Ivkarha found her going slow as she sought out answers. Those that she asked proved unhelpful, whether through lack of knowledge or aloofness, she could not say. Some told her to seek an astronomer or astrologer, others an architect. Finally with her patience starting to wear thin from the run around that she was recieiving, she grabbed a scrawny young scholar by the front of his robes, looking down at him, face closer to his.
“Listen,” she hissed through clenched teeth, “It is a simple request that I am after. I seek knowledge of the Stairs of Night that lead to the Uttermost Stars. If you do not know then point me in the direction of one who does.”
The man went pale, sweating, licking his lips, glancing from side to side. “You want the Esoteric Masters of the Firmanemts,” he squeked. “They know.”
“Where would I find them?”
The scholar pratcially shook in her grasp. “Golden Tower of The Uknown,” he whimpered. “Just over there.” A shaky hand pointed to a building a short distance away.
“Thank you,” Ivkarha responded and released her grip on him. The man stumbled away, then turned and fled, whimpering as he did. Ivkhara turned and strode forward, the few people around giving her a wide birth as she did, looking on at her with aghast shock, not wanting anything to do with one so barbaric in attitude and action.
She came to the appointed building, though it was not as golden as led to believe. There were a few patches of flaking yellow paint on it, but for the most it was grey stone, a peculiarity in a city where the decorations tended to, in her mind, the garish. This one seemed almost neglected. Still, this was the place and so she stepped up to the door and banged hard on it with the hilt of her sword, then stepped back to await a reply.
It did not take long for the door to swing open and an elderly man to stick his head out. “Which way ventured the bears?” he asked.
Ivkhara stared at him. “There are no bears,” she responded after a moment.
The man peered closer at her. “My apologies, I had mistaken you for another.” He grinned slyly. “Not many venture to our door that we do not first expect, but by your look I take you to be a foreigner who may not be as concerned as those who live in the city are.”
“Should I be?”
“No, no, of course not. The others, they listen to rumours unsubstantiated, to innuendo and fabrications. To be truthful, we do not mind as it keeps the ignorant and the curious away. Now, as I can see that you are neither curious nor ignorant, what is it that you wish?”
“I seek information,” Ivkahra told him. “I was told, after much fruitless questioning, that you may be able to assist.”
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
The man laughed. “If those ingrates and ignoramuses have directed you to us, it must be of interest. Why, they would rather chew off their own arm that admit they did not know a thing, and rather chew off the both than send you to us. You have me intrigued. Come in, come in. Better to talk inside than on the street.”
The man retreated inside the tower, and Ivkhara joined him, entering a lower room filled with books and tomes, manuscripts, scrolls, tablets and all manner of written words.
A woman was also in there, just as elderly, her grey hair long and braided down her back. She was peering over a large parchment as the two entered.
“We have a guest, Niyani,” the man said, “One who has questions for us.”
“Questons, questions. Is it about the bears, Rahaam?”
“No, I am afraid not.”
Niyari looked up, studying Ivkarha. “A shame. We do need to find out about the bears.”
“I can not help you with that,” Ivkarha told Niyaro, “But I hope that you can aid me. You see, I seek information about the Stairs of the Night that led to the Uttermost Stars. I have not heard talk of them before, and none here in the District of the Wise had any notion of it either.”
Rahaam stroked his chin as Ivkhara spoke. “I can see why none would speak to you, nor knew of it,” he told her. “The Stairs of Night, well, they are known to few, and understood by none.” He looked to Niyaro and gave a brief nod. “They may not even exist.”
“At least not in the sense that you and I might understand,” Niyaro added.
“It s real,” se responed. “One spoke to me from there, taunted me to walk it.”
She caught the barest of hints of surprise from the pair, though they did well to mask. Not just surprise either, but perhaps dread.
“One spoke to you?” Niyani asked tentatively.
“Aye, that they did, through a seer whom I had sought out for information. A friend had been taken to this place and I sought advice.”
“We need must act quick,” Rahaam told Niyaro. “If he can gain a foothold, well…”
Niyaro nodded. “Come here, girl,” she ordered and authority rang out in it, of a kind that brooked no dispute. Kings and Emperors would have responded to it, unable to resist. Ivkhara found herself walking before she could even consider responding, her feet leading to stand before the woman. Niyaro reached out and took her chin in an aged hand, studying her close, turning her head this way and that, peering into her eyes closely.
“She is clean, thank the Holy and Blessed Elephant,” Niyaro announced and Ivkhara felt tension leave the room. “The one who was spoken through, they will need to be seen to as well. Who was it, child?”
“Veshyia of Akor,” Ivkhara replied. “She is camped with her people a couple of days west of here. What is the meaning of this?”
“She will need to know,” Rahaam said quietly. “She has a right to it.”
“There is a thing, a creature, but one not of flesh and blood, that dwells in the the depths of nowhere, set apart from reality. None know truly what it is, perhaps not even the gods, and they in their wisdom have forbidden any contact with it. This thing is not death, for death had a purpose, as you well know I can see child, but it is the antithesis of life; it wishes to extinguish life so it would be as if it had never been and never will be. If it were to establish itself in this world, it could well be the end of all things, and it might be that none could stop it, even with the aid of the gods. If your friend has been taken, I do not think that you shall see them again, I am sorry. None who have ventured the Stairs of Nigth have ever returned.”