Ka'ao stared at her blankly; her dark chestnut eyes had been searching for him rather intently. Was this a test? It seemed like she’d been purposefully withholding information, only revealing critical bits in order to gauge Ka'ao’s reaction.
She was definitely testing him; there was no way she was doing this purely because Basta had wanted her to. There was some ulterior motive that she’d yet to reveal; possibly why she was testing him like this.
To see if he could give her what she needed.
Whatever that was.
“What is it that you want from me?” Ka'ao asked, cutting straight to the chase.
“You catch on quick.” She noted with a smile; Ka'ao didn’t like the way she smiled. There wasn’t anything particularly sinister about it, except for the fact that it was completely devoid of emotion. A smile without any happiness to fuel it.
It was the smile of someone who’d been forced to abandon their basic human decency in favor of cold-hearted rationality.
He’d gotten his hopes up too quickly.
“Apparently not quick enough.” Ka'ao sighed, running a hand through his sandy hair. “Out with it. What do you want from us?”
“Don’t you want me to tell you how to talk to the gods first?” She asked smugly, leaning against a counter. “I suggest you let me tell you and then decide whether you need my services or not.”
Ka'ao exchanged glances with Pepi; at this point, if they decided to listen to her, they’d be banking their lives on the possibility that what she knew could help them. Time was of essence: who knew when the military police would catch on to the disappearance of six soldiers.
Pepi walked over to one of the windows, hidden away by the dark brown curtains draped over it and peered outside.
“It’s getting dark out; we don’t have a lot of time, sire. What should we do?” Pepi reported.
Looks like there was no choice.
“We’ll hear you out.” Ka'ao decided.
“I won’t waste your time then.” The lady replied. “If you want to use the powers of the Gods to take back your empire, the only way to do it is to die.” She picked up a vase lying on the counter; the vase was an intricate depiction of the underworld, filled with shadowy illustrations of monstrous demons at the bottom; yet towards the top of the vase, beings without heads looked down at the demons. The Gods. “The residence of the Gods is the underworld; because of that, contact with the Gods from this realm is almost impossible. Those who are highly proficient in the arts of embalming can manage a few miracles here and there, but for someone like you, trying to obtain the power of the Gods while still living would be like trying to cut through the sun with that blade.”
So that’s what she meant. If he wanted any shot at destroying his father, he would have to be willing to die, willing to believe that if he did die, he really would be reborn in the underworld. He’d have to throw away logic and resort to absolute faith; something he wasn’t keen on.
“So you’re saying that I’ll need you to embalm my body once I kill myself.” Ka'ao guessed.
“No. Even if you did kill yourself, there would be no crossing back to this world. You would be stuck in the underworld for all eternity.” She explained. “In order for you to be able to enter the underworld and return, you must form a Geass. A solemn oath to the universe which you can never break, lest you be damned for all eternity.”
“And you’re the only one who knows how to form Geass.” Ka'ao muttered.
“Basta was the one who taught me. It’s a complicated process; in order to gain something, you have to be willing to give up something else. Geass is a desperate plea to the universe; a plea to be let into the underworld yet still hold onto your life. And in exchange, you must give up on something else.” The embalmer closed her eyes tightly. “So, in a way, Geass is almost an equal of Death. An alternative passageway to the underworld, which is why it should be just as respected as death. Knowing that;do you really think I’d give away such powerful secrets to vermin like you?”
“You watch your mouth.” Pepi warned, his hands hovered threateningly besides the daggers strapped to his thighs.
“It’s fine.” Ka'ao interjected, though it really wasn’t; he didn’t know what her deal was, but it was obvious she had some sort of grudge against him. Or more likely, a grudge against royalty in general. Whatever it was, although she talked a good game, he couldn’t put all his eggs in one basket yet. For one, he had no way to tell if she was telling the truth. His mother had told him to seek out Basta, and this lady had showed up instead, claiming to be her apprentice. Then, she revealed that she was in fact, not helping them just because she was Basta’s apprentice.
She had motives Ka'ao wasn’t aware of and that made her dangerous. So, the next thing he had to do was find out what her motives were. Once he did that, she wouldn’t be as unpredictable.
“I need to know if you are who you say you are before I give you anything. “Ka'ao narrowed his eyes. “Show me Basta’s corpse, and I’ll consider it.”
“I was just about to get to that.” She replied, returning his gaze venomously. “It’s only a matter of time before the military police catches on; so, I’ll take you to where Basta was killed.”
“And where is that?” Ka'ao asked.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
“Another apothecary of her’s a short distance from here. There’s a tunnel in the basement which leads to it. We can get there in three hours, if we start moving now.” She said, opening up a drawer behind a counter and rummaging through it.
“And how do we know it’s not a trap?” Pepi cut in.
“I thought you’d say that.” She pulled a revolver from the drawer, blowing at the dust along its side, and then pointed it at Ka'ao; before lowering its aim to the floor and gesturing for Ka'ao to take it. “I’ll go first. And if you believe me to be lying at any point, you can shoot me.”
“No thanks.” Ka'ao grimaced. “That technology is what killed my mother and this country.”
“Is that why you’ve decided you need to take back your kingdom through spiritual means?” She snorted. “Childish of you.”
“Call it what you like.” He patted his sword, which he’d strapped to his cloak on his back. “This will be enough to take care of you if it comes to that.”
“I trust you.” She said mockingly, before sweeping out the main room grandly, swinging open a door which led to a descending set of stairs. “If you so dare, follow me, dishonored prince.”
And then the door shut, and Ka'ao and Pepi once again exchanged glances.
