Chapter 9 - Golden Kingdom

We met in the larger parlor, which Leed told me was the First Gentleman’s parlor. Taio’s parents must have been asleep because they were in nightclothes with bare feet and rumpled hair. Omira and Taio were still dressed in daywear. I told myself that they might have dressed after being awakened, but I knew they had probably been out enjoying music or dancing with friends...or lovers.

I laid my translation on the table when I entered the chamber. Leed came to stand beside me and translated as the First Lady spoke, “Leed says you finished the translation, Lady Mara.”

“I have,” I said. “It’s here.”

“And? Is it a cure?” The First Gentleman’s voice trembled slightly as he spoke.

I nodded.

“Then why the dour looks? We shall wake the city and call for singing and dancing—”

“Father, allow Leed to read it to you,” Taio said, his gaze flicking from my face to Leed’s. He could read in my expression that the news was not celebratory.

“Please,” Lord Tsoh said, gesturing to the parchment.

Leed cleared his throat. “I will read this and then work the rest of the night translating it to Zulenii.”

Taio’s father nodded approval. Leed began to read, but I didn’t listen to him. I already knew what the scroll said. Instead, I watched the faces of the family. The First Lady’s was hopeful. The First Gentleman’s was full of anticipation. Omira looked apprehensive. Taio looked at me, seeming to sense my growing despondency.

When Leed came to the list of ingredients, Omira felt for a chair and sat down. Hard. Taio swore under his breath. Their parents gripped hands as Leed read the instructions for combining ingredients.

“No measurements?” Lord Tsoh asked, looking at me.

I shook my head. “There might have been some sort of standard measurement at one time because, as Leed read, the directions call for another dose of salt and three more leaves of rosemary. With trial and error...” I broke off and Leed’s translation trailed off as well.

“But will the cure work without the wolf saliva?” Lady Onnigh asked. “That is what we must test before we give up all hope or send our children to the far reaches of the world in search of a species that probably died out long ago.”

“We wouldn’t have to go to the far reaches of the world,” Taio said in my language.

“No, Taio,” Omira said.

But Taio’s gaze was still locked on mine, and he held my gaze as he answered his sister. “It’s the only way, Omira.”

“It’s suicide,” she said.

“She’s right,” I added.

“What are they talking about?” Taio’s father asked Leed.

“Good question. Explain,” Leed said to Taio.

Taio finally broke eye contact with me and flicked his gaze to his parents. “The King of Earsleh has two wolves.”

Even as Leed translated, he looked to me for confirmation. “Lady Mara, is this true?”

“Yes.”

“I have seen them as well,” Omira said.

“They are the king’s pets,” I said. “Two she-wolves that he always keeps with him. We’d never get close to them.”

“We might not, but you could,” Taio said.

I looked down. I could get close to them, but I’d probably have my fingers bitten off. And even if I managed to collect saliva—possibly from the remains of my bloody finger—how would I ever get it back to Zleyval?

“I do not want my children returning to that place,” the First Lady said. “It was an enormous risk before, and that was before the Earslehens knew we were here and before you defeated Lady Mara.”

I bristled—still not liking being reminded that Taio had beaten me.

“The king will have you killed on sight,” Lady Onnigh argued.

“And if we don’t go back, what was all of it for?” Taio demanded. “The years of training, the studying of the language and their rites and traditions, the trek back here. Mara lost her sister. Omira and I almost died. All of that was for nothing if we don’t have a cure.”

I bit my lip. I understood Taio’s point, but I couldn’t help but think that at one time he might have looked at the events differently. He might have thought having me in his life—by his side—as worth the effort and danger.

“I will go back with Mara,” Leed said, surprising me. “It’s past time I took a risk.”

Everyone started arguing at once, including me. Leed was more than sixty years of age, and though he might live well past one hundred, he was not a young man. The trek to Earsleh was not only a long distance to travel, but it meant sleeping outside, in the elements, and being able to run from or fight Hollows at any moment.

“Enough!” said Taio. “This argument is pointless. Nothing could prevent me from accompanying her.”

My heart leapt into my throat before Taio gestured to me almost as an afterthought, belying the concern his words had conveyed.

Dusthead. For a moment you thought he still cared about you.

