Rhuna- Black City

by Barbara Underwood

  “Those people - Almara, Zal and Pari - should never have existed?” Lozira repeated incredulously.

  “It is so, I regret to say,” Damell replied.

  “Should never have existed…” Goll repeated, as his quill scratched fervently on another sheet of parchment.

  “That is so sad!” Lozira remarked in a shaky voice.

  “It disturbs me, too,” Yarqi added. Rhuna thought Yarqi’s dark eyes appeared to be even darker than usual.

  A solemn silence ensued as everyone contemplated life and death under these exceptional and unnatural circumstances.

  “But at least they did exist,” Rhuna said with a sudden burst of cheeriness. “Any life, even when cut short, is precious.”

  Rhuna observed the solemn faces around her slowly change to a brighter expression. Aradin reached across to squeeze Rhuna’s hand in a gesture of love and appreciation.

  “We are no longer in danger of being killed by the Black-Hats or Mages,” Mohandu said with relief.

  “May we now summon visions by means of the Gazing of the Waters without fear of discovery?” Lozira asked hopefully.

  Protector of Remembrance thought carefully for a brief moment. “We may assume there is no danger,” he answered slowly. “Nevertheless, we should remain vigilant and cautious, lest remnants of the Mages’ and the Dark One’s work remain.”

  “Perhaps some of his…operatives were not affected by the destruction of the Black City,” Stillness of the Lake added.

  “Yes! Like the nomads we met who talked about some black clans who apparently adopted ideas and practices from the Mages of the Black City,” Aradin said with a deepening frown.

  “The Dark One’s influence has penetrated too deeply into the past time period, and has had many generations to grow,” Damell pondered with a severe tone. “Residue of his actions might be scattered far and wide…”

  “Yet containable,” Greeter of Friends said with false cheeriness.

  “Our assignment is not yet complete until we ascertain the degree of such residue,” Protector of Remembrance stated decisively. “Most significantly, we have yet to determine the fate of the Dark Master. Did he escape the Black City’s destruction, or whatever caused its demise?”

  “He could have used the conflux in the Black City to enter a different time period, thereby evading the city’s destruction, just as he did when Judharo was destroyed,” Aradin said with a groan of dismay. “He could be anywhere, in any time period!”

  “No, I think he was trapped in the city!” Rhuna exclaimed as she suddenly remembered aspects of her mental connection with the Dark Master. “His feelings of intense anger and frustration were about the time portal in the Black City’s energy conflux not working.”

  “Yes,” Damell interjected. “We had concluded that the vortex caused by the constant changes in the Black City made the time portal inoperative.”

  “Ah yes,” Protector of Remembrance said as he nodded sagely. “This is most probable, yet we should never presume anything where the Dark One is concerned. He has deceived and surprised us numerous times already.”

  “Should the time portal have been inoperative,” Goram surmised, “then his only option would be to release his Extended Consciousness from the corporeal body he had temporarily inhabited. He may exist in this incorporeal form indefinitely, as he already demonstrated after the demise of his original body in the pyramid in Atlán many solar cycles past.”

  “Assuming his Extended Consciousness is on a certain plane in The Infinite,” Greeter of Friends pondered, “…the question remains, in which time period is he?”

  “He is from our time,” Shandi said loudly, startling everyone in the room.

  “She keeps saying that,” Kiana remarked.

  Rhuna was amazed that her young daughter had understood their complicated conversation.

  “The Infinite has time limitations,” Damell explained. “The further back in time one reaches, the more difficult it becomes to discern images and other sensations.”

  “Yet Shandi can discern things we cannot,” Goram remarked.

  “He is from our time,” Shandi repeated.

  “What does that mean, Honey Cakes?” Aradin asked, his voice straining with suppressed impatience. “Does it mean his Extended Consciousness is in our present time now?”

  “Yes,” Shandi said with certainty.

  “Does she even understand what we are discussing?” Greeter of Friends asked.

