The Habit of the Sorcerer

by J J Moriarty

  There was no doubting the wealth of this Kyrios Nuya, if this was what he travelled in. A fresh soft leather covered the chariot’s seats, and the wood of the chariot was gilded in the corners.

  Kyrios Nuya was the only free man on the chariot, the rest were slaves. His slaves.

  Most were guards. Geldings, they were large former men that carried even larger spears. There were two children, both for serving, and three handmaidens too.

  Kyrios Nuya leaned over and looked Hyzou in the eye.

  “Hello”, he said in Lamyblan.

  “Hello”, Hyzou said, his voice shaky.

  Kyrios Nuya laughed his delight.

  “The boy speaks Lamyblan.” Kyrios Nuya said to his assorted slaves.

  Hyzou stared at the man, unsure what to do or say.

  “Have you ever been to Lamybla?” Kyrios Nuya asked.

  Hyzou shook his head.

  “You will speak aloud when addressed by me”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  “I haven’t been to Lamybla”, Hyzou said.

  “You will address me as the Nobleman I am. All your sentences will end either with sir or My Kyrios”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  So Kyrios isn’t his name. It’s a title. Hyzou thought.

  “Yes sir”, Hyzou said. “Sorry sir.”

  “That’s quite alright. Piquea is a backwards shithole. It does not surprise me that you do not know how to speak with your betters”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  Hyzou said nothing.

  “Come, sit beside me here boy”, Kyrios Nuya said, tapping the bench upon which he reclined.

  The handmaiden that had been lying with him arm-in-arm scurried to her feet, while the guard in front of Kyrios Nuya stood aside. Hyzou took a few steps forward then sat tentatively beside the Kyrios.

  “You look hungry, boy”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  “I am, sir”, Hyzou said, not looking Kyrios Nuya in the eyes.

  Kyrios Nuya clicked his fingers. One of the serving boys went rooting through the luggage in the cart. Pushing aside cloaks and swords, the boy came out with a long package. He undid the wrapping around it and revealed a long sausage. Hyzou’s mouth watered.

  “Do you want some?” Kyrios Nuya asked.

  “Yes sir”, Hyzou said.

  “Take it”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  Hyzou grabbed it before it could be taken back and began taking large bites of the meat. There was more salt than food, and Hyzou’s thirst made it sting, but he swallowed without even chewing. When Hyzou was done, he hiccupped loudly.

  “Tell me boy, what do you think of your tongue? And your balls?” Kyrios Nuya asked.

  The Kyrios looked at them when he said it, again making Hyzou notice how naked he felt.

  “My… My what, sir?” Hyzou asked.

  One of the guards handed Kyrios Nuya a bronze knife.

  “I imagine you like them, don’t you?” Kyrios Nuya asked.

  Hyzou swallowed, unable to speak from the fear.

  “If you want to keep both, you’d better answer correctly to the following question”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  Hyzou stared, open eyed.

  “I want you to tell every official we meet that you were a part of the Piquean Nobility. Can you do that for me?” Kyrios Nuya asked.

  Hyzou answered instantly. “Of course, My Kyrios.”

  Kyrios Nuya laughed. “You’re a smart boy, a shame about your King Imhotep.”

  Hyzou said nothing.

  “You’re in the last batch of slaves taken out. You must have been left behind in the city. Am I right?” Kyrios Nuya asked.

  “I... I think so My Kyrios. You must be sir”, Hyzou said.

  “So you saw my handiwork?” Kyrios Nuya asked.

  Hyzou said nothing. Kyrios Nuya laughed again.

  “King Imhotep is no more. Long live Pharaoh Ganymedes! Ruler by Divine Right of both Lamybla and Piquea”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  He laughed. Hyzou was at a loss.

  “Well boy, toast your new Pharaoh”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  “Long live Pharaoh Ganymedes”, Hyzou whispered.

  Kyrios Nuya laughed.

  “Good boy. And imagine how pleased Pharaoh Ganymedes will be when he hears that I’ve brought just one more of the Nobles of Piquea back to him in chains. We’re going to leave all these carts behind and speed ahead to Lamybla. We’ll be there in just over a week”, Kyrios Nuya said, and he put the knife down.

