The Coward and the Wolf Ch. 06

"So, can you at least tell me who sent them?" Steve asked. He had finally decided that whatever was on his plate was a mushroom of some kind. He didn't much like mushrooms.

"From what you have said, and from the bodies recovered, I would say the most likely perpetrator is The Holy Elven Order."

Steve stopped poking his mushroom, "Just the Holy Elven Order? I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure the majority of the people in that room weren't elves."

Incoming elaboration. It never hurt to pretend to be dumber than you were. He got free information for asking dumb questions. Any second now she was going to roll her eyes and give him a much needed rundown.

Bridgett resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "I can assure you, the Insectoids that were in that room were not from the Insect Kingdoms."

Steve pretended to be dubious, "Oh, and how would you know that?"

Bridgett didn't bother to resist her eye rolling urges this time, "Because if Insectoids from the Insect Kingdoms were trying to kidnap you, they would have set fire to the building before carrying you off slung over one shoulder, along with everything that wasn't nailed down. Subtlety is not exactly their national strong suit."

Steve figured that statement was based more on stereotyping more than anything else, but decided against pointing it out.

Bridgett continued, "The Insect Kingdoms would never field an elf in their armed forces. The Holy Elven orders on the other hand have elven officers, but the rank and file primarily consists of other races, born and bred as slaves in the elven homelands."

Steve nodded. What Bridgett had said made sense, but that only raised a second question, aside from why the elves wanted to kidnap him,

"So The Holy Elven Order has an army of slaves as their primary military power? Forgive me if I'm asking a dumb question, but what's to stop the slaves from rebelling?"

Bridgett sat up, "As you may have noticed, the existence of 'magic' or more specifically how it functions, is not common knowledge in Sapheros. This is not an official rule amongst us goddesses, as each of us discovered its existence independently of the others, and independently decided to keep this advantage over the masses to ourselves.

I imagine the others all believed as I did, that this power was my best chance to avoid the fate that befell my mother, as well as a powerful tool that would be diluted by widespread use.

It would seem that the Samara, the Elven Goddess did not come to the same conclusion.

I don't know exactly what transpired in the Elven Homeland, but Samara has not been seen in one hundred and eighty years.

Since that time Holy Elven Order has produced self-proclaimed 'Daughters of the Goddess' every two years or so. I have no doubt they are the biological offspring of Samara.

I can tell you with certainty that no goddess would willingly submit to such treatment. The fates of our human mothers are thoroughly ingrained into the psyche of all of us. It is the reason why none of us have taken mates.

Our primary defense against rebellion by our followers is the assumption that we are divine in origin and all powerful. If we were to take non-divine mates and have children, it would make us appear as less than gods to our followers. If that were to happen the same fate that befell our mothers would inevitably befall us as well in time.

I can only imagine that Samara shared her knowledge of magic with her closest followers, she was betrayed, and it was used to wrestle power away from her when her followers felt that the gap in power between themselves and their goddess had been shortened sufficiently by their newfound magical ability.

I believe that a group of leaders are now using magic to stay in power and are using the biological daughter of Samara as their primary means of doing so. It would not be difficult to raise the daughter from birth to be tools."

Bridgett snarled as she continued, "In addition to being ageless and incredibly powerful physically, these 'Daughters' have become icons for the beliefs of the elves in much the same way us goddesses are. The Daughters would easily be able to manipulate their mortal armies by simply being present amongst them.

With the Daughters as generals, the Elves need never fear rebellion from their slave armies.

Thankfully the knowledge of magic has not spread beyond the group that now controls the elves. It is likely that the group in charge do not intend to make the same mistake their goddess did."

Steve nodded, "So why haven't you or any of the other goddesses stepped in and eliminated these guys? I mean from the sounds of things, these guys keep on spawning more mini-goddesses and eventually they are going to get the upper hand. "

Bridgett laughed,

"Oh sure, none of us had that idea. Only two countries have borders with the elves, and those two are trying to 'eliminate' the elves as we speak, the Insect Kingdoms and the Harpy Republic. The pair of them went to war with the elves within days of hearing that Samara had disappeared."

