Chapter 13: The Approaching War
I blinked incessantly, unable to fully understand what had truly occurred. Then, I moved my head from side to side and twitched my feet. I had not been paying attention to myself, but suddenly consciousness returned to me, and I perceived that my head was leaning against something soft.
I tried to focus my eyes but realized it was my glasses, which had been glazed over with mist. I blinked again and then tried to lift myself off the ground. As I did, I moved my foot and heard some strange gurgling sound.
I looked down, towards the origin and obviously saw nothing. I squinted and then heard the sound again. I then felt a very unnerving moist feel in my heel, and startled, jerked my foot up, away from whatever had been causing the noise.
I waited, looking down, my heart beating ever faster, trying to remember where I was and where the strange spring mist had taken me.
The sound returned, but this time in a distinctive, soft, indifferent and benign voice. It was Puk’s voice, who gently commented, “Amir, your foot was in my mouth.”
I leaned my head back again and simply blinked. Then I answered, “Oh.”
I took off my glasses, scrubbed off the excess water vapor on their surface and then put them back on.
I was lying among perfectly green grass. I blinked again, unsure how to react.
“Where am I?’I asked, my voice calm and collected.
I heard a new voice, Naomi’s, from above my head, “We’re laying in the grass, feeling the sun.”
“Oh,” I answered, still unaware of how to react.
I then gently raised my head, and saw just in front of me, in all its white glory, the peak of Sanak Tama. Then to my sides, I could see the black stone figures of walls and buildings.
How strangely convenient. It seemed I had magically flown exactly where I wanted to be.
I lifted my head off the soft grass, trying to dispel my confusion and the fact that nothing truly made any sense. As I did, the sun flashed in my eyes. It was probably early afternoon, and the sun felt mild and warm against my skin. The frigid winds of the upper mountain only seemed to skid overhead.
We were all strewn across an empty green field, padded with grass. Among us lay just about one million other people, Ecuadorians. Everyone simply laid there, calm, silent, eyes closed. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Naomi and Puk next to me, with the priestess and Jose, lying just aside from us.
I lowered my head again and peacefully closed my eyes. There was no sound but my own breath, which somehow seemed to coincide with the gentle dancing of a tree’s leaves against the wind.
I sighed, then pushed myself over with the top of my head and looked behind. I saw, just beyond the field and Naomi’s feet, the spectacular tower of the city, twisting to immeasurable heights. Its very top was hidden by the high misty clouds. It made the tower seem almost endless, like a home to Gods.
I lowered myself again and let my eyelids drop, feeling the push and pull of my breath which seemed to soothe me. I let my thoughts consume me for a bit.
I thought of the handout and of the evil it had prophesied. I thought of Tucker, and who he was. I thought of Aina and the people who had survived the flood.
And then I thought of the city behind me, its many black walls. That single dug tunnel, which Carlos had called a mystery.
And finally I thought of the sinister evil which had once lived here. I thought of what it might look like, what it might feel like. As I pictured the creature, I began to feel a strange sensation in the bottom of my back. I ignored it, and imagined this creature. How it had lived from the city, and watched the first survivors arrive on the island. I imagined the old city, and the people within.
The strange sensation continued beneath me. It gave my skin a strange sensation, a thrill, a cold permeating my fingertips.
“Why would the people dig away from this city?” I asked myself, in a light whisper. I do not know if anyone heard me, or if I even made a sound.
But then I realized what the sensation was, underneath my back. And I froze, stunned in placed.
It was a heartbeat, groaning under my skin, through the earth I laid on. It sounded and felt like moaning and whispering of souls. The earth itself was seething and screaming for me, as if I was tethered to the ground.
I felt the pulling force, and then saw, far beneath the earth, in tunnels twisting beneath the infernal city, deep below in the dark, the moaning people. They clawed at the side of the walls, and all beat up at me.
Then with a breathy voice and a tantalizing smooth whisper, I heard and saw the evil thing. It spoke in my ear, the answer to my question.
“Why indeed?”
I opened my eyes and gasped for air desperately, my limbs twitching feverishly. I was again on the grass field, lying next to everyone else.
It had been a dream. My arms and legs fell to my sides again. However, a strange chill and thrill did not escape my bones. Some feeling would not leave me.
