Her house was not the only great house on the largest street of Egium not currently occupied and ruled by a lord. There were several others she had found out, one owned by a widow who was Aishanna-La, a proselyte. Her name was Diwa, a young woman from Jura who had married an Egian man far older than herself. He had passed away only a year ago leaving his fortune to his young widow. Kaisha met Diwa at a local gathering for some of the noblewomen in the neighborhood. Kaisha and Diwa had become fast friends, and for Kaisha this turned out to be a good thing. She had taken to enjoying tangna, a liquor made with fermented mangoes and scorpion venom and venturing out at night and attending parties and festivities or spending her days lounging in the tiled, sprawling bath houses, buying gifts for herself, pampering herself and doing nothing. Kaisha's servants, especially Lili, had come to care a great deal for their mistress (and themselves) and they were worried because if she remarried she would no longer be the head of the household. Egians were well known for their cruel treatment of slaves. Day after day it seemed Lady Hazad received letters from suitors, to their consternation. They dropped from winged mechanical messengers on the doorstep. She did not seem interested but one never knew when a woman would change her mind.
There was one person in particular Kaisha would receive letters from. A person that had a mysterious seal upon his letters. Once, while having her hair braided by Lili, Kaisha read it aloud. It was strange because of the repeated requests for help for the poor, namely houseless or landless people. Kaisha was mystified by it.
"What do you think it means? And who would send me such a thing?"
"I do not know, my lady. It is strange. Perhaps it is that old nobleman that is always sending you gifts?"
"No, Lili. It does not sound like something he would write. The spirit of it is different. Oh, Lili, I shall wear my opal stone pins today."
"Yes my lady. Will you be going out today, my lady?"
"I shall. Tonight. Except, I will not be going to a dinner but to the Night Market."
"The Night Market! I have heard strange things about that place." Kaisha thought she heard a rebuke in Lili's voice.
"Yes, yes, I know it is not an upstanding place, but it is so boring sometimes just sitting here. I just want to see the world and the things in it."
"If you must go, please bring the hired sword, or at least some of your servants, my lady." Pleaded Lili.
"I would not go there by myself. Did you ever find a way in?"
"The main way in is through the temple of Nimnet." Kaisha froze.
"The Temple of Nimnet?"
"Yes." There was a pregnant silence between them. Kaisha grew defiant. She would see all that this city had to offer and she did not give a care if it was consecrated to that demon goddess.
"It is only a market. I will have Goren show me."
"I would go with you myself, my lady." Lili said.
"Very well. Come. We will not stay long."
That evening, Kaisha dressed in simple gray silks and a wide satin belt over a sleeveless dress and wrapped a silver limned dark gray veil over her head in the custom of widowed noblewomen. Bringing a few baskets Kaisha, Lili and Goren, her hired sword, made their way to the litter waiting to take them to the market. A breeze had come winding up the mountain pass into the city and slipped through the soft canvas of her litter. She fanned herself with a jeweled white peacock feather. The lanterns along the doorposts bobbed and swayed gently and she enjoyed the soft music wafting from a few street musicians. Even in dusk the streets were not entirely quiet as many were either heading inside, to temples, other places or like them, going to the Night Market. In fact, on many days and nights the temples of Egium were buzzing and sounding down with rituals and chants and smoking with rich incense and gift offerings ever since the defeat of the Egian queen. In Hybron, she was now hated but in Egi, in the capital especially, quite a few held remembrance and memorials for her and some even called for her return in goddess form. Kaisha wondered what it would have been like if her husband had still been alive. Perhaps it would be less dangerous for her, alone in this place. She wondered what it would have been like to marry off Yisal and keep his mother away. To have the whole city to themselves. But then, she knew that it would not have been so grand. His moods were something terrible to behold. Such happiness would never have lasted.
"We have arrived at the temple, my lady." It was Goren. They could hear the chanting and the gongs ringing from inside. Crowds were thronging through the doors. Kaisha looked up and Lili too. The massive image of Nimnet sat serenely in silver above the doors. Lili looked at her fearfully.
