The Wretched Race (Epic of Ahiram Book 3)

by Michael Joseph Murano

  “The girls will stay here,” said one of the maids. “Please follow us.”

  “Aquilina, are you comfortable staying by yourself with Vily?”

  “This place is safe. Vily and I will be fine.”

  Hoda nodded her head. She wants to spend time with Vily alone. She may not be seeing her for a while … or ever again. “I understand.” Hoda said softly. She and Karadon left the two girls to themselves and followed one of the maids down a long corridor.

  “Do you think Cahloon can help Vily?” Hoda asked.

  “I don’t know,” Karadon replied. “All I know is what Ashod told me: no one knows how to cure the vanishing.”

  Hoda nodded silently. She was not looking forward to the moment where Aquilina would be told it was impossible to heal her friend, or to the moment when Aquilina would need the medallion for her own protection, but by taking it from her friend, Vily would vanish.

  A second double door opened. It was made of thick gold lattices with a coarse silver mesh studded in hundreds of diamond-shaped crystals. They walked into a large empty office, and the massive mahogany desk caught their attention. It stood on four lion paws formed from blocks of pure gold. The front panel was covered with a detailed etching depicting a desert caravan. Camels loaded with goods or carrying women and children walked gingerly beside the caravaners while overstuffed wagons pulled by men on horseback flanked their sides. Additionally, small statuettes of the same scene were engraved along the edge of the desk.

  “It’s beautiful,” Hoda whispered.

  “It’s beautifully cursed,” Karadon retorted.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” his wife insisted.

  “I’ve never seen so many curses in one place,” Karadon said. “Don’t touch it! This is not a desk, it’s a portal of sorts. Very dangerous.”

  Amaréya and Corintus walked in with Drobna and Martha in tow.

  They greeted each other effusively, and Karadon gave them a brief account of what had taken place while Corintus and Amaréya were in Cahloon’s tent.

  “Where is Aquilina?” Amaréya asked.

  “With Vily in the room down that corridor,” Hoda said.

  “Shall I call for her, Your Highness?” Martha stubbornly refused to change the way she addressed Amaréya.

  “Not now, Martha. Let them be for a little while longer.”

  “Don’t you find it somewhat disturbing that my daughter showed up at the very last minute?” Corintus wondered.

  Karadon concurred. “It was an extraordinary coincidence, if it was a coincidence at all.”

  Corintus pursed his lips. “I am having a growing sense that there are multiple players in the shadows whose influence is tangible, yet invisible.”

  At that moment, Slippery Slued, Quiet Surata, and Krom walked in. The two groups eyed one another, and Karadon’s eyes widened. He clenched his fists.

  “Traitor!” he yelled.

  With a war cry, he charged Slippery Slued.

  “Saying your good-byes is for plucky old grannies and lanky fellas resembling wet chickens. We've met, we've bet, you went to bed, and it's as good as it can get. What else is there? Why mess it up with tears and farewells and other signs of affection? Leave that to the slaves and the condemned to death. After all, being a noble means no sorrow and no separation, right?”

  –Soliloquy of Zuzu the Hip, Jester at the Royal Court of Tanniin.

  “Impostor!” Slippery Slued replied, running toward Karadon.

  The two grown men proceeded to greet each other by a series of hand slapping. Karadon smacked Slippery Slued’s left hand with his right, then the right hand with his left. He made two fists, which Slippery Slued slammed with his own fists. The two men butted their left hips and shoulders against each another and repeated the same thing on the right side. Then they performed a strange dance where they seemed to be trying to step on each other’s toes, until at last they both lost their footing and fell to the floor in loud, unabashed hysterics.

  “Of all the low-life rascals that populate the infested sewage of Babylon, it had to be Slippery Slued the Arvalite!” Karadon exclaimed.

  “Of all the annoying gnats that pullulate in the deepest swamps of Anigono in Mani-Kongo, it had to be Karashai the Zeyburite!”

  “Kirriloo, man,” Karadon said in the Mani-Congo’s accent. “I missed you, big rascal.”

  “Kiralilaloo, man,” Slippery Slued replied. “I missed your jackal face.”

