by Rosie Scott
“Like what?”
Theron shrugged. “I apologize, for I don't know much more than that.”
“King Adar is said to have some of their findings,” Jakan spoke up. “All I know is that one of the objects is a sphere made of the coldest, hardest metal you'd ever see, and if you let it sit in sunlight long enough, it starts to glow. King Adar is convinced that the patterns that glow on it are the language of the Ancients, but he has never been able to find a translator.”
I inwardly wondered if I would ever be able to convince the king of Nahara to let me take a look at the object. I was intensely interested in finding out more about the history of the gods and the Ancients. Just a year or so ago, I hadn't believed the gods existed at all. Now that I knew they did, and were much different than myth would have me believe, the idea of learning more about the Ancients which created us was fascinating.
The hour grew late, and my companions went off to bed, one by one. It was yet another night I stayed up for first watch, and for once, Nyx made no move to go to sleep and sat by my side. I preferred the night shift, while she preferred to get up in the early hours of the mornings to be on watch for the second shift. Because of our preferences, it was rare we were able to spend time together, given our sleep schedules tended to stay consistent even over the nights that the others had their own shifts.
It would be nice to spend time with my best friend. We had rarely gotten to speak with each other alone since entering Nahara.
With the others sleeping mostly silently behind us, Nyx decided to ask, “What's your plan to free Anto once we get to T'ahal?”
My lips scrunched to the side of my face as I thought. “I have no idea.”
My friend burst into giggles, and I glanced over, amused, to see her shaking her head. “So you were talking out of your ass again, ey?”
“I mean...we'll figure out a way. I meant what I told Jakan about wanting to help.”
“What would be really helpful is if we had a plan,” Nyx teased.
“Yeah, but we have no idea what the situation is like. We haven't yet seen how he's being held, or where he is in the city,” I protested. “We haven't even seen the city.”
“We could pull a Cerin and break his ass out. I can scout the place again.” Nyx shrugged.
My friend's insistence on being nonchalant about the whole thing would have been amusing if the idea of freeing Anto wasn't so stressful for me. “Yeah, because that worked so well last time.”
“I'll go do it myself, then. We wouldn't have gotten caught in Sera if I'd been alone.”
“Nyx—I don't want to free him like that, anyway. We need to make friends in T'ahal, not enemies. If we commit crimes against the rich and are found out, our whole reason for being here will be sabotaged.”
“So you're willing to dump one thousand gold on freeing him?” She replied.
I hesitated. “I barely have one thousand gold,” I admitted. I'd had just a little over that when we had been in Comercio, but buying supplies had lowered the amount. Other than selling our loot back then, we had made no gold. Storms and scorpions did not drop gold. Even worse, being in Nahara meant most enemies wouldn't drop gold, even if they were human. Both the culture and the economy were very different here.
“Before or after your promise to pay Jakan to take us to T'ahal?”
“...before.” I knew my answer made it worse, but I would get nowhere without honesty.
Nyx sighed. “Okay...how much gold do you need?”
“I can pay the one thousand gold myself. I will simply have nothing left over with which to pay for inns or anything else.”
“Yeah, I get that. So I repeat: how much do you need?”
I hesitated. “I'd say two hundred, so I have a buffer for necessities.”
“If I give you two hundred, is your problem solved?”
I glanced over to the Alderi. “It would be, yes. But Anto isn't your problem.”
“No, he's not. But he's not yours, either, and you've promised that man—” Nyx jerked a thumb back to Jakan “—the freedom of his lover, and now you have to deliver. Let me help you.” Her black eyes were barely visible under the night sky. The helpful extra light of Meir had been gone for some time now, the second moon having disappeared from the horizon for another cycle.
I hesitated. Nyx was offering me a great deal of relief, but I felt awful for taking any money from her. After all, it was to free a man we'd never met on only the word of our newest member. And while most of my money had come from my position of royalty in Sera, back before I'd ended all possible ties there for good, her gold had been meticulously saved over her years as an assassin and then as a mercenary for the six years before we fled. It would be harder for her to part with the gold than it would be for me.
“I'll tell you what: I'll give you the two hundred gold, and you can let me bed that sexy hunk of a ranger for once,” she said, when I hadn't replied.
I chuckled low, shaking my head. “For the love of the gods, Nyx...isn't it enough that Theron is your friend?”
“I mean, that's cool and all, but it doesn't make him less hot. I've kept my hands off of him for over a year. The lack of the chase is killing me.” She gave me the most innocent face she could when I looked over.
I rolled my eyes in amusement. “Okay, but only if you promise not to be pushy, and respect his wishes if he says no, and be forward with him. Let him know you're not looking for—”
“Trust me, he's well aware I don't want a relationship,” she replied. “He knows about all my trysts. He's still usually at the bar when I'm headed to a room with somebody. And even so, I'll be honest with him.” One arched, black eyebrow lifted up toward me. “I'm not a creeper, Kai. Just horny.”
I laughed at that. It was true.
“Speaking of naughty things, I've woken up a few times in this gods-forsaken desert because of its heat and have seen you and Cerin together,” she mused, leaving it open-ended for me to fill in the details.
