“We have enough water for an extra day or two,” said Esther, turning to Joel.
Joel returned her gaze levelly, then turned to Ajit. “We’ll stay,” then, turning the doctor, “but only for one day. We can’t risk our lives and everything we’ve been trying to do to save one poor soul.” He turned to Ajit. “But we can afford to give him one day.”
Ajit—clearly unhappy with the decision—threw up his hands and turned to the camel’s to unload. Joel and the others helped him while Geoffrey continued to prepare for the surgery.
Esther pulled out her dagger and sliced through the young man’s tunic in order to get it off.
“Esther,” said Geoffrey, “I’ll need some rags to help soak up the blood. He’s bleeding inside and I’ve got to try and stop it. The injury inside must be pretty small, otherwise he’d already be dead. Get the rags, a fresh canteen of water, and thread this needle so that I can use it to sew him up, alright? Be sure to wash your hands with rum before threading the needle, and soak the thread in the rum.”
Esther nodded, repeating back his instructions to make sure that she got them all. She went and gathered the items Geoffrey needed while the others put up the tent. They arranged it so that there was a hole left in the roof for light to shine directly down on the spot the doctor was working on. As long as he worked quickly, the sun shouldn’t shift too far and they wouldn’t need to adjust it before he was finished.
Geoffrey shooed everybody out of the tent except Esther. He then knelt down next to the young man and started working. Esther watched him in amazement as he confidently performed the surgery, applying the skills, knowledge, and expertise from all of his training. She had known he was a skilled physician, but she hadn’t seen him in action until now. A few days ago, he had praised Esther for her grace and dexterity, but his hands moved with every bit of skill and deftness as she had ever achieved with her dancing and swordplay. It didn’t take him long to finish.
“There,” he said finally, sitting up, “Now we wait and see. There’s not much I can do about the head injury. We’re going to need to rig up some sort of carrier for him tomorrow, but for now, he should be able to rest relatively easy right here.”
“You were amazing,” said Esther, “That was truly wondrous to see. It must have taken many years of practice to learn such skill.”
“Thanks,” Geoffrey said, smiling at her. He rinsed his hands in a small bowl of water and sighed, “I entered an apprenticeship when I was twelve, transferred to the University in Lancaster when I was sixteen, and spent most of the remaining time there and at the hospital studying and assisting on surgeries. I performed my first independent surgery when I was nineteen.” He looked down at his hands, drying them with a towel. “I’ve been blessed with good hands and the ability to quickly recognize the problem. I’ve lost patients.” His face darkened with this admission. “More than I would like, but I still feel like this is my…’calling’ for lack of a better term.”
“Well, you’re very good at it,” said Esther, “I envy you that—knowing what your ‘calling’ is, I mean. I’m the daughter of a farmer. My calling has always been to marry a farmer and raise children. Don’t get me wrong, I do want to have children one day, I just don’t want to be a farmer. But now—I don’t know. This is definitely not what I had in mind,” she said, spreading her hands.
Geoffrey smiled. “Esther, you’re one of the brightest, smartest people I know. I’m sure that whatever you end up doing, it will be amazing.”
Esther smiled back, meeting the doctor’s level gaze. Suddenly, she realized that he wasn’t looking away and she felt something—a connection. She had discounted it before whenever she had been with him, but now, she was sure she felt something. Was it only her imagination? She dropped her gaze to the floor, embarrassed. But then, the doctor’s hand came into view and he gently lifted her chin, raising her eyes from the ground to meet his gaze again. He leaned toward her. Esther’s first instinct was to pull away, but something inside her held her in place. He only leaned halfway toward her, then stopped.
Esther could see the concern on his face, the hesitation and worry that perhaps his actions would cause her discomfort, or even emotional pain, and then she saw her reflection in his eyes, and yet, it was more than just a reflection. She saw herself as he did, and felt the concern, affection, and the beginnings of something that can only be described as love reflected there in his eyes. The knowledge of how he saw her gave her the strength and courage to move the remaining distance between them. She leaned forward and as her lips met his, barriers that she didn’t even know she had erected melted away and she leaned further into his embrace.
CHAPTER 25
Al Farnaka
Traveling by airship is a much better way to go. I can’t believe we’re finally here. Al Farnaka is amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it before. Well, of course I haven’t—I’ve only been to areas around Tewksbury, but I just meant to say that it was amazing…
Esther stood at the railing of the large transport airship they had booked passage on in Harappa and looked down at the sprawling city of Al Farnaka, the capital of the Hadiqan Empire. The city sat in a large valley with the red rock of the desert plateaus to the north, rolling green hills to the west and south, and a massive range of tall grey and purple, snow topped mountains to the east. A large river wound its way through the valley from a canyon in the eastern mountains, forming a horseshoe around the city. The buildings became progressively larger and more ornate the closer they were to the massive palace complex resting on a large, rocky hill overlooking the river at one end of the horseshoe.
