Nabih immediately pulled Ward behind him and took a defensive stance.
“Woooh, calm down - I won’t harm you” the soldier took out his sword in return for Nabih’s stance.
“How about we both calm down and have a small chat?” he continued.
From behind Nabih Ward’s voice was heard “how did you know where we are?”
“You were wise to leave when you did, but it is not every day an Aklamatian passes through our gates. I just kept an eye on you from the watchtower - luckily you didn’t move much ever since you left” the soldier remained seven steps away from Nabih as he spoke.
Nabih was seething with anger about the idea of being tracked. He always tracks his pray when he hunts. He did not like being hunted himself. “What happened to our group?”
The soldier ignored the question and repeated: “It will be preferable if you walked back with me.”
“He asked you a question, must we repeat it?” retorted Ward.
“Well… the Marquese didn’t accept your excuse of sending merchants before coming today. There were no reports of them going to any of the nearby towns, and there were no corpses. A group of men can’t possibly vanish into thin air.”
“But, it is true! My father was among them!” retorted Ward without a second thought.
“Your father?” The soldier raised his sword once again “I thought the merchants were foreigners, not Aklamatians... This is the first I hear of it” upon hearing this, Nabih’s face turned red.
“So what of it?”
“Either way, you will need to come back with me, the Marquese does not like being lied to, but in his benevolence, he had accepted the carts, the cows and the group that came along as part of the tribute.”
“What do you…?”
“Well, if I remember correctly, the vow between your ancestor and my lord ancestor. Was in return of sharing the advance knowledge you have, you will receive protection. It was a surprise to all of us that the location you were given behind the barren mountains turned out to be farmable, but to think you would not pay your tribute from that, honestly what a shame.”
“Again, I would very much appreciate it if you walked back with me, you don’t want an army to go find you in your village - now would you?”
Nabih was shaking, and he kept looking back at Ward, being genuinely concerned for him, not for himself.
“What if we paid the rest of the tribute soon? We only need an extension” Ward spewed.
“Once the tribute is paid, why would we want to keep and feed Aklamatians? However, if what you claimed is true, you won’t be able to pay it or else your village would starve” the soldier shook his head and continued “truly a predicament isn’t it?”
“I need to do my job, so please walk back with me - it will be a pain otherwise.”
Ward jumped back into the conversation “the first group we sent did not return if we also don’t return what will our families think? Please, sir, be considerate - let us return and notify them about what happened to the rest of the group” Ward said with pleading eyes, and as a cute look as he could muster in such an intense situation.
“Very well, I read a riddle - it originated from a story in an Aklmat book which was translated into Kieran. The book, like many others, was mostly burned in the great library fire, procuring the original, getting what was still intact from it and having it translated took me quite a while. Sadly I could only read the riddle, but not the answer - since you are Aklamatians, you might know it. Appease my curiosity, and I will turn a blind eye and even convince the Marquese not to attack your village.” he said with a mix of sarcastic and threatening voice, with the curious look still plastered on his face.
The soldier was amused, he knew that his words held an entire village hostage, with the people in front of him being completely cornered, with or without a sword pointed at them. He had been thinking about the answer to the riddle for days but was still unable to come up with an answer. He doubted anyone would be able to answer it in such a limited time. Even if they were, Aklamatians and their great founder wrote the story. The fact was that the Great library had burned five generations ago, and he doubted such information was passed down to anyone.
With a smile on his face, that disregarded the frown on the faces in front of him, the soldier asked.
“Apparently, there is a creature with the head of a man, and the body of a lion that asked the question [Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it be?] the creature devoured those who couldn’t answer the question. Your fate will be sealed if you can’t answer it either.
Nabih was a vigilant person, but he wasn’t the best when it came to riddles, and he did not expect anything from a child. He was already feeling despair and trying to think of a way to save Ward without bringing an army down on the village.
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Ward’s eyes sparkled as he started remembering something from his past life.
***
A small child, almost as old as Ward was, had jumped into bed, and with pleading eyes, he said: “grandpa, read me a story!”
As was their ritual, the grandfather had already picked a story from the library to read that night.
“Travelers from all the lands have heard of the great treasure of Thebes. The rich, the poor, the educated, the dumb - everyone dreamt of possessing it all to themselves. However, the Greek city had a protector: a Sphinx with a body of a man, and a head of a lion. Travelers were asked a question if they knew the answer they were given passage to the great treasure. If they didn’t know the answer, they were sent to the dreamland.
[Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it be?]
What do you think the answer is?”
The child tilted his head, “I don’t know…”
“Well, I guess it is time for you to go to the dreamland.”
“I love you, grandpa!”
“I love you too Ryley.”
“Seriously though, what is the answer?”