  “And who might this be?” Karadon asked as he looked Quiet Surata up and down.

  “Careful there,” Slippery Slued warned. “This is Quiet Surata and she knows all about you.”

  “Karashai the Zeyburite,” Quiet Surata said. “I’ve heard soooo much about you.”

  “And my blade is itching to whip your—” began Krom the Hunter.

  “Karadon, what’s going on?” Hoda cut in. She had the strange feeling that her husband had been taken away from her and a complete stranger now stood in his place.

  “And who might this be?” Slippery Slued said “Somebody smite me with milk and honey, right now.”

  “Slippery—” began Quiet Surata in a low, threatening voice.

  “I’ll smite the both of you all right if you don’t grow back up into mature men this instant,” Cahloon said, walking in. “Enough with your inanities.”

  They all turned to her. She had an elongated face, and her eyes bristled with intelligence. Her smile was heartwarming yet dangerous, and Karadon and Hoda knew not to trifle with her.

  “Cahloon, I take it,” Hoda said.

  “Yes, indeed.”

  “Did you instruct Arfaad to offer me as a sacrifice on Tiamat’s altar?”

  All eyes were on the short woman. Karadon held his breath, not knowing what to think. He could tell that Cahloon was very powerful, perhaps stronger than Ashod. He could understand his wife’s anger, but he knew that with people of great magical powers, indirect prodding was the wisest approach. I should have better prepared Hoda, he chided himself. No telling what Cahloon will do or say now.

  “Did you instruct him, Lady Cahloon?” Aquilina asked. She walked in, still holding Vily’s hand.

  “Aquilina, stand down!” her mother ordered.

  “But, Mother—”

  “Listen to your mother, Aquilina,” her father added. “Stay out of it.”

  Cahloon looked at Hoda and smiled. “I am very sorry you had to go through this ordeal, child. Arfaad was a very perturbed man. He came to me for help, and I told him to make a sacrifice on the altar of Tiamat. Unfortunately, he lost his mind. I would have stopped him, but I was incapacitated.”

  “Forgive me for doubting you, but how do I know you are not lying?”

  “Cahloon does not lie, Hoda,” Karadon blurted out. “She is a—”

  “Pah! You should know better than to try and butter up your wife. She has every right to know. Most of you don’t know it yet, but we’re going to have to work together far longer than you think. I do lie on occasion, when necessary.” Cahloon added with a sly smile, and switched to casual speech. “But in this case, I didn’t. Corintus and Lady Amaréya, please wait for me with the girls in the adjoining room to your left. The rest of you can wait outside. You too, Karadon. This concerns your wife only.”

  “But—”

  “This is a matter that concerns Hoda alone. Now, don’t make me lose my patience.”

  Karadon walked out with Slippery Slued, Quiet Surata, and Krom the Hunter. He waited anxiously for the door to open. He could see the disjointed silhouettes of the two women behind the crystal-covered mesh, but Cahloon spoke too softly for him to make out what she was telling Hoda. He was somewhat reassured by the calm and civil manner in which their conversation was proceeding.

  “What is she saying?” Slippery Slued asked. “The wait is killing me.”

  “You never liked to wait for anything,” Quiet Surata said.

  “That’s true,” Karadon confirmed. “By the way, the name is Kar
adon, not Karashai. That name became a bit too … complicated.”

  “As I recall, she liked that name,” Slippery Slued said.

  “Have you seen her?” Karadon asked with an urgency in his voice.

  “Who are you talking about?” Krom the Hunter asked.

  “A girl,” Karadon replied with a tinge of sadness. “Analeeze.”

  “You knew my sister?” Surata said, surprised. “How?”

  “Analeeze is your sister? The short tomboy with scruffy hair and curled nose that seemed to thumb the gods? Sure, I knew her. We ended in the same orphanage where Slued found us.”

  “I didn’t know,” Surata said in a changed voice.

  “We were really close. When I wanted to join the Black Robes, however, she thought I was crazy. That’s when we parted. What happened to her?”

  “Milaniöm happened,” Slued glumly replied.

