Chapter 14-15

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Chapter 14

Lemuria was a vast nation with a populace predominantly living in the large obsidian walls, which were imbued with magical fortifications. Feudal architecture, onyx roads, and brick that glistened black were commonplace. Once one left the gates, that the broken and shattered cabriolet had entered through a short while ago, one would find themselves upon open countryside.

In the provinces everyone went to the same school, there was only a small militia garrisoned there, and the post travelled infrequently. It was through the postman, who one day doing his rounds, that the first clues of Sutekh's plan reached Lemuria. The scorched earth tactics of the man had left nothing of the villages.

It was Eros's turn to be the postman. He travelled well equipped, back in his own travelling attire, at the head of a small party: himself, Typhon, Sabriel, Aurora, Astraea, and Skoll. The mood was serious, and terse because on Aurora's part she was miserable apropos the wedding, Skoll because he feared something might happen to the Hyperions, more specifically his future queen, and Eros because of that hidden and secret impetus that led him on.

The group had been travelling throughout the day, and it was only in the evening, after the sun had set, that they arrived at their intended destination: an otherwise unimportant, obscure Lemurian village on the far western side of the country's territory. The observations that they'd made about it being next were presently confirmed: they arrived on horseback amongst a firestorm.

The flames had been the first thing Eros had noticed, the second were the screams. Villagers crowded in the streets outside, while the timber dwellings, shops, and public buildings were ablaze. They had blankets wrapped around them, mothers and fathers comforted their children, while many of their fellow villagers were still trapped inside various buildings. Aurora stood in shock because she was used to the palace walls, not the awful scenes that she was now at the centre of.

The 85th however, dragged men, women and children from the fires. Eros was doubled over in the street, his clothes damp with perspiration, his face covered in soot, when he looked at the many families weeping while their homes burned. One blaze was worse than the rest, the inferno was far more intense, and seemed to burn with an uncommon malignancy. It was a bourgeois house at the centre, possibly belonging to the village mayor, or even the head of the local militia. People in the streets had to edge back because the fire was so hot. A baby's cry rang from one of the upper apartments.

Typhon cast a succession of water spells, but the fire was, as he described, 'not natural.' Eros appealed to Astraea, who replied simply that the fire was too great, and that it was useless.

Eros, seeing there was nothing else to do, rushed forth. He stood at the threshold where he could see that fire licked every surface inside, and a toxic cloud swirled. He looked back at the others as they told him not to go. They were right, he knew it. With his blouse covering his mouth he dashed across the threshold anyway.

The silhouette of a tall man was visible against the glass window. He held a baby in his arms. The roof above was badly burned, collapsing suddenly upon the man and child underneath. Aurora held her hands up to her face in shock. Through the flames the silhouette descended the stairs, and it appeared as if the daredevil would make it. Even Skoll willed the blood drinker on. Eros neared the bottom when more beams crashed around him.

Sabriel couldn't bear it anymore, "Eros!" She cried, rushing to the door.

Typhon seized her around the waist, "There is nothing you can do."

She turned to him with wild eyes, "He will die if we do nothing."

"You will die too," he said.

The baby no longer screamed; his little lungs were no match for the thick smoke. Sabriel fought back tears. Aurora was watching the two soldiers fight, feeling utterly helpless, when she felt the ground shake. Her first thought was, that in addition to an inferno, there was to be an earthquake also, but then her blue eyes rested on the wall of water that rose on one side of the village. The stars were no longer visible in the sky because of the watery mass, which in the next instant crashed down upon the village. The conjured spell extinguished the fires, but left the village infrastructure intact. Everyone in that village felt happy, except Typhon whose predominant feeling was uneasiness.

Sabriel meanwhile rushed inside with Skoll beside her. They pulled Eros and the infant out. Aurora hastened to the baby's side, who wore the pallor of death, and, placing a slender hand above its tiny mouth, she uttered a spell; slowly she drew the smoke out. Then she rushed to Eros, pulling the poisonous cloud from his lungs.

"What happened?" He said upon being revived.

