"North. Some of our brothers are going there now, to the Plain of White Bones. We were set to leave in two days."
"Now you must search out this army and fight. It is a small army and everyone of them upon horseback. I saw them riding through the desert in my dream. I do not know exactly how many."
"Any chariots?" Asked another tribesman.
"No," said Anet. A great host of tribesmen had gathered at the Hill of Shima. Many had stayed before moving north. "I shall go with you. I have a matter with this prince."
"Not if he is killed in battle first. They do not take us seriously it would seem if they only send out four hundred men," said Rhaja.
"No. It is fourteen hundred seasoned warriors, on horseback," said another. "And the last fight with them ended in the slaughter of many tribesmen."
"They use dirty tactics," said the chieftain in disgust.
"We will see," she said solemnly. Once again she would be traveling with the tribes. She looked up at the sky and then at all the men and women gathered who would be leaving with her.
"He will be with us. His arm is strong. Do not fear now. We are on the cusp of deliverance for our people from the serpent clan and the Ainash!" She said, raising her voice so that all might hear.
"Will you men come up with me?" She asked.
"We will come up with you!" They all said with one accord. Then Shamgar spoke:
"Khalit-Aisu was king of Hybron and a son of the Karig. Rapheth is his son the chosen one, a son of the Karig. We are with him! Rapheth-Aisu!" They rallied around him and around Anet.
"Rapheth-Aisu!"
"Let us go up!" Commanded Shamgar. They departed from the Hill of Shima and headed north and went chasing after Prince Alin's army on horses, camels and asses, with many swords, spears and iron scythes. They traveled on the border of the deep desert and that night Anet, with the tribes people, set up camp and she decided that they would travel the secret ways, the caverns, caves and sinks.
Anet readied herself. She was alone in her tent. She opened a leather bag and took out a small tin of tea leaves. This time it was the bitter dru plant. A small fire was smoldering under the cooking rocks. Her tiny fired clay tea pot was simmering with water. She took the leaves and crushed them slightly in her hands, feeling the satisfying dry crunch and rustle. The smell was pungent. She needed a strong tea for strength. She meditated on what lay before her, then threw the leaves into the tea pot. She recalled Ilim's letter, warning her of this very dangerous time within the folds of Divine Purpose over two years ago. It had come back to her mind as the tea vapors worked their healing method, and in her dreams she saw the Red King and herself dressed in magnificent wedding finery; the grand finery and headdress of a queen. She did not dare to mention it or think upon it. But it could not be a trick. Would this new king be her husband? And would this Egian prince kill him? Her others dreams told her: Yes! She had to intercept the prince so that the young king would have time to prepare for war. She stretched to make her body and muscles limber and ready for the journey and then took up the pot from the fire and let it steep and cool while she continued to take in the pungent scent. Suddenly her eyes flew open and her heart began thrumming. She jumped up from her tent and looked outside. There was a shout from the camp.
"Raise your eyes high and see! Look! It is all that she said! What the writings have said! The evening star is red!" Anet cast her eyes up, and seeing it, laughed joyfully. And so Elitaph was blazing in the sky, the holy blood mark and final portent to signal the true king had arrived. She had no fears any longer. Let us be ready for the fight!
. . .
They had come all the way between the Plain of White Bones and the army of Alin. And they came out from underground at Zor'zor, a dried up lake on the top side but beneath the ground the Raea and the Karig had drained much of the lake into underground ponds for their own uses when traveling the secret ways. The opening in the center of it was covered with giant boulders and these had to be moved by men who'd come up from underground just outside the perimeter of the dead lake through the sand. Most of the mothers with young children and the older women stayed behind by the underground ponds with the mules and the goods.
So then, they were now encamped here. Shamgar's daughter, Lala, had taken one of her small scouting falcons from a wooden cage, fed it and let it fly to see where the Egian band was situated. The bird had now just arrived back two days later. She approached Anet.
"Little mother."