To my side, I heard the calm call of Naomi asking, “Are you okay?”
I turned my head back. It was later, much later. The sun was already down and the sky was the dark blue of twilight. People all around me were standing up and awakening. Naomi, was standing directly behind me, and staring at me. Her expression showed concern, yet she also seemed content.
“I’m…” I hesitated, my limbs still tingling and shaking uncontrollably, “Fine…”
She looked at me quizzically, then answered, “Okay… You just woke up pretty startled.”
“I guess I just had a strange dream.”
“I did too,” she remarked, before smiling.
I laid my head back. It was just a dream, I assured myself. It was of little comfort. My vision was still fresh in my mind and I could feel the rhythmic beating beneath my feet.
I got to my feet, and looked at Naomi to one side. Puk still lay on the grass; however, her eyes were wide open. She seemed surprised and confused.
“Puk?” I asked, wondering what must have been going through her mind.
“Ehhhhhh…” she mumbled.
I looked around again, and saw that the crowd we had been laying with was waking up. Everyone seemed to be awakening from a tender sleep, and simply stretched across the floor I was shocked by how much time had passed in what felt like a single minute.
Then, from behind, I heard the rhythmic call of a familiar voice coming from behind. “Hello, Amir.”
Naomi and I turned to see the priestess calmly approaching. She wore a slight yellow and white dress, and drifted across the green grass. She wore an expression of a near smile and seemed looked at us both.
“It’s good to have you back and to have joined us. I hope your search was fruitful,” she asked, in a slight and high tone.
I looked at her, dumbfounded, slack jawed and confused. I simply nodded. Sights of horrors still seemed to drift in my head.
Naomi asked in an equally calm, voice, “That was very nice. What was it?”
The priestess looked at Naomi and answered, “We call it Soliandose, which means: Contemplation of the sun. We have practiced it for a long time. It has allowed us to be connected to the land, and to our ancient souls.”
I heard Isabelle moan from behind us in a confused manner, “Ancient souls?”
The priestess looked down and smiled, “Yes. It is a deep connection.”
In the meantime, I was standing, silently, deep in thought, my eyes wide open. I had not been paying attention to a word, but still managed to ask, “What are you talking about?”
The priestess smiled at me and then replied, “A part of our ceremony. We all lay in the grass to end our day of the sun. We lay and feel the world and the energy, the throbbing of the soul, which belongs to the city.”
I blinked, taken about by the last statement. Throbbing?
“That explains my crazy dream!” Naomi suddenly retorted.
“What dream?” I asked, rather frantically.
She looked at me, confused. “I dreamed I was in a warm and comfortable boat, floating across the still sea. And I simply floated. It was very nice.”
I settled back down, I heard Puk, remark, in the distance, “My dream was nice too!”
The priestess added, “Yes, it is very common for our people to have dreams during this time. It is a time of connection. What you have seen may be a piece of the future. The visions work in strange ways.”
She turned to me, and gave me an expression, which was not its usual passivity, “What did you see, Amir?”
I clearly must have looked disturbed; my hands were still shaking. “I don’t remember,” I finally replied, quite unskillfully.
She cocked her head and then continued on, “Or, how was your nice walk? Did you find what you were looking for?”
I put my shock away for the moment, “Oh, yes, very much so.”
“What? Where did you go?” Naomi asked, confounded, “You weren’t with us all this time?”
“Oh, no,” I answered, quickly, “I needed to get a translation. It’s a long story. I can tell you about it later.”
The priestess shook her head, as if falling out of a trance, and then loudly contemplated, “O yes! We must go, the feast is nigh. It is the last of our ceremonies. We must go to the tower now. You all may sit next to me.” She looked at me, quite curiously, “And then, you can tell me all about it.”
I did not know what to make of it. I simply nodded.
Then she pointed upwards, towards the visible tower of the city, and where the crowd was obviously headed. She began to lead us, and as we walked on, the crowd grew denser and denser. We had already left behind Isabelle and Puk, as we walked through the solidifying mass of people…we were suddenly without our guide as well.
We walked and then pushed our way through, in the darkness, slowly approaching the spiraling tower ahead, when I suddenly, one of the people to my flanks seemed oddly familiar.
