Chapter 8
The backdoor closed and locked behind as Shaol stepped into the yard. The yellow eyes of Friend opened and burnt from the shadows.
“I will watch ahead,” she whispered and then vanished.
Shaol moved to the end of the alley and looked out, the street was quite and empty. Shaol dove forward from the shadows, lit only for a moment by the lanterns, and then he was through the opening into the next alley and safe in the shadows. He looked back at the grate to the cellar and paused, Shaol suddenly wanted to return to the kitchen, it was were he was meant to be, cleaning the pots as he did every morning. Shaol shook his head and took a deep breath, there was nothing to be done in the kitchen tonight.
Friend appeared next to him.
“Three guards are coming up the street to the right,” she whispered and was gone.
Shaol quietly headed down the alley and found another to the left he ducked in and peered around the corner. After a short time, the silence was disturbed by the soft rustle of the leather and metal armour, then the three guards appeared between the buildings holding high their lanterns. Shaol pulled back from the corner and waited for them to pass. Then he pulled away from the wall and started to weave his way through the maze of alleys, coming out occasionally on an open stone space where the buildings met awkwardly, sometimes at dead ends and he was forced to turn around and find another alley.
Friend appeared beside him.
“Three more beyond the turn walking away from you towards the main street.”
Shaol slowed himself, continued down the alley and turned the corner, the large, silhouettes of the guards walked ahead slowly without any clear purpose, their lanterns showing the way through the unlit alleys.
There was another alley to the left, Shaol ducked down it without being seen and then he went down another, then the wide road was in front of him. The large lanterns burnt bright above it, throwing orange light across the road and the buildings that flanked it. The lanterns strung up above it burnt just as bright, destroying any shadow that would have given Shaol cover.
Shaol could clearly see several guards both up and down the road, every now and then they would wander randomly to a new position before resuming their watch. Shaol looked hopelessly at the wide river of stone, if he ran the guards may not see him but then thought against it, he needed to go back and find another way.
Shaol quickly looked up the fortress, it was now nothing but a enormous, shadow above the city. The hard, shards of its towers shot high into the sky, fearsome and menacing.
“There are guards coming up behind you,” whispered Friend from behind him, “they will be on you soon.”
“I can’t cross this,” whispered Shaol, “I’ll be seen.”
“You cannot go back this way.”
Shaol heard the sound of the guard’s armour.
“When you hear the guards shout, run,” said Friend quickly and was gone.
Shaol looked down the alley and saw a lantern swing into the alley. There was a set of stairs near the alley, he leapt from the shadows and pulled himself against the stone of steps hiding the best he could from the guards.
“What is that?” a guard shouted from the road in front.
“I’ve never…,” shouted another.
“Some kind of bird,” shouted a third.
“Shoot it.”
Shaol saw the guards looking up at roof top several buildings away, it was his only chance, he sprinted across the road as fast as he could, there was a dark gap in front of him, he need to get into it.
“It’s moving.”
“After it. Bring it down.”
Curses and shouts started to fill the night air, the armour of the guards came alive and echoed down the street. Shaol continued to run in full view across the street, focused on the gap between two buildings. He heard some more guards coming from a street near the small dark gap. He was between the buildings.
“There was something over there,” shouted a guard from somewhere behind Shaol.
Shaol did not stop, he ran down the alley he found himself in, there was another alley just a few feet ahead.
“There’s someone down here,” shouted a voice that rang off the stone walls.
There was the loud clank of metal boots on stone as Shaol swung to the left. There was no place to hide, the back streets of the city were always kept clean and empty. There were some small nooks and niches to hide in, but they were too shallow, a guard would spot him in an instance if he tried to squeeze into the space. Shaol ran down the straight back street, there was an alley ahead.
“Over there,” shouted the voice of a pursuer.
Shaol looked behind him, three lanterns swung madly in the street. Shaol veered to left, it was a dead end, the boots came thundering up the alley towards him.
“It turned left.”
