Emblems of Power

by C L Patterson

  “I will introduce you,” she mouthed and then stepped forward. She was quiet, but only for a moment. Kosai looked around camp. Infants coughed and fussed in their mother’s arms. They were thin and frail, weaker than any beggar or gate prisoner Kosai ever saw. Sand crusted the corners of women’s eyes from tears that had fallen and dried.

  “He is unarmed, and has killed or injured many of your people,” she started. Kosai could see Iserum glaring and reddening in the firelight. “He is known as the Wolf of the Capital barracks. He is Kosai.” The camp murmured with gasps of hushed anger and fright. Some nomads drew swords that were at their sides and started to approach him. Iserum waved them back. “Again, he is unarmed. I brought him hear.”

  “He does not know, does he?” Iserum asked Mearto. Mearto shook her head.

  “He knows only a part of the whole, but your story he has not heard. I could not tell him. I cannot tell him. And until he knows, he is of no use to us.” Iserum nodded and sat back down. The tribesman that started to approach Kosai sheathed their weapons and sat in their respective circles. Kosai and Mearto sat down again with Iserum.

  “Kosai, you are brave to come here,” Iserum said. “Your purpose in the past has been muddled, and even as we speak, you are being betrayed by the Capital you serve. I am sure you know now that the routes are being betrayed. But they are not being betrayed by my people within your walls. This is the part you must understand. This is the part that I could not tell your Captain because it is so unbelievable. But first I must explain our predicament.”

  “You met the Captain?” Kosai asked, shocked.

  “Yes, I will explain. Some of us, like Mearto and other teachers she works with, had an intimate understanding of the Faye. Few of us were Awoken secretly by her, and she has taught us many things. Deep within the desert, we have made springs and many an oasis. Those of us that were Awoken channeled the Faye to create Living Earth. Our gardens were plentiful and beautiful and we traded amongst ourselves. We grew prosperous and other tribes joined ours. Some did not and stayed to ambushing caravans, hating the cities around them. Those were the nomads that you defended against and I do not hold you for your actions against them.

  “Two months ago, our Conduits began to disappear and were found later dead and dried, as if all the blood was taken from them. Not soon after, our Living Earth became black. When we told Mearto of our trouble, she told us that the Dark One was taking the life out of our gardens. We tried to repair them and attempted to protect our Conduits but to no avail. The Dark One hunted each of them down and killed them. Now we are starving and must take to thievery and murder to survive.”

  “Why not move to Linnouse?” Kosai asked. “There is work there, and plenty of food.” Iserum shook his head.

  “The mines in Linnouse, though plentiful with gold, and the pay in bread, are dangerous. People talk about the beauty and bounty that is found there, but not too many talk about the dead that are trapped in the mines. Not too many talk of the people who come out with broken backs and lungs filled with dirt and grime. Not too many talk about the children who wait day after day to go into the mines as soon as another dies. No. The mines are plentiful with gold, but I will not subjugate my people to death in the ground. We have been living off of what little we can get from caravans and hunting. But it is not enough.”

  “So are we to give what food we have to you and your tribe while people within our own walls starve?” Kosai challenged. Mearto sighed and lowered her head.

  “I can understand your frustration, but there is more to this story still,” Iserum said calmly. “As our people continued to starve and die in their sleep, a man came to us, unarmed as you are, with a proposition. He gave us route information and told us that our reward would be whatever we could take from the caravans, as well as enough food to last us the month if we succeeded. I took my hunters and we went to the place as he directed, not far from here. Your Captain was there and brought down a dune that we stood on. Single handedly, he forced us to surrender. Defeated, your Captain inquired of me how I knew where the caravan would go. I told him to look within his own walls.”

  “Who was the man that told you of the routes?” Kosai leaned in close, his eyes focused on Iserum.

  “He was not a tall man, and walked weakly. He seemed older, almost too old for his age. He would not give a name, but Mearto believes she knows him, and by the look on your face, you know him as well.”

  “The Seer,” Kosai said coldly, he looked over at Mearto and she nodded.

  “That is why I cannot and do not trust him,” she said. Kosai stared at the fire, thinking back to Mearto’s private meeting with the syndicate groups, giving them the route information freely. He thought about how the syndicate contracted a private delivery with the government caravan. The pieces were not fitting together.

  “Why did you betray our routes to the syndicate?” Kosai asked, looking up at Mearto. “And maybe the Seer did bribe this tribe, but what about all the other attacks? And what does the syndicate have to do with anything anyway?”

  “The syndicate group that I visit knows the troubles these people face,” Mearto said to Kosai. “I have gone on their caravans before as a passenger and stopped here for the night to relate the same story to you and-”

  “They could be using you,” Kosai interrupted and glared at her. “And they could easily be betraying the routes! Tell me straight, here and now, why you told them what you did.”

  “Protection,” she said. “Tomorrow they are renouncing their association with the syndicate. They have already been approved for a transit license and will be hiring some of the Capital Guard to assist them as well as us in making sure these people are fed until we can, you can, destroy the Dark One.”

  “But if they start their own firm, the Syndicate will be sure to run them out or kill them. It has been tried in the past and has failed.”

  “The point isn’t to make money,” Iserum said. “The point is to buy you time to go through your own Awakening so that you can kill the Dark One. Once he is destroyed, we will be able to feed ourselves. If we cannot, our tribe will and must raid the caravans and we will allow ourselves to be contracted by whomever, or whatever promises us food.”

  “This is why you must live, and this is why you must kill the Dark One and soon,” Mearto said. Kosai looked at her, and then back to Iserum. He looked at the syndicate tattoo on his neck.

  “What affiliation did you have with the syndicate?”

  “Before the Dark One destroyed our Living Earth, I was a guide of the syndicate. They paid well and I was able to take portions of grain, seed, and other goods. I left their service when my people began to die and I was attacked by my own people.”

  “And how did you and Mearto originally meet?”

  “Years ago, one of my children began to grow things out of the desert, simple things like flowers and saplings. It wasn’t long after that when Mearto showed up and Awoke our child and taught her how to make Living Earth. The Dark One killed her last month.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” Kosai said mournfully. He had other questions to ask but thought it was inappropriate considering the loss that Iserum suffered. Mearto, seeming to know his question, broke the silence.

  “Another responsibility I have within the school is to find those that show promise, or are naturally attune to the Faye. I find those individual by asking around for those who might be mentally disturbed; people who say they have seen their children do things that seem impossible, for example. I go to hospitals, apothecaries, and alchemists as main sources of information. A caravan, a while back, came across a patch of living earth. The caravan drivers and guards didn’t know it at the time. There were small fruit trees bearing fruit, grasses and soft, brown soil, but there was no water. I looked into it, realized it was living earth and found the nomads soon after. I Awakened those with promise, and the nomadic attacks decreased significantly after that.”

  Kosai nod
ded in satisfaction. He was still concerned about why the syndicate members did not tell Mearto about their plans to form their own faction while he and the Captain were present. If there was going to be a break off from the syndicate, they would not succeed. It had been tried, Kosai knew, many times with complete failure and bankruptcy. The Three Brothers were too tactical with their assets and were able to steal contracts by providing better goods at lower prices. The only reason, then, was as Iserum said, to buy Kosai time to defeat the Dark One before the tribe had to resort to ambushing caravans.

  “The Three Brothers is preparing for something as well,” Mearto continued. “Whether it is an uprising, or a food shortage, or what, we aren’t sure. We are also unsettled about the fact that they are able to see a disaster coming. I suspect they are the ones behind it.”

  “You are wrong,” Iserum said. “They are just intelligent people. The situation in Noiknaer is not improving, especially with your Seer betraying you. When people go hungry, they fight, just as we will if Kosai fails. The Three Brothers is not behind the revolt, but see signs of trouble brewing and are taking proper precautions.” He smiled. “I may have learned a few things while I was in their service.”

  “Your words are comforting,” Mearto said. Dawn was approaching and the night was beginning to fade into day. “We must return to our city. Rest assured that we will prepare Kosai, and he will kill the Dark One. Give him time.” Iserum stood, bowed slightly to Mearto and nodded to Kosai.

  “Our faith is in you Kosai, do not fail us,” Iserum said as he and Mearto began to walk back to the city. The trip back to Noiknaer was done at brisk walk.

  “You’ve known this whole time that the Seer was the one betraying the routes, haven’t you?” Kosai asked.

  “The Seer is cunning and manipulative. I’ve assumed he was behind it, but not until recently were those assumptions validated. But I still don’t know why. How would he benefit? What is his motive? The Three Brothers has nothing to do with the betrayed routes. There is only one other group in Noiknaer that holds interests in government caravans.” Kosai looked down at the ground and then back at the city, it soft amber glow disappearing as the sky grew brighter.

  “I can think of three: your school, the Barracks, and the Council,” Kosai said.

  “Yes, but which one would like to see the caravans fail?”

  Kosai was silent again, thinking about the Barracks and the people he worked with. Each member of the escort had a personal interest in protecting the caravan, whether if it was for the wages, or seeing people, their families fed. Besides that, the Captain was the only one in the Guard who knew what the caravan routes were. His father had lectured him many times on the importance of protecting caravans.

  “Is there any way that the school or the Seer would benefit from the ambushed caravans?”

  “No. Not unless someone was paying them. The school is self-sustaining. We have fruit, fresh water, and Living Earth in the Oasis.” Mearto was silent again. Kosai looked at the city. Some of the government caravans were leaving, the suon pulling the wagons across the cool sand.

  “So that leaves the Council. But why would the council betray its own routes? That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I’m not sure. It wasn’t until yesterday that I figured the Council was with the Seer in betraying the routes. If you can, get back in touch with your Captain and tell him what we have discovered. Perhaps he can find out why. That will give us time to focus on your Awakening.”

  Once back at the city, Kosai went in search of the Captain. It wasn’t until mid morning that Kosai found him, still sitting in the same place, dressed like a beggar with his metal pan in front of him. The sweat and morning sun made him smell even more like moldy and fermented sewage. Kosai sat next to him, trying not to breathe the repugnant aroma.

