[The Anagolay]
"A cart, west. Near the gates."
On the rooftop we are called by the Katchil. I peer an eye at the telescope, searching for the cart Katchil Sylfain points to.
"It entered the city just moments ago."
"It is just an ordinary one."
"Look closely."
I do. Four horses, one driver. It heads to the exit gates of Ilysus. At the back of the cart is an engraving of a four-leaf flower. Aeon's crest.
"Is that a royal cart?"
"We finally have something out of the ordinary," the prince exclaims. "Saddle your horses."
Lila suddenly marches towards us from the shadows of the stairs, startling the Katchil.
"I did not know you are back. Anagolay, carry on."
/Where have you been lately, kid?/
"How long was I gone?"
"About two weeks since that morning in the city." Juba answers.
"Thanks. That means Gaviel and his unit are back in Asuelus. The king is punishing them for their resistance." She whispers.
"I see. And the thing?"
Lila nods. "Safe."
"So what's the news here?"
"Why are you mumbling to yourselves?" Aksh, in suspicion inquires. Tato stops him from getting closer.
"Nothing. We are going."
Fetue, led by me and Aksh went ahead to the route the cart is heading. Signing to each other, Juba, Denai with Tato, Aksh and me with Lila spread out. Aksh runs to the middle of the road as I know that Denai and Tato position on the bend of the road, the lookout to spot the cart or its escorts.
Melodious falcon call sounds in the distance. It is a go.
I spot the cart but it is going in a breakneck speed. Curses. Whistling a bird's tune, it warns Aksh and he dives out of the way as the cart hurtles through.
Aksh is able to hold onto the wagon, jumping up the roof onto the driver's seat. Lila, to my surprise, is already driving my horse. I ride behind her, following Aksh as Juba did too.
"Hyah, hyah!" I urge my horse to keep up.
Aksh and the cloaked driver struggle for the reins and finally Aksh is able to slow the run of the wagon.
Before it stops completely, the driver jumps, his body rolling hard as it lands on rough stones of the road. Dismounting, Lila runs to the driver and I see Juba open the back of the wagon.
A drawn knife stops Lila from helping. The driver though hurting, stands up as I unsheathe my dagger. He waves the knife at us.
"It is just provisions," Juba yells.
"What did you say?" Aksh walks to Juba as he unloads the wagon with baskets brimming of fruits and bread, salted meat. I place my dagger back. The provisions are enough for a man travelling alone on days' journey.
I look at the guy. Face under the hood, his cloak has seen better days, tattered not just from the fall, swarthy like mud. The clothes, I can glean a little, is of the citadel's slaves. He was not stopping because he was protecting his delivery, he was running away.
Aksh stomps hard towards him asking for a fight. I yank his arm hard, he balks abruptly.
"He is just a slave trying to run away."
"He is still an Aeonnite," he fumes, glaring at me. It is not the first time Aksh and I clash. Somehow, young prince Sylfain predicted it and assigned a third person to decide for that very reason.
"Enough. We let him go." Lila takes one of the baskets, placing it near the slave who still has the knife. He stoops, grabs the basket and runs.
A raven's shrill caw cuts through the air. A warning.
/Kid, run!/
Lila sprints to the trees. But the warning is late.
Stallions of shimmering dark hair and powerful muscles, a dozen of them, halts in front of us. Their riders, clad in helmed black armor and cape.
Aeon's Royal Guards.
What in the world are they doing here?
For a sickening second, we stare at each other. Leaping out of nowhere, Tato tackles one soldier and they crash to the ground. I duck at a lance, throwing a dagger to a soldier. Arrows sing past from Denai's bow, hitting a guard in the thigh, another in the neck.
Splitting my blade, I fight three against one and find that I am struggling. Royal Guards are in par with the Elites when it comes to the rapiers. I manage to kick the chest of one and Lila, suddenly showing up behind him, smashes a log on his head.
Two left. I cartwheel away from being confined.
Sighting an opening to the guard before me, I parry with the back of my blade, lock his blade to mine and point the dagger, plunging it on his chest past the armor. My other opponent impales my right side.
"Agh!"
With my other blade, I slash his neck. I turn on my heels and come face to face with the slave, a long bow drawn. Before I can blink, he fires.
It did not hit me.