"What news, my daughter?" Asked Anet, sharpening her bronze sword.
"The army camp of the Egians is a day and a half away, by the purple cactus thicket. The bird has brought back thistles and needles from that very place."
"Only a few days away from the Crescent Moon Sink?" Anet asked. The young woman nodded.
"That is not good. They are too close. Go and send for your father. I have a plan. For it is in the hand of a woman that Airend-Ur will sell Alin, the crowned prince." The woman went in a hurry to tell her father and Shamgar came.
"What is the word of Airend-Ur?" Said the chieftain.
"His word is this: Go, leave at dusk and take with you many ram's horns. By stealth you must surround their camp at night. You must blow the horns three times and Airend-Ur will deliver them into your hand." Shamgar took all the camp with him, all his valiant fighting men, and left at dawn. Anet left with them and when they had gotten within one day of the thicket of purple cactuses they remained behind the wall of a great sand dune that they may not be seen on the horizon by the Egian camp. Anet thought of the prophetess Ranna and the great windstorm she asked Airend-Ur to stir up to defeat the vast army of a wicked king looking to destroy the tribes people, then she took up her staff and said the Khuliom prayer, raising her hands and arms to the sky. All the tribal warriors did the same.
"My God, cover us so that they may not see us. Cover us that you may deliver us! Cover us that your name may become great in this victory. Ellah Kaifah!" Clouds slowly appeared in the sky and strong winds picked up fury and force. A sand storm stirred, then took the high-walled dune with it in a swirling maelstrom. It lifted up and went off toward the Egian camp. The impulse of many of the younger men was to laugh. Anet smiled. She could not blame them.
"Let us go up and defeat the Egians!" Cried Shamgar. They followed behind the windstorm until they reached the camp of the Egians. The storm had caused great confusion in the Egian camp and caused the men to be blind because of the sand so that they did not see the Karig, the Arvadites and the Raea coming in after them. Then Shamgar ordered them to surround the camp and they waited until the storm died down. Then they took up the horns and blew them three times.
The Egians, who were only just waking up were taken by surprise and still in confusion over the windstorm. The storm itself had filled everything, their tents, food supplies, bags, everything was filled with stinging sand. The tribesmen went defeating them. In the confusion the prince took to flight on his horse and escaped. But all the camp of the Egians that he brought out into the desert were killed. Not one of them was left alive.
Anet rose up and went her way alone with her staff, sword and her belongings upon an ass toward the direction of Galieh. By a small rock she found a swarm of fire bugs lifting up from the ground and flying away and there she set up her tent and beautified herself. She burned a thin log of incense of kuneal, then cooked a meal of mutton in broth and wine and she took good wine in a vessel and put it aside and then put a circlet of polished cedar set with chalcedony stones, precious to the tribal people for they are found near the Holy Mountain, around her hair. She stained her lips with the juice of pomegranate but her eyes she did not paint at all. She poured the milk of purple cactus, a powerful sleeping draught into the wine and then in a small velvet pouch on her bed she took out a dried durim date - a fruit that when dried gave powerful energy, a counter-active to the draught. This she chewed slowly and carefully and swallowed. Then she took mint oils to sweeten her breath and mask the durim-date
scent for she knew that the House of Seht were known for their knowledge of poisons and anti-poisons. Then she sat outside her tent and waited. In the evening she saw a lone figure riding across the desert. She waved to him, dressed in nearly see-through silks, finely woven linens and her stone and wooden jewels, her thick hair flowing in the breeze. Finally she boldly went to meet him.
"Come this way! Turn aside to me, my lord. Do not be afraid." He wheeled his mount around the tent and then brought the horse to a halt before her, eying her dubiously. His expression was one of poorly controlled fear. She would have to be very careful.
"Who are you?" He demanded.
"I am my lord's servant. I am called Anetaliat." She bowed low to the ground.
"You are Egian, then? Your name does not sound Hybronian."
