The morning came and even though Theos slept late, he was up by the time the sun was a spear’s length above the horizon. It was all thanks to the outpost guarding duty requiring him to be up by that time, and he could not shake that habit off, not this soon after he left. He dozed off sometime close to dawn and ended up resting on the counter, and a lot of the Blue Crescent’s patrons seemed to have retreated to their rooms, a few were too tired – or too drunk – and remained at the tables. He could not find Lapis amongst them.
“Where is she?” he groaned as he pulled his face from the rough surface, it felt like he was peeling bark off a palm tree, and by Amu… he wiped the drool off his face.
“She saw it, you know,” the man laughed, “your drooling face. She made the funniest face I've seen a human being make, just by watching that pool under your face.”
Well, that was embarrassing. He ignored the man and looked around for Lapis.
“She already left,” the man said, wiping the spot his face was planted moments ago. “She said she will be busy at the temple, and warned you against going there for the time being.”
“Any idea why?” Theos straightened up, checking that his belongings were in place and that he wasn’t robbed during his unconsciousness. Everything was there, thankfully, he wouldn’t hear the end of it if he was robbed in the middle of the city.
“She is a person of great importance in the city, one who ran away with…” the man gave him a head to toe sort of look, “you.”
“Yeah, yeah. I get it, you don’t like me,” Theos waved, “I don’t suppose you have any food left in there?”
“I will not be cleaning anymore of your mess,” the man said with simple conviction.
“Just say you can’t cook,” Theos grumbled and moved to leave, “and the stuff you serve is almost toxic.”
“Listen you littl-”
Theos did not wait to hear the rest, he left to find his meal somewhere in the city. The mystery meat skewers looked and smelled so good, and he really wanted to try them. He wondered if the stall would be making any this early, but it couldn’t hurt to check.
The city was not crowded, but it had activity as he passed through the different streets. People moving goods and starting their day, merchants arranging their goods and preparing the colorful flags that might attract people to their stalls.
Most importantly…
Theos followed the smell, the charred flesh on flames, and that he imagined it being meat from a citar made it just more appetizing. He reached the few food stalls that were gathered in that area. The mystery meat skewers, a baked goods stall – the one where they got the honey bread yesterday – a fruit stand, and even that suspicious fish stand was still around, peddling the same fish it did yesterday.
“They are still cooking,” the woman said as he approached, she was fanning the flames under the raw, cubed meat pieces, sandwiched between tubers. “It will be a while before they are done.”
“I can wait,” Theos sat on one of the stools she provided for customers, listening to fat sizzling as it dropped into the red coals. “Would you tell me what kind of meat this is this time?”
“It’s still a mystery,” she smiled.
“Just tell me if it has any citar pieces,” he said, “just that much is okay, right?”
“Hmm,” the woman said as the flames licked the skewers. “Nope, still a mystery.”
“Shame,” he turned to look around the place, a few people passing here and there, some even stopping to buy things. Things were normal until a cloaked figure decided to join him on the stall’s stools.
“They are still cooking,” the woman repeated.
“I’ll wait,” the man with the familiar voice said.
“Heras?” Theos frowned.
He looked towards him, the hood of his cloak only revealed a small part of his face. “Fancy meeting you here,” he smiled.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were heading to Shinar, as well?” Theos exclaimed. “We could’ve-”
“Theos,” he interrupted, standing up and pulling him from his stool. “I need you to listen to me, and listen very carefully.”
“Uh, okay?” Theos blinked as they moved to a secluded area behind the stalls, Heras looked around a few times to see if anyone followed or came close. “Are you in trouble?” Theos leaned in to look with him.
“Sorta, but that’s not important,” he said. “I was in the temple when you and that girl were running.”
“Oh, you saw that.” The guys would never let it go if Heras told them about how he was running with a woman through the capital city of Shinar. There would be cooing and kissing noises for months.
“Shut up and let me speak,” Heras hissed, “I was in the library checking the scrolls for information about Akh-Ba.”
Theos frowned but watched as his friend kept looking around, placing his back on one of the buildings.
“I found a few things, not many, but some. Dion’s people call him the evil god of conflict, and it was somehow imprisoned after the war,” Heras pulled him closer, holding tight to his neck. “Tell me, where did you encounter him?”
Theos swatted his arm away and rubbed his neck, “I don’t get it, why with all the secrecy if that is what you wanted? We could’ve talked about this over a shitty cup of Kemra.”
“Because the guards are-” he paused as a group of women walked by them, giggling and chatting, before he continued in a whispering voice, “looking for me, and I have to leave soon. So would you please just tell me?”
“You remember that cave next to the place where we sacrificed the citar?” Theos crossed his arms.
“Yes, the Ka, a sacrifice of essence,” Heras grumbled, “yes, I remember, is it inside that cave?”
“I told you before,” Theos sighed, he already told Heras the story before. “There was a path that led deep into the mountain, under the mines. There was a place with an underground river and a waterfall.”
Heras put his hand on his head and flinched. “Yes, you told me something like that.”
“Are you okay?” Theos tried to take a look beneath the hood.