Steve grimaced, "Ah, considering that the war started about one hundred and eighty years ago, it seems the elves aren't pushovers, even when outnumbered two to one."

It was even more incredible the elves hadn't been defeated considering that in the first few years of the war they wouldn't even have had access to the Daughters, which meant no slave armies, or at least incredibly inefficient slave armies.

It was of course possible that the Insectoids and Harpies just sucked at fighting, but that seemed unlikely when you took into account the whole 'Sapherosian's Worship Strength' angle.

"So how have the elves managed to survive for so long?"

"Not only survive, survive and flourish Steve, in recent years they have managed to push back both the Harpies and Insectoids. Which I imagine is part of the reason the Harpy Republic tried to suck up to you by giving you a 'spear of the gods'.

The answer to their superior military power isn't even remotely magical. The Elves simply started the war with a well-trained, well equipped, professional standing army.

The Holy Elven Order has been preparing for war with anything non-elven since its creation. It may not have started with a military comprised of slaves at the start, but you can be sure the plans were in place from the start.

The Insect Kingdoms and the Harpy Republic had nothing even close to a unified standing military presence when the war began. None of us did. It was hard enough trying to stop our countries from devolving back into the way they were before the humans arrived. The elves had the advantage in that they have the longest history, and were better able to govern without humanity because of it.

The Insect Kingdoms were at the start of the war nothing more than a loosely aligned grouping of war bands, more used to fighting amongst themselves than any external threat. The harpies were little more than a conglomerate of pirates pretending to be a country.

I am entirely sure that both countries entered the war initially in an attempt not only to grab more land and depose the elves, but also to give their countries a unified enemy, and thus a unified goal. At the time, I imagine they thought the war would be over by summer."

"So I can assume the pair of them have been getting their asses kicked ever since?

So why didn't you or Talia intervene? From what I've seen both your nations are certainly ready for war, and from what I've heard the elves are a threat to everyone." Steve asked.

"You're right Steve, both the lizard-kin and the werewolves are ready for war and have been for some time, but not with the elves. Our two countries are protected from the elves by having the Harpies and the Insectoids between us and them; with that in mind the threat seems distant compared to the animosity between lizard-kin and werewolves.

Our countries were close to falling apart after the humans were killed, we needed an external threat to unite us just as the harpies and Insectoids did. We just happened to choose each other.

Now our countries dare not turn our eyes from one another to gaze at anything more distant. I hope to one day correct that state of affairs, and I believe Talia feels the same, but it will not be today or tomorrow that it happens."

"The Horse-kin?"

"Perfectly happy to send their warriors to hire their services out to the highest bidder in the war, but otherwise they are entirely isolationist. The Horse-Queens are content to let the rest of the world fall to ruin so long as it does not affect them."

Steve nodded. That was enough history and world politics. Now he needed to know exactly why a group of elven supremacists had tried to 'rescue' him in the middle of the night. He didn't really see an obvious motive beyond using him acquire human tech.

"So why did they try and kidnap me?"

"I don't think they want you, so much as they want what's between your legs."

"I'm flattered, I really am, but if they wanted to partake of my genitals, they need only ask. No fat chicks though."

"Steve, I don't think you fully understand,"

Wrong, he fully understood. He just really didn't want to. Sex dungeons were just not his kink. Mostly. BDSM was all about trust, and Steve didn't trust the milkman not to spike his breakfast.

"They don't want you for anything as base as sexual desire. The Holy Elven Order wants you to fulfill the same function as Samara, only with you being a male they could create 'Daughters' on a much larger scale.

It is entirely possible that with you being fully human, the resulting union would be on the same scale as a current Goddess. If they were to use you to impregnate Samara, then the union may be even stronger than a goddess. It's simply a matter of belief; more human means stronger according to any Sapherosian."