"That is because it is Egian, O great prince. I am a wise woman who can tell fortunes and divine the future." After studying her for a long time he finally dismounted his horse and approached cautiously, viewing her through narrowed eyes, letting them flicker over her form.
"You remind me of the woman who was with that desert prophet."
"I am one who can wear the face of many. Even hers."
"A shapeshifter. Rare, indeed. I have never seen one before," he said. She took a small step forward and he put his hand on the hilt of his sword. He was breathing heavily. She remained calm and still.
"There are not many of us left, my lord prince. My services are for one who has the will to be powerful. I do not serve the weak,” she said, injecting scorn in her voice. “The false prophet will go the way of his fathers, his prophecies finished with him. Come in, drink and eat and perhaps I can find some other way to satisfy you."
"Oh, you will. But I need to get back to the city."
"And why would you do that, my lord? If your father knew of your defeat do you think he would send reinforcements? Or be enraged?"
“How do you know about it?” He asked. Anet could see rage darkening his eyes.
“Did I not say to you that I am a wise woman, lord prince? What sort of wise woman would I be if I could not tell such a thing?” Prince Alin seemed to think this over and his face drained some of its color. He looked toward the direction of Galieh with trepidation. Anet let her words stew in his thoughts.
"You might need a subtle power on your side. After all, the king has the Lord Alchemist of Egi and the royal astrologers on his. However, I have power over the tribes. Power from the gods, my lord."
"I have someone," he said expectantly and with assurance, but Anet discerned the faint note of uncertainty in his eyes.
"But is she like me?" She said with a mild suggestion in her voice.
"It remains to be seen what you, or who, you are."
"I cannot blame my lord prince for his prudence. But if you go back defeated, the king may be greatly offended find a gruesome fate for you. He executed his own niece by his own hand, did he not, my lord prince? If you allow me, I will help you become the new ruler of the Middle World," she said. He leaned against her tent.
"Tell me more."
"This is not a fight between the tribal men and your father. This is a fight between the gods."
"They speak to you?"
"I have power to communicate with them directly." She opened her hand, a few sand grains sat on her palm and they turned into tiny fire bugs that rose up and into the sky. In his eyes grew a dangerous light. He was staring hard at her now and Anet could guess all the things he was thinking.
"Could you really help me kill the king?" He asked plainly. She nodded. "and my brother?" She nodded again. She held open the tent flap. The mutton stew was strong and the scent delectable.
"There is hot bread and wine," she said, smiling coyly. He went in and sat down as she served him a bowl of stew and some wine.
"You first," he said, motioning at the wine jug. She smiled again.
"You do not trust me, my lord?" He laughed cynically and put his hand on his sword hilt. The gesture was clear but Anet had already anticipated this. She poured herself a cup of wine and drank it down. He watched her carefully. Then he drank and began eating.
"So, tell me, witch, what would you recommend I do now?"
"The first thing you will need is a powerful army of your own. I have had many visions of the desert king. These desert people will worship anything with the appearance of greatness. They respect strength. You can take his place."
"And why would I want to do that?" He asked, sitting back. She watched him closely. His eyes were dark and intense. He had the appearance of a snake ready to strike, like all of his blood. In fact, what disturbed her more was that she herself was related to him and found that serpentine deception coming to her quite easily. His eyes were becoming heavy-lidded. The drug was taking effect. She lit another log of kuneal incense, a very finely made version from a tribal woman. This kind of kuneal did not release the powerful fumes but had the same effect as the more rudimentary leaf version. She could feel herself tiring slightly. She would need to move fast. The date was working but it would not work for too much longer if she stayed in the tent. She made her movements slower, more deliberate, to conserve her energy.
"Your father may be highly displeased to see you come back empty-handed. I can control these men, these tribesmen, at will. I can twist their minds. They could be come yours. All of them." She hated the words coming from her mouth and felt filthy even saying them. But either her words or the drug-laden air and wine, or both were having their intended effect.
