Rhuna- Black City

by Barbara Underwood

  “How will you use your powers if you kill the Dark Master and take his place?” Rhuna asked challengingly.

  “Many things shall continue, such as the Medium of Exchange for trade and the growth of wealth,” Goram said as he looked into the distance, visualizing his own reign as ruler of the Black City. “Yet there shall be no reason to kill Atlans,” he continued. “To the contrary. Atlans shall be welcome to share in the wealth of knowledge, power and material gain!”

  Rhuna looked at Goram’s grinning face.

  “And what about Lozira? Would you come back to this present time; back to us?”

  “Should it be necessary,” Goram replied glibly.

  Rhuna felt a surge of revulsion compel her to stand up and leave the room.

  “You’ve just been using us,” she said gruffly. “Like a stepping-stone towards your goals of being a powerful Master like the Dark One. But I believe he is still much more powerful than you can ever be,” Rhuna charged as her anger boiled to the surface. “And I believe your obsession with your own selfish and immature desire for power and greatness has made you irrational and unbalanced! And deplorable!”

  Rhuna stormed out of the small room and ran down the narrow stairs, outside into the garden and then stopped at the pond. She kneeled down in front of the still water and breathed deeply to calm herself. As she closed her eyes to appreciate the tranquillity around her, she became aware of gentle footsteps approaching from behind.

  “Oh, it’s you,” she said with relief when she recognized Tozar ambling leisurely towards her.

  “A still body of water is always soothing,” Tozar commented as he stopped and sat down at the pond’s edge next to Rhuna. “I heard raised voices,” he added after a long pause.

  “I was angry at Goram,” Rhuna said with a deep groan of disgust.

  “He stubbornly persists in confronting the Dark One alone?”

  “Not only that, but he believes he can take the Dark Master’s place and use his powers for good when he’s ruler of the Black City!” Rhuna tried to laugh but only made a coarse sound. “I told him that he’s obsessed with his selfish desire to be great and powerful, and that it has made him irrational – and deplorable!”

  “Your observations are accurate,” Tozar said after some thoughtful contemplation. “Great power, like great intelligence and talent, is not easily contained within mere corporeal limits. When such mental potency is forced to expand due to intense necessity of expression, certain damage may result.”

  Rhuna thought about Tozar’s words carefully.

  “Like the pyramid in Uxpan, a long time ago,” she remarked, turning to look at Tozar. “Its top blew right off because it wasn’t constructed properly. It had a weakness in the upper section so when they began using the pyramid to harness earth and solar energies, it couldn’t contain all that energy longer than two lunar cycles.”

  “You remember that?” Tozar asked, slightly surprised. “We observed that event on our first journey through the land of Atlán, not long after you first arrived.”

  “Of course I remember,” Rhuna said happily. “I remember all the things from that time…and that we did together.”

  Rhuna’s fleeting happy memory dissipated, and her thoughts returned to Goram.

  “And in Goram’s case, his excessive mental potency has made him unreasonable. Irrational,” Rhuna said with a sad sigh. “Maybe because we were stuck in the abode of The Masters of Ancient Wisdom for many lunar cycles, unable to leave and come here to the Black City until now.”

  “Possibly,” Tozar said, nodding thoughtfully. “He requires the freedom to express his capabilities more fully…and with careful guidance.”

  “Guidance? Goram? Never!” Rhuna tried to laugh again. “I feel so sad for Lozira! If only she didn’t love him!” Rhuna said with exasperation. “She suppresses her own needs and desires because she believes Goram must not be restrained.”

  “And his love for her?” Tozar asked tersely.

  Rhuna sighed as she recalled the beginning of their daughter’s relationship with Goram.

  “He was a philanderer and leader of the Dark Master’s followers in Safu,” she began. “It couldn’t be much worse than that, but their love flourished and made him give up his involvement with the Dark Ones. That’s the only reason I stopped opposing their relationship,” Rhuna explained. “…when he told me how his love for Lozira had changed his goals and priorities in life.”