  “What happened to Analeeze?” Karadon was worried now.

  Slippery Slued averted his eyes. “You’re not going to like it Karashai. Let it be,” he pleaded.

  “A Kerta priest took her,” Krom blurted out. Slippery Slued widened his eyes and pursed his lips. “What?” Krom protested. “He’s got every right to know.”

  “A what?” Karadon was crestfallen.

  “Milaniöm, a tajèr, had a lucrative business,” explained Quiet Surata in an even voice. “He captured unsuspecting young men and women and sold them to a Kerta priest.”

  “What?” Karadon felt as if someone had driven a dagger in his heart. “No, not Analeeze. What?”

  “Sorry to break it to you this way, Karashai,” Slippery Slued said softly. “I forgot how close the two of you were.”

  Karadon did not reply.

  “My sister would not have wanted us to sully our hands with his bad blood,” Quiet Surata added. “We broke into his vault. Twice. The tajéruun took care of him.”

  “How come your sister ended up in the orphanage with me?” Karadon asked gruffly.

  “We were separated when Analeeze was still a very young child. I searched for her all my life,” Quiet Surata explained. “We missed each other by a few days.”

  Karadon leaned his back against the wall and closed his eyes. “She would have been one worth saving. I should not have left her, I …”

  Slippery Slued placed a hand on his shoulder, “What’s the use of guilt?” he asked gently. “We’ve all lost loved ones. We’re all orphans one way or another. We’re wanderers, searching for sanity in this crazy world. You can’t hope to make the right turn every time, the right choice every moment. Back then, you wanted one thing, she wanted another. If she had gone with you, she might have died differently and you’d be blaming yourself all the same. It’s not your fault, it’s not Quiet Surata’s fault,” he asserted. “Don’t let Analeeze die twice by becoming the victim of your guilt. There’s no treasure to be found there.”

  “You don’t get it, Slued, she was like a sister to me.”

  The double door opened. Slippery Slued looked at Quiet Surata and averted his eyes. Karadon barged into the room. Hoda narrowed her eyes. She could tell something was wrong with her husband. He came in and stood inches away from her and inspected her face closely.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “I’m fine,” she said. “Give me some space, Karadon, it’s embarrassing.”

  “He’s seeking clues of a curse,” Cahloon explained. “He’s clever enough to know that a curse can cause the muscles of your face to contract slightly. Well-traveled, this one. Your wife trusts me,” she added for Karadon’s benefit. “Don’t you, Hoda?”

  “I do. Thank you for what you shared with me.”

  “You will remember what I told you in days to come, won’t you now?”

  “I will. You have nothing to worry about.”

  Cahloon is asking a favor from Hoda? Karadon was flabbergasted. Wow. It’s like a lion asking a favor from a kitten. What’s going on here?

  “Now let me take a look at the young girl.” She opened the door to the room where Corintus, Amaréya, and the two young girls were waiting and ushered them back into her office. She took Vily by the hand and brought her closer to the center and examined her.

  “You have some explaining to do,” Hoda whispered to Karadon. “And don’t try to wiggle your way out of this one—”

  “You had to tell him, didn’t you now?” Quiet Surata chided Slippery Slued in a low voice.

  “I haven’t seen Karashai in years, and seeing him now brought back so many memories.”

  “Which is why you had to gaze at his wife the way you did?”

  “I didn’t … wait, what? Karashai is married?”

  “If you don’t shut up,” Cahloon shouted, “I’ll make you the lizards of a giant matron at the Wretched Race.”

  “That’s cruel,” Slippery Slued said.

  “Precisely,” Cahloon replied. “Now, be quiet. This is harder than it looks.” She continued to inspect Vily. She ran her fingers over the young girl’s forehead, her shoulders, and stooped down to inspect the impassive girl’s heels. She held Vily’s hands to check their strength and resistance, then looked intently into her eyes with an odd-looking crystal.

  “This medallion is something else,” she said after a while. “You were inspired to let her wear it. It is sustaining her and has interrupted the vanishing, but, it cannot reverse it. Not of its own accord.”

  “There is hope, then?” Aquilina asked.

