Not too proud, the emperor noted. Those god-cursed priests and Servants hate bowing to me. This man is smart.
“Rise.” The visitor obeyed, but kept his eyes downcast. “So you are the Wise Man of Karienne,” the emperor stated. “Do you have a name as well as a title?”
The Wise Man nodded. “My name is Eralayo Scribe. Or Ero.”
“You’ve been preaching for some time. If I was not so...” the emperor gestured at the bed “... so indisposed I would come to listen to you.”
“I am honored you say so.”
“Which is why I have brought you here. Tell me about this Maker you speak of.”
The Wise Man looked up in surprise. He glanced at the emperor’s companion, then met the emperor’s eyes again. His shoulders rose and fell as he gathered his courage. Then he straightened.
“We are all creations of the Maker,” he said. “Everything was made by him. Every animal, every plant, every man and woman. Even the dust beneath your feet. Even the gods.”
He paused and swallowed audibly. “The Maker made the world, and his purpose is a mystery to us. We wonder why he made such a flawed world. The Maker made creatures that we consider evil. But why do we consider them evil? Because they kill?” He spread his hands. “A reyna eats plants. Plants are living things as well. The reyna kills the plant it eats. We fear the leramars and the vorns because they can kill us, but they do not do so out of malice, but hunger. We dislike them because they eat our stock. That is not evil, just costly.”
The emperor smiled at that.
“We wonder why the Maker made mortals capable of evil,” the Wise Man continued. “There is much about the Maker that we do not understand. We have only just begun to perceive him. Perhaps in time he will allow us to understand more.”
The Wise Man fell silent, but his expression was expectant. He has preached so many times, he knows how to spur people into asking the right questions, the emperor thought.
“How do you know this Maker is not some figment of your imagination?”
“For some, they only need look inside themselves. To close their eyes and search. The knowledge is there. It has always been there. We have simply never stopped to look for it before, because the evidence for the existence of the old gods was so obvious we never looked beyond it. The Maker does not make his existence known through magic. As the gods were beings of magic, the Maker is a being of all. Of everything. Of the world.”
“You say the Maker created the gods. How is it that they were destroyed, then?”
The Wise Man shrugged. “He has given all things a weakness, perhaps to ensure that nothing can dominate forever. Eventually the gods’ weaknesses had led to their destruction.”
“And will the weaknesses of mortals lead to their destruction?”
“Perhaps. But not for a long time, I’d guess. We are a resilient creation, despite our weaknesses.”
The emperor smiled. He paused as his breathing became more difficult. His companion brought the burner of cleansing herbs closer. When his lungs had cleared a little, the emperor looked at the Wise Man again. “Does the Maker preserve souls?”
Again, the Wise Man shrugged. “I do not know. But the Maker does not waste anything. When we reap the ograsi, we kill the plant, but the stalk rots and feeds the soil, and the seeds feed and nourish us. Our bodies may return to the world in the same way, enriching it and becoming new life. It may be that our souls are the same.”
The emperor considered this. He nodded. “That is all for now,” he croaked, feeling constriction returning. “Leave me.”
The Wise Man abased himself again, then, wearing a thoughtful expression, left the room. Sagging against the pillows, the emperor breathed the fumes of the herbs once more, then looked up at his one remaining son.
“I like this man and his Maker,” he said. “What did you think?”
Herayla nodded. “I can see no threat in it and plenty of potential.”
“So you approve?”
“Yes.” Herayla’s brow furrowed. “We have had fifty years of lies and disorder since the gods died. We need something to unite the people. This idea of a Maker, who created all, has many appealing qualities. Especially the idea that we all have a few weaknesses. It can’t hurt for the people to expect and forgive a few bad traits.”
“Don’t push them too far,” the emperor warned.
Herayla smiled. “You know I won’t.”
“No, you are too clever for that,” the emperor agreed. “I have to admit, I’m glad it’s over. I just have to live long enough to declare that I, the Emperor of Sennon, who has traditionally never favored one religion over another, have converted to the cult of the Maker. It will be a powerful gesture. After that, the world is yours to rule.” He drew in a shallow breath and sighed. “I hope, for your sake, it works.”
Herayla smiled. “Don’t worry, Father. Whether this Maker exists or not, he can’t possibly make as great a mess as the gods did.”
The emperor chuckled. “I hope you are right, my son. I hope you are right.”
