In this sweeping epic fantasy comes a story of magic, betrayal, love, and loyalty, where two sisters will clash on opposite sides of a war against the gods.
Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Andrea Stewart’s The Gods Below, which is out now.
A divine war shattered the world leaving humanity in ruins. Desperate for hope, they struck a deal with the devious god Kluehnn: He would restore the world to its former glory, but at a price so steep it would keep the mortals indebted to him for eternity. And as each land was transformed, so too were its people changed into strange new forms – if they survived at all.
Hakara is not willing to pay such a price. Desperate to protect herself and her sister, Rasha, she flees her homeland for the safety of a neighboring kingdom. But when tragedy separates them, Hakara is forced to abandon her beloved sister to an unknown fate.
Alone and desperate for answers on the wrong side of the world, Hakara discovers she can channel the magic from the mysterious gems they are forced to mine for Kluehnn. With that discovery comes another: her sister is alive, and the rebels plotting to destroy the God Pact can help rescue her.
But only if Hakara goes to war against a god.
Hakara
10 years after the restoration of Kashan and 571 years after the Shattering
Langzu – the Otangu clan mulberry orchard
The oral histories of the Aqqila peoples have been passed from one generation to the next, through barriers into new realms, though with each restoration, their numbers become fewer. Their stories say that the god Irael once had dalliances with mortals. But oral histories are flawed and we must rely on what is written – in ink, in charcoal and in stone.
Thassir was right. The den sent godkillers. I counted four.
In one sense, their early arrival was a blessing – the guards converged at the entrance to the orchard to greet them, and we were able to rush to the wall opposite, climbing and sitting atop it like a ghastly set of statues. The orchard trees were lush, the leaves shielding us from view. Thassir had to crouch so low he was nearly lying down.
In another sense, it meant we were behind in our plans.
“Shit,” Alifra muttered into the darkness. “We won’t get to it before they do. We didn’t finish laying out the traps.”
They would find the corestone and they would converge upon it before we could set up a distraction. “I counted four godkillers,” I said. “There are eight of us.”
“And five Otangu guards with more probably in reserve. Plus godkillers move in packs of three, meaning there are at least six,” Dashu reminded me, smoothing a hand over his goatee. “Eight against at least eleven isn’t good odds, Hakara. And I can guarantee you, in spite of your most fervent wishes, the godkillers are not stupid.”
He was right. They weren’t good odds. “We can be quick. Thassir can fly. We go in, kill the godkiller with the corestone, and Thassir flies it out.”
Thassir’s voice was a rumble in his chest. “That leaves everyone else scrambling to escape a walled orchard while there are godkillers on their heels. I won’t do it.”
I bit my lip. The corestone was right there, somewhere in this orchard. We were too close. “What’s better? Getting it now, or trying to retrieve it from a den filled with godkillers? This is our chance.”
Dashu let out a sharp breath. “You’re right. Much as I don’t like to admit it, we won’t have many better opportunities. We’ve been lucky to hear of two corestones in so little time. And restoration is getting closer. The whole of Langzu can feel it. It’s worth my life if you all agree it’s worth yours.”
Everyone gave grim little nods, and a part of me sank, curling within myself. I wasn’t fighting for their cause. I was fighting for one person. But wasn’t that enough? Didn’t that still mean something?
Thassir, next to me, tensed. He always seemed tense, but he’d gone from log to boulder. I followed his gaze and saw a slim black cat picking its way through the orchard. “It’s close to the trap.”
Alifra let out a soft groan. “It’s going to spring it.”
“Let it,” Dashu said. “It’s just a cat. We go down there now, we risk being seen.”
Thassir was already pushing himself up.
“Thassir,” I said, my voice low and filled with warning. I knew that look in his eye. I’d seen it each time he’d grimly picked up one of his cats and taken it to the doctor, unheeding of the needle-like claws latched into his forearm. “We are not stopping to save a cat. We are not.”
“We stopped,” he said simply, dropping his legs over the side of the wall. “We are saving the cat.”
And then he was gone, and I had only the soft slip of feathers against my grasping palm before my hand was empty. I cursed beneath my breath. I cursed Kluehnn, I cursed every elder god whose name I could remember, I cursed Thassir’s mother, his father, all his ancestors and all his possible future children.
We were two steps off track and quickly careening into the unknown.
Dashu held out a hand to forestall any of the rest of us from creeping into the orchard. He gestured at the walls. “Stick to the plan. Keep watch. Spread out. Whoever sees the corestone uncovered, go in for the attack. The rest of us will do our best to pull the other godkillers and the guards away. Hakara. Keep an eye on Thassir.”
Everyone else moved, creeping away from the spot we’d climbed to. I was rooted to my place on the wall, watching Thassir as he ducked beneath the branches, silently moving toward the cat, moonlight limning his rolling shoulders. Something about them captivated me, and I had to tear my gaze away to watch the godkillers below conduct their search.
My lips went numb. Dashu was right, there were six godkillers. One must have been crowded in with the others, short enough to escape notice. Another appeared out of the darkness, finished with whatever business had taken her away from her brethren. And they didn’t split up to canvass the orchards. They were measuring the green grass on the ground with their hands, one of them writing notes on a piece of parchment, another holding a lamp to provide light.
