Chapter 10
1789 Words
10
We rounded up our hadabs and continued on our journey. An hour later we crested a sand dune some hundred feet high and looked down on a valley. Below us was a large bowl-shaped depression, and in the center stood a walled city of dried mud. The yellow tint of the thirty-foot thick walls was like a beacon in the empty desert. Beyond the walls lay a maze of single-floor houses that were packed tightly together. Narrow streets, placed like an afterthought among the hodgepodge of houses, wound their way through the houses to the center of the city.
In the middle of the metropolis where all roads met there arose an acropolis. The vertical climb rose some two hundred feet above the desert floor and its steep slopes were speckled with rocks and worn brick walls. The buildings scattered along the flat top were made of carved stone rather than sun-baked mud. The grandest of the buildings, the one at the rear farthest from the road up to the hilltop, was a palace of spiraled towers at its four corners and a large archway that led into its confines.
I nodded at the acropolis. "Are the priests compensating for something?"
"That is the High City, the ancient dwelling of the former ruler of the city and their water goddess, Alihat Dhahabia," Xander told me.
I arched an eyebrow. "You think she's still around?"
He shook his head. "I have never heard of anyone meeting her, but we must hurry."
A single narrow gate was the only entrance into the walled city. We traveled down the slope and were a hundred yards from the entrance when a contingent of riders on hadabs passed out of the gate. They galloped in our direction.
Xander stopped us and allowed the riders to meet us some seventy yards from the finish. The men were dressed in white robes that flowed over their saddles. Each clutched a spear in one hand with white tips that glistened in the bright sunlight.
Hoods covered their faces, but the leader drew back their hood and revealed himself to be a young man of twenty-five with tanned skin. He looked us over before his gaze settled on Xander. "You are Lord Xander, are you not?"
Xander nodded. "I am, and you are the guards of the city and its temple. What brought you out beyond the boundaries of the walls?"
The man smiled. "You did, Your Lordship. Those who traveled with you alerted us to an attack, and we were ordered to come to your rescue. I am Captain Benedictus, and these-" he gestured to the other soldiers who removed their hoods, "-are my men."
My dragon lord chuckled. "You have saddled your beasts for nothing, but you may use them to find the bodies of those who attacked us. They lie a few miles back on the road."
The leader of the guards pursed his lips. "I see. We will investigate this matter at once." He glanced over his shoulder at his men. "Follow me."
The troop galloped in the direction we had come. Spiros looked to Xander. "So it seems we were the targets after all."
Xander nodded. "Yes. Someone did not wish for us to enter the city, and even in its walls we must keep our guard up. Come."
Xander led us across the valley to the gate. The entrance had no doors, but a wrought-iron gate hung from the top of the archway. A single slice of a thick rope would have brought it down and sealed the city inside a nearly-impenetrable defense. The guards in robes who stood on either side of the arch, however, reminded visitors and citizens alike that that defense wasn't nearly impenetrable enough.
We rode into the central square, an open area that looked more like a crooked hexagon than any square I'd ever seen. The corners of houses jutted into its domain, and against every available wall stood a stall. The sellers called out in loud, clear voices advertisements for cheap wares and one-of-a-kind gifts. Hordes of buyers mingled between the stalls. The visitors gaped at the items up for sale. The citizens sneered.
On the left and down a side street stood a long, low building. The scent of hadab excrement wafted over to me, and I saw a few of the animals go inside the wide barn doors that were positioned in the center-side of the building. A few groups of men gathered against the long wall of the hadab stables. They watched us with narrowed eyes.
I shrank in my saddle as more sullen gazes fell on us. "Is this a festival or a funeral?"
"The mood is rather dire," Spiros agreed.
"All the more that we should hurry to the temple to find what is the matter," Xander suggested.
Xander led us through the masses. My attention was caught by one particularly large stall. The front had a table with wound scrolls. Behind the table were four short desks with angled tops. Hunched over the tops were four men in white robes. They each held a quill and wrote on one scroll while they referenced another.
I tugged on his sleeve and nodded at the stall. "What are they doing there?"
"Those are scribes who sell copies of the books in the library," Xander told me.
I frowned and turned to Tillit. "You said they got away with the library."
He nodded. "So they did, but that was a couple thousand years ago. The priests made their own library and now run a tidy business selling what they got."
