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Willire nursed at her mother, Tepesta’s breast, and was too young yet to listen.
Watching them, all of us sighed. Younglings were precious. They should be our future, but if our prayers were not answered soon, I didn’t want to think of how things might be within five or even ten years.
My clan was dying and only the remaining gods could save us.
“No one knows when the crystal structures first planted themselves in the broad, open areas of our once glorious world,” Jessia said in a lilting voice that drew all of us in.
Even the baby, Willire, looked toward her before returning to her mother’s breast.
“Some say they arrived in silver ships and that they descended from inside, walking stiffly down planks and out into the middle of the valley before sinking their roots deep within the soil,” she said. “Others say the crystal structures were dropped from the ship, that they impaled the surface when they hit, driving spikes deep. Yet others suggest they’ve been here forever, even longer than our own people.”
Muzzire, our strongest hunter, nodded. “I believe they’ve always been here. They’re gods, after all, not beings from another world.” He spat, the liquid sizzling in the fire, before nodding slowly. “Everything we will ever need is here on our planet.”
Yet hope for something better might soon arrive from the stars.
Jessia grunted. She never enjoyed being interrupted. “In my story, we assume they descended from the stars. They are our gods, after all. However, it matters not if they were here always or came from somewhere else, does it?” A challenge rang out in her voice.
He said nothing, staring into the flames.
“Before the ships left, never to return, the varying structures were each infused with a god. The ships never returned, and our gods remained. We revered them, as we should, and they bestowed their goodness upon us.” Her hand waved to the circle of glowing blue structures around us. “This . . . This crystal is still infused with a god.”
Tepesta peered up while nursing her youngling, as if the god would reveal itself to us. Ours never did; not physically, that is. But we felt their presence in the way they cared for us, aided us. I’d brought my clan back to the Indigan lands three years ago, but it still felt like yesterday.
“What about our homes?” the youngest of the two brothers, Trevar, asked, speaking of the circle of smaller crystal structures not far from this one. “Are they also infused with a god?”
“The gods within our homes are dormant,” I said. “Will they come alive once more? We cannot say.”
Trevar nodded, his blue eyes wide.
“They abandoned us,” Muzzire snarled. “If we die, it’s because of them.”
“Not so. Although, until only a few years ago, that’s what we all believed.” Jessia smiled to see us staring at her raptly. “Thanks to our traedor and others like him, some haveawoken.”
Trevar’s eyes widened even farther, but he said nothing, just gazed at Jessia with his mouth open.
Jessia stroked his silver hair. “After the disease swept across our world, killing so many of us and even most of our gods—”
One of our younger males gasped, though we’d all heard the story before. Jessia had a way of spinning it in a manner that drew us all in.
“Most of our gods perished from the disease as well, leaving behind their exoskeletons like the ones we now call our homes. Remember, though, your mighty ancestors lived and died here in the Indigan Clan. But our wise leader, Aizor, went with the other clan leaders to speak with the remaining gods in the valley.”
To beg, that’s what we did. Webeggedthe gods to help us. And they told us they would. That was in the spring three years ago, and as the seasons passed, one after another, I’d begun to lose hope that they’d fulfill their promise.
“Soon, the gods said.” Jessia’s rheumy gaze met mine, and she nodded. “Soon they will send us a sign. They promised to gift us with a future. And when that future is here, our clan will flourish once more.”
“’We’ll gift you with mates,’” the gods said. “’When we release one to each of you, we’ll send a sign that she’s your crystal-given bride.’” I nodded at the smiles greeting my words. While the gods didn’t indicate who would receive a mate, I prayed I would be among those chosen.
“Many females. That’s what the gods promised.” Jessia’s grin widened, revealing her even white teeth and tusks. “Once they’re here, our clans will grow, and we’ll be a strong people once more.”
Trevar tipped his head back, taking in the crystal structure surrounding us and arching overhead. Moonlight shone through the god’s exoskeleton, igniting beams of every variety of blue, making them dance across the floor. A gust of wind swept through the open doorway, stirring the fire, making the shadows shimmer across the blue.
“What sign will our god send?” Trevar’s older brother by two years, Brulon, asked.
I shook my head. “We don’t know.”
“Then it could’ve happened already,” he said with a frown. “And we missed it.”
“We should not be doing this,” Krute said softly beside me. “They won’t be clan. They won’t be Zuldruxians.”
