To Be Chosen By A God

Chapter 20

                “Come on, Chelsea.  I may need your help.”  He pulled her over to him and had her up on his hip with a leg behind him and in front of him like one would carry an older child.  “This way you can see where we’re going and I don’t have to go through doorways sideways all the time.”  She laid her head against his shoulder.  It was a weird way for him to carry her and he had done something similar when they Stepped to the waterfall, but that had been brief.  He followed Laura up to the room she shared with the others and once inside was met with Whitney hugging her knees with her legs drawn up and staring vacantly off into space and the other in a similar position, rocking back and forth on the floor against a wall sobbing.  He set Chelsea on a vacant bed nearby and then crouched down to speak with the oldest.

                He reached out to brush back her hair from her face to look at her properly but she flinched away.  “I’m not going to hurt you.”  He reached out again and though she shook, she allowed him to brush back her hair.  “Why are you crying?”  He asked gently.  She buried her face in her knees so she wouldn’t have to meet his eyes.  “If you don’t speak with me and tell me what’s wrong, I can’t help you unless you want me to enter your mind.  I don’t like to do it without permission, but I will if I have to.”  She continued to cower without answering so he entered her mind.  It was a snarled thing full of darkness and pain and he had to travel down the hallways in her mind to find her and speak with her as she had recessed herself in her mind.  He found her in a similar room and in the same position. 

                He tried again.  “Why are you crying?  What’s wrong?”

                “I will not fail this test.  I will not get comfortable here.”  It was the first time he had heard her speak.  It was soft and cracked from disuse.

                “Do you know why you, Whitney and Laura had to come home with me?”

                “To test us.”

                “No god would willingly give their consort to another god to do what they wished with them.  Luther has never tested any of his concubines in this manner.  My guess is because then we would know what he’s really like and be more disgusted with him than normal.  No other god treats their consorts in this manner.  You came to live with me as a punishment to Luther for attacking my consort.  Part of that punishment is that he will never get you back.”

                “But will know we are not following his rules and punish our families.”

                “You are not under his rules anymore and whether he chooses to punish your families or not is no longer something you can control if you could ever control it.  Luther is a god who rules his lands with fear.  Fear can only get you so far before they fight back and he has been seeing the results of that.  He will have to change or he will find himself without any followers.”  She peeked out at him.  It was all the opening he was waiting for, he scooped her onto his lap and held her, hugging her.  “You’re safe now.  No one will ever beat you here.  No one will make you have s*x with another or perform a s****l act on another.  You are really and truly safe and free from that life.  You know the promise of a god is unbreakable, right?  I promise you these things.”  She began clutching at him and crying into his chest while he stroked her hair and back.  He had been doing this a lot lately because of Luther.  He would be happy when that ended and knew he would need to go on the offensive against the aging god or this would not end.

                After a while, she began to calm.  Because this was occurring in her mind, when her tears stopped, they also dried and disappeared.  She pulled away from him.  “I’m sorry, Micah.  I have kept you away from your beloved.  Is she ok?”

                “You are my charge too.  Just as all who live in my Haven are my charges.  And she is here.  Well, not here in your mind, but in the room with us.  She will be ok.  She is very tired from all the healing, but she will make a full recovery.”

                “You went somewhere?  Whitney said you took Chelsea to see someone.”

                “Misfortune had been placed on her, so I needed the master of luck and misfortune to balance her.”

                “Who did it?”  She asked, though her voice sounded as if she already suspected the answer.

                “Luther did.  Griffin is going to bring this to the attention of the other gods and goddesses.”  He felt her shiver in his arms at the mention of Luther.  “Do you want me to help you find your name?”

                “It’s Kaitlyn.  I held on to it and when you offered before, I was frightened that when you knew I remembered my name, you would punish me on his behalf or send me to be punished.  We were not allowed to speak of our life before him which meant we could not call each other by name.  We were not allowed to speak in his presence either and I was sure that answering your direct questions was another test.”

                “No tests here.  How did you manage to hold on to your name?  Of the three of you, you would have been with him the longest.”

                “Every time I was called ‘concubine’, I reminded myself that I had a name and what it was.”

