Part 7 Shifts in allegiance
1.A few months passed since the discovery of the dead settlement. Something changed in Kassir. He was performing his work with the same devotion, while continuing to help the villagers. But he was beginning to feel weary and half afraid that he was not doing any good.
He had ventured further north than ever before since starting his service for the Sun Gods. He still was not close to Red-stones – that was in the North-west and now Kassir was on the North-eastern border. The place was closed by impenetrable mountains. No one knew what lay beyond them. Some said nothing did. Some said that was the edge of the world.
There were few settlements, and they were all towns and not villages – at least, by the standard of the people of the desert. It was dangerous so near the mountains. People preferred to gather together in greater numbers. It was safer that way.
Kassir was just leaving one such town when he noticed another traveller on the road. Immediately, he tensed. He had learned a long time before that those walking the empty roads of the desert alone were servants of the Gods. The man got closer and Kassir realised with a jolt that he knew him. The years had not been kind to him, and the proud face was slightly wrinkled, the previously straight back now bent. But Kassir was not mistaken. The traveller was surely Ranar, the stranger that had arrived in Red-stones all those years ago, when Kassir was only a child.
Ranar was now in front of him. He grinned, having no difficulty in recognising Kassir.
“Greetings, fellow Light-tender,” he said, to Kassir’s surprise. “I am glad to find you here, for I believe there is a job that could use both of us.”
Kassir looked around him pointedly. Apart from the town behind them – a place well-known for their service to the Desert Gods – there were no settlements for days.
“There is a spot,” Ranar said, guessing Kassir’s thoughts. “It is a day’s walk from here, hidden in a narrow defile – almost like a cave.”
Kassir was puzzled.
“Why would they live there?”
“It’s safer. They are protected from the elements there – and few beasts dare scale the walls that surround them. No one can get in – unless they know the entrance. I’ve been there once before, so I do.”
“But what will we find there that needs our attention?”
Ranar’s face took on an expression of pure hatred.
“People say folk there are harbouring one of them,” he spat. “One from the World Without.”
Kassir’s interest piqued. He had never met one of the World Without before. Rumours always reached him of such travellers, but he never managed to catch up with one. The idea of finally looking upon one of them filled him with excitement.
“Very well, then,” he said, and his voice was quite calm. “Let us go and see whether the rumours are true.”
They set off at once, Kassir following Ranar. Normally, he would not have let someone else take the lead so readily, secure in his knowledge of the ways of the desert and the business of Light-tenders. But Ranar was older and more experienced. According to the unwritten law of those that served the Desert Gods, he was the one entitled to lead the mission. There was also the fact that it was the first time Kassir was so close to the mountains. The steep paths that led to the entrance of the hidden town were quite confusing to him. He was used to the ways of the desert and the stony paths left him at a loss. But Ranar knew what to do. He was confident and sure-footed.
2.It took four hours of scrambling in the mountains for Kassir and Ranar to reach the entrance of the Hidden Town. It led them through a narrow ravine which widened gradually, until it gave way to a larger valley, surrounded by high peaks. The town lay there.
Most towns in the desert could not really deserve that name. They were larger than villages, true, but the houses were clumsily built with wattle and clay – sometimes, in oases, they were also made of wood. There were no buildings of stone. They did not know how to make one and, anyway, it was forbidden. Stone was only for the Temple of the Sun Gods, erected in times immemorial – some said by the Gods themselves who wanted a building worthy of their presence.
The Hidden Town was different from common desert towns. The houses – all with more than one storey and all made of wood – were arranged in an ordered pattern on many streets. The lanes were well-maintained, showing that they were well-travelled. The house of the town master was in the centre of the settlement, larger and fairer than the others. In front of it was a small fountain. Decorative fountains were considered a luxury in the desert. But the Hidden Town belonged more to the mountains than to the desert. They could draw water from underground springs.
The townspeople were glad to see Ranar. They did not know who he was or that he had a mission from the Gods in their town. Ranar disguised himself as a tradesman and claimed Kassir was his apprentice. He even had a few trinkets to sell. Kassir watched him haggling with the townsfolk, barely able to hide his displeasure. Adar apparently did not mind Ranar’s own “extracurricular activities”, although he had condemned Kassir’s. He supposed Ranar’s trading earnings were donated to the temples.