  The slaves driving the cart heard their master speak, and they whipped their horses into a gallop. Hyzou sat on the bench beside his new master. He didn’t feel comfortable doing so, but he would move when told. He couldn’t help but shiver.

  A number of smaller chariots broke out of the line too and followed them as they sped ahead. Each had two people in them, both heavily armoured.

  “Are you admiring my guard?” Kyrios Nuya said.

  “They, they’re your guard, sir?” Hyzou asked.

  “I own them all. I own you too”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  The Kyrios ran his hand through Hyzou’s hair with a tenderness that made Hyzou feel uncomfortable.

  “What is your name?” Kyrios Nuya asked.

  “Hyzou”, Hyzou said.

  “Hyzou. Hyzou. That sounds like it comes from the east”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  “It might, sir. I don’t know”, Hyzou said.

  “I hear that name and I won’t think you’re a Piquean. You must include where you are from”, Kyrios Nuya said. “What’s your name?”

  “Hyzou of Piquea”, Hyzou said.

  “No, no, no. It won’t do. Name yourself after the part of Piquea you come from. What’s your name?” Kyrios Nuya asked.

  “Hyzou of Nuyin”, Hyzou said.

  Kyrios Nuya smiled.

  “Perfect.”

  Hyzou remained silent.

  “Hyzou of Nuyin. Do you understand what’s happening to you?” Kyrios Nuya asked.

  “I’m a slave”, Hyzou said.

  “And slaves, Hyzou of Nuyin, are already dead.” Kyrios Nuya said.

  “They’re… They’re dead, sir?” Hyzou said.

  Kyrios Nuya took up the dagger from his side and slashed at the face of the guard who stood near him. The guard flinched out of the way, but the blade dug into his shoulder. Blood fell to the floor of the chariot.

  Over his screams, Kyrios Nuya continued to talk.

  “Do you understand now? I could kill each and every person upon this cart, all my slaves. I need not have a cause either. No, so long as I own the slave, their life is mine. Therefore, they are dead. They are kept alive only because I have chosen so”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  Hyzou looked with horror down at the guard who was in floods of tears with the pain. A handmaiden was removing her sleeve to treat the cut. Kyrios Nuya stood.

  “Leave him”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  The slaves leaped to their feet, abandoning the guard who was weeping on the floor of the chariot.

  “This man is worthless to me”, Kyrios Nuya said to Hyzou.

  Hyzou gulped.

  “He has been most disappointing as a guard”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  Kyrios Nuya grabbed the guard by his hair and exposed his neck to the knife that was in his other hand. Hyzou gasped.

  Kyrios Nuya dragged the knife along the guard’s throat, slitting it open. The guard died, in front of Hyzou, without so much as a whimper. The Kyrios lifted the limp body, then threw it over the side of the quickly moving chariot. Fearful glances in any other direction was the only notice any of the other slaves took of the whole occurrence.

  The Kyrios dropped the dagger, then sat back down beside Hyzou.

  “Hyzou, once you understand the right of the strong to take from the weak, you’ll understand what I mean. You are dead, all slaves are”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  Hyzou stared up at Kyrios Nuya. He realised that for the first time since he had awoken among the ash, he was feeling something that wasn’t grief or pain.

  He was feeling fear.

  “My slave
s will bathe you, then you will be dressed”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  He ran his hand through Hyzou’s hair again, then he kissed Hyzou on the lips.

  “You need to look every inch the Noble for me”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  CHAPTER 4

  Hyzou didn’t get any further attention from Kyrios Nuya until they were near Lamybla. On the day Hyzou was taken onto the chariot he was bathed and dressed, then had his hands placed into manacles that were tied to Hyzou’s collar. There he stayed for a whole week, left on a seat on the leather coated bench. Given water and gruel, and ignored.

  That suited Hyzou fine. He’d had quite enough attention from Kyrios Nuya for one lifetime.

  Hyzou kept as quiet as he could. He occasionally screamed in his sleep, and he would be woken by a kick from one of the guards, who told him to be quiet. When that happened the first time, and the Kyrios was woke by the noise, Hyzou thought he was in for some barbaric punishment. But the Kyrios just found Hyzou’s suffering to be funny.

  Sometimes, when Hyzou was left alone to think for any period, thoughts of home would run through his head, and he’d find himself breathing faster and faster. He couldn’t control himself, and waves of heat seemed to overcome his body. Again, one of the geldings would usually smack him, and tell him to be quiet.