“Yes, I’m fine,” he looked away, checking a man who came from one of the side paths. “Please, continue.”
Theos waited until the man with the jars passed by them before he talked. He could do the mysterious person thing just as well, “that place has shades, according to Akh-Ba.”
“What did it say, exactly?” Heras asked.
“Something about the Umbra living there, or something,” Theos leaned next to him. “At least one shade chased me out of that place, and I threw enough shards into the water to make Na’heb die of chest pains if he found out about them just to barely survive.
“Anyways,” Theos huffed out at the unpleasant memory. “Near the waterfall, there is a windy path that will pass by that crystal’s room, that was the first place I found Akh-Ba.”
“Okay, okay,” Heras put his hand on his chin, “just a few shades, nothing too dangerous,” he said under his breath.
“Are you insane?” he nearly barked at his friend, “few shades? nothing too dangerous?”
“I know how to pass them, there is a way,” Heras’ eyes shifted around while he spoke like he was still in his thoughts. “You passed them the same way, after all.”
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Theos grabbed him and removed the hood, revealing a deep cut that did not bleed on his head. “You are hurt!”
“No, I’m fine,” he swatted him away and put the hood back on. “There was this large guy, bald, deep brown skin, voice like-” he went quiet as a couple of people walked by them, “like rumbling. Like the boss of the guards or something.”
That would be Apis, Theos thought. “I think I know the person.”
“He wanted my head,” he said, “he failed, he knows about me, he wants my head.”
“Because you are one of the people of-”
Heras shushed him. “Here,” he said as he shuffled in his cloak and took out his dagger. “You can have this, a parting gift. And if we meet again, I might not be me anymore.”
“Stop talking and let's go get you healed,” Theos tried. “I know Lapis will help you if we have to go to the Star Temple, they won’t be able to touch you.”
“I’ll make Akh-Ba heal me,” he smiled and pushed the dagger into his hands. “He can heal wounds too, and it will be much safer. I found everything I needed, the answers… They are in the library. The old speech lexicon made sense of things…”
“You know I can’t read,” Theos grumbled. “Come with me to the Blue Crescent, I’ll go get my citar and we can ride it to the outpost, I can’t let you go on your own.”
Heras froze in his place for a moment before he nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
Theos began moving and he heard the footsteps following him. He took a few turns before the steps vanished and he could not find his friend anywhere. Theos searched and searched, but finally accepted that his friend had probably left the city.
He held the dagger in his hand, splattering blood on the wooden sheath. “What in the deep abyss did you do, Heras…”
-
Theos began packing the citar as soon as he returned to the Blue Crescent, to the owner’s great delight that he was leaving the establishment AND the city. He donned his cloak and put his scarf around his neck as he descended the stairs.
“I can’t believe you are finally leaving,” the man celebrated with a drink. “Worst two days of my life, I shouldn’t have let you stay here in the first place. Thank Dion!”
“Don’t you ever sleep?” Theos frowned at the man, “And don’t worry, I’m also glad I’m leaving this mites filled hell hole too,” he added while scratching his hair.
“I don’t have a single mite in the rooms I'm renting,” the man said, still happy. “You mutts bring them with you.”
“These ones are yours,” Theos pretended to pick one out. “Yeah, they have your face, alright.”
“I can’t wait to hear the news of you meeting your horrible end on the legs of a citar dropping you into a desert antlion’s pit.”
“I hope people find out that you add droppings to your drinks before serving them.”
“Do not even joke about that,” the man snapped as one of the customers put his mug down. “We are a respectful establishment that only brings out the best of the best.”
“If you say so,” Theos waved at him as he left. He went to the pen and found the mangy looking animal he used before, he saddled it, and put on the leather backpacks and the reins before he pulled it out. He handed a couple of copper pieces to the stable hand since the boy took care of feeding the creature in his stead.
“Move, you filthy, mangy, stubborn beast,” he hissed as the monster refused to follow and resisted each step out of the pen.
“Did you try treating it with kindness?” Lapis’ voice came from behind.
“They only understand the language of violence,” he pulled and the creature stood there watching him with an unimpressed gaze refusing to move. It blew out wind from its nose as Theos used all his strength to pull. “See? It is trying to challenge me!” He hissed.
“Maybe because it knows I asked you to stay?” Lapis approached the beast to caress the bridge of its nose, the creature nuzzled against her hand. “Where are you going?”
“My friend needs help,” Theos pulled again and managed to move the beast a few steps then started guiding it to the street. “You know, after Apis decided to cleave out a part of his skull.”
Lapis simply turned confusion in her eyes.
“Yeah,” Theos said, a final strong pull made the fiendish creature follow him, reluctantly. Lapis followed him and he continued. “They found him in the… library? Reading some scrolls,” he continued. “I don’t know what happened, he wasn’t making sense, he was…”
“Addled,” Lapis said.
“Yeah, that,” he walked through the crowd on the main street, heading towards the only exit out of these mountains. “he just wasn’t… right, wasn’t that well spoken person I’ve always known.”
“What was he doing in the library?” she asked.
