by Pedro Urvi
Kyra knew all those raw, uncomfortable topics well, having heard them many times: painful things which she debated passionately and felt intimately, because of the injustice and the pain they caused to thousands and thousands. To the whole Senoca people.
“We must spread the message among the people,” said Elstor. “Little by little, so that those who believe there’s no hope for their children can know there actually is. I’ve seen the Bloody Hand in several places in the village. People are beginning to wonder what it means; we have to approach them, whisper a message of courage in their ears, a message of union. We have to light the spark of rebellion against the system, against the Golden Gods who have enslaved us for a thousand years.”
“We have to make the flame catch among our own people,” Malte said passionately, clenching his fist.
Kyra watched him spellbound. She knew the blood was hot in her friend’s veins.
“Today there are few of us, no more than a dozen in our village. But that doesn’t matter if we manage to plant the seed of hope. Tomorrow it’ll grow and there’ll soon be a hundred of us, then a thousand, and one day we’ll all be one. And we’ll rise to be free!”
“Yes!” Kyra cried, carried away by her feelings.
“No!” came a strident voice behind her. “That will never happen.”
Kyra turned. Her heart almost leapt out of her mouth. An Eye-of-the-Gods was at the door of the barn. With him was an Executor. In his hand, Milton’s decapitated head. And everything was suddenly chaos.
“Flee!” Elstor yelled, and put out the candle. Desperate screams filled the barn, and darkness enveloped them.
Kyra had no idea what to do. The Eye and the Executors were guarding the entrance, but she could see nothing in the dark. Perhaps she could slip between them without being seen.
“Up!” said an urgent voice, and she recognized Malte’s.
The two of them went blindly towards the ladder. Malte bumped into a beam and grunted in pain. “It has to be here,” he said, sounding annoyed. They felt around and found it at last.
“Up, fast!” he urged her.
They climbed the wooden ladder as fast as they could in the darkness. They reached the upper level, which was full of hay. Kyra crawled to the great opening in the side wall and a trace of light fell on her. Screams of death and agony could be heard from the lower floor.
“Come on, climb down!” Malte urged her, and gave her the rope they used to pull up the bales of hay from outside. Without stopping to think, Kyra slid down, she misjudged the distance and hit the ground hard. She got up and saw Malte sliding down.
“Now, run to the river! Run!” Malte urged her.
Kyra turned and began to run with all the speed her legs were capable of. She knew the terrain and the farm well. Even in the dim light available she ran and leapt, avoiding obstacles in her desperation to escape the Executors and reach the river. Suddenly she heard a grunt behind her. She looked back. It was Malte. He had fallen. He was on the ground, on his side, a little way back. Kyra had not realized she had run so far ahead. She thought he had been right behind her. She was about to call out to him to hurry him up, but then she saw them: two Executors were approaching Malte, who was still lying on the ground. Kyra did not understand what was going on. Why did he not run? She threw herself in the tall grass to hide. Her heart was beating madly.
Come on, Malte, run! You’ve got to escape! But for some reason Malte was not moving. A terrible anguish overcame her, and she found it impossible to breathe. One of the Executors reached Malte and lifted him from the ground. And Kyra understood: he had a spear through his back. Kyra covered her mouth with her hands so as not to scream. No, Malte, no!
The Executor took a silver knife in the shape of a half-moon from his belt. The bloodthirsty eyes in his sinister helmet visor turned towards it. Tears of despair welled up in Kyra’s eyes. Malte, still alive and proud, spat at the Executor. The knife slit the young man’s throat.
Nooooooooooo! Kyra thought she would go mad with rage and pain. She closed her eyes and sank her face in the earth, choking off an outburst of uncontrollable sobbing. Her heart broke as if two horses had pulled it in opposite directions. She felt as though her soul was being torn out and an unbearable sorrow was gnawing at her. Lying flat on the grass, she heard the Executors walk away. She felt so miserable she thought she would die there and then.
And the darkness swallowed her up again, banishing the dreadful memory, enveloping her in the mist of dreams.