“I have a compromise,” the First Gentleman said. “Before any of you hie back across the kingdom, why not try the cure without the wolf saliva? Perhaps it will work without that ingredient. If not, we can revisit this conversation then.”

I exchanged a look with Leed. Had he not made clear when he’d translated my writing that the saliva of Canis lupus was key? I’d been raised not to gainsay a king—even if he was called a First Gentleman—so I raised my brows at Leed. Leed looked at Lord Tsoh and inclined his head. “Sir, I think that is a reasonable first step, but we will need test subjects.”

Taio blew out a breath and turned away. I remembered that he’d told me Leed had captured Hollows to help train him and the other warriors how to kill them. Taio said he would never participate in anything like that again. But healing a Hollow was vastly different from testing ways to kill it. Still, how would we heal them if we didn’t have the crucial ingredient?

“Lady Mara?” Leed said, catching my attention. “Will you accompany me to capture test subjects?”

“Of course,” I said at the same time Taio said, “No, she won’t.”

Taio glared at me, and I glared right back. If we were to proceed with this plan, it made sense for the most skilled warriors to face the Hollows.

“I’ve been killing Hollows since I was twelve,” I said. “There’s no one better than me to go after them.”

“Killing them is not the same as capturing them,” Taio said. “Capturing them is harder.”

“Then stay here and let those of us who know what we are doing handle it.”

If a single look could have struck me dead, that was the look Taio gave me.

“What did she say?” Lady Onnigh asked.

“She said she is the best person to accompany Leed,” Omira summarized. I was grateful she hadn’t relayed my insult to Taio’s mother. “I’ll go with them,” Omira volunteered.

“No,” Leed and I said together.

“Why should you two have all the fun?” Taio said, his tone leaden.

Omira turned to her brother. “Kintle and Yung won’t want to be left behind.”

Taio’s gaze met mine, and he shrugged. “I’ll ask them, but it should be their choice.”

Leed translated this to Taio’s parents, and Lord Tsoh clapped his hands. “Splendid. When will you depart?”

“The day after tomorrow,” I said. It probably wasn’t my place to make that decision, but I didn’t want to leave it to anyone else. I needed a day to discuss strategy with Leed and consult with the Zulenii healers about the details of the cure. I also wanted to study the Hollows’ movements at the river. We’d need to find a way to cross without hundreds of them noticing and coming for us.

“We’ll leave at first light,” I said. “I want as much daylight as possible.”

Leed gave a bow, and I followed his example. We left the family to discuss matters amongst themselves. As soon as we were away from the parlor, I tugged Leed aside.

“Why did you agree to the king’s—the First Gentleman’s—plan? You read the cure. The healer’s efforts did not succeed until she added the wolf saliva.”

Leed glanced over his shoulder to ensure we were not overheard. Then he pulled me into an alcove where we would not be seen. “Lady Mara, that scroll was written over a hundred years ago. We do not know who wrote it or for what purpose. Mayhap the purpose was to provide instructions to other healers. Or mayhap it was an account for the king. If it was written for the king, then adding the element of wolf saliva plays into his conceit. Wolves are the king’s symbol, much as lions are that of the First House of Zulen. The difference is that the king likes to believe his throne comes from some higher power. You see how it would boost his ego to think the animal most associated with himself has special properties.”

I could see Leed’s point, but he had not spent the time I had with the scroll. He did not know Royal Earslehen, so it was impossible to explain to him the tone of the writing on that ancient parchment. There had been no obsequiousness or flattery in the words—and I had read much of that when learning the royal language. I hadn’t known there were so many adjectives for describing the king’s greatness until I learned the royal language. Whoever wrote the scroll included little ingratiating language. The cure had been put down in a matter-of-fact manner.

“I can see you are not persuaded,” Leed said, studying my face. “But I ask you to humor Lord Tsoh and myself in this. You must know attempting to return to Highcastle and gather saliva from your father’s wolves is a last resort. If there is even a small chance the cure will work without that ingredient, we must try.”

“You’re right,” I conceded. “I worry how much time we have. My father is gathering his army, and any day one of that group of breakaway Hollows might think”—even though I did not believe Hollows capable of thought, I could not come up with another word—“of a new way to cross the river. Next time they might succeed.”