A weathered face was shoved into mine. "Pretty trinkets for a pretty lady!" he shouted as he held up a deep box piled with jewels. They sparkled in the sunlight. "Won't the pretty lady buy some trinkets to celebrate the Jame?"
Tillit slipped between us and wiggled his fingers as his eyes eagerly looked over the jewels. "My my, what have we here?" He picked up a red jewel as beautiful as any ruby and examined the merchandise. The sus laughed and tossed it back onto the box. "I could make better forgeries sitting in the hull of a ship with only a whittle knife and a block of wood."
The seller tucked the box under his arm and glared at Tillit. "I sell only the best-"
"In terrible fakes," Tillit finished.
"How do you know they're fakes?" I asked him as the seller fumed in front of us.
"Let me show you." Tillit plucked the ruby-like jewel from the box.
"Hey!" the seller yelped as he lunged for the jewel.
Tillit stepped to one side and held out his foot. The man tripped and fell face-first into the dust. The box clattered to the ground face-up beside him.
"You hold the jewel like this-" he held the jewel flat in his palm, "-and do you see the tiny bits of fog inside?"
I leaned forward and nodded. "Yeah. What is it?"
"Glass. Cheap glass, too." He tossed the fake jewel back into the box.
"If your lesson is done-" Darda spoke up a few yards ahead of us. Xander and Spiros were stopped a few feet ahead of her. She glared at Tillit, "-then we must be going."
Tillit offered me his arm and grinned. "Our friends await, My Lady."
I smiled and took his arm. We passed through the market and along the winding road. The path led to the base of the acropolis where we found the road blocked by another pair of robed guards. Close at their backs was a cage occupied by pigeons.
"More guards," Spiros whispered to Xander. My dragon lord nodded, but said nothing.
"And no pilgrims," Tillit added as he glanced over the deserted road. "This place should be packed with people going to the temple."
One of the guards stepped into our path and held up his hand. "Halt!"
We stopped, but Xander stepped forward. "I am Lord Xander of Alexandria, and I demand passage."
The guard looked him over with a derisive sneer on his face. "We were not informed of your coming."
Xander frowned. "I was not aware a lord of the dragons needed to make an appointment to visit the temple. Who told you a warning was needed?"
The guard stood to his full height which fell short of Xander's by half a head. "There's been a lot of trouble lately, but if you are the Lord Xander than you should be able to prove-" Xander slipped forward and, in the same motion, drew Bucephalus from its sheath.
He pressed the blade against the man's throat before the guard could even blink. "Is that proof enough?" Xander asked the guard. The guard swallowed hard and very carefully nodded. Xander stepped back and sheathed his sword. "Now please step aside."
The guard rubbed his neck, but stepped out of our way. We trudged on with our beasts. I glanced over my shoulder. The pair of guards glared at us from their post.
"Violence seems to be the answer to many problems here," Spiros commented.
"And all we are left with are the questions," Xander returned.
I glanced around at the tense faces of my companions. "So there's not usually this many guards?"
Xander shook his head. "No. Much has changed since my last visit here, and I do not believe they are for the better."
We walked up the winding road. I heard a rush of wings and a pigeon flew overhead to the high temple.
"So pigeons can fly in this heat, but dragons can't?" I mused.
"They have feathers to protect their wings," Xander pointed out.
There were no guards to meet us at the top of the acropolis, but Xander pursed his lips as he perused the area. The road led into an open area that was surrounded by the majestic buildings. The largest of them loomed up before us some fifty yards off.
I slid up beside him and nudged his arm. "I know that look. Something's wrong."
He nodded. "The Jame is a celebration of the High City. For days before the festival night pilgrims climb the road to present offerings to the water goddess, Alihat Dhahabia."
I glanced around. "So where are the pilgrims?"
"They are currently barred from the High City," a voice spoke up.
We looked to our left as the familiar figure of Apuleius walked out of one of the smaller buildings. He wore his colorful green robe and walked with a spry gate, but there was a tense smile on his face as he joined us and bowed his head to Xander.
"It is good to see you are safe, My Lord. I had heard your caravan was attacked," he commented.
Xander returned the bow. "It was, but my friends and I defeated them. But what of the Jame? Why have the pilgrims been barred from the High City?"
Apuleius's smile slipped off his face. He half-turned and gestured to the most majestic of the buildings. "If you would follow me then I will explain all."
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