“Get against the wall,” hissed Friend.
Shaol pushed himself against the wall. Friend leapt into the alley her brown and golden feathers glistened and sparkled in the lantern’s beam.
“What is that?” cried a guard.
The boots were silent as they came to a halt only moments before the entrance to the alley. Shaol felt his stomach drop. There was a door slightly inset in the wall, he edged quietly along the wall to the door and pushed himself against the cold metal. Shaol stopped breathing.
A deafening, scream echoed down the alley, it was deep and long, and Shaol jumped as the sound made the walls shake. The guards cursed and yelled in fright.
“Kill it,” screamed a guard and they charged.
Shaol saw a flurry of swords, armour and legs swept past the alley, the guards continued to scream and yell as they chased Friend down the back street and away. Lights started to appear in the windows that looked down on Shaol. He had to move before a someone saw him from the window.
Shaol slipped back into the alley, the guards were disappearing in the distance. Shaol went back and continued up the alley, he found a left and took it, starting to worm his way through the city as the windows above started to become orange.
A left turn. He took it.
Bells were now ringing across the city, Shaol knew he needed a place to hide, he would find the temple if he survived the night.
Another turn. Nothing but stone walls and iron doors. Shaol had to keep going forward, the streets would give him something.
“I led them away they are near the temple,” said Friend next to him, “I will not be back tonight, find a place to hide.”
Friend was gone again. There was a small narrow opening between two buildings, just large enough for a single man. Shaol squeezed through it, there were no doors or windows in this alley. He look for something to hide behind, there was nothing. He moved through the gap and to the next street. He looked left and then right, lanterns swept across the walls in all directions.
“Everyone inside,” shouted the guards, “no one on the streets tonight.”
Shaol pushed himself against a wall as a lantern appeared at the end of the back street, he waited. When it was gone he continued his desperate search. Most of the windows were lit up now, all the city had been woken by the bells that continued to ring.
Another street. Wide, open and lit.
Just as Shaol was about to retreat, he saw it, a dark, low tunnel that led under some stairs which rose to meet a yellow door. The tunnel was not deep but it was enough for him to hide. A guard would need to kneel with a lantern to find him inside but if he was discovered there was no other escape. It would have to do until the bells stopped ringing.
Shaol crawled into the small tunnel, at the back he found a grate that looked through into a cellar. From inside came the sound of Unders moving under their blankets.
A metal door unlocked and opened and a voice came through the grate.
“Everyone stay in cellar, the bells aren’t for us.”
The room fell quiet and soon the sounds of people sleeping came through the grate. Shaol knew he would have
to get moving before they woke and saw his shadow in the morning light.
As the night drew on, the clank of the guard’s armour came close but would then fade. Doubt started to grow in Shaol’s mind. He only needed to get across the city and he had already been caught by the guards. He was safe, for the moment, but he had come so close to his own end, which Shaol knew he was ready for but for some reason the fact felt like a dark shadow that wormed its way into his mind causing his mind to race as he hid, helpless and alone.
Shaol wondered how Raphtune had been managed to walk the streets of the city with such ease. The boy would be far beyond the edge of the dead lands by now. He had known many things for a kid, maybe he had been right to shrug and forget about the fortress. After all, if Friend, who was able to appear and disappear as she chose, was unable to find a way over the walls, how could Shaol with a body made of flesh and bone?
The night was hard in the small space, dread rushed through Shaol’s mind each time a guard came down the the street, their shadows large in the lantern light. The legs would come to the entrance of the tunnel. Once had stopped, but then they kept moving and Shaol realised he had stopped breathing. The rush of chase was gone and now all Shaol had left was fear and doubt.
Shaol felt the heaviness start to lift when, finally, the city become grey in the morning light. Shaol sighed as he realised the bells had stopped ringing, he had survived the night. The Unders beneath the grate started to stir and yawn. Shaol pushed away the doubt that had built in his mind, he had to move and he had to be thinking clearly when he did.
