Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 47. The Capital City of Palee.
“That was quite some greeting,” Laien said with a laugh. “What do we do now? It looks like the middle west is no different than the Anarchic Lands,” he asked lightheartedly, open for suggestions. He wouldn’t mind getting involved in some trouble, but if everything had a chance to escalate too far and too quickly… for example, if they were to get into a fight with a large city’s guards and not just some road patrol that they could wipe out without any witnesses, then it would turn out to be quite problematic.
“Hard to say,” Yin said uncertainly while tousling the hair at the back of his head. He exchanged a look with Laien, just like his friend unsure whether they should be getting involved in all this mess. “Maybe they were just a bad apple,” he suggested randomly. Not all people needed to be like those soldiers they met at the border; maybe the rest wasn’t so bad.
“They weren’t bad apples,” Liza said with a helpless laugh. “We can expect the same and worse for any of those fanatics. Since they are so blatant to claim to have renamed the country to ‘New Faren Yimarate’ or whatever, they must have already taken over the full control in that civil war in the spring,” she explained, all the while walking around and collecting the interspatial rings one by one and checking their contents.
Also, since she was already at it she collected the bodies too; there was no reason to make the job for whoever was going to investigate the disappearance of those two patrols easier.
“So should we just ride straight north and avoid everyone…?” Laien asked, quite apparently not too pleased with this plan if the tone of his voice was any indication.
“It’s not like there is no way to prevent this shit from happening,” Liza said and nodded to herself when she finally found what she was looking for. “I would love to have our ex-courier explain everything to us, but I’m in kind of a hurry,” she said after jumping back into the saddle of her horse.
Ruan laughed inwardly at Liza’s verbal peck into his direction. He knew how to solve half of the problem, or maybe even two-thirds of it, but since he didn’t know everything he said nothing and didn’t interrupt.
“I’m going to the Capital City to see if my… friends are all right. Are you coming with me or not?” Liza asked unceremoniously, pretty much implying she was going to go there alone if the rest of them wasn’t going to tag along.
Laien smirked a little and exchanged a quick glance with Yin. Then, he turned his gaze to Liza and said. “If you tell us how to avoid trouble, then yeah.”
“Good,” Liza smiled, knowing that it would be much easier for her to move within a big group of men than if she were to try and go to Palee alone. “First things first, do you have any scarfs on yourselves? Anything you could easily wrap around your heads and cover your faces with,”
“Pretty sure we do, but what do we need that for?” Laien asked and withdrew two long pieces of white cloth from his interspatial ring. He handed one to Yin, then attempted to wrap the other one around his head… but couldn’t quite figure out how to do it. By the looks if it Yin didn’t know either.
“Oh great, get down for a bit both of you,” Liza said with a light click of her tongue and jumped off her horse. “Look how I do it so you can fix it on your own when they get loose,” she told the two boys and first wrapped the cloth around Laien’s head, then around Yin’s. She didn’t explain anything and moved her hands swiftly during the process, making one rightfully suspect if she wasn’t used to doing such things. However, Laien and Yin caught on quickly; after being shown it just once they were both pretty sure they would be able to put the cloth on alone the next time.
“Does it need to be so tight?” Laien complained, meaning more how much of his face the cloth covered rather than how tightly wrapped it was. Pretty much only his eyes were out; with how hot it was wearing such a thing was quite uncomfortable. As martial practitioners of a high rank, neither he nor Yin would sweat too much despite that, but it didn’t change the fact it wasn’t the most comfortable thing to have around your head.
“You two stand out too much,” Liza answered with a slight smirk, double-checking if the cloth was holding on properly on the boys’ heads and wouldn’t fall off during the ride. “Especially you.” She looked at Yin. “If you two want to avoid being kidnapped and enslaved, make sure you don’t show your faces. You make sure not to show your hair too, its color would attract too much attention,” she said and gave Yin another meaningful look towards the end.
