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"They are not mad. They are vying for who will have the honor of carrying us as we lead our army."
Oh. "Are we going then?"
Kassam nods. "Today. With the return of the conmac, I have realized that there is no point in waiting. If someone wishes to join us, they will have done so. We cannot wait forever for my glorious return. I am needed back in my realm, where I can make a difference. I am stranded here, powerless and weak, and I hate it."
"You make it sound terrible," I say lightly, trying not to feel hurt. It's stupid to feel hurt. Of course he hates being stuck in the mortal realm.
"It is terrible," he agrees, then looks over at me as I slip out from under his arm. "You are the only thing that makes this bearable, my Carly, but I plan on having you at my side when I return, so why waste time?"
Why indeed. He says it so flippantly, despite the fact that we still haven't figured out the whole “the anchor needs to die” part of his return. He swears we will, but I haven't yet heard a solution. I'm trying not to worry because Kassam promised me. Even so…I can't help but think about it. "I see. So where are we taking the army again?"
"The birds whisper that there is a city of some size to the west of my resting place."
"Resting place?"
His sunny expression darkens. "The Blood Glacier."
Shit. Right. "Ah."
"I am not happy there is a city so near the mountains," he continues on as the griffins scream at one another again, and I wince, instinctively drawing closer to Kassam again. He pulls me against him automatically. "These lands are supposed to be wild. But I suppose I cannot fault those that settled in my territory when I was silent." He glances down at me. "If Lachesis has left Seth nearby, he will be there."
"So we take our army." I gesture at the animals that teem in the clearing and spread into the woods beyond. "And then what?"
His eyes gleam cruelly, and for a moment, he no longer looks like my cheery Kassam, but like a vengeful god. "Then we find Riekki and make her pay."
Traveling at the head of a “wild” army is…unlike anything I've ever experienced before. As we move out, the noise is deafening—birds calling, wolves howling, lions roaring, mountain goats bleating—it all rises into an endless cacophony that probably announces our presence before we come into sight. It's a slow-moving army, because even the animals with the shortest legs are valued as part of the “team” and so our army stretches out as far as the eye can see, across the rolling plains toward the snow-capped mountains in the west. The griffins finally settle on who is going to be Kassam's mount, and since our army is mostly ground-based, Kassam insists upon riding at the front instead of flying.
Because I'm an absolute weenie and not a horsewoman, I spend my time clinging to Kassam's back as we ride atop the largest griffin with no saddle of any kind. Sometimes he rides at the front, and sometimes the griffin flies along the winding path of the army, as if encouraging the back end to catch up. I'm amazed at the sheer number of animals that make up the barking, chirping, screeching, howling, hissing army.
The conmac slither in and out of the woods like shadows, darting amongst the trees at the edges of the army and appearing only long enough to remind us that they're still with us. Sometimes they're out of sight for so long that I start to wonder if they've gone, but then they appear once more. The message is clear—they're as reluctant to be part of this now as they were a thousand years ago.
We march onward, and as the zoo of an army trickles across the plains and toward the mountains, we leave a path of destruction in our wake. The grasses are trampled, the trees are stripped of their leaves from the herbivores, and skeletons line the edges of the path as the carnivores eat part of the army that marches toward the setting sun. When we fly overhead to supervise, it looks like a black stain moving over the countryside, and Kassam only clucks his tongue when I point out what sort of destruction he's causing. "They know it is my right to avenge myself against Riekki," is all he says. "They give their lives for me. Every tree, every rodent, every buck that dies in this fashion does so in my name, and they will be honored."
As I watch the conmac take down a bawling antelope, I don't know that I agree. This seems like…a lot. And Kassam isn't supposed to be a god of vengeance or of war. He's supposed to be a lover, not a fighter. I don't get it.
