"Stop her!" She shouted. But the others hesitated.
"Who is this woman who defiles our sacred place?" Cried another.
"I am here to destroy this cruel place," said Anet. She felt for her sword, a short, thin scimitar of bronze. It flashed a reddish light that reflected the light of the staff. With the staff rooted in the floor she moved swiftly toward the altar. Most of the other priestesses ran but two others stood their ground. One of the priestesses kicked her in the belly but this did not stop her. She grimaced but lunged and came down on the woman and first slashed the flesh of her leg open and then bringing the sword up again she slashed her across the throat and chest. The woman choked and made a strangled sound before falling. The other one had grabbed the staff and was pointing it at her. Its red tip gleamed bright and the head priestess began laughing. The baby was now wailing in earnest. The woman raised her knife again to cut the child in two. The other swung the staff to hit Anet. She ducked wildly and with a powerful lunge with her right arm, her aim quick and true, her sword hurled through the air and planted itself deep into the head priestess's chest. She struggled to scream a curse but it came out as incoherent grunts and wails and faded into ragged breathing as she looked down between her breasts in disbelief and then sagged to the floor. The staff hit Anet square on the back with a sound that sounded fearfully like a crack but as it did the entire staff became a rod of fire and the other priestess was engulfed in flames. Anet staggered up and grabbed the baby and wrapped it in one of the veils lying on the floor. She dislodged her sword from the head priestess's body and put it back in its sheath, grabbed the flaming staff and closed her eyes, breathing hard.
"You have appointed this place for fire. Let it be done. Ellah Kaifah." It did not burn her but her whole arm became bright as burnished copper and the flames slid from the staff and down the floor and throughout the room. They caught hold of the curtain which went up into flames and smoke in moments. Soon the walls were on fire and the long tongues of fire began licking the ceilings and racing from room to room. The baby stopped crying briefly to star up at her with wide eyes. She heaved it onto her shoulder and ran back the way in which she came. She slid down the fearful stairs, then raced through the underground passage by the stream and back into the mountains where she then allowed herself to breathe a great sigh. The baby whimpered but it had stopped crying. She turned and sat and watched. It was now deep night and the moons were full and bright, lighting her way through the mountains. The temple itself in its entirety was on fire, the flames so ferocious they lept into the air in wide, arcing and frightening shapes. It was like a great kindle reaching for the sky and she was sure she saw misshapen forms of shades fleeing the fire into the night air, but from here, safe, she watched from the mountains.
Chapter Eight
Rapheth had decided to stay away from the unnamed city - for a while, anyway. He, Ephron and Shukala had just come from Morning Prayer and were on their way back to their homes. All three had lessons to attend to and there was fighting practice with Rhajit, who was just as hard as Ilim, in his own way. Rapheth's body was sore from practice last week but he welcomed the change of pace. He hoped Ilim was well and offered prayers regularly at the temple for his safety. Ilim was the only father he had. He made these prayers silent, less it offend the Ainash.
He often wondered why they kept going to the temple if the Ainash were so corrupt. Ilim had said that in time they would be dealt with but for now it was better to follow the present arrangement for his own safety. Ilim of course, was not welcome in any temple of the Aishanna-La but the citadel in Gamina but he urged Rapheth to go regularly so as not to arouse suspicion among the priesthood. Again, these things seemed to revolve around his birth and destiny. It mystified him.
They wound through the crowds and ended up at the blue bazaar. Against the backdrop of the searing high sun, the blue bazaar, the biggest marketplace in Rhuctium, was noted for its sea of soft, blue-tiled roofs and buildings. Rhuctium was the boiling cauldron of art, craft and thought in all of Hybron. Beside the subjects of Haiga, the people of Rhuctium were more sophisticated than other Hybronians and where new things and people were looked upon with indifference and sometimes with suspicion by most Hybronians, Rhuctium readily accepted what was new and different. Where Haiga was exposed daily to foreign people and ideas because of being a major port city, Rhuctium was settled generations ago by large populations from other lands. It's beautiful, slender buildings of bleached white stone, paved clean streets and numerous olive, orange and lemon groves around the city scented the air. The boys had been to Jhis once. It was intimidating, awe-inspiring, big and it stank of sewage. But Rhuctium was elegant; a city of schools, the city of knowledge. "If the mind is to be elevated, so must the surroundings be." was the saying in Rhuctium. The best schools overlooked the city below, built into the hillsides and it was filled with gardens that nurtured the more prestigious schools of philosophy, architecture, mathematics and literature. It was a city of ponds and flowers and groves and these were well-designed among the houses, markets and shops. In fact, they decided not to go to the bazaar this day. At Rapheth's urging they turned down another street, unfamiliar to them, exploring, and they happened to be passing by a garden when they were beckoned by a youth sitting with a group of young men. They were all laughing as two young men stood arguing. Ephron was immediately pulled into the argument. Rapheth, nervous around strangers, waved the youth away.