  “I think she understands much more than a normal child of her age,” Rhuna responded, and then thought about her disturbing experience at the ruin of the Black City once more. “And if his Extended Consciousness is in our present time – because he is from this time – then maybe he was calling me from The Infinite when we were at the ruin of the Black City.”

  The room fell silent again for a brief moment.

  “We should not dismiss anything,” Protector of Remembrance concluded. “Since the Dark One ventured into the past time period, we have been living in a new and unknown world.”

  “A new and unknown world,” Goll repeated, as the unrelenting scratching on parchment continued.

  Part Nine

  (Sula-tana)

  Rhuna felt a lightness and sense of euphoria around her in the days following their return from the ruins of the Black City, and she believed everyone else also felt relieved. She had little time to think at length about the Dark Master and the unanswered questions surrounding him due to the daily arrival of guests. Each day, caravans stopped at the inn, at times even two and three at a time so that some guests had to make an encampment next to the lodging house when it was completely full.

  Every group of traders asked about the sudden disappearance of the Black City, and Rhuna noticed that caravans passing each other on the trade route must have stopped to share their news in detail with each other. Traders were forced to make alternate plans when they discovered the void in the sandy wilderness where the Black City once stood, and the inn became a new center of convergence for all trade in the area.

  Early one morning, the Atlan representatives and most of the men cleared and levelled some land between the trade route and the inn, then laid foundations for a new building, an irrigation canal and another holding pen for camels and horses to accommodate the greater number of guests. Rhuna quickly finished some chores inside the main building, and then walked out onto the terrace where Lozira sat on a comfortable large seating cushion.

  “Everyone is still talking about the Black City,” Lozira commented as Rhuna sat down beside her daughter.

  “I think people will be talking about it for a long time,” Rhuna said, and then looked directly at Lozira. “You look so well and happy,” she said.

  “I am,” Lozira said, smiling broadly.

  “You and Goram have been together all the time lately that I haven’t had a chance to ask you whether you and Tozar talked much before…”

  Lozira’s contented expression turned to bitter-sweet sadness.

  “We did not talk much, but he often sat or stood near me, as if to tell me how he felt,” Lozira said softly.

  “Sometimes silence says more than words,” Rhuna said.

  “Oh, I wish we could know what happened,” Lozira sighed. “What Tozar did in the past. Do you think we shall know one day?”

  “Yes, I think we’ll find out one day,” Rhuna said, surprised by her own inner conviction.

  “Good,” Lozira said, sounding reassured as she looked back out at Goram and the others who had begun construction on the new lodging house.

  As Rhuna gazed across the landscape, she saw movement on the trade route and stood up to see more clearly.

  “Guests already?” Lozira asked.

  “They don’t look like a regular trade caravan,” Rhuna observed as she strained to see the details of the first group of six, followed by another group of only four people. “I’ll go and welcome them.”

  “Take Goll,” Lozira suggested.

&n
bsp; Rhuna quickly stepped inside the main building to find Goll who was seated at the small table with his quill and ink. Nearby, Kiana sat on the floor playing a game with Shandi.

  “More guests,” Rhuna announced. “Your language skills might be needed again,” she said, turning to Goll. The pale-skinned scribe stood up eagerly and rushed outside as Rhuna followed.

  “They appear to be from the land of Ling-Yu,” Goll said as he and Rhuna approached the arriving travellers. “They wear unusual clothes, unlike the traders we met earlier.”

  Rhuna noted the overall appearance of the two groups who both bore a more noble and authoritative manner than the travelling merchants who regularly traverse the trade route. She became curious and somewhat uneasy as the first group stopped and their leader wearing colourful headgear dismounted from his tall horse.

  Rhuna and Goll also stopped a short distance in front of the travellers and waited as the leader spoke to two of his companions before turning to approach and address Rhuna.

  “You…” he said awkwardly. “…are the Sula-tana.”

