In the way that Kelm had instructed, they had led Jemmo, with Iyala, Alin, Dorik, and his other lieutenants, and stood them along the wall while the clan looked on. Given his own way, Rakki would have made it a slower and more entertaining business, but Zeigler had been firm that such was not the way of gods. The children of Yellow Hair were led out and stood alongside them too, for she would be Rakki’s now, or given to one of his favorites. The moment of culmination of Rakki’s years of scheming, planning, and inner burning had arrived.
It must have been one of the devils that White Head spoke of at times. It had come down on them like a giant arrow shot from beyond the sky, with the shriek of a thousand caw-birds signaling bush cats near their nests. Straight and true into the midst of god-warriors who had thought to defy some even greater power before which they were as helpless as grubs in a burning log, blasting them into nothingness with the flash and fury of a thunderbolt. Those had been Rakki’s Great Protectors, who had awed and overwhelmed him, and whom he had pledged his clan to serve? What worth was his power now?
Still he stood, dazed and bewildered, while around him his warriors tried to regain order, the Cave People babbled and ran about in disarray, and the injured staggered and fell. He and his men had been spared; yet it was they who had been about to carry out the deed. It was Zeigler and the errant gods, the ones who had conceived it and urged Rakki to do their bidding, who had been destroyed. It meant something. He was being given a message to unravel, a lesson of immense significance to learn and absorb, to make part of himself for the remainder of the life he had been allowed. But what was the message?
He became aware, then, of stillness descending around him. Turning numbly and looking around, he saw that the people were staring upward again, some pointing. Another flying vehicle was approaching. He braced himself, thinking this must be his turn to be delivered retribution. . . . But no. This was no thunderbolt of destruction and death. Whatever it was, it came down steadily in a shallow descent . . . gracefully yet somehow commanding. Its form was white above and orange beneath, the colors of the purest sky and the brightest flames. Rakki had a sudden feeling of a presence approaching that represented a power so absolute and assured that demonstrations of violence would be unbecoming, a power without need to prove itself. He let the hand that was holding his rifle fall to his side and stood passively, accepting and unresisting to whatever fate should be decided.
This was surely an emissary from the true realm of the gods. Sleek like the swiftest of birds, yet of smooth and rounded curves, adorned by twin tails of pure black, it came to rest not two tens of paces away from him, while the people fell back to clear the space. Its power poured out in a deep, pulsing drone that seemed to make the earth itself quiver and seize Rakki by his very bones. Murmurs of fear and wonder arose among the people. A God who overthrew the mightiest of god-warriors and their chieftains like playthings was emerging.
Two doors opened like arms on the underside to deliver him to the ground. He moved slowly and unhurriedly, conceding neither to haste nor urgency, masterful in his dignity. His face, framed in a close-fitting mantle, was dark and terrible, eyes of mountain ice blazing above a close-trimmed beard streaked with white. About his body he wore a robe of purest silver gathered at the shoulders and enclosing his arms like a cloak. He advanced with a steady tread, his mouth set tight in a downturned line.
Rakki tried not to let his trembling show as he awaited the verdict. And then his eyes widened, and he peered more closely. He knew this God! It was the one they called Keene, the one Rakki had thought of as the head god, and then abandoned to serve instead the false god, Zeigler. Keene had stopped and was staring at him. He was waiting for Rakki to interpret the message. Rakki’s fate would depend on the answer he gave.