Steve at that moment in time could almost feel the great power that dwelled within his testicles. The power to create gods lay within his nut sack. The creation or destruction of worlds could be decided by his scrotum. It really made all the times he jacked off seem more significant.

Steve put his hands up in supplication, "Ok, if being human is so great, aside from when I'm either in the middle of having sex or about to kill someone, I have an unnaturally fast ability to heal and just about no other magical abilities.

If I understand you correctly, shouldn't I be flying around firing lightning out my ass? How come you guys are all apparently super strong and live forever just by being part human and I get pretty much zilch?"

Bridgett checked glanced around furtively before whispering to him, "As a human Steve you have no magical ability. You have none, period. Humans have absolutely no magical affinity whatsoever. If there was one fact the first humans who arrived on this world could agree on about magic, it was that they could not use it."

"But I have used magic, I used lightning to fry Kaltek, I was healed during my fight with him. I just lift my gun, and boom, 'lightning'."

"No, what you used was other Sapherosian's magic. When we say 'magic', it is simply an easy way of saying that we are using a Sapherosian's beliefs and having them alter the fabric of reality.

The more Sapherosians believe something the more powerful the change in reality will be. The number of Sapherosians who believe something will also change the power of the effect.

As a goddess I am bombarded constantly be the beliefs of my peoples. If I were to let all of it in, my mind would be torn asunder, so I use anti-magic runes to keep most of it out and only let some of it in.

From there I contain the vaguest thoughts and beliefs in a corner of my mind, and I very slowly purify them until what I have within me is not a belief that demands a certain change in the world, but rather a pure power that I can manipulate to do whatever I desire.

Sort of like if a Sapherosians believes the goddesses are 'strong', then I can manipulate that desire to make myself faster, as that is simply another application of 'strength'.

With that magic we goddesses can use our powers in ways much more subtle than the original belief. It is a slow process but it is much more effective than using runes, which have a single focus and take a long time to set up, because we have to get a large number of people to associate that rune with a particular concept.

You on the other hand Steve cannot use magic freely. Where a Sapherosians body is like a sponge that takes in magic, your body is like stone. The power simply cannot enter your body, it simply bounces off. This is not to say that magic cannot create change on your body or mind. It simply means that the changes are infinitely more subtle.

If you were to remain unprotected against magic for years, then I am sure the changes in your body and mind would become more pronounced, like water on stone, the beliefs of Sapherosia would gradually carve themselves into you.", Saltek explained carefully.

'Fat chance of that now I have my ultra-useful anti-magic runes' He took a moment to bask in finally having one secret advantage. It was slow work, but he wasn't going to spend the rest of his days getting pushed around. He just needed to keep building up these small advantages, one trick at a time. He may have liked Talia and Bridgett because of their drive to win at all costs, but that didn't mean they were going to fuck with his life without repercussion.

One does not simply piss off a ruling deity; it's a slow and delicate process.

Bridgett continued on entirely ignorant of his plans for getting even,

"When you say you heal quickly, that is not strictly true. You simply have your wounds closed and bandaged by invisible forces instantly upon receiving them. Your cells won't move any faster to heal you. When you broke your nose, it was instantly reset back in place and the blood clotted.

Think of it as having a team of doctors around you constantly, who have access to your insides and can perform the most tedious work instantly.

I imagine the pain stopped because your body was forced to emit much more adrenaline that it would normally allow, that might also explain why you nearly collapsed last night. It was your body crashing."

Steve was genuinely dubious now, "Right, and the voices in my head? The aggressive behavior when I'm aroused? The lightning?"

"The voices in your head are entirely real I'm afraid, as I said, like water on stone the beliefs of Sapherosia will affect you, especially if you have a group of people thinking very intently about you with a very clear cut image of how they expect you to behave at that moment.

The aggressive behavior could simply be the result of your body releasing a lot more hormones than normal than usual in order to fulfill your partners expectations of your sexual prowess. It would not take a lot of belief to create that effect.

