[The Anagolay]
Tato grabs my shoulder.
In the dark we crouch before an open sack, Tato reaches in. 'It is the powder.'
"Good. Take it so we can leave."
Waiting for us was Juba. After receiving a carabao cart full of the black powder, he depart towards his own way. Lila keeps an eye out. She signals to us across the street, saying the last guard of the treasury is finally asleep.
Just this afternoon, we made an excuse that we will take the Ilysus city treasury to Katchil Sylfain. I persuaded him that if we cannot find the powder, best if we make another steals of our own. He agreed. I just hope with no suspicion.
Now, we made our move to the treasury, second one we hit this week. Eng't Urh was the key. By mixing herbs in their drinks, we were able to infiltrate without disagreement.
While it is not a surprise for the Aeonnite governors to be greedy, finding a separate room for their coffers made this task more meaningful. Five coffers brimming with gold and silver minted coins, they hide from the people and still asks for more.
I scoff.
"I know." Lila says. "This must be how Robin Hood felt."
"Who?"
"Robin of the Hood. He steals from the corrupt and gives the money back to the poor."
"Never heard of him."
"Well you know what they say, 'Another world, another time'."
I frown. All she tells me are riddles. By sunrise, we are back at the Katchil's abode. He is at his weapon's room, with Aksh, Farid and eight of his other men.
Coversation stopped the moment we entered, Aksh closing, hiding the papers from any of our sights. Though I can say we have the Katchil's trust and Sanim's friendship, his men are openly mistrustful and keeps their distance and prejudice. They must be having a meeting, plans were laid on the table as well as maps.
Tato, Juba, Lila and I each carry a coffer and we put it before the Katchil. I open one to reveal the dirty money.
"We left one coffer for them." I say. To his men's surprise, Sylfain laughed. Farid nods his approval at us.
"You left one? Anagolay you are so proud. Well done."
"If I may be so bold, Katchil…"
"Yes?"
"Can we give the people the money they worked hard for?"
"How can we know you did not take some yourself already?"
"Aksh!" Farid chides.
"The Anagolay has always been a deceiver and a thief."
"You are right. There was no way for you to know, but I should not have asked anyway. Instead, I am."
Katchil Sylfain's eyes seem to brighten. "Yes, you may. Farid, go with them and leave only this coffer, the rest you give back."
"Thank you, Katchil." Lila says, bowing.
Farid, son of Far'ar, hails from Ia. He is second to Aksh in command but he certainly is respected more for being fair and upright than the other. He arrange first for the dwelling's helpers to have payment in advance.
They were ecstatic, teary, one even gives Tato a bone-breaking hug. Farid surprisingly knows a lot about numbers, he was the one who counted and divided. In pouches, we divided the money in amounts equal to the amount they gave to the treasury. Then, with the cover of night, we distributed throughout the commons of Ilysus.
I hook a pouch on a door latch and knock. I didn't wait for the people inside to open. Tato with Denai, and Lila does the same. Juba leaves them on the doorstep. As the sun rises slowly, families waking up, our little group settles on a rooftop near the center of the commons. Juba offers me a cider which I immediately accepted.
Farid, walks near us, saying, "Listen."
Squeals of delight, surprise, gratitude.
"I think I know how Robin Hood felt." I say. And Lila grins at me.
***
[Sir Gaviel]
"You certainly know how to sneak up on an Elite."
I turn on a corner, facing the small hooded figure. I can sense her smile beneath the hood. "Didn't you know? Elites are no match for the Eng't Urh."
I let the passers by walk ahead, waiting until it was Lila and I alone in that street corner.
"I wish I can see the look on Anagolay's face when he tries to explain how you have vanished."
Lila snickers. "We were on the rooftops of the commons. He better be convincing. Farid is a kind man. Civilian clothes. What are you up to?"
/We just dropped off five sacks of the powder in the tunnels. And Hughes.../
"He is right over there."
The higher class houses of Bessilus city are made of stone on the lower floors and wood on the upper ones. Opposite us is a property that can house fifteen people, two horses, one carriage and ten slaves. It has dark Narra wood interior and painted white outside. Its windows and awnings face the street, five opening on this side. It is owned by one of the patron of Cirrhinus, Patron Vertii.
"That's Hughes' house?"
"I told you he is rich."
"Why did he become a soldier then?"
"You ask the same thing as his father."
I fall back into step, away from Hughes' home, passing several houses. A carriage rattles by and that is when I finally see the men following us. There were two of them, one was clearly keeping an eye on Hughes.
Dunn put a tail on me too.
Lila tries to look, I put a hand on her shoulder and urges her to walk faster. Today is market day and so I lead her to the market. Several streets leading to and from the plaza are always converted into market streets during this day. Vendors and stalls opposing and adjacent to each other offer several fresh produce, trinkets, bread even fermented liquids.
It is always easier to lose tail in crowded places. As we meld into the crowd and the chatter and the smell of strong herbs and flour, I ducked into another alley, in view of the man following us.
