The Mercy of Gods

Dafyd stands in Tkson’s room and explains the uprising plans. To keep Jellit safe, he claims that Jellit was the one who told him and asked him to relay the message to Tkson. As he explains, the weight of his betrayal makes him feel nauseous and faint. He adds that Tonner discovered a way to make the berries a safe food source for the not-turtles and notes that in time, they might be able to replicate the process for other organisms. Tkson laments that he has come so close and won’t see the end. Tkson then sends a Rak-Hund to retrieve Jellit.

Dafyd fears that Else failed to convince him and Jellit will say it’s all a lie. However, when Jellit enters the room, he awkwardly corroborates everything Dafyd said. Tkson orders them to stay in the room and leaves to deal with the rebelling humans. Alone, Dafyd and Jellit sit on the floor. Dafyd is overcome with guilt and despair. To his surprise, Jellit says he did the right thing and showed great bravery, adding: “In the years to come after this, you’re going to wonder if it was. When you do, remember this moment. Right here. Remember me telling you it was the right thing” (382). Dafyd asks if Else convinced him. Jellit warns Dafyd not to idealize Else. Then they sit and wait.

Jessyn stands guard at the lab while Rickar works. They discuss the experiment’s success and the possibility of learning how to create any food they want. Synnia runs into view, a group of Rak-Hund following her. Farther down the hall, Dennia yells at Synnia to run as she shoots a Rak-Hund with a makeshift gun. More Rak-Hund trample Dennia, killing her, as Synnia runs toward Llaren’s group quarters. Jessyn and Rickar watch, stunned, as the Rak-Hund ignore them and follow Synnia. They conclude that the Carryx have learned of Urrys’s plan and somehow also know that Jessyn and Rickar haven’t yet agreed to join it.

Synnia runs to the second group’s rooms, hoping to warn them. However, when she arrives, she finds that the Rak-Hund have already arrived. Llaren tries to fight them off. Synnia stands in the doorway and dies quickly, while hearing others screaming somewhere behind her.

Rickar and Jessyn arrive at the second group’s quarters to find everyone dead, trampled and torn to pieces. The scene is bloody and horrifying. They check each room. In one of them, they find Else lying on a bed, dead. She has no injuries, as if she died in her sleep. Jessyn can’t find Jellit and doesn’t know if he escaped or simply died somewhere else. Rickar apologizes to Jessyn, saying he needs to scream. She tells him to go ahead, and he stands in the bloody room and howls.

The last of the captives from Ayayeh die, repeatedly reciting the same words. Afterward, Ekur receives a summons to see the Sovran herself, who just arrived on a small ship. Ekur enters the ship and feels its body changing again in response to the Sovran’s presence. The Sovran is vast, with a hundred eyes and an abdomen covered in silver filigree. The Sovran tells Ekur about another captured species with biochemistry similar to that of the ones from Ayayeh. The Sovran has arrived to honor this species’ keeper-librarian and reassign Ekur.

After the Carryx slaughter the resistance, Tkson escorts Dafyd back to his rooms. He doesn’t know where they take Jellit. When he arrives, Dafyd finds Tonner, Rickar, Campar, and Jessyn there. They tell him that Synnia and Else are dead. Dafyd is shocked and confused but has no time to ask questions. Tkson leads them outside to a transport vessel. It’s the first time they’ve been outside since they arrived.

The transport takes them to a different building and places them in an arena filled with thousands of humans. In the center of the arena is a group of Carryx. Tonner loudly demands to know what’s happening. Another vessel arrives, and the largest Carryx of all emerges and sits on a dais. The Carryx speak but the translator box that Dafyd carries doesn’t translate. They assume that the proceedings relate to the uprising.

Dafyd analyzes the Carryx, thinking he recognizes some that have changed shape or color while retaining identifiable characteristics. In a sudden surge of insight, Dafyd recalls that Tkson said an animal can’t choose its nature or status and realizes “neither did the Carryx. Carryx changed with their social status. Their place in society literally determining the form of their bodies” (405). He realizes that the Carryx believe possibility is an illusion: that inevitability, not choice, is all that exists.

As the Carryx continue to speak, Tonner stands, demanding to know what’s happening. He angrily insists that their group saved Tkson from rebellion, so they should receive recognition. The Carryx around them lift their forearms in what Dafyd recognizes as a threat of violence. Without thinking, he dives forward and shoves Tonner back to his knees. He promises to take responsibility for Tonner’s discipline and then, as he has seen the Carryx do, he stomps on Tonner’s arm, breaking it. Satisfied, the Carryx turn away as Tonner sits in shock.

Then, as they watch, Tkson approaches the giant Carryx covered in silver. This Carryx is clearly the leader. Tkson lies prostrate at its feet, and the leader crushes Tkson’s head.

When the humans are back in their rooms, Tonner angrily confronts Dafyd for breaking his arm while the others remind him that it saved his life. Eventually, a new Carryx arrives at the door, bringing Jellit with it. Jessyn hugs her brother, crying. The Carryx introduces itself as Ekur-Tkalal, the new keeper-librarian of the human moiety.

Ekur congratulates the humans on the success of their experiment, proving their usefulness and earning a new place within the moieties. They’ll soon have new duties and responsibilities but shouldn’t expect to stay together. They’ll need to continue proving their value, and their success will directly impact Ekur’s status, which gives it motive to assist them. This means they have earned safety for the humans on their home planet, which has been left intact so far. This group has become their people’s saviors.

Ekur adds that it doesn’t like contact, and the humans are no longer permitted to approach it. To minimize contact, it chooses Dafyd as the humans’ representative and advocate. Only he is allowed to speak with Ekur to express the humans’ needs. Any other human who approaches Ekur will die. Dafyd is stunned but has the wherewithal to ask questions.

He asks why Tkson was executed. Ekur explains that Tkson was “given great honor, being touched by the Sovran” (415), but their society can’t keep a Carryx who needs to be saved by an animal. Ekur leaves, and the group looks to Dafyd.

Dafyd can suddenly picture the whole conflict before him and feels a sense of purpose and peace. He tells the others of the war. He says he doesn’t think Urrys was wrong to fight back but was impatient and made his move too quickly. Rickar snidely asks what Dafyd will do as “the high priest of the human race” (417). Dafyd realizes that that is exactly what he has become. He promises to learn everything about the Carryx and then he’ll “kill them all and burn their fucking towers to the ground” (418), declaring that it’s his war now.

The swarm watches from within its new host, Jellit. It finds this new male body strange and uncomfortable. Jellit’s consciousness screams and fights against it. The swarm still feels the remnants of Ameer and Else. It also knows it’s in love with Dafyd and doesn’t want to leave him. It imagines a path forward, fighting the Carryx together. Else reminds it that Dafyd thinks he was with Else that entire time, and if he learns that the swarm killed Else, he’ll hate it. The swarm ignores this and thinks: “Dafyd, my love, it is not just your war. You and I. We will burn this world down together” (422).