by Ryan Peter
The beautiful serenity of the Meadow stood defiantly against the war between the Twins, and its very own wounds received when the Covenant Tree had been put to flame. North, north east of the Meadow stood the Maghtani Fort, defending itself against the armies of Ben-Kiêrre and their fort – the Fort Gersha only a few miles to the west.
Arsheen, son of Arshayn, defended the Fort Maghtani from the continuous onslaught of the Ben-Kiêrre legions. He knew Ben-Kiêrre would be relentless until the fort was utterly defeated, for Iza-Kiêrre was focusing mainly on the centre of the desert between the Twins, and he was now quite cut off from them.
After their defeat in the desert, Iza-Kiêrre retreated and many of their channels were closed, including the usual channels of supplying him with men and arms. The east was where he now would receive what he needed, but that was a much longer route and there were considerable delays.
He thought that it would be best for them to retreat and rather join the larger army, for that would – in his mind – be more advantageous to them all. The Maghtani Fort was the southern-most fort before the Meadow, and it seemed useless to him for it to stand. Defending the east and the north made more sense, for that would ultimately be where Ben-Kiêrre would be looking to assault next.
Defending the east would mean that Ben-Kiêrre could not encircle around them as well. But two things were important right now: firstly, whoever held Maghtani Fort held the Meadow. Secondly, he was to be watchful for the Outlanders and the warriors of Dernium who would take the road through the Meadow to journey to Iza-Kiêrre. These were his orders.
To do so, Arsheen had to regularly defend the roads to prevent both parties from being ambushed by Ben-Kiêrre. The Outlanders, he knew, had the most difficult task – for most of the western desert was in the hands of Ben-Kiêrre. But would Ben-Kiêrre take Outlanders captive? Surely not.
News had just reached him that Dernium warriors had been seen on the road, so he had sent scouts and some men out to give them safe passing. However, he did not know for how much longer he could hold the fort. And, once Dernium or the Outlanders arrived, he would still need to give them safe passage to Iza-Kiêrre. He imagined that would be tremendously difficult too. Then, he decided, would be the time he would abandon the fort.
Tarkanyon and the Outlanders, however, made significant progress through the west of Colone. After Altana had left, Tarkanyon saw the only solution was to leave Moyna and two others of his men at the villages. They were to restore order to the villages and appoint a leader, while sending messages to the king and the Monument to inform them of what had happened. The Monument would send more Outlanders to the villages and then Moyna and his team could return to the Twins. He had originally planned to leave Chrisolian in charge but changed his mind after hearing how the war was escalating so quickly.
Two weeks had passed since Ay's trial, and Tarkanyon was now close to arriving at the Meadow. They had been seen by Ben-Kiêrre a few times on their way through. That didn’t worry him — in fact, he hoped this would happen, as Sephobwe might then come to meet him.
Cadell and his army were on their way to the Meadow as well, knowing they would probably reach it by nightfall. Cadell's eyes and scouts were very aware of the possibility of an ambush from Ben-Kiêrre, so it was his orders that they move as swiftly as possible. Despite being tired their hearts were encouraged. Thoughts of the many more battles to come once they reached Iza-Kiêrre were far from most of their minds.
His scouts had intercepted those of Arsheen's men. Arsheen had sent fifteen of the best men he could spare to guide and help them reach the Fort Maghtani. Cadell was greatly appreciative, although a little disappointed to hear the news of the current fort's condition. For, it seemed, they may have now fight their way through to Iza-Kiêrre. He was reassured, however, that if news reached Iza-Kiêrre of their arrival, Soilabi would do all that was needed to prevent them from needing to engage in battle with the Ben-Kiêrre armies.
As evening approached the road changed from harder sand to a cobbled road. Soon, in the distance, they could see the short brown brick walls of the Meadow. In the twilight horizon, tall trees and palms could be seen, but its true beauty was mostly invisible in the darkness. Torches of fire were situated throughout alcoves built into the near-perfectly shaped brick walls. The light travelled far and wide, creating a warm and comforting glow around the Meadow.