Sabriel shrugged her shoulders. Typhon however, stood erect, staring at the lady who hid at the back of the crowd. His thoughts were not yet clear on the matter, but he was certain it was she who conjured the water.

Eros nursed his head while he got to his feet, and, following Typhon's eyes, saw that they were fixed on Astraea. He was about to launch an interrogation when the scene was interrupted by a loud crash. The whole party, Skoll, Typhon, Sabriel, Eros, even Aurora and Astraea, elbowed their way through a thankful crowd to the fields at the back.

Eros's heart almost shattered his ribcage as he darted through the cornfield; he knew he wasn't far from the mage; a few moments later he stood confronted, like in the forest, by a robed unknown. The pair stared at one another, and it was as if they would remain this way forever, their eyes locked, until at length the others, who now arrived at the scene, interrupted them. Then, in an almost imperceptible movement, Sutekh mounted a horse that rank of famine and death, and flew off into the night upon that awful creature.

Eros lamented at his man eluding him again, so it was Typhon who conducted a search of the field, realising that like the forest, they had only narrowly missed their enemy, and that they might get clues as to what they were about by seeing what they had been looking for.

"Eros," he said, "you'd better take a look at this."

The field had been torn open by some force: a great gash, ravine like had been opened. A cave led from the surface into the dark recesses of the earth's crust. Typhon conjured a light, and together, they entered the tremendous hole in the ground. One could easily imagine a meteor striking the earth, and the great impact radius then being preserved and over it, centuries and centuries of rock forming. Within however, the crash site had been perfectly preserved. It didn't take the 85th long to find a skeleton, which lay against the back wall. Skoll brushed the crown atop its aged skull, "The mad king," he said.

Eros glanced at the jewels that were left untouched, and probably priceless, before his eye caught sight of the hands: the palms faced upwards and lay one on top of the other, suggesting that they once had held something. "It was here," he said pointing to the boney palm.

Sabriel said, "Then she got what she came for."

"He." Eros said. And in answer to Sabriel's querulous look, "This time it was a he."

Chapter 15

A few days after their return to Lemuria, Eros noticed an alarming depreciation in Aurora's mood. The former journey to the village had seen her lively and active, but the present look in her eyes was one that he'd seen in men who'd despaired on the battlefield. As the wedding day drew closer, he didn't let the young woman out of his sight. He caught her, one day, before an open window, her hair wafting in the wind. She turned to him from the ledge while the tears rolled down her white cheeks; he knew that the situation was serious.

The poor girl insisted on ending her life, but the bodyguard wouldn't permit it. At all hours of the day, he was there to save Aurora from herself. When King Ixion III arrived to relieve Eros of his duty, he remarked that the latter had 'evidently not slept for many days.'

There then followed a multiplicity of feasts and banquets commemorating the union, but it was the engagement party that had the whole city talking. The party took the form of an opulent ball. Arabesque chandeliers, in a marble building, illumined a decadent masquerade.

Eros, dressed in his finest toilette, was stood to one side while many a bachelorette saw him, and could not help but approach. They were repelled however, by the obtuse glances of a woman; this dark mademoiselle wore a silk dress that ameliorated the contours of her body. She had on satin gloves, and the velvet mask she wore added mysticism to her demeanour.

The princess meanwhile floated across the room like a plaintive ghost. Aurora mustered a smile when she passed near to Eros. That smile almost broke his heart: she was barely 18 years of age, more a girl than a woman she had her whole life before her, but what sort of life could she possibly hope for?

Ixion whispered in the princess's ear, he grabbed her by the arm, his daughter only turned her sad eyes on him before walking away. She didn't have the visage of a woman on the eve of her wedding. The king massaged his brow, and, perceiving Eros after a while, advanced. "I need to speak with you a moment."

The cavalier followed the king to a quiet room. When they were quite alone Ixion said, "I wish to thank you - with respect to my daughter - you saved her in the woods, and have looked out for her here."

Eros detested his role in it all, "Thank you your highness."

"But it is not for that reason that I asked you here."

The knight had noticed that Ixion began to play with a ring on his finger, although the king himself didn't seem aware of the fact. It was the same ring, Eros remembered, that he had sighted on Aavak as well as Ixion when he and Thanatos had eavesdropped on them a decade hence.

