by J J Moriarty
The man couldn’t breathe. Hyzou released his hand from around the man’s throat, and the slaver began to cough and splutter.
“I want a slaver - his face looks like a weasel’s”, Hyzou said.
“That’s no good, sir”, the man said.
“He took slaves from Piquea. Led a cart”, Hyzou said.
“So did everyone”, the man said.
“He sold a slave to Kyrios Nuya for gold.”
The man began to laugh.
“Well, why didn’t you say so?” The man said. “Akaris. His name is Akaris.”
“Akaris. Where do I find him?” Hyzou asked.
“That cunt. He’s a beggar now. An urchin”, the man said. “He spent all that gold in two days.”
“Where does he beg?” Hyzou said.
“Last I heard he begs around the east canal’s well. Some of the guys like to head over to him now and then, remind him who he is. You’re welcome to him”, the man said. “And his balls.”
“I’m most grateful”, Hyzou said.
He let go of the man. The brute’s face had spasmed into an angry hatred. But this slaver was smart, and Hyzou could tell that he hadn’t stayed working in such a brutal industry for so long by picking fights he was bound to lose.
“Grateful to help you, sir”, the man said.
Hyzou got out of the slave market as quickly as he could. It wouldn’t do for his face to become too well recognised.
He could have laughed. All this time and the weasel, this slaver called Akaris, had been begging not two streets away from Abe’s house.
The evening crowds were heavy on the streets of Lamybla, so it took Hyzou nearly half an hour to walk back to Abe’s house, and a little longer to reach the well. There was a queue, as workers looked to get their water on the way home.
Hyzou had been here before, once, when Abe had sent him to get water. Usually he had it delivered, but that day the delivery girl had been sick. Hyzou hadn’t looked at the beggars that time, but today, when Hyzou stared, he saw that he knew one of the faces there. He knew the face well.
The slaver hadn’t washed in weeks. He was drunk too, holding out an alms bowl looking for something, anything from the passers-by. Hyzou approached him, stepping around the queue for water.
Hyzou reached out with his Qi and contacted the slaver’s mind with his own. He tried to cause an illusion, just like the one he had played in front of Abe’s eyes. This time he conjured up a face for himself. He chose a Mujaden, a man he had known in his past life. He placed the image of the Mujaden’s face and placed it over his own. He knew he hadn’t done a good job, but Akaris didn’t notice when he looked up into Hyzou’s eyes.
“What happened to you?” Hyzou said.
“Hurggg?” Akaris asked. “Do you have something to spare? I need to eat tonight.”
“You were rich once, weren’t you?” Hyzou asked.
“I’m hungry, sir”, Akaris said.
“Come with me, and I’ll give you all of this”, Hyzou said.
Hyzou opened out his empty hands, and visualised gold bars sitting upon them. Akaris saw them too.
“Come with you where?” Akaris said, trying to stand.
“Just behind that building there, I need to ask you some questions. About the slaves you dealt in”, Hyzou said.
“I haven’t dealt in slaves in months”, Akaris said.
Hyzou nodded, then grabbed Akaris by the scruff of his filthy robe and dragged him along. The other beggars seemed barely to notice.
“Behind here”, Hyzou said.
He pushed Akaris into a small space behind a tanner’s shop. There was no one here but a street cat licking a shard of pottery.
Hyzou dropped the illusion. Now he looked like Hyzou.
“Hey. What? Where’s the other guy?” Akaris said.
“Why aren’t you dealing in slaves anymore?” Hyzou said.
“I was rich. After Piquea. I was rich. That Kyrios, he made me rich”, Akaris said.
“Rich enough not to work?” Hyzou said.
“Exactly”, Akaris said. “And then I lose my money gambling, and no one will have me back to work for them. There’s too many slavers and not enough slaves after they were done emptying Piquea. They don’t need someone who quit, left the others in the lurch.”
Akaris coughed. Hyzou smiled at Akaris’ discomfort.
“I need to find a slave you sold. You took him from Piquea”, Hyzou said.
“The one I sold to Kyrios Nuya? Ask Kyrios Nuya”, Akaris said.