The lightning is not your doing. You need the gun to create it, and you need people observing the weapon or thinking intently about it. It is simply a more complicated rune; it collects subconscious belief, uses conscious thought as a trigger, which then creates a single effect. The reason you can use it and no else can is that Sapherosians all believe that only humans can use guns."

...Well shit. In other words Steve's magic was really just smoke and mirrors. Smoke and mirrors that could roast a man to death, but only if he had a crowd of spectators or a group of people thinking about the gun.

Perhaps he should form a church to worship his gun?

Not that he planned on using the weapon regularly, he had Sarah for that sort of thing.

He supposed he could just keep using the gun as an actual gun, but considering he had no clue as to what it used for ammunition or how much ammunition it had he didn't want to rely on it. He had a powerful tool to be sure, but it was an unreliable one.

Bridgett evidently tired of explaining moved onto the crux of the reason why she had called him to breakfast with her,

"I have been informed that your mongrel has refused to allow my guards access to the surviving kidnapper. Tell her to relinquish the prisoner so we can interrogate it and find out exactly who was behind the attack."

Steve made a show of thinking about it before answering, "Hmmmm... No."

"No?", Bridgett was shocked. She was a goddess. People did not say 'no' to goddesses.

Steve shrugged, "Yeah, no."

"I don't think you understand the situation here. I am ordering you to relinquish the prisoner to me.", Bridgetts eyes were taking on a nasty gleam. It reminded him of when he first arrived in the throne room.

"Yeah, and I'm saying 'no'", He stuck to his guns. Figuratively and literally. The gun had not left his hand since the incident last night.

"I can destroy you Steve. You don't get to say no."

"Funny, I could swear that's what I'm saying right now."

"I am a Goddess."

Steve laughed at that. He was hoping she would say something like that, "One of six goddesses, which kind of cuts down on your negotiating ability.

See, when I first came here you scared the crap out of me with your threats to 'out me' as someone who was essentially an average human and not one of the space faring technologically advanced explorers your people worship.

What you seem to have forgotten is that I'm not a complete retard. I listen to everything, because as lame as it sounds, at the end of the end of the day 'knowledge is power', and you have been happily chatting away to me about the state of affairs in this world.

You are one of six goddesses. Of those other five, two of them claim to have partial ownership over me. What that means is that you can't just 'destroy' me without seriously pissing off two of your rivals." Steve let that sink in,

"Talia may not be my best friend or have my best interests at heart, but she will most certainly need me alive and functional for one scheme or another. Add to that, if what you told me about it being hard for you guys to store magic is true, and that it took three of you to rip me from my own world, I am entirely sure that the third goddess in this little arrangement will be more than just a little annoyed if anything happens to me before she can use me in some insane scheme for world domination.", He grinned,

"Let's face it Bridgett, you aren't really going to risk war with two nations over one crippled bee?"

Steve stood up and walked out, leaving her with a shocked expression on her face.

It was however really hard to act cool and collected with a two hundred year old deity staring daggers in your back. He was most definitely clenching his butt cheeks as he walked away.

He had no clue if Bridgett was going to hold a grudge for privately slapping her on the wrist, but he wasn't going to be within throttling distance long enough to find out.

Steve needed to secure Sarah and his crippled guest, get the hell out of the lizard-kin capital and get back to 'incredibly relative safety' of the werewolf tribes. Oh, and secure the exclusive services of another bodyguard or two.

Steve couldn't help grinning. Smacking Bridgett on the nose was probably a dumb move, but it felt damn good to be finally getting some small margin of revenge on one of the three people who had damn near killed him a couple of times over. Was he a vindictive son of a bitch? Probably.

Did it feel good?

Hell Yes.

------------------------------------------

Michael watched his daughters and sons sparring with fatherly pride. The white wolves moved with speed and grace above that of even his own warriors. He supposed it was primarily due to the magical conditioning he applied to them at birth, but a small part of him liked to believe it was due to the superior genetics of him and their mothers.