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.“Indeed they did—and cursed harder when Rahani, having learned her bitter lesson, ignored them still and turned to the human race to fill the void in her, that needed something to care for and love.Indeed, she became the most ardent of human-lovers, and Lomallin’s most staunch ally.”Lucoyo frowned.“Did her regard for him not rise when she saw him turn to fighting?”“If you mean, did she invite him to her bed, the answer is no.Perhaps she needed him too much as a friend, perhaps his being her ally precluded his being her lover—who can explain the minds and hearts of women?”“Not even female Ulin?”“Them even less.” Manalo glanced at Ohaern, who stood stiff and wide-eyed, drinking in every word.Something changed in the sage’s eyes, and when he turned back to Lucoyo, he spoke not of love and the goddess, but of war.“Because of their efforts, humankind began to thrive and multiply—for Lomallin taught them to hunt and fish, then learn the use of the bow and net, which brought them more and larger game.Rahani taught them which roots and berries were good to eat, so that they might gather them, and even taught them to plant seeds, so that they would have more to eat in the next year.Moreover, she taught them healing, so many of them were cured of diseases that would have slain them in childhood.Marcoblin was not there to see, but his lieutenant Ulahane witnessed humanity increasing in vast numbers and took this as a threat to the pleasures and hegemony of the few Ulin who had survived the war.He hated Lomallin and Rahani—since they were all that were left of the leaders of the human-lovers—and blamed the whole war on him.”Ohaern came out of his trance.“Blamed him for the war? How?”Manalo shrugged.“In Ulahane’s eyes, it was not Marcoblin’s cruelty that had given cause for fighting, but Lomallin’s sympathy for the Agrapaxians and humans.Therefore did Ulahane beget a son upon a human woman—”“One who did not wish it?” Lucoyo guessed.“One who most definitely did not wish it—neither the son, nor Ulahane’s embraces! But he hated humankind so deeply that any woman who had wished his attentions would have given him no pleasure.No, it was rape, pure and simple.Thereafter he kept the woman prisoner until her son was born, to ensure that she would not seek to abort the child nor to slay herself in despair—which she did, when Ulahane loosed her after the birth.”“Did he care?” asked the dwerg.“Not in the slightest,” Lucoyo said.“She had served her purpose—for him.”Manalo nodded.“Thus was born Kadura, reared with his father so that he should become used to Ulahane’s service and accustomed to obedience, or to instant, dire punishment for disobedience.Thus grew the first of Ulahane’s many Ulharl children, reviled and taunted by the Ulin—”Lucoyo frowned.“Did not his father protect him from that?”“Wherefore? To Ulahane, Kadura was little more than a servant, and one who was tainted by human blood besides.When he was grown, Ulahane sent him out among humankind to teach them to worship Ulahane out of fear, a fear very like Kadura’s own.For worship, they were to capture others of their kind for sacrifice to Ulahane—and in the early days, when there were few, Ulahane came in person to torture those given to him and delight in their agony.”The dwerg shuddered.“Why did they worship him if he did such things?”“Because if they gave him victims for his pleasure, he would spare them, his worshipers.” Manalo looked down at the ground, frowning at the thought.“Thus was a religion of fear born among humankind, and thus came war, as other nations banded together, seeking the protection of Lomallin and Rahani and their allies, and defending themselves against the assaults of Ulahane’s devotees.”“But did not Ulahane’s slaves realize there was escape for them if they fled to the temples of the human-lovers?”“They did,” Manalo said, “so it was then that Ulahane had to begin blandishments and bribes—sexual pleasure and wordly success—”“Even like these villagers from whom we have just escaped!” Lucoyo cried.“Even like them.” Manalo nodded.“Labina’s preaching was only Ulahane’s old cant, dressed up with a make-believe nightmare goddess, to seduce away the folk who worshiped Rahani.This is why I say Alique is a mockery of Rahani, a perversion.” He looked up at Ohaern.“What troubles you?”So he had seen the turmoil in his breast! Ohaern thought
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