A Destiny in Bronze (Bronze Age Fantasy)

That night you go to the Temple of El in Marad. The Temple itself is large. Larger than the one in Kavodel, though it serves fewer people, but it does not sing to your senses. Not like the ancient structure in Kavodel, at least. It is not as richly decorated and the offerings are humble things--small amounts of silver coins, chickens, and oaths make up most of them.

Marad is not a wealthy city. As near as you know, nobody in the entirety of the Protectorate possesses the wealth of a single patriarch in Kavodel. And the entirety of the Protectorate does not equal the wealth held by even a single of the truly elite lines of your people.

But wealth makes a poor measure of worth. The people you have met are happy, well fed, and Mishpat had been well managed. The knowledge of their doctors and skill of their midwives had especially impressed you. You hadn't had much opportunity to study with them and you hadn't truly appreciated the enormity of it.

You remember Leah the healer. The woman had been confident in her skills, hard won through study, not gained through virtue of lineage. You remember Akki and his disdain of the House of Zepath. That you could do more. That you should do more. That with the strength your people held--easily enough to dominate the entirety of Ur, until the Great Cities themselves--you could set the injustices of the world to right.

You had argued against him then, that your people held to their own duties, that other peoples were free to chart their own course. But how true was that? Didn't your people owe friendship to the Protectorate? Didn't they conquer the lands now held, imposing their will on those deemed 'lesser?'

And now your grandfather--the very man that had been the architect of the migration from the sea--hatched another scheme. To sacrifice the Protectorate in order to spare the rest of Ur. Which held more worth?

You're glad that you normally don't make these decisions. Is this what the eldest of your people dealt with every day of their existence? Would you one day be in such a position?

Not if I can help it, you resolve to yourself. You think you can handle whichever decision you make today. But you don't think you can accept much more. You won't engineer the death of a people, all to slay some terrible demon.

All of this and more fills your mind as you enter the Temple to El. The interior is surprisingly full, considering the time of night, but you suppose that's the result of such a militarized city. Soldiers ending their shift and choosing piety over beer, giving their thanks for surviving another day. Perhaps praying for a promotion or re-assignment, or maybe that their wife survive childbirth.



You have your own sacrifice prepared. You had accumulated a not insignificant amount of wealth in your life. Monster slaying might be dangerous work but it pays well, even if you rarely pursue the opportunity.

You place the gems you claimed from the lizard monster upon the altar. You add to this silver coins--each of the highest purity, inscribed with the seal of Kavodel--upon it as well. You add to this your own fervent prayers as you pour sacred oil upon the offering. A nearby priest approaches. He holds a candle in his hand.

You begin to pray for guidance and wisdom.

He touches the candle to the offering.

You have experienced many strange things in your life. You have access to knowledge and abilities that even the most Blooded of men lack. Among these, you have recently become aware of a single fact.

You are Watched. You do not know who Watches. You do not know what Watches. Simply that you are Watched, in every second of your life, for as long as you have known you are Watched.

You are especially Watched in this moment. Every part of your body and soul screams this fact. And your Watcher--or at least one of them--approaches now.

A TREMENDOUS PRESENCE DESCENDS FROM ON HIGH! THAT WHICH RESTS UPON THE MOUNTAIN HAS MOVED!

The flame upon the altar leaps high and burns hot! Far hotter than it should, a great bonfire where once a small flame had stood! The people in the Temple cry out in shock and surprise and prostrate themselves upon the floor!

You avert your gaze so as to not be struck dead by the smallest reflection of His light!

You hear no voice. No man save Labaras, in those ancient days, has heard the voice of El. You receive no instruction. But information is made available to you.

Your divination had not been complete. The flaws are clear to you now. You cannot predict the actions of the Almighty. You cannot predict the actions of your grandfather. All else... all else, given the correct circumstances... might be seen and predicted? But never those two.

And El shall take no action, except one. Motes of blue light gather from all around you. They come together upon the altar, though you cannot see it directly. The immense Presence leaves the Temple and the small motes continue to gather.

In the smoke from the offering, you see an image. An immense tree grows from the earth. It is powerful and ancient and bears many fruit. The fruit falls from the tree and is consumed by the creatures of the sky and the earth, though the tree itself falls prey to blight and disease. The seeds are spread far and wide. The tree's offspring exists in many places, across the entirety of the world, though the original tree has died.

