"We have to go help Haruth!" Said Maruth who was already packing.
"If you leave my island, you will be exposed and you will be of no help to your brother." Declared Goldeneye who was resting on his armchair.
"To hell with that! He needs our help!" She objected.
"We can't leave Maruth. Erving is right." Her father said.
"Are you serious? They'll get him!" Protested the young witch. Maruth had the same half-golden half-silver hair as her brother, that she braided in a curled plait. Her sleepy eyes were of a lighter gray than her twin, she was also taller.
"Have you so little faith in your brother?" Zion asked her. "You may be a stronger fighter, but your brother's magic surpasses both of us now."
"I'm not underestimating him! But you're clearly underestimating the ministry and the freaking holy council! How can he deal with both sides on his own?" Maruth was losing her temper.
"He is not alone." Replied Goldeneye.
"Men? You're going to sit there and tell me that a bunch of men can help him?" She held her head and winced.
"Don't underestimate men, Maruth. Right now, a young woman walks with him who has just gained immense powers." Declared Goldeneye.
"What do you mean? The only woman we saw with him was a woman dying in the halls of Galenhaim." Said Maruth.
"Her name is Poli. Marid's shadows have cast her soul in our realm and your brother saved her." The veer explained.
"Poor girl. If that's what you meant by immense power, it will consume her." Empathized Zion.
"Not necessarily. She showed astonishing resilience and strength, she is handling it quite well for now, until I get to meet her." Avowed Goldeneye.
"Meet her?" Questioned him Maruth.
"I gave her a Veer's bid, as you call it." Goldeneye confessed.
"You marked her? Why?" Asked Maruth once more.
"Because she has potential and is capable of achieving great things." Goldeneye revealed with a smile. "Your brother doesn't need your help, not yet. Worry about yourselves and the book I gave you. You need to figure out what it holds. I will go and bring you news of the Holy Council."
Maruth sat down and so did her father, looking at each other and at the book that awaited them on a table.
"When will you be back?" Asked him Zion.
"I don't know. Galenhaim's disappearance must have reached all ears by now, Marduk probably sought the ministry when the news reached the council. The High Priest holds the treaty between Veer and Sahr sacred, almost as sacred as their religion. Your ministry must have sold you out, they knew you three had his heart, you probably were the first to pop in their heads when Marduk knocked at their doors." Goldeneye presumed. "Marid is an uncontrollable plague but his father… Marduk is an uncompromising lunatic, if it wasn't for his respect and fear of God, Marduk would be unstoppable. He does not hold the rank of the High Priest of the Holy Council for nothing. The only Veer that surpassed him was Mahavhar… I can't face him. If he ever finds out about our alliance, my crew and everything I hold dear will fall to his wrath… If I don't come back in a month, you should leave the island and let my people know, tell them to leave as well." Goldeneye stood up and bowed.
"You're leaving right now?" Zion stood up as well.
"We don't have time." Goldeneye paused and chuckled. "Never in my everlasting life did I care about time and now I'm running out of it. Well, I'll be seeing you soon!"
"Wait!" Cried Maruth. "If you can find Orora, she might help you!"
"Orora? How do you know of that name?" Asked her Goldeneye.
"The first pages talk of her." She said, grabbing the book of Mahavhar. "She might be of help! Do you know her?"
"Well, yes we share the same parents." Said Goldeneye.
"Mahavhar's consort is your sister?" Zion asked surprisingly.
"Yes… I never agreed to that union but I never told her anything. It was never my place to do so anyway." He explained with a heavy heart.
"You should find her first." Said Maruth.
"Why is that?" Asked Goldeneye.
"The first pages speak of her." She replied, opening the book of Mahavhar. "To Orora I have left my heart, for she saw the good in me when I didn't. She holds knowledge you might seek and answers you might need. Find her to find me, for she knows where I dwelled for revelations. There you should start where now the two worlds meet." She read out loud.
"Where the two worlds meet? What did he mean by that?" Wondered Zion.