                “Do you think you’re ready to come back out of your mind with me?”  She nodded so he stood up and when he turn around, he disappeared from her mind.  When he opened his eyes, she was no longer looking off into space or with her face buried into her raised knees.  She was looking at him, eyes dry, and her face had been hastily wiped of its tears.  “I am going to make that promise to you again so that you know it’s not some mind trick.  I promise all of you that you’re safe now.  No one will ever beat you here.  No one will make you have s*x with another or perform a s****l act on another.  You are really and truly safe and free from that life.”

                She uncurled herself and hesitantly moved towards Micah.  He wasn’t sure what she was about to do, so stayed still.  When she was sitting close to him, she leaned over and hugged him and he quickly wrapped his arms around her too.  “It’s nice to meet you, Kaitlyn.”  His words seemed to rouse Whitney from her own downward spiral.  She looked over to Kaitlyn to see what she would say.

                “It’s true, Whitney.  You know a god would rather die than go back on their word.  He is who he has been showing us.  He wants us to learn from Chelsea so that we can live in his Haven and have a job.”

                Micah looked up at her and held out his free arm.  “I have another arm if you want this too.”  Whitney nodded and moved over to be hugged by her new god.  They sat and he held them while they wept or just held on to him.  Chelsea looked over to Laura and when she looked back at Chelsea, she gestured over to the group on the floor.  Soon Micah felt a third body hugging him from behind with her arms around his neck.  Their close proximity to him allowed him to soothe their raw emotions.  There was nothing physical to heal and he had no ability with love, so instead he soothed them.  It took a while, but they eventually each released him and moved away to get ready for bed.  When he was finally able to, he stood up and Chelsea stood up shakingly.  He hurried over to her and she used him to steady herself.

                “I want to try to walk, Micah.  It’s not too far.”  He nodded and wrapped an arm around her to support her and they slowly made their way back to the bedroom.  Once inside, he set her on the bed and gave her nightgown to her.  He sat facing away from her and began to strip, but as usual, it wasn’t long before the evening prayers came in.  She was too tired to go to the bathing chamber to change her clothing, so she did it where she sat, knowing he would be otherwise occupied for some time.  After setting her clothes on the backless bench at the end of the bed, she got under the covers and waited for Micah.  She was so tired from the healing that she was asleep before he got into bed next to her.

                The next morning when they woke up, Micah stopped her from going downstairs to start breakfast.  “I want you to take it easy today and after lunch, I want you to come up and take a nap.  I worry about you.  I’ve never healed anyone so much in such a short amount of time and I don’t know what kind of stress it will put on your body.”

                “Ok.”

                “You’re not mad at me are you?  For asking this?”

                “No.  I can feel it in my body.  It’s like my soul is tired so a nap will be welcome today.  Will you nap with me again?”

                “If you wish it of me.  I can make sure my duties are finished by lunch.”

                “You look tired too, Micah.  Healing me all the time has put stress on you too.”

                “Yes, but I’ll be fine.  Overusing myself will not kill me.  I’ll just start getting really skinny and lose muscle.”

                “But I like your muscles the way they are.”  She chided him playfully.

                “I’m glad you’re in such a good mood.  Pancakes this morning?”  He gave her puppy dog eyes, making her laugh.

                “Of course.  There should be some honey cakes left too.”

                “Make that honey cake.  One.  Unless one of the girls had the last one.  While I was healing you, Whitney brought in the plate of them to help keep my energy up.”

                “I’ll just have to make more.  Any other requests?  There are three ovens downstairs I can make use of.”

                “Brownies?  I don’t know if you’ve come across the recipe, but I know it’s in one of the cook books that just has various sweets in it.”

                “I’ll look for it.”

                “Thank you.”  He kissed her brow and headed to the bathing chamber for his morning shower.  She quickly dressed and met the girls down in the kitchen as they had become used to the routine.  They make breakfast while Chelsea looked for the recipe Micah had mentioned.  It took a couple books, but she did find it.  It looked like the book had been opened to this page often as the book wanted to open to that particular page.  She realized he had just shown her one of his secret favorite recipes.  She laid the book on the small table in the kitchen and helped the girls to serve breakfast.  They ate, and Micah let the girls know that he was requiring Chelsea to rest after lunch.  They nodded thoughtfully and Laura spoke up.