“Malte!” she called as she opened her eyes.
“Malte? Who’s that?” Yosane asked, turning eyes sunken with worry on her.
“Where am I?” Kyra asked in confusion.
“We’re prisoners. You tried to cross the barrier and you passed out from a violent shock.”
“I wouldn’t recommend you to try that again,” Idana said as she examined her. “That shock nearly killed you.”
“I’m fine… I was dreaming… remembering… Help me up.”
Idana offered her hand and Kyra raised herself. She heaved a deep sigh. I’m so sorry, Malte. It hurts so much… One day your dream will come true, I know it. You won’t be here to see, and most likely I won’t either, but one day we’ll be one and free. I promise you. I’ll never stop trying.
She went up to the barrier in a fury. “Bloody, bloody pigs!” she yelled at the top of her voice.
Another of the prisoners got up and came towards her threateningly. “Be quiet and stay still! You’ll get us all killed, you fool!”
Kyra looked at her through half-closed eyes. It was the one who had given her that black look before. Her hair was fair as the sun and her skin lightly tanned; her blue-grey eyes shone angrily. Kyra thought she was really pretty, which in their situation might not be such a good thing.
“You can do whatever you want, pretty girl, I’ll do whatever I have to do. I’m not staying locked up in here waiting to see what those beasts have in store for me.”
“What are they going to do with us?” another girl asked. Her hair was chestnut and the symbol on her Ring identified her as a Farmer.
“What do you think?” Kyra replied. “Look at you.” She pointed to her robe. The girl looked down at her new clothes, then sobbed and shrank into a ball.
“Don’t scare them, you don’t know why we were chosen by the Gods,” the blonde said, wagging an accusing finger at Kyra.
“What’s your name?” Kyra asked, trying to maintain a neutral tone even though she was barely able to contain her rage.
“My name is Lian, so remember that, Farmer,” she said condescendingly.
Kyra clenched her fists. “Let me tell you this, Lian, in case you don’t already know, when the Gods summon someone, it’s not for anything good…”
“And how do you know?” Lian said defiantly.
“I know that you never hear anything about them again…”
“That doesn’t necessarily mean that anything bad happens to them. High Priest Torkem told us we’d been chosen for a great end: to serve the Gods in their glory. A great purpose awaits us.”
“And you believe that string of lies?”
“Why should I believe you instead of the High Priest?”
“Because you’re supposed to think for yourself…”
“Are you saying I’m stupid?”
“Are you asking me?”
“I think I’ll have to teach you a little lesson in humility.”
“You?” Kyra laughed. “Whenever you want.”
“No, not me,” the blonde said. “Urda!” she called.
Another girl stood up slowly, and Kyra understood. She was huge; she looked as though she had swallowed another girl. She came up to them slowly with long steps, like a giant, and stood in front of Kyra. She was a head taller and twice as big, with dark brown eyes and a frowning gaze. She looked more like a man than a woman, and to underline this she wore her fair hair closely cropped. But Kyra did not cower. Her brother had taught her to fight. S
he could defend herself, even against this behemoth.
“Let me introduce you to my dear friend Urda. They put us together the first day. We spent a week of isolation. In that time we got to know each other and she’s really charming. In fact we’ve become very good friends. Haven’t we, Urda?”
“Yes,” she replied, in a voice so deep it seemed to come from a cavern.
“And the funniest thing is that Urda and I are from the Third County —now isn’t that interesting? Well, there’s more: Urda belongs to the Guard of Urasis, the capital of the county. And guess who’s the daughter of the Proxy of Urasis?”
Kyra looked at her in disbelief.
“Exactly, yours truly. Isn’t life full of coincidences?”
Kyra half-closed her eyes. If she was with the Guard she would have been trained to fight…
“So I’m going to ask you one more time, you moron form the Sixth County, are you calling me stupid?”