Shaol pulled himself from the tunnel and started down the street. He lowered his head and slowly walked the streets as he had the day he had been sent to the market by Mistress. Shaol was lost, he need to find the wide street, the inner wall or the black wall, any would give him his bearings again, but he need to find one of them. He continued to walk, turning this way and that.
Eventually, he spied the bright lanterns of the wide road, still burning from the night before. He turned and started to make his way towards the market as he heard the guards turn into the street behind him. Shaol took a deep breath and calmed himself, he was expecting this.
“Stop,” command one.
Shaol stopped and turned. The three guards held their extinguished lanterns low at their sides.
“What are you doing out?” asked another.
“I was sent to get supplies by Master from the market,” said Shaol.
“The city is closed,” ordered another, “return to your master immediately.”
Shaol nodded and the guards pushed past him to continue along the alley. Shaol smiled to himself. Shaol knew the way to reach the market but walked away from it as the guards had commanded him to do, he would find it later.
Shaol found another group of guards, soon after and when they questioned him he told them he was heading back to his Master because the city was closed. Content with the response, the guards continued their empty search.
The sun rose above the buildings and the city could no longer be held back from its business, the doors were unlocked and Masters, children and Unders spewed onto the street allowing Shaol to become lost in the busy streets.
This was how he should have moved through the city, Shaol thought to himself as he walked now without notice, not at night when he was easily seen in the clean, empty streets, but during the day when he was just one walking aimlessly amongst the rest.
Shaol found the marketplace and for the first time spied Yor in the ferret cap. He then looked up at the black wall in the distance and made his way towards the temple.
The dirt square opened up before Shaol. The fountain of poison water sat in the centre, beyond it, the small hall made of simple stone, the outside was bare of any decoration like all the other buildings in the city. Four, solid walls with two large, iron doors with a hint of rust set into them. There were no windows, no other door, just a stone box with a roof of metal sheets that slightly bulged above.
The Masters that walked around the square refused step onto the dirt, avoiding it completely, preferring to hold to the thin, stone pavement that wrapped around it. Everything else in the city had been sealed with stone but, for some reason, this one patch had been left untouched.
Shaol did not want to look different so he did not separate from the others around him and approach the temple, he instead walked slowly around the square. The temple sat alone in the centre. It was strange, he thought, the rest of the city was such a tight maze of streets, alleys and buildings squashed together within the inner wall, but these Grey Men who could command the Masters held the only building that had been allowed to stand alone and away from the others. A building for the true masters of the city.
As Shaol walked the thin pavement as he waited for the Grey Men to appear and as he did he heard the Masters talk amongst themselves.
“A Demon was seen in city,” explain one to another, “some men shot it with bows, but it just vanished into the night.”
“Is it gone?” asked the other with a panic in his voice.
“Demon’s don’t just leave, you have to get rid of them.”
“Are we safe then? What can we do?”
“Stay in your house at night, salt the steps to your doors but keep your windows the unlocked. The Demon spend the night trying to enter thought the window, but they can only enter through the door. If it hears you it can come through the door, the salt will keep most back but sometimes it can cross the step anyway, depending on the type…”
Shaol could not hear the rest of conversation as the pair walked out of ear shot.
“It was the size of two men with wings like a bird, swooped down from the sky and tore apart one of the guards,” one explained to another, “that was what Tarlak said and he shoot at it, himself.”
“I heard it had two heads and could appear wherever it wishes,” said another.
“They’re going to triple the guards til they have it.”
“How are guards going to help us? Demons can destroy a city.”
“I know, that is why I’m going to the blessing today. Zeria’ll keep me safe.”
As the morning passed more people had started to crowd the pavement around the dirt square. At midmorning the doors of the stone box slowly began to open without the work of any man. Once the doors were fully open, the Masters dared to step away from the stone and onto the dirt, they filled their assortment of cups and bowls with the poison water that flowed from the fountains head, wearing gloves to keep it from their skin, and then they pushed into the temple. There were so many Masters, the Unders that followed them were told to wait outside in the dirt.