From this height Esther had a good view of the palace complex’s extravagant architecture. Its grand spires rose into the air and were topped with golden domes that glinted in the sunlight, letting all around know and recognize the wealth of Hadiq, a shining jewel in the sometimes dark and bleak world. Underlying the apparent luxury, however, was a fortress. A citadel with impenetrably thick walls that some said were carved right out of the massive hill on which the palace stood, overlooking the river.
Large floating fortresses—their wooden timbers soaked with refined Saug oil and held aloft by bunkers of saug gas—were tethered to the ground by massive chains on each corner of the first tier plateau of the palace complex and served as a deterrent to any airship that came too close. Esther had been told that they weren’t part of the Hadiqan Navy either, but instead were manned by the King’s Royal Guard. Like the palace, these forts were a testament to the beauty of Al Farnaka and the accomplishments of mankind.
The main body of each fort consisted of a slightly oval-shaped platform, perhaps four decks deep, with eight windowless towers spaced around the outside edge of the oval. A wide tower rose into the air from the center of each platform with a short, narrower tower on top of that. Another wide tower, but not quite as tall, extended from the bottom side of the oval platform from which the massive chains extended to the ground. Smaller towers extended both up from the top of the platform and down below it around the larger middle towers, topped by massive cannon emplacements.
The forts were built for a military purpose, but the designers had not let that stop them from incorporating ornate designs into the forts architecture with bridges and buttresses connecting the main towers in the center to the smaller towers. The forts were painted white, and trimmed with gold, and each one had a large, golden circular symbol with a Griffin—the symbol of Hadiq—built onto its front side.
Esther’s eyes dropped to the palace again. To her, it really did appear that the base of the palace structure and walls were sculpted right out of the large hillside. Sheer walls rose up to a broad plateau upon which stood numerous structures, towers, and gardens. A smaller second tier plateau contained additional buildings and towers before rising up to third tier, upon which stood a high walled courtyard flanked by a massive tower on one side, and another large elongated building on the other. A gate lead down to the lower tiers at one end of
the courtyard and an expansive stone stairway lead up to the large golden domed, white stoned structure of the palace itself. Gardens wrapped around the sides and back of the palace. Masses of wealth moved through this city and it showed in the elegance of the palace. Esther could understand why people said it was the lifeblood of the Hadiqan Empire. The city had a generally circular shape to it as it fit into the horseshow of the river. Concentric rings of roads seemed to radiate out from its center with other roads heading straight out from the middle which broke the city up into quadrants.
Geoffrey came up to the rail next to her, placing his hand over hers. She smiled at him before turning her gaze back to the city below. After that moment in the desert which ended with the passion of a kiss, they had shared brief affection gestures—a touch to the hand or face, or a quick hug goodnight, but nothing more. Well…except for that kiss last night, Esther thought, blushing and thinking that she should probably feel more guilty than she did. Good thing no one had seen that. Esther longed to kiss the young doctor again, but propriety—something that she had never been very good at—demanded something else.
Technically, Ardmorran culture dictated that Esther wouldn’t be of marrying age until December—and although courtships often began six months prior and marriages occasionally happened as early as sixteen, she was exploring these relatively new feelings and wondering where their futures might lead them. She was still very young, barely old enough to begin courting even in the most provincial parts of Ardmorr. There was also a six year age gap between them, not to mention the looming possibility of war on the horizon and the uncertainty of the near future.
In the larger cities, young people often waited until they were twenty, or even longer to get married as they pursued their education. Esther longed to experience some of that before settling down to raise a family. Of course, morals in the cities tended to be lax as well, but even still, she wasn’t in a hurry to begin a courtship, even if it meant delaying more intimate contact. Besides, she didn’t know if she was ready for anything more. She liked kissing Geoffrey, but whenever he put his arms around her, unpleasant memories surfaced. For now, Esther was content in the knowledge that she was cared for and the affectionate gestures were enough to assist her in facing the ills reaped upon her.
It hadn’t taken her other companions long to notice the affectionate glances and gestures between her and the doctor. Esther found out that Mac had been suspecting for some time that something might be developing between them, and he had now taken it upon himself to be her steward and chaperone. Esther couldn’t help but laugh when Mac had sat down with the doctor and discussed proper behaviors before and after courting. That had been the other reason why there hadn’t been anything but the stolen kiss last night further between her and Geoffrey—Mac was always watching.
Her companions seemed to be the best sort of people possible, and she was learning from—and leaning on—every one of them. Oluchi with his stoic attitude, his determination to teach her all he could about how to use a sword and dagger, and his refusal to go easy on her had infused her with confidence. Nkiru had been Esther’s primary emotional support—but even Joel, and Baird had been very supportive, understanding, and willing to talk, listen, and teach her all that they could about the things they knew.
The rest of the journey in the desert had been grueling, but otherwise uneventful. The young man they had rescued had eventually regained consciousness and had been very grateful for their help, but he had been too injured to walk on his own and had to remain riding on a makeshift carrier on one of the camels. This had left only one other camel for them all to share and it had been a long walk. He told them how he had been ambushed by bandits and everything he owned stolen. They had left him to die alone in the desert.
