The Thief

by Rama Nugraha

  And Kanas called her Lady. What kind of servant was addressed like that?

  Kanas tightened his cloak, covering his built body. He kept asking about what they talked about in the jungle, and Datan said that everything is about Elina.

  “Elina… Elina, and Elina.”

  Kanas laughed, his mouth got wider than ever.

  ◆◆◆

  The tall building resembled a gigantic yet elegant tube. Its smooth curve looked stunning. The wall was made of brown soft sea sand, which was made compact in some way. It had oval windows framed by seashells. There was a beautiful bell made of clam in the door, the shell of which was engraved with a picture of a hooded owl. When the wind blew it, the red pearl within it clinked a sweet melody.

  Datan once saw the building in a picture book, now it stood before his eyes. In the roadside, across the bridge, Datan’s eyes widened in awe as if he just found a gallon of cold Naqi. He left Kanas’ side to look around the building. He looked at it from every direction possible with gaping mouth and balled fist. Datan sniffed it, and slowly touched the surface of the wall which a distinct fragrant scent of seagrass.

  Peeking through the window, he looked at a room brightened by a lantern gleaming some golden light. It looked neat and cozy. In it were plenty of furniture made of sand which had been crafted oh so beautifully.

  “This is just a post, Datan. Don’t need to be that dramatic, pan?” Kanas shook his head, embarrassed. “You will find a lot of building like this around here.”

  Datan really admired the Marras.

  They were the founder. They were known for their burning desire for any kind of knowledge. It was their crown jewel, the highest of the highest pride a Marra could obtain. For them, to know is to grasp the world. That was why they chase knowledge to no end.

  Until the massive event in the past almost put them near extinction.

  Kanas took Datan to the lift built in the mountain of the wall at the end of one of the road. They no longer followed the footpath. The lift attendant opened the door and allowed them to enter. In it, Kanas offered his palm. Datan understood right away.

  Datan took the Leader’s necklace from his satchel, giving it to Kanas.

  Kanas was stunned seeing the topaz necklace which now looked dull. “Did you kill him, pan?” he inquired.

  “It made me do it. The dammed Jelaga Spiders, I was almost completely paralyzed.”

  Datan told him the short version of his duel with the Leader. Also, he mentioned the instruction from Irirana to use the Leader’s blood as an antidote. Kanas listened carefully while mustering a soft smile.

  “Next, Datan, you shall meet the Kahisar,” he concluded.

  ◆◆◆

  The wind blew in the top of Yar Mountain. It blew so strongly that it rattled the flagpoles. Royan’s red-black flag was square with rounded ends and a familiar crest, the head of a hooded owl with orange eyes, in a mesmerizing circle—which apparently was a painting of a giant bird flew over cloudy mountains and countries.

  Datan understood that someone painted it in such detail, love, and care, using strokes of glowing golden ink. Kanas said Urtaya was the name of the mysterious owl in the crest.

  “In the culture of the Maara, owl was known as a mystical symbol. It is believed to be the most skilled predator in a quiet place. The cunning watcher in the dark. A mortal creature yet it had a strong spiritual soul. It ruled the night sky.”

  “Well, in Haedin tradition, owls are used to scare off mice in the farm.”

  Kanas laughed dryly. “Yeah, that’s how it differs,” he admitted bitterly.

  They walked on a spiraling stone stair until they arrived in an opening large gate defended by two sharp-eyed guards. The sand gate looked sturdy, it had glided sculpture of gold. Housing stood on a vast marshland behind it.

  Datan was awe-struck. He quivered in amazement. In a moment, he realized that he had entered a new world, the houses of the famous League of the Royan. Angare was different from other villages. It was protected by a colossal fortress surrounding the top of the mountain; it had beautiful gardens in which colorful flowers with enormous petals grew alongside gleaming blue ponds; every street was illuminated by lanterns under looming trees which offered their shade through their wide leaves; the houses looked like tubes. The Suba towers stood tall in the western and northern area.

