Chapter 30: The Epipha-Bee
Belissar thought and he thought and he thought some more, even as Niobee buzzed around him. Eventually, she got his attention by landing on his hand.
“King, ok?”
Belissar sighed and shook his head.
“Not really. Just...give me a moment, please?”
Niobee buzzed her wings but said no more. She took off again, hovering a short distance away from Belissar. He sighed and began walking, heading over towards the farmhouse. He went inside, got a bit of honeycomb to snack on, and sat down at the table.
This was all way above his station...or would have been, were he not a Tower Lord now. Or...maybe it wasn’t? Because if the tales of the demi-humans were wrong, then what else might be? He, a peasant, had clearly stepped into and been placed in control of a Tower, and didn’t end up getting smote in the process. Maybe he had been wrong all along, and the gods didn’t mind peasants in Towers either. But if that were true...then what made the Tower Lords and the Tower Guard special?
Or...were they special at all? If Belissar, of all people, could do the job of a Tower Lord well enough to earn the patronage of a god, then did the job truly require someone greater than other men to pull off?
Or...was the case that it wasn’t those chosen by the gods who became Tower Lords, but those that became Tower Lords that were chosen by the gods?
And if all that was the case...then what of everything else he had been taught? Magic and potions being harmful to peasants? The Tower Lords requiring tribute to offer to the gods? Peasants naturally being beneath those the gods had chosen? The will of the gods being to obey any and all Tower Lords without question?