flint & David Drake

Sati followed his glance, smiled faintly.

“She is not Great Lady Holi. Not really. Great Lady Holi is simply a vessel. The divine being who dwells in that vessel is named Link.”

“A goddess? Or a god?” asked Sanga. He was rather proud that his voice neither stammered nor had a trace of tremor.

“Neither,” replied Sati. “Link has no sex, Rana Sanga. It is a pure being, a deva spirit sent by the gods. The new gods.” The young princess straightened her back. “When Great Lady Holi dies, I will replace her as Link’s vessel. I have trained for that sacred mission my entire life. Since I was but a babe.”

Watching her obvious pride in that announcement, Sanga felt a sudden pang. He did not find Sati attractive, as a man might find a woman. For all the comeliness of the young princess, hers was a type of aloof beauty which appealed to him not at all. His own wife was plump, plain-faced, and prematurely grey. She was also as warm as rich earth, and as playful as a kitten.

Still, he felt a pang. He could not imagine this princess ever tickling a husband in bed, mercilessly, as his own wife delighted in doing. But he could not help that pang, thinking of this young woman as—whatever Holi was. Something not human.

The inhuman thing in the room, he now learned, could read minds far better than any mortal.

“DO NOT FEEL SORROW AT SATI’S FATE, RANA SANGA. YOUR SORROW IS MISPLACED. IT DERIVES FROM NOTHING MORE THAN IGNOR­ANCE.”

He stared at Great La—at Link.

“YOU ARE PRIVILEGED, RANA SANGA. YOU ARE THE FIRST HUMAN I HAVE SPOKEN TO SINCE I ARRIVED IN THIS WORLD, OTHER THAN MALWA.”

“Why?” he managed to ask.

“IT IS NECESSARY. I DID NOT EXPECT BELI­SARIUS TO BE SO CAPABLE. THE HISTORICAL RECORD MISLED ME.”

Sanga frowned. Curiosity overrode all fear.

“You knew of him?”

“OF COURSE. IN THE WORLD THAT WAS, HE RECONQUERED THE ROMAN EMPIRE FOR JUSTINIAN. GIVEN THE SEVERE LIMITS UNDER WHICH HE WAS FORCED TO OPERATE, HE MAY HAVE BEEN THE GREATEST GENERAL EVER PRODUCED BY HUMANITY. HE WAS CERTAINLY ONE OF THEM. THE DISTINCTION, AT THAT LEVEL OF GENIUS, IS STATISTICALLY MEANINGLESS.”

Sanga did not understand the word “statistically,” but he grasped the essence of her—of Link’s—statement.

“If you knew all that, why—”

“I AM NOT A GOD. THE GODS THEMSELVES—THE NEW GODS, EVEN, WHO ARE REAL—ARE NOT GODS. NOT AS YOU UNDERSTAND THE TERM. NOTHING IN THE UNIVERSE CAN BE A ‘GOD’ AS YOU UNDERSTAND THE TERM. IT IS PRECLUDED BY CHAOS THEORY AND THE UNCER­TAINTY PRINCIPLE.”

The last sentence was pure gibberish, but, again, Sanga understood the sense of Link’s statement. For a moment, his Hindu orthodoxy rose in rebellion, but Sanga drove it down. The moment was too important for religious fretting.

“Explain further. Please.”

“I COULD KNOW OF BELISARIUS, BEFORE I ARRIVED, ONLY THAT WHICH IS RECORDED IN HISTORY. THAT HE IS A GREAT GENERAL, IS A MATTER OF RECORD. THAT HE IS SOMETHING GREATER, IS NOT. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT UNEXPECTED CAPACITY. NO GEN­ERAL COULD HAVE DONE WHAT HE HAS DONE. NO GENERAL COULD HAVE MANIPULATED ALL OF MALWA SO PERFECTLY. AND, CERTAINLY, NO GENERAL COULD HAVE ­REACTED SO INSTANTLY WHEN I DETECTED HIS DUPLICITY.”

For a moment, Link paused, as if in thought.

Does such a being even “think”? wondered Sanga.

“EITHER MY DATA ARE INCOMPLETE, OR OTHER FACTORS ARE AT WORK. I MUST DISCOVER WHICH. IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT YOU CATCH HIM, FOR THAT REASON ABOVE ALL OTHERS.”

Awed, Sanga was; frightened, even. But he was still a Rajput. A Rajput king, he reminded himself.

“I cannot promise you that,” he stated harshly. “And I will make no vow which I cannot keep.”

In the silence which followed, Sanga had time to wonder at his punishment. Would this—divinity—be satisfied with stripping him of his lands? Or would it demand his life?

The response, when it finally came, astonished him. From the divine being who secretly ruled Malwa, he had expected a Malwa reaction.

“EXCELLENT. YOU ARE A TREASURE, RANA SANGA. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT WE ERRED, CHOOSING MALWA OVER RAJPUT. IN THE END, RELIABILITY SEEMED MORE IMPORTANT THAN CAPABILITY. FROM THE LONG VIEW OF TIME.”

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