  Otherwise, Hyzou stayed silent. He really didn’t want the Kyrios’ attention.

  When, on his ninth day on the chariot, Hyzou awoke to find Kyrios Nuya smiling at him, a sick panic was raised in his stomach. Those cruel eyes, and heavy hair, that look; they chilled Hyzou to the bone.

  Kyrios Nuya walked over and sat on the bench beside him. Placed a large hand on Hyzou’s shoulder. The Kyrios clicked his fingers, and a guard unlocked the manacles from around Hyzou’s arms. He was free to move about. Hyzou just shivered beneath the Kyrios’ touch.

  “Hyzou of Nuyin, let me tell you something interesting”. Kyrios Nuya said.

  “Sir”. Hyzou said quickly.

  “We’ve left the main road to Lamybla”. Kyrios Nuya said.

  Hyzou looked Kyrios Nuya in the face, and didn’t know what to do. The Kyrios seemed to be expecting a response.

  “Have we, sir?” Hyzou asked.

  “Yes. We must enter Lamybla through the Eastern Gate. It’s known to locals as the Slave’s Gate. All the slaves in the city arrive through that gate. Why would all of the Pharaoh’s slaves be brought in by the one gate?”

  Hyzou tried to think of an answer. He rifled through his memories, in the hope that some time he had learned an answer to the question. The Kyrios’ eyes were heavy upon him - they burned into his soul. He couldn’t think of anything, and the more he tried the less he was able to keep hold of his thoughts. He saw his father telling him never to go to the slave markets, that they were a dark place. He saw a Palace slave with an ugly scar across his chest.

  Hyzou began to breathe quicker and quicker. Kyrios Nuya’s presence was so large upon him, Hyzou couldn’t think properly. The panic ran through his mind, his whole body. Hyzou squirmed as he tried to force air into his lungs.

  “Answer the fucking question boy”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  “I DON’T KNOW”, Hyzou screamed, tears forming in his eyes.

  “Gods, you’re pathetic”, Kyrios Nuya said. “You’ll see, we’re no more than a half an hour away, then I’ll show you.”

  “Yes, sir”, Hyzou said.

  “Piquea is the Pharaoh’s now”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  “It is, sir”, Hyzou said.

  Hyzou was holding on to the edge of his seat, hoping he could keep calm.

  “I helped conquer it. How does that feel? To know that I killed all your family. How does that feel?” Kyrios Nuya said.

  “I don’t know, sir”, Hyzou said.

  And it was the truth, Hyzou couldn’t feel anything but blinding fear.

  Kyrios Nuya cackled a cruel laugh.

  “The Pharaoh has a dream. That all the Kheme people will be united in one Empire. Do you know who the Kheme people are?” Kyrios Nuya asked.

  Hyzou’s brain whirred into action. He knew the answer to this one.

  “The tribe of people that live in Piquea, and in Lamybla. Sir”, Hyzou said.

  “And in one other city”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  Hyzou tried to remember the geography his father had taught him.

  “Yobo?” Hyzou asked.

  “Yobo indeed. For a fucking dunce you can be smart sometimes”, Kyrios Nuya said. “Yobo, Lamybla and Piquea are the three Kheme cities. Yobo sits furthest east, a long way from here. But don’t worry, the Pharaoh is working on a plan now, while we speak. He’ll conquer Yobo soon enough. It’ll burn, just as your home did. Then all the Kheme people will learn the truth of the Pharaoh’s divinity. The two wayward children will be brought to Lamybla’s heel.”

  “If you say so, My Kyrios”, Hyzou said.

  Silence fell. Hyzou realised that he was beginning to calm down.

  Hyzou smelled the horrible smell before he saw it. The stench of rot, hanging heavy and overpowering in the air. Hyzou’s face must have crinkled in disgust despite himself, because Kyrios Nuya noticed.

  “Ah, you can smell that? You’ll see them soon enough. It’s along this road that slaves are punished if they break the law”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  Hyzou nodded.

  “Yes sir”, Hyzou said.

  The road was littered with stones, it made the chariot bumpy.

  “What does Nuyin look like today, Hyzou of Nuyin?” Kyrios Nuya asked.

  “I don’t know, sir”, Hyzou said.