"Do you think it strange, this mage in the woods, and the village?" When these words left the king's mouth Eros bit down on his lip so hard that it drew blood. "Someone seems to be on some sort of crusade, don't you think?"

"The events are connected," Eros said, deciding to refrain from informing the suspect king that the unknown in the forest and the village were a man and a woman, and thus not the same person.

The king paced the room, "I might know where he's headed next," he uttered. "Are you aware of Kafka?"

"The beggar who became an emperor, I know the story."

"Then you know how he did it."

Eros grew more and more suspicious of his king.

"Kafka would not part with his jewel, even in death, so he had it buried with him. You know what I am driving at?" The king stood before portraits and tapestry, "This person has found two precious stones, he'll seek out the third, which is quite famous."

Eros was perfectly still, and all aspects of his demeanour were benevolent, but within his own mind, he wrestled with different trains of thought; primarily, why did Ixion worry about the mage? It was clear that this conversation had been planned, and was the product of much thought. Furthermore, how did he know where the unknown's next destination would be?

Ixion III, whose own suspicions were aroused by the lack of participation in the conversation by one of his best and most trusted knights, assumed his most authoritative air, "Take the 85th to the temple, where you will encounter this outlaw and defeat him, else you will recover the stone for me."

Eros didn't like the assignment. He felt that his causes had always been just, but this mission seemed a little sordid. It didn't sit well with him, but standing before him was his king. Furthermore, if the king was right, he had a chance to again come before the unknown he pursued. "I am at your service your highness."

He apprised the others, Sabriel had much to say. The 85th enjoyed what remained of the ball, before returning to their residence. Eros took out a leather bound book, Sabriel and Typhon retired, while Astraea changed clothes, citing that she was desirous of an evening stroll.

When the next day dawned, they gathered their equipage and set out for the Temple of Kafka. It was far abroad: the journey would be a few weeks in length. Astraea said that she would come too, the mage was responsible for what had happened to her village, and she could not rest until he was stopped.

So it was that - as the wedding bells rang - the 85th left the obsidian walls of Lemuria, heading east, even further from Hyperion than they already were. They rode for hours, few words were exchanged, each was lost in their own thoughts, but Eros had noticed that they were not alone. He shifted his course to be sure; the riders behind shifted theirs too.

They feigned the scene of an accident by way of Astraea and Typhon lying prostrate on the ground, together with their horses. Eros and Sabriel meanwhile, concealed themselves behind the trees that lined the road.

Eros could hear the sound of hooves not long after, and, looking surreptitiously from behind a tree, he saw two figures on horseback, who wore cloaks, and hoods. He gave the signal to Sabriel, who pounced forward with pistols drawn. One of the riders shrieked. Sabriel knew at once who it was, and lowered her weapons incredulously, "...Aurora."

The princess pulled back her hood.

Eros asked, "What are you doing?"

"I saw my father speak to you. I know he's sent you on an errand." She sat upright in her saddle, "I am coming with you."

A cannon fired from the Lemurian castle. "They'll search for you."

"And they shall not find me."

Eros appealed to Sabriel and Typhon, who didn't know what to say either.

Aurora insisted, "I know you disagree with my father's ideas. I can see it in all of you. This wedding ought not to proceed." She looked from one to the other, "Besides, I may be of use, I am a healing mage, I will augment your already splendid party. You remember the village Eros, I saved you."

He stood with his hands on his hips, unable to believe the princess's audacity; he turned to address the second rider, who now revealed himself.

"Skoll."

"I captured the princess in her flight. Her eyes were full of tears, and she begged me to let her go. She said that if I didn't, she would kill herself; I couldn't help but recall the scenes with the knife." Skoll paused, "My choice was either to force her to remain, knowing that she would take her own life, or else let her go. I decided to travel with her, and at least make sure that she would be alright."

"Ok, but for God's sake stay close, and remember that when we are finished, you must return your highness."

Aurora leapt from her horse, rushed over to Eros, and hugged him. 


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