                “I do not wish to sound disrespectful, but you should rest as well.  You look as tired as she does, Sire.”

                “Calling me by name feels weird, doesn’t it?”  She blushed and nodded.  “I don’t want you to replace the word ‘master’ with another.  I really do prefer to be called by name.  I understand it might be hard at first, but I do want you to remember that I am a different person from Luther.  When you use a replacement for ‘master’, it makes me feel that you think that I am like him.”

                “I’m sorry…Micah.  It is hard, but I will do my best to call you by name.”

                “It’s all I can ask.  And Chelsea has already told me I need to rest as well.  I agree with your assessments and will do so.”  He smiled and got a smile from Laura in return.  He kissed Chelsea goodbye and the four of them worked on making all the various bakery items they needed now that they were feeding five of them instead of two as well as lunch for everyone.  Kaitlyn promised that they would take care of dinner so when Chelsea went back upstairs to nap, she was able to let Micah know that dinner would be taken care of.  He laid down first and helped her to position herself so that they could lay together and take a nap.

                A voice calling out in the room woke them.  “Micah?  Micah!  Are you here?  I’ve never known you to not be at your work table at this hour.  Micah!”

                It was the voice of Draven.  “I’m here, Draven.  I was just resting with Chelsea.”

                “Resting?”  His tone and inflection turned it into something else.

                “You know better than that.  We were both a little tired today after the events of the last couple days.”  He had helped Chelsea to get up and then got up himself, quickly ran his fingers through his hair, ensuring it didn’t look like he had been doing anything other than sleeping.  Chelsea chuckled into her hand but quietly assured him it looked fine.  He moved over to where Draven would be able to see him. 

                “Yes, Griffin of all people contacted me.  Why didn’t you say anything about it and bring attention to this yourself?”

                “Because if it came from me I would sound like a child complaining about their brother hitting him to their parents.  Griffin knew this which is why he offered to tell everyone else.  Also, considering it was his specialty that was used, he was the only one who could identify it and figure out where it came from.  I could accuse Luther all day, but without that confirmation, what happened could have fallen on deaf ears.”

                “It’s always tactics with you.”  He chuckled ruefully.

                “You would expect less of me?  While I’m furious with Luther for what he’s done to Chelsea, I’m no closer to discovering where his Haven is, so I can’t attack him directly.  I have, however started to have my priests and warriors go into his lands and talk to his people about me.  He apparently wanted a war, so I’m giving it to him.”

                “Your warriors?  You mean to hunt demons in his lands?  Wouldn’t that only benefit him?”

                “Not if they are vocal in that they are doing it in my name and at my request.  He has a young dragon in his lands too.  Imagine the response of the people when my hunters and warriors kill it.  They’ll be replacing his statue with mine in no time.”

                This was the political side of Micah she had only seen once before and it was at the Summit; that cold and calculating aspect of him.  She understood it and why he was like this.  She was happy to hear that he was actively attacking back at Luther; it showed her that he wasn’t taking the attacks on her lightly and was just another way he proved to her how much he loved her.  She had learned at the Summit that up until about the time of her arrival at Micah’s Haven, the gods’ territories were rather stagnant with only minor changes to boundary lines.  It was her choosing that had spread Micah’s name further into Luther’s and Griffin’s lands.  It was apparently a normal thing among the gods as the people would get stirred up when gods took a new companion and would naturally tell neighboring cities and villages that might not normally know much about the other gods.  That was why they had asked if he was intentionally invading their lands.  He could have lied, but none of the gods really like lying.  It tended to cause more problems than anything else.  Even Luther had never denied attacking Chelsea with sickness.  He had simply made the other gods prove that he had.

                Micah had known that such tactics were Luther’s way from the centuries of knowing him which was another reason he had other gods notify the rest of the attacks.  He did not have the ability to trace disease to its source, but Varia did.  Nor did he have the ability to track misfortune to its source and was happy it had been Chelsea who had suggested it to Griffin instead of himself.  He wondered if Chelsea had known that such a question coming from her was better than it coming from him.  He had found her to be a quick study when it came to tactics and found that he was falling in love with her mind as well as her body and personality.