"I had thought we left her in Galieh." She whispered.
"This is her city. But what does it matter? Why should it stop me from seeing what Egium has to offer?" Said Kaisha though she was not entirely convinced anymore. The litter was lowered and they got out, Goren got down from his horse. They went inside through the doors.
The temple was grand in blue tile and silver and seemed to shine with inner light. All were required to bring an offering and lay it upon the small steps that led up stairs to the high altar room. Lili brought out three gold coins and threw them upon the steps. Flowers, meat, ladre, salt and other small offerings were filling the upper steps as people gave their gift offerings in order to get access to the Night Market. There was a great stairwell that led deep into the ground, where most of the crowds were milling through. Around this stairwell were two aisles that led back into one floor, a path towards a great altar and a fire was burning there. A priestess was placing incense from a holder into the fire. The halls of the temple, except for the very front were shadowed. Kaisha held Lili's hand and they followed Goren down into the underground halls.
The halls were paved with colored stones and well lit with lanterns. Even so, some carried oil lamps with them. Lili lit an oil lamp as well to help light their way down. The walls at portions were decorated with mosaics of the gods of Egi, their kings and queens and their doings. Most scenes depicted were bloodcurdling, frightening. Such as the Egian god of the dead Moteth and his legendary of Feasts of the Dead. But even in this darkness the skilled artistry and beautiful craft was a wonder to behold. As they continued down they passed over a bridge that spanned a wide stream. Mysterious lights blinked on and off over the surface of the stream.
"Careful." Warned Goren. "Those pretty lights are devil fish. They eat men. Beneath them are the leviathans." Finally they entered the great caverns of the Night Market. Light from floating hanging above at the ceiling lit the caverns but there were still things hidden in shadow. The stalls were black and the storefronts had black doors or were veiled in black. She saw many people affixing veils or black masks upon the faces. Kaisha kept her face covered.
The market covered everything any regular market had. They passed by stalls full of spice from spice vendors, more than she had ever seen in Galieh, meat, produce, silk and textiles like wools, satin, fine Egian linen, lace from Yinzhi, cottons and many other materials for clothing. But here the best could be found, better quality than anywhere. And the spice sanguina, made of dried and powdered animal blood usually found in most markets in Hybron, the sanguina here was made of human blood, she'd found out later. The floors seemed to glow slightly and as they wandered through the crowds she saw why. Occasionally they would come across in mosaic patterns colorful and softly glowing tiles in the floor. Goren told her that if one knew the sigils and and read the hidden signs they could find lairs and secret caverns that led off deep, deep under the mountains.
There were shops full of fine jewelry. She had no need for food but one of the jewelers caught her eye. Passing by a stall that was covered in the rich scent of incense she had never before smelled came wafting through.
"What sort of incense is that do you suppose?"
"There is a stall here that makes incense from bones. I believe that is the one." Said Goren.
"Animal bones?" She asked quietly. He gave her a sidelong look and she did not press the issue
further. They went into one of the jewelers' shops.
"My lady, I thank you for gracing my humble shop with your presence!" Said the jeweler, smiling to reveal only a few natural teeth. The rest were silver and he smiled widely to show them off. He had three small cases full of pendants, rings and bracelets. Kaisha loved jewelry and when she was first married her husband had showered her with them. It was time for another nice piece. He lifted one of the cloths with the jewels attached for her to have a closer look.
"I would like something not too showy but elegant and simple."
"Excellent! How about this one, my lady." The man pointed to an ivory and jade carved yaryebu with ruby eyes. The eyes were unsettling. But it was pure white jade.
"It is beautiful." She mused. Another piece, a ring, caught her attention. It was a wide cartouche ring of pure gold with a round green jade stone carved into a firebug."
"I have only seen a fire bug once. They are precious, very cautious and they live in the desert. They fly to and fro but always they go back to the desert." She said.
"They do." Said Goren.
