Evening crept inot the city's weaving avenues, shrouding
those lingering along them in its cool embrace. Shopkeeps in the Merchant's
Quarter had long ago closed their doors, but the buyers and sellers of the
festival grounds would continue long into the night.
Within her elaborate chambers, the Caliph, Divider of
Loyalties, observed the young robber once again with an intrigued, though
impatient eye. For the third night, the robber knelt chained to a ring in
the floor, pleading for his life with a story of the last days before the
Awakening...
...and that brings us to the crux of things, Most Exalted
One, there are forces in these corridors that have walked here long before
you or I, or even the first builders. They remain with us still in the crevices
of our vision, where only memory and fear hold sway...
Amru had gone with the Senpet. His face - I saw now -
was painted with a strange sigil. From this I guessed he must have been a
sahir, perhaps one of the royals, though why such an individual would be
lurking in the home of simple traders was another question altogether.
I chose to follow them, ignoring the cloud of fatigue
sweeping over me. The dark-skinned man ducked between buildings and across
crowded streets, always watching for pursuit. He was quite skilled, really,
and only my many years of out-smarting the city guard prevented his discovery
of me. After several tense moments and a long ferry ride, we arrived at the
outskirts of the far size of the Maze.
This part of the city is well-known to me. Those with
little to fight for anymore or without the will to go on make it their home.
It is called the Khesir Quarter by most, but to those that live here, it
called the Last Stop. The homeless and forsaken souls who have given up lurch
along in its pale stone walks every hour of the day, squabbling amongst
themselves over tonight's sleeping arrangements or a half-empty bottle of
turned milk.
I said I know of it, Highness. But I must also say that
I avoid it all costs.
My curiosity was peaked now, for I could not understand
why the Senpet would choose to bring the girl here. She would simply become
another possession to barter...
The dark-skinned man turned then into Redemption's Court
and briskly stepped past the rusted gate, pulling Amru across the cobblestones
to the far wall within. I waited outside...
You see, Redemption's Court has a curious history. It
is said that those who enter risk judgement for their indiscretion. No one
goes there unless they are longing for a new beginning... or an early end.
I, for one, was not willing to take that chance. Instead, I watched
as the Senpet vanished into a narrow crack between two barren porches.
An hour later, I considered returning to the relative
safety of the River Quarter and finding a place to bed down for the evening.
But my less rational side won out, and I found myself passing through the
gate and into the heart of the Court despite my earlier misgivings.
Dear Caliph, the terrible truths revealed to me therein
haunt me to this day. Even I were strong enough to repeat them, they would
only serve to tarnish your radiant beauty...
But Caliph, I would never consider patronizing one of
your obvious discernment, let alone one with the station and opportunity
to take my life. I am, as all others, your obedient servant...
Very well, I shall continue...
Within the crevice to which the sahir had taken Amru,
I found a descending staricase spiraling into darkness. The sound of coursing
water and the rank scent of sewage drifting up to me indicated that this
was yet another entrance into the tunnels beneath the city.
That would be the second time that day that I had ventured
into the underworld, an act no sane person considers at all. Still, it was
better than returning through the Court, so I braced my hand against the
right wall and stepped down into the abyss once more.
Not twenty mindful steps later, I heard voices close
by. Concentrating, I could make out two people speaking: a woman, and a man
I assumed was the Senpet. The woman's words had a playful tone, but his were
dispassionate and calculating.
"Be calm, Heaku," she purred, "I merely find it amusing
that one of your precious little champions is little more than a newborn."
"Quiet, woman!" Hekau hissed back. "You have no notion
of the incredible vistas this newborn can achieve. She and her kind
will be waging this war on levels we cannot dream of!"
"And that is the great irony... is it not?"
Another had arrived as they spoke, one whose cavernous
voice threatened to swallow all others whole. His words could not be defined
by their sound so much as by the immesurably vacant recesses that stirred
them: "That they fight so that you may continue dreaming?"
Hekau was standing beside the striking woman, who leaned
against a wall to his left and played with appeared to be a tiny kitten.
