"Then we were both wrong."
Maybe we were. I shrug and lift the sodden shirt toward him, taking one arm and wiping it clean of ash and blood. "So what happens now?"
"To you and me, or to Seth and Riekki?" His tone is flat. Tired.
"Let's start with Seth and Riekki," I say, wiping down his bronze skin. He's covered in scratches and bruises, and my heart aches for him and all he must have seen today. "Unless you don't want to talk about it."
"I thought talking helped," he muses.
"Yeah, but they're assholes. I get it if you'd prefer not to dwell on them." I move the wet shirt over his chest, trying not to wince at the deep gouge he has across one shoulder.
Kassam chuckles. "They are indeed assholes." He lifts a finger and the songbird hops onto it, and he brings it to his face, rubbing his nose against its feathers. In the distance, I see a hesitant doe creeping forward, heading toward Kassam, and it makes me happy. He needs nature around him to heal, I realize. This is what he should have been doing for the last few weeks—communing with nature, not going on some crazy vengeance quest. I'm such an idiot for not realizing it sooner.
So when the deer moves over toward us and noses me, I scratch her side and then turn her soft black nose toward Kassam to pet. He immediately brightens, tugging the deer against him and tucking it under his arm as he rubs her flanks. Some of the light comes back into those silver eyes of his, and it makes me want to race through the woods, scooping up every animal and flinging it at him, just so he'll smile again.
I don't know when I came to rely on his smile, but my world doesn't feel quite right without it.
"You asked what Riekki will do now that she is cornered," Kassam says, petting the deer. "She will not bend, if that is what you are wondering. She will refuse to back down, because by now, she will have heard that Seth is coming for her position. She might insist upon having her anchor killed so she can ascend back to her realm, but since she has not done that yet, I suspect she knows the High Father would be displeased if she arranged for his or her death."
"How can he take her job from her?" I ask, curious. "How do you transfer godhood from one to another?"
Kassam rubs the deer's neck thoughtfully. "He is going to use her very nature against her." At my confused look, he continues. "He knows the High Father will not be looking upon her approvingly after she has attacked me. She is vulnerable and weakened. She needs something impressive to happen in this Anticipation to get back into the High Father's good graces. Instead, she will likely be put into chains and dragged about the countryside as Seth shows all of Aos that he is the new god of knowledge. That he has defeated Riekki. The more people that believe in him, the more his power will grow and hers will diminish. Then, when he is strongest, he can petition the High Father and the Twelve will decide if he should be the god of knowledge, or if it should yet remain Riekki. And if it goes to that, Riekki knows she will not triumph."
"And that plan will work?" For some reason, I'd thought all this time that we were going to kill Riekki. But of course she can't be killed. She's a goddess. Her anchor can be killed, but that will only send her home. "Just…holding her hostage and dragging her around the countryside until everyone decides that Seth should take her place?"
"Seth is clever. I suspect he has wormed his way into many seats over time." Kassam shrugs. "He knows that the strongest power for a god is that of belief. If no one believes in her and he spreads his name as the new god of knowledge, it will not matter if Riekki is willing to go along with it or not. The truth is always written by the victors."
So basically, he tells everyone that Riekki is powerless, and in doing so, makes it happen. Clever, and awful at the same time. Riekki will be forced to sit by and watch as Seth steals power from her, and because she's been a naughty girl, she can't even get help from the other gods, because she can't be trusted. "That's just so…subtle."
"Is it? It is effective, though. If someone had thought to take my seat amongst the gods while I was missing…" He trails off.
Poor Kassam. No wonder he was so very delighted each time he saw he had worshippers. Each person that remembered him brought power to him. No wonder he wanted to parade the animals through the countryside as we headed toward Hrit Svala. All of it was to tell people that he's returned. "So Seth has stepped on everyone and gets what he wants. And Riekki loses because she's a bigger asshole than Seth."