The Habit of the Kingmaker

by J J Moriarty

  CaSu was a sprawl, as far as the eye could see, taking up one entire side of the valley. Though he was looking down on it from a good vantage point, Hyzou still couldn’t see to its end. Around the sides of the sprawls were tens of thousands of huts, tiny hovels and shacks built around small dirt roads and non-existent sewers. At the centre of the sprawl gigantic buildings stood, looking like they were made from pure gold. These buildings reflected the light back at Hyzou, the dull sunlight magnified by the expensive gilding of the towers and palaces. Between the golden palaces and the huts and shacks was a cornucopia of different buildings. Hyzou saw temples and towers, shops and homes, and fascinating constructions beyond what he could even begin to comprehend.

  “Wow”, Hyzou said.

  Safia looked at him and smiled.

  “It’s quite something to look at, isn’t it?” Safia said.

  “Not just to look at. The smell, the noise”, Hyzou said.

  “Like nowhere else in the world”, Safia said.

  “I’ll believe that”, Hyzou said.

  “It’s why Kinzonzi calls himself the King of Kings. CaSu is the greatest city in the world, and so its King is the greatest King in the world”, Safia said.

  They began to ride the road towards the city.

  “It has no walls. How is it protected?” Hyzou asked.

  “It has walls, you’re just not looking at them right”, Safia said. “CaSu isn’t a city like Lamybla or Piquea - the amount of people living there grows every year. All those shacks, they don’t live in the city properly, and so they don’t get protected.”

  Hyzou looked, and sure enough he saw that where the rows and rows of huts ended, a series of heavy brownstone walls were erected.

  “But that’s crazy. More than half the city isn’t behind the walls”, Hyzou said.

  Safia shrugged.

  “You try and built walls big enough to protect a million people. That’s CaSu. You’re going to see a lot of strange things when you’re here”, Safia said.

  “Are we dressed ok?” Hyzou asked.

  For the first time he felt a creeping hostility in the air. He had become very aware that this was not his land.

  “We look like common mercenaries”, Safia said.

  “And that’s what we need?” Hyzou asked.

  “Yes. It’ll get us into the merchant’s streets. From there, I can contact my father”, Safia said.

  “How do you plan on doing that?” Hyzou said.

  “Er… I’m not quite sure”, Safia said.

  Hyzou looked at her.

  “Don’t worry Hyzou, I’ll figure it out”, she said.

  “You heard Eanno, you know we can’t be recognised as Servants”, Hyzou said.

  “My father will know I’m a Servant, I’ll try and make sure no one else knows”, Safia said.

  They followed the track, which grew wider and grander until it became a road. This side of the valley was entirely farmland, as far as Hyzou could see. Slaves worked the land, and overseers with vicious whips supervised them in all their actions. The roads were thick with people, jabbering in tongues that Hyzou couldn’t understand.

  “I don’t understand them”, Hyzou said.

  “It’s not CaSuan”, Safia said. “It’s from the other Mountain Cities.”

  Hyzou looked at her.

  “Don’t be so worried Hyzou, you’ll understand the aristocracy and that’s all you need”, Safia said.

  They came upon a crossroads. In the centre of it was a simple stone sculpture. It was of a bull, but its head sprouted four horns.

  “What’s that?” Hyzou asked.

  “I told you, the Mujaden are the cow people. They don’t worship the gods the way it’s done in Uqing or the River Cities. They identify each of the gods with a cow, all temples and statues are devoted to a different cow”, Safia said.

  “And what’s that one?” Hyzou said.

  As he passed it, Hyzou looked into the cow’s empty stone eyes.

  “I don’t remember”, Safia said.

  “So Eanno… Is a cow in CaSu?” Hyzou asked.

  Safia giggled.

  “I didn’t think of that. Yes, she is”, Safia said.

  “I really want to see this cow version of Eanno”, Hyzou said.

  “Are you hungry?” Safia asked.

  “Not really, are you?” Hyzou asked.