They had arrived in Harappa late in the evening after eight and a half days in the desert and had slept in a cheap inn. It hadn’t been very clean and Esther thought she probably would have preferred sleeping another night in the desert, but it had been good to be among civilization and people again.
The next morning they had left the young injured man with some friends that he knew and said goodbye to the Hahn’s nephew Ajit, who planned to purchase items in the marketplace and head back to Deyr with the two camels they had rented. They had also sold the rest of their camel’s and other traveling supplies they no longer needed and used the money to book passage on a merchant transport bound that afternoon for Al Farnaka. Joel had been unable to trade passage for work without committing them to a long period of service, so they had been forced to use quite a bit of Esther’s coin to pay for passage for them all.
Now, a day later—and what seemed like such a long time since leaving Deyr—they had finally arrived at Al Farnaka. Late afternoon was giving way to evening as the sun dipped toward the horizon and a warm breeze began to blow, causing the Captain of the merchant transport to order a different tack and adjust the turn of the propellers.
No unauthorized airships were allowed to sail over the city itself, so all merchant ships docked along the outer edge of the city, forming a continuous ring of ships that came and went. Esther had never seen anything like it before in her life and her eyes were wide with wonder.
“Amazing, isn’t it,” said Geoffrey, still holding her hand. She turned to him with a broad smile and nodded. “Lancaster is a lot like this,” he said, “except it’s a coastal city—and of course the architecture is a lot different. But the bustle of activity, and the life and vibrancy is the same. The ships ring the city, much like they do here, but in an inverted crescent shape from the ocean on the north side, around the city, to the ocean on the south. I’d like to show it to you one day.”
“I’d like that,” Esther replied, squeezing his hand.
- - -
An hour later, Esther and her companions were on the ground on the northwest side of the city. The palace was located in the Southeast quadrant. The Satrap of Deyr said that his cousin Malachi and his kin lived in the southwestern quarter of the city, where many public servants and government officials lived. It was going to be a long walk.
As soon as they had arrived in Harappa and boarded the transport, Esther had taken to wearing a ghagra choli—the short sleeved blouse and long embroidered skirt—in order to fit in with the other women. Shalwar kameez—the long tunic and trousers she had worn while traveling in the desert—were not typically worn by women in the larger cities. Those that did were considered provincial—not that Esther cared much about what others thought of her, but she thought it’d be easier this way.
Dupatta’s also seemed to be worn in the city more for ornamentation than anything, or were often not worn at all. Esther was thoroughly tired of needing to wear it for so long while crossing the desert with its blowing sand, so she chose not to wear one now. Besides, she didn’t have any that looked good with her dress. The low Hadiqan necklines left her feeling exposed, however, so she had vowed that the next time she came to a marketplace and had some time, she’d have to look for a dupatta or two that would match her blouses and skirts which she could drape around her shoulders and across her chest. Not that she had much to bare, but it was a comfort thing. At least most of the choli blouses that the Satrap had donated to them were not cropped and midriff baring like many she saw here. The warm climate inspired much different wardrobes than what she was used to.
Perhaps she should have followed Nkiru’s example and changed back into her Easterner clothing, but somehow, Hadiq felt almost like home to Esther, and not wearing the local clothing didn’t seem right to her. Besides, Esther could see that Nkiru was sweating and uncomfortable now that they were at ground level again. She wondered why Nkiru had changed back into her Easterner clothing and Oluchi hadn’t, but then, somehow, the Hadiqan tunic and trousers—and especially the turban—seemed to just fit Oluchi’s personality
Esther and Nkiru carried their packs in their arms while Joel and the others carried their own over their shoulders, or on their backs. Oluchi and
Baird also carried Esther’s trunk between them with her sword, clothing, and money lockbox inside. Esther only used one arm to carry her pack. With so many people about, she gripped her dagger firmly with her other hand. Geoffrey walked up next to her and placed a reassuring hand over her own. He gave her a quick smile before Joel started off through the throngs of people.
It wasn’t really possible to just skirt around the edge of the city from where they had landed, unless you went out of the city, beyond the docking airships first—so Joel led them further into the city. The ground here was paved with large, light colored stones, but there must not have been any rain recently, because a patina of orange sand and dust lay upon the stones. They passed through a wide alley between large, low lying buildings that appeared to be warehouses, following the flow of people and traffic of all types, many pulling carts filled with large loads, and even horse drawn wagons going to and from the airships. Though it appeared that the volume of people and carts were diminishing as the day came to a close, it was still very busy.
As soon as they passed the line of warehouses, they found themselves in a bustling marketplace on both sides of a very wide road that led off to their left or right. Goods of all types were being bought and sold here. Never before had Esther seen such a large variety of food, clothing, tools, and other goods. The small road they stood on continued ahead towards the center of the city and Esther could see what appeared to be residences in that direction. Instead of continuing further into the city, Joel turned to the right, heading down the marketplace road as it curved to the southwest. After two hundred yards or so, the vendor stalls and other marketplace structures petered out, and other businesses and warehouses dominated the wide corridor. Smith’s and textile manufactories and a dozen other types of business enterprises stood on each side of the street. Most of these were either closed, or closing up shop for the day.
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