To Be Chosen By A God

Chapter 19

                He got up and laid her back down.  As he headed up to the attic to contact Griffin, he passed the oldest and still unnamed former concubine.  She looked worried as she hugged herself and stared listlessly into space.  He misunderstood her forlorn look and tried to boost her spirits.  “Chelsea will be fine and back to normal by this evening.”  When she didn’t respond, he called to Laura who was still in the kitchen.  “Laura?”

                She walked out, wiping her hands on a cloth.  “Yes Master?  I mean Micah.”  Her cheeks colored at the slip up and was certain he would reprimand her for it.

                “I need to speak with Griffin.  Can you find out what’s going on with her?”  He pointed to the oldest of the women.

                “Of course.”  She put an arm around her companionably and led her back towards the kitchen.  “Come, sister.  What troubles you?”  He heard her say as he Stepped up to the attic.

                In his workroom, he took a few steadying breaths before concentrating on the image of the man he needed to speak with.  After a few moments he was greeted with the level voice of the god of luck and misfortune.  “Micah.”

                “Griffin.”  Micah replied just as evenly.

                “What has prompted this call?”  Griffin studied the god of war and saw lines of worry etched in the man’s face.  He did not usually give so much away in his features and he had never called on the luck god in the past, so found it strange that he would do so now.

                “I need to know if misfortune has been placed on Chelsea.”

                “You think I would attack your charge?”

                “No.  I don’t think you’re that stupid or suicidal.”  He looked directly into Griffin’s eyes and Griffin could see the barely held anger in check in those steel grey eyes.  “Misfortune is the only thing I can think of for the things that have happened to her lately.”

                “What has happened?  Start with the most recent and work your way backwards.”

                “Just a few minutes ago she tripped on laundry she was carrying while on the stairs, twisted her ankle enough to break it and also suffered a broken rib, a concussion, and bruising over most of her body.  Yesterday her dress caught strangely on the handle of a pot boiling water and it spilled over her.  Earlier that day she cut herself deeply while chopping vegetables.  The day before that she tore her dress, stubbed her toe, dropped some dishes and spilled a glass of water all within minutes of each other.  I can’t think of anything else right now, but I’m sure there was something else.”  Micah looked down shaking his head at just what he could remember happening that he was sure were connected to the string of bad luck.  When he looked back up at Griffin, there was worry there and moisture at the rims of his eyes.  He was NOT going to cry in front of another god.

                “Bring her to the Summit.  I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.”  Griffin ended the communication and Micah Stepped down to the sitting room, startling Whitney.

                She was slowly rubbing her hand over Chelsea’s brow, whispering to her.  “Master will figure out what’s going on and then you’ll be back to normal.  I promise.”  When she heard movement behind her she whipped her head around and flushed red with embarrassment that he had heard her refer to him as master and not Micah.

                “It’s been less than a week.  I can’t expect years of conditioning to vanish so suddenly.  I need to take Chelsea to the Summit for Griffin to look over and I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.  Don’t worry about making me anything to eat tonight.  Something is going on with your oldest….sister, Laura called her.  Laura is currently speaking with her, but may need your help.  Can you help her with that and let them both know what’s going on?”

                “Yes, Micah.  I will do as you say.”  She offered the last honey cake to him and when he declined, she left with the tray in hand.  He shook his head.  It was going to be a long road with them.  He gathered the still unconscious Chelsea into his arms and when her weight was settled in his arms, he Stepped to his hall of the Summit.  He walked to the center and laid Chelsea on the table.  He created a pillow with his power and placed it under her head.  He was stroking her hair when Griffin arrived.  They nodded to each other by way of greeting and Micah made room for Griffin to check Chelsea.

                Griffin placed his hands on either side of her head and she furrowed her brow in her sleep and seemed to be in distress at the strange touch.

                “She knows it’s not you touching her even in her sleep.”  He closed his eyes and checked for her innate luck and misfortune given to her at her birth.  “She has natural general good fortune.  And yes, it has recently become unbalanced.”  He used his influence on these natural forces and realigned her luck and misfortune to their previous amounts.  “You were right to call me, Micah.  Someone started her bad luck and left it to spiral out of control.  She is lucky to have survived the fall down the stairs.  Had her misfortune been allowed any more time to worsen, such a fall would have killed her.”  He released her head and she unconsciously moved closer to Micah; even going so far as to turn her body away from Griffin.

                “How strange that she knows where you are in her sleep.  Switch places with me?”  Micah was curious as well so switched places with Griffin and when they were both in place, the luck god stroked her cheek only to have her move away from him and back toward Micah.  The sudden movement caused her to awaken.

                She looked around and when she saw where she was and that they were with another god, she panicked and scooted over to be closer to Micah.  He wrapped his arms around her while Griffin spoke.