"It is well known where the first revelations were delivered to him. Every Veer knows, Orora doesn't hold some sort of holy secret. It is even written in the Veers' sacred records. It was at the summit of Andalavan, there's no need to seek her for that. That place is now the sanctuary of the Holy Council, neither of us can set foot there." Goldeneye explained.
"Andalavan…. I read something about that too! Andalavan, Andalavan…" Maruth declared, turning the pages back and front and following her finger through the lines of the book. "Here! Andalavan stood high and proud, and I bowed and shrank in prostration in the depths of lands. Andalavan shook and the land broke, but in a fathomless depth I prayed and none came to my aid but God."
"What happened when Mahavhar was chosen to be the messenger? There's so little if no records of that event in any of his teachings he left behind." Asked Zion.
"Maybe the book he left you will shine light on that matter. But as far as I know, the day it happened, the land beneath us did in fact shake. An earthquake so strong it broke the land into separate pieces, the only time I saw something alike was when he ascended. The fact that everyone believes Andalavan was where Mahavhar received the revelations was because a lightning struck the summit and everyone heard a cry come from there, and it was so loud it made people shrink in fear." Goldeneye explained.
"I doubt Andalavan is the place. You should look for Orora!" Insisted Maruth.
"I can't. She will not be of any help." Declared Goldeneye.
"Why is that?" Maruth asked desperately.
"First, I will have to find her, which is practically impossible. Second, I will have to convince her to listen to me and to whatever I have to say, which is also impossible. And third, she made a vow of silence after the ascension of Mahavhar, probably to keep everything she knows about his past life secret." Explained Goldeneye.
"Well that still sounds easier than facing the ministry and the council! If she can't speak, she can write!" Maruth was losing her patience and her desire to rush to the aid of her brother grew stronger by the minute.
"Maruth, a vow of silence is broken by blood. Orora will die if she utters a single word." Objected her father.
"If Mahavhar spoke of her in this book, she must be of some help…." Maruth mumbled, crashing desperately in her seat.
"Indeed. I will look for her and it will be up to her to decide. I will not force her, and for that I am sorry. Not because she is my sister but also because I can't carry her death on my shoulders." Goldeneye declared. "I must go now. My crew will ask for me and I leave them in your care for now. You are safe here, I don't know for how long, hopefully long enough for you to figure out something out of that book. Oh, and the Brymhelians must know more of this battle. Speak to them and be true. I bid you all good fortune until our next meeting." Goldeneye bowed and disappeared out of thin air.
He left behind him a freezing silence, Maruth and Zion looked at each other with lost and frightened eyes.
"I wish Freya was here. Your mother would have known what to do, or at least would shake some sense in us. She was a very strong witch, that you got from her." Said Zion.
"Don't talk about her now avva. You're speaking of someone I have never known; it is of no use to us." Maruth dismissed her father's nostalgia in a cold voice.
"She still brought you to this world and bore the blood of our ancestors and for that you owe her your respect when her name is brought in reminiscence. The dead do not rest when they're forgotten. Pray for her and do not shun her name." Zion did not like his daughter's remarks.
"Remembering her now is not of any help. I meant no disrespect. May she be granted the halls of God." The satire in Maruth's voice was obvious but her father did not pay more attention to it.
"Although we have more questions to be answered now that we know we are Mahavhar's heirs, I at least got one answer that has been in my mind for years." Said Zion.
"Which is?" Inquired the young witch.
"My own mother died after giving birth to me, like yours and like my father's. I always thought it was an odd coincidence but The Akkadū had a long history of single parents. Be it the mother or the father, the one who does not carry his blood pays the price with their life."
"So, if your theory is correct, if any of us -Haruth and I- chooses to settle and marry someone, our companions will just perish if we ever have children of our own?" Wondered Maruth.
"I am afraid it might be so." Replied her father sadly.
"Well at least none of us is planning on settling." She chuckled.
"Why not?" Asked her father.