"It is a beautiful piece." Said the jeweler. "I remember how I came by it. A wealthy man, or one who was once wealthy, had come in to sell it. It was the last of his precious possessions for he owed his lenders a great deal. Whether it paid off the rest of his debts I do not know but he was a tribesman who had left the desert to come to the cities and make his fortune. He mentioned he was going back home to his tribe."
"Which tribe was he?" Kaisha asked, suddenly interested. The man shrugged.
"I do not remember. A Gilphaen, I think."
"I would like this ring." She said. He wrapped it up for her and she had Lili pay for it out of the money purse. As she stepped out of the shop she began to wonder. Where did she come from? Who were her folk? Her people? All she knew was that her people were from the steppes east of Hybron. And that her mother died giving birth to her. Apparently not even the scions could save every hard birth from tragedy but they saved Kaisha. She was named after her grandmother. She had no idea who her father was and was not sure if she wanted to know after her mother's plight. This was all she knew. It was all the scions knew. And it suddenly left her feeling lost and rudderless. She went on to buy some perfumes, spices and incense and then stopped by a stall to buy some teas, careful to purchase the less exotic goods. In the next cavern down to the left she saw the temple of Moteth. Up ahead she saw a building with a strange carving mounted on the door.
"What is that?" She asked.
"A different kind of brothel." Said Goren.
"What does that mean?"
"Have you heard of the dakhmin?" He asked.
"Once or twice."
"They are creations of Black Alchemy, my lady."
"Oh lady Kaisha! So horrible!" Cried Lili.
"Shh, Lili! What sort of creations, Goren?"
"Well, the Black Alchemists experiment on men and women, even children. Most die but some survive. But they survive in new and terrible ways. Deformed and unnatural beings they become. As you are highborn you do not walk the streets so you do not see them, but they are among us, deformed into playthings for the pleasures of perverse people."
"Slaves, then." She said flatly. He nodded. "Unforgivable." She felt anger growing inside her. A few people walked by, one of them impossibly tall and another with an odd gait for any normal man. They were painted up like whores, two of them, men and one of them stared hard at her and then lifted his veil to show her three eyes. Kaisha gasped.
"Do we frighten you? Do we disgust you, oh great Lady of Egium?" Mocked one of them and they laughed harshly.
"Let us go," said Kaisha. "Suddenly, I feel tired."
. . .
"It is not wise for a woman to go out by herself. Especially there." Said Diwa after Kaisha told her of her experience at the Night Market.
"Nothing much happened."
"That is a good thing." Said Diwa. Of course, in the back of her mind Kaisha already knew this but she was free for the first time in her life and could not help but revel in it. When Diwa had mentioned to her one day that she was raised in Jura and asked Kaisha of her life, of which Kaisha mentioned she was raised in Gamina, Diwa asked if she new anything about the scions. Kaisha told her she was a scion and then they became fast friends. Afterward, Kaisha's forays to the luxurious public bath houses and parties stopped. The letters and invitations continued but she now ignored them. After only a few months and a bit of sobering up Kaisha saw that the plight of slaves here was something difficult to ignore. In fact, there was no word for servant in Egian. There were no servants in Egi, only slaves and they were seen more as animals than people. The cruelty was abhorrent to her. One night after she had seen a young baby left outside, abandoned, this upset her greatly. At first she'd thought it was a mewling cat. She could not sleep it cried so, but then she heard it being savaged by dogs. She got up and went outside with her husband's sword and a lamp tired of the noise and found that it was a babe. Chopping at and beating off the dogs with the iron blade she hurried to bring the child inside but the dogs had done their damage and the baby bled to death. She was full of rage and anguish for weeks and it brought back the memory of the prostitutes she saw at the Night Market and what Goren said of the Black Alchemists.
Diwa picked up on her dark mood one day and asked what was wrong.
"I cannot abide how slaves are treated here. It is an abomination."
"You do not agree with slavery?" asked Diwa. Kaisha grew hot with anger.
"No! Not this Egian conception of it. And if you are part of the Aishanna-La how can you agree with it? Even if you cannot stop it why approve of it? It is wicked how people are treated here! A man's life means nothing here. A woman's or child's, even less!"