He moves his head side to side, flustered, he is in trouble for losing me. Certain that no one is spying now, I went to a bakery with Lila. The hut was thatched roof with walls of small stones, the single establishment in all of Bessilus that can smell so much of home.
A single counter with trays and displays of bread and cake is at the center, the kitchen near the other end and a few people buying.
"A pound cake please and four of these." I say to the stout baker named Nerr and he wraps the rectangular cake with paper, as do the four cookies I pointed out.
"You should try these," I offer to Lila the cookies.
She lights up after the first bite.
"I know."
After paying, we head to the one building I wanted to go to before I saw the spy - the Bessilus Library.
Outside, the tall, circular building looks as if a blunt tower with its open ended roof of transparent glass. Small, glass-paned windows appear here and there while the thick double doors are open.
Before entering, I tell to Lila, "The librarian is very perceptive."
She nods and disappears right at the doors.
Bessilus library, a year have gone the last time I was here, yet it never ceases to take my breath away. Books and scrolls line up the circular walls, spiraling up and up like a nautilus. Each of the seven floors contains about a thousand books, not even counting the scrolls and parchments. At the center of the ground floor is a book stand in a podium.
From the shadows to my left, a person comes into view.
"Now, I know who those light and sure-footed steps belong to."
It brings instantly, a smile on my face.
"Old Cifas."
A librarian and a scribe, Old Cifas as she is regarded as but she is not at all old. Her hair is graying, lines and wrinkles of years and memories cover her arms and face but she is full of vigor and life. Her sharp green eyes, dimmed by years of writing by candlelight stares into space.
Clad by dull linen pants, scarf over a wide shirt, she hugs me tightly and she smells the same. Like old paper and dried ink.
"I bring you an offering."
"I do eat that same pound cake, Captain," she chides.
"It is still your favorite."
"You have company?"
As expected of Old Cifas. What eyes cannot give her, the other senses provides.
"Are we alone?"
"Yes. I am just about to close."
Slowly, Lila materializes near the book stand.
"This is Lila -"
"A she?"
"A friend of mine."
"You never visited me with a she-friend before. Come, child. Let me see you." I guide her outstretched hands to Lila's. She removes the hood over her head and caresses her hair, her ears, her cheek.
"What color are her eyes?"
"Dark." I say.
"You must be beautiful." She tells her. Lila smiles shyly.
"Is she, Gaviel? Tell me."
"I - uh -"
"Go on."
"That is your trick question. If I say she is, you will only say I never called you beautiful before for which I think you are."
"Pah! You flatter me. I am old. I know what I look like now. But you are right, I was beautiful. A gem!"
Lila grins. "You still are."
"Ah, a, sweet gentle voice." Old Cifas pats her cheek before facing in my general direction. "What trouble are you in now you come running to Old Cifas?"
"We need to use the top floor."
Her countenance changes, her lips on a grim line. She closes the door of the library and locks it before facing me again.
"I worry about you Gaviel. Why must you be this way?"
"Old Cifas," I start but she went on.
"You are a man of age yet you refuse to settle down and just blindside all the injustice of this world. You have no parents to fuss over your marriage -"
"And like I said to you before, I have no thoughts of matrimony, now or ever."
"Who would care for you, huh? We are not meant to be alone, child."
I went to her and try to relax her shoulders. "When all this is over I might be able to think about it."
"Bah! You will never see the end of his reign, it is not in your lifetime."
Old Cifas sighs heavily, leaning on me for support. "I will not always be here to have your back, child."
"Now and in the past, you have been. It is what counts."
"Very well, if you wish."
She bolts from me to the winding stairs quickly. "Follow me."
The topmost floor is the scribe's secret chamber. It is where she writes and copy documents not meant for the public eye. Old Cifas leads us directly to a circular office, covering the entire floor.
We all got bathed in an afternoon light as we ascend. Tall bookshelves are placed side by side, a table with a scribe's tools and books just about everywhere - in the shelves, scattered in the floor, the table. Beside the last shelf is a ladder that leads to a small space upside, closest to the dome roof made of glass.
I went to the books and look upon them, searching for the ones we need. Picking up the books one by one, Old Cifas places her hand on her hips. The books I am taking are writings about Freobel's history and the people of old, the myths and legends - the exact ones Old Cifas intently hid from the public.
Lila notices the bed on the small space atop the bookshelves. "You sleep here?"
"Oh no, child. But he does."
She looks to me as I shake my head.
"Do not shake your head at me Gaviel. If you are not wielding a sword, your nose is always stuck in a book."
Old Cifas grabs the pile of books from my hands, dropping them on the table. "I could never get rid of you like a persistent shrub you would just find a way to sneak back in."
She fusses back on Lila saying she needs a bath.
"Oh no, I -"
"Oh, yes, you smell child. And you need a change of clothes."
I did not try to protest for it is useless, as Old Cifas drags Lila to another doorway near the stairs. Focusing instead on the pile in front of me.
I got so lost in the writing that the next time I look up Lila is already out of the bustling of old Cifas.
