"It does, my sister," Kaisha said, taking a deep breath."So, does a child stir in your womb yet?"
"Not yet. There is plenty of time. I have no reason to doubt. If it will happen it will. If not, I have other duties to fulfill. I shall finish the work my aunt started. Without all of the blood letting of children to the Queens of Night, of course. I will also open them to girls of common families too. It will be hard work as ideas are difficult to change in people but we need only to find the girls to fill them now and there may be many hungry for knowledge even if their families look down upon it. That is one thing about tribal women. They are part of the woven fabric of the tribe, not separated. Their voices are always important. If they suffer, so the tribe suffers."
"Tribal people are wise. Always were," said Kaisha. "Mother Berenice has dispatched some scions to be instructors at these schools. I know they will be well educated."
Kaisha's thoughts turned to Ioltoslav and Rurria. She wondered where in the world he was and if he made it back to the land of his people. The land of her people. But those were thoughts for another day.
"I will never forget Instructress Helga and her fierce frown and icy blue eyes!" She said. They both laughed.
"Neither will they!" Said Anet.
. . .
It was night, a few hours after Night Prayer. He was overly tired and Zarhaz had taken over the duties for the night to let him rest. It was both a night full of stars and the night of his life. He lay in bed in a small house near the temple. The night was warm and he felt at peace. A restfulness of one assured of his place in the world. He prayed quietly. A tiny light of a firebug flew through the open window and alighted upon the sill.
"I have seen all that You have commanded me to see and done all that You have commanded that I do and now I go the way of my forefathers." Said Ilim. The firebug crept close to his pillow. He smiled.
Later that night Ilim the prophet and High Priest died. He had reached the age of one hundred-three years. He was laid in a burial tomb of the priests of aforetime and all the people that knew him wept and the king wept and grieved over Ilim his father, and so did Zigal. A dirge went up for him and the king commanded that his book be written, his prophecies be recorded into the holy book, the Book of Ilim the prophet of God. The royal scribe Demos set about recopying the scrolls and leaflets Ilim had written about his prophetic visions, journeys and sayings and recopied them as well into the revised holy book.
Samje had made his way to Hybron after all and was now working at least temporarily as an under-scribe in his office. Kaisha was heavily pregnant now and often took to her bed. There was great loss in Ilim for Demos, a surrogate father like Eliaz, and now both of them gone. He'd felt closer to them than even to his natural father. He was gone too and his dear mother. But there was a new generation in the house growing up under his hand and care; new life as he thought of his wife and their unborn child. He was glad they made the trek back to Hybron. Egi devoured its children. And Hybron was well on the way to becoming that devouring maw. The Red King had put an end to it and to the devouring of souls and lives of the people by the darkest of gods. Things would not be easy on the climb up. There were already murmurings of those who had complaints of how things were run or that the queen was too old and barren and so on. It angered him and he felt these unruly ones needed to be rebuked in the courts but he remembered that things happened for a time and for a reason and that they always came full circle. One day they would be dealt with. It was not in his power to say otherwise.
"No, Demos. Your assignment is to write it all down. That is your role. And it always was," he said to himself. “The good name stays forever.” He could hear his father's words in his mind as he carefully unfurled one of Ilim's leaflets and began to write:
The words of Ilim, the son of Shayin na Korthamiah, of the Golden Temple when it still stood in the reign of King Khalit of Hybron during the Twilight Age. He was one of the priests in Jhis, in the land of Hybron. . .
. . .
He finished his supper, a simple one. After all the feasting and drinking of wine he needed a light meal for his body and mind. He ordered no more food for that day. He would fast for the next three days and would take only water or quass with vegetables.
"I have traveled the wide circle back home," he said to himself. It truly had been a circle. From Hybron, across part of the world and back home again. Just as the blood of the Reshaim had traveled from the last Red King through the tribes and was finally upon the throne in him. He was alone with blessed peace and he needed the time. There was the distressing news he had to give to his father's brothers and their families. His family. The news that his mother had desecrated King Khalit's bones. He would meet with them soon to figure out how they could bury him with honor. Proper burial was everything to the peoples of the Middle World. The Great Work in Assenna would begin in one year and the plans to get crews together and everything else was well underway. Baudolino wanted to make Hybron a temporary home and was delighted to help with the work in the alchemy schools. Rapheth gave the thaumaturgical device to him for study and Baudolino sent for his brother Fredriko and his brother-in-law Lomarco Getti to come and finish their work on the device. He would also accompany Rapheth to Assenna when the time came. Although an elder man, like Ilim had been, he was full of vital power and vigor. Rhajit he had appointed as the head of his newly created Red Guard and also as his quartermaster. Ruz and Injol too were appointed to the Red Guard. Parso was one of his most trusted advisers now and one of the only ones who had approved of his marriage. It grieved him that Ilim would not be able to preside over the grand temple of Assenna. But if he could no longer have Ilim to guide him, there was Parso. The altar at the Plain of White Bones was now a holy place for all of the Aishanna-La people could go to and make their sacrifices on holy days, such as the Festival of Firsts, which was the next important holy event of the year. There was trade to think about, new trade routes to open up. And new political enemies to watch. Some were not happy to have the young Zapulian queen back in Zapulia ruling with Rapheth's support, nor were all nobles in Egi happy to see a general sitting on the Egian throne. But most Hybronians were happy to see a Hybronian king finally upon the throne in their land, though he heard that some grumbled that he was only half Hybronian. He was Reshaim and that was what really mattered. He looked out upon his balcony then climbed upon his roof to see the stars.