                “This is not a Summit so there is no restriction on speaking.”

                She looked up at Micah.  “What happened?  Why are we here?”

                “You fell down the stairs and with everything that has happened, I asked Griffin to check on your luck and misfortune.”

                “It was a good thing he did.  Your misfortune had been allowed to spiral out of control.”

                “How did it happen?”  She asked hesitantly, unsure if she should ask such a question.

                “We don’t know.”  Micah answered.  Her brow furrowed again but this time in thought.

                “You have a question?”  Griffin asked.

                “Micah told me that Varia came to heal me before because she had felt a strong pull of disease which is her opposite.  But you have both luck and misfortune so that wouldn’t work….. but….if you have the victim…. Can you track the attacker?”

                “I have never had the need to.  The fact that Micah can heal at all is an odd thing.  It’s not common for a god to be able to utilize the specialty of another god so well.  If you permit, Micah, I will try.”  He nodded his permission so Griffin gestured for her to come closer to himself.  She did so and he placed a hand on either side of her head.  She shivered at the contact just as she had when she was unconscious.  “Before I begin, I have to ask.  You see, you did that same thing when you were asleep.  How could you have possibly known it wasn’t Micah touching you?”

                “You have a different feel.  I grew up worshiping him so even that first day at his Haven, even if I had never seen a likeness of him before, the feeling was the same; his presence.  Yours feels different and unfamiliar.”

                He nodded, accepting the answer as it did make sense.  He then closed his eyes and concentrated on the misfortune power that had so recently affected her.  The trail was light as the connection had been severed but he was able to follow it back to its source.

                “Luther.”  He said as he opened his eyes.  “But the way this was set…. It should have affected her so much sooner and she should probably be dead by now if he had done it at the Summit.  And I would have felt my specialty being used.”

                “He called me….four or five days ago to check on his former charges.  Chelsea was dropping me off lunch.”

                “Did anything happen?  It would have been a small thing and easily discounted as normal.”  Griffin asked.

                “I can’t think of anything.  You?”

                She blushed deeply to be discussing something so intimate in front of another man, let alone a god at that!  Instead of saying it out loud, she concentrated on him and prayed.  I was early by a few days.

                “Oh!”

                “What?”  Griffin asked.

                “It’s a mortal thing.”  Griffin still looked a little confused.  “A female mortal thing.”

                “Oh!  Ok.  Yes, that would be a small enough thing if it wasn’t quite expected but close to be the beginning of a string of misfortune.”

                Chelsea couldn’t bring herself to look at the god of luck just then, feeling rather mortified.  She was sitting on the table in front of where Micah sat at the Summit, so he quickly gathered her to himself and sat back in his chair with her across his lap.  The movement surprised her, but she quickly laid her head against his chest.

                “Please don’t be embarrassed, Chelsea.  It’s a good and natural thing.  That you have been conditioned to be ashamed of it is a thing to be sad about.”  Griffin explained.  To Micah he said, “That he keeps attacking her is deplorable and a thing of cowardice.  But it makes sense.  He likes to hurt young women, so why wouldn’t he attack her instead of you.  I know you’ve noticed how much he has aged in the last fifty years?”  At Micah’s affirmative nod, he continued.  “He’s got to be getting desperate.  With his territory sandwiched between ours and him losing ground to both of us every year, he’s going to do anything he can.  He hasn’t been attacking me because I haven’t taken nearly as much of his territory as you have and he hates you for taking out Owen and taking over that territory.”  He saw that Chelsea was a little confused so explained to her.  “Owen was the name of the god whose territory Micah took over.  He was a weak god which is why I suspect Micah targeted him, but because he was weak, he was a good neighbor for Luther who didn’t have to fear his lands being taken over by him.”

                “What was he a god of?”  Chelsea asked.

                “Something minor.  Drunkenness I think.”  Griffin replied.  Safe in Micah’s arms she studied the god of luck and misfortune.  He was shorter than Micah, but still a little taller than her.  He was dressed in brown and green dyed leathers.  His hair was dark blond and wavy and half way down his back, with the sides shaved clean.  His eyes were a piercing bright blue and he wore a thick but nicely trimmed beard with moustaches.

                “Wine and intoxication.  He could make it so you tasted the alcohol but never got drunk, or became drunk with only a sip.  Only worked with wine if I remember correctly.”  Micah supplied.

                Griffin looked down at them from the table he was sitting on.  “I wish I loved like you do, Micah.  And to have her return it.”  He smiled.

                “One day.”  Micah replied.

                “You don’t love your wife?”  Chelsea asked with confusion.

