"Yes, indeed." Said Kaisha.
. . .
The night came. Diwa came over and they rode in her litter to her house. She had her own secret passageway into the Night Market as many great houses did. They truly needed the oil lamps this time not only did Lili and Goren accompany her but two if Diwa's servants did as well. They were all covered in black or gray veils or masks so they did not stand out. This way was darker than the main entrance at Nimnet's temple. They kept their voices low as they bounced from wall to wall in the caverns. They wound their way through the deepening crowds of the market but this time stayed on the outside edges of the crowds instead of going down the main thoroughfare.
"No one will notice?" Kaisha whispered.
"As long as you are discreet. Down here no one wants to know what is going on." They approached a cave around the corner and upon getting inside there was a small group of people standing there. Kaisha started to feel panic rise but Diwa put her hand on her arm and then walked over to them confidently.
"Samje, this here is the lady that he has been asking about. This is Lady Kaisha Hazad." She said in hushed tones.
"My lady." The young man said graciously and bowed with the fluid motion of a dancer.
"Are you the one who has been sending me the letters?" She asked.
"Truly, it was really the one who sent me. The leader of our band. His name is Demos. I am acting on his orders, or rather, he would say his request." He said. He had strange colored eyes. They seemed purple. He also had a large red tattoo on the top of his head in the shape of an ornate, script-like "S" which told he was a former prostitute. The small group with him were wary and alert and they carried small daggers under their clothing.
"So you will help us then?" Asked Samje.
"Yes. What do you need?"
"We have a band of runaways. They need shelter for a few days. They are hiding from their masters and the Fortress Guard and they have traveled all the way from Yilphaeus. They should arrive in Egium by tomorrow night."
"Then they shall stay with me. But how will we manage this without getting caught?"
"We know the secret ways into these cities." Said Diwa.
"Then show me the ways. My home is their home." Said Kaisha. Diwa clasped her hand.
"Thank you so much for being willing to help us!"
"Jusawa!" Said Samje, smiling.
"What does that mean?"
"Freedom."
. . .
On the way home Lili was displeased and more than a little worried.
"This is dangerous, my lady! What if you get caught? We will be turned out in the streets and then we will have the same plight as these slaves here in Egi!"
"Do not worry, Lili. This is a good work. It cannot fail. If it does, I will make arrangements for the household to escape but I cannot in good conscience continue as I was now that I know that something can be done to help others. If you are afraid I shall give you a sum of money for you and your little one and you may leave my service and I will see you safely back to Hybron." Lili was silent for a long time, appearing to think it over.
"No, my lady, I will stay with you. Lemuel and I have had nothing but a good life with you. I will stay."
"I will make sure that I do not put you or the other servants in danger Lili, but I feel that I am here to do this work. I think you were once worried for me, Lili. For my soul, though you do not worship as I do. I have not worshiped properly in years. Perhaps this is my repentance. Perhaps my soul is no longer imperiled, though my life may be. A strange matter. But I feel this is my purpose." She recalled how Mother Berenice had always admonished them to trust that if they did what was right that God would deliver them out of trial and strengthen them for what lay ahead. Sometimes He delivered people by way of death but Kaisha tried not to think on such a difficult way. Mother Berenice's teachings gave her comfort and surety of mind that this was the right thing in all the ridiculous things she had done in her life.
"Yes. I must do this."
The next night the small group of slaves had arrived in the underground caves of the Night Market. Diwa and Kaisha had brought black veils and robes for them to wear and they left by a very narrow and dangerous path, a ledge with a deep black precipice. How long or far it fell no one knew but she saw the deadly twinkling lights below in the black waters. They had to make their way slowly as condensation on the ground made the way slippery. It eventually led to an old house owned by another man, a merchant who belonged to another band of supporters. His house was full so they were led to Kaisha's litter, seven of them in all and they were brought to her house, to her courtyard. She had the kitchen servants feed them well for they were very hungry and she packed food for them and the next morning before dawn another man named Enkil had come to lead them into the mountains. They slipped through her inner courtyard and down a lonely street.
That night as Lili combed her hair, Kaisha sat thinking on how many provisions she would need to have ready and if there needed to be any modifications made to the house.
"I may have to have a hidden doorway made by the gardener in the inner courtyard, to make it easier for them to come and go. What do you think, Lili?" Lili gave her a rueful look.
"I think you are already thinking like a rebel."