  “There is a slight chance, and I do mean slight. But for this to work, Vily cannot go with you. She must stay in a special place where someone can help her. I am sorry, I am not at liberty to disclose all the details, but you must trust me, the way you trusted me when I told you about my friend. There is a small chance this crazy plan will work, but then again, it may not. This has never been attempted before. No one who was struck by the vanishing has ever been cured from it. Also, even if this plan works, we cannot know what it will do to Vily. She might not be the Vily you once knew.”

  “Can I go with her?” Aquilina asked. “I can protect her.”

  “Not where she is going, sweetie, you cannot. You would be more of a hindrance than a help,” Cahloon said gently. “I know you care about your friend, and I care about her too. I am so very sorry, but you cannot go where she is going.”

  “How will she find me then?”

  “That’s easy. Hang on.” Cahloon took two small gold pins from a drawer and gave one to Aquilina, then clipped the other to Vily’s hair. Aquilina gasped when the pin disappeared.

  “It’s a simple cloaking spell. When the time comes to return Vily to you, these pins will come in handy. Do not worry about the details.”

  “How long will it be?” Aquilina was beginning to realize that she would have to part with her Vily. “How long will I have to wait to know if she’s coming back?”

  “A month or two at most. I know at your age that’s a long time, but it’s not too bad, now is it?”

  Aquilina clenched her fists. “Can I visit her?”

  “No, you cannot. If you do, you would put her life, your life, and the lives of your parents in grave danger.”

  “But why?”

  Cahloon turned to the others, “Leave us. I want Vily, Amaréya, and Corintus here. The rest of you, outside.”

  “Here we go again,” Slipper Slued mumbled.

  “What was that, mustache man?” Cahloon asked.

  “Nothing, nothing at all.” Slippery Slued stepped outside the door and quickly ran his fingers through his mustache to check that it hadn’t vanished or turned to jelly.

  “Good,” Cahloon said after the door closed. “Listen, Aquilina. The woman you saw when you found my pin, you remember her, don’t you? The one you saw in that mirror? She is very, very powerful, and she wants you dead. She thinks you are dead, but she’s not sure. If she knows you are alive, and if she knows where you live, she will kill everyone to get you. Do you understand?”

  “But why? What did I
do to her? I don’t even know her.”

  “When you reach Salem, someone will meet you there to explain all of this to you. Until then, it’s best if you don’t know all the details. It’s very important that you do not go to the place where you found my pin. The shemmet will be looking for you, and it seems they are working for her.”

  “That woman sent the shemmet after me?”

  Corintus and Amaréya exchanged glances.

  “Not after you. After me. She thinks I have somehow managed to free myself from her trap. Had she known it was you that picked up my pin, we would all be dead by now.”

  “I see,” Aquilina said, struggling to contain her tears.

  “Vily will be well taken care of, don’t you worry. In a month or two at most, we’ll find out. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

  “How will I know if Vily is alright?”

  “If the Merilian is returned to you, you will know that she vanished. I will not lie to you, Aquilina, the chances of success are extremely slim.”

  Aquilina went over to Vily and gave her a tight hug. “Goodbye, Vily,” she whispered. “Please come back to me quickly.” She then ran through the double doors.

  “Aquilina,” Amaréya called.

  “Let her be, Your Majesty,” Cahloon said. “She is very affected by the loss of her friend and she has been through a lot. Here, please take these with you.” She handed them three capes. “They look like ordinary capes but they hold Indifference Spells. They will cause people to forget you as soon as they see you, allowing you to be effectively invisible. The spell will wear off in a few days, but by then you should be far from here.”

  “Thank you, Cahloon,” Corintus said.

  “Do not thank me. Your daughter saved us all. Here, have her wear this. This crystal pendant is not as effective as a Merilian medallion, but it will protect her from Sarand’s searching eyes. Now go, time is of the essence. Sarand will certainly send more spies to my tent.”

  They left after saying their goodbyes to Vily. Corintus was surprised when Amaréya held Vily’s hands in her own and told the young girl how important she had become to her daughter. It was a show of affection so unlike her. Quietly, the door closed behind them.