Leed put a hand on my shoulder and led me back out into the corridor. “I think we have time and weather on our side. The first snows will come any day now. That will slow both your father, as it will hamper the return of the patrols he will use to build his army, and the Hollows.”

We neared the grand staircase, and I paused at the top. “But won’t the Hollows be stirred up when we go down into the river valley? If enough of them are in the throes of bloodlust, they may clog the river and climb over the floating bodies to reach the other side. Then sheer desperation for flesh will have them climbing the mountain until they reach the lookout and fall upon the city.”

“That’s why we won’t hunt the Hollows gathered at the river,” Leed said, starting down the steps.

“What do you mean?” I hurried after him. “Where will we hunt?”

“In the mountains to the east. We can cross into those more easily, and the villages there were overrun, which means there will be no lack of Hollows.”

I darted in front of Leed, forcing him to pause on the stairs. “You want to travel toward a village full of Hollows?”

Leed gave me an untroubled smile. “How else will we catch them?”

* * *

I SPENT WHAT FEW HOURS were left of the night at the lookout. The Hollows were active but seemed to be more concerned with bumping into each other and walking in circles than trying to cross the river tonight. I was grateful for that small mercy. It might have been my imagination, but the temperature had seemed to drop. Since it was so near the sea, Highcastle rarely received snowfall, but I’d encountered it on occasion while out on patrol during the dry season. I hadn’t known that Hollows froze in snow. Mayhap we didn’t receive enough to incapacitate them.

I slept fitfully because in sleep I could not control my thoughts. They continued to return to Taio’s statement earlier that evening.

Nothing could prevent me from accompanying her.

Even as I lay awake, staring at the stars and telling myself his words meant nothing, I couldn’t fully convince myself. I so desperately wanted to believe he still cared about me. I thought about my sisters back home in Earsleh. They’d always teased me, saying I had no feelings, no emotions. They’d be shocked to realize how much I cared for Taio and how much I wanted him back.

Still, I was determined he would never know. I was not about to let him see how weak and pathetic I was.

At first light, I rose and descended in the air boat. I went straight to Gold House and knocked on Omira’s bed chamber door. She didn’t answer, so I knocked again and again. “Omira, it’s Mara. Open the door. Omira!”

I heard muffled cursing, and then heavy footsteps. Finally, the door opened and a disheveled Omira opened it enough to peer out. “You said first light tomorrow,” she croaked.

“That’s not why I’m here. I need you to take me to your healers.”

She closed her eyes. “Now?”

“Yes. I need to speak with them about the ingredients in the scroll.”

“Come back in an hour.” She began to close the door, but I stuck my booted foot in it.

“Omira, I have a dozen tasks to see to before tomorrow morning. I need you to take me now.”

A male voice came from within the room, and I realized, abruptly, Omira had not been alone. I felt my cheeks heat and pulled my foot out from the door. Ximen, Taio’s friend who played guitara, took hold of the door and smiled at me. He wore trousers and nothing else. “Good morning, Mara,” he said to me.

“I’ll come back,” I mumbled.

“No.” Ximen waved a hand. “I will come back.” He kissed Omira’s cheek. “Tonight.”

I stepped aside so he might pass through the door. He carried his shirt and pulled it over his head as he walked away.

“Thank you so much,” Omira said in the mixture of Zulenii and Earslehen that we had begun to use without really discussing it. “I was hoping for a more pleasant start to the day.”

I winced. “Sorry.”

She sighed. “It’s fine. You’re trying to save the world and all that. Wait there.” She closed the door again, and a few minutes later, she opened it and emerged dressed and with her hair pulled back in a tail. “I haven’t even had my tea yet,” she muttered as we began to walk. She glanced at me. “Have you eaten? You look too thin.”

“I’ll eat later,” I said. “I need the healers.”

“We’ll eat on the way.” Her voice brooked no argument as she descended the stairs. “You can’t fight the Twilight Men if you’re fainting from hunger.”

“No warrior would ever faint,” I said.

“Because they would be smart enough to eat,” she shot back. Once on Gold Path, she insisted we stop at a white building with a pink door. She didn’t knock but opened the door and went directly inside. When I didn’t follow, she doubled back and pulled me in. The interior was bright and cheery with about six tables all covered with cloths and with vases of flowers on them. A few other Zulenii sat at the tables with cups of tea and small pastries. A woman dropped her pastry when she saw me, and an older man all but strained his neck staring at me.