Chapter Six
The lady of the house washed their sore, dusty feet and commanded her children to make the guest bedroom ready for them. They sat down to a generous meal of eggs and goat cheese with honey and some bread and a good, strong herb tea. It reminded him of old days. Ilim missed the perfumed, powerful teas when he used to live with the Karig. They had gone from house to house, every few days staying in a different home of the brethren while Ilim ministered to the schismatics. They were centered into small groups that would meet in houses while he would admonish and encourage them from the writings and prophesy as to the things to come. But he wondered if he would ever see them, this great shining jewel of rule to come. People were afraid, tired. And he was tired. He could feel it creeping softly in his bones, the whisper of death. It was not to happen yet. He still had life and strength in him but he was very old and his vitality was waning. Still, he had one more revelation to reveal. They had arrived in Hevan and were now staying in the home of a woman named Phyllida. Phyllida was once a prostitute but had become a proselyte and all her seven children were living with her. She was a woman of some money and a warm and generous spirit. She also had a little one who was lame. Ilim was spending the morning retelling an account from the holy book to him. This little one had a great aptitude for memorization. He would make an excellent scribe! he thought. He also saw in himself a change. He had become more patient, especially with children. Anet and Rapheth had taught him patience, a great virtue he had been lacking in. He wondered if Khalit would have turned out better if he'd had such patience way back then. Just as he had taught them, he himself had much to learn from such young ones. There was once a time when it would have galled him to even be near a prostitute. But his commission had been both an exhilarating and a humbling experience. Now he was thankful to be able to stay in Phyllida's home.
"How long will you stay, father?"
"Only a little while longer, my son. There are many that I must see before I go home."
"To where?" Asked the little boy.
"Oh, to Haiga, Beth-Ayin, Uzimor, Lirumshu, even Odim, a tiny village south of here. Places where the faithful are scattered and need succor."
"Come, Alit. Do not tax him so!" Called his mother. "Binya, go and gather your brother and take him down to the courtyard. It is his turn to help in the garden."
"Aw!" He cried.
"Go now. Do as your mother says. Be thankful you have a garden and a courtyard and a place to lay you head." Admonished Ilim. The little boy stopped protesting. Binya, the eldest girl, gathered him up in a blanket and took him outside. Ilim finished his egg and sipped his tea. His old feet were aching but the sun was high and shining and it was warm, which helped the soreness. Th
e cold months were yet to come. And he was safe. Mother Berenice had dispatched scions to come to Hevan anyway (he was glad she did not give heed to his insistence on not having the warrior-scions come along)and escort him to all the places he needed to go to see the faithful before he would go home.
The land was in turmoil, as it had been for some time but the turmoil was now heightened and had taken on an even more ominous tone. Scions, disguised were now abroad in Hybron which had never been allowed before. Some things had become lax after the fall of Queen Taliat. But it would not last under Teraht.
"How are you feeling, father?" Asked Phyllida.
"Oh my sister, I am well. Well enough as a one hundred year old man can be."
"You do not feel that they are still following you?"
"I have no doubts that they are but until my work is done no spy or enemy can hinder it."
"Before I became one of you, things were very different. I wondered if my children would be doomed to live the same life I lived, especially my daughters. And I hear from time to time that certain ideas from Egi are coming here."
"Puh! When have they not?"
"But more than the usual idle slants and prattle, father. Black Alchemy is seeping its way here. It came with the Serpent Queen. And their form of slavery is appearing here. Some masters have taken to mistreating slaves, even killing them and they have not been brought to justice. And people are being kidnapped off the streets and sold into slavery in broad daylight right here in Hybron. One thought those things only happened in Egi." She said. Ilim's countenance darkened. He tugged at his beard, thinking on the bonemen and the poison wing.
"Yes. I believe these things are true. Very troubling. Of course some of those things have always happened. Hybron is no paradise but I have noticed that these things are on the rise. Justice has always been a problem, ever since the Kushigyars ruled."
"I know it is as if the throne and the nobles have made an all out assault on the people. In Egi once a prostitute always a prostitute. You cannot escape it. Here, a woman has a choice, if she can buy her freedom back," she said. "That may go away." She added fretfully.
"They will not become that way. Things will be corrected. Or all is naught. Remember Phyllida, things become worse right before they get better. We are witnessing prophetic times now." He said firmly. "The time is at hand Phyllida. Believe on that!" Phyllida sat mending clothes for her children while listening as Ilim told her of he and Anet's harrowing escape from the Red Palace.
Anet had gone back to Gamina after seeing him settled with a family their first night in Hevan. He wanted to see Zigal. He wanted to see everyone most important to him before he left the world. Right now they were all waiting on a small crowd to come so that he could minister to them a certain portent. They would need to draw closer in the coming days. He had reports from the older men in Hevan and Rhuctium that the Ainash were making plans to root them out and destroy them. His dreams of late were of the fires of Jhis burning higher. They came to him nightly now. It was the wrong time to tire out. He had to strengthen them.
The crowd, about forty-three in all including Phyllida and her family had gathered at her house that night to hear him and for fellowship. All of the Aishanna-La schismatics were buzzing with this news in Hevan. It would spread soon. Two disaffected priests of the Golden Temple and a few from its sister-temples around the land were there. The people were ready for a change.
"Dak Ellak! There is no one doing good! No justice in the courts, no honesty in the marketplaces!"
"Were they ever?"
"Well they were not as bad as now. They are brazen. It is like dealing with wolves. Nowhere they will not shred a man of his last coin for shinty goods!" Said an old man in indignation.