“Yes, Nyx, because we're growing closer, and we like to talk late into the night.”
“No funny business?”
I smirked over at her. “What's so funny about it?”
She huffed. “You know what I meant.”
“No. He's too shy and I don't like to push.”
She sighed. “He hasn't been any more...like...flirtatious with you? Especially lately?”
The tone of her voice made me glare over at her. “Why? What did you do?”
Nyx watched me, her black eyes sparkling mischievously. “I may or may not have said something to him.”
I only stared, and she finally chuckled.
“It wasn't anything bad. A few weeks ago, he had first watch, and I had second. So when he woke me up, I stayed up for a few minutes and talked to him.”
“And said what?”
“Mm...that you were pretty crazy about him, and that I thought he should make a move, because you clearly weren't going to. I told him how Silas had hurt you.”
I exhaled loudly. “Because telling him that wouldn't put him off at all.”
“It didn't. He seemed surprised when I told him you had the hots for him at all. Don't know why, if the guy is that daft, or...”
“He lived alone and secluded from the age of fifteen to twenty-one, Nyx,” I reminded her. “He missed out on some pivotal years for learning how to socialize.”
“I suppose that's true.” After a short hesitation, Nyx couldn't help herself, and said, “So?”
I sighed. “Yes, he's been more flirtatious, Nyx. And yes, I've responded in kind. No, nothing's happened yet. I'll be sure to write down every detail and report in to you when it does.”
She chuckled joyfully. “Good.” She was silent a moment, pensive. “I don't mean to annoy you, Kai. I'm just worried about you. You deserve to find love, because you've always wanted it, and it continues to escape you.”
I looked off into the desert sky, my eyes fixating on oceans of twinkling stars. Nyx's words bro
ught so many people to my mind. Bjorn, Sirius, Terran, Silas, Nanya, and Arturian. All people whom either loved me at some point or from whom I sought love, regardless of its type. All people I had lost or had left my life almost as quickly as they had come into it.
“I have plenty of time for love, Nyx,” I replied, finally. “It's not as we thought a while back...I have hundreds of years to work with.”
“And what a relief that is,” she replied, happily.
We were both silent for a few minutes, thoughts swirling around in our minds. Nyx took the time of silence to pull a bottle of lotion out of her pocket, preparing to moisturize her drying skin.
“It was a mixed bag for you, wasn't it?” Nyx finally asked, in the midst of rubbing lotion over her forearms. “Learning you are a god?”
I laughed dryly. “Yeah,” I admitted.
“You don't like to talk about it,” she mused, paying attention to the swirling motions she made over her dark purple skin. “I remember our trek back from Whispermere. It was like we hadn't found out anything at all. Like you wanted to forget the things you'd learned.”
“I just don't like to think about it. I have no love for the gods. That hasn't changed. I've found more reasons to hate them now that I know my mother and the things she told me about the others.” I glanced over at her, though she was still paying attention to her task. “You have no love for the Alderi, though you are one. Perhaps you sympathize.”
“Oh, I do,” she agreed. “I hate the Alderi, but I refuse to hate myself. I have no shame just because I was born who I was and where I was, and neither should you. Hate the gods all you want, Kai, but love yourself. I have no love for the gods, either, but...” she looked over to me, and smiled. “I think it's pretty awesome that you are one.”
“Half of one,” I corrected.
She snorted a laugh. “Okay, fine. Half a god.” She hesitated, thinking. “You know, all the gods I've ever heard of have something they are the god of. What would you be the god of?”
I shrugged. “Magic, I suppose?” I chuckled, watching my friend. “Isn't it obvious?”
“I guess so. Either that, or you could be the opposite of your mother. The goddess of lust gave birth to the goddess of blue balls.”
“Nyx, for fuck's sake,” I hissed, though I couldn't help but be amused.
“It's true,” she teased, glancing knowingly back to Cerin. After a moment, she went on, “Anyway, your hatred of the gods doesn't seem to stop you from wanting to find out more about the Ancients. When Theron and Jakan were talking earlier tonight about them, your eyes just lit up.”
“Because it's a mystery which is closely connected to me,” I explained. “And all of us, if myth is to be believed. So much of Arrayis is attributed to the Ancients, including the gods. Wouldn't you be interested in finding out more about them?”
Nyx grinned, before she replied, “No, not really. But to be honest, I don't care too much for the past. I like being here, in the present.”
“Yeah, well, our present is only possible because of our past, and the decisions made by my ancestors and yours.”
“You're beginning to sound like your father. Arturian,” she clarified, when I'd glanced over to her with curiosity. “Life isn't a storybook, Kai. Answers aren't always available to you, and even if they are, sometimes you may not find them.” She raised her eyebrows. “Speaking of Arturian, he figured that out for himself. He was still searching for answers to his questions when your mother had him killed.”
“At least he was searching,” I pointed out. “I may not find all the answers I seek,” I admitted, looking off toward the starry desert sky once more. “But that doesn't mean I can't look for them.”
