Chapter 7

Irnoc

Three men, wearing flowing robes in the many hues of a burning fire, strode out of the stable entrance to the temple of Corana, these were no ordinary men. These men were priests of Corana, and more than that, they were specialized priests. These specialized priests are sent out to find wild or rogue talents, the Retrieval Squad. These men held power, power unlike that of any mortal man or woman, they had the power of the gods, vessels of their patron god or goddess containing and utilizing the holy power to do their will on earth. Few would dare to do anything that would displease them. The stable hands kept their heads down as they scrambled to finish readying their Mounts.

“High Priest Asad,” one of the priests said to his leader “What are we after today, a rogue caller or a wildling? We didn’t get any information aside to be ready to ride out at dawn.”

Asad was a middle aged man, a little grey streaked his long black hair and his carefully trimmed beard, and his eyes looked like burning coals in the heart of a fire. On his shoulder perched a small falcon like creature. It had the small body of a Kestrel but its plumage looked to be made of flames, each feather showed in fine detail, and looked solid except for around its edges, which flickered and shifted like real flame.

High Priest Asad looked at his two men; Priest Fakhir, the one who spoke, and priest Nadim, his companion. “Before dawn today, the Monitors detected a wild surge about ten leagues east of the city. Just before we gathered, as the Monitors sought to glean more information about this wildling, a second wild surge was detected approximately one candle mark after dawn.” His two men looked rather grim; they knew that two wild surges close together was never a good sign. Asad continued “We have a long way to travel as swiftly as can be managed. With two surges only a few candle marks apart, we either have an unfortunate coincidence of two wild callers in close proximity to each other, not completely unheard of but very unlikely if not nearly impossible, or there is a very strong Caller out there with his powers just beginning to break loose. There is one more point of concern, what triggered the two separate surges. Being out in the desert, he is likely to be in great danger, the beasts, magical or mundane, that make it their home will make short work of anyone who tried traveling alone through that hostile land.”

Fakhir and Nadim nodded with hardened determination in their eyes. They both knew one such as this would be a great resource for the temple, or a large problem should he not be brought into the fold. “What were the Monitors able to learn about this one?” Nadim asked.

“It’s a boy of perhaps thirteen, just beginning to enter into manhood. Not much else is known.” Asad replied. “With Corana’s blessing we shall find this person before it is too late and bring him in safely. We must travel swiftly but we must care for the Kelenken as well, traveling too quickly in the summer heat will slow us faster than pacing our mounts.”

Both men nodded and muttered; almost in unison “Corana’s blessing be upon us all” it had the sound of rote.

The men did not speak another word as the grooms brought their large riding birds; prime Simurgh stock, considered by many to be some of the finest riding birds in the empire. They mounted and Fakhir took up the reins of a basic horse of no particular breeding for their new acquisition to ride back, and rode out of the temple complex and headed to the eastern gates. They made good time until they reached the Warrens, they had to slow as the press of humanity increased, even with the bubble of space the common folk gave them, and they could only travel at a walk.

Once they came insight of the eastern gates High Priest Asad looked at the flaming bird perched on his shoulder. “Do you sense the trace this far out Hadi?” he asked.

Hadi looked at the man for a moment, ruffled its wings in irritation and looked to the east, past the wall that surrounded the city. “No, it is too far distant yet master” the Kestrel replied, “Shall I scout ahead and see if I can pick up the traces?”

The man pondered for a moment as they approached the eastern gate, “Yes, once you pick it up, return swiftly to me. We will follow the river until your return” he said in a rich voice with deep resonating authority. This was a man that was used to being obeyed, and without even a word in reply the bird took off and sped into the sunrise.

* * *

It look at least five candle marks to get back to the river. Five long burning, stumbling and exhausting hours to make the long way to the river, avoiding the shipwrecked sailors. I knew if they found me I would be worse than dead, recaptured and sold the quickest buyer to recoup just a little bit of their losses. I had to cut an angle to the river, making progress back to Hasna’Farid and down to the river at the same time. Unfortunately the ship was attacked just after a bend in the river, and the river turned southwest before it turned west again to reach the city. So it took several more miles to reach the wet, cool refreshing water.