They weren’t moving about haphazardly. They would uncover the corestone together. Which meant our odds had worsened considerably.
I couldn’t see Dashu through the darkness and the trees. We had no further direction. Brush rustled as the godkillers strode toward Thassir. Thassir moved unerringly toward the cat.
By all rights, I should have just sat there, let the scene play out. Would the cat spring the trap or would one of the godkillers do it?
And then I was down the wall, the grass brushing my shins as I crept after Thassir, doing my best, in vain, to be just as quiet as he was. The cat was lingering near the trap Alifra had placed, tail lashing, crouched in the grass. I’d nearly reached Thassir’s side when it pounced on something.
Both Thassir and I froze. It had come very close to the pressure plate Alifra had covered with a thin layer of dirt. That thing was meant to hurt godkillers. The little beastie wouldn’t stand a chance. Neither would we.
The grass nearby rustled. We both hit the ground right before the godkillers appeared out of the darkness, one of them carrying a lantern. Blades of grass partially obscured the view, but they stopped at a nearby tree. One of them began to dig. I reached out and touched Thassir’s ankle, squeezing so he’d know I was there. He glanced back at me before focusing not on the godkillers, but on that damned cat.
It wandered closer to the pressure plate.
“Thassir,” I hissed, risking the sound. I knew he’d heard me, but he didn’t even flinch. “It’s a cat. Don’t even—”
For the second time that night, he slipped out of my grasp. He was surging out of the grass, he was darting forward, he was sweeping up the cat beneath one arm. The beast yowled and all six godkiller heads whipped in our direction.
At least we were no longer careening into the unknown. We were knee-deep in a shit-filled creek with no obvious way to get to shore.
Without even speaking, two of the godkillers peeled off and drew their knives.
I pushed myself to my feet. No use trying to hide anymore. My hand went to the pouch with the god gems, but I stopped myself before I could clutch it. Thassir had saved the cat from the trap. Which meant no one had tripped it yet.
As though he could sense exactly where my mind had wandered, he cast me a glance. He lifted the cat to his mouth and kissed its head as it growled.
Gross. The thing was probably absolutely covered with fleas.
But I knew from the look Thassir had given me that he was thinking exactly what I was. They might have drawn their knives, they might know we were up to no good, but these godkillers didn’t know who or what we were yet, and there was no reason to let them know until we’d seized the advantage.
“Cat jumped the wall,” I said with my best wobbly smile. “Had to get it back. Sorry.”
They stalked toward us, giving no indication they’d heard me at all. Thassir took a couple steps back, his wings down as he tried to shrink himself into something a little less imposing. I took his arm as he came abreast of me, adjusting his stance, making sure the pressure plate was right between us and the godkillers.
I held up my hands. Had to look real pathetic so they’d just come straight at us instead of circling for a better position. “We’re just nearby farmers.”
One of them looked at the short sword strapped to my belt, hesitated, a frown pulling at the brown scales on his cheeks.
Only one thing for it. I pulled a gem from one of my pouches, tossed it back, and turned to run at the same time Thassir did. And the godkillers, like dogs watching fleeing prey, did what came naturally to them. They pursued.
Aether surrounded me, and I took in a deep, sharp breath of it.
I heard a soft click as one of them stepped on the pressure plate. White powder burst from the tree above, dusting the air around them.
And then it exploded.
I stepped to the side to protect Thassir, letting the brunt of the explosion hit me. I’d taken one of the invincibility god gems. For a split second, the heat of it seared my back. And then I felt only warmth, like a spring breeze. Thassir was next to me as soon as the heat and light died away, leaning down to let the cat free. His mouth stopped near my ear. “Are you—”
“I’m not hurt, thanks to you. Quick thinking.”
“Only following your lead.” Was that quirk to the corner of his mouth a smile, or just a trick of the light? Not important. I turned to see one godkiller falling to the ground, engulfed in flames. The second one was patting out a fire on her arm.
Behind them, I caught the first glow of the corestone from the hole the other four godkillers were digging. Quickly, I tossed two more gems into my mouth. And then I was hurtling forward, unable to reverse my momentum. The corestone was there and I would have it in my hands if it killed me. I would have it in my hands and I would give it to Mitoran and I’d find Rasha.
One of the godkillers was lifting the corestone out of the ground. Another peeled off to confront the guards. The penalty for smuggling god gems was death. The Sovereign might not have cared to always prosecute the smugglers, but Kluehnn was different. The guards might not have had anything to do with it. They might not have known. But that godkiller would find a way to make them give up the names of those who had known.
Four. That meant I was only facing four, and one of those still nursing a burned arm. For now, at least. It wasn’t what we’d planned on, but it was better than six.
The aether surrounded me – Thassir doing his part, no matter how much he disapproved. I took a couple quick breaths and then sucked in the bitter taste of seawater and held it. My ribs and hips begin to itch. The god limbs sprouted, their strength flooding through my veins. I plucked the sword from the scabbard at my side and darted forward.
The godkiller with the gem tried to dodge, but she was too slow. She screamed when I hamstrung her. I felt Thassir take flight behind me, heard rustling in the distance as the others rushed in.
The corestone fell from her limp fingers and I caught it.
Eight Unanointed against four godkillers and five guards? Time to find out how shit those odds really were.
