Refugees

  Chapter 31

  Mud - Amanki

  I was in a room unlike any room I had ever been in before. The ceiling suddenly slanted upward to a high peak and then came straight down to join a flat ceiling once again. Directly below the raised peak there was a rectangular pool of water that was not surrounded by mud and reeds, but instead seemed to be surrounded by flat smooth bricks glazed in bright colors of green and blue. Water was bubbling up into the pool from below. At the opposite end of the water there were three large stone thrones, with the largest one in the middle raised on a platform above the others.

  A big man sitting in the center throne stood, stepped down and began pacing. He wore a tall golden crown that looked like the head of a fish opening its mouth toward the sky. On each side of the crown, red jewels were embedded in the center of a hole shaped like an eye. From the back of the crown fell a golden scaled cloak that resembled the body of a large fish which ended in a split fish tail. A netlike skirt attached by a sash around the emperor’s waist fell to the floor in the back. Underneath, he wore a short golden colored skirt with red fringe on the bottom. Sandals covered his unwebbed feet. He had a square, curled grey beard, long curled hair that fell to his shoulders, deep set grey eyes under dark bushy eyebrows, and a hairy chest. The other two thrones were empty.

  The man in the crown sat back down upon his throne. He closed his eyes and began rubbing his temple with his fingers. A tall older woman walked into the room, dressed in a red robe, with layers of gold fringes encircling her body, her white hair piled on top of her head in curls. As she reached the emperor, she spoke in a surprisingly deep voice:

  “Another headache?”

  “I had the dream again, Mother.”

  “Which one?”

  “The one about my brother. It’s always the same. I go to visit my brother’s tomb and hear him scratching away from inside. I can’t get the sound out of my mind,” the emperor said as he rubbed his temple more furiously. Through gritted teeth, he continued, “Another man appears by my side, and suggests that we open the tomb. When he opens it, I see my brother curled in a ball, his face scratched, clumps of hair having been pulled from his head, and the nails having been torn from his fingers.”

  “My dear son, there is nothing to worry about. Your brother’s body was placed in a sealed rock tomb. Nobody could hear his scratching.”

  “But what if the prophecy is true, what if he is still alive?”

  “That is ridiculous, nobody could survive in a rock tomb for seventeen years!” she whispered vehemently.

  “Maybe the lizard skin drug we gave him put him into a long hibernation, like the rock people. Who knows how long he might survive.”

  His mother rolled her eyes.

  “Ok, maybe not, but Mother, what about that star? It appeared just like the prophecy said, didn’t it?” the emperor asked as he stepped over to a large basin of water on a nearby stand and began washing his hands, nervously.

  “A coincidence. I’m sure many new stars have appeared over the years. Don’t let the outdated myths of a bunch of old men get to you! Dazbun’s dead. As for the rest of it, no son of a duck will ever take your throne!”

  “Hopefully Bladar has seen to that, if the duck baby did not already die of disease.”

  “There, my sweet son. You see, you worry about nothing.”

  “Yes, but what if they open the tomb and look inside? I should have thrown Dazbun’s body into the ocean!”

  “You mustn’t think or speak of such things. Your brother was corrupting our people and deserved to die,” she hissed in a low whisper.

  Just then a side door opened and a strange man with yellow braided hair wrapped around his head and a yellow robe stepped into the room and bowed.

  “Forgive me Your Highness…Madam Serpotia. Would you like me to come back later?”

  “What is it?” the ruler asked, annoyed.

  “A Sparaggi horseman has arrived and seeks audience with Your Majesty. “

  “A Sparaggi horseman, here?” The emperor seemed very upset.

  “Yes, he says he has news that you will want to hear right away.”

  “What does he look like?”

  “Like they all look, Your Highness.”

  “Fine. Bring him in, but first bring in my bodyguards.”

  The Empress Mother, Serpotia, took her seat upon one of the side thrones, and two huge barrel chested guards entered the room and positioned themselves at either side of the thrones. They were each armed with a nasty looking weapon that consisted of an axe mounted on a long shaft with a hooked spike above the axe. The guards wore some kind of scale armor upon their heads and the backs of their bodies. It extended across the backs of their arms and legs and even across their chins, where their beards would be. Their chests were bare and except for their armor, they wore only short leather skirts which hung down from their waists in layered strips, lined in red and studded with metal. They were completely silent. My attention was drawn toward a barefooted man who had entered the room behind them, dressed only in trousers, with ornate tattoos covering his chest. His hair was like a mane. He waded through the pool of water which came to just above his ankles. When he almost reached the far end closest to the throne, the man lay prone in the water face down, until the king on the throne told him to rise. Then he rose on one knee, dripping wet.

  “You have news for me?” the emperor said in the Tzoladian tongue, getting straight to the point.

  “Yes, I have news from Bladar. ‘The Emperor’s Harvest’ along the Land of Duck’s River has begun.” He held up a string from which several webbed feet dangled, dripping water now.

  “How dare you bring those unclean items in here? Those should have been left outside the gate to the city. I have no use for your barbaric customs. Get those out of my sight. You are to have been purified,” the flustered emperor said with disgust.

  “But Bladar instructed…”

  “Bladar is not the emperor, I am!” Then turning to one of the guards, his eyes flashing like the stones on the side of the crown, the emperor commanded, “Get those out of here!”

  One of the muscular guards with his backside covered in scaled armor approached the edge of the water. He took the string of webbed feet and silently removed them from the room.

  “You better have a good reason for coming here,” said the emperor.

  “The chosen lands are ready for settlement.”

  “So soon?”

  “The Sparaggi move faster than the wind!”

  “What else did Bladar send to me…besides those barbaric relics, I mean?”

  The man standing in the pool hesitated. “He said to tell you he has located the prey and is on its tail.”

  The emperor glanced at his mother when this news was reported, but then said, “If you have nothing of value for me, why have you come? To die? Why should I not kill you now for bringing me news of Bladar’s failure?”

  “With all due respect, Your Majesty, I came to report Bladar’s success. If you let me live and leave, then when I return it will be with more good news of the completed task,” the man replied.

  “Very well, tell Bladar he will receive the rest of his payment only when the Harvest is complete.”

  “Forgive me Your Highness, but Bladar instructed me…”

  “GO!”

  I woke with a start. Manhera was sleeping, curled up in the bottom of the boat. At first I was shaken, having just dreamed of a mud beast carrying a string of Webby feet. But Baskrod looked at me with a steady gaze.

  “You have been dreaming,” he said. “Tell me your dream.”

  I felt a chill down my back for a moment, and then I felt perfectly calm and at home, like somehow I always knew this moment was coming. Finally, I believed I was about to get some real answers.