"But look, Rapheth!"
"We do not have time Ephron!" He said but Ephron would not be deterred. He was fascinated with this verbal battle. One of the men glanced at them, a sneer forming on his face.
"You dolt! You fool! Illiterate! Like a pig rolling in the mud, that is what you are. Like these three bumpkins from the mud quarter," he pointed to Rapheth and his friends, "where all of the cattle and other animals only good for labor are herded to live. You cannot even read. Like a dog stumbling over his bones you stutter like an old toothless man at your lessons and the histories. What are they to you? One might as well hear a dog recite the histories than hear you recite them. You cannot even write a decent script or hold a stylus. Yea, what is that I see? Paws, not hands! And yet you say you are an educated one like me?" This brought brash laughter from the group. The other man, his eyes flashing, straightened himself and launched a torrent of insults right back at his opponent.
"What do you mean I am not an educated man like you? When you open your mouth your words are senseless! Your attempt at theory and philosophy are laughable and your thought is poor. When you write a letter one cannot read it - it is like a monkey scribbling in his own feces. Your written letters make no sense! When one grounds down the beetle to make ink, that beetle has given its life for no reason, for when you write it is as if the god of stupidity has risen up to bless you. Me? I was raised in a noble house and I am a son of scribes and intellectuals. You? You are lower than a scurvy dog, with a pig as a father and a pile of camel dung, your mother. Go scratch your fleas! These three fools here who can barely read have thoughts worth more than your silly, verbal dribblings." The crowd laughed uproariously then. Ephron, bristling, dashed over the well-manicured bushes and through the garden to confront them. Rapheth and Shukala were irritated enough but Ephron was in a white fury at their casual insults.
"See here, fool! You do not know me or my friends!" He said to the second youth. The young men all looked at one another in surprise and bemusement.
"Do we need to know a piece of dung to know it is dung?"
"A piece of dung, am I? Perhaps you are blind and do not have eyes to see you speak to an equal!" They laughed scornfully at this and then Rapheth and Shukala entered the garden to stand beside him.
"Oh a fight then is it? We are not surprised. How predictable the ignorant are." Said one of the youths.
"Where is your honor? Show me and perhaps I will back down." Said Ephron.
"Honor? And what is that? Honor! Giving honor to a dog is worthless, an exercise not
worthy of a man."
"And who told you that you were a man? One who sits all day with nothing to do like a kept woman! No, like a prostitute who is raised up by a master and given pretty chains and jewels to wear. Yea, where is your master? Can he defend you from a man? Are you even a man? If I challenged you, where is your sword that you may back up your insults? Do you intend to use the one flopping between your legs? That sword? Such a little sword is he, it seems." There were a few sniggers but now it was the student's turn to get angry. Ephron was not smiling. Rapheth put a hand on Ephron's shoulder but he shrugged it off.
"They rouse lions here!" Ephron said.
"Shh! Ephron-"
"But these men have insulted us! We should call them out!"
"I wonder if they are as quick with their fists as they are with their tongues." Said Shukala.
"Serpents' tongues!" Shot Ephron.
"They know not what they do or to whom they speak!" Said Shukala.
"And to whom do I speak?" Asked the second youth scornfully. Rapheth stepped forward.
"That is none of your affair as you have not treated us with dignity or courtesy but I will say this - to assume the mettle and worth of a man by his outward cloth is poor indeed, poor in judgment and in thought. Should I, looking upon you all, assume you are pampered house pets with no use other than living off the work of others? Like leeches, perhaps? Or lice? One man's intellectual and educated man is another man's barnacle on his ship. Do your thoughts forge kingdoms and expand empires? Expand the goods and crafts that we may all share in the bazaar? Do they forge the means for these great schools to exist? What use, besides friends exchanging rowdies do they serve?"
"Not such a poor sheep-herder, is he?" Said one of the youths.
"Like a parrot, parroting what he hears." Sneered another.
"Like a sneering, spoilt child who has not come to understand the meaning of honor." Said Ephron.
"Oh come now, man. Do not keep assaulting us with your dreadful honor!" Said the first youth. They laughed.
"No, he has a good point." Said one of the other students. This threw cold water on the mood. The two who insulted them had soured looks on their faces and one was ready to launch into a diatribe when he was hushed by an old man who was watching the entire scene with keen interest. He finally spoke up.
"I am afraid our rowdy conversations get the better of us all, at times. Come, you young men are no ignorant sheep-herders or simple laborers. Of that any man who knows how to see can see that." He gave his students a sharp look.
"These are the grounds of the school of Theoretical Philosophy and I am one of its humble teachers. We congregate here to discuss many things, to explore thoughts and ideas. Some are sublime and others can be quite - loamy and passionate. You have passion, you and your fellows."
"What is it to you, old man?" Ephron bristled. Shukala's expression was full of suspicion.
