“No, there is no group of foreign gods here,” Sosondowah said to a band of armed men standing amid what were now the ruins of Onondaga.
“We were summoned yesterday by your leader, the great Sawiskera, to search for a group of deities he had captured,” said the commander of the soldiers’ advance party.
“We are unfamiliar with that name. Kindly leave,” Sosondowah insisted.
A force of roughly one hundred soldiers had arrived from the west to Onondaga, the Iroquois capital, intending to take Rodrigo and the others to Cahokia, the capital of the Mississippi kingdom. They had previously been contacted by Sawiskera.
The Mississippi Empire was enormous, stretching from the lands established in the southwest of the Great Lakes all the way to the end of a mountain range that began in what was known in the north as Markland (Known today as the Appalachian Mountains).
Its capital, Cahokia, lay approximately 1,200 kilometers southwest of Onondaga. The ruler of that empire had demanded the heads of the members of Orniskem, who were still asleep after the difficult battle against Sawiskera.
On the night of the incident, Hé-no, together with Sosondowah and the other Iroquois gods, sat in a circle before the now-destroyed lodge where Sawiskera had resided. They had lit a bonfire, and the thunder god had placed upon his head the headdress once worn by the old and defeated leader of the Iroquois.
“I shall preside as leader in this ceremony,” the smiling god declared, and he made appear the tobacco pipe he had earlier given Tania to smoke.
Rodrigo, Tania, Susanoo, and Anpiel sat on the left side of the fire. Thanks to the ambrosia, all their wounds had already healed, though their bodies were still weary.
Hé-no then extended the pipe to Rodrigo and indicated that the whole group was to smoke from it. The young tannin agreed and tried to take a puff, but he could not manage a proper drag before a fit of coughing overtook him, which made the Iroquois gods burst into laughter.
Rodrigo passed the pipe to Tania, and she smoked from it again. Having anticipated what would happen, she managed to do so without coughing. Afterward, she handed it to Anpiel, and finally to Susanoo. At last, Rodrigo returned the pipe to Hé-no, and he smoked from it as well.
“This is a ceremony of friendship,” said the old god, “and what you are smoking is an herb called mitaakozigan (Tobacco in the Ojibwa language), which is sacred to all of us.”
The Iroquois gods smoked from the pipe as well, then returned it to Hé-no, who raised the object and showed it to Rodrigo and his companions.
“With this, we have forged a bond of friendship between you and us. Thus, we shall be ready to aid you in your mission to travel south,” Hé-no said, and all the other gods applauded. Rodrigo nodded and thanked him.
“However,” Hé-no continued, “the matter of Sawiskera still remains unresolved. For some reason, we can scarcely remember who ruled before his arrival.”
“Yes, it is as though there are clouds in our minds,” Sosondowah added.
All the other gods nodded, and an awkward silence followed.
“That is only natural. All of you were manipulated by Sawiskera’s power to distort reality,” came a voice, though none could tell whence it came. Then Tania noticed a charming little rabbit beside her. The goddess remembered at once and blushed, just as the little creature began rubbing itself against her legs.
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“Is that you, Lord Wenabozho?” Hé-no asked in surprise.
The rabbit leapt into Tania’s lap, making the goddess visibly uncomfortable, whereupon she struck the little beast with a sharp slap, flinging it away from her and nearly into the fire.
“Ow, ow! That hurt!” the little rabbit began to whine.
“And still just as lecherous as ever, Lord Wenabozho,” Sosondowah remarked with little surprise.
The rabbit stood up and transformed into its female form.
“Today I am Nanabozho,” she said, “that way, this lovely girl shall not feel uneasy if I rub against her.”
“And how, exactly, would that make it any better, you idiot?!” Tania shouted furiously. “Whatever shape you take, you are still nothing but a shameless old pervert!”
Everyone began to laugh, while Nanabozho sat down by the fire as well and cleared her throat.
“Very well, I shall explain,” said the rabbit goddess. “A few decades ago, the ruler of this land was a god of light named Teharonhiakwako. He was Sawiskera’s twin brother.”
All the gods were astonished.
“We believed Atahensic's only son was Sawiskera,” Hé-no said.
“No,” Nanabozho replied. “In fact, Sawiskera was wicked from the moment he was born, and he slew his own mother in childbirth. Thus Teharonhiakwako swore he would create a world of peace to oppose his brother’s dark intentions. Sawiskera desired only to bring chaos and destruction upon the world for no reason at all.”
“Now I understand,” Hé-no said in surprise. “That is why we have been driven into conflict with other tribes, and why monstrous serpents and giant stone beasts have appeared throughout our land. He was behind it all.”
“One moment,” Sosondowah interrupted. “Where, then, is Teharonhiakwako?”
“He was slain by his brother some decades ago,” Nanabozho said darkly.
“Then that means... we have no leader?” Hé-no asked anxiously.
Nanabozho fixed Hé-no with her penetrating gaze.
“I believe you should become the leader of Onondaga. You are the most qualified.”
“I? But I do not believe myself capable of so weighty a task,” Hé-no answered nervously.
“I think you should make a splendid leader,” Sosondowah said, giving him an approving gesture. All the other Iroquois gods nodded in agreement.
“Well... allow me to consider it,” said the Iroquois thunder god, smoking nervously from the pipe once more.
“I have delivered the message I came to deliver, and so I shall take my leave,” said the rabbit goddess as she transformed back into that animal once more.
“We thank thee, Lord Wenabozho,” Hé-no said, still wearing a troubled expression.
“And as for you, I am astonished by how powerful you have become,” Wenabozho said, turning to Rodrigo and his companions. “Despite this anti-divinity barrier, and despite the fact that you have spent but a short time in these lands, you managed to defeat Sawiskera and the enormous serpent in Ontario.”
“Yes, I am ashamed to admit it, but I do believe you have become stronger than I,” Tania said with a smile to the young tannin, which only made him blush.
I am stronger than Tania? Then I truly can protect them like a knight, Rodrigo thought to himself.
“Although… only within this barrier and by a very small margin, so I'll catch up to you quickly,” Tania added with a haughty look.
Everyone laughed again.
“I knew my rival would grow ever stronger,” Susanoo said brightly. “Verily, this doth please me greatly.”
“My sincerest congratulations, Lord Rodrigo,” Anpiel added. “I trust that now you understand what I meant when I told you never to underestimate anyone.”
“Thank you, everyone,” the young tannin replied shyly.
“However, the southern kingdom, Mississippi, is a formidable empire, surpassed in power only by the great kingdom of Tula,” Wenabozho added. “Its ruler, Heshuka, is a hawk god who can invoke the power of the sun, and he has become addicted to human sacrifice.”
A solar god, Tania thought.
“Addicted to human sacrifices? Is that really possible?” Rodrigo asked in confusion.
“You see, Rodrigo,” Tania said uneasily, “the gods gain power through the faith of humans—you already knew that, I believe. And the greater the proof of faith, the greater the power we receive.”
“Yes, I know that much,” the young tannin said.
“However, those emanations of power also create dependency in us, and the greater the dose, the stronger that dependency becomes. The worst of all is when humans themselves are sacrificed to us. The effect is even stronger than this pipe we just smoked,” Tania said with embarrassment.
Then Tania drew a deep breath.
“I know this because... I too was once an addict,” she confessed.
“Tania, you need not speak of that if you do not wish to,” Anpiel said, trying to calm the goddess.
“I must. I care not whether they judge me or not,” Tania said, her gaze burning with anger and determination.
At that, Anpiel fell silent.