  “No. But we can stop with the supplies now”, Safia said.

  They had bought some buttermilk and rice from a farmer yesterday, and it had made a nice break from the banality of their supplies.

  “From one of the farmers?” Hyzou said.

  “In a village, there’s loads of them on the road to CaSu, and they all have taverns”, Safia said.

  “Taverns?” Hyzou asked.

  “They call them beershops in the River Cities”, Safia said.

  “And this sure isn’t the River Cities”, Hyzou said.

  “Are you ok?” Safia asked.

  An old woman in a tattered hood jumped in front of their horses and began to ululate. Safia ignored her, so Hyzou did too.

  “When we were in the countryside, it was different but, you know”, Hyzou said. “It was still things I recognised. Here, it feels so foreign.”

  Their horses kept carrying them down the steep road. Most others on the road were walking, so the horses were forced to constantly bob and weave through groups of walkers. There was a brief period where they were forced to wait behind two farmers leading a herd of cattle along the road, but overall, they made good time.

  Towards evening they reached a village, one built just to buy and sell from travellers on the road. A series of buildings just off the road were spilling out onto the street. Outside of each one a man or woman were shouting at them, looking for business.

  “Come on”, Safia said.

  She led him towards one of the largest ones.

  “How do you know that this is the one we should try?” Hyzou asked.

  Safia shrugged, as she got down off her horse.

  “It’s the most popular”, she said.

  There were crowds around it. Hyzou got down off his horse and led it, following Safia. He thought they were going to go inside, but instead Safia led him to a long window, where a huge man was staring out at them.

  He barked something at them, and Hyzou didn’t understand. Safia replied, her voice silky, refined. The man’s eyes widened slightly. Hyzou didn’t understand all that she said, but he got the idea, she was asking for two meals.

  They talked back and forth, and then the man handed over two bowls. Safia handed one to Hyzou and took the other for herself. Safia led him behind the tavern. There was a large fenced area, and there, on the grass, all kinds of people sat eating and drinking. Hyzou and Safia sat nearest the exit.

  Hyzou looked down at his food.

  “What is this?” Hyzou asked.

  “Yoghurt and honey”, Safia said.

  “What’s a yoghurt?” Hyzou said.

  “Burned milk”, Safia said.

  Hyzou spooned the mixture into his mouth.

  “It’s nice, right?” Safia said.

  Hyzou shrugged.

  “This place is strange”, Hyzou said.

  They ate in silence, and Hyzou watched the other people in the garden. They were nearly all Mujaden, their meals looked a lot stranger than Hyzou’s. Safia must have chosen something particularly tame for him to eat.

  Once they had eaten, Hyzou set off again, following Safia’s lead. Soon, the road became very steep, and Hyzou felt a bit of vertigo. As they rode, Safia began at that habit of hers again, chewing on the skin around her nail on the third finger of the right hand. Hyzou watched as she bit until she bled, then winced and placed her hand under her cloak.

  It was nightfall by the time they reached the river. Even though it was dark outside, the bridge over the river was still crowded with people, pushing and shoving and hurrying and harrying.

  “There’s only four bridges in all, and one
of those is aristocracy only. It’s cheaper to cross during night time, so that’s why they’re busy through the night”, Safia said.

  “This is insane”, Hyzou said.

  Despite the late hour, no one was sleeping as they approached the long queue for the bridge. Merchants, women and men of the flesh, beggars and mercenaries were all out and looking for business. There were a lot of drunks too, as well as sharp eyed others looking to rob from anyone who strayed into their paths. Hyzou reached beneath his linens, felt the pommel of his sword.

  Hyzou and Safia edged forward as the night dragged on.

  “This is a nightmare”, Hyzou said.

  “It can take hours, sometimes, to cross the bridge”, Safia said.

  Hyzou sighed. He leaned back in his saddle and began to daydream. A half hour passed where he got to move his horse another foot every minute. A woman of the flesh came over to him, said something in a tongue he didn’t understand. Safia giggled.

  “No”, Hyzou said, in CaSuan.

