“Elkay, may I have a word?”
King Ver had an anxious look on his beaked face. There was clearly something bothering him.
“Of course.”
“In private?”
“Of course!”
There was definitely something wrong. The High General of the Retha and the King of the Vrekans had been good friends for a very long time. There was no mistaking Ver’s worries.
Ver led Elkay down to the normal office where they both often did paperwork together. The guards, both Vrekans and Rethans, nodded as they opened the door and gently closed it behind the two leaders. Ver had already asked for absolute privacy.
Elkay sat down on one of the two sofas, watching as Ver poured coffee and water into a glass, whizzed them together with a handheld mixer then added milk. When Ver was done, he stuck a straw into the drink and sat down next to Elkay.
“My friend, I must… I must tell you. Before I say anything else. The words I am about to say are very stupid.”
“I doubt it.”
“Well…” Ver sighed. “It is. Trust me.”
“I will not know how stupid or not your words are until you have said them…” Elkay replied, leaning forward. “Talk freely. As you normally would.”
“Alright…”
Ver took a deep breath. He hesitated, sipping his drink and playing with the straw. “I… I want you to talk to the Thantophor.”
“Why?”
“Because…” Ver grunted. “It’s funny. The Vrekans used to worship the Thantophor. We were a war-loving race. Times change. We do not worship him any more. But there is more to it. Our population is scared of him.”
Elkay tilted his head, confused. “What do you mean?”
“We run happiness polls of our populations. I do not have the full numbers yet. But the preliminary results… My people are worried and scared, Elkay. They fear that the Thantophor is not with us.”
The High General leaned back again. “The Thantophor is not with anything or anyone. It is a force of nature.”
“A force of nature that hangs around with Skyavok. And goes to drinking celebrations with them.”
“If said force of nature spent its time with young Vrekans, would you feel more comfortable?”
Ver shook his head. “No. We are worried because this god is playing with mortals. There are two fears at play here. Firstly we fear that a very small part of our population that still worships the Thantophor will grow. Become a larger part. Secondly, what if we end up like Temthans? Or Kronospasts? Tied to a deity?”
“Those are valid reasons to be worried. But how do you know what the Thantophor has been doing?”
The Vrekan king hesitated again. “Well… Our friends the Dessaron, and the newer group… well, mostly Elksia… We find out a lot from her.”
“You…”
“She constantly calls her brother. Who works in our intelligence department. Tells him everything. Every day. Hard to ignore that.”
“That is fair…” Elkay sighed. “And you do have a valid point. We could find ourselves in a theocracy if we are not careful…”
“Still, I ask much of you, Elkay… You cannot just speak to it.”
The High General shrugged. “I can try though. I can open a conversation with the Thantophor. He may be a deity, but he is an understanding one. He has walked the path of a mortal. He may be reasonable.”
“And what if he kills you?”
“I doubt he will kill me. He does like me, after all.”
“No. This is stupid. This is…” Ver was about to stand up, but Elkay stopped him.
“You asked me to trust you. You can trust me.”
“He might kill you.”
“Ver…” Elkay smiled. “We will all die by his hand in the end. The only difference is when we die. And trust me, he will not harm me today. He has said so before, it is not our time yet….”