Cadell knew that the flames always burned, signifying the Flame of Peace of the Twins. Tonight they would encamp in the Meadow, a safe-haven. No man of the Twin Cities, or even from all of Lexedore, would dare assail them there. The road led straight towards a short steel gate, beautifully carved with symbols of flame and leaf, that opened under a large archway in the walls. Inside the archway, on either side and above the gate, stood ornately carved lamps. Admiration and peace filled them all as they approached the gates and they entered. Torches inside the Meadow illuminated the large oasis and exquisite trees and palms. The smell of the dust in the desert was suddenly dominated by the sweet scent of flowers and plants. A small pathway, surrounded by roses of all kinds, led from the gate further into the Meadow.
“Magical,” Cadell said to himself, wide eyed, as they entered. His relief was obvious, and it was echoed in the faces of the men around him. Silently but restfully they set up their camp in an open field, surrounded by various flowers of many different kinds and colours. Night larks, crickets, and a comfortable, warm air greeted them as well as the large, refreshing oasis. They were allowed to enjoy, but Arsheen's scouts and the Meadow-tenders forbade them to see the Tree of the Covenant, which existed at the centre of the Meadow. No fires were allowed to be made.
But only a few hours passed when the grim face of Johl – the captain sent by Arsheen – entered Cadell's tent.
“He is here,” he said.
“Who? The Outlanders?” Cadell answered.
“No,” said Johl gravely. “The chancellor.”
Sephobwe entered the camp, amidst blank stares from those around him. He walked through calmly, his dark coat flapping behind him, being led to Cadell's tent. Cadell was hardly ready for him by the time he entered.
“Chancellor,” said Cadell. “Greetings. Please excuse the lack of ceremony. We were not expecting you.”
“I am not concerned about ceremony, save those of magisterial virtue,” answered Sephobwe calmly.
“Could I at least offer you food and drink?”
“I decline for I am fasting.”
“Very well,” said Cadell.
Sephobwe sat down and looked at Cadell intently, saying nothing. His dark blue eyes appeared more piercing as they contrasted with his black skin, and his head was cleanly shaven. His coat had four large white triangles on the back, each pointing away from each other.
“Very well,” Cadell repeated, sitting down. “You may speak.”
“So may you,” said Sephobwe, staring at Cadell, who looked away raising an eyebrow. After a few moments Cadell spoke again. “I suspect you have come to discuss terms of some sort?”
“Yes. Tonight Arsheen shall fall,” Sephobwe answered calmly. “So you shall have to think of your terms first. After Arsheen falls our armies shall take the Meadow. You will have no choice but to surrender to us.”
“Taking us shall put you in a precarious position with our courts,” Cadell replied cautiously. “You must let us pass through, even if you take those of Sultan Soilabi's army.”
“We won't put you to death, certainly not,” said Sephobwe. “We shall merely take you captive and then release you when the time is right.”
“When our Courts demand it,” Cadell replied reluctantly but firmly. “So, you come then to ask us for our surrender?”
“Of course. We do not want bloodshed. We only want to teach, that is all.”
Cadell frowned. “You cannot take us while we are here, for the Meadow is by your own laws neutral ground.”
“So long as it stands. Now consider my terms, for they are worthy. There shall be no blood
shed and you cannot abide here much more than a few weeks.”
Cadell tried to look as if he was calm, but inside he was perplexed. Sephobwe's blue eyes fixed on him steadily. But then one of Cadell’s men interrupted them, requesting entrance to the tent.
“Very well, enter in!” replied Cadell, the man entering excitedly.
“Sir Cadell, Tarkanyon and the Outlanders are here.”
Cadell stood up with a clear smile. “Send them in, send them in!” he said, rubbing his hands and looking at Sephobwe. Sephobwe seemed unperturbed, calmly peering over at the entrance of the tent. Eventually Tarkanyon entered in, sombre and courteous. He and Cadell shook hands, Cadell showing his gladness openly.
