by Pedro Urvi
“Yes, Master,” the four said, and after a solemn bow they left the hall.
Albana, still lying there on the floor unable to recover, was trying the get the air to reach her lungs.
“What is the first law of the Shadows?” Oskas asked her. His tired voice echoed beneath his sinister helmet.
“We serve the House of Aureb.”
“What is the second law?”
“We serve in secret.”
“What is the third law?”
“The past does not exist.”
He nodded slowly.
“Remember the laws of the Shadow well, or you won’t live to see another full moon.”
“I… I will, master.”
Oskas put his hand under his cuirass and brought out a disc with a great golden nugget in the center. He held it in his gloved hand and showed it to her. He spoke a few words, and the disc rose to hover above his open hand.
“Watch and learn, young Shadow, so that this lesson may be engraved on your memory.”
The disc began to rotate, and a beam of light shot out from it. Before Albana a scene was projected. She recognized Lord Asu, with beside him Moltus, his old Erudite. She felt a chill at seeing the mad scientist, and shivered.
At last the slave who managed to neutralize the Rings is in my power. I have been searching for him for a long time, and patience is not exactly one of my virtues.
The voices say it is highly unlikely that a slave would be able to do anything of the sort.
You and your damned voices! That is precisely why I have captured him. I want to find out whether it is really possible.
Leave him to me, I will find out, my Lord, do not worry. Moltus gave a sarcastic giggle.
Be careful with your damned experiments. I do not want him to die until I know whether it is true or not. Where there is one, there will surely be more. I must know if he is really capable of it. My other Erudites say it is not possible for a slave to have managed it.
You have come to the right Erudite. You will know, my Lord, you will know with absolute certainty before he dies. Leave it to me.
Do it tonight, while the Ceremony of Vivification is taking place. Today is a very important day. One cycle closes and another commences. Let us begin it with good news.
Indeed, my Lord.
And by the fire of the heavens! Do not let the screams of the slave reach the great temple.
Moltus gave a halting giggle. Of course not, my lord.
He shall be brought to you on the brink of midnight.
The voices want to know whether we should look into the slave’s reward.
Reward?
The spy begged my Lord to save her sick mother’s life if she managed to complete her mission. My Lord accepted the deal…
Lord Asu laughed cruelly. Save the life of an old slave? What we ought to do is throw her into the well of magma. Oskas will have to answer to me for his spy’s insolence. If he does not know how to control his flock, I shall teach him how to do it.
A ball of fire emerged from the God’s hand, and he hurled it against one of the two chamber servants. The slave died amid screams of agony, his body consumed by flames.
A dirty slave dares propose a deal to me? To a God? To me? She is lucky that illness is going to kill her mother, or else I would kill her myself. If that dirty spy dares address me again, I’ll burn her to a crisp.
Moltus watched the scene impassively. Your patience is great, my Lord.
If it were up to me I would have all the elderly and sick killed. We are too benevolent with those cockroaches. Unfortunately the Council does not approve of this. According to the Five it would be both counterproductive and a blow to the economy. But the day will come when I will no longer need to follow the laws of the Council, and the Five will kneel before me. When that day comes, nothing will save the slaves. I will do with them as I please.
Moltus laughed softly. It will come, my Lord, and soon, the voices tell me. Never fear, my Lord, it will be done according to your orders.
The disc stopped spinning in Oskas’ hand, and the image disappeared. And with it, hope vanished from Albana’s heart. Her mother was dying, and without the intervention of the Gods she would not survive. The pain she felt in her chest was so sharp she thought her heart was being drawn with hot tweezers.
“Serve the Gods or die, young Shadow. There’s no other way, there’s no other reward. Stay alive. There’s nothing more you can aspire to.”
“Why do you show me this, my Lord?”
“My reasons are my own. You don’t need to know them.”
Albana bent her head.
“You shouldn’t have gone to Lord Asu. You shouldn’t have believed that I wouldn’t find out. I’m Oskas, Master-Spy, Leader of the Shadows. I know everything that happens around me. Don’t forget that again, or it will cost you your life.”
Albana nodded slowly, defeated.
“Go now, before I regret it and end your existence.”
Without hope, beaten, she left the Black Tower and vanished into the night. She reached the seventh catacomb, where her dying mother was kept. She identified herself to the Custodian who stopped her at the door, and was admitted. She passed between the slaves until she reached the far end, where Foreman Gosner was sitting beside the fire. He greeted her with a brief nod of acknowledgment, looking deeply worried.
“Welcome,” he said.
“How is she?”
Gosner shook his head. “I’ve done all I could for her, as you asked, but she’s gotten worse these last few days. I don’t think she’ll make it through the night. She’s been asking for you.”
To Albana the news came as though he had poured boiling water over her.
“I’m truly sorry. Nabala is a great woman. She’s well-loved in this place where the love of Mother Sea and Father Moon don’t reach us.”
She swallowed with difficulty. She held back the tears which were already running down her cheeks and steeled herself.
“Thank you, Gosner. I won’t forget it.”
The Foreman nodded and waved her to go to her mother. Albana knelt beside her and smiled gratefully at the woman who was tending to her. The woman nodded silently and withdrew.