Over my shoulder the arrow went halfway to the armored torso of a royal guard. Not stopping to think, I fall back to back with the slave fighting against the soldiers. I duck and roll as he shots my opponent and I slash at the guard aiming at him.
In sync, like one mind in two bodies, we move and as I sight a guard running to Denai he covers for me as I throw a dagger. A few minutes later, the royal guards are defeated. Sliding back my blades, I scan their conditions. Big Fish survived that one.
I catch the slave's arm as he is about to leave.
"Who are you?"
Panicked, he tries to severe my hand but I lock his arms behind him, his knife drops. I tie his hands then walk in front of him. Lila materializes beside me, weary but unharmed.
I really suck at knowing a person from what they look like.
"He looked like an ordinary slave to me," I appeal to her and she agrees by nodding.
I remove his hood.
Lila jolts, gasping. I still in place, feeling my eyes widen. For the blood snaking from a wound on the forehead will never change the face of the person we are looking at.
The queen of Aeon. Queen Dela.
***
Why is she here?
"You've asked that a million times already," Lila mumbles opposite me. "Be patient."
"Patient?" I scoff.
It has been two hours since we learned of the slave's identity being the queen of Aeon and brought her back to Sylfain's place with us. After that she sought audience with the Katchil and still on the other side of these thick double doors they remain while we are left with the mystery on the hallway.
I pace again, trying to collect myself to no avail. Screw this. Knocking hard at the doors, I demand for the prince to open it. I was ignored, as usual and I end up wincing.
"Your wound will open, stupid. Relax." She scolds as I nurse my side.
"How are you so calm?"
"I'm freaking out, okay? Expressing it doesn't actually help anyone."
Another thirty minutes pass. Tato joins us sporting a black eye and one bandaged arm.
"Denai?" I ask.
'Still in the infirmary,' he signs.
"And Juba?" Tato pauses. We brought Juba straight to the infirmary for his multiple stab wounds. His left arm is cut wide open.
'He lost a lot of blood and he is having stitches. Thankfully, he is alive.'
I nod, sliding down to sit on the marbled floor. They fall into conversation welcoming some distraction from the nerves.
"Hearsays? Of what?" I hear her ask.
'Bad ones. Disturbing ones,' Tato replies. 'I bet my liver Aeonnites are behind it to make us look evil.'
Then he relates what he was gossiping about with some of the Katchil's men.
'One of the runner boy was killed two years ago. His body is gutted and clawed, his insides missing especially the heart and the liver.'
My ears are piqued. The way of killing is too familiar.
'This group had another one, five months ago. A sentry, same method, same organs missing. And then last month. Recently, last night…' Tato pauses, pointing a finger at the door. 'That is how it came to the Katchil's attention.'
"So? They could easily be just attacked by wild animals." I say.
'With all the deaths because of the battles and raids, people dismiss them as victims of either us guerillas, or the militias of Aeon or the Xengus.'
"But?" Lila ventures to ask.
'Katchil sent a group to glean some facts, not just in this city. They reported that literally hundreds of bodies coming from different cities mostly in the remote villages sighted the same way of killing. As far as they can tell they are not caused by rebels and soldiers, and for years way back it has been going on.'
"Are you telling a bedtime story? The way they are killed, that sounded like a manananggal," I say. Tato does not reply. Those evil creatures that can separate their lower bodies and sprout bat wings with large talons that rip innards–
"Wild animals and that is all."
"How long ago was it?" Lila asks.
'Give or take, ten years?'
"Then they must be fooling you." I assure myself. Shoo. Away you unpleasant images.
He shakes his head. 'I only told you what I heard.'
"Let's hope it's not true," The Eng't Urh says.
'She is brave, the queen…'Tato starts another chatter. 'I would not want to be found by Thraine since I married their mortal enemy.'
Lila answers him, "I know. It is weird though, the first thing she asked for was to talk to the Katchil."
She regards me. "Anagolay, would the whole Aeon know of the Katchil and what we are doing?"
"They might not notice before but now…"
"Well, her actions are just suspicious."
The door opens slightly and Farid's head pops out, we shot to our feet. His frowning face is apparent as he gestures for us to go inside.
