Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 46. Sarakar Patrol.

“You’ve gotten more and more quiet these past days,” Ruan pointed out to Liza during the slow, morning ride north just around the border of the Faren Kingdom; the southernmost Kingdom of the former Eulean Union. “Is it because of the place we are heading to?” he asked, unable not to have come to this conclusion. Apart for that there really weren’t any other things that happened recently which could have served to worsen Liza’s mood.

“I told you already, I hate this part of the world,” Liza said angrily, not wanting to speak about her reasons to anymore. Those dark times… she didn’t want to remember them at all.

“You are from the Faren Kingdom, right?” Ruan asked, then explained with a laugh after Liza gave him a questioning look. “It’s your accent. Although it’s almost gone, you still pronounce some words like someone who was raised in the Faren Kingdom would.”

Liza rolled her eyes and secretly relaxed. So it wasn’t that Ruan knew something about her past; he just recognized her accent. She could live with that. “You better hope that this civil war wasn’t as bad as that General made it out be,” she said and suppressed a heavy sigh. There were some precautions she could have taken against the worst case scenario… but she hated them with enough passion to forsake the idea of using them unless absolutely necessary.

“And why is that?” Ruan inquired, wondering if Liza had any advice for them while traveling through the lands of Eulene.

“You will soon see, mister courier,” Liza said with a smirk and a snort. “Guys like you only deal with the higher-ups. You might have seen the whole world, but you know next to nothing about it,” she said with a wry smile. As much as she liked Ruan, she still saw him as rather clueless about the true rules governing the world of commoners and lesser nobles.

“You think so?” Ruan laughed, not convinced by Liza’s words. He had gone around many cities and villages on his own and had spoken with the people; he was quite familiar with the cultures of most of the countries around the world, Faren Kingdom included.

“You know nothing.” Liza shook her head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Ruan was just like a kid who claimed to know how a smithy operated just because he had been in one a few times and talked with the workers a little. How could he possibly understand what was awaiting him in the middle west, or in the far west? Being a traveler and being a citizen… one would be governed by two very different sets of rules.

“Oh.” Ruan laughed quietly. “Then do tell me what I don’t know, I’m curious,” he inquired again, but Liza gave him the same response.

“You will see for yourself.”

“Hey,” Laien looked over his shoulder and called out with a smile. “Instead of talking about that Faren Kingdom and whatever by yourselves, how about you tell us a bit about this Eulean Union? Or the former Eulean Union, who cares.”

“You sure? This information might be a bit outdated,” Ruan said somewhat cheekily and gave Liza a meaningful look, to what she reacted with a shrug of her shoulders.

“At least we will know what changed,” Laien said carefreely. “Look, we can see the coastline and the Western Ocean already,” he mentioned as the trees to their left cleared out and they rode into an open space. Sea to their left, huge mountains to their right; they were finally in the Three Wonders Pass, the place where the heavens, land and seas connected in a painting-like beautiful visage.

“Just briefly then, okay?” Ruan said as he rode up to the front so the boys could hear him better. His role nowadays had turned into pretty much that of a tour guide instead of a guard, but he didn’t mind it too much and began explaining.

“As you might have heard, Eulean Union consisted of seven countries; three in the southern Eulene and four in the northern Eulene; the split General Agnes mentioned to us was most likely in the very middle as the north and south have never gotten along with each other too well. What else… the overall population of those lands should be around a billion. In comparison, we currently have around one hundred and twenty, thirty million people living in the south of the continent. In terms of pure manpower, they are leagues above us, but the quality of their experts and armies is nowhere near ours.”

Ruan made a short pause and glanced at Laien and Yin. After judging that the boys were still interested and listening, he went on.

“As for the names of those countries, you’ve already heard one. Faren Kingdom; or as people like to call it ‘The Faren Republic’, which in fact it isn’t, is the southernmost country of Eulene. To its west lies the Banxi Kingdom, while the Guode Federation can be found north of it. To the north-east of the Faren Kingdom and to the southeast of the Guode Federation lies a neutral country surrounded by high mountains, the Ruishi Federation.”

“Moving on to the north, three countries border with the Guode Federation. From the Sea of Betrayals’ side eastwards, they are in order: the Bolan Kingdom, the Jieke Kingdom and the Yali Kingdom. Above the Jieke Kingdom and between the Bolan and Yali Kingdoms is the fourth country, the Kefa Kingdom. Those four consist of the northern part of the old Eulean Union.”

“Hmm,” Laien nodded to himself, truth to be told feeling a bit surprised how easily he was able to recall all those details. He had always had a good memory, but not to the point of hearing something once and remembering it instantly. “You said that their experts are weaker, can you tell us more about that?” he requested, not interested in hearing any more geographical details.

