Chapter 68: Both Halves

Justiciar Hale explained the vote to them the same way he had explained everything else that day, slowly and carefully, leaning on his cane in the middle of the Hall beside the shattered Sun Mark. Each church would be called by name, starting with the hammer door and working around the circle, and each one would give its answer out loud. If four of the seven churches voted yes, the God of Failure would become a god of Veyrath, and if four of them voted no, he would be declared a fraud.

Kai stood beside the hole in the floor with Mira’s hand in his, and he noticed that he was holding his breath again. Up in the gallery, the fish woman had both of her hands pressed over her mouth, and the widows were all holding hands too, all the way down their long black line.

"The Church of the Iron Father," Hale said. "How do you vote?"

Brannoch stood up from his bench, and the wood let out a creak of relief as his weight came off of it. He stared at the glowing red hammer door for a long time, and then he looked down at Kai.

"We vote yes," Brannoch said. "Not because I believe that he has earned it, though he has. We vote yes because we have seen what the Radiant Church did with our god’s name when they thought no one was looking, and I will not let my Father go dark because we were afraid to believe in someone who fails."

Behind him, Kai heard Garrick blow his nose very loudly and pretend that it was the dust.

"One," Princess Seris whispered from her little stool beside the King, and her charcoal scratched across the page.

"The Sisters of the Silver Moon," Hale said. "How do you vote?"

High Sister Aurel didn’t stand up, and she didn’t say a single word. She simply looked over at Lysa and nodded, and the freckled girl stood up and started to sing. Her voice faltered on the very first note, but it didn’t crack, and by the second verse, every veiled priestess on the bench had stood up beside her and joined in. The moon hymn filled the Hall and flew out through the opening in the dome, and the silver door behind them glowed so brightly that it lit up the entire eastern side of the room.

The Silver Moon voted with its song, and the song was yes.

"Two," Princess Seris whispered.

"The Keepers of the Ashen Twins," Hale said. "How do you vote?"

The Keeper didn’t answer right away. Instead, she opened her large book of names across her lap and held a quill out towards Kai without even looking up.

"Come here, God of Failure," the Keeper said. "Write your name for me one more time."

Kai let go of Mira’s hand and crossed the Hall to the bench in front of the ash-gray door. The Keeper had opened the book to the same page as before, where his name had faded away on the night he first wrote it, and he took the quill from her with shaky hands and wrote Kai Mercer at the bottom of the page.

The ink stayed exactly where he had written it, black and fresh, and it didn’t fade away. Kai stared at it for a long while, waiting for it to disappear the way it had the first time, but it simply stayed there, as plain and ordinary as every other name on the page.

"The book only refuses the names of those who have not been decided yet," the Keeper said, and a small smile spread across her wrinkled face. "It appears that something has been decided. The Ashen Twins vote yes, and the dead will know your name."

"Three," Princess Seris whispered, and her voice cracked on the number.

"The Church of the Harvest Lord," Hale said. "How do you vote?"

Elder Hollis bent down and picked his hat up off the floor, and he stood up twirling it around and around in his hands.

"I’ve been counting all the kids on our farms every night for the past month," Hollis said. "I guess I’d better start counting our gods as well, now that I know they can run out too." He jammed his hat back onto his head. "Yes. The Harvest Lord votes yes. And if the Radiant Church wants to offer us grain again, they can keep it."

The gallery let out a cheer, and Princess Seris dropped her charcoal and had to climb down off her stool to find it.

"Four," Princess Seris said, and she wasn’t whispering anymore. "That is four. That is enough."

"It is enough," Hale agreed, and for the first time all day, he very nearly smiled. "But the old law says that every church must be heard. The Radiant Church. How do you vote?"

Sunny rose from his bench beneath the blazing sun door, and he set his sword down on the bench behind him before he spoke.

"When I was six years old, I swore an oath to protect the Mother’s prison," Sunny said. "I did not know what I was swearing to at the time. Today, I know exactly what I am swearing to." He turned to look at Kai. "The Radiant Church votes yes. And for the rest of this year, I will help him find his hundred."