"Are you seriously asking why?" She raised an eyebrow at her father. "If you haven't noticed father, we're in the middle of a war. Everyone is pointing their fingers at us. If Galenhaim knew about our blood, I assume every other Veer in power knows. And it's only a matter of time for the ministry to learn the truth as well. We don't even know if we will make it out of this mess alive let alone pass our cursed blood to some miserable fatherless or motherless offspring."
"That's absurd. What if this war lasts longer than any of us? The people will need His blood to defend them!" Objected Zion.
"Well, we better fucking hurry and fix this now." She opened the book of Mahavhar violently and it opened on the seventeenth page. The page was entirely blank and the one that followed it as well. "Did Mahavhar run out of ink?" She thought jokingly before closing it again in frustration.
"We should study that book thoroughly. No detail is to be missed. Leave it to me for now and go talk to The Brymhelians and the crew." Advised her Zion.
"Alright." She stood up and handed the book to her father. "Calling them a crew is an understatement, it's a whole freaking city. Goldeneye built an empire on this island. How am I supposed to explain to a whole city what is going on is beyond me." She complained.
"You will figure out a way, child." Said Zion without a shard of doubt in his daughter's skills of persuasion. "Just try not to panic, you stutter when you're anxious. Get yourself a drink before, might help you." He gave her a teasing smile.
"And you dare question my liquor addiction. Unbelievable." She shook her head and wore her boots. "Anyway, try not to die while I'm away."
"God be with you Maruth. I love you." Zion waved goodbye to his daughter, with an uneasy feeling in his chest.
"See you later." She closed the door behind her and left her father in Goldeneye's house.
Zion reached for his pipe and the weed-pouch on his bag, put the book on a small table and lit up his pipe.
"Alright Mahavhar, what have you left for us." He whispered. Zion opened the book and read the first page once again. "To the forsaken father, to the ruling son and the peerless daughter, to you descendants of the ascended." He leaned back, trying to think of a hidden message between those lines.
"With the heart of Galenhaim sealed inside that summoning instrument of Haruth, I suppose he now holds a powerful weapon… almost as powerful as… oh fuck…" He jerked forward when he realized what his son had done. "The Jewels of Mahavhar hold hearts on their own. The heart of a demon and the hearts of Grigori. With the heart of a veer… I wonder how strong that instrument is. And not any veer… Galenhaim. Of all veers you picked the most wicked and intriguing one." Zion held his head and sat silent for a long period, thinking and weighting his son's deed.
"With Galenhaim gone, who is guarding the breaches. Oh lord above help us… What have he done!?" He looked at the book one more time.
"Did you know this will happen?" He asked, as if Mahavhar was standing next to him.
He turned to the second page and there was a drawing of a tree, in the middle of the book, covering two pages. It was symmetrically drawn from the book's inner hinge. The ink was a mahogany reddish-brown, leafless but bore fruits. The roots we bigger than its crown and the trunk was thick and wide, and grotesquely misshaped. "You might have been good at everything, but you are a terrible artist" Zion addressed the absent Mahavhar. The old wizard dismissed the page not thinking much of it, it was a drawing after all and did not seem that interesting. His finger pressed against the third page trying to turn to the next one and that's where he noticed the lines of the drawing.
"Words?" He pulled the book closer to his face. "You sneaky lizard. Those are words." All the lines in the drawing were words left by Mahavhar in the shape of a badly drawn tree.
"I have seen the sun rise for the first time, and saw the moon glow in the dark skies. I have seen kings rise and others fall, I have seen darkness in the brightest smiles and fear in a demon's eyes. I have seen a man wake the dead, and saw monsters grow in the kindest souls. I have seen much and done more, for with my hands and my words I shaped the fate of the world." Read Zion, starting from one of the roots on the left. "This is the continuing tale of all, of everything. Of time before time and death before life. The tale of the forsaken and the prophecy of the chosen. The beginning and the end." Zion sat in his chair for hours after, focusing on that drawing, reading and learning and by that time his daughter Maruth had already reached the market of Numydia the Vultures' city.