We are met by Katchil Sylfain and Aksh in deep dialogue with each other. Presently, we are at his office crowded with books and scrolls and a table barely seen by the stacks of paper on it. He seems to be sleeping here with the unkempt cot on our left, sheets on the floor, even though one of the doorways on the far corner must lead to his proper bedchamber.
I do not see the queen, she must be in the anteroom.
"So, she is cooperating but she will not tell us more than what we already know." Sylfain states. "She did run away, unwittingly, we made that one happen."
She did use us. Huh.
"And she wants to talk to the Vanuyan."
"What?" Lila asks, startled. "Why?"
"She is the only one that can tell you that." He sighs. "Note, Vanuyan, that in exchange for her life I need her to open her mouth and give me something useful."
The prince shakes his head, I can tell he really is not warming to that idea.
"I have to inform the rest who is our uninvited guest."
"Wait, you are going to tell all of them?" I ask, stopping the Katchil midstride. He looks me squarely.
"I do not keep anything from my men Anagolay."
"They will kill her and they will hate you for shielding her."
"My men are not so easily dissuaded against my judgment. They will understand."
"With all due respect Katchil, not everyone thinks like you."
He did not say anything for a beat, scouring my eyes. "You are more spiteful than usual."
I roll my eyes, backing down.
"I like to think that is concern for my well-being. I will think of it as that. Do not fret, I will leave after I hear her talk and Farid will be here to protect her."
"You are welcome to stay," he adds.
Katchil Sylfain leads us to the anteroom, the door on the recesses of some bookshelf. Queen Dela sits solely in the center, wrists fettered with chains that clank as she casts her attention on us. I lean on the doorway with Tato. Lila moves closer taking cautious steps.
"Uhm. Queen Dela?" she begins in Aeonnite. "You asked for me?"
She waves a hand, consequently removing the cloak that hides her clothes and her color.
Queen Dela remains impassive, elegant even, watching Lila with sharp, inquisitive, chestnut eyes. She is too much of a queen to let anyone see she is weary, though her curled fists must mean it. But she did not say a word.
Lila looks to the Katchil in the corner, back to the queen then to me.
"My king–" Our attention snaps to her. She clears her throat.
"Cirrhinus knows things. Things that he could not have possibly known." Her voice is soft yet sure like cotton.
Katchil says, "He has spies. Tons of them."
She shakes her head once. "He knows things, prince, believe me it is not from any spy."
Queen Dela looks down as though reminiscing.
"He changed about the year he massacred the Vanuyan. After that he is, different. Secretive. Paranoid." Another scraping of metal, her chin slightly higher.
"Do you not question why he lets you raid his supplies? He knows your plan. He knows how many of you are here in Ilysus. Almost seventy, am I right?"
Sylfain inches closer, confirming.
"He brushes you off, for now." She continues on, making the ceiling, the four walls of the anteroom constrict bit by bit as she speaks.
"He knows the guerrillas in Gakaloai are depleted, he knows that most of your king's officials are there spearheading the defenses. He knows that despite the rekindling idea of liberty in the locals' minds, they will purge it out of their hearts once an example will be made out of you rebels."
"Your king could just be a sagacious one," I speak up. Queen Dela purses her lips with as much patience and control.
A pause.
"Assaults in Gakaloai is a smoke. As we speak, hundreds of soldiers are marching away from the fort in Lur."
I see the Katchil clenching his jaw. His eyes are manic and distant.
"Cirrhinus knows King Saramin is not in Manar but at–"
Sylfain ends her sentence. "He is aiming for the capital."
The Katchil sprints out, shouting for a messenger. As soon as he went away, Queen Dela springs up from her seat, gripping Lila's shoulders.
"You are Lila," she says, as though she did not believe it until now. I march towards them.
"You have to help my brother."
"What?"
"Cirrhinus imprisoned him, sentenced him to die."
"Wha–" Lila tries to say, I pry her out of the queen's hold, placing a hand between her and us.
"Sorry your highness, we do not rescue nobles."
"You do not understand, my brother will die because of me," her voice breaks like delicate glass, it halts me. She extends her hands catching mine, pleading. The queenliness she had sloughed off her like skin and all I am staring at is a sorrowful woman.
The pit of my stomach aches.
"Please… you know him." She takes Lila's arm. "Wait–you–my brother, he calls you Lai."
"He calls you Lai."