The Crippled God

simpleton? Often, she well knew, the brain decayed irreparably in such creatures.
    The man standing beside the undead woman was now staring at her with his one working eye. ‘Did she say y’got the plague, Cap’n?’
    ‘No, Pretty, she said you’re an idiot. Now be quiet – better yet, gather up the crew, now that they’ve scattered every which way, and detail a burial party, and all that other stuff. Go on.’
    ‘Aye, Cap’n.’ Then he hesitated, and said in a hoarse whisper that all could hear, ‘It’s just, this one, she looks like she’s got a plague, don’t she? All white and all those veins on her arms, and—’
    ‘Go, Kaban. Now.’
    Nodding, the man limped off.
    Equity watched the woman who’d attacked her set about retrieving her weapons.
    ‘Inquisitor,’ said the sorceress, ‘we have no interest in suffering your … adjudication. Indeed, we proclaim you our enemy.’
    ‘Is blind hatred your only recourse?’ Equity demanded. ‘You name me “Inquisitor”, telling me that you know certain details of local significance. Yet that title is a presumption. You assume that allForkrul Assail are Inquisitors, and this is ignorant. Indeed, most of the Inquisitors we set upon the peoples of this land were Watered – as much human blood in their veins as Assail. We discovered a rather sweet irony in observing their zeal, by the way.’
    ‘Nevertheless,’ the sorceress retorted, even as she made imperative gestures towards her servant, ‘we must view you as our enemy.’
    ‘You still do not understand, do you? Your enemies are the Elders among the Pures, who seek the utter destruction of you and your kind, not just on this continent, but across the entire world.’
    ‘I am sure you understood why we might object to such desires,’ the sorceress said, and now her servant arrived, delivering into the young woman’s plump hand a clay pipe. She puffed for a moment, and then continued, ‘And while you appear to be suggesting that you do not share the zeal of your Elder Pures, I cannot help but wonder what has brought you here, to me.’
    ‘You have bargained with the Jaghut,’ said Equity.
    ‘They share our aversion to your notions of justice.’
    Frowning, Equity said, ‘I cannot understand what value the Jaghut see in you, a silly little girl playing at deadly magics, and beside you a lifeless abomination harbouring a parasite.’ She fixed her gaze upon the servant. ‘Is there a glamour about this one? If so, it is too subtle for me. Tell me, Sorceress, is she Jaghut?’
    ‘My handmaid? Goodness, no!’
    Equity’s eyes settled upon the ship in the bay. ‘Is he there?’
    ‘Who?’
    ‘Your ally – I would speak to him. Or her.’
    Smoke billowed and streamed. ‘I’m sorry, what ally?’
    ‘Where hides the Jaghut?’ Equity demanded.
    ‘Ah, I see. You misapprehend. I struck no bargain with any particular Jaghut. I merely sacrificed some blood for the privilege of Omtose Phellack—’
    The undead captain turned on the sorceress. ‘You did what? Errant’s nudge – that storm! You can’t—’
    ‘Necessity, Captain Elalle. Now please, cogitate in silence for the moment, will you?’
    ‘I am astonished,’ admitted Equity. ‘I did not imagine you to be so … thick.’
    ‘Thorns and rocks—’
    ‘You cannot bargain with Omtose Phellack – you are not Jaghut. No, you need a blessing, or personal intervention, and this is as true of a mortal as it is of an Elder God. That ship is Jaghut – its kind has not sailed the seas of this world for millennia. Where has it come from?’
    ‘From the realm of Omtose Phellack itself,’ said the sorceress.
    ‘No, that is not possible. Unless a Jaghut has journeyed into thewarren – but no, there is naught but ice – yonder ship was built in this world. Do you see now why this makes no sense?’
    ‘Not just ice, apparently.’
    ‘You have seen Omtose Phellack?’
    ‘My handmaid,’ said the sorceress. ‘It was she who journeyed through the gate. It was she who entered Omtose Phellack and returned with the ship.’
    Equity studied the woman with the bruised eyes. ‘Describe the place where you were, please.’
    ‘Enlighten her,’ ordered the sorceress when the handmaid hesitated.
    A shrug, and then, ‘Forest. Demons. Ravines. Vicious apes.’
    ‘You did not journey to Omtose Phellack,’ Equity pronounced. ‘The gate opened upon another realm, a different warren.’
    ‘That cannot be,’ objected the sorceress. ‘My