The Scholar's War

There was a nearly human eagerness in the Sea-Goat's sibilant voice. Then he deflated. "But the older people say we're not to go into the river. They say it's dangerous. Your people. Men with nets or spears. War, and warriors stabbing and stabbing." "Fishermen might cause a problem," Mani admitted, "but there aren't any wars in Engiru these days. There were some long ago, when the steppe people came, but we've had none for sixty years." "You're sure?" "I'm sure," Mani said. For a thousand years, the scholars of A?-alam, the city of the goddess Eala, have gone to the marsh to speak with the Sea-Goats. The Sea-Goats know secrets about the world, and it's the job of scholars like Mani to tease these secrets from the Sea-Goats. For the same thousand years, the priestesses of A?-alam have known one of the Sea-Goats most closely guarded secrets, a secret about the founding of A?-alam. When Mani chooses Isha as his wife over a failed acolyte meant to monitor his work, the priestesses show just how much they are willing to do to guard those secrets, including murder. To protect his new wife, Mani brings her to the marsh, and on that day his relationship with the Sea-Goats changes forever. The Mad King Sarru-kin knows another of the Sea-Goats most closely guarded secrets-that the swimmers possess the means to immortality-and the Mad King wishes to be a god. He is willing to wage war and conquer his way across the plains of Engiru in order to reach A?-alam and force Mani and the Sea-Goats to take him to the swimmer's island. Mani is a clever man, but will cleverness be enough to prevent the Mad King from becoming a god...