Maruth walked in the streets in disbelief, it was real. She had heard tales of a pirate city hidden in the seas, but she always thought it was hyperbolic and if the pirates ever had any base, it would be a small port with brothels and taverns that reeked of fish and piss. Yet, she was here, in the middle of it all and all she could smell was a city full of life, kids running aimlessly and playfully. Wizards and Men sharing the same roof and befriending Brymhelians. The few conflicts she came across were normal disagreements people usually go through. She did have a glimpse of this harmony in the ship yet to see a city built on the same morals seemed to her too flawless to be true.
"Watch out!" She heard someone shout at her and she instantly pulled a stone in defence. "Oi! Careful now, ye might hurt someone! Behave yerself now!" A dwarf shouted at her again, carrying a huge log on his shoulder and shouting at people in front of him to let him through.
Maruth put back her stone as quickly as she pulled it. He is right! Pull yourself together. You have things to do, you dimwit! She scorned herself.
"Hey excuse me! I need some help!" She called the dwarf.
"You do? A shame, so do poor me! I be not carrying cotton here." The dwarf did not bother to stop at her call nor look back at her.
"I can help with that if you help me." She suggested.
"I be not doing me business like. Get off my arse." The dwarf walked away, adjusting the log on his shoulder and turned left, heading wherever he was going.
How am I supposed to gather all these people and talk to them?! She leaned desperately on a wall and looked up, hoping her answer would come falling down from the sky. She squinted and saw something falling down.
"LOOK OUT!" She heard another voice shout; it was coming from whatever was falling towards her.
Maruth once again pulled her stone and this time used it to levitate the young man that was falling, and ease his landing.
"Woah nice! Great! thanks! See ya." The man brushed his hair with his hands and walked away. No one, of all the people there, seemed to care about what just happened.
"Hey wait! What the fuck was that?" Maruth followed the man and stopped him.
"My experiment is going to work one day, I can feel it, weirdly in my ass." He simply said.
"That's the wind, you have no pants." Maruth pointed out with a stunned look.
"Oh look at that hahaha… yeah I need a belt. Where did I lose them?" The man was fascinatingly nonchalant. He looked around him for a moment and then walked again away from Maruth.
"Hey wait!" She once again followed up and stood in front of him. "I need some help."
"I wish I can help but I have no time to spare. I need to walk all the way back to my workshop and find my pants." He tried to walk away once more.
"Listen here you naked potoo!" She grabbed his arms firmly. "This is extremely serious. I am friends with Goldeneye and I need to deliver a message to every single one of you here. Do you know where your alarm bells are?"
"Potoo? I don't know what that is but I have a feeling it's not very flattering!" He pulled his arms free from Maruth's grip. "We are all friends with Goldeneye here, you're not special. Oh wait, are you one of those people he brought back from his last journey?"
"Yes I am! Have you seen them?" She asked hoping she can at least locate the Brymhelians.
"They're all in the Dusty Falcon Nest inn." He replied.
"And where is that?" Maruth asked again.
'Well... next to the fountain and the Dragonfly shop, where butcher Billy is…" He replied.
"Uhu and where is all that?" Asked Maruth more lost than before.
"It's umm well, not here for sure. But! Somewhere around there, I believe." Haffa replied, gesturing vaguely.
"You don't know where it is, do you? Lord help me!!" She groaned in frustration and she walked away this time.
"Of course, I do! I just can't locate myself inside the market! I am an architect not a map maker." The man followed her.
"Excuse me, do you know where the Dusty Falcon-"Maruth tried to ask a merchant who was selling clothes.
"West side, next to the fountain. You can take the next alley left and go straight to the Phoenix statue then turn right. Now move it." The hasty merchant replied. "Oy Haffa, need pants? I got some good stuff here."
"Oh that's nice! How much?" Haffa, the naked man asked.
"For you, ten pieces." The merchant replied.
"And for anyone else?" Haffa asked.
"Three." He replied with a grin.
"Haha almost as much as I paid your mom last night." Haffa said with a bigger grin and hurried to Maruth who was already gone, following the directions the merchant gave her.
