It wasn’t home, but being in the presence of familiar faces made Kiur’s knees buckle, and he embraced Ninda. He had promised to keep her and her brother safe but failed in doing so.
So seeing Ninda being here, alive and well, filled him with happiness.
“Ninda,” Kiur cried. “Please tell me your brother is here too.”
The girl stopped crying and held on tighter. She rubbed her face against his hand and sobbed. “I don’t know where he is. He’s still gone.”
Ninda was a young girl and had just lost her younger brother to the Reiszer.
Just like Kiur had and none of them knew what their fate was—whether they were alive or now. Kiur held on tighter to her and rubbed her back, it was the best he could do, but he needed to make up to her.
He needed to ensure her and everyone’s safety.
“Let’s bring you inside.” Shabra put a hand on Kiur’s shoulder. “We haven’t seen others like you for weeks. We better bring you to our leader and tell her your story.”
Ninda was the first to break off the embrace and stood up to offer Kiur a hand back up. She was silently holding back crying again and held a frown instead.
Kiur took her hand and they followed Shabra to the inner rooms built underneath the desert. Cool air drifted by them and Kiur was able to relax from the oppressing heat.
His feet shuffled on the stone-tiled floor as they walked deeper into the structure with more cool water and wind flowing nearby—a blessing from the dwarves’ ingenuity.
There, at the end of the structure, Kiur found a priestess from his home talking to an assortment of humans, dwarves and therianthropes. The veil over her mouth was partly torn. Her head shawl was gone, revealing her deep brown hair and tugged it back with her two prosthetic metal fingers before she stroke the bulge of her belly.
She was pregnant, at least seven months along as she was advising everyone on the next steps of action. Her name was Tabira, the priestess from Nippur and successor to become the god Enlil’s next vessel on earth.
Ninda ran up to her and announced their presence. Tabira glanced over to Kiur and couldn’t believe her eyes as she saw his familiar face.
“I am happy to see you again.” Tabira smiled and walked over to Kiur to welcome him with her hands clasped underneath her belly. “I feared what has happened to the others; you need to tell us everything you know.”
The tale was a fast one and Kiur told Tabira, Shabra and the other present escapees. Kiur shared with them how he and everyone else ended up at the Reiszer camps, how they took away Ninda’s brother, how Archil saved them and the accounter with Tomoe, an Elite of the Reiszer.
Kiur didn’t tell them everything but he told them how he team up with Xander and Cylia to escape, and the current situation they were now in.
He also mentioned the part where Ragnar proposed cooperation.
“Have you been knocked against your head!?” one of them asked in disbelief—which was a fair reaction Kiur anticipated.
Tabira shushed the outraged man and sat forward as much as she could from her mountain of cushions.
How she had been leading this entire group despite her constitution both surprised and amazed him.
“Kiur, I have to make sure I understood you correctly,” Tabira tapped her chin with her metal finger. “You want us to collaborate with the Reiszer to escape the desert? Do you understand what you are asking of us? They are the reason we needed to escape from in the first place. Remember what they did to Ninda’s brother, what they did to your brother and every–”
“Calm down, Gala Attendant,” Shabra stood up and interrupted Tabira. “Remember your state and remain calm. You are Enlil’s successor, you have to remain calm, and be benevolent.”
Tabira relented and leaned back with a groan. “I recall, I didn’t forget. Enlil wants me to be calm and benevolent but this proposal? Kiur, you can’t be serious.”
Was he serious? Kiur knew how ridiculous and ironic the request was.
First, he had been beaten, taken from home and chased through half the desert by Reiszer, similarly to everyone else, but now he asked them to cooperate with them?
Ragnar’s sword weight on Kiur’s back increased in weight with every passing minute. The desert was too dangerous to cross alone, and Ragnar asked for Kiur to negotiate terms but there was more to it.
A father’s plea to save his daughter.
He told them about Ragnar and Jorunn, and the difference in strength to fight the monster in the desert but they all looked grimly away. Except for Shabra who was nodding attentively and stroking his beard.
“This is their just punishment,” Shabra announced. “The Aqrabuamelu are servants of the Sun and God of Justice, Shamash. He had sent them to deliver swift death upon the intruders who desecrated his temple. This is a sign, Shamash is delivering justice!”
Shabra was eloquent and drew the others to his side as everyone agreed aggressively. A piece of information then clicked in Kiur’s head. “Larsa is Shamash’s patron state. You are a temple administrator, aren’t you?”