  The woman of the flesh walked off.

  “What did she say?” Hyzou asked.

  Safia laughed again and looked away.

  “You know, with every hour that passes in this valley, I realise just how much I’m going to need you. I’m lost here”, Hyzou said.

  “Well seeing as I’m just here for my name. It’s good that you’re getting some use out of me”, Safia said.

  Hyzou sighed.

  “I said I was sorry”, Hyzou said.

  Safia grit her teeth, then nodded.

  They reached the side of the bridge. An old man, standing beside a bored guard, looked up at them.

  “What’ll it be?” The old man said.

  “Just the crossing”, Safia said.

  She placed some salt on the old man’s table.

  “That’s enough”, the old man said.

  The guard stepped aside and let them ride out onto the bridge.

  “I understood him”, Hyzou said.

  “He spoke CaSuan. Real CaSuan. Not the mongrel dialect slaves speak”, Safia said.

  Hyzou looked back at the old man, then over the bridge. The wind was blowing harshly over the water and into his face. It felt pitch black. There was no lighting along the bridge, and it was a cloudy night so there was no moonlight. All along the bridge hundreds of people stumbled into one another, taking tiny steps to let them cross safely.

  Hyzou didn’t need his sight. He owned his envy and rode out ahead of Safia. He imposed his will upon the horse, and made the animal rush through the traffic, taking just the right gap each and every time. Compared to the long wait to enter it, crossing the bridge took them nearly no time at all.

  On the other side the horses rode out onto a paved road, although it was cracked. There was a crowd waiting here to cross the bridge too, and it was denser even than the side they had just come from.

  Owning his envy, Hyzou saw a small gap. He forced his way through the crowd and down towards the banks of the river.

  “Where are you going?” Safia asked.

  Hyzou didn’t reply, he just forced the horse to ride right to the edge of the river, then doubled back and rode along the water’s edge. The path allowed him to avoid the crowd in its entirety. Once he had gone around the queue waiting to use the bridge, Hyzou slowed.

  “We ought to sleep”, Hyzou said.

  “You won’t find much in the way of a boarding house here”, Safia said.

  Hyzou looked about him. Chaos surrounded them.

  “Keep moving?” Hyzou asked.

  Safia nodded.

  So they did, riding until they left the crossing behind. Beyond that hustle and bustle they came to rows and rows of huts where the poorest CaSuans lived. There were boarding houses here, but Hyzou had already set himself against it.

  It took them nearly three hours to ride through the mazy streets of the slums. Two hours to get through the workshops and smelters and the houses, until they finally reached the walls of CaSu. By then, it was nearly dawn, and the sky was beginning to be tinged by the morning to come.

  “The city where two thirds of the people don’t live in it”, Safia said.

  “We sleep, then we find your father”, Hyzou said.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “And you’re sure he won’t have moved? It’s been seven years since you’ve been here”, Hyzou said.

  “The Daborah family have done business here for centuries”, Safia said.

  Hyzou looked up at the building that glittered in the morning sun. It was gigantic, smaller than the Sun Tower, but larger than any other building Hyzou had seen before in his life. It was the same with all the buildings in CaSu. All were giant, all coated in metal and sculptures, all individually designed.

  “Is this where you lived?” Hyzou asked.

  “No. The family lives somewhere different entirely”, Safia said. “This is just a place of business.”

  Hyzou shrugged.

  “You know, Lamybla impressed me. But this is just something else”, Hyzou said.

  “I’ve never been to Lamybla, but if it’s like other cities, it has maybe three or four buildings of worth, am I right?” Safia said.

  “Three or four buildings that would fit in here, yes”, Hyzou said.

  “That’s because they have one leader, who holds control in entirety over the city. CaSu has twenty-six different families, all of which run on their own little kingdom”, Safia said. “Imagine twenty-six different Pharaoh Ganymedes.”

  Hyzou shivered at the thought of that.

  “What was that?” Safia asked.

