THE SOUL WANDERS
The city of Nepata dwarfed Kareth’s memory of Sareeb. The city was surrounded by bright white limestone walls, so tall it would take a dozen or more people standing on each other’s shoulders to see over it. The walls ended at the river, two massive statues of men stood vigil on either side of the water, each one with a foot taking a step forward, one arm at their side holding a crooked cane, and the other pulled across their chest, holding a stone sword. They were human in every regard, save for their heads. One had the head of an eagle, the other the head of a snake. The Afeth sailed between the behemoths, her tallest mast only reaching their knees.
Guards walked along the top of the wall, and once through the entrance they saw the massive gate. The wood and bronze gate only rose half the height of the wall.
“The gates have not been closed for over twelve full cycles,” Tersh translated what Samaki said. “Not since the great Paref Rama defeated the armies of the Matawega. The mountain people.”
For half their journey they had been able to see the Kerlra Hal’gepe mountains off to their left, the tops white-tipped and reaching into the clouds. Most days the grasslands between the Hiperu and the mountains were too dusty to make them out clearly, but occasionally the days were calm enough that Kareth felt like he could reach out and touch them. He hated those mountains, because soon his journey would end in Nepata, and Tersh would continue on into the mountains and Kareth knew he would never see her again.
The beast will swallow her whole, Kareth thought. He shuddered.
Through the gates they could see that while Sareeb had one large white palace, Nepata had two, twins of each other, one on either side of the river. The palaces rose above every other building in the city. Their white walls gently sloping inwards, massive round pillars bordered the castle, with another wall surrounding them, the palace grounds hidden within.
They were in the Mountain Mahat now. The lands surrounding the city were as fruitful and lively as the Sea Mahat had been. Hundreds of rivers cascaded down from the mountains, joining together to make the Hiperu. Nepata had a dozen rivers coming down through the city, and from them a series of canals had been created in the place of roads. There were so many boats inside the city, small reed boats, larger ships with dozens of oars, and a few ships near the same size as the Afeth with a great sail.
The houses here were all stone and beautiful, Kareth thought. The ones along the main river were all two or three storeys high, which had seemed massive to him in the first city he had travelled through with Tersh. Now that he stood in the shadow of those gigantic walls and palaces, he thought they seemed quite modest. He saw a few hard-packed dirt roads between the houses and canals, they were massive avenues lined with palm trees and statues of resting leopards. Few people if any walked along them, yet the river was clogged with boats, more so the closer they came to the palace.
Tersh and Samaki were speaking of something, and when they finished she walked over to Kareth.
“Samaki says we’ve arrived in time to see something very special.” She sat down beside him.
“Oh?” Kareth couldn’t pull his eyes away from the boats and buildings around him. The river widened in front of the palaces, undoubtedly shaped by the labour of man, into a massive square lake, the palaces at the north end. After the river ran between the palaces, it must have turned to the left or right because directly behind the palaces he could see another building. That building was perhaps half the height of the palaces and seemed to glitter like gold.
He was also trying to find the golden barges. They had never caught up with them after losing them on the river. Kareth was convinced they could have. He suspected that Samaki had decided they should keep their distance. He could still remember the last time they saw the barges. He thought he had seen Harami on the deck of one of them, but he couldn’t be certain.
“He says it’s unusual for so many boats to be out on the river. They must be here for the Paref’s funeral,” Tersh explained.
“Funeral?” Kareth turned to Tersh. They had learned the old Paref that had died ages ago. “Why would they wait so long?”
“Well… I can’t say I know why completely, but I remember when I was a young girl, living in the Sea Mahat, some great man died. They waited a hundred and twenty days after he died to bury him.”
“One hundred and twenty days?” Kareth tried to think of where he had been a hundred and twenty days ago. He had seen six turns of the moon since the calendar ceremony. He guessed he would have still been in the desert when the Paref died.
“That’s how long they say the soul wanders Mahat before settling in its body again,” Tersh shrugged.