Kyra looked at her full of a seething fury; she knew very well what was at stake there. All these women had been captive for days and knew that death was waiting in the wings. This was no simple spat but a fight for power. If I back down, she’ll be the leader of the group. They’ll all follow her wishes. I can’t afford that. To escape I have to be the one at the head of these girls, or else my chances will be nil. I can’t back down, there’s too much at stake.
She tightened her fists and looked at the other girl defiantly. Then she swung a right punch to her eye. Lian collapsed like a felled tree amid cries of disbelief.
“You’re going to regret that,” Urda threatened her.
Without waiting to be attacked, Kyra threw herself at Urda. She hit right and left with all her strength at the soldier’s massive body. But Urda stood up to the blows. There was more than fat under that robe. Kyra hit her again and met a backstroke of Urda’s, which she avoided by a hair’s-breadth.
“You know how to fight?” Urda said in surprise. “But you’re just a Farmer.”
“I’m not just any Farmer,” Kyra said and punched Urda’s stomach with two potent short hooks. One of them seemed to have some effect, as the soldier girl bent double and seemed to be having difficulty breathing. Kyra saw her chance and attacked. Urda took an unexpected step forward and caught her in a bear hug.
Oh no! Kyra moaned as her arms were pressed against her sides in Urda’s embrace so she was unable to free them. The soldier lifted her off the ground, and she found herself kicking the big girl’s body as she hung there like a puppet. She thumped her in the stomach with her knees, but her blows were barely hard enough and the brute was as strong as an ox. Kyra felt Urda crushing her with tremendous force. She could not breathe and the pain was killing her. She was going to break her spine!
“Give up and I’ll let you go,” Urda said grimly.
“I never give up,” Kyra said furiously through her teeth.
“Then I’ll snap you in two.”
Kyra felt that she was lost, but then she remembered something her brother had taught her. She threw her head back and with all her might brought her forehead down against the bridge of Urda’s nose. There was a loud crack. She let go of Kyra and clapped her hands to her nose. She was bleeding visibly, sniffing loudly and her eyes were streaming with tears.
“You broke it!” she grunted, first in surprise, then in rage. Blind with fury, she launched herself at Kyra and shoved her hard. Kyra tried to step aside, but there was no time. She was thrown backwards and struck the barrier with her back. A golden shock ran through her. The pain exploded throughout her body and she fell to the ground.
“Noooo, Kyra!” she heard Yosane shout.
Kyra tried to stay conscious. In front of her, on the black surface of the wall, she saw a golden circle begin to flash. The circle grew larger. It flashed three times, emitting an intense golden brilliance, and the rock in it vanished. An Eye-of-the-God entered the chamber, followed by two Executors.
“The door…” Kyra stammered. “I knew there was one somewhere…” and she smiled.
The Eye pointed at Kyra. “Bring her to me,” he ordered the Executors.
The Executors came in across the barrier. Amid scared whispers the prisoners moved away, all except Yosane and Idana, who stayed beside Kyra. The two Executors stared at her. She stared back at them with something like a smile of amusement; her mind was rambling.
“How do they cross?” she asked, more to herself than to the Executors.
“Be quiet, slave!” one of them said in a cavernous voice.
“Leave her!” Yosane said, trying to defend her friend.
A tremendous kick sent her rolling to the center of the chamber.
“Bastards…” Kyra managed to mutter, and fainted.
The Executors seized her legs and dragged her away.
They disappeared through the secret door.
9
Ikai arrived at a gallop at the gates of the great walled city. Osaen, the capital of the Senoca nation, welcomed him stoically and Ikai felt that same unease in the pit of his stomach he always felt when he looked at it. The previous morning he had left Gedrel with a healer in the village of Holsea and now he had finally been able to reach his destination.
The Regent’s Guard stopped him at the gate. When they saw the Hunter symbol they let him in at once. He knew the city well, or at least the areas which were not forbidden. He led his mount to the eastern side of the great city. Sejof had taken him there to train him when he was twelve, and now it was where he lived. He went back to the farm whenever he could to see his mother and sister, but unfortunately it was not very often.