"You are right about the king. It would not be wise for me to go back in defeat. I would like to have an adept by my side, I think." His words were slurring ever so slightly now, "that would be a good choice. Can you see into the future?"
"I can. I see great things in yours, my lord, if only you would keep me by your side."
"What is your price?"
"The horse, for now. His entrails I will need to peer into before you arrive back to the city, my lord."
"You may prove to be nearly as useful to me as Lord Erol is to my father. I know something of poisoning people. But I cannot get next to the king because Erol is too skilled and watchful. He would know if I ever tried to poison the king. Outright. I believe he plays the king's side and mine to his advantage." He nearly fell back into the spread of pillows.
"You will need one equal to his own powers," she said.
"We will see if your powers are equal. Still, I am intrigued by the proposition. I do need an adept." He disrobed and looked her up and down with that same lewd gaze he gave her at the king's banquet.
"I am thirsty, witch. Bring me more wine." She poured another cup and handed it to him which he drank down with eagerness. The drugged air was making him thirsty which satisfied her. For someone of the House of Seht, he did not know as much about druggery and poisons as she thought he might. Perhaps only a dabbler. she thought detachedly.
"Your clothes. Take them off." She undressed and stood before him.
"Come here." She stood over him and then climbed on top, straddling him. He fumbled with his own belt. She smiled slyly, stroking his hair with one hand and reaching under him for her sword with the other. As he lay back, she deftly slid her sword out from beneath the pillows under him with her left hand and suddenly grabbed it with both hands. His eyes grew wide in shock but his reflexes were too slow. He struggled to get up. She reared back like a whip and with a hard, quick swing, chopped off his head.
"Great things in your future. Such as the great darkness," she said harshly and got up and washed herself and her sword and put her tunic and robes back on. But she had felt it, though she was loathed to admit it to herself; a response to his touch. A powerful impulse to have a man. She shook it off.
She went over to the urn and blew out the embers of the smoking incense and poured the wine out upon the ground outside. She took in a sharp breath of fresh air. She breathed deeply to cleanse her mind. Then she covered the body with a blanket, took a blue beetle from one of her small w
ooden cages. It's wings lit up and she set it lightly upon the top of her staff, planting the staff deep in the sand. She blew upon it delicately until the beetle lit up like a faint beacon in the night. Then she waited.
Shamgar and two hundred of his warriors found her tent. She showed them the body of the prince. Shamgar and the other chief warriors then took the body up, wrapped it, tied it upon his horse and sent it on its way to Galieh.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Most of the slaves of Egi who had run away had gone on through the mountains on their own to unknown destinies. Once they had reached the mountains their fates were in their own hands.
Of those that had stayed in the mountain fortress, however, they were determined to make Egi bleed for the abuses they were forced to endure. The fortress was an abandoned quarry in the Soudan. They had a fair stockpile of weapons and more were coming. Lookouts were stationed at league intervals throughout the southern Soudan and scouts roamed the southern Soudan on the Egian border. A steady stream of food made its way to them as well from some of the supporters in Egi and from a few nearby villages. Some former slaves had the ability to hunt. Every animal caught was eaten except horses and mules.
The king's men had been traveling through the nearby villages in the mountains looking for slaves to take back and had given an edict from village to village, putting a few village elders under the lash to make a point: Any runaways seen coming through were to be reported to the king upon pain of death. This problem however was swiftly solved by the scouts who reported the matter to the revolt leaders. The king's men did not know the mountains like the slaves had come to know them and when the king's men were making their way back to Egium through the northern pass they were massacred, their valuables and horses taken.
The Golden Road in this present age ended in Egi. This was not always so. The mountains of the Soudan were no longer well watched or patrolled by the throne and had not been for many years. These newly freed men and women were not about to allow this to change now that they had a place to hide and live. Most caravans by-passed the Soudan unless they were armed to the teeth. A few however, did pass through and they had very specific and very lucrative reasons for this.
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