                “Remind me to never piss off the god of war.”  Draven replied in jest.

                “I would have to conquer nearly the whole continent to challenge you on your lands.  That will never happen.”

                “It’s a good thing I have your mother’s lands as a buffer between us.”  He smiled.

                “I’d punch you if you were here.  You know that, right?”

                “You could always invite me over.”  Draven joked.  Despite being good friends, the location of their Havens was something they would never share with each other and they both knew it.  Draven was not actually looking to be invited to Micah’s Haven, so it was an easy thing to joke about.

                “So what’s going on?  Is anything being decided about Luther’s second attack on Chelsea?”

                “No.  I’ve gotten a few messages and sent a few out, but nothing is certain.  It’s likely we’ll hold an emergency Summit about this.  Having voted in favor of treating Chelsea as your consort already, we couldn’t treat her as less this time due to precedence.  I just don’t get why he did it.  Desperation is one thing, but he had to know that this is something that would affect all of us, and that we would be forced to act on it.”

                “Maybe he thought I would blame Griffin and concentrate my energy on him.  It’s a valid tactic.  He’s not stupid.”

                “How is your beautiful bride to be doing?”

                “I have not officially offered her The Choice yet.  She is still underage, though her birthday is coming up in a little over two weeks.  But as to how she is doing, you can ask her yourself.”  He gestured to her to come over to where she could be seen.  She walked over and he put his arm around her.  “How are you feeling, my love?”

                “Still tired.”  She looked over at the smiling face of the god of love and hate.  “Thank you for the peacock feathers and the viewing crystal of the male showing off his tail feathers.  It’s hard to imagine that such a strange animal exists.”

                “It was my pleasure.  Usually at the Summits there is a chance for us all to speak with each other and I would have been able to give them to you personally.”  He looked her over.  “I can see it; that soul weariness.  Varia can heal injury, and I can heal a broken heart, but neither of us can heal the weariness of the soul.  My call must have woken you up, I do apologize.  And of course, now I’m just keeping you up.”

                “It’s ok.”  She tried to say, but he interrupted her.

                “No, dear, it isn’t.  My call could have waited.  I could have seen he was not there and instead of calling out to Micah, I could have tried another time.  The truth is, only rest will recover you, and I took that from you.  Please, both of you, rest and I will call again another time when I have more information.”  His communication ended and Micah led her back to the couch.

                “We were only asleep for about a half hour.  His suggestion is a good one and if you need me to, I can help you fall back asleep.”

                “Honestly, I don’t think I’ll need help.”  She gave him a smile and he grinned back.  He laid down and it wasn’t long after she got in place on top of him that she was asleep again.  He loved that she was so comfortable with him that she was able to do this.  It was a couple hours later when they woke up.  She was not at normal yet, but was a lot closer to it than she had been before the nap.

                “You look better.  Do you feel better?”

                “A little, but I’m still tired.”  He pulled her in for a hug.

                “Maybe a couple more days taking naps?”  She nodded and he was happy she wasn’t fighting him about this like she had the first time he had asked her to take a nap during the day.  It was still an hour before they usually had dinner, so he had her stay with him as he checked on his lands one last time before leaving for the day.

                When they went down, the girls were waiting for them with the food in stasis domes.  As he neared the table he waved his hands towards the table and the stasis domes disappeared allowing the steam to rise from the food.  He inhaled deeply with a smile on his face.

                “That smells delicious.”  His words caused the three to smile with pride.  They ate quietly for a while before Whitney asked how Chelsea was feeling.

                “Still tired.  We’ve already decided that a few more days of naps would be for the best.”

                “That is good.  We were worried about you both.”  Kaitlyn added.  It was nice that she was finally willing to talk, and it seemed like she was the one coming around the fastest to the new life.

                They finished eating, cleaned up the dinner table and then went to the sitting room to read and spin.  They were all spinning the same color so that Chelsea could teach them how to string a loom and weave faster.  They already had several spindles of yarn spun and set, and were just waiting until there was enough to work with.  Once the cloth was woven, she would teach them how to make clothing.  All three skills would be highly useful for them in the future as would the cooking.  She had not gotten around to teaching them to read and didn’t really know if she would be any good at teaching it.  She would ask Margaret to either teach them or show her how best to teach them as she was amazed at what she had been able to do before being able to read.

