Category: Raya

On the south side of Massed Alley, a wide market had sprouted up between the cobblestones and fountains at a spot known as Shoka Square.  On this particular day, the stalls had been dragged aside, the wagons withdrawn, and more than twice the bodies packed in.  Three of them, standing atop the steps of a trickling stone fountain, were Raya, Benn and Dondar.  They listened to the speaker that had drawn the crowds, a man with a shaved head and a slave brand in between his shoulder blades. Continue reading Raya 31

For most of the Fourth Moon, Raya and Benn searched in a few of the outlying scribe’s shops, without striving deeper into the streets of the central city.  Ith was a land of its own, Raya learned, but it was not a land unaware of the world at large.  On every breath and on every road, there was talk of ill variety.

Raya heard curses against the rulers—there were eleven Mage Kings in Ith.  There were refugees from Ellakar here, joining voice with the displaced people of Elpan.  All blamed the Mage Kings. Continue reading Raya 30

The open fields on the east side of Ith were dotted with dense villages and known as the Low Dales District.  Raya and her friends stayed the first night in an large inn on Lord Warl’s Road—it seemed most of the outer roads were named after lords or kings.  Raya was uncertain if Lord Warl lived nearby or not, or if he lived at all, but the inn was comfortable.  And expensive. Continue reading Raya 29

A few days of travelling across the highlands brought Raya and her friends to the crowded outlying walls of Ith.  She had never been here before; growing up in Olston, Raya had learned that both Ith and Vagren were major cities, and Vagren was closer.  She had never really realized how much bigger Ith was than its sister city.  Guards patrolled a lengthy row of palisades, that disappeared behind hills to the left and to the right of the entry that Raya and company approached.  Behind the low wall were more hills, topped by the occasional house or storehouse or camp of pavilions and traveller’s tents.  Far in the distance, she could see the wooden walls and mud rooves of shacks built against the looming stone fortification of the city proper.  Ith must have covered close to fifty miles.  As such, this entryway into the city had become a camp of its own. Continue reading Raya 28

Raya paused on a grassy hilltop and looked west.  The valley between her and the next ridge was obstructed by the occasional cedar tree and a reed-robed pond.  She looked back at Dondar, who groaned as he climbed the slope toward her.  They had left Vagren three days ago, and left Olston after a short visit the day before.  It was too costly to take the Crimson Highway, but the Radregar Highlands made the journey even longer. Continue reading Raya 27

Raya and Benn spent another long day at the Archives, this time in the sunshine behind the main building.  Birds sang in the trees and the open air felt fresher and healthier to Raya, though the skies seemed to have been permanently darkened by ash from distant Mount Lukar.  They’d hadn’t spoken a word about the romantics Benn had brought up a few days earlier.  Nor had they found anything about the names Nalisa Orr, Axar, nor anything suspicious about Lotha and Viker. Dondar kept up his daily watch of the house they’d infiltrated.  Raya and Benn kept an eye out for any information about Dago, the mysterious vanished traveller. Continue reading Raya 26

It had been another long day at the Archives, finding very little about anything.  Raya had found one book about a conspiracy theory involving the city of Saanazar and the Grey Brethren, a distant religion.  She couldn’t even find any conspiracies about Vagren or Ellakar.  She almost fell asleep a few hours after their lunch break.  Benn had poked her to wake her up, and they’d both laughed about it. Continue reading Raya 25

Raya sneezed.  There was too much dust to help it.  She held her fingers over her nostrils and ruffled pages with her hand as she shook with a heavy sneeze.  “Sorry,” she mumbled, embarrassed, as Benn stifled a chuckle.  The books they were looking through were moth-eaten and dusty, the library’s atmosphere was dry and seemed foggy with the dust and dirt disturbed by the comings and goings of studious bookkeepers, business people, and scholars young and old. Continue reading Raya 24

Raya tried to ignore the fact that Benn could pick a lock.  It was early morning—the sun hadn’t even sent its light over the horizon of Vagren’s walls—and they hid in the garden on the side of Nalisa Orr’s address.  The young huntress didn’t ask her friend how he had learned to use pin and shift to flick the latch open, but he did it easily enough and admitted Raya to the shadowy corridor within. Continue reading Raya 23

Benn led the way through the streets of Vagren and Raya tried to keep up.  Their path was crowded with barrel-laden wagons, fruit selections with slight sides of tabletop, guards with brass shirts and metal-tipped canes, and permeated with the whispering air of distant lute chords, honey-scent and warm wholegrain bread.  Gone were the slavers that had once chased her; in Vagren, anyone breaking the law was fair game for slavers, hence the Silver Guild and others hunting the streets after curfew.  Raya shrugged away the memory.  She strode through a cloud of white baking smoke, and watched Benn’s short brown hair swaying as he walked.  He looked back and smiled.  “It’s up ahead,” he piped. Continue reading Raya 22