“Sure enough,” Ruan agreed, happy that Laien was joining the conversation and appeared to be in a good mood. “Their problem is of two natures; for once, they do not possess a top-level martial art comparable to our southern ones akin to the Red Dragon Art or the Heavenly Flame Art. They do have top-level martial arts, but they are all just average. The second problem of theirs is that their natural potential for practicing martial arts is much lower than that of our people. Thus, even though they are much more numerous, a supreme martial master will appear there once every hundred years or so, while we are blessed with a few in each generation.”

“What about spiritual masters then?” Laien asked away, pretty curious how his and Yin’s battle prowess compared to the overall strength of the people from the middle west.

“They indeed do have a good amount of spiritual masters,” Ruan admitted with a nod, conceding to the middle west what they deserved. The only reason the south hadn’t ever attempted to conquer other parts of the world was because it disdained magic too much! Even though the southern armies were full of powerful martial masters, the benefits a large number of spiritual masters brought to an army was enough to mostly offset that disparity in strength. Thus, a large enough disproportion in strength had never appeared and no King had been tempted by the idea of waging war on the scale of the continent.

“They might have the potential for using magic, but they have no supreme spiritual masters,” Liza spoke from the back in a loud voice. “Those talented enough either go to the far west or go to the north. Nearly none of them stay in any Euleanian Kingdom,” she added with a grim, sarcastic laugh. She knew better than the most why the Eulean Union hadn’t produced a true powerhouse in the past two hundred years, and those comrades of hers would soon learn of that reason too.

“Is that so? What a pity,” Laien said with a sigh. He had hoped he would be able to find some high-quality records about magic in Eulene, but his hopes had been quickly extinguished. If the things he could obtain weren’t of the highest quality, then he simply wasn’t interested in them. He would get the same and more once he arrived in the Eclipse Academy; it wasn’t worth the effort to study from sub-par materials or teachers.

While Laien sighed because he was disappointed, Ruan sighed because he was feeling a bit resigned. Liza did manage to get his attention with that last remark of hers; he also was interested why a local hegemon like the Eulean Union had collapsed so quickly. Having no supreme martial or spiritual masters was certainly one of the reasons for their fall, but as to why they had none at all? He couldn’t begin to guess, whereas Liza seemed to have an idea or two about it. Yet, she would probably tell him to wait and see for himself if he were to ask her again; she was sometimes so hard to deal with.

“They sure are all acting leisure,” the black-cloaked man riding in the back sighed a little and recalled the small piece of paper he had received and burned straight away three days ago. “I can’t believe they took the Trial of Heart away from me. They didn’t tell who would oversee those boys… but whoever they assigned to those two trials, they would no longer hold the rank of Shadows; they would almost certainly be Shades… and definitely not any average Shades,” he thought silently, some pity for the boys shining in his dark eyes.

Even though Trials of Shadows were exceedingly important, it wasn’t easy to make Shades move. Thus it was almost a tradition for only the Trial of Strength to be overseen by a Shade, whereas the Trials of Heart and Will would be handled by high-ranked Shadows. Generally, the Trial of Strength was the most important part of the three trials. More than ninety percent candidates failed the Trial of Strength, and it needed to be understood that only the best of the best were eligible to attempt or be recommended for the Shadow Trials.

Out of a hundred people, only ten would pass the Trial of Strength and out of those ten, only four would pass the other two trials. The Guild of Shadows had certain requirements set by its ancestors with regards to the character, but it generally wasn’t too hard to pass those tests. The current Guildmaster had apparently once said that out of a hundred participants, around eighty were generally eligible to pass the Trials of Heart and Will. The problem was that the more personal power and talent one had, the less likely he was to fulfill the requirements of those two trials. Thus, the passing rate fell steeply from eight in ten to only four in ten after the weaker ones had been weeded out by the Trials of Strength.

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The black-cloaked man feared that with the top figures of their organization overseeing the Trials of Heart and Will the rate would get even lower; perhaps to one in ten, maybe even worse. May the Eternal Darkness bless those boys if the Guildmaster himself became interested in them; by that point forget displaying the qualities the Trials of Heart and Will demanded of them, those two trials would turn into another two Trials of Strength, by far harder than the one they had experienced.

However, Laien and Yin were unaware of those stern thoughts of the black-cloaked man in their group. They both continued to chat with Ruan and Liza, asking about mostly pointless things in order to pass some of the morning time and in order to relax before a day of hard work.

After riding slowly for another twenty or thirty minutes, their group of nine went into a gallop and sped through the Three Wonders Pass at a high speed. The road here was surprisingly sturdy and despite the signs of lack of any kind of maintenance, it was very easy to ride through. Thanks to it crossing the over one thousand kilometers long pass took them only around three hours.