  “And now?” Tozar asked, his voice sounding hoarse.

  “When I asked Lozira recently, she said he is still attentive and affectionate, but…” Rhuna shrugged her shoulders in hopelessness.

  “He cannot resist the opportunity to unleash his repressed desire for attaining monumental achievements,” Tozar concluded. Rhuna looked at Tozar’s gaunt and depleted face, seeing beyond his severe appearance and recognizing the familiar wisdom and understanding she had once loved.

  “Even though it must hurt Lozira so much that he would leave her to pursue those grandiose goals, she still puts his happiness before her own,” Rhuna lamented with another sigh.

  “It is a true dilemma,” Tozar agreed as they both gazed into the pond’s blue-green water.

  Rhuna returned to the main building of the inn to resume some chores, and then helped Aradin in the food preparation room. When they were alone, she told him about her altercation with Goram, and then the peaceful conversation with Tozar at the pond.

  “I suppose that could be so,” Aradin said doubtfully when Rhuna described the comparison between Goram and the incorrectly constructed pyramid of Uxpan. “But what if he really is just like the Dark Master?”

  Rhuna felt confronted with a challenge she did not want to address, and she was relieved when she heard the Atlan representatives enter the main room and greet them.

  “Let me assist in the meal preparation,” Stillness of the Lake offered.

  Rhuna smiled at the kind Atlan woman and then approached Protector of Remembrance.

  “I spoke to Goram earlier and have learned more about the time portal construction,” she reported. “It will only take you to the right past time period when the planets are aligned in a certain way, and when the constellations are right.”

  “Ah, that is interesting,” said the senior Atlan with raised eyebrows.

  “The right time will be in fourteen days,” Rhuna continued. “But he’s making a trap so that no one else can pass through the time portal after he steps through.”

  “In fourteen days,” Protector of Remembrance repeated. “Very good, very good.”

  Rhuna returned to the meal preparation, washing some vegetables as she heard the Atlan representatives discuss the new information she had provided.

  Later that day, Rhuna went to the small and private room Damell had chosen, and sat down on the cushions by herself. Between the tumultuous emotions over Goram and Lozira, Rhuna frequently became anxious about her mother alone in the Black City with only Goll and Panapu. Despite previous failed attempts to perceive events occurring in the Black City through The Infinite, she closed her eyes and reclined on the cushions to release her Extended Consciousness.

  Rhuna perceived the cool air above and around the inn as her Extended Consciousness rose above the small room in which her physical body remained in a reclining position. After becoming oriented on this first level of The Infinite, Rhuna willed her Extended Consciousness to seek out her mother in the Black City. Almost immediately, she felt herself tumble and become confused in a whirlpool of images, sounds and other sensory perceptions. Rhuna tried to grasp at something tangible, then focussed her thoughts on her mother again, yet without result. Finally, she willed her Extended Consciousness back to her body where she lay a while to recover from the assault on her senses. The disorienting dizziness took the longest to ebb, and she only opened her eyes when she no longer felt herself spinning in a space filled with buzzing and roaring sounds.

  Rhuna slowly stood up and left the small private chamber, r
esigning herself to waiting another day until her mother and her companions would leave the Black City and return to the inn.

  “You attempted to penetrate the Black City’s time vortex,” Damell stated as she walked along the corridor. She spun around, startled. “This was my intention, also,” he added with a kind smile.

  “It’s awful not knowing what’s happening and how they are,” Rhuna sighed, and then thought of the frustration she felt during her vision of mental connection with the Dark Master. She pushed the thought aside, shocked that her own life experiences should trigger a memory of the Dark Master’s feelings.

  “We shall know everything in another day or so,” Damell said reassuringly, and then frowned at her. “What is it?”

  Rhuna’s thoughts were still with the Dark Master’s frustrations when a part of her own mind came to a sudden realization.

  “What if he goes outside the city to summon visions of our present time?” Rhuna asked.

  “Who?”