  Rhuna nodded reluctantly when the man remained silent after his brief statement.

  “Come to Shi-Yan,” the man said more confidently.

  Rhuna was shocked.

  “No,” she answered resolutely. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  The man from Ling-Yu with the bright red and yellow headwear looked puzzled, then turned to his companions who returned his disconcerted look. An agitated prattle in their language ensued as Rhuna waited and Goll walked towards the second group of four people who had stopped nearby.

  The leader of the first group finally turned back to Rhuna and repeated his request.

  “You are Sula-tana. You must come to Shi-Yan!”

  “And I told you no!” Rhuna retorted defiantly.

  Once again, the Ling-Yu party looked stunned, then dismayed and perplexed. As they consulted each other again, Goll returned from discussions with the second party.

  “These are representatives from two different prefectures in the land of Ling-Yu,” Goll explained. “It has taken two lunar cycles to come here, on orders of their prefects and rulers. Those orders were given after the first Ling-Yu traders who determined you are the foreseen Sula-tana returned to their Ling-Yu homeland and reported meeting you.”

  “Why do they want me to go to their land?” Rhuna asked.

  “It appears you are highly esteemed and a valuable asset to their individual rulers,” Goll answered with a quick shrug of his shoulders.

  “We need peace!” said the leader with the unusual headwear. “You come, make peace!”

  Rhuna shook her head.

  “I cannot leave here now,” she explained. “My daughter will give birth to her first child within the next lunar cycle, and I want to be with her during that time - and afterwards.” Rhuna paused to make sure the Ling-Yu leader had understood her words. “It’s a pity you made the long journey for nothing, but you are welcome to stay here at our inn to rest and refresh yourselves,” she offered.

  Goll repeated Rhuna’s words in the Ling-Yu language to the second group which appeared not to understand the Atlan language. After some more subdued discussions, both groups lingered a while before accepting Rhuna’s offer of food and accommodation.

  Rhuna described the encounter with the two groups from Ling-Yu to Aradin, and then later to the rest of her family and friends when they gathered in the main room to prepare the evening meal.

  “It was expected,” Protector of Remembrance said sagely as he stroked his beard. “We have not heard the last of this matter.”

  “But if others come and make such official requests on behalf of their rulers…” Rhuna began, feeling unsettled at the thought of repeated demands on her by strangers from a faraway land.

  “Then continue to decline,” the senior Atlan responded, and then paused. “Unless…we can ascertain that the Dark Master is alive and flourishing in those parts.”

  “We haven’t been able to find him by means of the Gazing of the Waters,” Aradin said.

  “Nor by other means,” Damell added, glancing across at Rhuna as she thought about their combined efforts to locate the Dark Master in The Infinite.

  “What does the High Council of Atlán advise us to do?” Aradin asked, looking at the Atlan representatives.

  “We have been given the freedom to choose our course from this point onward,” Stillness of the Lake replied. “We can accept another assignment in this part of the world, return to Atlán, or remain here.”

  “We have decided to remain here for another season, should this be acceptable to you,” Protector of Remembrance said, looking at Damell and then at Rhuna and Aradin.

  “Of course!” Rhuna and Aradin replied together.

  “Where is the assignment in this part of the world?” Goram wondered.

  “There is a settlement of Atlans in a town about twenty days’ journey from here,” Greeter of Friends answered. “They are descendants of Atlans who passed through this land many generations past, and they have not had contact with other Atlans since then.”

  “That sounds interesting,” Mohandu remarked.

  “Perhaps we shall journey there, on our way back to the land of Atlán,” Preserver of Faith said.

  “It will be sad to see you go,” Rhuna said with sincerity as she imagined the inn without them.

  The busy daily routine continued at the inn on the edge of the sandy wilderness as trade between the great lands of the continent flourished. Rhuna declined three more separate invitations to journey to the land of Ling-Yu as the Sula-tana, while an emissary from the land of Farsa arrived from the opposite direction also inviting the Sula-tana.