Through the large crowd Shaol saw Master and Mistress, together, collecting their water. The sea of bodies was so large that Shaol did not fear them noticing him as he still waited at the edge of the square.
The temple became full and Masters that where late grumbled to themselves as they turned away and poured their water to the dirt.
Shaol heard the chanting come from a corner of the square, a corner that was near the black wall but on the side of the square that was away from the only open gate. The Grey Men appeared, the hoods of their grey cloak hiding their dry faces. As they approached, Shaol tried to understand what they chanted but the words still meant nothing to him.
The Grey Men, five in all, moved across the square in a straight line and entered the square box. Masters inside the hall began to jostle each other as the metal doors swung closed.
Shaol waited with the other Unders as the morning passed.
It was around midday when the doors opened again and the chant of the Grey Men returned to the square. In a single line they crossed the square, retracing their steps away from the open gate. Shaol followed at a distance.
The Grey Men worked their way through the streets. Masters and Unders stepped out the path of the slow moving men. The line came to the road that led to a closed gate. They crossed the street and continued through the all
eys. There were less people in this part of town, away from the temple and marketplace where most of the Masters gathered during the day. Shaol started to feel exposed as the streets became emptier but the Grey Men, who still chanted, did not seem to notice him.
Another of the roads was in front of the Grey Men and the line arched turned towards the closed gate of fortress. Shaol hurried towards the end of the alley, he stuck his head out there he saw three guards turned to face the black walls as the line approached. Shaol took a breath as the large, gate started to rise into the stone of the black wall. Shaol watched closely he would see them do it, step under the arch and into the dark, unlit tunnel.
But then something took his attention, something white and bright was coming down the tunnel at a great speed.
The Grey Men continued forward, chanting their meaningless song as they went. Then as the Grey Men were at the gate the large, white thing was in front of them. It was large and round that was as wide the mouth of the tunnel and the size of a large house, two lanterns brighter than Shaol had ever seen burnt fierce and white from its surface. Shaol looked on as the Grey Men approached an opening in it and they disappeared inside. Shaol searched for words to describe it, it was like a white stone, perfectly round and polished to point that it reflected the light of the braziers that sat in the front of the gate like a mirror.
“You,” barked a guard who was no longer facing the wall, “stop.”
Shaol stood still, running would not help him now, the guard stormed across the street. The polished stone started its retreat quickly up the tunnel and the gate started to lower, neither made any sound.
“What are you doing?” yelled the guard as he approached quickly.
“I was headed to the temple,” Shaol could not think of another lie.
“Who is your Master?” yelled the guard now only a few feet in front of Shaol.
Shaol was lost his words, he could not say his Master’s name.
“Excuse him, please,” came a quiet, monotone version of Raphtune’s voice, “father left him outside during the blessing and he just took it upon himself to wander. He hadn’t seen the Clerics of Zeria before and he’s a little daft.”
“You should stay where your master leaves you,” sneered the guard taking into Shaol’s face in his hand.
Shaol did not resist as the Master roll his face around in his large hand.
“He will be whipped,” said Raphtune slowly, “father is not a forgiving man.”
“Good,” said the guard studying his face, “if I see you near this gate again, I will have my sword in your gut.”
The guard pushed Shaol back and to the ground.
“I’ll take him back now,” said Raphtune nodded and bowed.
The guard shrugged and walked back to his post by the closed gate. Raphtune watched as Shaol pulled himself up from the stone road and Shaol saw the boy for the first time. Raphtune was dressed in a fine leather pants cut perfectly to his size and a red and yellow leather shirt. He had removed the ink lines from his face and was wearing a mop of long, black hair over his own blonde hair, Shaol could see through the hair to the stretch to the wrinkle leather that held the hair together.
“Thank you,” said Shaol.
“You speak when I say,” spat Raphtune angrily and loudly.