The two were lodged in a small empty house. It suited them as they could move as they wished and conduct their investigations unhindered. After they were settled, Kassir went out under the pretext of exploring the town. Ranar had sent him to seek out the man from the World Without, glad he had an underling to whom he could delegate such tasks. Not that Kassir minded. He would have probably volunteered to locate the intruder himself.
He walked the entire length of the town at first, without seeing anything out of the ordinary. He had just stopped in front of the central fountain when he noticed him across the street. Kassir would have immediately guessed he did not belong to the people of the desert. Most of the desert dwellers were light-haired – very rarely their hair was red, and those were clearly of mixed blood. They were tall and stocky, hardened by the conditions they lived in. Their eyes were usually green – sometimes brown. Their skin was darkened by the sun.
The young boy standing across the street – he could not have been much older than Kassir – looked completely different. He was taller than the people of the desert, but he was slender and clearly unused to hardship. His skin was pale, but Kassir could not tell if that was indeed his natural complexion. He held himself somewhat unsteadily. He must have been ill recently. Kassir could not really make out the colour of his eyes – he was mostly looking away, anyway – but he fancied they were darker than the green ones of the people of the desert. And his hair was black – like the fur of a shadow-bear. Kassir had to stop himself from staring outright. He had never seen hair of such a colour before. It was not surprising that the desert people believed the World Without to be full of demons. Still, the boy did not act like a demon, and he was dressed in the clothing of the desert folk.
Two men were standing on a front porch, observing the outsider and shaking their heads. Kassir turned his attention to their conversation.
“There he is,” the older man said morosely. “Strutting about like he owns this place. It isn’t seemly, I tell you.”
“I think you are being too hard on him, Mert,” his companion put it mildly. “The lad can hardly be asked to make the crossing back to his homeland with him barely healed. It is a wonder he made it here, the state he was in. You know his caravan wanted to go beyond the mountains, if you can believe that, and never meant to cross the desert. Only approach it from the north.”
“And you think that’s the truth?” Mert asked sceptically. “That tall tale about opening up trade routes beyond the mountains – why, everyone knows there’s nothing beyond, only the edge of the world. And that business about the caravan being waylaid by slavers and him the only one to survive? If you buy into that, Donar, you’re more naïve than I thought.”
Donar shrugged.
“The state he was in when he stumbled here proves that at least part of his story is true. And he was lying on our doorstep. We’re not monsters. We had to help him.”
“No doubt he banked on just that,” Mert grumbled. “I would not mind if I knew he would leave at one point. But there is all this talk of him adopting our ways and our Gods and settling here for good.”
Donar nodded quickly.
“He has his eyes on Maya,” he explained. “And he knows her father would never agree to such a match unless he swears fealty to our Gods.”
Mert looked at his young companion shrewdly.
“You had your sights on Maya yourself,” he pointed out. “How does it make you feel now, knowing that demon spawn is making eyes at her?”
But Donar shook his head, laughing.
“I might have had my sights set on Maya, but Maya never had her sights set on me. She is the kind to want more than is in front of her – she desires the unusual. A stray traveller from the World Without is surely unusual enough for her. I wish her joy of him. As for the lad – as long as he keeps to our ways and spreads no outlandish beliefs, who am I to say he cannot stay here?”
Mert spat on the ground. He did not say anything else. The subject of their gossip, oblivious of their talk, chose that moment to turn away and head down the street. He passed by Kassir and glanced at him as if by accident. His dark blue eyes met Kassir’s before the Light-tender looked away, flustered. The colour might have been strange, but the gaze was not. He could not be a creature of the underworld. He appeared as human as Kassir himself.
3.On his way back to their lodgings, Kassir made a few discrete inquiries about Maya – the youngest daughter of the master of the town, as she turned out to be. It was hard to say whether she was as devoted to the traveller as he was to her, but plenty of people believed the marriage was as good as arranged. The master must have been a very tolerant man, much more tolerant than acceptable. Armed with this information, Kassir was ready to face Ranar once more.
“There is indeed a lad from the World Without here,” he reported dutifully, as Ranar sat sipping a mug of warm milk. “He is young – scarcely my age. I must say I thought he was harmless.”
Ranar grunted.
“Demons always look harmless until you get close enough for them to grab you by the throat. Never mind his looks, lad. Go on.”