“What is this?” I said under my breath.

“A tea shop,” she said. I gave her a confused look, and she furrowed her brow. “It’s like a tavern but with tea and breakfast foods and sweets.”

“Why do people not eat breakfast in their homes?” I whispered as Omira led me to a table.

“Because sometimes it’s nice to eat with other people.”

I did not understand why anyone would want to eat in public if not required, but I stopped talking when a plump woman wearing a pink apron came to the table. Omira told the woman to bring us food, and after a while the woman returned with tea and a thick porridge flavored with cinnamon and bits of manza. I ate all of mine. Across from me, Omira folded her arms. “More?” she asked.

“Yes, please.” I was suddenly very hungry.

Omira signaled and the woman brought me another bowl.

“Do you use money in Zulen?” I asked Omira when I’d eaten my fill of the second bowl. “If so, I have several cart vendors I should pay.”

Omira shook her head. “We don’t use currency like you mean it. Everything is by exchange. If Tabe”—she gestured to the woman in the apron—“makes that seamstress there food then at another time the seamstress might sew her a dress. It’s not a one-to-one exchange, but everyone contributes and if someone is not contributing or asking for more than their share, the community generally deals with it.”

“Banishment?” I asked.

Omira gave me a confused look. “No. The elders just speak with them. If they still don’t listen, my parents will speak with them.”

“And if they still misbehave?”

She shrugged. “That’s never happened. Everyone wants to do what’s best.” She stood. “Thank you, Tabe!” Omira called, and then to me, “Let’s go.”

I rose and followed her out. “I don’t have anything to contribute,” I said.

“You are contributing the cure. That’s the most important thing of all.”

“Do the people know about that?”

“They know you are here to help us defeat the Twilight Men. We will have to tell them more soon, but no one has complained about you...yet.” She said the last with a look of mock warning. “Besides, everyone knows you sleep on the lookout platform. You guard us more than we guard ourselves.”

“I noticed,” I muttered.

“The healers are this way,” she said, pointing toward the east side of the city. I did not know this side. As the air boat was to the west, I generally stayed in that area of the city. But Omira knew her way well enough, and after a few twists and turns, she led me to a small building painted blue. “This is the healing center,” she said. “We go here if we are injured or ill. You will want to speak with Avinil. He is the teacher of healers. I will ask if he is here. If not, we will seek him at his home.”

I followed Omira into the blue building, which was clean and airy on the inside. A woman greeted her by name as soon as we entered, and Omira told the woman who she wanted. The woman gave me a quick perusal then led us up a set of wide stairs, past a white room lined with beds covered in crisp linens, and to a door just across from that room. She knocked, and while we waited, I looked over my shoulder. Most of the beds were empty, but one or two held patients who appeared to be sleeping. A man walked along the row of beds, stopping to check each patient and study a paper he carried clipped to a board.

The door to Avinil’s chamber opened, and we were welcomed in by a faint voice. This chamber was much darker than the bright rooms we’d passed through, so I hesitated. Omira pulled me in. Really, these Zulenii had no sense of caution. Why would anyone ever enter a dark room before ensuring no danger lay within?

Inside the room, a candle flickered on a table behind which sat an elderly man. He was well over one hundred years in age. He might even be as old as Old Ceba, who was rumored to be one hundred and forty-three. He was a small man with stooped shoulders and tufts of gray hair behind his ears. The rest of his head was bald. His face was deeply lined, but when he looked at me, his eyes were sharp and alert.

He nodded at the woman who’d led us to him, and she closed the door, leaving Omira and me standing in the small chamber. “I wondered when I would meet the Earslander,” he said. Omira translated, but I’d understood him. Interesting that he’d called me an Earslander and not an Earslehen. Earslehen was what we called ourselves. I didn’t detect any disrespect in his tone, though.

“Is she ill?” he asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

“I am not ill, sir,” I replied in what I hoped was decent Zulenii.

“She is here to ask you questions about ingredients for a cure.”

His brows, almost as bald as his head, went up. “What sort of cure?”

Omira glanced at me, and I nodded. He needed to know why I asked. Omira turned back to him, “A cure for the disease of the Twilight Men,” she said.

“I have heard of a fabled cure. I take it there was truth behind the fable.”