Kareth remembered the guards at the border to Mahat saying something about the Paref’s soul wandering. “I thought they said the Paref was to be reborn in his son.”
“Well, it must be different for Parefs, or maybe when they say body they mean the body of the man they’re reborn into. I don’t know. Their ways are strange to me.”
Kareth thought the entire thing was ridiculous. Didn’t they all know that when you died, your body became one with the earth again? That your soul became the wind and the rain and the stars at night? You became one with the world and the gods. Kareth had been taught that as a child. Why were they taught here that you wandered lost for a hundred and twenty days before becoming trapped in another body?
Because they’ve forgotten the old ways, a voice whispered inside him. The gods were angry that they had forgotten. When they forgot, they allowed evil to seep into their land. He would have to teach them the old ways again.
“Samaki said we have to wait for the funeral to end. The palace won’t accept any visitors until the old Paref has been seen to his final resting place.”
Kareth sighed, feeling impatient. He had hoped he could just deliver his message to the Paref and then be on his way. He thought maybe once he was finished he could go to the mountains with Tersh, maybe use his dreams to keep her safe. After all, how long did it really take to tell a man that the gods were angry and that the old ways needed to be heeded? Once he did that whatever evil corruption the Rhagepe had spoken of would be taken care of by the Paref. Surely he didn’t need to spend half a day in this city.
Or maybe… maybe he could take the next ship south and go back home. In a few turns of the moon he would be along the shores of the salt sea, and be with his people again.
The afternoon dragged on, the heat of the sun making Kareth feel uncomfortable. He fiddled with the silver broach at his neck. The leather straps on his Ancestral Cloak that kept it secure around his neck had snapped in the river when it had been ripped off, so Kareth had used one of the broaches given to him by his people to keep it secure. It was large, as big as his palm, and engraved with a woman’s stern face. He wasn’t used to its weight and sometimes it felt like it was digging into his skin.
Sef tried to speak to him as they all tried to pass the time, but he couldn’t concentrate on the man’s words. He could still barely string a sentence together in their tongue. After a while he walked away from everyone so he could be alone, sitting by the water, leaning against the side and staring at the opening in the palace walls, wondering what everyone was expecting to emerge.
Suddenly they could hear the sounds of drums and horns coming from inside the walls. It was faint and the tune was difficult to make out, but Kareth thought it sounded vaguely similar to one of the songs he had heard the crew singing as they rowed. It was slower though, and somehow seemed sadder.
From the walls came a small, simple ship. There were ten rowers on either side, bald men wearing plain white tunics, and between them in the centre of the boat was something long and grey he couldn’t quite make out. He had been expecting a golden barge, but that was the only ship that emerged, and the other boats began to part and let it pass. He heard some of the people shout at the ship as it glided by. It sounded as though they were calling out salutes, and he thought he heard the wailing of women on the wind. Other than that, the boats had become deathly quiet.
When the boat came closer to them, Kareth could make out the shape in the middle. It was carved from stone, in the shape of a man lying down, though perhaps twice the size of a real man, the bottom flat and wide, as though it were a box. The top half had a man’s face staring up at the sky, a pointed beard on his chin, and on his head he wore a nemes twice the size of any he had seen on the guards. His arms were crossed at his chest, one hand holding the same crooked cane he had seen the statues by the river gate holding, and the other hand held a stick that had tassels at the end. He thought it looked like a whip of some sort.
The salutes and crying continued until the ship finally reached the gates and left through them. Then all at once the common noises of everyday activity began again. People spoke to each other, and boats moved off, returning down the canals back to their homes. It seemed as though the Paref’s funeral boat was already a distant memory to them.
“I thought it would be his body,” Kareth said, moving back to Tersh, who was speaking to Tiyharqu and Samaki.
“No,” Tersh explained. “The bodies of Parefs are buried in a secret place. Most likely his body was spirited out of the city before his death was even announced, or perhaps there is a secret burial site for him in the city.”
