"Look away. It is not worth your lives. Stare too hard and people will know you are not from here. Some have caught wind that slaves are revolting against their masters and fleeing the land. Do not draw attention to yourselves." They understood his point for there was not much staring at all. He left their mules at an inn where the innkeeper never asked questions and did not care to hear answers as long as he was well paid. Demos paid to have them fed and cleaned but the group did not stay there. They made their way into the bowels of the Night Market, waiting for Lady Kaisha Hazad. Demos watched in silence at the milling crowds of the market. He had talked with Senetta once about her time working at the infamous brothel here. She had become the most exotic and sought after woman in the land at the time and she still retained some influence. Senetta had gained her freedom by being bought by a regular patron who had fallen in love with her. He took her to Yilphaeus with him. He was very old and when he died he left her his wealth and many contacts within the ruling class. Demos had heard harrowing and scandalous things that happened here. There was a shop that specialized in human body parts for magic, in fact, several and a place that served two-legged "mutton", viewed as a great delicacy among the priests and servants of Moteth. It sickened him to think of it. She had told him that one must be careful when trying things in the city if Eternal Night as they may mistakenly eat their own kind in the tasting of delicacies.
After a few hours of nervous waiting he saw in the distance someone who looked either like a widow or an unmarried woman approaching. She was dressed head to toe in gray and black veils. She lifted her veils from the black silk covering upon her head. Her dress, while it flowed and flattered her form well was not vain or so alluring as to be distracting. He saw the peek of a gold sandaled foot and her eyes were the color of the desert in the evening. Her hair was light brown, silken and long and she was fair and voluptuous with very long lashes; an angelic face. Demos had not known when he had seen someone so beautiful. She was just as beautiful as Senetta but naturally formed; indeed, a woman beautiful in form.
"Sir? I do not know of you. Samje said. . well. . ." She seemed nervous as she looked them all over.
"I sent Samje the first time. He works under me. I am. . .I am Demos, the leader of this part of the rebel band," he said, lowering his voice.
"You are Demos?" She asked. Even her voice sounded like a chorus of angels. Demos had nearly forgotten his own name. He nodded.
"I am so glad to meet you!" She gushed. He just stared. Finally she spoke again.
"Demos, sir, I, so I should-"
"Oh, yes! I am sorry. These men and women, they will need lodging at your house. Can you lodge them for the next few days, my lady?"
"I can!" The runaways sighed in elation. The girl smiled.
"Shh! We are not out of the trouble yet!" He warned.
"My litter is waiting," she said.
When they had reached her back courtyard and had been shown their quarters and Demos was ready to leave he spoke up again.
"Are you Zapulian?"
"No. I am Hybronian. Why?"
"You look different. In how you dress. You do not dress or speak like an Egian."
"I was raised in Gamina, at the citadel."
"The citadel? Are you a scion, then?"
"I am. I hear that we are not welcomed by everyone here though. So I do not mention it."
"Well some do not like them but many do not mind. It is mostly the Ainash scions must watch for. In Hybron."
"What do you know of the Ainash, Demos?"
"I used to be a scribe at the Golden Temple, long ago." She was surprised.
"An Ainash scribe?" He nodded.
"I had been taught to distrust and fear them," she said.
"And I had been taught to hate and distrust the Scions of the citadel."
"It is so odd how we both ended in Egi. How did you come to be here?"
"My mother and father were nobles in Hybron. I do not know if they are even still alive. The Priti-Vast estate in Jhis was my family home. I was kidnapped by Gilphaens during the upheaval leading to the king's death and sold here."
"A noble born one?" She seemed genuinely shocked and unhappy.
"But they do this here. It is impossible to think they would do such evil in Hybron!"
"I know, but my lady, evil seeps across borders. It has no physical boundaries. Whenever men are prone to selfishness, desire for power and corruption, evil is there. It has been happening in Hybron for years without anyone paying attention. People do not pay attention any longer. They are too involved in their own gratification. Their own lives. I was one of them. Now I am here."