“No. Not him. Another slave. Covered in burns, from head to toe. What did you do with him?” Hyzou said.
“Not ringing any bells”, Akaris said. “Tell you what though, give me some of your friend’s gold there and I’ll see if my memory works any better.”
Hyzou punched Akaris in the kidney, then grabbed the beggar by the throat.
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll knock every one of your teeth out of your face. Those teeth you have left anyway”, Hyzou said.
Akaris stared into Hyzou’s eyes.
“Not afraid of you”, Akaris said.
Hyzou felt his anger rise. Akaris must have seen it in his eyes, because the beggar began to flinch. Hyzou punched Akaris in the chest, felt two of his ribs break beneath the blow. Akaris began to scream, but Hyzou cut it off with a hand around the beggar’s throat.
“Tell me”, Hyzou said.
Hyzou released Akaris’ throat, allowing the beggar to breathe. Akaris began to sob.
“To a potter. I sold that slave to a potter”, Akaris said. “Tamarkin. Tamarkin the potter.”
Hyzou sighed. Let go of Akaris.
“You made the right choice”, Hyzou said.
Akaris was crying now. He fell against the wall of the tanner’s and wailed.
“You broke my ribs! I can’t breathe, it hurts”, Akaris said.
Hepatica. Hyzou thought.
“One more thing”, Hyzou said.
“What?” Akaris asked. “Please, what did I do to you?”
“Don’t you recognise me?” Hyzou asked.
“I don’t know you, sir”, Akaris said.
“That slave you sold to Kyrios Nuya. You sold him because of a girl. A girl on the transport told you that he could read. That girl, Hepatica was her name. Where is she?” Hyzou said.
Akaris’ eyes widened.
“You’re him. You’re the slave I sold to Kyrios Nuya”, Akaris said. “What happened to you? You look like you were run over by a herd of cattle.”
“Where is she?” Hyzou asked. “What did you do with Hepatica?”
“Please, it was my job. Please. I’m no different to you now. Just a beggar and you’re a slave. You wouldn’t hurt a fellow slave, would you”, Akaris said.
“Just tell me what you did with Hepatica?” Hyzou asked.
“Her cut, it had festered. She died hours after I sold you”, Akaris said.
Hyzou breathed deeply. Owned his envy.
He remembered his first night in that cart. Crying silently in the middle of the night. He remembered Hepatica reaching over to wipe away his tears. Hepatica, a Piquean just like him. Hyzou felt the rage rising within him.
“What did you do with her body? Did you burn it?” Hyzou said.
“We left it for the dogs”, Akaris said.
Hyzou snapped. He swung his fists, aiming for Akaris’ head. He connected once, twice, a third time. The skull cracked beneath his blows, and Akaris fell to the ground.
Hyzou left Akaris there, dead on the ground. The dogs would get him.
CHAPTER 19
Hyzou was truly surprised at the amount of places he could enter, just by looking like he knew what he was doing. There were no guards outside Tamarkin’s pottery, a two-story wooden building at the westside of the city.
The main floor was made up of one enterprise. There was a gigantic vat on the floor, and around it children scurried everywhere. Clay was brought in by large slaves, adults all, in gigantic wheelbarr
ows, and left there for the children to work with. The children lifted the wheelbarrows, usually four or five of them needed for one, and dumped the contents into one of the vats.
At the side of the floor were heavy bronze cauldrons bubbling over huge fires. Children were constantly removing the pots, and pouring the contents into the vat, before filling the cauldron up again.
There was one adult in the room, a large man carrying a sharp whip loose at his side.
He was too busy supervising the children working, and the children were too busy with their work, to notice Hyzou. Hyzou walked through the floor, and no one stopped him. No one noticed him go up the stairs.
Upstairs there were eight workers. Four were potters. They whirled the clay on their looms, shaping it with their hands. There were three apprentices, serving at their master’s side.
In the corner was the one Hyzou was seeking. He sat, shrouded in the dark, stabbing at pots, cups and bowls with a thin stick. Hyzou approached him, trying to think of what to say. This figure was wrapped in cotton, no hair, no skin. Entirely bandages.