They turned toward the side tunnel, and a veil of cascading sand dropped
before them. Through it stepped an unassuming middle-aged man. Immediately
behind him was another, whom I later discovered was the source of the curious
voice that had drawn me partially out of hiding. Ashalan, he carried himself
with an arrogance that stunned everyone present, myself included. This would
not last long, however.
"Eyla..." Hekau stammered, "I did not expect to see you
so soon. We have only collected the firs-"
"Your efforts are satisfactory but have resulted in
unneccessary bloodshed... and consequent retaliation."
All three figures were gripped by the Ashalan's vacuous
statement, anchored. Hekau seemed stunned, while his female companion had
ceased playing with and was now clutching the cat. For the first time, I
noticed then that the animal was not at all happy with its predicament. In
fact, it appeared to me that it was trying to escape the woman's tight
purchase.
As for the other, I cannot say. Only part of him was
visible to me at any moment, and that part seemed to shift with every passing
instant.
After a time, the Ashalan spoke again. "Amru can lead
you to the others, but extreme caution must be taken in this next endeavor.
Your enemies are amassing even now. You have dispatched one of the Khadi
- an unprecedented act - and they will wish to know how."
"They will not learn your mysteries, sayid," Heaku
said.
"Of that, we are not concerned."
The Senpet had no response, but his eyes sharpened to
thin gashes in his proud face. "We are already aware that another of the
illayah is a prisoner of the Senpet, held in their garrison at the
city's edge."
"Her loyalty will prove... most difficult to enlist,
I would think. Take heed... Tonight is an important phase in your evolution.
You must act with all the audacity of your convictions."
"The Night of the Burning Sky..." the woman murmured.
"Yes, though we know of it by another name..."
Left alone after that, the three sahir settled down to
a hushed discussion. Amru was nowhere to be seen, but I was sure that
she must be near, and so I huddled closely to the wall outside the staircase,
where I could watch her abductors.
It was fortune that I chose a well-concealed location
from which to observe, as the next thing that I remember is waking some time
later to find my quarry, led by Amru, crossing the stream and heading toward
me. Quickly ducking into the stairway, I was surprised to see them pass by
altogether and continue down the tunnel into the bowels of the city.
I slipped out into the tunnel and carefully trailed behind
them until they reached an almost vertical shaft, within which they all ascended.
Several moments after the last has vanished upward, I followed. From
the abundant noise above, I guessed we were underneath the Houses of Delight
and Fancy, the entertainment district. I could almost make out the wheel
at Rafi's, beckoning me.
Moments after I emerged from the dislodged grating above,
screams echoed back from the street. Outside the alley I was in, a gambling
house was being invaded by the Khadi, who was screaming at its owner,
Ghassan.
"Have you seen the boy Dharr here tonight, old man?"
he sneered.
"N-no! Not for a couple days," Ghassan sputtered.
The Khadi threw him aside and joined two other Khadi,
who were exiting his charred doorway and laughing loudly. Fear had swept
over the district. People were slipping away, too afraid for even curiosity
to keep them. The three Khadi turned toward Abdul-Rafi's, one balling his
hand into a sparkling fist.
From across the street, a clamor cut through the
panicked air. Two thundering cries in unison preceeded the arrival of the
Janan twins.
I'm sure you are aware, Caliph, of the Ebonites and their
dedication to their own brand of justice. Well, the twins are a living testament
to their oath. But I can see you are not interested in such things, I will
continue...
Charging across the square, the twins parted to outflank
the Khadi. Spreading out, the sahir prepared to defend themselves. But before
the battle could engage, the rumble of approaching horses intervened. With
little warning, the forces of the Senpet city guard burst through the crowds,
falling upon the Ebonites. It was obvious that the warriors did not seek
to kill them, however, as they relied upon blunt weapons and defensive tactics
throughout.
The twins fought valiantly but were badly outnumbered.
the assault lasted only a few minutes before they began to tire. One was
trapped in Senpet netting, while the other was cornered near Uji's Place.
I wondered at the events before me. Why would the Senpet attack Ebonites?
They had always tolerated each other before...
The commander of the Senpet, the one known as Qer Apet,
called for thier halt. Stepping forward, he faced Hekau with a look of disgust.