“As for me…” Liza straightened up and very visibly grimaced. Still, he forced herself and took out something that looked like a black bag of cloth with only a small opening for eyes, making it appear directly on her body. “At least one of those bastards had a clean one,” she consoled herself and laughed weakly when she saw the boys’ expressions. They were surprised, eh? Who could blame them after they had gotten used to seeing her revealing and sexy clothes the past weeks?
“Being kidnapped and enslaved accounts to ‘whores’ too,” she explained sarcastically. “To be completely precise, it applies to all children, all women and all beautiful men who don’t have a powerful backing and aren’t Malazans. And being a Malazan is to be a follower of their faith, of their god,” she explained briefly and if she could, she would have spit on the ground to get rid of the bitter aftertaste those words had left in her mouth.
“You heard their greeting, no? ‘Rala Salar’, it means ‘The God is Greater’, with Rala being the name of their god. Make sure to remember it and greet all the Ikarians and Malazans you see with it,” she elaborated from atop of her horse, at the same time gesturing everyone to start moving. As unlikely as it was for anyone to come here and see all the suspiciously unrestrained horses and the bloodstains on the road, it was better to leave the place sooner rather than later.
“So we are pretending to be those Malazans?” Laien asked with a laugh. “They don’t need to wear any scarfs?” he inquired and pointed at the six riding behind them with his thumb.
“No need,” Liza answered and wanted to shake her head to empathize the point, but realized how pointless it would be in the black cloth she was under and laughed at herself. She had sworn to never again wear a Jiran, but here she was wearing it again. “The safest version for us will be that you two are young masters, those six are your hired guards and I’m your servant. That way no one will ask you any unnecessary questions and they shouldn’t make things difficult for you either,” she stated without beating around the bush, knowing that this setting would be for the best.
“What if they ask for the details?” Yin asked quickly. “Should we just make something up, or does the story need to make sense?”
“Just say you are sons of a Yimar from the mainland and you came here to sightsee. Unless we happen to bump into someone who is extremely familiar with all the Yimars the Ikarian mainland holds, what is unlikely with how often they slit each other’s throats, no one should ask you other questions. If you want to learn some typical Ikarian names and understand more about their mainland, about the land of Arkaria, ask our ex-courier. He should know at least that much,” she said with a smile, relieving some of her stress by picking on Ruan.
“What about our accents?” Laien inquired. He could tell the way those Ikarians spoke was very different compared to the southern accent. Coincidentally the accent of the people from the south and those from the Forbidden Lands were pretty much identical, so he didn’t notice anything strange when he had first met Yin. However, those Ikarians spoke syllables in a very strange and stretched way. Mimicking them would be pretty hard.
“You don’t need to worry about that,” Liza answered, at the same time feeling secretly impressed by how quick-witted those boys were. “It’s pretty common for children of Yimars and military officers, also rich merchants, to be raised by foreign maids there. No one will be surprised to hear your accent,” she explained in brief words, not going into the details of those circumstances.
“Right, before I forget,” she added before Ruan could begin talking with Laien and Yin. “Do not speak to me nicely before Malazans. Treat me like a servant, someone from a lower class. Order, do not ask. Do not apologize, do not care. I’m your property; got it?” she explained with a rueful smile, one that was hidden by the black bag-like cloth she was wearing.
“Got it,” Laien replied with a little snort of amusement, finding the situation to be ridiculous enough to actually be somewhat intriguing.
“Tell them a few things quickly and we go ahead,” Liza said while looking over her shoulder, her eyes staying on Ruan. “We have two thousand kilometers until the Capital City, I want to make it there by the evening,” she said strongly, deep inside feeling a mixture of worry and regret. She wanted to know what had happened to everyone, and she also regretted that she was going to see them only now.
“Fine, fine,” Ruan laughed resignedly, happy to at least see that Liza had regained her spirit. “I will spare you the long version,” he said and began explaining the basic things about Arkaria. A few minutes later he was already done, so their group of nine hurried towards their new destination.