  “No doubt it’s nothing but rubble and ash. Wouldn’t you agree?” Nuya asked.

  “I’d imagine so, sir”, Hyzou said.

  “Have you had much thought about where we are going? What do you know about Lamybla?” Kyrios Nuya asked.

  Again, Hyzou tried to think without setting off the panic.

  “Some things, sir”, Hyzou said.

  “What do you know about Lamybla?” Kyrios Nuya asked.

  “It’s ruled by Pharaoh Ganymedes”, Hyzou said.

  “May His Majesty live for ten thousand years”, Kyrios Nuya said. “And what else do you know about Lamybla?”

  “I never knew that we were at war, sir”. Hyzou said.

  Kyrios Nuya laughed aloud.

  “Yes, that was how Pharaoh Ganymedes had intended it to be. The Pharaoh is the greatest general to ever have lived”. Kyrios Nuya said. “He will do the same to Yobo.”

  Hyzou just nodded.

  “I’m a Kyrios, a Noble in his court”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  “As you say, My Kyrios”, Hyzou said.

  The road had become considerably better paved and was lined with palm trees. On the horizon was a city, several miles away. Hyzou could only make out a vague outline in the morning sky.

  Among the lump of buildings, something was taller than the rest. Much taller. It grew like a spear, ever upwards, until it seemed to touch the sky.

  “You can’t see much of the city from here, the visibility is always bad when you’re this close to the mountains”, Kyrios Nuya said. “But in case you had been wondering, yes, that is a tower you see standing tall in the morning. The Sun Tower. It was a construction dedicated to the Pharaoh. The tallest building in all of history. Much as the gods made the mountains to show the world their majesty, so Pharaoh Ganymedes has constructed the Sun Tower.”

  Hyzou took a deep breath.

  “It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Kyrios Nuya said. “But I brought you this way for another reason. Not just to admire the Sun Tower. Do you see them yet? Either side of the road?”

  Kyrios Nuya pointed ahead of them. Hyzou stared. Finally, he understood. Palm trees weren’t what was lining the side of the road ahead of them.

  It wasn’t long before they came upon them. Massive crucifixes, standing sixteen, eighteen and twenty feet tall. Even when he looked away Hyzou could hear them.

  “The price paid for breaking the law. You’d do well to remem
ber it, Hyzou of Nuyin”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  Hyzou was too disturbed to speak – the crucifixes went on for more than a mile.

  “Don’t let your crucified brethren take all your attention, young Hyzou. Look to the west”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  Hyzou glanced west, out into the dry winter air.

  “What do you see?”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  “A cloud. A black cloud”, Hyzou said.

  “And you know what that means?” Kyrios Nuya asked.

  Hyzou shook his head.

  “Surely you’ve heard of the Dugouts of Lamybla?” Kyrios Nuya asked.

  “No sir”, Hyzou shook his head.

  “The Dugouts are used to punish grievous breaches of the law and are not only the preserve of the lowly slave. That is no cloud, but rather a swarm. A swarm of locusts, wasps, moths and flies. They dance in the air above their meals. What do you imagine it is they are eating?” Kyrios Nuya said.

  “Criminals”, Hyzou said.

  “Very good, Hyzou. You really are a smart dunce. Yes, criminals”, Kyrios Nuya said.

  Kyrios Nuya leaned in to whisper to Hyzou.

  “You will tell everyone you’re a noble, and if you so much as whisper the truth of your lowly birth to anyone, I’ll personally see to it that you’re sent to the Dugouts. Understand?” Kyrios Nuya said, spitting in Hyzou’s face as he spoke.

  Hyzou nodded. He was shaking in fear.

  “Good boy”, Kyrios Nuya said, and silence fell upon them.

  The city was clear in sharp outline, and Hyzou’s breath was taken from him.

  Stretching to the stars, the Sun Tower was even more impressive up close. Piquea had been built on a hill that had been gifted to the Piqueans by the gods, and because of that, Hyzou’s home city was tall. The Sun Tower grew entirely from the flat land, and still was perhaps three times as high as Piquea itself.

  The Sun Tower was so captivating that Hyzou only looked back down when the chariot began to slow down. They were approaching the gates to the city.

  Once they arrived, the guards nodded and waved them through the huge metal gates. They rode into a large square which played host to the slave marts.