"You are right about that Demos. I, too, was one of the people dull in mind and heart. And me of the citadel! Raised by some of the holiest women in the land! I have had my own trials before I came here. An unhappy marriage that nearly ended in my death. I can tell you are high born by your accent and speech. We may have much in common. I tell you, I am so excited to be helping people. My husband has died and left me with money and nothing to do, no children to care for. How did you know to write me, or send your servant to write me? It seems as if you were destined to contact me. I know I was meant to do this!"
"When you had come to the land some had heard you were a wealthy, unmarried woman. Such things do not go unnoticed by people, Lady Kaisha. That you healed a guard at the gate when you came to Egium as well was noted. And there are many fortune-hunting men in Egi. Be careful of them, my lady."
"I will. I have already rejected all of them. Some seem to press on anyway."
"You are a very beautiful woman, so yes they would press on. Do not let down your guard. Marriage by rape is not unknown." Her face visibly changed when he said this, all color draining from it.
"I shall be careful. Thank you." She said curtly. Demos felt more nervous now.
"Ah. . .the next time I see you may be a month from now. Enkil will come for the runaways and lead them into the mountains. He knows the foothills and the southern Soudan well. He will send a note to tell of his arrival. We do these things at night."
"Diwa will go with them."
"You are courageous. We need more people like you in our fight." There was an awkward silence.
"Lady Kaisha, I am glad to meet your acquaintance. Your heart is as great as your beauty. May peace be within you," he said clumsily and then immediately felt foolish. She smiled and thanked him again.
He finally left, feeling both foolish and lighter than air. Beauty has returned to the world. If only he were not plain and deformed. He went to pick up his horse and mules from the inn. He stayed there for a day and pondered the situation he now faced. Senetta was in trouble and he worried for her. She was very ill, and her health was failing. His poor potions had little effect in improving her condition, though they seemed to stabilize her and bring comfort. He'd brought enemies down upon her because of his alchemical efforts - meager though they were. If more came what would they do? What could he do? And how would it affect the slaves who were fleeing Egi? The darkness of Black Alchemy was spreading. It's ideas that people were mere tools to be used in service of the powerful, or to their god, was seductive, and in some ways very pragmatic, Demos had to admit. That a man who was available to be taken and used should be taken and used in service for something greater than himself was a powerful and earnest belief many held to. But Demos did not dare let his mind wander too far down that path. After all, men who were enslaved were thought to be inferior, thus they were enslaved. If they were not inferior, they would not have allowed themselves to be enslaved. That was the prevailing mindset of most Egians. Demos saw how twisted that thinking was. It was that idea that led to his own capture and enslavement. Once, this was an abomination. Now, people easily justified it. Like Senetta and her people that worked under her and those that worked alongside him helping hide slaves and free them. Formed as they were to the amusement of others. Slaves were not real humans in Egi. Only sacks of flesh. Juhi! The time to fight back
and gain freedom from such oppression had come but to gain freedom from this they had to free people's minds of such ideas if they were to create true freedom. Ultimate freedom, true freedom came from the First Pillar, who was the first to give man his freedom upon the surface of the ground. But Egi was not a land that worshiped Him. Demos did not like the reports of slaves arming themselves in the mountains and killing nobles but what could he do? Perhaps the slave owners had earned this hatred. Yet not all nobles were jaded or corrupt. His mind whirled with muddied and difficult thoughts. All because of the little word: Jusawa. There was one lady he loved and respected who was already in trouble with the Black Alchemists' Guild. He did not want to get Lady Kaisha into the same trouble, yet he had involved her out of necessity and now she wanted a full part. What could he do? Something he had not done in an age. He got down on his knees by the bed and he prayed a long prayer.
For that would be his strength in the coming days of fire.