"Waiiit!" The naked man yelled at her but she did not pay attention to his call. "Wait!" He yelled and ran to grab her by the shoulder.
"What do you want? I thought you did not have time for me?" She pushed his hand away.
"I lied. I always do until I don't." Haffa shamelessly admitted. "What's your name?"
"None of your business, liar." Maruth started walking away following the directions the seller gave her.
"Are you the witch that sailed with them? Hood told me a lot about you!" Haffa said, following her like a playful dog. "Myga and the rest are some jolly fellas if it wasn't for the shadow of war they carry with them."
"How do you know the giant's name?" Maruth asked, still walking in the scented alleys of Numidia.
"Are you always this mistrustful? I obviously met them like almost everyone here. They were introduced to us by the crew. Where is the cap by the way?" Haffa followed her, trying to keep up with her pace.
"Are you always this annoying? The statue!" She noticed the phoenix statue standing proud ahead of her and she fastened her pace. Haffa followed her behind, still naked.
"Did you really see the Kumkani when you were sailing?" Haffa asked Maruth.
"Yes. That was something to behold." Maruth confirmed in a nice tone. Then remembered where she was and what she had to do. "I don't have time to talk to you. AND YOU NEED PANTS!"
The houses and buildings all had colourful tiled roofs that reflected light like fish scales and the walls were all painted in shades of green to match the foliage surrounding it. The streets were completely tiled, from the city gates to every single alley. In the middle of each main street or alley, there was a single line of black tiles that were all connected, to form a Phoenix in a drawn map, spreading its wings and its beak wide open.
The phoenix served as a landmark and a tribute to the crew ship, it was after all what brought the crew to life. The rest of the island was unoccupied and untamed. The wild life never bothered the settlers and neither did they.
"Earlier you said you had a message to deliver for everyone. What kind of message?" Haffa inquired.
"It's from your captain." She replied.
"Oh." Haffa's tone suddenly changed. "You should have said that from the beginning." He stopped following Maruth. She noticed and stopped in curiosity.
"NUMIDIANS! RALLY TO THE PHOENIX!" He cried loudly. Those who heard the call, stopped and echoed Haffa's words for the ears he did not reach. "RALLY TO THE PHOENIX!". Soon many people walked towards the statue, talking, whispering, nudging each other, eyeing Maruth.
I did not know this could have been an option. This would have saved me so much time. Maruth thought in disbelief.
"What is it Haffa? Is everything alright?" An old wizard asked the man. Soon a suffocating crowd surrounded Maruth and Haffa. The young witch pressed her back against the bronze statue, weighing and assessing the Vultures manpower. This is not a crew. This is an army. She felt her heart racing. We might actually have a chance against him. She let out a confused but relieved smile.
"Cap'n has a message for us. The witch here is delivering it for us." Haffa said in the same serious tone. Maruth could not wrap her head around how he can speak confidently around all those people, without any pants.
"You are still naked." She whispered to him, but he did not seem to care.
"This is more serious. Tell us what the cap'n told you." He walked back from Maruth to join the crowd.
She cleared her throat, her uneasiness smothering her. "Goldeneye is gone." She managed to say but when the whys and hows rose from the crowd, she tripped on her thoughts and her blood rushed to her cheeks and her hands trembled unceasingly.
"Maruth!" She heard a familiar voice cry for her. "It's Maruth!" Hibe pushed the people in front of her, making her way through the concerned crowd to reach Maruth.
"Oh Hibe! How good to see a familiar face!" Maruth exhaled in relief and felt her discomfort lift from her.
"What's going on?" Hibe asked. "Where is the captain?"
She will understand, but the rest will not. Why did he hide this from them?! I need to choose my words carefully…
"Where are the Brymhelians?" Maruth asked her back.
"Myga is there, the rest of them are next to him. I was with them at the Dusty Falcon Inn." Hibe pointed at the young giant, who waved at them.