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“Finally some people,” Laien commented as they approached the grand walls of the Royal Capital of Palee. They were about ten kilometers away so they could see the walls very well, but it was quite surprising that they hadn’t seen almost any travelers or merchants for the whole two thousand kilometers. Wasn’t those lands supposed to be populated very densely? Or was it because the trade with the south was practically non-existent so little to no villages existed in the south of the Faren Republic… or New Faren Yimarate.
“Look, so many of those Jirans,” Yin pointed out. He and Laien had much better eyesight compared to their guards, so they could actually make out human shapes out of the little dots further down the road. “It looks like even little girls are wearing them?” he added, his eyes narrowing as he quickly came to a conclusion. Since those Ikarians had treated Liza like a whore because she wasn’t covering her whole body, then they were applying the same standard to girls of all ages.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Liza was right about them,” Laien said in a low voice. Having grown in the south he could hardly imagine common citizens being so restricted on the daily basis, not to mention the constant danger of being assaulted. What the Eulean Union always this kind of place? If so, then he needed to thank his lucky star for being born in the south and not in the middle west.
“It changed so much in the last twenty years,” Ruan said aloud, seeing the people better now that they closed some more distance between them and the city. “So many Ikarians and Slaahs, there are barely any Euleanians,” he said in disbelief. He indeed remembered that Ikarians and Slaahs consisted almost one-third of the population of the Eulean Union twenty years ago, but now he had a hard time spotting any native Euleanians at all. That civil war… was it because of it? What exactly had happened here?
“The guards at the gate will probably stop us briefly,” Liza said before they got close enough to the people for anyone to hear her. “You don’t need to wait in line, just force your way through by the side of the road. Mercenaries enjoy certain privileges and it’s not like you are playing anyone of low standing,” she advised, preferring to be prepared rather than sorry.
“Mhm,” Laien nodded, confirming that he heard. “Anyway, let’s get into the city already. I can’t wait to stretch myself a bit after a whole day in the saddle,” he said and clutched his legs together, making Bellicose speed up by a level. The street was wide and so far not too crowded, so they could afford to gallop all the way to the one-kilometer mark away from the city gates.
“Just force a way through, eh?” Laien revealed a somewhat troubled smile when the people waiting to be granted entry into the city made way for them as if it was the most obvious thing to do. “I guess strength grants the same benefits in any culture,” he mused, easily spotting the changing expressions on the men’s faces when they recognized the quality of the horses their group was riding. They could probably also more or less tell that the riders themselves weren’t ordinary, so no one complained or objected to them getting past the line without waiting.
The portion of higher-ranked guards that was resting their backs against the inner walls of the gate in a half-asleep state livened up when they saw a group of nine riders approaching. The five of them stepped forward and looked at the two youths in the front. Judging by how calm the two’s eyes were and by how they dressed and carried themselves, the guards naturally assumed the boys were children of some important official of their Ikarian people.
“Rala Salar, what brings you to the Royal Capital of Palee?” the captain of the gate guards greeted the youths amicably.
“Rala Salar,” Laien repeated offhandedly, what ended up being a very good choice. The guards relaxed further as a result; to them, it was obvious the truly important people wouldn’t treat them as anything special. It would already be good if they didn’t treat them badly. “We stayed in the south for the last year and now came to see the New Faren Yimarate and its Royal Capital,” he explained in a resigned and a bit impatient tone, implying that he was tired from a long journey.
“You youths came to sightsee?” the captain of the gate guards asked with a friendly laugh. “If so, then you must absolutely see the Great Maraak and visits the Thermae,” he suggested, feeling pretty proud of the city they had managed to peacefully conquer from the naïve infidels.
“We will,” Laien responded simply. He wasn’t interested in getting into a chat; what the man picked up upon very quickly.
“I’m sorry, but you will need to answer a few questions,” the captain informed apologetically. “Anyone who brings in mercenaries into the city is required to answer those questions. Since you are our fellow brothers we will spare you from making the inquiry too detailed. Just tell us what house you are from and how long do you intend to stay here,”
“House?” Laien and Yin asked themselves in silence. Did this man mean a noble family? But if so, then why didn’t he ask directly?
