Read Book 08 - Petty Pewter Gods for Free Online

“Let’s have some details. Like who
was who down there and what you expect me to do.”
    “Meaning, if we really are gods, why not handle our
problems ourselves?”
    “Something like that.” She talked too much for any
god I ever heard of.
    “Even gods are constrained.”
    “How?”
    “We cannot, for example, invade the temple of the
Shayir. More will become evident in time. You haven’t
agreed to help.”
    I didn’t intend to, either. I didn’t tell her that.
I don’t have much use for gods of any sort. I figured what I
needed to do was be polite, stall, ride it out, and soon enough I
would be out of there. All the gods I had heard of had notoriously
short attention spans. They all wanted to go boff their
father’s girlfriend or their brother or their pet
three-headed dragon. Two hours after I was gone, these characters
wouldn’t remember me.
    ‘Are you going to help?”
    “You haven’t told me anything. I don’t even
know who I would be representing. I know the name of one lovely who
dotes on devastation. I know the name of a long drink of water who
has feathered ears. That’s not much.”
    “Jorken the Messenger. He is of no consequence.”
    “Then there are the big guys. Daiged, Rhogiro, and Ringo?
What are they?”
    “Avars. We inherited them. They were servants of the Old
Ones. They have no attributes but strength.”
    “Don’t forget ugly. They’re really big on
ugly.”
    “You have no idea. And of course, being you, you’re
really interested in Star.”
    “Star?”
    “She has an older name, but it means Morning Star. She is
the whore avatar of Woman, the Temptress, the temple prostitute who
always comes across.”
    “How romantic.”
    “I could see the romance in your eyes whenever you looked
at her.”
    “Some things we can’t control.”
    “Or you wouldn’t have followed Adeth.”
    “Adeth?”
    “The one trying to lead you into a trap. You are lucky we
were watching. You would not have enjoyed her company as much as
Star’s.”
    “The redhead? Some things we can’t
control.”
    “If you must lose it, concentrate on Star. She might get
interested. She hasn’t turned it on for you yet,
Garrett.”
    Wow. She ought to bottle and sell that indifference, then. Be a
comedown from the god racket, but she would get rich and famous and
maybe famous would put her feet on the ladder back to the top. I
could get rich myself, managing her. Cut myself a percentage of the
take and . . . 
    Sssss!
    Snakes out of green hair. Magodor was irritated. I don’t
think she could read my mind, but she was bright enough to realize
I wasn’t paying attention. I came alert fast. They might not
be gods, but they might believe they were and had every right to be
vicious and capricious. I put on my killer grin, hoisted an eyebrow
charmingly, said, “I’m awake! I’m awake!”
same as I used to tell the sergeant of the guard when he caught me
with my attention wandering back in those good old Marine Corps
days, dancing with the Venageti in the islands.
    “You don’t seem especially interested.”
    “Consider the mortal’s viewpoint. He’s been
kidnapped. He has a knife across his throat. Somebody supposedly
wants to hire him, but he can’t find out what for. You
haven’t said a word about payment. The one thing that does
come across is that these would-be employers don’t look any
more trustworthy or stable than any other gods.”
    With every word sweet Maggie grew less attractive. I quit before
she decided to drop me down a hole and interview elsewhere.
“Why not finish telling me about the others?”
    I basked in the pale green light of her disapproval. She
wasn’t used to backtalk. But she took control. Maybe she
was
desperate.
    Doubtless, in the shadows of her heart, she put a tick beside
“Garrett” in her book of destruction.
    “How about the boss couple? Who are they?”
    “Imar and Imara.” I didn’t have to be told,
brother and sister and man and wife. “Lord and Mistress