Free After the Fire (After the Fire: Book the First) by J.L. Murray Page B

too?”
    “No,”
said Fin. “Something more. Something more infinite. A mortal
could never have carried Zaric in her belly. She would have been
incinerated.”
    “What
is she, then?”
    “One
of the Sudice,” said Fin. “The Moirai where she is from.
The Fates.”
    “Then
Magda is...one of these too?”
    Fin
nodded. “Yes. But they are separated. They are vulnerable when
they are not together. Magda needs her sisters, just as her sisters
need Magda.” He looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Does
this mean you believe me?”
    Eleni
looked down at the wolf. She had been extraordinarily still at her
side. She barely felt the animal's breath as she leaned against her
leg. She looked up at her with yellow eyes and she felt calm. She
knew she had to trust this man—this
god, if he was telling the truth.
    “For
now,” said Eleni. “Until I see otherwise.”
    “I
can accept that,” said Fin.
    Eleni
shrugged. “You will have to.”
    They
walked much of the way in relative silence, Fin throwing her curious
looks from time to time. They stopped to rest only once, and Eleni
and the wolf went out of sight to hunt, coming back quickly with two
rabbits. The wolf licked happily at blood on her maw. Fin ate his
bread in silence as he watched Eleni skillfully skin and cook the
rabbit, using only her hands. She gave Fin back his drinking horn.
Fin protested, but Eleni simply shook her head.
    “I
tasted what you have inside. I did not like it.”
    Fin
laughed. “It's a treat where I come from,” he said.
    Eleni
looked up at the mountains. “It will be dawn soon,” she
said. The lightning flashed, forking across the width of two
mountains.
    “That's
the first one I've seen all night,” said Fin.
    “What?”
said Eleni.
    “The
lightning,” said Fin. “There must not be many to fight
this night.”
    Eleni
frowned. “I do not understand.”
    “You
know what the lightning is, don't you?” he said.
    “It
is lightning,” said Eleni. “It just is.”
    “Nothing
just is,” said Fin. “ It's Perun up there in those
mountains. He fights the gods who want to enter and won't take no for
an answer.”
    “Perun
is real?” said Eleni. “I thought that was just a tale my
mother told me.” But even as she said the words, a face flashed
in her mind. An angry face with a white beard.
    “Oh,
he's real enough,” said Fin. He rubbed his left shoulder. “I've
had my tangles with him, too. He hit me three times with that damned
lightning of his before he realized I wasn't a threat. The gods call
me the Traveler, you see. I help them all. I'm loyal to none.”
    Eleni
grunted, nodding and stuffing rabbit meat into her mouth. She wiped
the grease with the back of her hand. She chewed thoughtfully and
swallowed. “Why is he attacking gods that want to enter?”
    “Some
of the more powerful fellows, they get territorial. They don't want
other gods coming in and taking over. And since the fire,
well...there
are not as many people, are there?”
    “I
do not know,” said Eleni.
    Fin
smiled. Eleni noticed his mouth went lopsided when he smiled. One
canine had been chipped and looked sharper than the rest. She liked
the way he smiled.
    “No,”
he said. “There are not as many people to worship. Some places,
the people were wiped out. Some gods crave the worship like your wolf
craves meat and blood and killing. It makes them strong, invincible.
So they walk around like specters, looking for humans, anyone to
worship them. Perun doesn't like the other gods coming here. Everyone
knows what will happen if they come anyway, but some don't care. They
only think that there could be mortals about. Perun gives them one
chance to turn around, then he defends his land.”
    “It
is not his land,” said Eleni. “The land is the land.”
    “Indeed,”
said Fin. “But he calls it his. And none have yet beat him to
prove otherwise.”
    “It
sounds like a great waste of time,” said Eleni. She looked
toward the sky again. “We should go.