                Over the next several days, Margaret came over and began teaching the girls how to read, Chelsea recovered from her soul weariness, and Micah was invading Luther’s lands in force, showing no mercy to the god of disease.

                During one of her naps, she was awoken by Luther calling in to Micah who had not napped with her that day.

                “You swore to me that you were not actively attacking my lands at the Summit, Micah, and now I hear that you’ve sent your priests, warriors and hunters on to my lands to further your name?”  Luther’s voice rang out threateningly.  Chelsea’s couch was not in any line of sight to the incoming call, so felt safe where she was as she listened to the two gods argue.

                “Luther, I’m done with you attacking Chelsea.  You’ve done it twice now and if the only way I can protect her, is by ensuring you die, then so be it.”

                “Who says I’ve attacked her?  Is that why I’m getting messages from the others is that you’re accusing me of attacking her again?”

                “Don’t play innocent; you do it so poorly, and I am done speaking with you.”

                “Is that tramp clouding your mind and making you think I’m attacking her?”

                “Do not speak of her so.  If you think I am attacking your lands now, than you have no idea what I am capable of.”  Micah’s voice was growing anger held in check.  Even from across the room, Chelsea could see how his eyes blazed with his rage for this man.

                “I am going to demand an emergency Summit.  This is ridiculous!  I haven’t done anything wrong and I’m not only being attacked by you, you have Griffin attacking me too!”

                “When have you ever known Griffin and I to agree on anything?  I’m done with this conversation.”  He made a gesture and the communication ended.  He looked over at Chelsea and saw she was awake.  “Are you ok?  I’m sorry we woke you.”

                “I’m ok.  I don’t think he could see I was here and I don’t feel any different.” 

                He nodded but still came over to her and looked her over.  Satisfied as he could be that she had not been attacked again, he said, “It’s almost time for you to be up anyway.  Go ahead and go on down and I’ll be done in a little while.”  Chelsea smiled and nodded.  She stood up, gave him a hug and peck on the lips and headed downstairs to help the former concubines make dinner.

                It was a full week after Griffin balanced Chelsea’s luck that Alexander contacted Micah to inform him that an emergency Summit would be held on the last day of the month to settle the dispute between him and Luther once and for all.  He was also informed that it would likely be a trial by battle and to be prepared for it.  That evening he informed his four charges of this development.

                “Luther will not fight fairly.”  Kaitlyn warned.

                “I would not expect any less of him, but the other gods will be watching if it comes to that, so he won’t be able to do too much.  I will be sparring a little bit more than normal to keep my ability as sharp as I can.”  He assured.

                “It’s on my birthday.”  She frowned at the thought of the emergency Summit being held on her birthday.  Was that a good thing or a bad thing?  She couldn’t decide.

                “I don’t think the date was chosen on purpose to be on your birthday.”  He offered.  She nodded, but still looked sad.  He knew he would have to speak with her that night in their room where they could speak privately.

                Later that evening, they were lying in bed.  He stroked her cheek as he spoke.  “You have seemed sad since I shared the news from Alexander.  I thought you might want to wait until we were alone to share your fears and worries.  Are you worried for me?”

                “Of course I’m worried for you.  I can’t explain it, but I have a bad feeling about the emergency Summit.”

                “Do you think he can best me in a fight?”

                “To be fair, I’ve never seen him fight, but I agree with Kaitlyn; he will not fight fairly.  He will find some loophole and use it to his advantage.”

                “You are probably right that he will try to find a loophole, but to worry about it for the next week or so is not going to be helpful.  If it makes you feel better, we can make a basket of bandages and ointments so if I become injured, I can be tended to immediately.”

                “Couldn’t Varia just heal you?”

                “Our abilities do not affect each other.  That is why Luther has been attacking you and not me.”

                “But you said Draven healed your heart so you could love again.”

                “He healed me with words and actions; not his power.”

                “Oh.  So Luther can’t infect you with disease and beat you that way?”