Chapter Nine
"All bow before the king!" The king made his way on board the biggest warship in the fleet. Olatu, the nephew of King Zenkalu, former enemy of Kufun, followed behind the king and the admiral. King Kufun swept his long, intricately braided beard to his right side, the braids cascading over his broad shoulders. They were studded with jeweled beads in the colors of his royal house. The two fattest braids closest to either side of his nose were studded with gold. The men of his court wore their beards braided too, as intricate as any woman's braids. Then these braids were in turn braided into a long cylindrical shape and tied with silk, wicker or gold ribbon. Most men of the court and men of wealth also wore silver or bronze filigree ear studs, the marks of a distinguished man. Olatu was always forced to shave off his stubble by Nufim, the king's quartermaster and one of his trusted court officials - and Olatu's tormentor. Nufim always found ways to remind him that he was less than a man.
While the king's look was one of pride and great joy in his fleet resting at the port of Kukuma, Olatu felt his connection to his family and his people being pulled even farther away. The hostility from Nufim would only increase now that he would be completely cut off from aid. The king had little patience for men who appeared vulnerable and despised courtiers who complained about anything. Nufim had always found particularly cruel ways to make life difficult for him at court but in such a way that Olatu could not provide proof or complain of his persecution.
The great project Kufun's father began years ago was finally completed under his reign. May father's soul rest with his ancestors. he thought. The glory that was denied the father would come to the son. Tarkal, the island fortress city was finished and the drekar and other warships all gathered. His people had learned to build them and no longer needed to buy them from the Valierites.
The king made a summary inspection. It had already been swept by fastidious eyes and hands, this was merely a formality. He gave a signal to the admiral that he was satisfied and ready to leave and then he went to the bow of the ship as orders were made to disembark from the port. Kufun watched eagerly as the bright white houses and buildings of Murka receded. The other warships docked were beginning to pull away, following the king's ship. The drums began to beat and drone rhythmically, driving the oarsmen.
Tarkal. The first sea fortress ever built in the South Land world. It was the largest of a group of small islets in the South Ocean, also known, depending on where one was situated, as the Gaspa Sea. From there he would re-establish the glory that had been taken, the glory of Jura when their kings ruled in Egi. He would carve up Hybron now, the time was right and from there he would retake Egi. His father Kufun I had to stop his efforts in retaking Egi to put down the insolent king Zenkalu of Ohoja. Thus, the Barbarian was able to retake Beth-Ayin. In repayment and acknowledgment of Kufun's authority in the region Zenkalu sent his nephew - Zenkalu's son having been killed in the battle. Then there was the trade dispute with Funda, whose king also had to be subdued. All the neighboring kingdoms now acknowledged the supremacy of Jura. It was time to look outward for conquest. He wore one of his finest cloaks of bird feathers, attached with gold and star rock fastings. He felt like a great bird of prey, flying over the sea.
"Beth-Ayin is greatly fortified since your father assaulted it." Said Murid, one of the admirals.
"Kemi informed me. It does not matter. We can wait them out until the right time."
"Why do you bring Olatu? What worth is he to us here? He is not a warrior. He is a scholar. Some alchemist's pupil." Said Nufim. The king laughed.
"You hate him, I think?"
"I do not trust alchemists, Great One." The king shrugged.
"Do not tell me you have become one of those. . .what do you call them?"
"Ainash, O Great One." Said Murid dryly.
"Ainash, yes,” the king's vice dripped with disdain. “He has been brought up in the court for years now. His uncle is now my vassal. What could he possibly do?"
"Hmmph, I do not trust him." said Nufim but Kufun waved his concerns away. "The stars are aligned the way they are suppose to be. Priestess Zulana has said so. The time is right for conquest. Put your mind to the important things, Nufim. I trust everything at Tarkal is actually ready for me, when I arrive? Including a private altar?"
"Yes, Great One."
"Good. Then do not worry over little things." Zulana was the astrologer to the royal family and she had served them since the days of Kufun II's grandfather, Ufi, The One who shakes Trees, a descendent of a noble family of Jura who rose up and overthrew a weak and corrupt king.
They were now sailing the wide Dakanar Sea, the ships' oars gliding swiftly with the rise and fall of the waves, slicing through the waters like great machetes, heading northwest. The relentless beat of the drums and the oarsmen's swift rowing became like one with the sounds of the sea. He glanced at the young man. He was short, thin, certainly not a warrior and often quiet. Olatu was no threat. Before they left Juranni he was studying under a Gold Alchemist recently moved from Egi.