  “The Dark Master! He’s frustrated because he can’t summon visions of his future – our time,” Rhuna prattled quickly. “And his calculations for a time portal back to our time also don’t work, but maybe it’s because he’s in the Black City! Just like we can’t perceive anything going on in the city through The Infinite, the same distorting time vortex might be preventing the Dark Master from summoning visions and even using the time portal while he’s there!”

  Damell stared at Rhuna in surprise for a moment until he grasped her words.

  “Yes! Yes, indeed!” Damell smiled brightly. “It is a valid assumption which we shall immediately share with the Representatives,” he said as he began to walk out of the building with determined strides.

  Rhuna looked out of the upper level of the main building to view the pyramid at the back of the inn. The new day promised a clear sky with warm sunshine, and she hoped for a fast journey home for her mother, Goll and Panapu. As she looked out of the window, she saw movement near the pyramid and realized that Goram was already busy at work.

  “Do you need me to transform more of the special stone blocks?” Rhuna asked him when she had dressed and walked across the garden towards the pyramid.

  Goram stopped and looked up in surprise.

  “You wish to assist an irrational and deplorable person attain his egocentric goal?”

  “I want this time portal to be finished in thirteen days so that we can be rid of you,” Rhuna retorted.

  Goram grunted and smirked at the same time.

  “Very well,” he said at last. “Let us commence.”

  Rhuna reluctantly partnered with Goram in the transformation of sand into stone blocks containing a carefully-calculated amount of crystal. While she rested from the mental effort, Goram placed each block inside the space underneath the pyramid, constructing a solid and level wall on three sides.

  As the sun made its final descent, Rhuna began to feel anxious as she waited on the terrace with Aradin and Shandi, looking at the track that connected the inn to the trade route.

  “They should be here soon now,” Aradin said cheerfully.

  “Very soon,” Damell said as he stepped up behind them. He smiled at Rhuna as she turned around.

  “You know?” she asked softly.

  Damell nodded, and Rhuna understood that he had seen the travellers through The Infinite.

  A short time later, Rhuna saw movement behind the crest of a soft green hillock, and waited impatiently for the moving shapes to form into camels, riders and several smaller animals. She was surprised to count eight people altogether as they turned onto the track leading to the inn.

  “Traders from Farsa have accompanied and assisted them,” Damell explained.

  “Are they back?” Lozira asked excitedly as she and the others stepped onto the large terrace in front of the inn’s main building.

  “With many animals and supplies!” Mohandu said, his head wobbling happily.

  Rhuna rushed forward, suddenly aware of her overwhelming relief to see her mother, Goll and Panapu returning safely. Aradin, Damell, Mohandu and Yarqi ran alongside her to greet the party as they reached the holding pen and nearby lodging house.

  Kiana and Goll each rode a camel while Panapu made the journey on foot, holding the reins of both camels in one hand as he took the lead. In his other hand Panapu led two more camels laden with goods, followed by two goats attached to the camels by a thin rope.

  “Are the goats ours?” Yarqi asked with happy anticipation.

  “The goats, these four camels and those fowl,” Goll answered from atop his camel as he smiled down at Rhuna. His head was wrapped in a blue linen fabric with a matching veil across his face to protect his delicate skin and eyes from the bright sun. He raised a translucent hand to point at several cages attached to one of the camels.

  “They have a pleasing appearance,” Damell commented as he stepped forward to look at a variety of fowl in the cages.

  “Those traders helped us a lot, and they speak some Atlan,” Kiana said as her camel lowered itself to the ground to allow her to dismount. “Oh! I can barely walk!” she added as she wobbled awkwardly away from the camel.

  Aradin and Mohandu greeted the five traders from Farsa while Rhuna and Damell assisted Kiana and Goll.

  “We obtained every item on the list,” Goll said proudly as he showed Damell the parchment he had kept in his vest pocket. “Even the musical instruments for Mohandu and Lozira!”