After the scorpion attack I could only recover three of the apples I lost when I tumbled down the sand dune, they were bruised, covered in abrasions, browning and had sand stuck in the skin and flesh of the apple. They were the most delicious things I had ever eaten and they only lasted me a couple candle marks. By the time I reached the riverbanks I traveled through sandy, dune covered desert that transitioned to more flat dry cracked clay. The cracked clay area was easier to transverse, however there were more dangers. Flat paddle like cacti grew all over the place, low spiny brush, both types of plants left thorny and needle filled litter all over the ground. It was a trial to cross this terrain while barefoot, fortunately my feet were as tough as leather for the most part, but the thorns still made their way through and in between my toes.

It wasn’t until about noon that I finally reached the river. Dropping my sling and my cutlass on the bank, I splashed right into the water as soon as I arrived. I managed, just barely, to avoid drinking the entire river on one go. The cool water felt wonderful on my sunburnt skin, my aching feet soothed by the running water. Slowly the swelling went down in my poor abused feet; years of going barefoot in a city had nothing on cross country travel. While I was luxuriating in the refreshing river, I still kept an eye out up and down stream. As good as the water felt, and as delicious as the water tasted, I still didn’t want to get caught and dragged back into slavery. I still needed to find a way to remove this seamless iron collar from around my neck, with my head still attached.

Once I was cooled off, and my raging thirst quenched I emptied out all the oil from the skin, and rinsed it out at least a dozen times, getting as much of the fishy oil out as the impregnated leather as was possible. I knew the water would still be a bit oily and have a fishy taste, but it was better than dying of thirst out here.

This close to the river, the abundance of vegetation, some without the spines that so plagued me throughout the day. Looking at the height of the sun, and the oppressive heat surrounding me, I decided it was time to find a relatively cool hiding place and wait for the evening when the temperature would start to drop.

I climbed out of the river, freshly filled skin in hand and started looking down stream for a shady and out of the way place to hide myself. About a mile downstream I practically stumbled across what looked like the perfect place. A short bluff, maybe five feet higher than the bank of the river had been undercut, probably when the river was higher at one time. There was a convenient bush blocking most of the small cave like depression. It was just big enough for me to curl up behind the bush with some overhead shelter to keep the sun directly off of me. The wind was even cooled a bit running over the water. this spot is as close to perfect as I could find, I thought as I crawled in. once I was inside I could barely see beyond the bush, so feeling more secure than I have all day, I curled my exhausted body up in a ball and tried to get some rest.

Once I grew accustomed to the sounds around me, I was able to start to drift off to sleep. Right on the cusp of sleep, a new sound caused me to jerk back awake. A series of dull thuds, and a few snorts, some rustling, clucks and hoots, and some jingling of metal bits, I knew those sounds, at least one horse and some of those mean looking riding birds, what were they called? Keltan, kelensin…something like that. What should I do, they weren’t from the sailors, they didn’t have any horses. If I went out there to meet these travelers they might be able to help me. Yeah they could help me, but with the slave collar around my neck, they would either turn me in as a runaway slave for the standing reward, or just keep me for themselves. As the sounds of the riders drew closer I heard the voices of men talking quietly, I heard their voices but with the river flowing so close by I couldn’t make out what they said. After a moment they stopped, and I heard the screech of a bird just outside of my hiding place, and I saw the flash of red dart on the other side of the brush concealing me.

“Boy, we know you are in there. We are not going to hurt you.” I heard a deep and melodic voice call out in a stern tone. He sounded like he was used to being obeyed instantly and without hesitation. “Come on out, we have been looking for you.”

What was I going to do, what could I do? I didn’t have anywhere to go, and they could get to me hear with little effort. With a deep breath I took ahold of myself and carefully crawled out of the overhang. Once I climbed out and stood up, it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the brightness. Once I could see clearly I saw the three men sitting astride huge flightless birds with boxlike heads and cruelly hooked beaks that could take my head off in one bite, with a horse on a lead rope. As I took into the details, I saw the reds oranges and yellows of the robes the men wore, patterned to look like flames as they billowed in the wind. Priests! Looking for me! I felt my throat clench in fear, and my body tensed up and I shivered in the noonday heat.