“People say he came here by accident. He was part of some trading caravan that was waylaid. He was the only survivor. The townsfolk took him in and helped him heal.”
“So, he’ll be leaving soon, I am assuming?”
Kassir hesitated. He knew he had to answer truthfully, but something told him that maybe just this time he should keep what he knew to himself. The hesitation was only brief, though, and he remembered his duty once more.
“He wishes to remain where he is. He has found a maiden here. I think he wishes to wed her.”
Ranar’s eyes flashed. Kassir flinched, for a moment afraid that the wrath was directed at him. Ranar turned away, realising he had frightened his young companion, but still barely able to contain his fury.
“He wishes to become one of us,” Kassir felt the need to insist.
He saw Ranar’s shoulders stiffen but ploughed on boldly. He thought that maybe if he told everything he heard, the boy would be safe. It had become imperative to him to keep the outsider safe.
“He wants to adopt our ways and our Gods. Surely, if he wishes to worship our Gods, he could be left alone. If he worships the Sun Gods and Rain Goddesses, he is no longer of the World Without but belongs to the people of the desert.”
Ranar spun round, his eyes blazing. This time there was no mistaking that his anger was meant for his companion.
“He is and will always be of the World Without,” he spat. “He is tainted and cannot escape that taint, however much he tries to hide it. He has already stained this town and corrupted an innocent girl. He should have left a long time ago.”
“But he has found someone here. He has found someone to love and does not want to leave her behind. He wants to stay with her.”
Kassir could understand love. He was not allowed to experience it himself, and his confused feelings for Lusa did not tell him much – but that did not mean he could not understand it. He was young enough to find the reason why the traveller from the World Without wanted to remain in the desert quite sound. Surely Ranar could see it too. Surely the Priests would never punish someone for being in love. Maddeningly, however, Ranar would not allow himself to be swayed.
“What then?” he growled. “Would you have the daughters of the desert consorting with demons from the World Without? That is a graver offence than you can realise, young lad. He needs to be punished and he will be. The Priests will see that they both get what they deserve.”
Kassir’s eyes widened. He had always known the Desert Gods were demanding. He had never paused to consider that they might be unjust as well.
“The girl, too?” he asked uncertainly.
Ranar nodded fervently.
“Of course, her too. She should have thought of the Gods first instead of whatever infatuation she thinks she might feel. She needs to be made an example of, Kassir. They both do. This is why you and I are here. To make sure something like this can never happen again.”
There was no stand Kassir could make against that. He did not think it helped the people of the desert much if they punished something as natural and as uncontrollable as the act of falling in love.
“Well, I suppose they can make their way to whatever land he comes from and live there. It will be lonely for her, though.”
Ranar looked at him uncomprehendingly.
“What do you mean?”
“That is what the priests will do with the traveller and the girl, right? They’ll send them away?”
Kassir did not say the word exile. Like most of his people, he was irrationally afraid the act of saying it brought bad luck on one. The worst punishment the priests could deliver, it kept the people of the desert obedient and in line – at least, most of them. Kassir hoped it would not be too hard for the girl, although, unlike many others, she would not be leaving alone.
“We do not plan to send these two into exile,” Ranar scoffed.
Unlike Kassir, he had no fear of the word, secure in the knowledge that it could never happen to one like him.
“We only rarely use exile as a punishment,” Ranar went on. “Certainly not as often as those unversed in the ways of the priests think we do.”
“Oh?” Kassir asked carefully.
As a relatively new servant, Kassir was not privy to much of the knowledge that was entrusted to older and more experienced people. Still, he was always eager to find out more.
“Exile, however much you might fear it, is a rather mild punishment, I should say,” Ranar explained. “True, it would be a bad life in a cold and friendless world forsaken by the Gods, but you would still be among the living. No, there are harsher punishments: imprisonment in the dungeons beneath the Temple of the Sun Gods; torture; death. And for these two – I fear only the worst would satisfy the priests.”
Kassir felt as if the ground had been pulled from under his feet. He tried his best not to show horror or disgust. He tried to act as if the news did not faze him. But his heart was pounding, and his blood was rushing in his ears. He felt sickened. All the things Adar had told him at their first meeting, all the words that had made Kassir so proud, how twisted they were. All the people he had reported on, the people he had been firmly convinced he was helping – how many of them were still alive? How many had Kassir unknowingly sent to death?
Copyright Simina Lungu 2022
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