Shabra smiled openly. “I am indeed, and I believe this is our god’s doing. He is punishing the disbelievers for crossing a line. Thank you for telling us about their predicament, scribe Artor, but you ought to agree that this is just doing. Soon Shamash’s sister will descend and we will march a holy war against our enemies and deliver our people to freedom. The Reiszer will know thei—”
“Alright, back down a minute,” Tabira held up her hands in a time-out sign before everyone started to cheer for blood to the talk of a zealot. “As Enlil’s successor, I cannot allow you to talk like that. We will not seek a war of any kind.” Tabira glanced over to Kiur. “Your journey was tiresome. I will walk you to where you can rest. The meeting’s adjourned.”
—❂—
Busy was the way to describe the hideout.
Kiur walked alongside Ninda and Tabira around the camp that housed a sizeable number of escapees, though it was but a mere fraction compared to those back at the camp they fled from.
Everyone was walking up and down tirelessly to improve the conditions of the hideout, hauled water or practised their fire or earth magic in case of an enemy attack.
Compared to Ragnar’s ruin encampment which housed more people and had a sizeable striking force to attack; this place was akin to a fortress, ready to drive back anyone or anything.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Tabira noticed Kiur’s gaze at the spikes above. “It’s a Granite Dome,” she explained. “Shabra makes it sound like we are immune to attacks of the Aqrabuamelu or the Uridimmu, but we use the dome to simply close off the roof. Nothing gets passed there, and no Reiszer have found us.”
“Yet,” Ninda commented, walking close by in case Tabira needed support to walk or do anything. She didn’t like being treated like a protected little thing but Tabira couldn’t tell off the little girl.
Especially when Tabira was pregnant with Ninda’s sibling.
“Are you attempting to wait out the Summer Solstice?” Kiur asked and Tabira affirmed his suspicion. “I am not sure it’s a smart idea. There’s a reason why the dwarves don’t build Thaigs or why there are no settlements so far out here.”
Kiur remembered Kuara and how that settlement was thriving but it was an exception. It wasn’t a place to stay, or that’s what his feeling told him.
Something about it gave off a familiar feeling and it told him to go. Although this suspicion was quickly dashed when the Asag pursued them back in the desert.
“Shabra is confident this place will hold,” Tabira answered reluctantly. “But I agree with you. Water and food will be hard to come by later but we can’t cross the desert with the Reiszer or monsters out there, or any means of transportation.”
“We tried making golems,” Ninda quipped in and jumped into a nearby flow of water, pointing at an inanimated form of a horse at a corner. “But we can’t make them work, we lack someone to infuse them with life, a Rufer.”
The two girls looked over at Kiur which made him nervous. Kiur was someone you would call a Rufer, and they knew it.
When Xander explained to Kiur his theory of magic to make Kiur regain control over it Xander also covered the aspect of Seher and Rufer. Those who could see the flow of magic and those who could invoke and communicate with them.
Xander was a Seher, so he was able to see the flow of magic and knew how to exploit it. Kiur was a Rufer and the reason he was able to infuse the golems with life and enable their escape, twice.
However, it was also the reason his magic was so unstable. His ability to communicate with his surroundings could cause everything around him to go haywire if he lost control.
Rufer aren’t rare, but strong ones like Kiur were especially useful but also prone to danger. He casually flicked with his hand, and to the surprise of Tabira, a nearby rock flew into his palm.
“So you did regain your magic– does that mean you can–”
Kiur shook his head and presented the rock in his palm. It had turned into ash with cinders still dancing.
“A dual affinity, a tough hand to be dealt with,” Tabira nodded. “I understand now why you resigned to be Enlil’s successor.”
“No, it wasn’t because of that,” thought Kiur and refrained from saying that. It was part of the reason. “My magic is too unstable. Sometimes I am not sure how I make it work either. When we passed the deserted camp I also found the golems I infused a month ago and I reactivated them somehow but–”
“You have to try!” Ninda insisted. “If there is a chance you could make the golems work we might be able to get back home.”
“Ninda,” Tabira chided the girl. “Don’t ask for the impossible. Even if we succeed with the golems there’s still the danger of surprise attacks. So many of us are non-combatants and–”
“He can at least try!” Ninda cried out and caused a gust of wind to rise from her spot, riling up the sands and causing everyone to look their way. “If Kiur can infuse them he should give it a try… I want to see my parents.”
A murmur went through the crowd and before they knew it more and more people gathered and looked their way.
“I will give it a shot.”
Kiur walked up to the golem at the corner of the hideout and before they knew everyone had arrived to watch. Their gazes pierced his back but Kiur shut them off, he was used to this feeling.
However, Tabira grew uneasy because she knew what haywired magic would cause. She watched how Kiur placed a hand on the golem’s surface and reached out to the life all around.