“Mother, it’s me, Albana.”
Nabala opened her feverish eyes and gazed at Albana without recognizing her. She looked terrible: she was absolutely gaunt, on her skin were the black spots of the illness, her eyes were intensely yellow and there was blood at the corners of her mouth. Albana’s heart sank.
“Mother, it’s me, your little one, Albana,” she said, stroking her forehead gently. It was burning like the flames of a fire.
“Al… bana…?”
She held the trembling hand between her own. “Yes, Mother, it’s me,”
“My precious Albana,” Nabala said. There was a gleam of recognition in her eyes.
Albana could not hold back the disconsolate tears which ran down her cheek.
“Don’t cry, my little one. You’ve always taken care of us both, always. But my time has come.”
“No, Mother, hold firm. I’ll find a way.”
Nabala smiled, her eyes moist. “You’ve always done that. No mother could be prouder.”
“Don’t leave me, Mother, not yet.”
Nabala started to cough, and Albana gave her the bloody handkerchief. Amid convulsions and pain, she coughed up more blood. Her mother’s suffering broke her heart. She had seen her suffer greatly all through her life, ever since she had brought her into this world, in this hellish city. She was the illegitimate daughter of a libertine God, and lived a life which condemned them both to a death from which they had miraculously escaped by the grace of Mother Sea. So much suffering, to end like this: it seemed unbearably cruel to her.
The coughing stopped, and Nabala stroked her daughter’s cheek.
“Mother Sea is already coming to take me to her.”
“No, Mother, don’t go.”
“You’re my pride, the best daughte
r a mother could have. I want you to know that. Nothing in this life has given me joy except you, my child.”
The tears flowed like a river when a dam breaks under the pressure of the water.
Nabala convulsed once more, then her soul departed.
Albana leaned her cheek on her mother’s chest and cried bitterly. Finally, when she had no more tears left and her pain was transformed into rage, she stood up. She raised her fist and clenched it so hard that her knuckles turned white. Her soul screamed for revenge, her pain was unbearable.
“I swear before my mother’s lifeless body that I’ll avenge her death. I’ll avenge it even if it’s the last thing I do!”
The moon was about to complete its phase and turn full. But that night it would not only be full but would turn crimson, as it was the change of cycle for the Gods. There was an hour to go before midnight when the two Custodians opened the door of the dungeon. They came in with powerful strides, while the three prisoners retreated until their backs came up against the wall. The Custodians were not carrying spears or shields, only short swords at their waists.
Liriana cried out when she saw one of them grabbing Maruk’s wrists to take him away.
“No, leave him!” she shouted, and tried to free him.
“No, Liriana, let them take me,” he begged her. There was deep concern in his voice. “Please don’t intervene.”
Ikai had guessed the two Custodians’ intention when he saw them without their equipment.
“What are you doing?” he asked, trying to gain time to analyze the situation and look for a way out.
“The slave Maruk has been summoned,” a cavernous voice said from beneath the helmet.
“Why? Where are you taking him?” Ikai insisted. He came to stand in the path of the second Custodian.
Liriana was pulling with all her might on the Custodian’s arm, but he was so strong that he was dragging both Maruk and her like deadweight.
“Leave him! You bastards!” she was shouting.
“Let me go, Liriana, by all that’s most sacred,” Maruk pleaded.
The second Custodian tried to move forward, but Ikai stepped sideways and got in his way again.
“This prisoner is very valuable,” he told the Custodian. “You shouldn’t harm him.”
“He might be, but you’re not,” was the Custodian’s reply. He struck Ikai on the chest with his forearm and sent him staggering against the rock wall behind him.
Liriana threw herself at the feet of the Custodian who was dragging Maruk and coiled around them like a boa, squeezing her arms and legs as hard as she could. The Custodian tripped and had to stop to avoid falling backwards.
“Get her off me!” he called to his partner.
Ikai was trying to get back to his feet when he saw something strange behind the two Custodians. At first he thought it was because of the hard blow he had received, but there was something else, something unnatural. A black mist was coming in through the open door of the cell as if it were alive, dancing silently and insinuatingly. The Custodian bent and grabbed Liriana by the shoulders, and was about to pull her away from his partner when the mist gathered on his body. He straightened suddenly and turned rigid, his head drawn back and his arms outspread, with the mist swirling around him.
“What are you waiting for?” the other Custodian demanded.
The shadow cast by the Custodian on the wall behind him moved suddenly. From it Albana came out. Before Ikai could react, her black daggers plunged directly into the back of the Enforcer’s knee. Ikai saw her slashing the tendons. Liriana saw the daggers brush against her arms, which were still clutching the Custodian’s legs. She looked at Albana, eyes wide.
“What’s this?” the Custodian grunted as he tried to turn to locate Albana behind him. But his knees failed him and he folded backwards. Albana rolled to one side, and the Custodian toppled like a felled tree. He hit the wall behind him with his helmet. There was a nauseating crack as his neck broke.
Maruk, free of the iron hands of the Enforcer, fell backwards. Liriana, still wrapped around the Custodian’s legs, looked at him for a moment, then let go as if she had been clutching a bunch of nettles.