“Who really knows what he was doing in there, I am not as smart as he is.” Theos huffed, thinking about the things Heras told him. He stopped moving as the creature began to resist again. “Move your flanks or by the holiest of Amu names, I will slaughter you on this street.”
“I don’t think you can leave the city,” Lapis said.
“I’m sorry about not staying here, but I’ll try my best to come back for the Astral ceremony, Heras needs help, he wants to go to the room where the shades live and I am the only one who knows where that place is.”
“I understand all of that, and I wouldn’t keep you from helping a friend,” Lapis said, that smile plastered on her face. “I mean you can’t leave the city, right now. Look.”
He followed where she pointed and found people gathered at the inner exit’s gate. A large unmoving crowd – an angry, angry crowd. “What is going on?” he frowned.
“The city was sealed earlier,” she said, “orders of the high priest and the commander of the ziggurat guards,” her tone was so close to annoyed. “They found an intruder in the temple yesterday. Someone who shouldn’t have been there, someone who defiled it.”
He turned to look at her. “Me?”
“I thought so too, which was why I was looking for you,” she hummed, “I thought you would end up in trouble, sooner or later, but from what you told me…”
“Heras,” he grumbled. That would make sense. “Defiled it, really? That place is rocks and stones, there is nothing holy about that place except the unholy headache I keep getting.”
“They tend to be overdramatic about things,” she said, trying to grumble like he did, “they wouldn’t seal the doors over one guy sneaking in, though.”
Perhaps because he stabbed the big oaf, Theos thought. Or perhaps that thing about his people fighting with Dion’s people. Or… he shook his head, that was not important. “I must get out of here.”
“You can’t,” she repeated. “That is the only exit in or out of the city.”
“There must be a way, maybe I can bribe the guards or- or try to hide in one of the merchant’s caravans.”
“Those are not the regular gate guards, Theos,” she turned to pet the vile critter. “The temple guards will be inside the path now, and they don’t get bribed, they don’t let people sneak out.”
“What if they find out that he already left the city?” He turned towards her. “That sealing the city doesn’t matter now that he is gone, they will stop closing things down, right?”
She shook her head. “They will still check for conspirators, just in case.” The citar leaned its long neck and put its head between her hands asking for scratches once again. “Such a good boy, aren’t you? You sure are the bestest of boys.”
“Don’t scratch it too hard,” Theos gave the fiend a side glance. “You will catch something, and it won't be healed in that fancy temple of yours.”
He turned and watched people returning from the gates, defeated looks on their faces, he called out one of the guys with a fully packed Greenbelt’s bull. “They aren’t letting anyone out?”
“Not even the bigger merchants,” he called, “they even said they will replace any spoiled trading goods, in value or objects, while the city is closed, as well as lodging. That’s how bad it is.”
Theos huffed and turned around, the creature willingly turned as Lapis guided it. “Told you,” she said, voice triumphant.
“I have to get my room back now,” Theos remembered the last exchange with the owner. “Not gonna be easy.”
“You can find another place,” Lapis suggested.
“Not one with a pen for this shaggy demon,” He gave the smug looking citar a threatening look. The creature ignored him and kept begging Lapis for more attention. “Why is it clinging so hard to you?”
“I’m being kind to it,” she moved her hand along its mane, “like I told you before.”
He did not believe that one bit, this beast is probably an evil spirit that preyed on women by lulling them into a false sense of safety before it dragged them into a deep hole in the ground to feast on their tender bodies.
“Say,” he asked Lapis, “you think this will be over soon?”
“Hard to say,” she thought for a moment, “I don’t think it would last more than two days.”
“Two days?” he grumbled. “I don’t think Heras would have that long…”
“It would get really expensive to keep all of these people inside the city, using the coffers of the temple would help but they want them to grow, not decrease. My father will order the gates to be opened before two days are out,” she explained. “The problem is what would make them resort to such extreme methods.”
“Would someone cutting Apis cause something like this?” he said in a low voice.
“It would,” she hummed. “Did your friend injure him?”
The blood splatters on the dagger could be anyone’s, even Heras’. “I don’t know,” he shook his head.
“If he was injured,” she said with a pleasure in her tone. “Then he would need healing… and if needed healing…”
“And if he needed healing?”
“Then I can make it not happen!” she exclaimed, “let’s put this cutie back into its pen and head to the temple!”
“I don’t want to go there again,” he slumped, “not with an injured, angry, and much smaller version of this citar out to get revenge, without a suitable target for that revenge.”
“Don’t you want to go and see him trying to get a wound healed only for it to be opened again and again?” Lapis blinked. “Hear him scream in frustration?”
“Uh,” Theos looked at her with raised eyebrows. “I can’t say I’ve ever wanted to do either of those things, I’m pretty sure that’s your desire.”
“It is!” she grinned.
“Okay, I’ll come with you,” he nodded. “But I require a big favor out of you.”
“Anything,” she smiled and it showed in her eyes.
“I want to go to that library, check this scroll Heras was checking, and figure out the things that made him think that way.”
“Easy,” she replied.
“Then let’s get going, then,” he smiled. That scroll, the one with old speech, had something in it, and if he couldn’t leave, he could at least try to figure it out.