“Why is it so secret?” Kareth was confused. What would it matter if people knew where a body was?
Tersh laughed. “They say a Paref is buried with a treasure so great a man and his sons and grandsons could live rich for all their days.”
“But… why?” Kareth tried to imagine what that much treasure would look like. He probably wouldn’t be able to carry it in his skins.
Tersh asked Samaki something, and then translated his response.
“Samaki says it’s so the Paref can live comfortably in the afterlife with all the things he loved during this life. It seems Parefs are fickle, and like to split their time living in their son’s body, and living in their grand tomb.”
Tersh and the others laughed, but Kareth couldn’t see what was funny. He didn’t like the idea of fickle Parefs, not when it was a Paref he needed to convince of the gods’ wrath.
Samaki said there was no point in them trying to enter the palace that day, so rowed towards a place to spend the night. They went to the east side of the city, away from the mountains. Here the canals were narrower and fewer, and the buildings not as tall and made from cruder stone. The water level was a little low. Kareth could see by markings on the walls what its normal level was, but at this time of year it was about the length of his arm lower. Stairs were cut into the stone to reach the ground level.
Before they docked the ship, Tiyharqu took them aside.
“Samaki intends to spend the night at an inn,” Tersh translated. “We are welcome to join them, but…” Tersh looked at Kareth’s cloak and the look made him feel uneasy. “Whisperers are not well-loved in this land. We could offer an innkeeper all the gold we carry and they still wouldn’t take us.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Tiyharqu thinks it’s a simple matter of wearing one of their tunics.”
Kareth had often looked at the tunics a few of the crew wore and wondered how they could stand covering their bodies in that itchy fabric. He loved to be free, to feel the wind and sun on his body. Wearing a tunic just seemed uncomfortable, but what truly bothered him was what Tersh had left unsaid. They would be known as Whisperers if they wore their cloaks.
“You mean us to take off our cloaks, to hide our identities in shame?” Kareth felt angry. Why should they be ashamed? “I’d rather sleep on the boat.”
“That wouldn’t be wise,” Tersh looked slightly exasperated. “Men might hesitate to rob a guarded ship, but they might not hesitate to harass a ship carrying Whisperers on it. It would not be good for Samaki.”
Kareth wanted to remark that he didn’t care what was good for the merchant, but he knew that was a cruel thought. Samaki had carried them this far, when he knew others would never dare. They owed Samaki more than the gold they had already paid him.
“You don’t need to take off your cloak,” Tersh said, untying her own cloak and swinging it around so the leather was on the outside and the bones inside.
Tiyharqu laughed and said something. Kareth didn’t understand it entirely, but caught something about ‘looking civilized’.
Kareth fumed, but bit his cheek to keep quiet. They were not in a friendly land, and in such a place Kareth realized they would need to adjust if they wanted to stay safe and complete the mission the goddesses had given to them. Compromise was necessary for everyone’s sake. Maybe Tiyharqu did not understand what was at stake, but Kareth did.
Tiyharqu found some tunics for them to wear with leather belts, shabby itchy things and Kareth almost immediately started scratching his covered skin and couldn’t seem to stop no matter how many times Tersh slapped his hand. When they turned their cloaks around Kareth could feel his ancestor’s bones digging into his shoulders, and as they dug into his skin he felt shame at needing to hide that which in the desert made him so proud.
They docked next to some stairs that led to the courtyard of a public house. The only thing that distinguished it from the buildings around it that also opened onto the canal, aside from its size, was the image of wheat next to a jug carved into the canal wall. Sef had told him it meant beer – whatever that was. The inn was three walls around a courtyard, the canal standing in for the fourth. In the middle of the courtyard was a well and around it a few wooden benches. Guards stood at the top of the stairs. They did not wear the nemes or pleated skirts of the royal guards, but rather dark muddy tunics, curved bronze swords in their belts.