***
Upon remembering, tears welled in his eyes, even across time and space, he had still wondered about what happened to his grandchild.
Nabih saw tears stream across Ward’s face and his resolve returned, he would first save the child and then figure out what to do about the village. He got ready to attack when suddenly he heard a soft voice
“The answer is... man” the soldier’s curiosity peaked. Ward then explained
“Mankind crawls on all fours as a baby. As adults, we walk on two feet. As elderly, we walk with a cane for support.”
“Well… that makes no sense. Barely anyone uses a cane” the soldier sighed, disappointed over his excitement.
“Yet, that is the answer to the riddle of the Sphinx. The monster you spoke off, is named the Sphinx is it not?”
The soldier looked conflicted. He took out the book he had in his light coat’s pocket. He then flipped to about the middle of it.
“The name is... Zphinx.” Impressed he continued “Now I want you even more, but by my word you are granted passage.”
Ward had a proud and delighted face, and Nabih had sighed in relief. Before he heard what happened next
“But not you” he pointed at Nabih
“What? This is not the agreement” Shouted Ward back at him.
“He was ready to strike me just now; I can’t let someone like that go…” Nabih wasn’t concerned about himself. His fate was to be the same as the other members of the group. However, he was concerned for Ward. He knew that the soldier wanted to take him back no matter what, so he tried to argue for something else.
“What about the child? He can’t walk back on his own. Even if you don’t believe us - we sent a group of experienced merchants more than two months ago, and they did not return. How would a child be safe?”
“Children travel alone to the capital all the time,” the soldier thought for a moment, and then changed his tone to a softer one.
It was getting dark outside, and not even strong adults start a long journey at night. The soldier decided to invite Ward to spend the night in the city.
They were both reluctant to do so, but the soldier insisted in a way they could not resist. He promised that Ward would not be harmed in any way, and then to even introduce him to merchants in the morning that are headed to the papermaking city which allows Ward a safer passage to his village.
Nabih, had no intention of escaping, out of fear of the might of the capital being the doom of the village. However, if the soldier was telling the truth, it would be a preferable outcome.
As they returned to the city, they first headed toward the Marquese’s mansion. Upon entering, a young man about 16 years of age excitedly ran toward them, until he noticed their eyesight and switched to a more elegant walk that he believed was fitting a noble.
“Brother, you are back, and you brought a gift with you!”
“There is certainly a lot to be done, the more people there are, the fast it is will be”
The soldier who looked older by a couple of years directed his words toward the prisoner and guest “this is the marquise, he is slightly weird but treat him with respect and you will be respected.”
No one at the village learned the etiquette of dealing with nobles, so they did not give the proper greeting even after being warned. Neither of the two men in front of them or the attendants around them said anything. Nabih then looked at the soldier who he now understood to have better standing and hinted with his eyes that he wanted reassurance that Ward will remain safe. The soldier obliged.
“The child is my guest, he will return with me to the duke’s manor, and will join the merchants tomorrow to return to his home.”
The marquise did not delay longer. He told his attendants to direct Nabih to where he was going to sleep. Before being interrupted by the soldier.
“I want to speak to the other Aklamatians before they meet” upon hearing the weird request, the Marquise responded that they were allowed to sleep when they arrived, and they took the offer. Apparently, their trip was intense, and they did not sleep well for the past few days, so the idea of not possibly being attacked at night was welcomed even if they did not know their future in the morning.
“Then, I shall return in the morning, don’t let this man and the others meet under any circumstances until I do.”
The marquise had a similar curious look to what the soldier had displayed earlier. His face suddenly seemed more similar to the soldier after exhibiting the same behavior.
Without further question, the marquise promised to do as was requested.
In the meanwhile, Nabih got down on one knee to be in a similar eye level to Ward and looked him in the eyes. He had many words of warning he wanted to tell him, but none of them came out, he just said “Once you go home, please tell my family that I am fine” he then put ruffled up Ward’s hair.
Ward gulped, and rushed into Nabih's arms and hugged him. “You will be back soon to show them just that”
The soldier and Ward then continued on their way to the Duke’s manor.
Upon arriving, the Duke had insisted on Ward taking a shower, mumbling something about being unable to house someone who reeked. Ward had clean habits when he could, he would wash up, but he didn’t have easy means and access to do so. After spending seven days traveling through the forest, even he agreed that he smelled.
A bucket of water was laid out for him, and a maid helped him shower. Once he was done, he noticed that his clothes were taken away and instead of them, clothes of an even higher quality than his father usually wore, were laid out for him. Even an olive green coat was added — something he didn’t need to wear inside the manor.
Ward was very tired, and it was already dark outside, by adding a warm bath to the mix he managed to fall asleep before being shown where the bed is.