“Calm yourself boy, no one here is going to hurt you. In fact we are here to help you.” The man in the lead paused and looked me up and down, taking in my ragged dress and unkempt hair; his eyes paused on my slave collar. “You will be well fed, well clothed, and you will no longer be a slave if you come with us. What is your name boy?”

I just stared at him. My worst fears came to life. My mouth dropped open, a cold hard lump descended into my stomach; my heart felt like it was trying to burst from my chest it was beating so hard.

“What is wrong child, cat got your tongue?”

Cat! That word got my brain working again, the cold knot in my stomach started to burn instead. If I’m to save Cat, I need to get the collar off my neck. These men will probably be easier to escape once I get back to the city, at least if what they say is true, I won’t be locked up again. I throttled my fear, looked him straight in the eyes For Cat I will go with the men who destroyed my home and killed my parents. I thought as I answered the man “I, I’m Roach”

With a hint of humor in his voice he said “Roach? That is no name for a new Acolyte. What is your birth name?”

They don’t know who I am, why were they looking for me? Acolyte? Why do they think I want to join their murderous order? If I told them my name, would it mean anything to them? I was so confused. I thought they were after me because I was a loose end, they killed my parents and wanted me dead too. At least that’s what I always thought. If they weren’t hunting me for that, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to give them my real name, I’ll just give them my first name to be safe. “I’m Irnoc, just Irnoc”

“Any family name Just Irnoc?

“No, I grew up on the streets, most of the time they just called me roach.” My voice steadied and I stood straighter as they showed no recognition to my name. My legs still shook a bit as they stared at me, but I thought I hid it well.

“Well Irnoc, boy from the streets I am High Priest Asad, it is well past time to be going. We have ten leagues to travel to get to the city. Can you ride? No of course not, you grew up on the streets, you will learn as we go, Fakhir help the boy mount”

One of the men behind Asad dismounted gracefully and brought the extra mount forward and said in a kindly voice “here child ill boost you to the saddle” he took me by the waist, and as though I weighed nothing at all, he lifted me high up and set me in the saddle. He then proceeded to shorten the leather strips to either side with a loop and a metal bar at the end. “Put your feet in the stirrups, it might not be the most comfortable with no boots on, but you will be better balanced and have a more comfortable ride in the long run.” I did as he said, the hot metal felt like a glowing iron for a moment, but I got used to it quickly, it was only a little warmer than the ground I stood on.

One I was settled in the saddle, Asad looked around and said “Brothers Fakhir and Nadim take up the rear, and keep an eye on our new soon to be acolyte, wouldn’t want him falling off his horse and getting lost” this last bit he said looking straight at me, he had a hard glint in his eye.

Could he read my mind? I thought. No that’s impossible; if he could read my mind I would probably be dead already, like my parents.

“Let’s get moving, I’m sure Irnoc can’t wait to get to the temple and get that iron collar removed” Asad added with a small smile on his face.

Fakhir and Nadim took up position behind and to either side of me, and Asad led the party, he turned his mount to face the west and started riding back to Hasna’Farid, my horse followed behind at an easy pace, they must have given me a docile mount, assuming I couldn’t ride. I was glad; it was rather odd to be on a living creature, this high above the ground and it moving on its own. I was used to being high up, climbing walls and walking the roofs, but this was different, those walls and roofs didn’t move while you were on them. I took a deep breath, gripped the ridge in front of me and tried to maintain my balance as the horse walked on.

The entire way back, no one spoke another word not even when we stopped to rest the horse and the birds and let them drink from the river. We didn’t even dismount when we watered the mounts, the priests just passed around a water skin and gave me a bit of dried meat and a tough flat round of bread. The meager food didn’t bother me; I ate it happily after all I’ve eaten far worse.

By the time we reached the city once more I was exhausted. But it was a beautiful sight, the sun setting behind the city; the glitter and sparkle of the gold and marble on the heights like stars come to earth until the sun fell below the buildings, leaving them in dark relief.