Olatu was brought along on such major missions for several reasons. He had been with the court of Kufun II for so long that he had become an integral member in some respects and turned out to be an excellent scribe, a talented musician of the oud and a good punster, which the king admired. More importantly, if his uncle ever got a notion to rebel or chafe against the authority of Jura, the king would show him once again who was the ultimate authority in the region. By executing his nephew. So far, his uncle had shown himself to be a wise man and so for the time being, Olatu remained safe from his wrath.
But he was not safe from Nufim's sly and wicked machinations.
As evening fell into night, Runtu, the great Sea Star in Jura and the two moons helped them navigate their way through the night. They approached Tarkal after seven days of sailing. It was dawn once they'd reached the islets. On the first set of smaller islets villages had been built, mostly manned by farmers and agricultural engineers brought over to cultivate the sparse soil over a few years and now some of them were ready for small farming operations to feed Tarkal. The smallest islets remained largely uninhabited but served as lookout posts. Some of these islets were connected together. On the largest one sat Tarkal, built on high, sharp red rock but for the sea and its salt, minerality and constant bashing of waves, it was a deep gray-blooded color once one got close enough to see it. A wall was built around it by his father of nearly white rock imported from Jura. White rock yaryebu gods stood at the gate, holding it upon their backs. Kufun could see a fire going at the top most tower. That settled his mind. The gods would now pay attention to his mission. The warriors were dressed in gold and leather armor and stood attention with their long wood and bronze spears. They turned and raised their spears in the air as the king's ship and attendant warships were guided to the small dock around the island. Kufun and his men came up the high steps to the gate and strode through. Clouds of incense burned in a large brazier at the great stone doors, intensely perfumed of pepper and ginger for awakening o
ne's senses, so that all warriors and the king would receive instruction from the gods, and the precious balsam incense, for peace and blessings from the gods as they embarked on this great conquest. They bowed their heads, not daring to look directly at him. As the gate opened the fortress in all its glory could be seen. Inside the fortress proper was white and gray rock and its towers were tipped with red rock and gold. It was a military town built for one purpose - to make sailing across the South Sea easier, to shorten the distance the Jurite army had to cross in order to invade Hybron and Egi. The fortress was also a small palace and surrounding it were small houses and a market, already filled with the families of warriors, engineers and craftsmen in service to the king's singular goal. His father had used nearly half the treasury to build this island fortress and he was now in need of more coin. More conquest meant more money, more wealth; the business of pillaging would be in earnest and Egi was where the true ambitions lay.
The fortress was decorated in a way to remind him of the palace in Juranni. Symbols were everything to the people of Jura; they represented and told of position and family. Symbols upon the doors, especially, carved upon the walls and in the floors. Family names, family legends and the gods were carved on every door, each knocker more elaborate than the next. The wide, sparse walls were lined with the yebu, their heads carved in stone and ivory or ebony and mounted in the walls on each side. May Kezu and Wapti the Matriarch and all the yebu gods watch over me and my kingdom and bless me in all that I set out to do.
Kezu the Great Bull, the golden yaryebu, his great shrine was built into the main hall and it resembled the grand one back home. Kufun walked towards it and lay one of his many rings upon the altar before it and crossed himself with his fists, praying silently. The halls were a series of rooms connected lengthwise and were teeming with warriors and chieftains of all stations who stood and then bowed when he came striding through. Kufun said nothing to them for the time being, making his way up two flights of stairs to his apartments. Commander Mansa immediately stood once he entered. An ebony and bacca wood throne-stool stood in the middle of the room in front of a wide iron fire pit built into the floor for warmth. A fire was lit with incense of balsam thrown in. The slow burn was comforting. It reminded him of the gentle spirit of his mother. And of his Great Wife. Beside the throne stool were maps of Hybron and Egi, some rolled up in great sheaths of parchment or lambskin leather and others spread out. He took off his feathered cloak and handed it to a servant who took it and quietly left. He crossed the floor and sat down on the stool, picking up one of the maps of southern Hybron.
Red World Trilogy Page 90