The ground stirred and the golem’s eyes glimmered to life and were accompanied by a rowdy neighing, just like the other golems Kiur had infused. Cheers went out by seeing the golem work, but before they knew it, the horse’s eyes grew red, and flames erupted around its neck.
Kiur sent out a ripple of magic and wiped his hand to the side. The golem’s body crumbled to dust and ash.
“I told you,” he said, his arm and eyes still burning, “it wouldn’t work.”
—❂—
There was no time to rest or sleep, at least for Kiur. He was too restless figuring out an approach to make his people cooperate with the Reiszer.
Something he still couldn’t process on why he was so willing to do it.
A campfire was held at the centre of the basin with Tabira assuring them all with Enlil’s blessing. A role Kiur was all too familiar with. From the doorstep, he watched how Tabira perfectly slipped into her role of the leader to assure everyone and give them the will to carry on.
She was someone they needed. She had the strength to bring them out of the predicament as was shown back then in Nippur when she had led the retreat, even if it failed.
Kiur couldn’t compare to her, not ever since he lost that role. “What should I do? How do I–”
“You should drink something.” Ninda approached Kiur with a hot cup of tea—what leaves they used Kiur didn’t want to know. The brew was bitter, but it helped with his fatigue.
“I am sorry about your brother,” Kiur apologised. “If only I were able to protect him.”
“It’s not your fault. The Reiszer are at fault,” Ninda frowned at him. “Why would you suggest cooperating with them? After everything they did? Didn’t you lose your brother to them too?”
Kiur nervously drummed with his fingers against the clay cup. “It’s either that or none of us will make it out of the desert. Ragnar, their leader, I think he is a good person. My friend, Xander, stayed and promised to make sure they found our other friend, Cylia.”
“So it’s personal,” Ninda hung her head and hugged her knees to watch the campfire. “You want to save your friends, is that all?”
Kiur hesitated to answer but couldn’t lie. “I hope not but I promised my friends that we make it out alive. Something we can only do if we work together with the Reiszer.”
“Not like they will agree,” pointed out Ninda. “Shabra build this place and convinced them all to stay. Tabira has their trust due to her status and character but none of them will willingly give in to the idea to work with the Reiszer.”
Kiur couldn’t argue with that. This place would be safe from any outside attacks, for sure, but not from the Summer Solstice. His mother had witnessed the damage of the solstice firsthand whenever she visited the devastated places so Kiur knew about its dangers.
If they insisted on staying, they would all die. They needed to get away, at whatever cost, Kiur needed to convince them.
“Ninda, you should join the campfire,” Kiur said and put his hand on her shoulder. “I will find a way to bring you back to your parents.”
“Where will you be going?” she asked as Kiur walked up to the lift.
“Getting some fresh air, I will be back soon.”
Kiur walked away from the camp in the dead of night and freed the iron sword from its cloth. He didn’t know how he should treat the sword, as heavy as it was, but by sending out a ripple of magic Kiur felt its connection with Ragnar.
It had a long history with its owner who entrusted it to Kiur in hopes he would succeed. The sword was also putting its trust in Kiur as if it was alive and conscious.
Many say objects have no life in them, they couldn’t possibly feel a thing, but Kiur could feel the sword’s heartbeat, trust and expectation. It was a weapon to kill and protect, but it was devoid of the desire for bloodshed.
It was waiting for some kind of sign, Kiur could feel it.
“Why is everyone expecting so much from me.” Wondered Kiur, plunged the sword into the ground and rested his head against the pommel. “I don’t even know what to expect from me.”
Kiur sent out waves of magic through the sword and let it travel as far as the earth allowed him. He relaxed and breathed in and out as calmly as he could.
Stoking the flames in his heart Kiur embraced the earth, and his red eyes glowed. “Let me find your brethren. Earth, let me find Ragnar’s allies.”
Three dots pinged in Kiur’s head, pointing him to the direction where he would find the Reiszer scouting out for the escapees.
Kiur started to walk with Ragnar’s sword in hand, searching for the enemies that took his brother, displaced his people and threw everyone’s life into disarray.
He wouldn’t forgive them for that, no matter the circumstances. It didn’t matter to him what the consequences would be, but Kiur was determined not to go easy on them.
He would convince them to work, to apologise for what they did and make them beg for cooperation. If they needed help so desperately, Kiur would personally drag them out and make them beg for it.
They owed it to him and the others.
They owned it to Ninda’s brother, for Kiur’s brother and to everyone else they lost.
“I will convince them in whatever way I can; that’s what I need to do, right? Cylia? Xander?”