  It was still windy. They were accompanied by the sound of the moving leaves and the songs of the birds. There were species called the Wilsons which had a blue head and yellow coat covering its hump. It had a shiny black body and red wings, a pair or blue legs and a split purple tail curving like branches.

  Datan remembered Erry caught a Wilsons once just to stare at it the whole night and to show it off to him before she set free. Erry would be hysterical and refuse to go back to Tormera if she saw Angare. She would choose to live there until she took her last breath.

  “I don’t understand. Why build these on the top of a mountain? Why not on lower ground near the shallow water?”

  “Because most Urgut people often get uncomfortable live near the ocean. They would hardly get any sleep in a floating house, Datan.”

  The citizen of Angare loved wearing a bright colored outfit and a set of jewelry. They were very friendly as if everyone was related. They offered their smile so generously and greeted everyone they meet on their way. Most of them were Urgut people indeed—which could easily be amazed seeing an Ingra walking amongst them.

  Datan knew the reason behind those reactions was their belief in the prophecy. Yes, just like what Aunt Fira said. The Ingrans were the Revolutionaries.

  In a small place such as Angare, news traveled fast. Including one about Datan’s arrival. Some people turned around to greet him, asking for a handshake. They welcomed him and thanked him for helping Irirana. Datan even heard some people whispered around about Elina’s death.

  Some of them claimed to feel the loss.

  In the heart of Angare, a Royan castle stood tall in its glorious shade of red and black. It was protected by a smaller fortress and was a merging of tube-like buildings. Build using iron sand as well as red ironwood, it was as strong as concrete and was also fireproof. Every block of ironwood had the shape of a hexagon, which was engraved with different symbols in each angle.

  Datan was interested to see it closer when Kanas lead him to a different direction, the edge of the village. Kanas took him to the tube house number 10.

  “You can live here,” he told Datan when they entered a sandy yard.

  Freshness brought by the scent of seagrass greeted them as they stepped into the main room. Datan’s pupils dilated seeing the inside of the house, of which the floor was layered with soft compacted sand. There was not much furniture in it.

  But just like a house provided by a very generous host, at least the basic necessity was provided there: there was a bookshelf filled with mostly encyclopedia; iron cupboard filled with relatively large clothes; some basic ingredients to cook in the kitchen counter; as well as League’s Pipe in a black box wrapped with red ribbon next to an ashtray on the table.

  In the east wall, there as a wall decoration. In the middle of it was also an ode written in golden ink inside a red box surrounded by a black box. It said:

  Balance within the Darkness

  Wrongdoing is uncertain. Balance is requisite.

  When light glows in a dark heart.

  We are not men of nobility.

  When the frails worship their frailty.

  We do what we desire.

  We are the League of Royans.

  We forge Balance within the Darkness.

  Datan’s eyes narrowed, showing a bizarre astonishment.

  “Balance within the darkness?”

  Kanas thinned his lips. “It’s about who we are,” he said. “You’ll understand someday.”

  Looking elsewhere, he saw that part of the kitchen was separated. There was a bathroom near the stairs which had a porcelain tub to bathe in. As for the bedr
oom, it was on the second floor. On the table in the middle of the room was an aquarium bowl where two wide-tailed fish swam, the scale of which, resembled colors of oil paints.

  “That’s Betta,” Kanas pointed the aquarium illuminated in a purple light which came from a water lantern ball in the base of the aquarium. Bubbles appeared from dark sponges in it. It went through the lower glass wall, just like a mini air vacuum machine. “Those fish are usually kept in Marra households.”

  Datan had never seen an aquarium in Tormera nor in Fardas. In his home, Father, as a Haedin, preferred azalea bonsai in a beautiful pot on top of the table in the living room. When he’s bored, he changed the display into an orchid or jasmine.

  This sand house—that was how Datan decided to call it—would make him live comfortable enough.

  “You need to resize the clothing,” Datan said, crossing his arms as his eyes assessed the room. He felt like he had just won the lottery. But then he frowned, “Do I have to pay for all of this?”

  “As a Royan, you live here freely.”