  Rhuna helped carry the various goods to the inn as she listened to the cheerful remarks by Goll and Kiana about their acquisitions, feeling elated by the general good mood. Behind her she heard Yarqi muttering soothingly to the goats while Mohandu clucked and cooed at the caged birds.

  Suddenly, Rhuna became aware of Panapu’s stiff movements as she sensed tension and negative emotions from him. She quickened her pace until she strode beside him and observed his clenched jaw and furrowed brow.

  “Did you have a bad experience in the Black City?” she asked him.

  “Many bad people! Very bad city!” he spat without hesitation. “Not go there again!” Panapu readjusted the sacks and other goods he was carrying over his shoulders, grunted and then quickened his pace until Rhuna was no longer able to keep up with him.

  “What happened in the Black City?” she asked Kiana when they had unloaded some of the food supplies inside the storage room.

  “Well!” Kiana said with a deep sigh as she straightened her back after unloading the sacks of grains and vegetables she had carried. “It’s a really bad place,” she began, echoing Panapu’s remarks.

  “We heard the commotion before we even got through the gate!” Kiana said as she recalled the eventful visit to the Black City. “We could see that terrible things were happening inside, and those two Black-Hats who took us told us to stop and wait until everything was over.”

  “What was happening?” Rhuna asked with alarm.

  “People were just hitting each other, screaming and crying like wild animals,” Kiana answered. “About twenty people, fighting and smashing each other with sticks or rocks until most of them were lying on the ground, with blood all over!” Kiana shuddered as she finished her grizzly description.

  “We saw a fight between just three people, and one of them was killed,” Rhuna said, recalling her own unsettling experience in the Black City. “We were told not to interfere, so we just kept walking, like everyone else.”

  “Yeah, that’s what they did,” Kiana said. “Everyone just kept going on with their business as if nothing happened, even though people were lying on the ground bleeding. And it happened again that night, and then several times during the next day when we did our trading,” she added.

  “It happened many times?” Rhuna asked, aghast.

  “We had to remind Panapu not to do anything about it because he wanted to stop it or help the people who were bleeding,” Kiana explained. “The Black-Hats also told us not to do anything and just mind our own business.”

 
“Very bad, very bad!” Panapu grumbled as he entered the storage room with two heavy loads on his shoulders.

  Rhuna continued to help Kiana and the others unload and store the goods and supplies, and then greeted the traders from Farsa as they approached the inn’s large open terrace. The Atlan representatives remained in the building and began preparations for the evening meal while Lozira looked at the unusual stringed instrument Goll had obtained for her. Rhuna looked to her other side and saw Goll gently unwrapping a staple of parchment sheets and small bottles of different coloured ink. Nearby, Mohandu expertly tapped a rhythm on the drums, dispatching a pleasing echo throughout the inn.

  “We like music,” said one of the traders as they sat down on seating cushions. Rhuna noticed that their new guests were different in appearance and manner from the rowdy black-bearded ones, and she smiled at each one as they introduced themselves.

  “Nice inn,” said one of the men politely. “We come by often, but no one here. Were sad! Now you here, and we come, enjoy good food, nice bed!”

  Rhuna smiled and laughed lightly at their cheerful remarks, enjoying their lilting accent as they made an effort to speak the Atlan language.

  “And good music!” said another man as he looked across the terrace towards Mohandu.

  “Much better than the noise we heard in the Black City,” Kiana said, approving of Mohandu’s drum technique. She sat down next to Rhuna, happy that others were preparing the meal while she relaxed.

  “It was awful noise!” Panapu grunted, his movements still stiff with tension as he lowered a large plate of food onto the low table in front of the guests.

  Rhuna saw the hunger and delight in the Farsan men’s eyes as the food was set before them. She helped Yarqi distribute some more food bowls for the rice while Aradin passed the basket containing flatbread.

  “We heard loud and ugly music when we were in the city as well,” Aradin remarked.

  “Noise in city very bad,” said one of the men with a mouthful of food.

  “City badder every time we come,” said another as he swallowed quickly to make room for another large spoonful of stew.