“Carlos?” I turned to ask.
“Hey,” came the resembled, uncouth voice.
I looked at his unfazed face and then added, “So you finally showed up to the ceremony? How come?”
He moved his head in a circle and then gave a response of mumbles which sounded like, “Meh… neaah… eh…”
Then he began to trail behind us, his head distinctly aimed at the ground.
“Don’t worry about him,” another familiar voice retorted to my left, “He’s like this every year.”
I turned to see the walking figure of Jose, smiling next to me. He was wearing the same poncho, and same light-handed expression.
“Yeah? Why is that?” I asked, feeling a bit hated.
“Well,” Jose started, “He never really liked the entire ceremony. He always said there was something more important to talk about.”
Jose let out a spurt of laughter, and then continued, “I don’t blame him. But it’s still nice.”
I looked at Jose, without an answer. I simply blinked in response.
“Do you see his sandals?” he asked, pointing behind us at Carlos’ feet.
Carlos raised his head and gave us both a nasty look.
“He never takes them off.”
“Why?” I asked, waving at Carlos but not getting an answer.
“They say…” Jose continued, “That the queen gave them to him.” He put his index finger on his chin and smiled, as if thinking of something funny. “Or maybe he’s just lazy.”
He let out the same laughter.
We walked together, as Naomi, whose attention deviated elsewhere, walked just behind. The dark night around us was illuminated by floating candles, hung on the surfaces of the old black ruins.
I could see that this time the tower had been opened up, so that the light within shined outward in streaks.
“Jose, okay, Explain something to me.” I commented, looking at Jose. “You know Carlos best out of anyone.”
“Maybe not best…”
“When he says there will be a war…. Does he mean… there will be a war?” I asked, doubtfully. My breath had calmed and my question was really only to deviate my thoughts away from my vision.
He was silent for a while, as we walked into the majestically lit archways. As we passed the spiraling pillars and entered the circular palace, I saw that the entire place had been embellished and prepared. There was now a central stage and many rows of tables and chairs. Dishes and foods beyond the imagination sat on the tables. At the head of the palace interior sat one long table. I could see Jose was leading us there.
“Well…” he questioned as we drew near, “It’s hard to say.” He looked down at his feast and then around at the people before answering.
“Our people have always been less united as a nation, and more united by a culture. Our ties are not found in our money, or resources or armies or kings. It is in our customs. Even me and Carlos are more considered advisors to the tribes.” He put his finger back on his chin, deep in thought. “Carlos wanted more. He wanted to unite the tribes, to form a nation. Make an army. He always tells me I need to discipline my tribes, bring them together.”
I listened intently.
“However, he does it with good reason. The threats are real. To The east, you saw Tom’s kingdom and the equally dead North, under King Roy. What would stop them from bringing that here? Or the Inbar Corporations are more and more greedy, consuming our land and our resources.. The bourgeoisie from Inbarberg always seek to colonize our lands. But we are hardly a nation to conquer.”
Jose motioned to all around us, “This is as united as we are. Maybe that is why he dislikes it. He wants this to be pulled away from this city. He has always said that the war is coming; that the evil will finally consume our lives and then the world will come to an end. He has always prepared for it. In a way, he’s only made himself more eager to a fight a war. That is what his nation is, a war ready to happen.”
“Even you would join him? Is there no way to stop it?” I asked, my thoughts a clouded chaos.
“I guess so, “ Jose remarked, thoughtfully, “But it might take…Amir-acle!”
I blinked.
Our table was filled with his raspy laughter.
I turned to see Carlos just two seats away, next to Naomi. I had noticed that the table had only vegetarian food. The only exception was on Carlos’s seat.
Suddenly, my dream flooded back into my mind. The screaming people below the city seemed to moan again within my head.
I leaned in sheepishly next to Jose, and tried to whisper the question into his ear…
Then suddenly, the priestess, who had previously disappeared, sat to my other side. She gave a smile and a wave before a sudden crash of musical instruments began to sound. I looked to the stage, which was well illuminated. On the stage, a chorus had gathered in rows and stood, ready to sing.
I gave the priestess a quizzical look. She answered by noting, “It’s just part of the ceremony. We eat afterwards.”
I smiled and then looked back at the stage, swallowing my previous question.