  Rhuna became exasperated by the repeated requests to journey with various groups to their homeland in either direction, until one day a large contingent of uniformed men on horses arrived at the inn. Several riders in the front played drums and wind instruments to herald their arrival, and others held large silk textile banners boasting bright blue and yellow emblems.

  “Look! That’s the symbol for Sula-tana!” Lozira exclaimed as she stood next to Rhuna on the edge of the terrace. Rhuna recognized the particular formation of three yellow circles on the light blue background.

  “This is something different,” Rhuna said, quickly glancing at Aradin and Damell. “I have a strange feeling about this.”

  The Atlan representatives, along with Goll, Damell, Aradin and Rhuna stepped forward to greet the imposing troop of riders headed by a team of about twenty men and women wearing blue robes. Rhuna waited as they dismounted and unpacked several items from their pack animals and then spoke to a young man dressed in an opulent green silk coat. The young man then accompanied the group of blue-robed men and women who carried several items wrapped in shiny blue silk. They approached Rhuna, and then fell to their knees, bowing their heads down to the ground.

  “Sula-tana! Sula-tana!” they chanted in unison as they raised their upper bodies and arms, as if reaching out to Rhuna.

  “What are they doing?” Rhuna whispered, glancing at Damell and the Atlans beside her.

  “It appears to be an act of deep respect,” Protector of Remembrance said softly. “Do nothing. Let them carry out their custom.”

  Rhuna waited until the blue-robed people finished chanting and stood up in front of her. The ones in the front row picked up the wrapped items and held them out to Rhuna as they bowed their heads.

  “These are gifts for you, Sula-tana!” said the young man dressed in elegant green. He appeared nervous and uncertain, and as Rhuna looked at him directly, she was struck by his youthful appearance.

  “These are your faithful servants…your Believers and followers,” he added shakily.

  Rhuna felt dazzled by the gesture of many gifts, and was uncertain what to do.

  “We…I…they are your Army,” the youth stammered awkwardly so that Rhuna felt sympathy for him.

  “What is your name?” Rhuna asked, hoping to
put the young man at ease. “You speak the Atlan language so nicely.”

  The young man’s face instantly lit up, and he bowed his head in a gesture of gratitude as he introduced himself.

  “My name is Chao Lin. They call me Lin,” he added quickly as he struggled to overcome his nervousness. He took a deep breath and continued. “I am the translator chosen by the Princess of Shi-Yan to escort your Believers and Army.”

  “My name is Rhuna, Keeper of Wisdom,” Rhuna responded, and then introduced her father, Aradin and the others.

  “We are familiar with many of your names,” Lin said after the introductions. “It is written – here,” he said, taking one of the flat, square items held by a woman draped in bright blue silk.

  “What is it?”

  “All the texts written about Sula-tana many generations past,” Lin answered. “The texts contain your names, your great feats and places where you have been.”

  Rhuna felt a chill run down her back despite the warmth of the bright sun.

  “The things the Dark Master knows about me,” Rhuna whispered to Aradin.

  “Take it and let’s see,” Aradin responded.

  “Can I look at this?” Rhuna asked Lin.

  The Believers in blue immediately bowed deeply from their waist several times and uttered words Rhuna could not understand.

  “Of course, of course!” Lin answered, also bowing deeply as Rhuna took the bundle.

  “Oh, it’s heavy,” she remarked.

  A woman in blue whose face revealed considerable age stepped forward and spoke as she held out another item larger than the first.

  “Take this also,” Lin said as he translated the woman’s words. “It is a message for Sula-tana.”

  Rhuna took the second package which was also wrapped in light blue silk and wrapped with golden ribbons.

  “A message for me?”

  “It has been carefully copied and preserved throughout the generations, Sula-tana!” Lin said proudly.

  “I’d like to look at these with my family,” Rhuna said. “Would you like to rest here for the night?”