When Omira translated, I said, “When Leed...left my kingdom, he took a scroll written in the royal language with him. He’d been told it was the recipe for the cure to the red vein virus. I’ve spent the past days translating it, and I have questions about the ingredients and how to concoct such a cure.”

“Sit here.” He gestured to a stool on the other side of the table where he sat. “Tell me this cure.”

I did as he asked, with Omira standing behind me so she might translate. I’d made a copy of the ingredients and the directions for mixing them, and I took that from my pack now. Smoothing the parchment on the table, I showed him the words, which were, of course, in Earslehen. I knew the words for water and salt in Zulenii, so I said those. Omira did not read Earslehen—or not very well—so I asked her to translate oil of peppermint.

The healer nodded and pointed to the word peppermint. “Eases nausea and vomiting,” Omira translated. “Also good for coughs and inflammation.”

“Thank you,” I said. I pointed to the next one, uncertain how to ask Omira to translate it. I didn’t want to tell her it was rosemary because I wanted the healer to verify that.

“Salvia rosmarinus,” the healer said unprompted. “Rosmar.”

“Rosemary,” I said. “How does he know?”

Omira asked him the question. “This”—he pointed to Salvia rosmarinus—“is a very old language of healing. All healers must know it.”

“So those words are written in a shared language only healers know?”

He shrugged. “It is not a secret language, but every skilled healer would know it. Rosmar is good for pain and...” He said another word, and Omira furrowed her brow.

“I don’t know that word in your language,” she said. “But it means to stop a flinch.” She demonstrated, behaving like someone walking jerkily, just as the Hollows did.

“We call those spasms,” I said. “So it is an antispasmodic.”

“I am not learning that word,” Omira said. She translated the willow bark, and the healer said it was good for pain and fever. I already knew this. I skipped the wolf saliva and asked about the pine needles.

“Good for coughs and mental clarity,” the healer said. “But what about this ingredient that comes from the wolf?” He pointed to saliva of Canis lupus. Presumably Canis lupus was written in the healing language.

“The cure calls for saliva from the wolf,” Omira told him.

“Ask if he has ever used that to heal.”

Omira did so, and the healer shook his head. “I have not seen a wolf since I was a boy before the red vein virus. Even so, never in my training has saliva of any animal been mentioned.”

Omira translated, and I tried to look at the situation as Leed might. Mayhap the ingredient had been added to flatter the king. The other ingredients made perfect sense. The red vein virus caused pain, fever, and coughing. At the end, the victim began to spasm. I wanted to believe these ingredients together would be enough.

“Sir,” I said, looking to Omira to translate. “If I had Omira write down the directions in your language, could you follow the recipe and make this cure? There are no measurements given, so I do not know how much rosemary to use or how much salt or peppermint oil.”

The old healer sat back in his chair. “I have made many potions. Combining these ingredients is easy enough, but we may not get the potency right.”

“Could you make several batches in different potencies?” I asked.

Omira was nodding vigorously. “Yes. That is an excellent idea.”

Avinil said he could make an infinite number of potencies.

“I think ten levels will be enough to test it,” I said, thinking we would not have an infinite number of subjects.

“And how do you plan to test it?” he asked. Omira and I exchanged glances. Avinil took in a breath. “Perhaps it is better if I do not know the particulars.”

“That might be best for now,” Omira told him.

I rose so Omira might use the table to write. Then I read her the cure in our mixture of languages so she might write it in Zulenii. By the time we left the healing center, half the day was gone, and I was hungry again.

“Let’s return to Gold House and have something to eat,” she said. I wished I could do just that, especially because I relished having her treat me as a friend once again. She might never see me as her sister after my disloyalty, but it was nice to have a friend.

“I can’t,” I said. “I need to find a metallurgist.”

“I do not know that word,” she said as we headed back toward Gold Path.

“It is someone who works with metal.” I took the long hammer from my belt, where I always wore it. “I want modifications to this weapon.”

“A blacksmith then,” she said. “I will come with you.”

“I drew a picture of what I want,” I told her. “Just tell me where to find the blacksmith.”

Omira pointed me in the direction, and I followed that path until I spotted a woman wearing a heavy protective apron, pounding hot metal in an open-air shelter. She saw me approaching and paused in her work to eye me up and down. She didn’t seem afraid of me, and considering she was almost as tall as Taio and probably close to his weight, she had no reason to fear me.