The musicians on the stage began to play a sweet tune, filled with xylophones and keys. The chorus then entered with a resonant melody, which I did not pay much attention to. I did not understand the language. Something about peace, or maybe tradition… I would not have remembered. But certainly something to do with something called, “Shabbat.”
I listened to various songs, very tempted to simply begin eating. But I dared not even touch the food, since it seemed no one else had either.
My suspicion was confirmed as some kid stuck his finger in a bowl of hummus and a rider walking up and down the aisle suddenly began to rebuke him and “Shhhhh!” incessantly.
The most confusing bit occurred at the end of one song where I instinctively began to clap. I did so completely alone and also incurred the stares of everyone present. I stopped, immediately embarrassed and confused.
Then, as soon as the ceremony had begun, two individuals walked to the end of the stage and announced a few words. I knew the ceremony was over as immediately everyone began to rip into their plates ferociously.
I was dragged in the commotion, suddenly fighting everyone at my table to get to a bottle of Pepsi. To my left, the priestess looked like she might rip off my hand if I didn’t hurry with the bread. Then a soup catastrophe when there was not sufficient amount for everyone.
I had nearly forgotten my question when Jose leaned back towards me, his mouth half full of potato and asked, “What werrregh, youuou gunna asssek?”
I looked at him straight in the mouth and quizzically tried to recall what on earth I had intended to say.
My mind, and probably my eyes as well, since Jose most notably noticed my disfiguration, split in half as I remembered the horrid scene from my dream.
I looked at Jose thoroughly, which terrified him so much he swallowed his potato, and I whispered my question, “Are there tunnels underneath the city, by any chance?”
He looked at me, confused, and then in a confounded voice answered, “I would imagine not. Or at least not that I would know of.”
I continued to glare intently, and then commented, “Well, the dream I had, you see, it was a bit odd, and by odd I mean it was freaking terrifying.”
He stared back, and opened his mouth to speak.
However, he was cut off by the priestess, who leaned over quite subtlety and interjected, “What kind of dream?”
The priestess’ words, “the city speaks,” suddenly acquired sinister tone. She looked at me, earnestly curious. “You know, there is a reason this is called the City of Dreams.”
I answer, my voice filled with fatal precision, “A terrible vision. Of some ancient evil.”
Her expression could not have melted more drastically. Her eyes seemed covered in grief of my words. And she sunk back in her seat again.
I looked back at her, unable to understand what had just happened to her.
To my back, a slight tap, made me jolt and turn around to see Carlos, also leaning in, and asking, quite quietly, but with a tone of aggression:
“What tunnels?”
I did not answer, but simply looked at him. He looked back at me, his eyes filled with dread, as if something, a theory, was being proved.
It was then that I made my retreat. I raised myself from the table, almost desperate to get away from the discussion just from a minute. Jose, looked up at me, stood, and asked, sincerely, “What’s wrong, where are you going?”
“Fresh air,” I answered briefly.
He raised his shoulders in indifference and then just took another bite of potato.
Carlos watched me walk away, his eyes deep and pondering.
I made my way past the many tables, carefully bypassing hundreds of outstretched chairs, and crowded people eating. It took time, and I nearly fell various times but I finally maneuvered my way out of the labyrinth and into the dark archways. I stood there, halfway between the shadow of the night sky and the palace’s light.
I leaned my back and head against a pillar and then simply stood there, waiting. My breath, which had been convulsive and uncontrolled, calmed itself slowly. Slowly, I descended to sitting on the floor, my face in my hands. My thoughts were a storm of confusion.
I must have lain there, sitting on the line between the noise of the feast and the sound of the wind, blazing. The dark marble archway felt oddly comfortable. For a minute I even imagined the same moaning from beneath the ground, and then that evil shadow I had seen from my vision.
I don’t think I fell asleep, but all of this was interrupted when a shrill, calm voice called, from within the temple, “So, where was it that you went?”
I raised my head to see Naomi walking towards me, calmly and carelessly. As she sat next to me, she continued, “You apparently disappeared and I had no idea. What were you up to?”
I had forgotten completely that Naomi was entirely in the dark. She could only have been completely in the dark. I looked her in the eyes, and then pulled out Mr. Tucker’s handout. “I found this. And I had it translated also.”