  Datan though it was too much of them to provide such facility and regulation. But then he remembered how burdening their duty was, also Kanas’ words that there were, in fact, a lot of Royan who died on duty. There were not many of them who could last long enough to enjoy the facility for a long time. Kanas gave him an obsidian key. And before leaving, he told him to wait for someone to tend his wound.

  Datan put his dirty satchel on the table, then he flung himself onto the comfortable sofa, whimpering as he felt his muscles ached. Datan took a deep breath, he looked at the dusky ceiling with a carving of an owl flapping its wings.

  Datan thought that the real adventure in his life had just about to begin, and he could not wait to get up and go performing some burglary in the neighborhood countries. Slowly, he felt the soft gush of wind from entering through the window. His sight blackened until he got the sleep he had desired for so long, it seemed.

  ◆◆◆

  That night, a blue-eyed woman came over to the house number 10.

  She wore square glasses with a thick wooden frame. She wore all green. A pearl necklace decorated her neck as well a feathery shawl—a Kirki—which covered her head to a part of her chest. Slung to her shoulder was a small bag made of fox skin—which was also green.

  “Good evening, Sir Datan,” she greeted with the sweetest smile. “My name is Muri, and I came to tend your wound.”

  Aunt Muri (she insisted to be called that) did not beat around the bush after being permitted to come in. She asked for Datan’s blood sample, which was required by the League apparently. After that, he asked Datan to strip off his clothing—except the underwear. Datan stood awkwardly with his face burning at the instruction.

  Aunty Muri examined Datan’s body thoroughly. For a moment her stare lingered at the quite hairy body. Her large eyes widened in awe and surprise seeing the scar from the Arni practice in the past ten years.

  She asked Datan to sit on the floor with crossed legs. She took a deep breath then starting to press and massage the injured parts of Datan’s body with her strong fingers. Her nose flared oddly seeing the bruises.

  A partly stilted smile of amusement made its way into Datan’s lips.

  “How’s Irirana, Aunty?”

  “You use lemongrass leaves for the tear in her thigh. That was the right choice.”

  Datan could feel Aunt Muri’s smile on his back. “How about her ankle?”

  “There was some dislocation, but I managed to turn it back. With Unum’s blessing, we all hope the Lady will be alright.”

  “Then why did she looked so awful? It looked like she was dying.”

  She then explained that she had a food poisoning from pupur mushroom, a pink vegetable with black dots in its cap. It was something Datan ate regularly at home. It turned out Irirana was allergic to it.

  “But she chewed so happily!” Datan protested. “She even asked for more.”

  “Maybe she was starving that she forgot her allergy. You’re not the only one worried about her, Sir Datan. Surely everyone here will be concerned if something had happened to Lady.”

  Datan sighed. What kind of servant was she that everyone was so worried about her?

  Aunt Muri walked to the kitchen after she finished massaging him. She made hot water in a pot and pulled out three cups as well as a pounder from the counter. She then pulled out a bunch of spices wrapped in a green paper from her bag. She rolled them out on the dining table. For a moment she considered which spices she needed but had not been collected, then she nodded and started making the medicine.

  “You really are a strong one, Sir Datan,” she complimented him as she put in two pieces of blue leaves and mixed it with a brown wooden crumb. Then she pounded the mixture.

  “Please just call me Datan, Aunty. Why do you say so?”

  “Your body must have been well-trained, otherwise you won’t be this calm handling all the pain.”

  Datan smirked. If only she knew that Father trained him so hard it looked like he was being murdered, she will not say so. “May I ask you something, Aunty?” he asked.

  “Pan?”

  “Elina,” Datan remembered the Ludaj. “Irirana said you checked on her some time ago?”

  Aunt Muri quieted. Her eyes glared at the mixture in the glass as if she just found some centipede in there. For at least a second she froze as her hand stopped moving. Datan could hear her breathing heaved.

  Datan put his index finger to his nose, took out an itchy Elpa. It was a transparent slimy membrane in the nasal cavity which clung between the hairs. Elpa was the organ the Neena people use to breathe underwater, which could cover the nostrils when they submerged themselves in water, but stayed open in the surface.