They spoke with Samaki a while. Samaki handed one of the guards a heavy looking small wooden box. The guard smiled widely and motioned for them to disembark, nodding to each of them in turn as they hopped from the rope ladder to the base of the stairs. Most of the crew would stay for a meal, Kareth knew, but most would not stay the night, and many would probably not return to the ship.
Kareth, Tersh and Sef walked to the main building, across the courtyard from the stairs. Opening the door, they found a large rectangular room filled with benches and tables and men of various ages. From the look of their clothes, they were from many social classes, but underneath this roof all acted equal. In one corner musicians with stringed instruments and drums were playing. From the high ceilings lamps hung down, but even so the room seemed strangely dark and stuffy. There were two doors in the common room, one which led to the courtyard, and another which led to a road outside. The wings of the building, accessible only from the courtyard, were where the rooms were.
Sef ordered them beer as they walked in, and as they took a seat at a small table in the corner, clay cups filled with the frothy liquid were deposited before them. Kareth sniffed the drink cautiously. He had never had beer before, and didn’t know what to make of it. The first sip was mostly the white froth on the top, which had a vague bitter taste, but a welcome texture. The second sip he got the actual beer. It was thick, and had a faint honey taste, but mostly bitter and warm. His face scrunched up in distaste. Tersh and Sef both laughed at him. Feeling embarrassed, he kept drinking all the same, noticing to his surprise that each sip seemed to taste better than the last. By the time he finished his cup and Sef was ordering more, and he felt light-headed and dizzy.
More of the drinks came, there was loud singing throughout the room. At one point, Kareth seemed to remember standing on the table, singing loudly as the men around him cheered and hollered. Then he seemed to recall being in the courtyard, feeling like he was floating, vaguely aware that someone was carrying him.
When he awoke the next morning his mouth tasted rancid, and as he moved it felt like a knife was thrust into skull. He could feel the hay beneath him, and knew that he was in a small room. There was enough light from the small high window to see a figure sleeping on a pile of hay on the other side of the room. As he tried to push himself up he felt the sickness come over him all at once and his stomach heaved. The noise woke Tersh up, who at first made a face of disgust, then sighed. She left and when she returned she carried a wooden bucket, a water skin and sawdust to cover the vomit.
“Next time, use the bucket,” was all she said as she went back to sleep.
Kareth tried to say something, but all that came out was more sickness – this time, into the bucket.
When Kareth awoke again the taste in his mouth was even worse, and although his mind still felt like senet sticks being shaken in a cup, he managed to push himself up. The smell of vomit seemed to choke him and he nearly leaned over the bucket to empty his stomach again, but he managed to keep it down, reaching for the skin of water and drinking greedily. He noticed that Tersh was no longer there, and pushed himself up.
He felt like he was swaying as he opened the door and walked out, but amazingly he managed to keep from falling down. In the courtyard he saw the sun was near to reaching its zenith. He was amazed that he had managed to sleep for so long. A few men were talking in the courtyard. Tersh stood with Samaki, and Tiyharqu was directing a few of the crew who were unloading some stock, while loading up some new barrels. It seemed Samaki had traded with the innkeeper. Sef, Iason, and most of the crew were nowhere to be seen. Kareth figured they were already on board.
Tersh saw Kareth and waved him over. A few of the crewmembers laughed and patted him on the back, but every touch felt like blow to him and he nearly stumbled. Kareth managed to notice that Samaki and the others had shaved off the stubble that had grown on their heads and faces. Samaki and Tiyharqu wore their nicest breaches and vests, and had adorned their necks and arms with rich medallions and bracelets.
“So, you’ve survived,” Tersh and Samaki were also laughing, and Kareth wanted to glare at them, but suddenly felt sick again. He took deep breaths to calm his stomach.
Tersh sighed. “I’m glad you woke up. Samaki wasn’t going to wait for you, and without him I’m not sure how good our chances of getting into the palace are.”