According to Ruan’s plan, they were supposed to keep going ahead at full speed for two more hours until they would reach an inn Ruan was familiar with and stay there for the rest of the day and for the night. Plans, however, had this annoying tendency to go wrong as if just to spite the one who had been making them.

“Do they want us to crash into them?” Laien snorted in the middle of gallop when he saw… twenty-six riders coming onto the road and blocking their way. For a second he wanted to simply direct his Bellicose out of the road and go through the grassland, as the area around was fairly flat, but when he thought about those guys chasing them he gave up on the idea. It was too annoying to run, and they had no reason to run.

“They probably want to collect a passage fee,” Ruan explained as their group began slowing down, mindfully keeping his voice low enough for those riders to not be able to hear it. “It’s not too surprising given the country is likely still under the martial law. Let’s just pay and go our own way,” he elaborated, more for the sake of keeping the boys reasonable than informing them about his guesses. It was one thing for them to stir trouble in the Anarchic Lands, but it would be terrible if they stirred a conflict on the international scale.

“Rala Salar!” two of the twenty-six men rode forward of their group and greeted the approaching group of travelers. One of them was about to start speaking, but when the nine riders got closer and their appearances became more clear they forgot tongues in their mouths for a second. The two of them utterly failed, or perhaps didn’t care to conceal the surprised and very much pleased expressions which surfaced on their faces.

It wasn’t only the two leaders; even the men behind them started whispering to each other excitedly, anticipating the kind of rewards they were about to obtain. In their quiet chatter one certain phrase repeated itself fairly often; Bacha Bazi. If they could deliver those goods the Great Yimar, the benefits it brought them wouldn’t be small! Maybe they would have a chance to leave the tasking job of patrolling the roads and would be hired to work in the castle; that would be the peak of their dream!

“What do you want?” Laien asked loudly and in a rather bashful tone. They were already out of the Anarchic Lands, so why were those heavily bearded men here giving him an even worse feeling than the various bandits they had fought against on their way? Moreover, he could tell that Yin was even more angered than he was; Yin had always been good at reading people’s intentions and hearts, so if he was repulsed by this bunch to this degree then they really needed to be the lowest of the scrum.

The two leaders seemed to have been snapped out of their thoughts due to Laien’s rude question. Yet, instead of opening their mouths immediately, they glanced at the guards accompanying the boys; the one rider at the boys’ side and the six behind them gave them a faint feeling of danger. Moreover, it was impossible for them not to recognize top-notch horses from the far south this group was riding. Guided by the fear of death, they both silently chose to coat their words in sugar.

“You’ve entered the territory of the New Faren Yimarate,” the older of the two men said in a strong, proud and confidence-filled voice. “Are you followers of Rala, or are you infidels of no faith?” he asked, not bothering to conceal the disdain in his voice as he said the latter part of the sentence. Before he did anything there was a need to confirm whether those people were malazans or infidels; in the first case, a compensation would be offered to the families of those two kids, while in the other case… there would be no need to concern themselves with details.

“Since when does the Faren Republic follow the Sarkar Law of Ikarians?” Liza asked all of the sudden, appearing to be even angrier than Laien or Yin for some reason. She no longer hid behind Ruan and rode forward, piercing the two bearded men with a gaze as sharp as a knife.

“Aah?” The older of the two men snorted, sparing Liza but one glance. “If you are bringing a whore around then at least make sure to teach her some manners,” he said scornfully, choosing to direct his words to Ruan as he quickly assumed he was the one with the highest standing within the group.

“Who…” Liza asked in a low voice, with her fists clenched tightly and with a murderous look in her eyes. She had thought she would be able to take it; to keep her mouth shut and not care… but after all, it was impossible! “Who are you calling a whole, you goatfucker?!” she yelled furiously, her hand itching to get ahold of a sword and slaughter all those Malazan bastards. She wasn’t the same as before; she wasn’t a young helpless girl! Against a mere border patrol, she alone was enough to kill them all!

“By the Rala, that’s why whores are…” the older of the two leaders said resignedly and shook his head, treating Liza as if she was a child throwing a tantrum… no; rather, as if she was simply a dog barking at him from the roadside. In the end, all women that couldn’t even bother to hide their bodies and hair properly were nothing but sex-crazed sluts. There weren’t worth getting angry over with. There was no point in concerning themselves with someone like that whore.

Just when Liza really was about to take out her sword from the interspatial ring, Ruan extended his hand and blocked her way. He looked at her with a serious look in his eyes and shook his head ever so slightly. Ikarians were known to be rather… extreme in their treatment of the so-called modesty of women, though admittedly he was quite surprised they were pestering travelers now too, but still it wasn’t the best idea to get into an open conflict with them over some unpleasant words.