                “No.  It’s an arrangement.  Let me try to explain.  When the world was young, there were a lot more of us gods.  We lived mostly apart from the mortals because we had these powers they did not and neither of us were very comfortable living around each other.  We had children together and grew old and died.  It was Alexander who discovered that if the mortals worshiped us as gods that we stopped aging, and in fact if we were older when we started to be worshiped, we would regress to the ages you see all of us now, though that takes more time than to become aged.  Some of us entered contracts with the royal families of the area.  I know Walter did and at least one or two others as well as myself.  Walter’s and my contracts were very similar.  In exchange for that ruler ensuring that I am the only god worshiped in his kingdom, I must take a daughter of that line as my wife.  When one wife dies, I have no more than ten years to mourn her loss before taking a new wife.  I do have some control over that part of it, but only if there is more than one daughter of the correct ages to choose from.  My time between wives increases if there are no eligible daughters and only extends until such a time as there becomes one eligible.  Unfortunately, they grow up with this sense of entitlement and superiority not just from growing up as royalty, but that their family mates with a god.

                “Walter’s royal family died out a couple centuries ago and he has been happily single ever since.”

                “Couldn’t you adjust their luck so that they only produced males or had accidents or were unable to conceive at all?”  Chelsea asked after a few minutes.

                “I like her, Micah.  She thinks tactics like you.  That would go against my contract.  They knew my specialty when we entered the agreement and it stipulates that I cannot change nature to get out of my end of the deal.  I would not do it even if it was not in the contract because it would be too much like going against my word.”  He smiled and addressed Micah again.  “I’m glad you are able to find love again, Micah.  When she spoke about the first attack on Chelsea, Varia mentioned how long you had mourned and how you had closed yourself off to companionship after Dianne passed.  I see how you are together and can’t help but wish to have that with someone one day.”  He looked down at Chelsea who he could see had pity on her face.  “I have had love with some of my wives, but it has been few and far between lately.  One day.”  He smiled and again addressed Micah.  “I will bring this to the attention of the others.  Something must be done or he may feel he can attack any of our companions.”

                He stood up and bobbed his head in goodbye as he headed down his hall.  Chelsea stood up and, still weak from the recent healing, stumbled.  Micah caught her and stood up himself.  “Do you want to walk or would you like me to carry you?”

                “I’m too weak to walk, I think.  I must have been really hurt by that fall.”

                “You were.  Come here.”  He gathered her into his arms and strode to the end of his hallway where they had each agreed that they would only Step to or from to avoid Stepping into each other by accident should they chose the same place to appear.  Even though no one would have come here without there being a Summit, it was habit.

                They arrived back in their bedroom as he felt it was the safest place to arrive considering there were three other people there now that could be at any location in the house.

                “I’m hungry, Micah.”  Chelsea said weakly as she laid against Micah’s chest.

                “Do you think you can eat real food or do you want me to make that drink I made you after you woke up from when my mother healed you?”

                “The drink I think.”

                “Not a problem.”  He carried her down to the kitchen and set her on the kitchen counter.  She enjoyed watching him work; taking ingredients and then using his power to blend them together to a smooth finish.  He stood so that he was between her legs while she still sat on the counter.  This was a little more intimate then they had been previously, and it made Chelsea’s cheeks redden.  He brushed away some strands of her hair from her forehead and then leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips.  “Why the embarrassment?”

                “It just seems like something we shouldn’t be doing.  I like it though.”

                “I like it too.  Here’s your drink.  Do you think you’ll need help?”  She shook her head so he handed the glass to her and she drank it slowly while he continued to stay as he was.  It was comforting to have him so close and to have his arms wrapped loosely around her waist.  When she drank what she could, she set the glass next to her and he wrapped his arms around her tighter in a hug.  “I can’t stop touching you.  To think; I’ve almost lost you twice since you came here and you’ve been seriously injured three times.  This should have been the safest place in the whole world for you, but it hasn’t been.  I’m sorry for that.”

                “The first time was my fault and the rest can all be laid at Luther’s feet; not yours.”

                “As the master of this Haven, I am responsible for it all.  I should have asked or had Margaret ask if you could read and not just assume you would speak up.”

                “What will happen to him now?”

                “I don’t’ know.  No one has ever attacked another’s companion before, let alone attacked them twice!”  They were hugging still with Chelsea seated on the counter when Laura entered the kitchen.

                “Please excuse me.  I didn’t mean to interrupt.  I heard voices and ….  I’m sorry.”  She was flustered, embarrassed and red cheeked.

                “You have not interrupted us.  Is everything ok?”  Micah asked.

                “It’s our older sister.  She is having a bit of a breakdown.  She’s convinced you are just testing us for Luther and we will be punished for everything we have not done that we are supposed to for him.  I can’t seem to get through to her and she even has Whitney afraid now.”

                “And you?  Are you also afraid of this?”

                “I have hope still.”