The fire of your offering dies. In place of the offering is an amulet. It does not register to your senses. The amulet depicts a mountain of a white stone, textured like tree bark, and inlaid with blue gems. Yet even as you take it, it shifts and changes into mundane gold, depicting the same mountain.

You place it upon your neck. It feels right.

The priest that lit the offering stands to his feet. He is obviously shaken, face pale and eyes wide.

"Praise be to El!" he exclaims. You leave before he can question you.

That offering had... not had the effect you expected. But you take a moment to really consider everything. You had sworn to help defend the Protectorate. But it had not been an oath, not truly. And you were truly out of your depth.

If you simply... let things play out, as intended, what would be the outcome? You had thought the deaths of many, many people and the destruction of a people that you had come to appreciate. And you know El will not intervene.

But your grandfather? He cannot be predicted either. The entire thing is his plan, but if he cannot be predicted, how could you see his plan to begin with? Had he specifically allowed you to see some bit of it? To test you? To see if you trusted him?

Or maybe you had seen the fullness of his schemes. You couldn't know for sure. You find yourself fingering the amulet, pulled from the altar, and come to a decision.

I will trust in my elders. You are a woman of sixteen years--nearly seventeen, now--but your grandfather had been scheming for centuries. You had to trust that whatever cost would be paid, would be worth it in the end.

And El did not seem to object to your grandfather's plan, not enough to intervene at any rate. At least not intervene beyond the amulet granted to you. It is completely invisible to your Presence senses and its appearance is completely mundane, if somewhat extravagant.

---

The next morning you find yourself before Eliezer. Your teacher summarizes what you know.

"The Bnaimokt will be here in nine days. First, they will assault the city with some sort of sorcery. It's difficult to say what the sorcery will be, but it is likely to detroy the fortifications of the city. We believe that behemoths will follow--or, perhaps, some other horror they have tamed? But behemoths fit the evidence."

Eliezer's face grows increasingly grim as your teacher speaks. You don't think this is what he wanted to hear.

"Following this, the actual armies will come. Perhaps a hundred and fifty thousand? Maybe more? Either way, it means little. It is more than your people have ever faced. Frankly, I'm shocked that this happens now, and not upon the Jubilee."

Eliezer speaks.

"We will not have help from Mishpat. The tyrants to our north have joined together once more. They invade to the north. They sought reinforcements from us, but we have none to spare. This... is no coincidence, I think. The Bnaimokt have made pact with men before, I fear that they have done so again."

He considers he next words carefully.

"Are... is it possible, for reinforcements from Kavodel to arrive? Do you have a means to contact them? Perhaps your master?" he asks your teacher.

Puabi appears to think for a moment and then shakes her head.

"I'm sorry, but no. Perhaps the king or my master could arrive here in time, and surely either could repel the assault, but we have no means to contact them. Not to mention that it exposes Kavodel itself to danger, with its greatest defenders elsewhere. We will have to make do with what we have."

Eliezer releases a breath.

"Then we are doomed, here, in this place. I will not fight a losing battle. Marad has been lost before, it will be lost again. Zana, do you believe that you can guide the citizens out of here, before the arrival of the Bnaimokt? Food shouldn't be an issue. Our stores are large."

A difficult proposition but not impossible. Though...

"The Bnaimokt will pursue. They want captives above all else. Blood fuels their sorcery and slaves work their mines. The journey itself shouldn't be too hard--demons and monters aren't that common in this region, and most are not so terrible. But we have a very real risk of being run down anyway."

Eliezer turns to a large map of the region that hangs on the wall.

"We will hold them here, at Marad, as best we can. Try to give you time to escape to Mishpat. When word spreads of the Bnaimokt invasion, the tyrants to the north should retreat. They will not risk being associated with demons. Their own rivals will strike at them, and the Great Cities might even seek reprisal for such."

"Then it seems we are in agreement, yes?" your teacher says.

The only question is... are you?

[] Agree to retreat to the north, with the bulk of the civilian population of Marad. The city itself is doomed, best to deny resources to the enemy.

[] Insist that others can lead the retreat. You are a Blooded woman of significant skill. You will help buy time for the civilians to retreat.