Raphtune led the way down the road for a short while before pulling Shaol into an alley between two buildings. Once the open streets of the city were far enough behind them, Shaol spoke again.
“I thought you had left,” he said.
“Raphtune the Missing will leave when he is finished with this city,” the boy replied from under the ridiculous hair speaking again his normal animated voice.
“Have you been watching me?” asked Shaol.
“No,” laughed Raphtune, “I saw you in the square and I thought to myself what had brought the ever-obedient Shaol from his kitchen. It must involved the fortress for him to be so rebellious.”
“I am very lucky you chose this costume.”
“Raphtune the Missing would have saved you in any form, he always has a plan.”
“Have you heard from Hassa?”
“No,” said Raphtune sadly shaking his head.
“Do you think we will hear from her?”
“I think that something very important is in that fortress,” said Raphtune, “and I want to know what it is.”
“Did you see the Grey Men go beyond the gate?” asked Shaol.
“No, I was coming down the alley,” said Raphtune recalling the events, “when I got to the street you were being yelled at and the Clerics were gone.”
“A thing came to collect them,” said Shaol, “that is how they disappear so quickly.”
“What thing?”
“A stone as large as a house came down tunnel. The Grey Men were able to get in it through a door and then in took them back down the tunnel.”
Raphtune ran his hand through his fake black hair. The more Shaol looked at it, the more strange the hair looked on the boy.
“Then the Clerics can come and go as they chose,” said Raphtune.
“I think they are true masters of the city,” said Shaol, “even the Masters are not allowed to return to the city once they go into the fortress.”
“That would explain a lot about Tarlnath. The Orsil are too stupid to run a city in the dead lands, it requires more thought than they can manage. Right now, they are all panicking because someone saw a shadow on a roof.”
“You don’t believe there was Demon?”
Raphtune laughed.
“If it is a demon, it is a long way from home. A guard just saw someone moving through night, but the Orsil are easily spooked.”
“We can go into the fortress, now. We have a way in and a way out,” said Shaol, “will you help us?”
“What is your plan?”
“The goods wagon will give us a way in and under the gate. Once inside we take the cloaks of the Grey Men and come back by the stone. We just need to fool the guards long enough to get by them then we need can vanish into the city.”
“Then we have to get out city,” said Raphtune.
“The water caravan, only it is allowed to leave the walls.”
“The boys can help with that, but we can’t all leave that way, one at most.”
“We just need to get the wooden box to Friend, she can do the rest.”
“Then we need a den big enough for us, near this gate. We disappear into the house as soon as we are out of sight, you and the rest stay there until I return with your friend.”
“You’ll take the treasure?”
“I will,” said Raphtune simply and forcefully.
Shaol paused for a moment and then smiled and nodded.
“We’re going in blind,” continued Raphtune.
“I think that’s what the masters of fortress demand.”
“I think you’re right.”
“We’ll find Hassa.”
“We’ll come back for Hassa when the task is done.”
“I will make sure she is not in danger.”
“You’re being a fool, Shaol, and one of these days Raphtune the Missing won’t be there to save you.”
“We will find Hassa,” repeated Shaol and then added, “and then we will find what we need.”
Raphtune studied Shaol with his hard, young eyes.
“We’ll need grey robes and ash, then,” said Raphtune finally, “the ash will make our skins pale and dry like the Clerics. The grey robes will hide us long enough to get away.”
“We can take the cloaks once we’re inside.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere near the Clerics and neither should you. Who knows what they a capable of. We go in with the robes then we can leave the moment we need.”
“You’re a bit small to pass as cleric,” said Shaol.
“But I am small enough to hide under your robes.”
“We take in a robe for Hassa.”
“Shaol, you’re a very frustrating m
an,” said Raphtune angrily and as Shaol went to speak Raphtune held his hand up to Shaol and he stopped, “we will take one in for her but you have to understand we may not need it.”
Shaol nodded stiffly.
“I’ll get back inside the warehouse. We need fabric.”
“Are you able to get back in?”