“Are we leaving now?” Kareth finally found his voice. It sounded haggard.
“As soon as they’re finished.”
“You want more beer, while we wait?” Samaki spoke slow enough for Kareth to understand what he said.
The word ‘beer’ sent a wave of nausea through him. “Water,” Kareth croaked, pointing towards the well.
Samaki shook his head kindly. “The water isn’t clean in the city. The only thing to drink here is beer.”
Kareth waited for them by the side of the canal, intermittently vomiting and turning on his side grasping his head in pain. At one point Sef came down to him, handing him a skin of ‘safe’ water. Sef was one of the few crew who didn’t disappear overnight.
“The men have been paid what they were promised. The rest are waiting for their cut of the sales. Most don’t want to stay for another journey. They want to go home, see their families,” Tersh explained as they climbed back onto the ship, a sadness in her eyes.
Kareth could understand. The thought of seeing his mother again filled him with… he couldn’t explain it in words. Sadness and longing and excitement and… and…
The Afeth left and made its way through the canals back to the main river, now turning towards the water gate to the palace. Maybe a tenth of the ships Kareth had seen the other day were in the great lake before the palaces. It seemed empty compared to yesterday, but the noise made up for it. Boats called out to each other, people on ships threw each other things in bags, while others held out fruit and fish, calling out to others to buy them. Kareth realized it was a floating market.
They went through the gates. Inside the palace grounds, there were long alleys filled with brightly coloured flowers and bushes next to the massive columns. Kareth could see women wearing wigs sparkling from the gold woven into them and sheer gowns walking along stone paths, followed by young men in white tunics or loincloths holding shade over their heads. Guards in splendid golden nemes walked close by them. A few men walking through the gardens wore long white gowns, with golden belts and rings with large cut stones on them. They wore dark wigs or nemes and most of them had long black beards jutting from their chins. Great rulers of Mahat, he realized in awe. Could one of them be the Paref ?
Along the side of the river were statues like the massive ones they had sailed between, but these were only twice the height of men, and there was more than just an eagle and snake head, he also saw a jackal and an ibis and a crocodile and a leopard and countless animals he had never seen or heard of. Each one was different, and each one looked down at the passing ship with a stern look.
There were two docks made from stone, the sides gilded with gold, one on either side of the river for each palace. They pulled up to the one on the right, the crewmen throwing ropes down to waiting guards. Samaki called down to the guards happily, but they only stared back with wary looks. They spoke a long time, Samaki’s smile getting smaller and smaller as the conversation dragged on. Finally, just as Samaki seemed on the verge of anger one of the men Kareth had seen walking through the garden approached them. He walked with two young female companions, each one covered in silks and jewels, tight golden collars around their necks. There were so many jewels dripping off them, Kareth thought it must be heavy and uncomfortable. Strangest of all, wore some half-melted lumps on the tops of their heads. Four small boys in loincloths held onto one pole each which held up a large awning that covered the three of them.
“What’s on their heads?” Kareth whispered to Tersh.
She looked just as puzzled as he felt when she shrugged to shoulders.
The man smiled when he saw Samaki, and Samaki’s smile returned. It seemed obvious the two of them knew each other. The man who stood on the dock must have been important, but his clothes seemed very simple compared to the women he walked with. He wore beautiful shining white linen, but his silver belt was small and understated. He wore only a few rings. His copper wig didn’t have any gold woven into the strands.
Samaki turned to Tersh and said some rushed words.
Tersh looked like she was about to argue, but Samaki had already lowered the wooden plank Tiyharqu in charge of the ship.
“What’s happening?” Kareth asked, wondering why they weren’t following.
“Samaki says the new Paref is… weary of strangers. Samaki has been invited in by the man, but we have to wait. Samaki says he’ll be back before long and then…”
“Then we’ll see the Paref ?” Kareth asked hopefully.
Tersh nodded, but there was no certainty in her eyes.