  “It’s just Pharaoh Ganymedes, he’s not a very nice man”, Hyzou said.

  “You’ve met him?” Safia asked.

  “We can talk about this some other time”, Hyzou said.

  “Oh, right”, Safia said.

  She walked towards the gigantic building. This involved climbing up a long, steep, set of steps. The steps were busy, groups of people debating, shouting and screaming at one another. Hyzou and Safia stepped through the crowds, and reached the tall entrance to the building, made from brownstone that was elaborately patterned.

  It was a shock then, when Hyzou stepped through the ornate arch, and stepped into a tiny, stuffy corridor.

  “What’s going on?” Hyzou asked.

  “Shhhh…” Safia said.

  And she was right, it was unusually quiet in here. Hyzou looked ahead of him, at the end of the corridor there was a tiny bronze grille, and the only light in the corridor came from the other side of that grille.

  Hyzou owned his envy and examined his surroundings. On the other side of that grille was a man, sat on a stool, surrounded by heavy stone tablets. Beside him were two giants, men nearly seven feet in height. They both either side of the wall next to the grille.

  A hidden door. Hyzou said.

  Beside him to the left and beside him to the right were corridors just like this one, using his QI Hyzou sensed that they stretched far in each direction. There were about forty of these kinds of windows.

  At their window there was an old couple up at the grill, whispering with the man behind it. Hyzou and Safia stood back in the darkness, the silence hanging heavy on their ears.

  When the old couple eventually left, they passed by Hyzou, and he saw that the woman was sobbing. She was being comforted by her husband, who had his arms around her shoulders. Her broken breath echoed around the corridor as Hyzou stepped up to the window at Safia’s shoulder.

  “Hello, sir”, Safia said.

  From inside the grill Hyzou saw a set of beady eyes stare out.

  “Come back in two days when the bank hires mercenaries for the week”, the man said.

  “No, sir, we’re not mercenaries. Or, well, we are, but that’s not why we’re here”, Safia said.

  At the sound Safia’s voice, Hyzou saw the man’s eyes light up. Hyzou thought he understood. Common mercenaries didn’t speak with Safia’s accent.

  “Are you interested in money?” The ma
n said.

  “Yes”, Safia said.

  “Then I’ll be happy to discuss such business with you on behalf of the Daborah family. Please, name the sum you seek”, the man said.

  Safia shook her head.

  “I’d rather talk to a Zaeem”, Safia said.

  “A Zaeem? My lady, you should know that I can approve any loan myself”, the man said.

  “But you have limits, don’t you?” Safia said.

  “I do, but they’re more than any woman would need”, the man said.

  “I’m going to need access to the kind of sums that a Zaeem has”, Safia said.

  The man’s eyes darkened.

  “A woman cannot speak to a Zaeem. Zaeems only deal with business of the most important sort, and if your husband needs the money he should come himself. The Daborah family will be happy to speak to him”, the man said.

  “I come on behalf on my father”, Safia said.

  “Then tell him to come down and see us, there is no place for women here beyond this door”, the man said.

  “I won’t speak”, Safia said. “My father has sent this man with me so that he can speak on my behalf.”

  The man frowned.

  “Who is your father? Why does he send a woman and a foreign cur to our house? Does he disrespect this family?” The man said.

  Hyzou’s lips tightened, but to his surprise, Safia seemed unfazed.

  “Please, sir, my father is old. He sent me here, as his blood, and this man, his servant, to act as his mind. He hopes that that will be enough. He is too sick to leave the house”, Safia said.

  The beady man frowned.

  “It is most unusual”, he said.

  “I will not talk”, Safia said.

  “And your clothes, do you disrespect the Daborah family with your dress?” The man said.

  “A woman of aristocratic birth is not safe without her man. On the street I look just like any other commoner”, Safia said.

  The man sighed.

  “Very well, wait here”, he said.

  There was some movement, and Hyzou felt Safia relax beside him. He looked at her, wondering what she was doing. She was staring ahead, and Hyzou felt silence was the best cause of action.