  “You reminded me of my mistake, Sir Datan,” Aunt Muri’s voice was muffled. “I thought about it. I still am thinking about it. For Unum, it’s so hard to keep it by myself.”

  Datan blinked confusedly seeing her dramatic reaction. He realized that he had overstepped into the matter. Why was he even curious about Elina’s death?

  “Datan, Aunty. Just call me Datan… So you think she just had a mild illness?”

  She lowered her head tiredly, taking several deep breaths.

  “I smelt burnt chocolate from Elina’s mouth,” Datan added. “Though slightly, my nose could catch it.”

  “Elina didn’t have mild illness, Datan,” she lifted her gaze, uncertain. “I think she was… poisoned.”

  Datan gapped. Aunt Mury shook her head guiltily.

  “I shouldn’t have told you this, but I cannot keep this any longer. My heart says that I can trust you. Oh, I wish it’s true.”

  She looked down once again. Her small shoulder quivered.

  “The Lady trusts you, so I thought I could too.”

  Datan grimaced, starting to worry that Aunt Muri would start wailing in the kitchen. “Sure, you can trust me if you want to,” he told her wholeheartedly.

  “It’s hard to believe that you can smell the burnt chocolate from her mouth because I didn’t. But… oh, I found something strange in her. Her saliva contained some strange substance that is not from this island.”

  “And Irirana doesn’t know about this?”

  “I think she just pretended not to know.”

  Datan’s bushy brows were furrowed. “If someone poisoned Elina, it means…”

  “Someone was trying to mess with the Lady. Yes. I kept thinking about that as well, Datan.”

  “Why did she ask you to check on Elina?” Datan questioned. “Isn’t there any veterinarian around here? Or do you also know a lot about Ludaj?”

  “Aukta the Caretaker died due to a liver bleeding last month. We haven’t gotten a replacement since then. That’s why the Lady asked me to check on Elina the best that I can. Around last year, Akuta taught me a little about Ludaj. Their physiology is not that much different from ours. That’s why I could examine her.”

  The small sound of pounding porce
lain in the cup filled the silence that befalls them. Aunt Muri closed her mouth as her tears fell down silently. She tried to focus on mixing the medicine when the copper pot shrilled, startling her.

  Aunt Muri turned around to turn off the stove. In silence, she pours the hot water into the herb-filled cup, mixing it slowly until it thickened. Her face was tense. She could still feel Datan’s stare on her.

  She wiped her wet cheeks. She sighed and finally returned his gaze. “I beg you, Datan,” she cried. “Don’t let others know about his. I don’t want to make people worry. This is just mere speculation.”

  Datan nodded. “I understand,” he said.

  Datan knew his place. He was just a newcomer who was barely a Royan yet. He had better not be too nosey about this. He could only be alert of his surroundings. Who would hate Irirana? And why?

  Chapter 10

  Pollo Randalga

  The healing session was only needed once. The medicine Aunt Muri gave him worked like a charm. It burned his whole body in the first ten minutes, before fading all of the bruises and open wound. Aunt Muri asked if Datan had encountered some Jelaga Spiders in the forest.

  Datan then told her that the blood of the Ludajs’ Leader had managed to heal him.

  The concern in her face was washed-out as she heard it. She told him that Jelaga Spiders had a very poisonous venom, but can be neutralized by the blood of Red Ludaj.

  ◆◆◆

  Another guest came visiting in the next day. A large male, probably two meters in height. Datan had to look up when talking to him.

  “Datan Woudward?” he greeted with a smile. “I am Pollo Randalga. The Leader of the Royans. Oh, it is an honor to see the one who saved the Lady and is also of Ingra bloodline.”

  Pollo was an Urgut. He had a wide, strong shoulder in which his left one was slightly lower. His long face was occupied by had a pair of big grey eyes which shifted in alert constantly. He was wearing an elegant light brown Nimta ornamented with peridot stone in the shape of Urtaya owl on his chest, as well as golden buttons.