"Hibe... I have to tell everyone what we know. Goldeneye asked to share the secret with your crew and let them know about everything else." Maruth whispered while grabbing Hibe and turning their back to the crowd. Hibe's eyes widened in surprise.
"If he is not here, I don't know how to break it to them." Hibe whispered back, stealing a glance over her shoulder.
"You are his right hand! You should know better than me how to speak to your people!" Argued Maruth quietly.
"I am his right hand when we are sailing, not on land!" Hibe explained.
"Then who is in charge when he is not around?" Maruth asked.
"Haffa. The one who summoned everyone!" Hibe declared and her words left Maruth speechless.
"The fella without any pants?" Maruth could not believe it. "That's a mad man! Are you joking?"
"I wish! He is in charge." Insisted the young woman.
"Does he know? About Goldeneye's nature?" Asked Maruth.
"He does and he might know more than I do. You need to talk to him afterwards. He is in charge of something else I cannot discuss with you right now." Informed her Hibe. "You can do it. You're the greatest witch alive right now, a speech should not frighten you. You probably dealt with worse." Hibe gave her a little encouraging tap on the shoulder and stepped back, facing the crowd once again.
"Listen you bilge rats! Maruth carries an important message." Hibe silenced the curious and tumultuous crowd.
"As I said… Goldeneye left somewhere, not far away but very far." Maruth sighed deeply. To the forsaken father, to the ruling son and the peerless daughter, to you descendants of the ascended. She remembered Mahavhar's words. The peerless daughter. Do not disappoint, deliver. I must do this. "Heed my words and muster your courage for what you are about to know, will turn your peaceful lives to a haunting nightmare. This will sound completely unbelievable to most of you! Goldeneye is no mortal man, nor wizard, nor is he dwarf or giant. He is neither a dragon nor any creature you have seen before. This, you have already learned on your own. He outlived many of your parents and grandparents and none now here is as old as him. Some of you were-"
"What is she doing?" Haffa walked towards Hibe and asked her quietly, while Maruth ensnared the crowd in her woven web of words.
"Cap'n asked her to inform everyone." Hibe explained.
"Is she Zion's daughter?" Haffa asked again, to which Hibe nodded positively. The man nodded back and looked at Maruth who was still talking, growing confident with each word.
"Goldeneye comes from a world long forgotten but never gone. He was born before day and night, before the moon and the stars. He was born Erving Memirad, in the curtained and cursed land, the doomed realm once known as Barzakh. Some of you might have already guessed he is not like any of us" She paused when she noticed that almost no one was surprised by her words, they all seemed to accept whatever she was saying about their captain. Loyal to a fault. She thought. "But like all of us here, he cannot stand tyranny and injustice. Of all his kin, he was one of the few who chose friendship over enmity. Today, Goldeneye left for his home, in order to help us all understand better this world from which we come from and above all else, seek a way to stop the rising of Marid, once known as Zion. Marid is of Goldeneye's kin, a very powerful enemy to us all. He stained my father's name and put the blame on an innocent's back. My father's name became a curse and all over the world, he is abhorred by men, wizards and brymhelians. Goldeneye saved my father from the iron of prison and a deadly end, brought him here and protected him. You may not all be familiar with my family, but my father was once known as the strongest wizard in the world. The three of us, including my brother, are scholars of wizardry. Our names may sound familiar to the Sahr among you. Marid may be strong, but with your help and Goldeneye's, we might stand a chance against him. So, I bid you all, remain vigilant and at the ready. This island is no longer safe, we are all a target to forces beyond your imagination." Maruth was almost out of breath, she stood still for a little while, expecting commotion, rising voices and questions. The crowd simply looked at Haffa, awaiting his orders.
"You heard her. The watchtowers are dusty, it is about time to clean them and give them a visit. I want guards on every corner, the children should all gather in the outer caves. Hibe, bring our guests and follow me. You too, Maruth." Haffa gave his orders and instructions.
"Where to, boss?" Asked him Hibe.
"My workshop." He replied. "I need to know more and I need to show you more." He added.