Now that he new the secret of the Red Kings it made sense to him. God knew all things and saw the large picture no one else could see and worked to weave all back to Himself, even using the imperfection in creation. Everything would eventually be perfected but the imperfections could be used to teach lessons. He was to be both strong and nurturing, law-giver and merciful, the hand of justice and the wing of love for this people and his queen would bear those feminine qualities even more so. He would make sure that Anet's projects would get full support. No man can truly progress, no kingdom could truly become great when half of its subjects were denied dignity. He understood that fully now.
"Maybe one day I shall have ships like those of Milukem, to travel the stars and we will see what is out there. One day."
He heard quiet footsteps behind him and turned. It was the queen. She had a look of uncertainty on her face. But she was lovely in her silver diadem of delicate scrollwork. Mounted at the center of it was an azurite stone fashioned into a blue beetle, the queen's chosen emblem for herself. He looked down at his own emblem, a newly made ring of red gold, the emblem chosen by Kaiga I and used by all the kings down to his father. The lion of Hybron.
"Yes, Anet?"
"Have I disturbed you?"
"You have not disturbed me." She looked away for a few moments.
"I am not sure what I expected but. . .I do not feel like a queen. I still remain a desert girl in my heart. Like a wild one. I hear there are those in the court who do not think I am worthy to be their queen."
"Since when did a desert mother care what others tho
ught of her?"
"It is an adjustment, my lord. I am used to the scions in Gamina, the townspeople and the tribal peoples. These all speak their minds plainly. Here, most are wonderful to me but there are some I wonder about. They smile at me but. . .I do not feel comfortable around them. It reminds me of the time I accompanied the prophet to the court of King Teraht. It was not my. . .element. The people of the desert do not smile at me and bow and work to engineer my downfall behind my back."
"I know. I was not raised in lofty circumstances either, Anet. But we were ordained from Above to be here. No one can change that. Teraht and his court are gone and any who oppose you will be dealt with by me. Have no fear, my queen. Look, I know that it will take time for us to get to know each other. It is the natural order of things in a marriage." He took her hands in his. They were small but strong and like his, browned from the sun.
"I have a massive campaign ahead of me. There are still those in the land I suspect that would prefer to see the influence of the Egian gods return. Or the altars and temples of the sun god return. That must be dealt with also. What is needed on the throne beside me is not a spoiled beauty but a woman who reverences the old ways. I am sure you had dreams pointing to this moment and you followed those directed dreams. We do not follow dictates of the heart and the passions of others but we follow the law that requires us to be more than a man and a woman. What flows from us the people will see; each man sees how he must act in his own life. All things flow from the king and from him, to all. So we must be paragons of virtue and holiness as best we can. That is above the politicking of petty people."
"We must become the echoes of Paradise. The fulfillment of perfection," she said, smiling. He nodded. She went to the balustrade and leaned against it, looking at the stars. "I feel as if we are on the precipice of something we cannot even understand. I saw a glimpse of it when I went to the ruins, Rapheth."
"You went to the ruins?"
"To get the star scepter," she smiled. "I saw only the suggestion of what is to come. Assenna in a perfected state. And what of perfection Rapheth? What would it be like? I cannot even fathom it. I feel jubilant and terrified at the same time of what we are now."
"There were times that I did too. I had to flee when the queen found us in Rhuctium. Over the journey I had fallen into doubt and even pride before I made my way back to Hybron. When my trust in the First Pillar deepened, it was then that I found the Cave of Forever and was given the star sword. I think we have far more in common than we know, Anet. You had a vision walk in the ruins of Assenna. I walked the Cave of Forever. We were both allowed to see the future."
"Tell me, Rapheth, what did you see in the cave? Are you allowed to speak of it?"
"When I walked in the cave I saw things no living man has seen. I know what can be done. In the future. Not just the near but the far future. In time I will tell you all of it."
"You know? When I was a little girl I had dreamed of having a sword to slay a dragon. I was so young then. Father Ilim scolded me. He told me to beware of the dragons in men." He laughed.
"He told me that too. Ilim was wiser than nearly all the men I ever knew. Hard but wise. I am glad I decided to listen to him after all."
"Yes! He would beat you sorely if you got out of line!"