"I know it. The bribes have become outrageous these days and none so outrageous than the buying and selling at the temple. The bribes there are the worse!" Complained a mother.
"And going to Egi to live does not solve matters. Yo must pay bribes to the King's Guard on the main trade routes in Hybron and Egi, bribes the common man cannot afford. The roads in the mountains are not watched or guarded well anymore. Good-for-nothing men, brigands run rampant up there!"
"I know all the things troubling you. I do," said Ilim, "The Red King will ascend soon. The time for the present kingdom is coming to a close."
"When will this be?" Asked one of the priests. The crowd was silent, the only sounds coming from the ambient noise of the neighborhood at night. A dog howled somewhere in the distance.
"Airend-Ur has sent me this last sign," he said pointing his finger in the air. "The Red King will ascend and you will know he has come when the Sea Star Elitaph is red in the morning and red in the evening. This will be the sign of both the end of the Middle World and its beginning anew." Then he read from the book of Nisra saying: "Hear the word of Airend-Ur, O sons of Hybron for Airend-Ur has a legal case with the inhabitants of the land, for there is no truth, nor love nor knowledge of God in the land. There is the pronouncement of curses, deception, murder, stealing, and much bloodshed. You people contend with me so that I have had enough of you, O sons of Hybron! You priests full of guilt and bloodshed, your hands stained with blood for ladre! My people will certainly be silenced because there is no knowledge. Because the knowledge is what you yourselves have rejected so I shall reject you from serving as priests to me and because you keep forgetting the law of your God I shall forget your sons, even I."
"Speak concerning the Ainash priesthood for they have turned aside from the Red Path!" Read Ilim.
"Red in the morning and in the evening." Said an elder man.
'The blood marks shall come again to stain the sky." Said a woman.
"Indeed. Look for the blood marks again. They came in showers when the king was born and it will come again." Said Ilim.
"They came, so many years ago to warn the tribes of the beginning of the end." Said Phyllida quietly.
"Yes." Said another woman. She put her arm around her shoulder.
"Things will become darker right before this red dawn. It is a time that we must all draw close in loyalty and love for one another." Ilim said. He saw the three warrior-scions that had followed him to keep him safe as he made his rounds to the groups. They were dressed like any other women, very simple robes and mantles but there was the evidence to his eye of swords and small daggers under their clothing. There was knocking at the door. The families of Shukala and Ephron had lately arrived, clamoring for any news about their sons.
"They are with the king," he said.
"Who do you mean?" demanded Ephron's mother.
"I mean Rapheth."
"Your son? I still cannot believe it. You cannot believe that! He is a boy! We all know him!" she said in disbelief.
"He is the one the prophesy speaks of, my sister. He is the future king and your son and Shukala went with him."
"Where did they go?" Cried Shukala's mother.
"That I do not know. What I do know is that they are alive and they will come home. They are with the king. That is all I know." He said patiently folding up his scrolls.
"This is no answer!" Cried Ephron's mother and his father grew angry.
"Long have we wanted answers and you give us nothing satisfactory! If my boy had not been around your Rapheth, running from pot to post he would be safe here with his family! He has a bride to marry and a position to take hold of. We have positions in the community to uphold!" He said, proudly. Ilim sat and stared at them calmly.
"Do you say that service to the king, which in this case is service to God, is less important?" He asked pointedly.
"Did we say so?"
"It would seem that you've suggested such a thing."
"Do not try to fool me! There is no glory or pride in the lives we are forced to live now, Ilim! All that we have that was of value to give to the community is gone! Our most precious goods, my business, our beautiful home! Because of you and that woman out in the desert!" Many frowned at them.
&nbs
p; "Be careful how you speak to the prophet, my brother!" Said one of the men. Ilim shook his head.
"All my life I have lived in service to God without this so-called glory so many chase after. This so-called position and prestige. Your soul is more important than these things."
"So says the man who is revered in the community and has a standing. We have a long and proud history of warriors and valiant men on both sides of our family that have served the kingdom. And my husband a prospering armory shop! All lost! What do you say to that!" Accused Ephron's mother.
"We all have a standing before God. But what is important is the time we live in. It is transient. Like the kata flower. I have tasted and saw what really matters. Obedience to the Divine Purpose. Glory not from the right source is fleeting. I seem to recall the boy, your boy, often bragged of such things. Hopefully he comes back a wiser man than when he left. After all, what use is your life if your bones are not wood for His fire? What use is glory in the world if it is passing away?" Said Ilim and then he took up his staff and hoisted himself up with it. A man tried to help him but Ilim waved him away. Then he addressed the entire crowd again.
"He is a man now and he is not subject to any whims but his own and he chose to go with Rapheth. If he is true in heart he will not go wrong. Trust in that. We are all in danger and will suffer hardship. Think you are the only ones?" He turned to Ephron and Shukala's parents. But Ephron's family stormed out. Shukala's parents did not.
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