                He chuckled.  “No.  If this does become a trial by battle, than only our ability with a weapon will determine the outcome.  Usually all power is banned so I wouldn’t be able to trip him with my power, which we could do to one another.  Nor could I create sand or dirt to toss into his eyes while we fought.  Such things would disqualify us and because such a trial is to the death…”

                “To the death?!  You didn’t say anything about it being to the death!”  She exclaimed.

                “I thought you would know such a trial would be to the death.  I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to cause you such distress.”  He pulled her in closer to hold her.  “I will not lose, Chelsea.  I promise you that I will not let him win.”

                “What will happen when one of you dies?”

                “How do you mean?”

                “The Haven.  Me.  The territories.”

                “That’s fair.  You should have a backup plan.  It might make you more comfortable to know you have a plan in place should I die.  When a god dies, their Haven begins to shrink and will eventually push everyone out of the Haven and will release them into the place the Haven is anchored on the earth.  So, when Luther dies, that is what will happen to the people that live in his Haven.  Should the unthinkable happen, Varia will bring you back here to let the Haven know so that they are not taken unaware.  They will be able to start leaving when they are ready instead of being pushed out.  I would ask you to help organize this and I would also ask you to encourage my followers to go to Griffin.  I only have two gods’ territories neighboring mine and I would much rather the people go to Griffin than to Luther.  Griffin is a good man and would take good care of my followers.  You would go back to living with your family or do whatever you wish to.  You would be free to make your own choices after that.  I do, however, suggest traveling to Griffin, Varia, or Draven’s territories and taking sanctuary with one of them, as Luther may try to find you to keep as a trophy.  The other gods would not allow it, but it’s something to consider and prepare for.”  She nodded thoughtfully.  “I’ve frightened you now, haven’t I?”

                “No.”  She lied.

                He chuffed.  “I thought I asked you not to lie to me.”

                “I know.  But you have enough to worry about without worrying about me, worrying about you.  I will be ok.  And knowing that Luther would never be able to come after me again would be the best birthday present ever.”

                “Then it’s yours.”  He whispered to her as he kissed her temple.  She was having a hard time falling asleep so he hummed the lullaby for her while languidly stroking her back.

                “I love you, Micah.”  She whispered as she fell asleep.

                “I love you too, Chelsea.”

                The next week and a half seemed to go by in a blur.  Micah spent more time than ever working out with the various weapon masters of the Haven as well as keeping in contact with the priests, warriors and hunters going into Luther’s territories, and keeping Chelsea from worrying.

                One day a few days before the emergency Summit, Micah came to Chelsea after dinner.  “I must ask you a favor.”

                “What is it, Micah?”

                He handed her a pair of scissors.  “While training with the weapon masters, I asked them to fight as dirty as they could while we fought to help be prepared for the fight against Luther.  Even tying my hair up in a bun did not stop my hair from being a target for pulling.  I would like you to cut it for me nice and short so that it cannot be used as a hand hold.”

                “Of course.  Let’s go outside where I I’ll be able to see better and what gets cut can be taken with the wind.”  He nodded and they went outside.  He had grabbed a chair to use and had also brought a brush and a comb for her to use.  He sat down where the sun was still shining and she undid the leather tie holding his hair.  He put up a hand to take it from her so she gave it to him.  She brushed out his hair and then started cutting off length.  When she was done, his hair was scattered all over the grass and his hair had become closely cropped.  She left him a little length at the top and front of his head, but it wouldn’t be enough to get a grip on unless the person was within his striking range already.  “I need a razor to clean up your neck.”  He brought one to himself and gave it to her and she shaved the back of his neck so that it looked neat.  “You’re all done.”  She announced.

                He stood up and ran a hand through his hair.  “This should be good.  It’s going to be hard getting used to it, but I think this is what is necessary.  Thank you, Chelsea.”  He leaned down and kissed her.  “Don’t worry, I’ll grow it back out afterward.  It won’t take long at all.  Unless you prefer it short?”

                “You just don’t seem yourself with short hair.  I could become used to it, I suppose, but it’s weird.”

                He chuckled.  “I agree.”  They went back into the house and spent the evening reading and spinning.  The three former concubines looked up at him when he entered the room and nodded approvingly at the short hair.