“I wondered whether you would survive”, The burned man said, before Hyzou could introduce himself.
Hyzou froze.
“Don’t worry. This place is too loud for anyone to hear us talk. And no one seems to have noticed you came in. They’re too busy trying to fill all the orders for the Pharaoh’s birthday. So come over here, stand beside me, and we can speak”, the burned man said.
Hyzou did as he said.
“What are you doing?” Hyzou asked.
“I do the glazing in this pottery house. The fire in Piquea left me without the use of my legs, so it’s as good a job as I could have hoped for”, the burned man said.
“We were on the same transport from Piquea. Do you remember?” Hyzou said. “You told me you knew my father.”
“I know who you are”, the burned man said. “I remember too what happened the last time we spoke. You put your fingers on my burns and pushed me away.”
“I… I am sorry”, Hyzou said.
“Not so confident now eh? And you decided to put your trust in that girl you’d befriended”, the burned man said.
“She’s dead.” Hyzou said.
“I know”, the burned man said. “I was there once you were taken away. She died a few hours later. Are you angry you trusted her?”
“No. She was on death’s door. She got a meal for telling the slavers about me. I’m happy she got to enjoy one last meal”, Hyzou said.
“That’s a good man”, the burned man said.
“What’s your name?” Hyzou asked.
“Aliya”, the burned man said.
Aliya. Hyzou thought.
He remembered Aliya. The ambassador from Uqing, from the Servants of Qi, to Piquea.
He remembered something else about Aliya.
“You’re… You’re a woman?” Hyzou said.
“I am, boy. My burns destroyed my body, destroyed my throat, and so destroyed my voice. So I’ll forgive that you couldn’t tell”, Aliya said. “Do you remember me?”
“I knew you were a sorcerer. I just knew”, Hyzou said. “You’re in the Servants of Qi.”
“I am. Or should I say, I was. I have no energy to escape. No desire to either”, Aliya said.
“I’ve so much to tell you. I’ve been training and I’ve…” Hyzou began.
“I know”, Aliya said.
She looked up at him, and Hyzou shuddered. Beneath her cotton hood her face was horribly disfigured.
“I sense that you have learned to use your Qi”, Aliya said.
“I have. But I haven’t”, Hyzou said. “I don’t understand this power within me. Abe has taught me a little but…”
Aliya snorted.
“Abe is a fraud. He was weak before the Anarchy, and now is just pathetic. He should never have been allowed to become a Servant”, Aliya said.
“You... You’re strong though”, Hyzou said.
“I’m an Archai. Did Abe explain what that was?” Aliya asked.
“The council that are in charge of the Servants. They’re the most powerful of the Servants, aren’t they?” Hyzou said.
“There are three hundred of us in the world”, Aliya said.
Hyzou grew excited.
“Teach me then. Teach me, train me. Please. Show me this power”, Hyzou said.
“No”, Aliya said.
“What?” Hyzou said.
“No, I won’t train you”, Aliya said.
“Why?” Hyzou said.
“I promised your father I wouldn’t”, Aliya said.
Hyzou stopped. Of all the answers he had expected when he had asked the question, this had never crossed his mind.
“My father? What’s he got to do with anything?” Hyzou asked, laughing.
“I told him that I’d never let you become a Servant of Qi”, Aliya said.
Hyzou laughed again, but then his laughter died out when Aliya didn’t join in.
“You’re being serious?” Hyzou asked.
“I am”, Aliya said.
“What did my father know about the Servants of Qi?” Hyzou said. “He was just a scribe. You’re all that matters here.”
Aliya laughed, a guttural sound that forced her to cough.
“Boy. Your father trained me”, Aliya said.
“My father. My father. What?” Hyzou asked.
“Your father was my master. For a time anyway, I learned most I know from the Sparrow - but aside from the Sparrow, yes, it was your father that trained me. From when I was fourteen until I was twenty, he was my teacher”, Aliya said.
“My father was a scribe”, Hyzou said.
“And I’m a potter. Doesn’t mean that I also am not a Servant of Qi”, Aliya said.