I greeted her in Zulenii and said the phrase I had practiced, “Will you make me a weapon?” Then I pulled the parchment from my pack and held it out to her. She wiped her brow and took it, looking from the parchment to me and back again.

I’d done what I hoped was a good rendering of a skullcrusher. The hammer the Zuleniis used was effective, but not as efficient as I liked. The blunt tip meant I had to hit a Hollow several times to crush its skull. But the skullcrusher had two sides at the tip. One side was blunt, perfect for a hard blow. The other side had been forged in heat to a wicked point, which would penetrate flesh and bone.

I offered my hammer to the blacksmith, hoping she might be able to modify it, rather than start with raw materials. She took it, examined it, hefted it, and told me to come back. She gave me a time period, but I wasn’t good with Zulenii time. It involved adding and subtracting numbers and I didn’t know all their numbers.

Instead, I motioned to the frame of the structure where she worked. “Here sit?” I asked.

She shrugged, set my weapon down, and went back to the work she’d been doing. I sighed and wished I’d stopped at a food vendor before coming here.

* * *

WHEN I BOARDED THE air boat that evening, I was in good spirits. I’d tucked everything except the necklace and fancy gown my mother had sent into my pack, I’d managed to eat some sort of leafy food for supper, and I had a new skullcrusher at my hip. Avinil was presumably working on the cure, so even if I was nervous about hunting and trapping Hollows, I felt as ready as I could be.

When I stepped off the air boat, I spotted Leed and Yung on the platform immediately. Leed glanced over his shoulder at me then looked again. “Where did you find that?” he asked, pointing to my skullcrusher.

I removed it from my belt and held it out for Leed and Yung to see. “I had what is called a blacksmith make it. It looks just like the one I used to have.” Privately, I didn’t think the workmanship was quite as good, but I didn’t mention that.

“Crush skull,” Yung said.

“That’s right.”

“Where did you get the idea for this design?” Leed asked, still turning the weapon in his hands.

“It’s a popular weapon in Earsleh. I lost mine on the way here, and I’ve been feeling vulnerable without it. Is anything happening below?” I gestured to the river valley.

“Nothing new. Even that problem group is quiet tonight. Are you certain you want to sleep here? This might be your last night to sleep in a bed for a little while.”

“I like it up here,” I said.

“Yung has duty here tonight, so you can both meet me at Gold House before first light.”

Before I could respond, Yung called out. He pointed directly across from us, and I drew my skullcrusher. Leed put a hand on my wrist. “It’s just a message culver.”

As I watched, a large gray-and-blue bird landed on the rail of the lookout platform. Leed went to it, opened a tiny pack on the bird’s back, and drew out a slip of paper. Yung dropped some seeds on the top of a post, and the bird—the culver—began to peck at them.

Leed began to unroll the slip of paper, and I looked from the bird to Leed and back again. “Who is sending messages via a bird?” I asked.

He finished reading then looked up at me. “There are two villages to the west that survived the red vein virus, mainly due to geography. In one, the people carved their homes into the side of the mountain. The other is on the seacoast and has very high mountains at its back. This is from the first village as it’s too late in the year to send a culver over the highest peaks.”

“What do they write?” I asked.

“Mainly that they are still alive. The First Gentleman will send a reply. I’ll take this down to him and put the culver back with his brethren.”

“Won’t that other village want him back?”

Leed shook his head. “These birds have the instinct to fly home. This is one of ours. We’ll send one of theirs back in the morning.” He gathered the bird gently in his arms and moved toward the air boat platform. I followed him.

“You said tomorrow we’ll go into the mountains to the east. Are there any villages that survived that way?”

“No,” Leed said. “Tolodev borders Zulen to the far east, and when your grandfather unleashed the red vein virus, his target was Tolodev. The eastern side of Zulen was the first after Tolodev to fall.”

I wanted to apologize, though I knew my words would make no difference. I knew Leed would tell me no one blamed me, but I still felt as though my family’s actions were my fault.

“Until that tomorrow,” Leed said, stepping on the air boat.

I murmured the same back to him then joined Yung and the other soldiers watching the Hollows waking up below.