“I am Cadell, commander of the Dernium contingent to Iza-Kiêrre,” he said.
“Tarkanyon of the Fourth,” replied Tarkanyon, peering over and noticing Sephobwe. Sephobwe did not stand up but considered him silently.
“Tarkanyon of the Fourth,” Tarkanyon said, extending his arm to Sephobwe. It was customary for those of the desert to shake hands. Sephobwe shook it lightly and then continued to look at them both. Cadell, unsure of what to do, beckoned for Tarkanyon to sit down.
Tarkanyon was surprised at Sephobwe's calmness and indifference, although he was not sure if the indifference was just arrogance. Sephobwe did not speak, waiting for the others. Cadell, at much more ease to leave the politics to Tarkanyon, relented from their discussion. So it was Tarkanyon who was to begin the conversation.
“I am most pleased to meet you, Chancellor,” he said, “For, although you have not introduced yourself, I know you from descriptions I have heard.” Sephobwe nodded lightly, fixing his eyes firmly on him. He still said nothing.
“I am pleased for two reasons,” continued Tarkanyon. “First, it allows me to hear your views of this war. For it is right for us – in the name of peace – to hear all sides. However, your exalted sultan refused to receive us and that has made things difficult for the Monument and, indeed, myself.”
Sephobwe nodded again, his gaze still fixed.
“The second is a personal reason,” Tarkanyon said. “I have heard much of your great and mighty nation – the princely tribes of Kelagot. By your look, and by what I know, you hail from there, do you not?”
“Indeed,” answered Sephobwe at last, quietly and inexcitably. “I am from Menswana.”
“An illustrious tribe,” Tarkanyon declared. “For I have done much study on the ways of Kelagot, and your people intrigue me.”
Sephobwe remained silent and composed, as usual. At his lack of reply, Tarkanyon continued his speech. “Those are my two reasons, but my interest continues, for it has come to my ears that your tribes war. News from Kelagot is scarce and disjointed and we are never sure of what is precisely transpiring. Unfortunately, our influence does not carry to the northern lands and neither can we travel there easily, as you know.”
Sephobwe continued to just look at him. Tarkanyon was getting annoyed but tried to remain as courteous as possible. “Is it true that the tribes war?”
“This is true, yes,” answered Sephobwe. “For many, many years now.”
“Then it intrigues me as to your visit to these lands and your subsequent position as High Chancellor of the great Sultan Ahmatein,” Tarkanyon said, pushing for answers. But Sephobwe said nothing. It appeared to Tarkanyon that Sephobwe would not answer unless he was directly asked, so he decided to be more candid. “Why are you at Ben-Kiêrre, Chancellor?”
“Menswana have withered,” answered Sephobwe. “I am a lone survivor of my tribe. After my capture I travelled through the Passing for that is where The All would entwine me. I came to Ben-Kiêrre, for the sultan is a man of great learning and that is why I was sent there.”
“Sent from whom?”
“Nature,” answered Sephobwe. “All of nature and time. The All. I am of an ancient teaching, the true way and true disciplines of all virtue. It is all one as all is one. This was this message that I was to bring to the sultan.”
Tarkanyon leaned back, thinking to himself that Luillan would possibly know more of what the chancellor was actually saying. Nevertheless, he was intrigued. “This is the teachings of the schools in Ben-Kiêrre?” he asked.
“This is the beginning of the teaching of true hidden things,” replied Sephobwe.
Riddles again, Tarkanyon thought. Ay spoke in riddles too, but he didn't want to think of him. He remembered his dream and Ay's last words to Drius before he disappeared. He found these prick his conscience. Tarkanyon hoped Ay was still alive, although they had not seen any trace of him since his trial. All was not as it seemed with Ay, and Sephobwe seemed the same. Would he make similar mistakes as he did with Ay? What was really going on?
His thoughts raced to the present. Ahmatein burned down the Tree of the Covenant and he was no doubt supported by Sephobwe. This was the question he wanted the answer to.