Then sudden compassion crossed Qer Apet's face, and he said, "Why
Hekau? Your convictions will only get you killed. Hensatti will-"
"Do not presume to understand me, Qer Apet!" Hekau spat.
"Ours is a long, bloody history! The Senpet have much to answer for at the
Awakening!"
"We all do, brother!"
"Hekau!" The frantic yell came from within Uji's, where
I could see Amru grappling with a hunched figure as he backed inside.
A screeching monkey hopped manically on his shoulder.
As I raced toward the back of the building, violent magical
blasts exploded out into the square and chaos resumed. The kitten had transformed
into a black, fiery jinn that mercilessly fell upon the Senpet and Khadi
as they jointly pushed in on the clustered sahir.
The back door of Uji's was swinging wildly when I turned
the corner. The retreating figure stumbled between a long line of passing
elephant-drawn wagons. Glancing down the street, I couldn't see the
end of the caravan and resigned myself to having seen everything I would
that day.
Ducking under one fo the beasts and mildly dodging another,
I reached the opposite side. The bald monkey man was running down a thoroughfare.
He led me across several blocks and turned into an alley leading to the backside
of a large structure. I didn't realize until I was nearly upon it that it
was the House of the Heavens, our largest holy mosque. He darted in a basement
entrance, and I followed.
Within, I could see a dimly lit corridor. The next leg
of the chase lead me deep inside the mosque's lower levels, which until then
I did not realize had even existed. Within the cavern and below me were several
dozen men dressed in black robes around a murky lake. The surface of the
lake did not seem to cast a reflection, but the longer I looked on it, the
more things I could see...
Horrible things... unimaginable things...
Distorted alter-images of the world we know twisted and
contorted into something vicious and cruel. That pool was the very pit of
Enala itself...
At first I did not notice how difficult it was to look
away. The flitting images upon the pool's surface only lasted a split-second.
If I looked away, I would miss...
The figures below began to rumble about something. Forcing
myself from the pool's provactive call, I saw the monkey man standing below
at the pool's edge, Amru in tow. He was forcing her head down so that she
would look into it and screaming at her to open her eyes. She squirmed helplessly
for several moments before her body went rigid and she began to shake
uncontrollably.
Backing away, the robed figures watched tensely as she
stared into the hateful depths of the pool. Tears fell from her strained
face and vanished deep inside the waters. A boiling sickness grew in my stomach
and bile rose in my throat.
When she finally pulled away from the pool, falling back
onto the barren dirt surrounding it, she continued to convulse. The robed
figures came to her and lifted her away, almost caring in their motions.
The monkey man stood nearby, waiting.
Soon, a bulge appeared on the pool's surface, growing
with every passing second. As I stood, paralyzed in fear, it took the
shpae of a woman, who stepped free of the pool's loathsome embrace and into
the monkey man's welcoming arms. Sloughing off the oily membrane, she faced
him with the defiant stance of one recently risen from the dead.
His monkey shrieked in approval...
...and then pionted directly at me.
Panic fled through me and wrestled me to my feet. A booming
crash somewhere behind me warned me of imminent danger in the direction from
which I had come. Bolting down a sloping ledge leading to the floor of the
chamber, I fixed my sights on a side tunnel midway down and doubled my
pace.
Almost upon it, I began to hear a scrabbling, clawing
noise from within the dirt wall to my left. Before I could act, a long,
skeletal arm thrust outward and swiped at me. Tumbling back onto my rear,
I slid down several feet before regaining my footing. By then, several ambling
skeletons had broken free of their earthly prisons, their teeth chattering
broken codes of hatred.
Below, the robed figures waited breathlessly for my
demise...
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Emerald Empire, Legend of the Burning Sands, the Legend of the Burning Sands logo, Shadow of the Tyrant, theShadow of the Tyrant logo and all related marks, names and characters are tm and (C) 1995-1998 by Five Rings Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. Card illustrations are (C) 1998 by the credited artists (Jewel of the Desert by Nicola Leonard, Library by Jennifer Ambr, Divination by Pam