Do Not Summon Me in Vain

"That was close."

Eknie sounded a bit more hysterical than usual, and Ted was bothered by this. He did not know why. They had just secured a space for their cult, and freedom from John the lecherous former landlord was one good shot away.

"What are you talking about?" Ted asked her.

Eknie closed the door to the little room and looked at him, eyes wide.

"Do you think someone would know we were at the saloon?"

Ted sighed. "The city watch would not dare to do anything to me, even if they had the slightest idea that I have ever touched moonshine booze. Don't you remember what a massive sum I paid for that protection last year?"

"You should not pay them too much," Eknie said and clicked her tongue. "They will expect more every year."

Ted was now moving from being a little bit annoyed to being infuriated. He did not like being told what to do.

"You think I don't know that?" he hissed.

"You are right, I was not thinking," Eknie said, without her voice even trembling.

She averted her eyes, probably playing into Ted's need to have people submit to him.

It was working. His rage settled down and he was able to think rationally again.

"You are right, of course," he said, using his most slippery tone to reassure his friend. "You give people like them five coins and they will ask for ten more. My point was, I am in their good books. For now. Doesn't mean that we don't have to be more careful from now on. The Ministry of Organizational Taxes does not much like those who avoid their…supposed financial duties."

On that very moment, someone knocked on the door.

"It's Junior," Ted said. "Deal with him, will you, please? I need to think."

He could not concentrate on anything with the paranoid nurse running around and blabbering about the homeless.

Ted got his moment of peace and quiet.

Everything would look much better if they had flyers. Flyers were the salt to the meat of the cultists. They could recruit much more efficiently with a good artist working for them. The drawings on the flyers would have to suit both the latest standards in art, and the good, lasting values as well, the artist had to be of the fanciful sort to be ripe for soul collection himself, and finally, they would have to have some place actually print the flyers for them.

Then there were the more abstract topics, like the inner social pecking order of the cult. Ted thought it could be fruitful to only introduce the bottom ladder to meteorology as a general concept, and then, ascending up to the next level, gradually start giving out information that mixed up occult traditions and weather science. Ted would have to read up on forecasts to be able to bluff his way into the hearts of the weak and the wounded. It was also a good idea to meet a Karshaan weather witch.

Perhaps even the solar deity would be willing to help out in the weaving of a new mythology.

Ted scratched his head and pulled out a quill.

He wrote the name of the uppermost ladder in the pecking order.

STARS.

Everyone knew by now that the sun was just another star, however bright it was. This would cause great and grandiose associations in the heads of the cultists, they would elevate those lucky enough to reach the top to a divine status – people liked stuff like that, when they were given an illusion of the possibility of climbing upwards.

Ted decided to think briefly of the symbol of the solar god. He had an inkling that it was not good to rely on the dice alone for the summoning process. He would have to learn a different way to get in touch with the deity.

To his surprise and horror, every metallic surface in the room started glowing with a sinister light.

"GOOD. Good enough for now," the painfully clear voice said, and the glow disappeared.

Once Ted got over the terrifying experience that the presence had provided, he was overjoyed. This was the first so called hands free summoning he had successfully completed. He was definitely making progress as an occultist.

Also, if even the hateful sun god was willing to say positive things about him, he had a chance of getting up there with the big boys – the demons and the gods. The solar deity would be pleased. There was simply not enough precise information in Ted's entire library to say if there were any modern worshipers of the god, but a few more souls couldn't hurt it. In fact, Ted became convinced that he would be its friend before all was done.

Ted did not much care for human friends, with the obvious exception of Eknie and maybe a few servants who had mastered the art of quiet and unquestioning obedience.

The next ladder, the second highest stage was to be called MOONS.

The one below it was just FIREFLIES.

Ted frowned. Maybe there had to be more between moons and fireflies. It did not sound quite right.

Then he drew a line on the bottom of the paper. It represented his first recruit.

Junior did not know yet, but he was done for. His soul had already been marked in the book of the Solar Light Cult. He had been marked from the very first time he had taken Ted's slithery words into his heart and agreed to come.

"Dear deity…"

Ted hesitated to contact the god again. Perhaps it had other, more godly business to do.

A glimmer visited the metal tip of the quill.

"Can I mark my sacrifices up front or do I have to do everything in the end?"

"Mark them now. Activate later. But be wise, be quick. Time passes by…and shut up for now. Do not call for me in vain, or the consequences…will be severe."

The presence and the glow disappeared again, but the chills running down Ted's back did not.