Glossary
VEHICLES
platten - two-wheeled vehicle
tarn - four-wheeled vehicle
windboat - a boat that uses windpower to travel across the desert
windsailers - the boat’s operator
PLANTS
dembar - tree with magic sensitive sap
drimma - fruit of Southern Ithania
felfea - tree of Si
florrim - tranquilizing drug
fronden - fern/bracken-like plants
garpa - tree; seeds are a stimulant
heybrin - cure believed to protect against sexually transmitted diseases
hroomya - coral that produces a blue dye
kwee bulbs - the edible fruit of a seaweed
mallin - herb that promotes circulation
mytten - tree with wood that burns slowly
ograssi - grain crop of Sennon
rebi - fruit found in Si
saltwood - wood that is resistant to decay
sea tube - ink-producing coral
shendle - plant on forest floor
sleepvine - uses telepathic compulsion to trap prey
smokewood - bark with stimulating qualities
velweed - cure for haemorrhoids
wemmin - fleshy flower
winnet - tree that grows along rivers
yan - tubers on forest floor
ANIMALS
aggen - mythical monster that lives in mines
amma - believed to be giantfish tears
arem - domestic, for pulling plattens and tarns
ark - predatory bird
breem - small animal hunted by Siyee for food
bulfish - shellfish that lives on rocky outcrops
carmook - small pet native to Sennon
dartfly - stinging insect of northeast mountains
doi - playful sea creature
fanrin - predator that hunts gowts
flarke - sea predator
garr - giant sea creature
giantfish - enormous sea creature
girri - wingless birds, domesticated by Siyee
glitterworm - insect that glows in the dark
gowt - domestic animal bred for meat and milk, resides in mountains
kiri - large predatory bird
leramar - predator with telepathic ability
lightfish - fish that glows in dark waters
lyrim - domestic herd animals
moohook - small pet
ner - domesticated animal bred for meat
roale - large sea creature
roro - carnivore of the Dekkan jungle
shem - domestic animal bred for milk
shrimmi - freshwater shellfish
spikemat - spiney creature of reefs
spinerake - landwalker name for flarke
starfan - fish with deadly sp
ines
takker - large snake
tiwi - insects that make a hive
veez - cute, telepathic pet that can speak
vorn - wolf-like animals
woodfish - tasteless fish
yern - deer-like, limited telepathy
yeryer - venomous sea creature
zapper - stinging insect
CLOTHING
circ - circular overgarment worn by Circlian priests and priestesses
octavestim - garb of the Priests of Gareilem
tawl - overgarment worn draped over shoulders fastened at throat
tunic - dress for women, shirt for men
undershift - undergarment for women
FOOD
coopa - Dunwayan drink
firespice - spice from Toren
flatloaf - dense bread
nutmeal - paste made from nuts, Si
rootcakes - patties of boiled and fried roots
wafercakes - fried, flaky pastry
DRINK
ahm - drink of Somrey, usually warmed and spiced
drai - Elai drink
fwa - Dunwayan drink
jamya - ceremonial drink of Pentadrians
kahr - Sennon drink
maita - stimulating non-alcoholic drink
teepi - Siyee drink
teho - drink of Sennon
tintra - Hanian drink
tipli - Toren drink
DISEASES
hearteater - disease that attacks lungs
lungrot - disease that, funnily enough, rots the lungs
woundrot - the festering of a wound
BUILDINGS
blackstone - stone that is dark-colored
safehouse - place where Dreamweavers can stay
wayhouse - place for travellers to stay in
whitestone - stone that is pale-colored
OTHER
canar - Sennon coin
sleepease - sleeping drug
smokewood - recreational drug
Acknowledgments
Many thanks:
“The Two Pauls” and Fran Bryson who read the roughest of the rough drafts. Also to Jennifer Fallon, Russell Kirkpatrick, Glenda Larke, Fiona McLennan, Kaaren Sutcliffe, Tessa Kum for their feedback. To all the readers, especially all my friends on Voyager Online. And, finally, to Diana Gill and the Eos team, and to Matt Stawicki for the fabulous cover illustrations.
About the Author
TRUDI CANAVAN is the author of the bestselling Black Magician trilogy - The Magician’s Guild, The Novice, and The High Lord - as well as Priestess of the White and Last of the Wilds, Books One and Two of her Age of the Five trilogy. She lives in a little house on a hillside, near a forest, in the Melbourne suburb of Ferntree Gully in Australia. She has been making up stories about things that don’t exist for as long as she can remember, and was amazed when her first published story received an Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story in 1999. A freelance illustrator and designer, she also works as the designer and Art Director of Aurealis, a magazine of Australian Fantasy & Science Fiction. You can visit her website at www.trudicanavan.com.
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Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
VOICE OF THE GODS. Copyright (c) 2006 by Trudi Canavan. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Microsoft Reader
January 2007
ISBN 978-0-06-126118-3
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