Without the shabby slave clothes and the hooded cloak to hide the rest of her, I almost did not recognize her.
"She tells me she cannot properly walk with a dress and I have to say she has good taste, both of us hate those wretched excuses for men to blunder. What do you think Gaviel?"
My boots compliment the bluish women pair of pants with a wide belt on her hips. Accentuating her black hair that touches her shoulder, framing her face, is a cream shirt that fits her really well with sleeves folded on her elbows.
"You look…" I clear my throat. "Like a pirate or a sailor."
"Bah! You are stupid." Old Cifas scolds.
"He's right though, but I much prefer this than that dress." Lila nods to a lump of clothes on the floor.
Somewhere in the library, a bell tolls. There is someone on the door.
"That must be Hughes."
"Lieutenant Hughes? I will get it."
When old Cifas has gone, I give her the book I was reading. "It is about your kind. The light and dark Mystics."
She opens it up to a page of a dark creature, the one with the half body, talons for claws and bat wings.
"Ugh. I never liked the Manananggal."
Lila flips the pages until she reached the page of Eng't Urh.
"You think we are tall, old and have a white long beard?"
"Yes."
Her sigh is a cross between frustration and annoyance.
"Ahem. I am not exactly a fan of heights…" Hughes is saying then stops short at the sight of the Eng't Urh.
"Lila… you…" He smiles charmingly, forgetting himself. He bows which I only see him do to the royalty.
"My lady."
"Now that is how you greet a lady." Old Cifas says. Lila reddens and stops him from curtsying.
"Captain." He salutes me. "You were right. Captain Dunn suspects me. I bring news."
From the expression of his face, it is not a good one. Hughes takes a scroll from his packet handing it to me. The news is from Asuelus city. King Cirrhinus had assigned an Elite unit and a hundred men to impose strict punishing of the entire city and its residents. We switch company every two weeks and my unit has just finished our turn.
It seems that Asuelus city is going to be under a harsher mandate by the King. A curfew by five in the afternoon, inspection and raids on every house and establishment. A lockdown of the city.
Old Cifas must have felt something amiss for she lays a hand on my shoulder.
"Gaviel, what is happening?"
"Old Cifas, there is trouble coming. I am a part of it."
"What?"
"They are not going to hurt you, you know too much but that will not stop Cirrhinus from threatening you. When that time comes, I want you to deny helping me. Better yet, tell them I coerced you to help me."
Her beautiful face contorts with anxiety, sorrow.
"Do not worry about me."
"Stupid fool," she mumbles. I embrace her for what might be the last chance I have.
"Thank you, Old Cifas."
Lila pokes her head out the window to me.
"Hey, I… I found this." She says, coming out to the ledge beside me. She carries a piece of parchment rolled tightly between her small hands.
"It is about the Vanuyan… am I right?"
She did not have to respond. In our silence, the wind blows cool and hard, the city below us remote.
"It was a night like this one."
"The moon was full, hanging low on the sky surrounded by the burning of stars. The Valley people worshiped the moon celebrating the fullness and newness of its every cycle. Thanking their deities for their harvests. It was beheld in the entire land the grand festivities they host, visited by all the tribes.
And in that night's full moon, we went. Two hundred of us young ones. There was a large bonfire in the heart of the valley. Merry-making, dancing, dining…"
Hughes have leaned in the window, following my tale.
"I remember the bonfire," he says. "And the laughter, tch. Then the carts being pulled by Captain Elricht, Lieutenant Kaylus and the other previous captains. What happened after that…"
"What happened after that was chaos. Our captains have pulled their swords, killing any Vanuyan they saw. They wanted us to pick up our rapiers, follow their lead. Those who refused were stricken down by their own captains and those who ran, were shot by their colleagues arrows. We were two hundred but dwindled to less than a hundred before we got to our senses."
I close my eyes as though I can avert from the horrors of my memories. But I continue.
"The Vanuyan were caught unprepared. Their soldiers were killed in advance and by the time some of them have taken up arms, it was too late."
"All that for power…" Lila whispers under her breath.
"People will kill for even less." Hughes says.
"Nothing scares powerful men more than their own power taken away from them."
"I just stood there, Captain. I stood there and watched our own friends - the courageous ones struck down. And I just, I convinced myself that I did what I did to survive."
"Yes." I nod. "But I ran."
The two of them stares at me.
"I ran and I almost got out. Elricht's lieutenant caught me. He wanted me to kill a tribe boy, the father begged that his life be spared, he groveled to the lieutenant. He made me do it instead."
"Sometimes I wonder," Hughes says. "If I just laid down my sword. Would it have made any difference?"
"They would just be killed by others. And I think whoever it would be would feel no remorse towards his actions. Unlike you two…" Lila says to Hughes. She reaches to him, patting his shoulder.
My lieutenant smiles at her then sulks away, creating a solemn melody with his harmonica.
"Do you think, we are meant for something, Lai?"
"You are meant for something good," she says, holding my hand. "We all are."