"I find it of interest, for instance, honor. I believe that all men are born with honor. I know this is not a popular view but there it is and like a man is born with his own body, how he treats it determines how much of it he has left. How a man treats himself and regards himself determines his honor." Rapheth and his friends frowned.
"What do you mean, sir?" Asked Ephron.
"I mean this, any man who mistreats another has defiled his honor. After all, what sane man enjoys mistreating himself?"
"Huh." Said Shukala.
"The concept of honor, your concept of it, is an old one and I know that many men still cling to the archaic conceptions of it, from a more distant time. Outward honor as physical valor, right? But we here, we look at these things and at all things in different ways. Perhaps honor in a place like Jhis or some other place or land requires the ancient ways of thought on it but here, in Rhuctium, the place of thought and majesty of learning in the whole of the Red World, honor deserves an examination and the mind is expanded as a result."
"Well, I would agree that honor isn't as simple as physical valor. It is far more than that." Said Rapheth.
"Ah, but you are still thinking along old ways and old thoughts. Now you will tell me that honor is in how one behaves in all things."
"Well, is that not honor?" Asked Ephron.
"In a way, but not in the way most men think. It starts with the self of man. His inner needs determine his honor." They all looked at him in disbelief. The man laughed merrily.
"You believe honor is not about courage or valor then?" Asked Shukala. The man shook his head.
"People come here from all over to hear new thoughts and to learn things. Like maths and alchemies and the great literature of the ages. The beginnings of alchemy started here in this lofty place. It is not simply here for pampered youths, as you say, but it serves a purpose; the groundwork for the glories of empire. You cannot have the greatness of kingdoms without the germ of great thought to seed it. That germ grows here." He lifted his arm about as if to emphasize the greatness of the garden.
"I perceive that you three are of good means and families if not of similar culture or religion. I, of course adhere to all religions and none."
"How does one do such a thing? Adhere to all and none. It makes no sense." Said Ephron. Rapheth ignored him.
"I had heard of you before. My father Il. . .I mean, my father mentioned you, I think."
"Who is he?" Asked Shukala. The man laughed.
"My name is Injep. I am Injep of Egi. Egium is a great city but this city is even greater, for knowledge here is open, while in Egium many things are hidden to all except the initiated. Rhuctium is the day to Egium's night."
"Well as open as the Ainash will allow." Said Rapheth. The man shrugged as if he was not bothered by this.
"If you get out more often you will find that the Ainash's hold on this city is not what it used to be. Their power to hide knowledge has waned over the years. Especially this is so in the colleges. People have found ways to hide the most important things. My favorite place here is the great Library of All Schools. There are many things there that they do not know of so they do not seek to destroy them."
"What things?"
"Well now. You will have to be admitted into the library to find out."
"We know of it but we have not been there. Only scholars can go there. We do have our own library." Said Shukala, but he sounded intrigued. Ephron, however, looked peeved. The man's eyes brightened.
"I am sure you do, but why limit yourself to religious law? There is more to life than the laws and rules of a priesthood. Here is a secret thing for you to know, there are exceptions to that rule of scholars and I can make an exception. I can get you access to it." Shukala's eyes widened and so did Rapheth's. Ephron remained unimpressed.
"I do not care. What is in a dusty book that is any greater than simply living life itself?" Ephron complained.
"If you do not care than go. Or keep silent." Said Injep calmly but there was a sharp edge to his voice. Ephron's face darkened.
"You can get us in?" Shukala asked incredulously. There were snickers from the crowd of students but they ignored them.
"Yes, yes. And what is more, there are more things in that very library than you can imagine." The man looked at Rapheth pointedly.
"I do not know. I can imagine a lot." Said Rapheth, but he had to explore this library. The man chuckled.
"I perceive," he said and pointed a finger at him, "that you would make a fine student of thought and philosophy, young man."
"Oh but I cannot. I have so many duties at home."
"You look to be one from a religious family so I know you have some learning but there is more to life and learning than a past full of mysterious and ancient gods. There are great mysteries, supernal, and infernal ones, and beyond those even, that we can know if we only just explore and think upon them to find them out. The mind of man is like a nutshell but in it are things wonderful and delicious to behold. It is this thing that holds the mysteries of the world. Great minds who have left their knowledge of the
world, the heavens and beyond. But it does not have to take away too much of your time. You can study under me at your leisure, if you will." The other students gasped in surprise.
"I do not know. . ." began Rapheth but he was fascinated. Could he really find other vast mysteries beyond the ones he studied in the Holy Writings and the Law? Were there things beyond the supernal or infernal?
"What do you wait for? One of the greatest teachers in the land asks that you be his student and you do not know how to answer? Who can understand a man who rejects knowledge?" Said one of the youths, looking at him incredulously. Rapheth bristled.
"Did you hear me say so?" He snapped. Injep spoke again.
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