While Liza and Ruan grit their teeth, and while Yin was trying to come up with an answer, Laien laughed aloud and asked lightheartedly.
“If you were to guess, what house do you think we belong to?”
The capital of the gate guards looked slightly surprised at first, but then laughed with his our subordinates and said. “If I didn’t know better I’d have said you are from merchants. That look in your eyes though… that’s not something sheltered children of the coin can have. For the same reason, I don’t think you are from the house of faith. That leaves only the house of sword; you are either children or relatives of a Yimar, maybe even a Grand Yimar.”
Laien laughed merrily and produced a small pouch in his hand, then threw it to the man. The captain opened it and looked inside, then smiled brightly when he saw ten southern gold coins. He could afford to have a lot of fun for at least a week with this much money; the southern currency was much richer in gold than theirs, so it was actually an equivalent of thirty of forty Euleanian or Arkarian gold coins.
“We will stay only for a few days,” Laien said calmly, very content that the little plot he had come up with on the spot worked well. Unlike Yin and the others, he was very used to acting like a young master and chatting with random people and also stirring up trouble. The experience of doing whatever he wanted for two years after joining the Red Dragon School proved to be unexpectedly handy.
The captain of the gate guards nodded and moved out of the way, gesturing his men to do the same.
“He’s so natural at those things,” Yin thought to himself, a smile present on his face. He wouldn’t have been able to come up with such an idea so quickly. Laien really knew a fair bit more about the everyday life than he did.
“Huh?” Just as Liza and Ruan felt relieved too, the captain of the guards raised his hand and told them to stop. “Why is a woman reading such a good horse?” he asked with a frown, eyeing the Jiran-clad Liza suspiciously. The more he looked at her, the more doubtful about her identity as a proper Malazan woman he grew.
“Why would you even ask that?” Jin asked sarcastically. “She would slow us down if she was riding a normal horse, isn’t it obvious enough?” He raised his eyebrows and even smirked a little, appearing to truly be looking down on the guard for asking something so silly.
The captain flushed in a mixture of anger and shame, but since the point made by that rider made perfect sense, he could do nothing else but concede. He apologized for stopping them and let the group pass the gate without any further inquiries.
After they distanced themselves from the gate, Liza looked at Jin who was riding by her side and said quietly. “That was some good thinking,”
“Hmph,” Jin however only snorted, for some reason caring little about the praise.
Was it Liza’s own imagination, or was this idiot sulking for some incomprehensible reason? She would have spared more time to ponder this matter, but at the moment there were other things she was more concerned with.
“It stinks so bad in here,” Laien groaned and without wasting any time took out a golden necklace with a crystal-clear blue pearl attached to it. He sent a good amount of spiritual energy into the pearl, filling it to the brim, then glanced at Yin and threw him the necklace. Right afterward he made a second identical one appear on the surface of his clothes, allowing the pearl to lay outside for the better effect. The odor of the excrement and unwashed bodies quickly went away when he sent a little bit of spiritual energy into the pearl, being exchanged by a refreshing smell of the sea.
“Do they not have sewers here or something?” Laien asked Ruan, grossed out by the living standards in the middle west. He had heard the southerners were especially obsessed with cleanliness, but he never thought it would be that bad in different parts of the world. However, when he saw someone emptying a bucket of filth through the window, which only then slowly flowed into the sewers, he groaned loudly. “Forget I asked. Let’s stay by the middle of the road…” he said helplessly, really glad that Rudford had provided him with those pearls in the past.
“This city reeks of death and despair,” Yin commented quietly, by no means referring to the hideous smell on the streets. “Let’s not stay here for long, it makes me feel terrible,” he said with a little sigh and exchanged a look with Laien, then smiled under the layer of white cloth.