"Yes he would. Speaking of perfection. Another man, as wise as Ilim I overheard speaking with a man who had a problem believing in that distant future of glory. His name is Parso. I never forgot it because it put things into perfect focus. He said that the present world is like a phoenix rising from the ash. Everything that came before is new and unknown in each judgment age. We can start over and perhaps things will be slightly better than before. Things will be different. Maybe we will all finally be lifted spiritually as we enter another phase of what will be considered an odd and terrifying event in history to the unprepared. Centuries from today all humankind will enter a glorious Red World, the Paradise that was lost, the Perfect Place spoken of in the last book of the Holy Aishanna. Some men, ignorant of what Paradise means claim they would be bored in such a place. That they would rather grow old and die, but what man can pick the time and manner of his death when that death approaches? This speaks to the ignorance of a finite mind, an uncomprehending mind and we may forgive the man who only lives to be eighty or one-hundred-forty for this error. What God promises, the Paradise, it is not just the apex of all that is happiness and perfection in mortal life but it is also, to the imperfect man who is perceptive, an undiscovered country."
They talked of many things until the dawn; the little things and the greatness in those little things and the shared history of a loving and stern father who brought them up to the heights they walked now, though he himself now slept in death. The soft eyes of the milky moons had ridden the sky all the while and now that the moments before the dawn had arrived, the moons were disappearing in a womb of soft blue, violet and pink. And Elitaph shined like a sapphire set in a kingly diadem, whilst her consort Io shined beside her like a tiny pinpoint of star rock.
And Rapheth prayed with his queen.
"We give thanks for all these things. For the little things, for the grand things, for all things we give thanks. Ellah Kaifah." he said.
“Ellah Kaifah,” she said.
The king lists were found. All of the kings that reigned during the Veil of Time or, The Great Age were found and recorded and the lineages traced with accuracy down from the first Red King by the hand of God of the Second Dawn of the Reshaim, to King Rapheth. So the second fulfillment of the prophecies had come true. And there was peace in the land and it began to prosper greatly while he reigned but because of the son of Turok who harried the kingdom, the peace was not complete. All his feats and acts of mightiness were written down in the Book of the Kings. And the queen's acts were also written down. And after the prophet Ilim had gone the way of his forefathers the king appointed Zarhaz as High Priest and he rebuilt the fallen city of Assenna and consecrated it to Airend-Ur and in it built the great temple and he was making sacrificial smoke upon it all the days of his life before Airend-Ur. And Hybron continued to dwell in peace and security and they prospered, everyone under his own roof, all the days of King Rapheth.
-The Fourth Book of the Kings 19:39, Translations of the Holy Aishanna
The End
GLOSSARY
Lands - kingdoms, cities, towns, land features, constellations
A
Aldeberg - Named after the castle fortress of the same name. A major city and royal seat of Dyrland.
Assenna - an ancient city now in ruins, once the capital of Hybron and the seat of power of the Red Kings and famed for its great beauty. The Decoration was another name for it. Assenna was the most beautiful city in the world and the most technologically advanced for its time. It was destroyed by fire. Fires from its destruction still exist in the form of the Eternal Fires, a garbage heap outside the city of Jhis where garbage and the bodies of criminals are thrown.
Asserak - A city in southern Jura.
B
Beth-Ayin – A town south of Jhis, near the southern coastal border of Hybron.
Black River - A major river that runs east west through Dyrland.
Blue Frost Forest - A forest that spans eastern Dyrland and western Icyt. At times in the winter the snow and frost turns blue.
Bytir (little place) – A small fishing village in Egi.
C
Chialis (Mars) - The planet these events take place on. In the deep past before Earth was populated.
Corela - The most powerful and influential hill town in Pallinona.
D
Dakanar Sea – The sea off the coast of Jura leading to the South Ocean from the south.
Desert - The deserts on Chialis are usually separated into two kinds: the high desert and the deep desert, also called the open desert. The high desert is characterized by hard features of desert plant life such as cactus, sand and dirt, also rocks and sharp, high rock formations and mountains. Animals
also live in the high desert such as lions, foxes, scorpions, snakes, lizards and other animal life used to the desert. The deep desert is nothing but waves of sand. They are often seen as secondary oceans as there is nothing but high and deep waves of sand. Only the nomadic peoples traverse these "oceans" and a few animals will venture into the deep desert like side winders, giki-serpents and firebugs. It is said a man can drown in the deep desert and never be found, for sinking into and being lost in the engulfing sands.
Dyrland - A kingdom in the south of the Great Ridge nestled in dark forests. It is ruled by a king, though tenuously. The southern part of the land where tribal ways and tribal law and the word of the chieftains still holds sway. There is friction between the north, heavily influenced by a land just north of Dyrland, Dach, ruled by the powerful Merov family and the south. The Merovs originated from and control the kingdom of Innovech. The royal seat of Dyrland is Aldeberg. The main language spoken there is Dyrlandish, its many dialects, and some know Alhar.
E
Efoso – A city in the kingdom of Funda, on the South Lands continent.
Egi - A land west of Hybron ruled by a vassal king. Its capital is the rocky, mountainous city of Egium. The characteristic landscapes are desert lands – high, rocky, mountainous deserts. The cities and villages were built mostly along the banks of the river or near the river where the ground is fertile. All other places in this land is high desert (mountainous) land.
Elitaph - The blue morning and evening star seen in Chialis's horizon. It is an important star in navigation for sea-farers on the planet. It is actually the planet Earth. It also has religious significance related to the Red Kings. Often referred to as the blue evening star, morning star, the Sapphire or Sea Star.
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