-
They decided to follow her; well, more like Ka'ao decided to follow her and Pepi followed him silently and loyally. He didn’t really have a choice; he and Pepi would stand no chance against the might of his father’s army. So once again, it had boiled down to two choices; hide, and eventually be found and executed, or bet everything on the possibility that the Underworld was truly real.
Of course he chose the latter; his mother had devoted his life to worshiping and studying the Gods of the Underworld before she’d met his father. Disregarding it would be to dishonor not only the blood of kings which ran through his veins, but his beloved mother.
And so, they followed her.
The tunnel was rather cramped; they could only travel in a straight line due to how small it was, with the woman in front, Ka'ao a few steps behind, and Pepi practically breathing down his neck.
Still, the tunnel was quite impressive; when Ka'ao had asked the lady about it, she’d said that it was the remains of an abandoned mine shaft that had been constructed over three hundred years ago. Apparently Basta had strategically bought the land for the apothecary knowing about the tunnel underneath it. She’d been quite the cunning lady, according to the woman.
Surprisingly, the lady was somewhat pleasant to talk to despite her smug attitude and her habit of weaving insults neatly between explanations; one of the main reasons why he decided to walk in between Pepi and the woman. He didn’t want Pepi losing it and tearing into the lady for her blatant disrespect; well, he kind of did, but he couldn’t go angering the lady, so he kept Pepi on a tight leash.
He’d also tried to ask her for her name, but she’d refused. In fact, she made it rather clear she had no intention of giving her name out to those who were outside of the Cult of Zeru. She did, however, give him an alias to call her by.
Moa.
After that, Moa went silent, and so did he; but after another two hours of walking, she’d studied a peculiar whirl shaped mark on the wall and declared that they had another twenty minutes of walking before they reached the other apothecary.
And so, she opted to tell them about Basta’s death.
“She died two days ago, on a Monday night.” Mao started, fidgeting with an oil lamp as she spoke. “But her death had been decided over a month ago, when King Ko’ahra married and declared Queen Sayyida of Gheraman his Queen.”
Ka'ao grit his teeth at the mention of Queen Sayyida; the woman who’d stolen his father away from her mother and doomed their entire family. After his father, she was the one he most wanted to disembowel with his sword.
She was a power hungry, self-serving witch who knew nothing of their beliefs or culture, yet she and her country held the fate of Kurigazu in their palms.
Moa laughed softly although she hadn’t turned back once to look at him; like she could sense the tension in his bones without even glancing at him.
“Yes. I suppose her coronation as the Queen of Kurigazu also set the death of your family in stone.” She mused. “Anyways, after their relationship was publicized, the alliance between Kurigazu and Gheraman was solidified. Gheraman goods, technology, and wealth began to flow into the streets as a result; but conversely, the slave and peasant class began to suffer greatly. The military police grew stricter, and more demanding, and the middle class suffered from ridiculous taxes imposed onto them. Although the details of the alliance between Kurigazu and Gheraman were never publicized, one can guess what they were.”
“In exchange for unrestricted trade, as well as a goods quota that must be filled every year, Kurigazu receives protection from Gheraman, as well as Gheraman technology. All for the purpose of turning Kurigazu into an industrialized continental power; a modern country.” Ka'ao clenched his fists; he understood the reasoning behind his father’s actions. The world was advancing, and Kurigazu was being swiftly left behind. But to willingly become Gheraman’s dog and cast aside the traditional beliefs of Kurigazu, all in order to become a modernized nation?
It was unacceptable.
“Looks like Basta was right. She’d come to the exact same conclusion, after we started noticing the changes. Though it was a lot more impressive coming from her, considering what little information she had at the time.” She jeered. “That wasn’t the only change though. One at a time, statues and temples of Gods were taken down by the military police. It was hard for Basta, but she managed to contain herself, and watched as the beliefs of the Kurigazu people were spat on; but she reached her limit when a Temple of Khazeru was taken down.”
Khazeru; the sun God, and the most popular of the two ancient gods. Despite his popularity across Kurigazu, his mother had always insisted that people ought to worship Zeru, the god of the Zeru river and the only other ancient god, just as much as they did Khazeru. Still, despite her annoyance with the way people revered Khazeru as if he were the only Ancient God, she deeply respected him; and had been just as outraged when she’d learned about the temples of Khazeru being destroyed across the country.
Although he’d never been as deeply spiritual as the rest of his family, the desecration of the Kurigazu God still boiled his blood.
“I told her we could do nothing but endure. She told me she’d had enough of enduring and confronted a group of soldiers tearing down another temple. Threw a rock at them and stirred up a mob of fed-up slaves and peasants, and they drove the soldiers back. It was a classic Basta thing to do; the old bitch never took shit from anyone.” Moa murmured; her voice soft as she recalled the memory. “Although it was a win for the people of this town, she’d offended the man who’d ordered the tearing down of the temples; a Gheraman prince.”
She stopped suddenly, and turned so Ka'ao could see; they’d reached the end of the tunnel. She grasped the doorknob and swung the door open, ascending up the spiraling stairs silently, the oil lamp in her hands trembling ever so slightly.
When he and Pepi had caught up to her, stepping into a small bedroom with the door flung open, they saw it.
The result of disrespecting the will of Gheraman.
“This was the result.” Moa whispered.
A beaten, worn old woman stood in the center of the room, her toes hovering just above the floor.
No, not standing. To Ka'ao’s shock, he realized that she was hanging from the ceiling, a thin rope wrapped delicately around the woman’s shriveled neck.
A gust of wind came in, and the corpse turned with the current.
A beaten, worn old woman hung from the center of the ceiling, her back nearly torn open with bullet holes.