Nine
T'ahal, the capital city of Nahara and our destination, sat nestled between the split of the largest river to flow through the desert sands. When our journey finally took us near it, I was surprised to find the city was probably as large as Sera, if not larger; while Sera was much more vertical and sat on the edge of its mountain in Chairel, T'ahal was built upon flat land, and its largest buildings were at its center. All of the buildings were made of smooth, golden sandstone, and were adorned with open windows which held no glass. Flaps of both sheer and solid drapes drifted out of the open windows in the low afternoon wind, dyed in an array of magnificent colors.
The city was jam-packed between its two main waterways, and had continued to grow outwards from its center over time, with tenements, houses, small shops and livestock farms spilling out onto the sands on the outsides of the forked river. Most of the buildings of T'ahal had flat roofs, and sat upon many of the roofs were potted fruit trees and other plants, along with furniture and drying clothing. Chickens and small lizards roamed free on the outskirts of the city, some being chased by laughing children.
The populace in T'ahal was mostly human, though they were much darker complected than the humans of Chairel. Many had skin the hues of bronze, though some had skin which resembled the color of the deep wooden hues of the trees back in the forests of my home country. Sprinkled throughout the crowds of humans were some Vhiri, though it was hard to tell them apart if their elven ears weren't visible, since most of Jakan's race had skin of gold or bronze. From time to time, I also saw dwarves that appeared to be in the desert for work of some description.
Most shocking of all, however, were the giants. I immediately recognized them. I had never seen one in person, but I had seen paintings of them fighting amongst the Vhiri in artistic depictions of the wars of history. They were natives of Eteri, much like the Vhiri, making their homes in the wild lands of both the mountains and the rocky hillsides. I wondered what their purpose was here in Nahara, across the Servis from their home. As far as I knew, the Vhiri and giants worked well together and considered each other allies. While the Vhiri were a mostly magical race, the giants were anything but, and the elves found the strength of the other race of much benefit. I wasn't sure how the Vhiri were of a mutual benefit to the brutes, but learning more of their relationship would need to be saved for another time.
For now, I only marveled at the giants, walking alongside Vhiri companions and towering over even the tallest man by many feet. I had to imagine the giants measured from nine to twelve feet tall, from shortest to tallest in my view. I felt sympathy for them; as the giant men and women lumbered down the street, they had to constantly dodge both stares and overhangs of buildings, and wait outside of buildings for their Vhiri friends to finish business within.
While the giants were not extremely bulky for their height, their arms and legs were still the size of the trunks of small trees, and I had to imagine their strength was immense. The features of the giant's faces were mostly humanoid, but were scaled with their huge heads, and their noses and ears were thick with extra cartilage.
“This is my first time seeing a giant,” I admitted to Jakan, because I knew the race would be much more familiar to him. “They are more magnificent than I would have imagined.”
“Is that so?” Jakan chuckled, before following my eyes off to the giant I currently watched. “These are younglings, friend. My people won't bring giants across the seas which are older than fifteen, because by the time their business here is finished, the giants would be heavy enough to sink our vessels.”
My eyes widened as I stared at the giants. “These are children?”
“Yes. You should see the giants in Eteri.” Jakan's tone betrayed his nostalgia for his homeland, which I knew he hadn't seen in nearly three decades. “They are so large, I remember being able to see them from my home city of Welkin. And Welkin was many miles up on a mountainside from the tribe of giants across the valley.”
“So they grow as tall as buildings,” I surmised.
He shrugged. “Sometimes taller.”
We made our way into the city from its outskirts, traveling over a wide wooden bridge to cross over the first arm of the river. A few men and women in flowing robes were in the midst of oiling the wood of the bridge f
rom curved bottles. I had to imagine it was easier to keep wooden furniture nice here. The lack of moisture probably extended its life.
The water of the river below us was a beautiful light turquoise, unlike any waters I had seen before. Of course, instead of mud, the riverbed was made of sand, which reflected the midday sun back at us from through the crystal clear water. Along the river bank to our left and right, people were plentiful at the water's edge. Some were fishing, some were gathering water in buckets, and some were even splashing around, determined to cool off in the dry heat.
Once we were past the bridge, taller buildings rose up on either side of us, condensing the sounds of the bustling city around our ears. Thick accents chattered about the day's events, the weather, and even politics. Somewhere, the grunts of various livestock escaped from the space of an alleyway. Then, as we approached the first intersection, my ears feasted upon the most beautiful music I had ever heard.
A group of men and women sat in the middle of an open square on the edges of a beautiful pool of water held within sandstone walls. Each of the musicians held a different instrument, and all worked together to make beauty. I was fascinated by it, for it was far different than the music I heard often in my homeland made of lutes, drums, and flutes. Jakan named the instruments to me as I hesitated to move, entranced by the music ahead.
“The long, wind instrument is the mizmar,” the Vhiri explained, one bronze finger pointing to a woman at the band's center, who enthusiastically blew through the pipe. “That—” Jakan motioned to an instrument which looked much like a lute from back home “—is an oud. The round, thin instrument is a tambourine, and the drum that probably looks oddly shaped to you is called a tablah.”
“This is the prettiest music I've ever heard,” I murmured, letting the foreign sounds flutter pleasurably through my head.