“No, listen to me! I think I found the way…”
“How?”
“Using the Yellow!” I said. “This division between the Yellow and the Orange got me thinking… You’ll see tomorrow. Trust me. Now, I’ll go back to the banquet and see what more I can find out about the sisters.”
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” replied Cestia.
“Why not?”
“There are certain Orange rites you are obviously not aware of,” She said seriously. “Certain…sacrifices they perform to the altar of their goddesses. I don’t know exactly but why else would they let you in and make a feast?”
“You are fooling me!” I told her.
“Suit yourself,” she said. “But if I were you, I’d leave now, before the banquet is over. And without telling anyone. I could just say that the Red Harlequin flew away!”
I went closer to her and said softly: “I would never fly away without you.”
I squeezed her hand and then went back to the dinner. I refused to believe what Cestia had told me, and besides, I knew well how easily myths and lies about different chromes were whipped up in the territories. I, the Red Harlequin, was, in fact, the grand master of lies and I had turned them to serve my purpose. I just wasn’t sure whether I’d said that last bit aloud…
“Come Harlequiiin!” I heard all the sisters buzzing.
Shaina approached me holding a cup and said laughingly: “Lets’ drink this nectar together to seal our friendship!”
I drank and then drank some more, until the laughter and the buzz drowned out all my senses. And that’s when I realized, too late, that something was wrong…
When I opened my eyes, again, I felt dazed and confused. The banquet had finished. There were no more tables, no more food — only the buzz remained. And the laughter. But it was a strange laughter. It was an evil laughter. My head was aching and my body felt heavy.
“Ha, ha, look at the Harlequin now!” I recognized that voice. Shaina! She was standing above me holding a cleaver. She and the many others of her sisters, hundreds of them were all upside down. What trick was this?
“You thought you could come here and do as you please with the Orange, Harlequin?” she mewed.
I realized that I was the one upside down, suspended from the copper ceiling of the banquet hall. I had been tied like a beast ready to be butchered.
“Tell us where your army of Harlequins is hiding! We will go and let them know their king is at our mercy!”
“Untie me you fools!” As I said this, I frantically scanned the room for Cestia. But all I could see were Orange robes and no Red mantle.
“Who is the fool between us?” said the oldest sister. “It took but the work of a young sister to capture the Red Harlequin with a smile! For all you may think you are, you are still nothing but a male.”
“Now reveal where your army is, before we spill your blood all over the floor!” hissed the second oldest sister.
“You foolish, foolish chromes!” I said angrily. My head felt as if it was about to explode. “There is no army out there. The reason why I have come here is to help you, not to attack you!”
“Do you hear him, sisters? He wants to help us! Just like the male Yellow always want to help us! Poor us! What would we ever do without such valiant warriors!” They all cackled like intoxicated hags.
“We are not helpless female chromes, Harlequin!” Shaina purred. “Since the dawn of time we sisters have taken care of each other without needing anyone else.”
“Where does that leave you, today?” I asked. “Hiding deep inside a fortress, mired in your own selfishness! I know the truth about you.”
“What do you mean?” asked the infant.
“You told me your ancestors and those of the Yellow built two cities alike — one the reflection of the other. Like two sides of the same coin. You and the Yellow are one and the same. For the same stupid reason that other Territories have been divided, you let a ruler divide you, as well. Your precious First Nara — Why did she do it? To stop the fighting? No! She only wanted to consolidate her own power!”
“Enough!” cried the second oldest. “Tell us where your Harlequins are hidden!”
“Right here!” replied someone from the back of the hall. All the sisters turned. I could not see, but I knew instantly, whose voice it was.
“Daerec!” I shouted. Never had my heart been so glad to recognize the voice of a friend.
Daerec strode forward, together with the rest of my Harlequins and several Green chromes. I then noticed a red mantle behind them. Cestia was there, too, and this time she was in the company of all her Parabathai warriors.
“Your fortress is not so hard to overwhelm, after all, especially when all of you foolish Orange are so focused on hanging up our master like a festival ball full of treats!” Daerec said. “Xai, go liberate our King.”
Xai pushed his way through the crowd of dumbfounded Orange. He cut my rope and I fell down hard. But my ego was bruised even more. I vowed never to be so careless again.
“You didn’t think we’d all stay in Everdia waiting, did you?” Daerec grinned.
I clasped his arm and smiled. “How did you find me?”
He pointed to the Green chromes that had accompanied him. “Turns out they can do more than become invisible. They can find Harlequins too! Cestia brought us the rest of the way.”
““We have indeed been fools!” cried the second oldest of the Sisters, interrupting us. “Fools to think that this motley crew of youngsters could indeed pose a threat to us Orange!”
“Oh, I know we are not the threat, Orange chrome,” replied Daerec. “The Black army making its way here — they are the threat. ”
“You lie!”
Daerec shrugged. “Send scouts and see for yourself. Go ahead. Waste more time by refusing to believe us. But I can tell you this: we saw them marching on the Cancerian,” He said. “There must be at least ten legions.”
The sisters buzzed again.
“But why?” quavered the oldest sister in disbelief. “What have we done to them?”
“You committed the crime of not being born Black.” I retorted. I turned to Daerec. “Where is the Black army now?”
“A day’s journey from here. Perhaps two.”
I then turned to the four sisters who had tricked me. “We need to alert the Yellow, as well, and seek their support.”
“Ah! We will not ask for their help!”
“If you won’t ask, then I will,” I told them. “And I know just the way to convince them.” I didn’t wait for a reply but walked out of the room, with Cestia by my side.
“I apologize, for not listening to you,” I whispered. “It was the wine talking.”
“I’m glad to see you’re still a live bull.” She jested. “But don’t be surprised if, one day, I put a ring through your nose.”
26. The Sun and the Moon
The next day, we crossed the long bridge that divided Crodya from Doryca. Like the Orange city, the Yellow city of Doryca had an identical dome atop a monolithic palace, constructed by the same hands that had built Crodya. For all I knew we could have set the Orange city in flames and the Yellow would have been unperturbed by it.
As we passed the over the river bridge and into Yellow territory, I looked up and noticed that many hawks were circling the city.
“Who goes there?” shouted a sentinel, watching above the gates from a turret.
“Your saviors!” Daerec called back.
“Your modesty is overwhelming!” commented Cestia. “And you think this will convince them to open their doors?”
The hawks dipped in the air, making lazy circles, toward us.
“What are those birds doing?” I wondered.
No sooner had I spoken that one of the hawks attacked Cestia. The bird swooped down, with lightning speed and it tried to stab Cestia with its beak. Fortunately, her mask saved her from scars.
“Ah! Let go of me!” she shrieked, as its claws raked her
mask.
Before even the Parabathai could intervene, I leapt off my horse and hit the hawk with my sword. He let go of Cestia and resumed his flight toward Doryca. But other raptors followed his example and fell from the clouds like feathered stones. Soon we were fighting hundreds of them. All was a blur of wings, beaks and claws!
“We come in the name of the Orange!” I managed to cry out to the sentinels watching our plight. “We come in the name of the sisterhood! Let me in so I can deliver their message!”
“Open our gates? Not a chance.” The sentinel responded. “I’m for letting the hawks do all the hard work to get rid of you.”
“Just me, alone, then!” I yelled.
We heard several high-pitched whistles and the birds retreated, making for the clouds on their powerful wings. Several landed on the gloves of Yellow falconers that sprung up from behind the Yellow city’s walls. They had been there all along, guiding the birds in their attack.
While we hastily checked to see if anyone in our party had been seriously hurt, a male voice thundered: “You say the Orange sent you? We do not see any Orange chromes among you. And you wear no masks. How do we know what chrome you belong to? How we know it’s not a trap?” The word ‘trap’, echoed throughout the narrow valley.
“He is the infamous Red Harlequin – yet he speaks the truth!” Another voice echoed. It was the voice of Nara, the oldest of the Orange sisters. She surprised us and the Yellow chromes too, by making a late appearance to lend a hand. She marched across the bridge followed by several other sisters. Together they looked like a waddling flock of great, flightless birds with their flapping robes and feathered masks. “We are all in great danger! Let the Harlequin in!” She cried out as she walked.
There was a moment of silence. Finally, the same voice that had spoken before cried out: “You! The one the sister has called Red Harlequin! Come forward! All the others stand back!”
“Wait! I’ll go with you!” said Cestia.
“No, I will go with him!” snapped Daerec.
“No, I told them I’ll enter alone, and I stand by my word,” I said.
We heard the clanking-clinking sound of the heavy gate being ratcheted open. Slowly the doors parted, but only a tiny bit.
“Quick! Come!” shouted a Yellow masked chrome that emerged from behind the doors. No sooner did I step inside the city that the doors slammed behind me. A group of Yellow, armed with sharp spears, encircled me. They’re every bit as apprehensive as the Orange, I thought.
“What…are you?” demanded one of them, suspicious.
“What is it you want?” asked another.
“We seek no trouble!” added a third.
I could sense their nervousness. And fear.
“I have come, with my friends, from your sister city, Crodya, where we met with the Orange. They insisted we give you the same message we gave to them.” I paused to make sure I had every ear. “The Black army is moving this way. And their intentions are not peaceful.”
“We keep to ourselves. We are not a threat for them.” Said one of the three Yellow chromes.
“If you are not a threat for them, why are they coming this way with their army?” I told them. “And if everything is well, why are you keeping the gates to your city closed?”
“Perhaps to keep out strange looking creatures without masks.” Said someone above us. I looked up and saw that the Yellow that had spoken was standing on top of a turret. The sun behind him blinded my eyes so that I could not see him clearly. I could see however a large falcon resting majestically on top of his left gauntlet.
“Come, youngster. Come up here.”
I climbed up the stairs and reached the top of the tower where the Yellow chrome was now gazing at the horizon. He turned around and gestured me to join him. Besides a calfskin mantle he had a brown fur covering his neck and an abnormally large golden mask with a large nose and mouth. He was a big chrome, almost twice my size, and judging from the scars on his mask, he had probably lived to see many conflicts in his life.
With one swift move, he let his hawk fly away. We both watched as the bird made its way over the narrow valley that divided the twin cities. Below us, it seemed as if all the territories were at our feet.
You could almost see the sea at the end of the plains to the east while the dark hills of the Black nation could be spotted to the west. In front of us, the river made its way all the way down to what seemed to be a small road but which I knew to be the Cancerian.
There seemed to be quite the same serpent of chromes that I had seen going to the Harvest Faire in Ayas. Only those weren’t merchants. It was the Black army.
The Yellow chrome turned to face me.
“In another time, I would have perhaps had my falcon kill you before you could even set eyes on Doryca,” he said. “But my instinct tells me that you here and the Black army over there are entwined, somehow.” He pointed to the black spot on the Cancerian. The skin of his big right hand was like the color of the sun, probably due to the many days spent in the mountains
“My name is Asheva,” I told him, “and in another time I would have been there as part of that army.”
“I am Brother Ddeko,” he said while nodding his head.
He turned once again to follow the dark spot moving in the horizon. “Come the next sunrise, they will be upon us, and the siege will begin. We are not warriors, Asheva. We have always belonged here to our mountains and never hurt anyone.”
His words seemed sincere and I had no reason to believe otherwise.
“It has been a long time since someone has attacked us. But we have our secrets. The mountains will protect us.”
“Your mountains will not protect you! Eventually, the Blacks will find you. And what about the Orange? If you hide, surely the Blacks will attack them first!”
“The sisters know how to take care of themselves. They do not need our help.”
“Or maybe, you both need each other. Divided, you are an easier prey than if you are united.” I told him.
Ddeko shrugged. “It has always been this way. Our two nations have lived separately but peacefully, one on each side of the river. We have weathered other storms. We will weather this one as well.”
“No, you won’t!” I cried out. “Just because something has been the same for eons doesn’t mean it will stay that way forever. Everything changes! It’s time for you to change or you will disappear.”
“We will never disappear!” he said raising his voice. “Just like the mountains that have forged us, we will remain here forever!”
“Mountains are constantly eroded by the wind while a sudden earthquake can make them come crumbling down!” I told him. “The wind of war swept through the Red city of Samaris before they even knew what was happening, bringing an entire nation to its knees. I was there to witness it! Is this what you want for the Yellow?”
“Then what is it you suggest?” He finally asked.
It is said that the gods let our departed come to our aid in times of need. The words I uttered were not mine but rather Chtomio’s: “You must unite forces with the Orange and then give the Blacks the same medicine they have given the territories: fear.”
I went on and explained to him the stratagem that I had in mind.
He listened without interrupting me.
When I finished, he seemed to ponder my plan carefully, after which he said: “You come here, unknown to me, and you ask me to put my nation at risk like this. And how do I know you have not been sent by the Blacks themselves?”
I pointed below to where Cestia and Daerec were waiting together with the others and looking above.
“What you see down there, is the beginning of something new. Green, Orange and Red together. The Blacks would never be capable of a similar alliance.”
“But you said you were once a Black.”
“The past no longer matters. What counts is only the present.”
“And you say the Orange have agreed to this too?” he asked.
I nodded.
He stared once again at the valley below us as if contemplating my words; until he finally shook his head.
“No, we will not do anything that you say. We will overcome this our way.”
“How? By hiding?” I said incredulously. “The Blacks will not go away, brother.”
He remained silent.
I then played my last card and added dismissingly: “The Orange were right about you. I should have listened to them from the start.” And as I said so I began to work my way slowly down the stairs.
“Wait!” he said. I stopped.
“What did they say?”
I turned around and said: “The sisters warned me that the Yellow would be too cowardly for such a plan and that as always the fate of the twin cities would depend entirely on them.”
“ Always? When did they ever do anything for us, those harridans!”
I shrugged my shoulders and added: “I didn’t want to believe that male chromes would be less courageous than female chromes, but I guess it’s the truth. Crodya is a large sun and Doryca but a small moon by comparison. Those were the exact words used by the sisters.”
I could feel Ddeko’s rage mounting and I silently laughed, knowing I’d finally hit the right chords.
“The large sun and the small moon eh?! I’ll giv’em the sun! It was us Yellow that built the dam above the Yara! Us!” He banged his own chest so hard, I thought he would fall down. “And who benefited? They did! It was us that taught them how to domesticate cattle!”
I stood there, not saying a word, waiting for the mouse to come all the way into the trap. “The Orange! Bah!” continued Ddeko. “Ungrateful empty wind bags, that’s what they are!”
“And yet, they would sacrifice themselves, even for the Yellow,” I said.
“Let me tell you, we make the sacrifices for them! Not the other way around! And this time it won’t be any different!”
“So you will help us?” I asked, putting a respectful note in my voice.
He nodded, but then sighed: “We still need time to put your plan into motion, but we don’t know how much time we have left.”
“All the more reason to act now,” I told him.
Rise of the Harlequin Page 9