Ikai stood up and glared at Albana. Rage began to get the better of him at the sight of the woman who had betrayed them. With masterly skill Albana stood behind the Custodian still enveloped in mist. She transferred the two daggers to one hand, and with the other took the Enforcer’s sword and threw it at Ikai.
“Kill him.”
Ikai caught the sword in flight. He looked at Albana for an instant. Her black daggers were dripping with the thick, dark blood of the Custodian. He wanted to run her through with the sword more than anything else at that moment.
“Neck or groin, otherwise you won’t manage to wound him deadly, they’re tough as a rock,” she said with amazing calm.
He took a deep breath. His head told him to kill the Custodian, his heart to kill Albana. He stepped forward, and with one stroke slit the Custodian’s throat. He withdrew the sword and repeated the blow. The thick black blood began to soak the Enforcer’s cuirass.
Albana nodded and murmured something. The mist vanished slowly until it was completely gone, and the body of the Custodian collapsed.
Ikai stepped forward. Now he had the chance to kill her.
Liriana put herself between the two of them.
“Wait!”
“There’s nothing to wait for. I swore if she ever crossed my path again I’d kill her, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
“But she saved us from the Enforcers.”
“You don’t forgive treason.”
“I’m with Liriana,” Maruk said, getting to his feet. “She’s saved us. And what’s more, she’s here to help us. Am I right?”
Albana nodded. “He’s smart, your fiancé.”
That comment was like adding fuel to the fire which was already burning inside Ikai. He raised the sword.
“If you kill her we’ll never get out of here alive,” Maruk put in hastily. “We need her to escape from here.”
“Maruk’s right, Ikai. We’re wasting precious time. We have to leave before they find us.”
Ikai glared at Albana’s black eyes and gripped the pommel of the sword angrily. But his rational mind won. They were right, they needed her to get out of there. Killing her was a bad option.
Albana turned on her heels without a word and went out the door. Liriana took the other Custodian’s sword and followed her. Maruk nodded at Ikai and followed Liriana. Finally Ikai let out a long sigh and followed them. Albana led them down a long corridor, where they found another dead Custodian. It was then that Ikai realized how lethal and powerful Albana was. To kill a Custodian was unthinkable for someone like him, someone normal… But she’s not normal, she’s not like us. There’s something unnatural in her, something that can only come from the Gods. What I’ve seen her do a man couldn’t do, only a God. For a moment he was glad he had not tried to kill her, even though rage was still burning inside him. Beside the dead Custodian, on a table, he found his throwing dagger and picked it up.
They reached a spiral staircase. After making sure there was no one on duty, they went down. They descended to the bottom of the stairs, which opened onto a dark passage. They hurried along it. Ikai felt a latent dampness, as if the rock walls were weeping. They reached a round chamber with very little light, and Albana stopped in the center of it. Four tunnels led from the chamber. Judging by how far they had descended and the gloom of the place, they must now be in the deepest part of the dungeons. The sound of footsteps came from the east, heavy boots with a firm tread. He strained his ears and counted four Custodians. He tried to penetrate the dark, but could not see them.
“Quick, this way,” Albana urged in a whisper. She must have heard them too.
There came a metallic sound, rasping on the rock.
Albana moved the iron cover and revealed a round passage in the floor.
“Come on, jump in! They’r
e coming!” she urged them.
Maruk let himself fall, and Liriana followed. Ikai looked at the dark hole, then into Albana’s eyes.
“It had better not be another betrayal…”
“Jump!”
Ikai let himself drop, and fell until he hit rock and water. He rolled to one side and stood up. They were in a huge pipe, with water waist-high. Albana jumped in and with cat-like agility landed on her feet.
“That way,” she said, pointing in the direction of the light, which was coming from the east.
They went on and found that the pipe opened onto a small waterfall which fed into a pond. The height was considerable, more than fifteen feet.
“We have to jump,”
They looked at each other indecisively.
Albana stepped forward and let herself fall. She vanished into the pond.
“Let’s go,” Liriana said.
She and Maruk jumped at the same time. Ikai shook his head and jumped, commending himself to Mother Sea as he did so.
An hour later, hidden behind some statues, still wet, the four fugitives had a distant view of the parade which was taking place along the main avenue. The sweet melody of flutes accompanied by harps, backed by the rhythmic beat of small drums, filled the night. Ikai counted more than a hundred Custodians assembling beside the grand avenue. Gods in their sumptuous gowns marched in pairs on carriages drawn by black chargers. Everything was vivid crimson. The Gods of the House of Aureb, of the Second Ring, were displaying all their splendor. Groups of slave girls threw flower petals as their masters passed. The viewers of this sumptuous show were also Gods, which puzzled him.
“What are they doing?” he whispered.
“The Noble Gods of each House, the Lords, are parading before the lesser Gods on their way to the Great Ceremony of Vivification,” Albana explained. “Tonight is a great night for them, a regular celebration, and deeply important.”
“Why?” Liriana asked.
“Tonight is the full moon, and it’s a Red Moon.” Beyond her pointing finger it was shining so full and crimson it looked as though it had caught fire. “Tonight the Five Kings return.”