“We keep going straight until we reach the main plaza in the center of the city?” Laien looked over his shoulder and reconfirmed with Liza, who nodded; or rather bowed her head in response. “If only the roads were less crowded, we could have just gallop all the way through,” he said discontentedly. The main road was over one hundred meters wide and simply riding on them wasn’t a problem, but speeding up would end up with them running over hundreds of people.
As they rode down the main street, Laien and Yin had nothing better to do than watch the passerby. They noticed a few young girls with only pieces of black or dark cloth on their heads but failed to spot any teenage girls without Jirans covering their whole bodies. They couldn’t help but think how much of a pain wearing something like that was for someone who was a low-level martial practitioner or worse, wasn’t a martial practitioner at all. The heat those girls and women experienced in this kind of hot weather in those black Jirans must have been terrible; who in their right senses would want to wear something like this in the middle of summer and in full sun?
“Wasn’t this supposed to be a Euleanian city?” Laien asked in a low voice. “How come all I see are Ikarians from the far west?” he pointed out, noticing the same thing Ruan did before entering the city. No matter where one looked there were only bearded men with Ikarian facial features, some black Slaahs and Jiran-clad women.
“They had it coming for decades,” Liza replied quietly, sending her voice to the front with the aid of her Qi. “There’s no point in… no, forget it,” she began saying, but she changed her mind mid-sentence. He wanted to tell the boys there was no point pitying the Euleanians, but that would be hypocritical of her as she was worried about her own acquaintances and about that old bag of bones.
Laien was a bit curious what Liza wanted to say, but didn’t pry any further. He wasn’t an idiot himself; he could guess what had happened to this country easily enough. In fact, only an idiot wouldn’t figure out what was going on; the Faren Kingdom and probably the whole southern part of the Eulean Union had been conquered by Ikarians. The only question was how come an alliance so powerful fell in mere two or three months, but he was sure he would learn of the reasons soon enough.
Some time later their group of nine arrived by the main plaza and were greeted by the appearance of an utterly humongous sanctuary with a huge golden crescent moon and a star on its top. The building was probably the Great Maraak the capital of the guards by the gate had mentioned to them.
“It’s huge,” Laien admitted, the structure causing him to feel awe. It was at least five or six times as large as the cathedral in Neil City, which always was the biggest one in the Sarkcente Kingdom. For those people to have built an object of worship that grandiose was really amazing.
“Ratedam Cathedral…” Ruan said in disbelief, his eyes wide open. Wasn’t this an ancient Kastrian Cathedral when he saw it last time? Wasn’t there a great marble cross atop of it? Did it become a Shaarian monument? He knew he should have already expected it given what he saw in the city, but actually seeing it with his own eyes was a huge shock to him. One of the oldest countries on the continent… it truly has fallen and was no more.
“It’s not there,” Liza forced the words out of her throat. “Her residence… it’s not there anymore…” she added, her voice trembling. The old residence she remembered had been exchanged for something that looked like a mixture of a bar and an inn, filled to the brim with Ikarian guests. Did that old bag of bones manage to run, or was she dead? What happened to everyone she knew…? She needed to know!
At that moment, a bunch of white-robed men began appearing at various balconies of the Great Maraak and began singing some strange, very loud melody consisting of words Laien and Yin couldn’t quite understand. The noise alone wouldn’t have been much of a problem, but when they saw all the people in the main plaza either head into the Great Maraak or take out mats and kneel on the ground, they grew worried.
“A call to prayer, why did I forget about it?” Liza wanted to curse aloud. Was she really supposed to bear the humiliation and fall to the ground and pray to the ‘god’ that brought her nothing but trauma and suffering? She wasn’t willing to do that…!
Laien and Yin hesitated, unsure of what they were supposed to do. Soon, they became the only ones who weren’t moving towards the Great Maraak or kneeling, so more and more people began giving them scornful looks. The atmosphere was growing heavy the seconds; if they didn’t do something soon, it wouldn’t be strange if the situation escalated out of hand.