“Tell me,” he asked cautiously. “Why did you set the Tree of the Covenant to flame?”
“Ah,” answered Sephobwe, his tone and mood changing. “Your heart and colours shall now show, Tarkanyon of the Fourth. The answer is not simple, but it is true that the Tree has had the Twin Cities in bondage and captivity for far too long. There is a deeper evil to that tree and covenant that disguises and hides itself. The time of that evil is to pass and the new time is to come. Indeed, Ben-Kiêrre begins to live in that time and Iza-Kiêrre shall soon see it.”
“The Tree kept the Twins from war and blood for generations,” said Tarkanyon. “I myself do not see that as evil. Moreso, I see this present war as evil.”
Sephobwe was quick to answer, although he remained still and calm. “Those who have been blinded by the lies of darkness cannot see the darkness for they live in the darkness. This war is the the birth pangs of a new and glorious time. A time when all shall become all, when all shall be as one.”
Sephobwe looked at Tarkanyon for a while longer and then added: “These are not simple teachings, Tarkanyon of the Fourth. You have a choice now that I present to you. Indeed, there are two choices for you, and two choices for Cadell of Dernium.”
“State these choices, then,” Cadell said. “For I grow weary.”
Tarkanyon looked at him disapprovingly but then looked back at Sephobwe.
“These are the choices for you, Tarkanyon of the Fourth,” began Sephobwe. “If you are interested in knowing these teachings you may come with me – you and your Outlanders – and I shall put you under them. However, to understand them fully would take many years and much discipline.”
“I can come with you now and try to understand these teachings,” interrupted Tarkanyon, “But I would insist you delay your war with the Twins, at the least, and allow us to work at a peaceful solution for us all.”
“You would mean to put these teachings to the Monument,” stated Sephobwe. “I can see that. Such an undertaking is fruitless. The Monument will not understand them and will insist on their own dogmatic ideals. Instead, you would need to renounce your heritage and all heritage, and begin as one with no beginning or end.”
“Out of the question,” replied Tarkanyon with a deep frown. “You mean to say that your teaching is not to be questioned and evaluated? I have suspicions of such teachings.”
“You say so only because you do not know the teachings,” replied Sephobwe calmly. “Yet your own teachings cannot be questioned, that you should see full well. But you have made up your mind, I see. I recant this option and present to you only the second.”
“State it.”
“Your second relates to Cadell of Dernium, as it is now the option of you both.”
“State it, then,” replied Cadell impatiently.
“It is the same as I have presented to you before, Captain,” answered Sephobwe. “Tonight, even as we speak, the armies of my sultan sweep against Arsheen son of Arshayn and his fort. Both he and the fort Maghtani shall fall into our hands. This would mean that you would have no true passage through to
Iza-Kiêrre.” He stopped to let that sink in. “To prevent more unnecessary bloodshed, surrender to us. You then, Tarkanyon of the Fourth, can come with Cadell of Dernium with us, or you may go back to Iza-Kiêrre and bring to them our terms.
“These terms are simple: we do not want bloodshed. We only want to teach what is true and virtuous. If they surrender, we do not wish to rule them but only to bring them under our teaching. These are worthy and peaceful terms, and are from my sultan of the great and mighty city of Ben-Kiêrre, Sultan Ahmatein.”
Tarkanyon considered this a moment while Cadell asked: “What is my other choice?”
“Fight and die in the desert,” Sephobwe said disinterestedly.
Tarkanyon leaned back and narrowed his eyes. “I see.” He paused. “But your own laws are unknown to you.”
Sephobwe looked up. Tarkanyon waited. “I see no error with our terms,” he said at last, calmly.
“If Arsheen falls,” Tarkanyon replied, “Cadell and his army still have safe passage. For, they are granted as such by us.”
“You shall be defenceless against our armies.”
“But you shall not attack, for your law states that we have rights to pass through your lands in peace; secondly, those that we guide also may pass through in peace. We, the Outlanders, are not at war with you, High Chancellor. Iza-Kiêrre is, but we are not.”