She ogled the piece of parchment with surprise. She flipped it around, curiously, as if the parchment was an infinite cube which would suddenly be legible. She looked to me and then asked, “What does it say?”
My eyes must have filled with dread, for she quickly added, “What’s wrong?”
“There is some evil, that Lavinia talked about.” I began, my voice trembling, “Mr. Tucker investigated, the pieces are missing, but if we find them we can discover what this thing is.
“It is dark and horrid,” I continued, imagining my dream, “An evil thing, and it was born here, in this very city.”
“You’re right…” interjected a calm whisper of a voice.
We both turned to see it was the priestess, calmly walking towards us.
She escaped the light of the archway and looked at us, smiling as before.
“What do you mean?” Naomi asked.
The priestess changed to a dire look and then continued, “I’ve known for many years. This city, which is sacred to our people, has a sinister history. But worst of all, there has always been an unknown evil lurking among its halls.”
“What is it?” I asked, intently.
“I don’t know.” She admitted, her voice uneven and breathless, “But it has always been here. I have always felt it. It was always been here… but not like this.”
My eyes bulged in interest at this new information.
“It has spread out somehow. All of Nitzanland is now in the hands of this ancient evil. And I don’t even know what it is.”
“How have you known?” I asked. My eyes had drifted to beyond her face , to the dark expanse beyond the palace walls. Out there, unknown winds blew and dark things hid. For all I knew, something sinister could be lurking in the unholy night.
“Perhaps the priestesses themselves came to be to find out what this is? I have torn through every book, every scroll in the library. The only one to ever find anything decent was Tucker, but he rode off and vanished a long time ago.”
Naomi and I stood, perplexed at what we had heard. I looked at the priestess, “The handouts?”
“They have all disappeared…across the land…”
“I know of you two and your quest and it gives me hope.” She looked back into the palace, at the feast, which continued, entirely unaware of the forces which operated beyond that single structure of light, “They don’t know. None of them do. There are forces that are bringing violence, war and death to our doorstep and they still don’t know.”
My thoughts raced to Carlos and his wish for war, “Even Carlos…doesn’t know?”
“Of course not. He is leading us to war.”
“And can’t you do anything?”
“No, I cannot stop him from destroying us all. All I can do is keep the people happy and confident that at least our traditions remain. But even they are not entirely fooled. They feel that something, some disaster is coming.”
“But you!” she looked at me and Naomi in the eyes, “You can change this. You can go, and find Tucker’s writings. You can find what this evil is! You can save this land!”
She smiled, hopefully.
“You must find all the handouts,” she continued, “You must complete your quest, for Nitzanland and for us all.”
I was warmed by her confidence, but continually filled with doubt. “but how will we find them? How will we translate them?”
“You must! It is our only hope!”
She picked through her pocket, and then removed something, “And for the translation, take this.”
She revealed in her hand, the same dot she wore on her forehead. “It’s called a bindi. It will allow you to read everything.”
I took it apprehensively, “How does it work?”
“Magic.”
“Oh.” A thought drifted through my mind, “WAIT! You had this all the time, but still sent me to the spring to get a translation?!”
“Oh yeah,” she mused, “It was an adventure though, right!”
“Well…yeah.”
I placed the bindi in my pocket.
“It’s time for you to go,” she continued, the calm in her voice having returned, “your quest will be difficult. You must now continue on north, to the infamous kingdom of North Roy. There you will find what you seek.”
“How do you know?” Naomi asked timidly from behind.
“It was the way which Tucker rode off, that is all I know.”
We then all stood, there. The task ahead, brooded over us. The night was young to my side, but I was not afraid.
“You can leave the city now. The holiday is over, and the gates are open. You can find a horse at the edge of the back gate.”
We stood there, the silence among us again. The wind blew, and we contemplated our leaving. So much to do ahead.
Then Naomi broke the stillness and declared, “We will succeed.”
Then she grabbed my arm gently and began to lead us away towards the dark, candle-lit city ahead. It was a sad goodbye, I thought. I turned to look at the priestess for the last time, and saw her smiling and waving.
She called from a distance, “I know you will succeed.”
Then she vanished, and her silhouette vanished in the light of the palace archways.
