The Gods Returned -- Chapter Two

Aylander was beside himself with amusement when Thaddeus returned to their camp.  He gave no outward sign of it, of course – doing so, for him, would have taken a large part of the fun out of it – but, due to the bond he, Thaddeus, and Zoe shared, Thaddeus could read it effortlessly.  Which, when Aylander sensed Thaddeus’s irritation at his brother’s jocular mood, and then immediately gave off a stab of irritation of his own, was why Thaddeus couldn’t help but grin at him.  The death glare – and subsequent turning of the back – that Aylander met the grin with made Thaddeus chuckle.
    “You should go easier on your brother, you know,” Zoe said.
    Thaddeus looked at her and raised an eyebrow.  “And why is that?” he asked.
    Zoe folded her arms across her chest, meeting Thaddeus’s raised eyebrow with one of her own.  “Don’t you already know?  We’re supposed to be the ‘Three Who Are One,’ aren’t we?”
    Thaddeus felt a slight flush creep into his cheeks.  “That was too much, wasn’t it?” he asked.
    “Maybe a little.”  Zoe grinned.  “At least Garrold didn’t soil himself.”
    “I’m surprised he hasn’t tried prostrating himself before us, yet,” Aylander said, turning back toward the conversation. 
    “I think he knows better,” Thaddeus said.  “I hope so, anyway.”
    “And what if he doesn’t?  What if he makes the mistake of treating you like an actual god?”
    Thaddeus frowned.  “I am an actual god.”
    “Are you?  Are any of us?  Yes, I did think I was a god, and I certainly feel much more powerful than I ever have, before, but I can still die.  Gods are supposed to be immortal, Thaddeus.  We aren’t.  No, whatever it was that came down and helped Zoe and I restore you?  That’s the real god, and the sooner we come to terms with that, the better.”
    “Aylander may be right,” Zoe said.
    Thaddeus looked at her.  “What do you mean?  Surely you can see the implications of what’s happened to the three of us are.  We are supposed to head up a new Divine Council.”  He turned back to Aylander.  “And as for us not being immortal?  The last Divine Council wasn’t immortal, either.”
    “Do you think they knew that?” Aylander asked.  “The same way that we do?”
    Thaddeus almost told him that of course they knew, but then stopped himself.  What if they hadn’t known?  At the end, of course, when the Demon Lords had been slaughtering them, they’d known, but what if, before that, they hadn’t?  What if they’d been so sure of their immortality that they’d allowed it to make them complacent?  What if that certainty was what the Demon Lords had exploited in order to all but wipe them out?  “I don’t know,” Thaddeus admitted, at last.
    “No, you don’t.”
    “So, what should we do about it?” Zoe asked, looking at Aylander.
    Aylander looked back at her.  “I wish I knew.  I do know, however, that we are not gods.”
    “Maybe not,” Thaddeus said.  He gestured off to the left, toward Garrold’s camp.  “To them, though, we are.  And, somehow, I think that gives them hope.  We shouldn’t take that away from them.”
    Aylander raised his eyebrows.  “I never said we should.  I just think that, for the time being, we need to be careful about what we assume about ourselves.”  He paused, his look becoming more pointed.  “And about what weaknesses we decide to show to others.”
    “What are you suggesting?  Do you mean I should allow Garrold to address me like I’m superior to him?  I’m – we’re – supposed to be helping him, not treating him like someone who is subject to our will.”
    “Gods are supposed to help mortals,” Zoe put in.  “That’s why people pray.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that the people praying believe that they are subject to their god’s will.  It merely means that they recognize their god can do more than they can.  Which, given the abilities the three of us now have, certainly applies to us.”
    Thaddeus regarded the other two in silence for a moment.  Then he smiled and shook his head.  “Listen to you two,” he said.  “It’s only been two days since whatever happened to us, and you’re already taking things better than I am.”
    “Well,” Zoe said with a smirk, “I was a Cleric.”  She nodded at Aylander.  “And he was a Sword Priest, once upon a time.  I think that gives us a more philosophical viewpoint on some things.”
    Thaddeus smirked back.  “Aren’t philosophers supposed to be mad, though?”
    “Indeed,” Aylander said.  His eyes glowed green, and his voice became the same unified voice Thaddeus had used on Garrold.  “But we’re in good company.”
    That made all three of them laugh.
    They resumed packing up their camp.  They all knew they needed to get moving – Thaddeus most of all – but none of them had any idea where to go.  After Hel had taken what she wanted from Thaddeus’s mind, she and the other Demon Lords had vanished.  At first, Thaddeus had thought they’d simply gone back into the Sundered Halls to plan their next move, but, as his new powers had begun to manifest themselves, he’d discovered that he could send magical probes into the Halls of Twilight, of which the Sundered Halls were a part.  One probe he’d sent had revealed the Sundered Halls to be empty, but had given him no clues as to where the Demon Lords might have gone.  Of course, if his memories had still be intact – particularly those parts of them he had absorbed from the Hidden King before killing him – Thaddeus would have had some idea of where to look.  The only thing left of those parts of his memory, though, were echoes, placeholders that told him nothing more than they had once been there.
    “So, have you given any more thought as to where we should go?” Zoe asked.
    “You know I have,” Thaddeus said.  “I’m still as much at a loss as I was, before.”
    Zoe looked at him and frowned.  “I remember something,” she said.  “Something from a dream I had right after I put your soul back together.  I think it might be important.”
    Thaddeus raised his eyebrows.  “The vision you had of Mother Catharzen?”
    Zoe nodded.  “There was a shelf bursting with scrolls in her chamber.  Thaddeus, you were actually in her chamber, right?  When you opened the box that held Adarion’s amulet?”
    “That’s right,” Thaddeus said.  “And I think I do remember seeing the shelf you’re talking about.”
    Aylander joined them.  Their campsite was now largely clear.  “What are you two talking about?” Aylander asked.
    Thaddeus looked at him.  “Not to put too fine a point on it,” he said, “but I think we’re going back to the Mountains of the Moon.”
    “Why?”
    “There’s a shelf in Mother Catharzen's chamber,” Zoe said.  “A shelf full – more than full – of ancient scrolls.”
    “You think those scrolls might be able to help us find out where the Demon Lords have gone?”
    “It’s possible,” Thaddeus said.  “Even if they don’t, though, there’s probably something useful in them.  They are, after all, more than three thousand years old.”
    “Written history, aside from a few scattered myths and legends, only goes back about three thousand years,” Zoe said.  She looked at Thaddeus.  “You’re sure the scrolls are older than that?”
    “Positive,” Thaddeus said.
    “Then that’s where we have to go.”
    “Indeed,” Aylander said.  “Besides, I want to get a look at Mother Catharzen’s chamber for myself.”
    “As do I,” Zoe said quietly.  “There’s a corpse there I have to bless.”
    Aylander looked at her.  “A corpse?”
    Zoe gave him a sour look.  “Don’t get any ideas,” she said.  “Not until I’ve gotten a chance to bless her, anyway.”
    “Don’t get any ideas?” Aylander said, trying to sound shocked.  “What do you think I am, some kind of Necromancer?”
    “No,” Thaddeus said, smiling, “but you are the God of Death.”
    Aylander looked at him, but said nothing.  He did return Thaddeus’s smile, however.  Then the three of them vanished.