"I did not say I agree with it at all. As it is practiced here, as you say, it is an abomination. Come, I would show you something Kaisha." Diwa took her that afternoon to a slave market to sit and watch and she'd felt sick all that day afterward.
"You see how things are here? That is what one sees. The fabric of Egian society is woven in the slave trade. The Black Alchemists have a large part to play in this trade for these people are used and processed in their work in ways you do not imagine."
"I think I can imagine many horrible things." Kaisha said, her mouth curled with disgust.
"But there is an underground, Kaisha. There are those who are trying to change it." Diwa gave her a searching look.
"Who are these people? I want to change things too!" Kaisha's curiosity was piqued. Diwa hesitated at first.
"We are trying." Diwa said finally.
"You are part of this? This underground?" She asked. Diwa nodded. "We are part of the slave rebellion. Slave rebels and their supporters. There is a small group of us." They were in Kaisha's private dining room. Kaisha's eyes widened in surprise.
"I want to join it. I want to stop this. What happened to that child was horrible. I cannot imagine children being treated this way."
"That child, as one of your servants mentioned, was a child of a slave, unwanted. The dogs were actually a better fate, awful as that was. Often they are sold to Black Alchemists."
"Black Alchemists."
'The most sinister of the guilds." Kaisha felt sick again. Diwa put her tea down.
"When I first came here I was a child bride. I was only fourteen when I married. My husband was not particularly interested in me as a wife until I turned seventeen so I learned many things from him before I took on the duties as a wife. He was a great mentor. Though he was not a slave rebel or involved in such activities he disapproved of how slaves were treated in his own land. He was always fair and just with his slaves, very different from many of his peers. Some of the little ones growing up under his roof were taught how to read and write by him. Ours was a harmonious household where our slaves felt safe."
"How did he feel when he found out about your involvement?"
"He died before I discovered it."
"Only about a year."
"How can I be a part of it? What can I do?"
"There are certain places we meet in secret that are somewhat safe. Like the Night Market." Kaisha drew a sharp breath.
"You meet in the Night Market?"
"We do. It is one of the few places where no one wants to peer into the business of others. Secret things are carried out there and under that cover we are able to meet. We transport slaves through secret ways to their freedom. We will meet again in three weeks, unless I hear different. I will talk to our leader, have a falcon sent to him. He resides in Yilphaeus. He will approve you on my recommendation Kaisha and then I shall invite you to meet with us, if this is truly what you want. It is dangerous work." She said cautiously but Diwa's eyes were shining.
"Oh, I would like that very much! But. . .but I have something." She remembered the letters. She called for a servant to send her the stack of letters she had kept.
"Here," Lili handed them to her and she handed them to Diwa. These are most strange. They ask if I want to help them. I have no idea who this person is and what they are after. Is this related, you think?"
"I know who this is! It is surely dangerous for him to write to you Kaisha! This is one of our men, one of the rebels."
"You know him then?"
"Yes! Have no fear from him, Kaisha. His name is Samje. We are in desperate need of help which is why I was so forward with you about it. It is not safe to be forward but we need help."
"What sort of help?"
"Hiding places, ladre, people who have resources. Most of all places for them to hide temporarily. If this sounds frightening or if you do not feel safe. . ."
"Do not worry over it. I think I have finally found a purpose. Take me to this meeting so that I may see this man for myself." Diwa smiled.
"I think we are on the precipice of something great, Kaisha. Things are changing not only in Hybron but in Egi as well." Lili's little boy, Lemuel, now three years, ran and planted his little chubby arms in her lap and smiled up at her. She ran her hands through his hair. He was slaveborn like his mother but perhaps if a change was on the way there could be a different life for him. She had it in her power to make it different and since he was her husband's son, even though this gave him no rights in Egi it could give him legal rights in Hybron if there were no legal children. And there were no legal children between them. She would arrange to set aside a small inheritance for Lemuel. Perhaps one day she would move back to Hybron so he could have a better future.
Red World Trilogy Page 84
