Caelan jerked in the boat, clutching both sides as the tiny vessel rocked hard in the water.
“Whoa there, boy! You don’t need to send us both into the drink!” Kaes shouted, making a grab for the side with one hand while holding his fishing pole above his head in the other.
“Sorry. I…what…is this real?”
Kaes cackled before casting his line far out into the water so that the lure was lost in the waves. With an expert hand, he slowly drew it in again. “Does it matter? Can’t a god enjoy some fishing while we talk?” He jerked his head to the side and Caelan looked down to find another pole resting on the side of the boat. “Join me.”
With a slightly trembling hand, Caelan reached out and picked up the pole. Fear and elation battled in his chest. He was talking to a god. Not exactly how he’d expected it after all these years, but it was definitely happening.
He hadn’t fished since he was a kid. It had been a vacation of sorts away from the royal city. His mother had remained in their tiny cabin on the lake while Hagen had taken him to the water with a cane pole to catch bluegill.
Kaes drew his gaze from his own pole long enough to give Caelan instructions on how to cast his line and slowly draw it back in.
“What about the storm?” Caelan inquired, glancing over his shoulder as he reeled in his line.
“Some storms you can’t avoid in life,” Kaes murmured before casting out his line again. He smirked at Caelan and leaned toward him. “Besides, it’s interesting to see what a good storm will stir up.”
“What good is that if we’re going to drown in the first place? We should have never been in the path of this storm,” Caelan grumbled. He drew his line in and cast it again with more force. The pieces were fitting together in his brain easier now. The boat, the sea, the storm—none of it was real. Most likely. Probably not real.
What was real was that he was Caelan Talos of Erya, he’d lost the Life Stone of Erya, his mother had been killed, and his capital was occupied by the Empire of New Rosanthe. If the Empire figured out how to use the power of the Godstone, the other kingdoms were in danger of falling like Damardor and Uris-Oladul.
What was real was that he was speaking to the God of Storms, and he needed to convince the lost deity that he needed his power if he was going to have any hope of saving his people.
“Not everyone has the luxury of running from a storm,” Kaes observed.
“I’m not running,” Caelan said sharply. “I didn’t run from the Empire. She sent me away. I would have stayed and fought. I would have happily faced the Empire’s attack.”
The old man laughed hard enough to rock the entire boat. Caelan cursed under his breath and grabbed both sides, nearly dropping his pole in the water. “Boy, I’ve got to wonder about that head of yours if you think the Empire is the storm coming for you.”
“What? Of course they are!” he snapped. He mentally scolded himself for his tone and even arguing with a god in the first place, but Kaes wasn’t making any sense. Had the god been trapped in the stone for far too long? Lost all touch with what was happening in the outside world?
“Nope. Not even close.” Kaes brought his line in and cast it flawlessly with little more than a flick of his wrist.
“Look, the Empire has killed my mother and stolen the Godstone, stolen the Goddess of Life. I have no idea if the Emperor even knows about the other stones, but if he does, we’re all in trouble. I have no doubt the bastard is going to make a straight line for either Caspagir or Ilon to capture their stones.”
Kaes seemed to shrink in his seat, his old shoulders slumping under some weight or maybe just the weight of his years. There was something about him that seemed so very small and frail, but the same incredible charge he’d felt in the air while standing outside the stone still snapped along his skin. There was a weight around him, pressing him down into the boat. The boiling storm behind him was edging closer, as if the god could hold back his true presence for only so long. The animal part of Caelan’s brain was screaming for him to run, to hide, to escape before he was crushed like a tiny bug.
“Great Kaes—” Caelan’s plea was cut off by a sudden bark of laughter. The god seemed to instantly perk up.
“Great Kaes!” he repeated, still laughing. “Just a few seconds ago, you made it sound like you thought I was an old crackpot.”