“Raphtune the Missing walks through any door he needs too.”
“I can get ash for our skins, are you able to make the cloaks?”
“How many?”
“Three, me, Pysuun and one for Hassa.”
“I’ll find you when it’s done.”
Raphtune disappeared down a back street. Shaol looked up the huge black wall over head, from here he could not see the top of as the wall curved slightly as it rose nor the fortress behind. He smiled as he looked at the smooth, black stone.
Shaol found his way back through the city with ease and waited in the alley across from Master’s house, his mind was excited by all that had happened that day. He lowered himself to the ground and watched the front door and the alley next to it that led to the yard and backdoor.
What remained of the day passed and no one came or went from the house. The sky started to turn a deep red, an Under came up the long, street, lighting each street lantern with a flint and stone on a long metal pole as he slowly approached. Shaol fell back down the alley and found a place to hide from sight.
The lantern near the alley was lit and the Under kept moving down the street. Shaol continued to wait. Some Unders saw him as they walked down the alley, their hands full of goods, they ignored him and disappeared into a house.
Pysuun had not appeared, the sun had set and the sky was now dark, the moon started to rise above the roofs of the stone buildings.
Shaol thought for a moment, something maybe wrong and waiting in the alley would not change that. He needed to get back into the cellar before the others went down and discovered he was missing.
Shaol slipped across the street and into the yard. The kitchen window was bright and he could see the shadow of Faun moving inside. He went to the backdoor and tried the handle, quietly, it was locked.
Shaol went to the window and peered in. Faun was fussing with some pots, no one else was in the kitchen. Shaol felt like he had no other choice, he tapped on the glass. Faun looked across at the window and saw the face of Shaol peering back at him. Faun nodded and turned to the door that led back onto the main house.
Faun did not have the key to the backdoor, he needed Pysuun to unlock it. The pair would have to lay out their plans to Faun, but Shaol could give Faun back his freedom. Shaol waited by the window and after a short time Faun reappeared, Master was behind him.
That was all Shaol needed to see. He was gone from the window, the yard and across the street. They had been discovered. He needed to get lost in the alleys, he would think on it all once he had a place were he was safe.
Shaol ran for the wide street and when he came to it, he slowed, steadied his breath and looked out the guards had not taken their position yet, he walked calmly across and into the alleys of the next part of the city. The night was now on the city and the moon was starting to rise high above the buildings. Shaol made his way, once again, through the maze of walls. He could not remember where he had found the tunnel he had found the night before, but if he searched he may find something similar.
No, Shaol thought, the market had tents and stall that were closed at night, no one would look under the leather sheets tonight. He could rest and think, he needed to think.
The market was not far. Shaol just needed to get through the open ground of the square to a stall without being seen. The bells of the guards tower began to rang three times across the city. He did not know what that meant but he knew he had to hurry.
Shaol moved with a hurried pace through the streets then the open space of the market was ahead. The place was dark and silent, sheets of leather had been pulled over the stalls. The lanterns had not been lit which gave Shaol the perfect cover to cross the stone square.
Shaol moved to the ring of stalls, found the corner of one and slipped through the gap in the sheets. Underneath there was just enough space for him to lie between the metal stand and the leather. Shaol positioned himself in the thin, awkward space.
All Shaol knew was he had been caught and if he had been caught then so had Pysuun. Would Aksit just beat Pysuun? The Masters refused to lose hands on the caravan, after the beating they would be sent back to work, but in the city the Masters had less need for their Unders. Would Aksit do something worse? This was not something Shaol could know.
Shaol gritted his teeth and kicked the frame of the stand, he needed to find Pysuun.
Shaol felt the fatigue in his muscle and slight dullness in his mind. For now, Shaol would sleep and when he woke with the caravan, he would find out what the Masters had done with Pysuun.
Shaol closed his eyes and and steadied his mind, he needed rest for him and his friend. He saw the seven that needed him and then lowered himself into the golden waters of his home.