“Are all followers of Rala people like you?” Yin asked in a tone that was surprisingly calm, maybe even polite to those who weren’t familiar with him. To Laien, however, this tone of voice was very obviously filled with extreme cold, enough so to freeze the blood in one’s veins. “If they are, then I’m seriously glad I’m not one of them,” he added in the same, deceivingly calm voice.

The two patrol leaders stared at Yin blankly, the looks on their faces as if a little, naked fairy appeared out of nowhere and slapped them across their faces before showing its tongue and disappearing. It took them good five or six seconds to understand that this innocent-looking beautiful boy had just offended them, especially since the words he had just spoken sounded so casual and calm.

“Ugh…” Ruan groaned secretly. He had wanted to prevent it from happening, but what could he do? He could still restrain Liza, but those boys were stronger than him. “Please, just let it not end in a war between countries…” he begged in his heart, at the same time pitying this bunch of Ikarians for the fate they were about to bring upon themselves. He had already checked and knew the two leaders were at the seventh mortal realm; if so then their subordinates were even weaker. What was about to unfold couldn’t be compared to an adult man picking on a child; it was akin to someone bringing an elite army of ten thousand soldiers to deal with an endlessly wailing newborn.

“You…” the look on the two leaders’ faces finally changed for the worse when they comprehended Yin’s words. “We were planning to be nice with you, but it looks like there is no need! Kill the men, capture the kids and the whore!” the older of the two ordered ruthlessly. So what if they killed some travelers? They had just gotten done killing hundreds upon hundreds of people a few months ago, what would a few more corpses added to the mountain change by this point?

“And there everything goes down the drain,” Ruan thought helplessly. This bunch of cretins was so overconfident they were attacking a group consisting of multiple marital masters on a pure impulse. Honestly, did they have jelly for brains? “Kill them all, it will make things simpler,” he said hurriedly as he withdrew his broadsword from the interspatial ring on his finger.

“Just what I wanted,” Liza said with a devilish grin on her face and took out her sword. She knew those malazans all too well; as far as she was concerned killing any of them was equal to doing a great favor to the world.

“Rala Salar!” the two leaders shouted while brandishing their sabers, then lowered the blades and sent their men to surround the group of nine and attack from all the sides so no one would escape. The two of them also rode ahead the next moment, intent on personally capturing the two boys.

“Rala Salar!” the twenty-four men yelled atop of their lungs, the bloodthirsty, almost maddening look once again surfacing in their eyes.

After one had gotten too used to slaughtering people it was easy to lose one’s boundaries. It was just like with eating snacks and telling lies; at first, it was just a little, once in a while. Then it would slowly grow bit by a bit and before one noticed, he would end up a fat liar who no longer cared about getting fit or telling the truth. It was the same principle with killing other people; the more you did it, the less reluctant to the idea you were and the less you cared.

As for the carelessness of this patrol… well. They met with barely any resistance in the former Eulean, so they were used to doing as they pleased. The whatever Realm of Heroes experts that were here the last year had mostly been either eliminated by their superiors or bowed down in fear. There simply hadn’t been anyone to deal any serious blow to their fellow Ikarians.

“Against that level of opponents, there’s no need for weapons,” Laien and Yin came to the same conclusion. The two of them waited for a few seconds to allow the bunch to prepare an attack, then when the two leaders charged at them they released some their energies.

The younger of the two men died so fast with a hole pierced through his head that he didn’t even have time to feel frightened or surprised. His brain didn’t record whatever had happened at all, but a spike of ice had turned his brain into a mush and froze it over afterward. Well, no big loss; the man hadn’t been making good use of his brain anyway.

The older of the two men was slightly more lucky as before he died, he saw a flash of white-light-blue lightning and managed to understand that he was about to be killed. However, before another thought could come to him all life had been burnt out of his body.

At the same time, Ruan laughed helplessly and put the broadsword on his shoulder. Liza went forward to meet her opponents and started killing them wildly and with a big smirk on her face, so there was nothing for him to do. The twenty-four men had all attacked at once and their rush carried a fair bit of momentum. Since they weren’t skilled riders by any standards and crowded themselves into one point, it became impossible for them to quickly retreat. Thus, even though they saw their comrades being slaughtered like pigs all they could do was to cry out in fear and beg their god to save them.

“Scream more! Scream to your god!” Liza shouted along with a dangerously crazed laughter. “Call him! Let’s see if he comes to save you!” she yelled while skewering the nearby man’s stomach with her sword.

“Rala… Salar!” the man forced himself to praise the name of his god one last time, then had the blade in his gut twisted and quickly died.

Meanwhile, Jin had casually disposed of a few of those men with a lazy swing of his greatsword and the black-cloaked man had absolutely slaughtered the ten people who attacked from the rear, giving them no chance to escape. Dinne, Rishe and Ethane had also killed a few, and so the two Sarkar Patrols consisting of twenty-six men was eradicated as was to be expected.