“But you go forth to support those whom we are at war against,” Sephobwe said, completely composed and comfortable.
“Not the Outlanders. We come to bring peace, not support to either city. That is what we do.”
“So it is said,” Sephobwe replied. “But you would fight for Iza-Kiêrre if it seemed appropriate or, shall I say, advantageous to you.”
“The former yes, the latter no,” Tarkanyon said sternly. “Cadell and his army is granted safe passage with us. It cannot extend to Arsheen, but it can extend to Cadell and his company.”
“I give you no guarantee of such.”
“Do you wish to go to war with the Outlanders as well?” Tarkanyon taunted. “That, High Chancellor, would be the outcome, and it would be most unwise. For not only the Outlanders, but many of the nations of Lexedore would come against you.”
“Dernium is against us already,” said Sephobwe calmly.
“We only show support to Iza-Kiêrre to honour our treaties to the Twin Cities,” said Cadell. “Yes, we fight against you, but not in war, only in defence.”
“A technicality.”
Tarkanyon leaned back. Was Sephobwe showing a bit of anger? He wondered if he could push him further, but he realised that it may place them in more danger than what it was worth.
“Sir Cadell of Dernium,” he said. “I grant you peaceful passage with us as your guides through the desert of Colone and the road to the city of Iza-Kiêrre.”
“I accept your passage,” Cadell replied, showing clear relief.
“It is done then,” said Tarkanyon. Sephobwe simply looked at him. “I shall bring your terms to Sultan Soi'labi. Though I have no doubt he has already heard and rejected them. I now formally request that you would receive myself and the Outlanders to enter your courts and to bring negotiations of peace between yourselves and Iza-Kiêrre.”
“You cannot enter our courts,” replied Sephobwe with his familiar cool air. “It is not the way of the True Teaching.”
“Then you ask for more bloodshed.”
“I ask for peace,” said Sephobwe. “But I shall not compromise on what is true.”
“I do not ask for compromise on what is true,” replied Tarkanyon. “I ask for you to show this truth in a way that is virtuous.”
“You know nothing of virtue,” Sephobwe said, getting up slowly. “The Teaching cannot be opened to those who wish to scrutinise it, only to those who are willing to accept it. They must choose to accept it.”
“I would be willing to accept it, if it is true.”
“It is true before it is accepted,” stated Sephobwe. “Your heart shows that you reject it first before having known it. That is not virtuous. Arsheen falls tonight. Now I go.”
Sephobwe showed himself out the tent but gave them one last look as he left. Cadell instructed for him to be granted passage to the gates of the Meadow, where his own soldiers waited for him. After he left, Cadell turned to Tarkanyon.
“Arsheen and Soilabi have shown the gallantry of protecting us as best they could,” he said. “I now count it our duty to help Arsheen from the onslaught of his enemy. It was originally my intention to get us to Iza-Kiêrre without more loss, for we suffered great loss in the desert.”
“Indeed, I was told so as I came to your tent,” interrupted Tarkanyon. “Both of your commanders are also dead. I am sorry, Sir Cadell.”
“Thank you,” replied Cadell. “So I have changed my mind. It is our duty to help defend Arsheen and Maghtani, his fort. What say you?”
“It is right to do so,” said Tarkanyon. “I shall send two of my own to ride to Arsheen swiftly and both warn him and ask him to tell us of actual events. As they do so, we must formulate a plan. For my protection cannot cover Arsheen, but I suspect that if we give them passage Sephobwe will still not attack, for we would be obliged to defend them, too, and his actions would give further cause for us to believe he is in the wrong. We must have them join our party for us to hold them to their law.”
“Dangerous,” said Cadell.
“Perhaps our best hand. Now, I go to send my men to him.”
Tarkanyon left the tent quickly to send Turrik and Poiternium to Arsheen. Cadell sat down and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. He pondered their plans. Perhaps, Cadell hoped, Sephobwe would begin to make some mistakes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX