The Ancient Ones (The Legacy Trilogy Book 3) (37 page)

‘The Heavenly City is not far from here,’ Phoenix announced, ‘but this is an Eudan city now; they call it Bodhi; I have no idea what such a primitive word could mean. Our people have all been murdered or made slaves. Gatherings of Koians are forbidden. We must split up and travel independently, posing as slaves on errands. We have the documents prepared.’ One of the other women already had handfuls of papers readied in her hands. ‘But you and your people are too obvious,’ she added, looking to the pale Amandians. ‘We have prepared disguises … as beggars and vagrants.’ At that, her companions pulled some sack-like clothing from their satchels, ready for the Amandians to wear. ‘We will apply dirt to your faces to complete the deception,’ she said in all seriousness.

Leopold scoffed aloud, attracting a venomous glare from the young woman, but thankfully, this time, the magician came to his support.

‘We have no time for that,’ Lord Samuel said with a dismissive wave of his hand. ‘I will use my magic. We will appear to be Eudans to their eyes, without all this fussing about.’ He wiggled his finger disdainfully at the sorry-looking disguises. ‘I will not suffer scraping about on the street all day to pass by their guards.’

Phoenix took his statement for granted. ‘Then do not spend your magic on us,’ Phoenix said. ‘We will not submit to such evils upon us. We will go as we are. The Eudans will not allow their own women into the palace, but slaves are permitted for entertainment. You can present us as gifts for Pradmet. They are barbarians. They treat their own women like dogs, and deceive them into believing they are content as such. They treat their slaves even worse.’

‘Bind our hands and string us together,’ Lady Wind instructed.

‘Yes, it is even better than our first plan,’ Phoenix admitted, content as her companions laced each other together with rope produced from a satchel.

Why the women brought rope, Leopold could not guess, and wondered what else they carried, hidden away in the neat little bags they kept strung over their shoulders.

‘We are stronger as a group,’ Phoenix added. ‘Leave the straw-haired woman likewise untouched by your spells. Tie her with us. She will make an appealing gift—an oddity.’

Jessicah could tell they were talking about her, but she looked confused as to what they were saying.

‘It is a good idea,’ another of the Koian women agreed. Leopold had forgotten her name, but given her height she may have been Twilight. ‘The best and rarest of slaves are often taken directly to the palace for the entertainment of the Eudan nobles. It is good.’

Samuel did not object, and so it was decided.

‘Just follow their lead,’ Leopold told Jessicah. ‘Act like a slave and don’t say anything.’

The women tied Jessicah’s hands, attaching her to the middle of their number. The final woman to be fastened, Arrow, adeptly tied her own knots and pulled her bindings tight with her teeth. Jessicah stood out starkly amongst the women, with her fair hair, pale skin and long Turian dress.

‘Let me speak for us,’ Lady Wind said. ‘I aided their ambassadors in our court for many years before their treachery. I know their protocols.’

‘There is no need, Lady,’ Samuel responded. ‘I will take care of any obstacles we may meet. Protocols will not be required. Keep your papers tucked away. Here,’ he said, handing Leopold the end of the women’s rope. ‘Hold onto this. Tow it gently, lest you want ten angry women behind you.’ He leaned closer. ‘And I’ll give you a hint because I know how prone you are to ignoring my advice ... you don’t.’ They followed the highway to the south along the coast. As promised, Samuel’s magic kept them from appearing anything out of the ordinary.

The Eudan occupiers were a different race to the Koians. Their skin ranged from a light brown to coal black and they did not share the fine features of the Koians. They more closely resembled Amandians in everything apart from their colour.

Eudan guards roamed the road on horseback, watching the party each time they passed, making note of the line of tied women in particular. Some of them called to their fellows or barked questions at Leopold’s party, and Leopold was surprised when he understood them. As before, he could feel it was a new language in his ear, but Samuel’s magic let him comprehend every word they said, and he felt sure that if he spoke, his Turian tongue would sprout Eudan words just as easily.

Many of the Eudan men went shirtless, with sandals and a light skirt common. The soldiers wore similar skirts, with short, flat-ended swords slapping at their hips. To Leopold it seemed incongruous that a man could wield a sword yet wear no shirt, but he supposed it was that or put up with the heat. He would fling away half his own clothing if he could.

They saw only the occasional Eudan woman. Unlike their men, the women wore plenty, dressed in brightly coloured wrap-around dresses. Many of them donned an abundance of facial jewellery; multiple rings in their ears and noses, fine chains hung between them.

Eudan boys and girls ran and played in the open, staring at their group and laughing, pointing to Jessicah with excitement and following them down the road while singing. Leopold almost wished he could not understand their bloodthirsty lyrics. From the associated gestures and motions, the children fully understood what they meant.

They saw no Koian children. Presumably they were all locked away or kept elsewhere out of sight.

Koian slaves worked the fields, watched over by their captors. The occasional slave passed them on the road, pulled along by Eudan masters.

Few Koians travelled freely. Those that did kept their eyes down and did not dare utter a whisper as they passed, only glancing sideways at what must resemble more slaves caught by Eudan oppressors.

Jessicah attracted direct stares from everyone. Her white skin and foreign dress proved too strange to ignore for Eudan overlords and Koian slaves alike.

Whenever soldiers shouted at them, demanding to know who they were and where they were going, Samuel would send them away with a wave of his hand. Leopold was amazed he was now using his magic freely, not hoarding it away and making their life difficult. Otherwise, they would be trying to talk their way out of every such encounter. It would have taken them forever to reach their goal.

****

The edge of The Heavenly City was no reflection of its name, looking sullen and grey.

A checkpoint marked the entrance. Samuel paused briefly until the guards stepped aside and the group was given free passage to enter.

It seemed as if their luck was holding, that they would continue uninterrupted to the palace, until a gruff Eudan voice shouted above the city noise. Merchants hid behind their stalls; the street emptied as common folk fled. Leopold felt a nervous lump congeal in his throat.

‘Hold!’ the caller demanded, striding quickly to catch up.

‘It is a sorcerer!’ Phoenix hissed, peeping around enough to see, keeping her eyes hidden.

‘Before the invasion, we would not allow them to set foot on our lands,’ Lady Wind whispered to Samuel as the thin man approached. ‘Be careful. I cannot guess what they can do.’

‘Never mind,’ Samuel said and waited without concern.

The sorcerer was shirtless and his weighty, black skirt hung down in heavy strips to the ground, just above his sandalled toes. His head was shaven bald and his forehead was tattooed with an unknown script in a thick ruby ink. A silver ring pierced his nasal septum. A scarlet sash, adorned with more inky incomprehensible symbols hung over his left shoulder, down past the opposite hip.

‘Where are you going? Who are you?’ the man barked.

Samuel approached him. ‘Fortunate tidings to you, oh wondrous master. We come now from the Village of Swans, and we bring gifts for Pradmet.’ He curled his hand about and bowed deeply as he spoke, as was the Eudan way, much deeper than the Koian custom.

The response pleased the sorcerer. ‘Where did you get that white one?’ he asked, pointing sharply to Jessicah.

‘A freak we found in the south,’ Samuel told him. ‘She has lost the pigment in her skin, cast out from her village and family. She is wild and uneducated, living with pigs until we discovered her. We are taking her to the slave market. Perhaps someone would pay something for such a beast; although she bites and makes a beastly mess. Perhaps you would like to make a bid?’

The sorcerer scrutinised Jessicah intensely. ‘I have no use for her. Go on.’ He departed without awaiting a response, as if having somewhere else he urgently needed to be.

‘Pigs!’ Jessicah snorted in disgust once the man was out of earshot.

Leopold laughed, but Lord Samuel was not likewise amused.

‘I see Rei is keeping you abreast of the conversation,’ the magician noted to Jessicah. ‘I’m glad she is not keeping you entirely in the dark.’

It stopped Leopold’s mirth. He looked to see if Captain Orrell had overheard, but Samuel had used the Old Tongue to mask his words.

Jessicah looked set to reply, caught halfway between frustration and bewilderment. Unsure of how to respond, she said nothing.

‘Lord Samuel,’ Lady Wind asked, not having overheard, ‘how is it you are familiar with Eudan greetings?’

‘I told the man what he was expecting to hear, showed him what he expected to see,’ was the magician’s response.

‘Was that what all their sorcerers look like?’ Leopold asked.

‘It is,’ Phoenix replied from behind. ‘They each dress in that manner. It is difficult to tell one from the other, much like you pale northern ghosts.’

Samuel grunted with displeasure and Leopold realised he was liking the moody Koian woman more and more all the time.

‘He was a magician of little consequence,’ Samuel added, ‘but still I could not subvert his mind to let us pass. It was strangely difficult just to glean his most superficial thoughts.’

‘Perhaps you are getting rusty in your old age, Magician,’ Leopold suggested.

‘Watch your tongue, boy!’ Samuel retorted with a foul glance. ‘Do not forget our pact so easily. Just because you are growing comfortable with your role of Emperor does not mean you are too precious to haul over my knee and spank.’ Leopold could do nothing but accept the scolding and once done, the magician’s tone changed altogether, full of contemplation. ‘It is his bracelet I am worried about. Did you see it?’

Leopold shook his head.

‘All sorcerers wear them,’ Phoenix noted, listening in.

Samuel accepted the information with a nod. ‘It is a relic from the time of the Ancients. I have not seen its kind before. Curious. A defensive device perhaps, or a tool for communication. I will have to do something about that.’

Leopold nodded, as if he understood what the magician was implying.

They moved along cautiously, scanning the crowds for danger. The hubbub that filled the air was unintelligible—as with any crowd—but the occasional word flew free into Leopold’s ear; individual syllables bereft of context.

It made him wonder how they appeared, disguised as Eudans. Looking at his own palm, the skin was unchanged. He had an urge to find a mirror.

They continued along the hectic streets, pushing through the masses until they came to be outside a large stadium. A commotion was issuing from inside.

‘Slavers,’ Phoenix mentioned, looking fierce. ‘The auction has just begun.’

They passed by the cacophony at the gates, bustled from every direction, and kept on towards the palace.

There was no sign of Pradmet’s abode from where they stood. It was not a mighty construction such as the palace of Cintar. Its grounds were large, but the Koians kept their buildings to two or three storeys at most, with an occasional pagoda rising four or five storeys. Without magic to aid them, the Koians had never developed the same architectural accomplishments as the Amandians. Added to that, the years of warring and a lack of interest in upkeep on the part of the Eudans had resulted in much of the beauty of the city being destroyed.

A cough sounded from one of the Koian women, alerting them, and Leopold looked ahead. Three olive-skinned Koian men stood in the middle of the street, narrow-eyed, bare chested and rippling with muscles. They were not slaves, for they stood confidently, dominantly, observing the passing crowd with suspicion. Behind them, two sorcerers lingered, heads shaved and tattooed, with identical dress to the first one they had seen. Matching bracelets adorned their wrists.

‘Stay calm, Leopold,’ Samuel whispered, slowing to be beside him. ‘No need to stare,’ and Leopold immediately averted his eyes, snapping his gaze to the ground.

One of the Koians tracked their approach, watching them with ferociousness on his face—not at all calm like his two companions.

Thankfully, they passed unhindered and turned right along the next street, leaving the intersection and its guardians behind.

‘What was that all about?’ Leopold asked with relief.

‘Koian warriors,’ Samuel said. ‘Very fast and powerful fighters.’

‘Traitors!’ hissed Lady Wind.

‘They keep watch for their masters,’ Phoenix said, and spat onto the dirty street. ‘The worthless dogs are not worthy of our pity. See how fat and spoiled they have become!’

‘And the sorcerers, Samuel. Did you see them? They had bracelets, too!’

‘Yes, Leopold. I saw. Calm down.’

They came to a high, white wall and followed its mazelike twistings along a narrow street. The alley opened up to an open square that marked the palace entrance. A bridge crossed a narrow canal dug into the street. A wide gateway waited across it, topped with decorative red woodwork.

Leopold thought there should be more guards, but only a handful manned the gate. A few small groups milled about idly across the square.

Set in the middle of the area was the petrified husk of a beast, nailed to a pole—a monster, captured and killed, a demonstration to the people that Pradmet was keeping them safe. Leopold had seen its kind before: a brutish thing, furred and horned. Many had roamed the streets of Cintar.

‘We’re here,’ Orrell pointed out.

They crossed the short bridge and Samuel bade them wait while he approached a shaded pavilion and spoke to a guard. The magician gestured towards them, then the soldier called aloud. There was an echoing clank and the great gates parted. Hinges moaned as the doors scraped inwards.