[Faith gained. Follower: Holy Champion. Faith: +5%. Status: Sworn.]

"The Shrine of the Deep," Hale said. "How do you vote?"

Elder Marrow leaned on her cane and slowly pushed herself to her feet, with Nerine standing close beside her in case she needed support.

"The Shrine of the Deep promised that we would not stand against you, Mr. Mercer," Elder Marrow said. "We also promised that we would not refuse your test, because the tide tests every boat that leaves the harbor." She looked down at the broken Sun Mark, and then up at the blue-green glow coming from the wave door. "The tide tested you, and you stayed afloat. The Shrine of the Deep votes yes."

Nerine let out a squeal and threw her arms around the old woman, who allowed it with great dignity.

"The Church of the Weeping Saint," Hale said, and his voice grew softer. "How do you vote?"

Everyone in the Hall turned to look at the one dark door.

Celestine stood up with Liora’s arm wrapped around her, and she looked up at the tear carved into the stone above her for a long time before she spoke.

"The Weeping Saint was never a god," Celestine said. "She was only a frightened old woman, crying in a granary over what she had done. There is no god behind this door, and so this church has no business deciding anything for this city. I have decided far too much already." She lowered her eyes to the widows in the gallery. "We will not vote. But our soup line will remain open, for as long as there is anyone who needs it."

The widows started crying and clapping at the same time, and Kai watched the fish woman blow her nose into a dish cloth.

Justiciar Hale struck his cane against the floor three times, and the Hall slowly became quiet again.

"Six churches have voted yes," Hale said. "None have voted no, and one has not voted. By the old law of Veyrath, this Conclave finds that the God of Failure is a god." He paused, and Kai could have sworn that the old judge was trying very hard not to smile. "Both halves of him."

The Hall of Seven Doors erupted into noise all at once.

The gallery cheered so loudly that the pigeons burst out of the dome in a flurry of wings, and the smiths behind Brannoch started pounding on their bench like drums. Garrick picked Kai up off the ground and spun him around twice, until Mira made him put Kai back down, and then she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder, and she wouldn’t let go.

[Faith gained. Mira Vallen: +4%. Status: Home.]

[Faith gained. Brannoch: +8%. Status: Loyal.]

[Faith gained. High Sister Aurel: +10%. Status: Singing.]

[Faith gained. Hollis: +7%. Status: Counting.]

[Faith gained. Marrow: +9%. Status: Afloat.]

[Kai]

"I know," Kai whispered into Mira’s hair. "I know."

[I am crying again. I am warning you now so that you are not surprised]

Over Mira’s shoulder, Kai looked across the Hall towards the sun door, and he felt his stomach sink.

The spot where Draven had been standing was empty. At some point during all the cheering and the singing and the voting, the silver-haired man had slipped quietly out of the Hall, and the King’s soldiers at the door were looking around in confusion, as if they had only just realized he was gone.

Elder Voss was still there, though. He was standing all by himself in front of the hammer door, with his iron gauntlets hanging heavily at his sides, staring at the red glow of the Iron Father’s door, and as Kai watched, he slowly sank to his knees in front of it.

Kai let go of Mira and walked over to him, and Brannoch followed, and the two of them stood over the man who had once tried to have them both killed.

"He is gone," Elder Voss said, without taking his eyes off the door. "He left the moment the Keeper’s ink stayed on the page. He knew then."

"Where?" Kai asked.

Voss finally looked up at him, and tears were running down his scarred face.

"I did not know that my Father could die," Voss said. "Draven never told me that. I took their gold for twenty years, first from the Radiant Church and then from him, and I never once believed that my Father could go dark." He swallowed hard and wiped his face with the back of one iron gauntlet. "He told me last night that if this Conclave named you a god, he would make sure you never reached a hundred. He said that belief which is bought is not belief at all, and that he has more gold than any god in Veyrath."

Kai felt a chill go all the way through his body, because he knew exactly what that meant. Draven didn’t need to stop people from believing in him, because all he had to do was pay them to.

[341 days. Ninety-eight true believers to go]