He rode as fast as the crowd allowed him through the cobbled streets of the residential area. He crossed the Merchants’ Quarter with difficulty because of the number of merchants and customers desperately trying to make a living. The law of the Gods was the same for everyone, whether merchants or peasants: produce or die. Once he left them behind he reached the Craftsmen’s Quarter, where he skillfully avoided stalls, master craftsmen, textile workshops, smithies and endless businesses devoted solely to the production of goods for the rulers and the Gods. Finally his destination appeared ahead: the Hunters’ Quarter.
He spurred his horse and galloped into it, knowing that there the Hunters would avoid him easily. The Quarter was large, and housed all the Hunters of the Kingdom. They were divided into six different groups, each responsible for the wellbeing of one of the counties of the nation. They were led by the Lord Hunter Osvan, who controlled them with an iron hand. All owed absolute obeisance to the Regent Sesmok, even though many of the orders Osvan received came directly from the Enforcers of the Gods.
Ikai stopped his horse in front of the great landing of the Hunters of the Sixth County and jumped down. In the courtyard, several of his comrades were training. When they saw him arrive so urgently they stared at him in surprise, but Ikai did not stop to greet them and ran into the great wooden building, looking for Sejof. He found him beside the fireplace, tending his weapons.
Ikai greeted him with a curt gesture. “Master.”
“Ikai, what a surprise! I’m glad to see you back and in one piece,” Sejof said. He left the sword and whetstone on the table, came to Ikai and put his weathered hands on the young man’s shoulders. “I gave you leave, why have you returned so soon? Your wounds can’t be healed yet, surely.”
“Master, something has happened and I need your help.”
Sejof saw how serious the matter was in Ikai’s eyes, and frowned. “Tell me what’s happened.”
Ikai told him the full story of what had happened to his mother and sister. The Master Hunter took a moment to digest the bad news. “I’m really sorry. I had heard a rumor, but I was hoping it wasn’t true.”
“I must find my sister, Master.”
Sejof shook his head. “You and I are Hunters, Ikai. We know the law of the Gods and their repercussions better than many. If a person is summoned by the Gods, that person must answer the call. If they flee, they send us to
hunt them. If they give in, they’re taken by the Eyes. That’s the law, and there’s nothing that can be done about it. You know that as well as I do.”
“I need to find out what’s happened to her. Where have they taken her? Why?” Ikai sighed heavily. “What’s in store for her?”
“Those questions will only lead you to death. Listen to me well, boy, you must understand that your sister is gone, even though your heart breaks in the process. Accept it, or it’ll cost you your life.”
“I can’t. She’s my sister.”
“Nobody has ever managed to bring back a loved one, and anyone who’s tried has died in the attempt. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a poor peasant, a rich merchant, a powerful Proxy or the Regent himself. There’s nothing we can do, we’re all slaves in the eyes of the Gods, and anyone who goes against their desire is condemned to death. Either he’ll die fleeing from us or he’ll die at the hands of the Executors.”
“I don’t care about the Regent or the Enforcers of the Gods, I have to rescue Kyra and I will!”
“Be quiet, you fool!” The master cried, looking around him. “What you’re saying is crazy, and if anyone hears you it’ll cost you your life.”
“She’s my own blood. I won’t abandon her to her fate.”
Sejof seized Ikai’s shoulders and looked at him firmly in the eye, holding him fast. “You must forget about her. The Gods have her, and as far as you’re concerned that’s as if she were dead. If you don’t let her go and keep asking questions it’ll mean your end. Your days are numbered.”
“If I must die, let it be. But I won’t abandon my sister.”
“Fool!”
“Are you afraid of helping me, Master?”
Sejof took a step back. “Don’t be stupid, of course I’m afraid. Just for having this conversation they could cut both our heads off. But no, I don’t fear Regent Sesmok and his Guard. What I fear is what the Eyes and their bloody Executors might do to my family. Yes, Ikai, I fear for my own, and you’d do well to fear for your own life, and your mother’s.”