  Kosai gave his report about the Seer and the Council, about the nomads and the Living Earth, how the Dark One was depleting their resources, how Iserum had met with the Captain, and what he meant when he said to search within the walls of the city. Finally, he related Mearto’s meeting at the small syndicate office and their plans to start their own transport company to buy Kosai time to prepare in defeating the Dark One.

  “Is that all?” the Captain asked, a tone of disgust in his voice.

  “Not yet. There is another prophesy that the Seer released. He Saw me, with another they named as the Tormentor, standing against the School. They are going to tolerate me until I am able to kill the Dark One, but after that… I don’t know.” Kosai felt real near death fear for the first time when the Dark One nearly killed him. That same numbing, paralyzing feeling tingled in his gut and began to spread throughout his body like venom.

  “I see,” the Captain said. He grabbed his pan, stood and looked at Kosai. He didn’t say anything for a short time, but stared at him. He placed his grimy hand on Kosai’s cheek. “You are my only son but you are also my best student and newest lieutenant. I will always be first and foremost, your father, secondly your commanding officer. As both, I must ask, do you feel that your life is in immediate danger from anyone at the school?”

  “No sir. I believe they won’t act until the Dark One is defeated.” The Captain nodded and removed his hand and looked down at the ground and then at his son.

  “Do you believe the Seer’s prophecies about you defeating the Dark One? Do you have any other evidence to suggest that you are the one to kill the Dark One?”

  Kosai placed his hand on his side and felt the book tucked under his shirt. The book told him not to reveal it to anyone. Kosai thought about what the Captain might say if he was shown the book. Was the book planted by the Seer to feed false information? Could the book be trusted? How do we now it is telling the truth?

  “Do I trust the book?” It could be that the book was lying to him to keep him at the school, but Kosai had no evidence to prove that either.

  “I haven’t found anything, besides what the Seer says, that proves that I am to kill the Dark One. I also haven’t found anything to say that I am not. We do know that I injured him, which is more than anyone else can say. Based on that event alone, I do believe that it falls to me to destroy the Dark One. I will be doing some more research to find out why.” The Captain nodded in agreement.

  “Remember, your mission at the school is to find the betrayer of the caravan routes. As soon a case is built up, and the charges carried out, your assignment at the school will be completed.” The Captain paused again and scratched his head. “You have until then to prove to me that you and only you can kill the Dark One. If I belive that you are the only one to defeat this enemy, I will have you instructed by one of their teachers, in the Barracks, with me being present. It could be that you are going to destroy the school because the teachers are just as well tied to the betrayal as the Seer and your investigation could bring a reformation and that could be why they want you dead -- you are threatening their livelihood.

  “I will not say that I would not give you an assignment where your safety was assured, but I will say that I would not give you an assignment where death was certain. When your assignment is complete, I will have you close by me. I want to watch out for you and protect you, at least until the dust settles. My gut tells me that the betrayal is far more reaching than destroyed caravans. We have some eyes on the Council, and I have been receiving reports about their meetings every evening, either leaving messages on my desk, or in person. I will focus more of my attention there.” The Captain sighed, looked off in the distance and shook his head. “Keep a close eye on the Seer. Beyond that, there isn’t much more you can do. I need to find out why the Council is behind the betrayal and then remove them from power. It will take some time. Once the charges have been placed, and the evidence gathered, the Seer and the Council will pay for their crimes. Hanging I think is the punishment for treason. Until I call for you again, study hard.” The Captain clapped Kosai on the shoulder, smiled and walked towards the Barracks.

/>   Back at the school, Kosai rubbed his eyes from exhaustion. Each minute now, was more precious than the last. Kosai’s time to complete his Awakening was just as long as the new transport group would be able to survive. Each day, each hour that he failed at the Awakening, each moment he spent asleep or resting, was another moment wasted. Each moment wasted, was another caravan that didn’t arrive, which meant no food, and more people would die of starvation.

  “Today,” Kosai said to himself as he walked towards Mearto’s office, “no matter what.” He knocked on her door and she told him to enter. Mearto was reading a book on her desk and taking notes. “You had a long night Kosai. Go get some rest and we will resume this evening.”

  “No. I don’t care how tired I am. I can do this. I want to do this. I want to complete my Awakening today.”

  “Kosai,” Mearto was shaking her head. “You could easily die in that state. Your mind isn’t strong enough yet.”

  “I have been nearly killed, beaten to the point where all I could do was lay down and hope that the pain would subside. I have walked miles in the desert in full dress, with energy enough to put one foot in front of the other, and cross swords with nomads in the same day. I am well aware of what I am going to face, and the only way to conquer it is to go again, and again, and again, until I complete it. You saved me once, you can save me again.”

  “I can’t afford to lose you,” she scolded.

  “You won’t. Today, I will succeed, no matter what.” Mearto stood and walked around her desk and looked at him in the eye for several moments.

  “You’re right. I won’t lose you if you do exactly what I say,” she said. She began to speak the words of the Awakening.

  CHAPTER 14