“But if he was a sorcerer, how could he have died in Piquea?” Hyzou said.
“I think you’ll find that flaming stone from a catapult kills Servants just as it kills normal people”, Aliya said.
Hyzou stared at Aliya, but she wasn’t looking at him. She was busy poking at her vase. Hyzou sat down, straight on the wooden floor. He was dumbstruck.
“This... This is insane. He’s never used magic once in his life”, Hyzou said when he finally got around to speaking.
“He gave it up”, Aliya said.
“This is insane”, Hyzou said.
“In fact, it’s perfectly reasonable”, Aliya said.
“I don’t believe you”, Hyzou said.
“Belief has no impact upon facts”, Aliya said.
“I… This just couldn’t be”, Hyzou said.
“It could be. And it is”, Aliya said.
Hyzou ran his hand through his hair.
“My powers”, Hyzou said.
“What about them?” Aliya asked.
“If you’re not lying. They must have come from him”, Hyzou said.
“I’d imagine so”, Aliya said. “A strong Qi can appear randomly among the population, but it usually is passed within families.”
“Teach me. Please, I’ll do anything”, Hyzou said.
“No”, Aliya said.
“It’s what my father would have wanted”, Hyzou said.
To see me survive… Hyzou almost added.
“Actually, no, it’s not. Given that he told me he didn’t want either you or your sister becoming Servants of Qi, I feel pretty confident in saying that he didn’t want me to train you”, Aliya said.
“You don’t understand. The Pharaoh. The Pharaoh he’ll have me fight. On his birthday. Fight against a Colossus”, Hyzou said.
Aliya sighed.
“I’m sorry Hyzou”, Aliya said. “There are plenty of Servants in the world, I’m the only one who vowed to hide you from the Servants. Find one of them.”
“You’re the only Servant in Lamybla. You’re the only one who could train me”, Hyzou said. “Please Aliya, you’re my only hope.”
“Try and escape. If you make it to Uqing, they’ll take you in and train you”, Aliya said
.
“The chances of me succeeding, if I try and escape, are pretty much non-existent”, Hyzou said. “I know nothing about survival.”
“That’s still a better chance than you’ll have against a Colossus”, Aliya said. “No one’s killed one of those in years.”
“You’re my only hope. If you won’t train me, I’m doomed”, Hyzou said.
Aliya looked at him and sighed.
“I’m sorry Hyzou. But I promised Mak”, Aliya said. “Gave my word and said that I’d never break it in ten thousand years. I’ll die an honest girl.”
Hyzou felt crushed.
“But I’m so close. So close to being able to…”
“I know Hyzou”, Aliya said, and she placed a hand on his shoulder.
Hyzou sighed. He slapped his thighs. Looked up at Aliya and saw that she was not for turning.
Then Hyzou remembered something that The Whisperer had said. That night, when Hyzou had overheard Abe and The Whisperer arguing.
“If I thought that boy would bring you around I’d have left him to die at the hands of his other slaves”, Abe said.
“The other slaves wouldn’t have killed him. You know they would only have unleashed the monster within him. You took him away for their safety, not Hyzou’s”, The Whisperer said.
It gave Hyzou an idea.
He stood.
“Aliya, you know, Abe told me something”, Hyzou said.
“What’s that?” Aliya asked.
“He told me the test needed to become an Archai”, Hyzou said. “Control another being with your will alone.”
Hyzou looked across the room as he said it. Standing nearest to Hyzou was a young apprentice, maybe of ten years of age. The boy was rooting through stencils, looking for the right fit.
“That’s right Hyzou. That’s the test”, Aliya said.
“What animal is usually used?” Hyzou said.
“A rat, usually. A cat, sometimes, though cats are too clever usually”, Aliya said.
“Never a human”, Hyzou said.
“It’s impossible to control a human with your will. The human mind cannot be bent like that. It’s too complex. The power required to do that is incomprehensible”, Aliya said.
Hyzou breathed deeply and owned his envy. He felt the weight of his Qi within him, so strong since the Whisperer’s surgery. He raised his right hand, extended it towards the young apprentice. Hyzou allowed his Qi to issue forth in that direction too.