Cities of the East
It was later in the afternoon the next day when the travelling pagoda pulled away from the docks and continued east along the Yellow Rider. There were some that tried to follow it, for it and its inhabitants were a curiosity. Few could keep up with it.
A particularly stubborn spirit followed for two days before Darken Gray, under the guise of teaching Ivory archery, put an arrow into it.
Standing in the garden Ivory looked off at the way the arrow had gone. "Did you kill it?" she was holding a child's bow, recently bought in Great Forks.
"Doubtful," Darken Gray told her. "But it will not be following any longer." She held a long bow, nearly as tall as she, with a draw that required strength that few mortals could match. "Now," she nocked an arrow and fired it into a tree along the bank, several hundred feet ahead of them, "see how many arrows you can put into that tree. No magic."
Ivory nocked her arrow, drew back and released.
The arrow splashed into the water a hundred feet short of the bank.
Darken Gray corrected her form and Ivory fired again.
The arrow hit the muddy bank.
The pagoda was moving at the speed of a slow walk, so she was able to make several more shots before they pulled even with the tree.
By that time Ivory had hit it three times.
She released the next arrow just as they lined up with the tree and the arrow struck close to Darken Gray's shot.
"Let's see how many more you can put in that tree before we are out of your range."
They continued the archery lesson for almost two more hours, sending hundreds of arrows out into the river, or onto the banks. Darken Gray had purchased barrels of them in Lookshy, just to ensure that they need not let the lack of arrows impede Ivory's lessons.
After the archery lesson, there was dance, then etiquette, then a history of the lands they travelled through.
Finally, after dinner, Ivory was provided with a chance to fly the pagoda.
Sitting in the pilot's chair, she took it several hundred yards into the air before sending it flying forward at almost a hundred miles an hour.
The winds were like a hurricane, but she was confident that pagoda could stand up to a hurricane.
The sensor suite she had built fed data to the controls and showed her what was out in the darkness, which was very little. Other than a few night flying birds, at the height they travelled there was nothing to hit.
She watched the compass, keeping the pagoda on an easterly course.
Three hours later she decided the flying the pagoda was boring.
"I think that is enough for tonight," Darken Gray said.
Ivory had often been asking for the chance to pilot the pagoda, and even though bored by it she said, "I still want to fly."
"You will have more opportunities, go and get ready for bed."
Ivory made a bit of a production of giving up the controls, but once she had left the pilot house she was pleased enough. She would get ready for bed and then read one of the books she had put aside. It was going to be more pleasant than sitting at the controls of the least interesting aircraft in Creation.
Below them the ground flew by, things appearing on the horizon in front of them, then disappearing behind them. Sometimes Darken Gray would slow the pagoda, even dropping it low to the ground so they might see something up close.
At those times it was not for fun, but for lectures: history, sociology, geography and various other lessons that Ivory was to learn.
Thet passed over the city of Nathir with its thousands of canals and tall towers and Darken Gray told her to how it featured as a trade hub.
At Meresh near the Maruto river, Darken Gray told her of the Arczeckhi, the Wyld tainted barbarians who had sacked Meresh. The small city was surrounded by walls of thorns, raised through some sorcerous manner.
They dropped closer to Meresh so that Ivory could look at the wall, interested in how it had been grown. She was pretty sure she could do the same thing if she chose.
Their approach caused a small bit of panic amongst the city inhabitants, apparently not ready to see a flying house hovering over the thorn walls. A few arrows flew their way but fell short, and then they were away before anyone might get range on them.
Off the main roads, the water routes and the often hidden forest trade paths was a small, forgotten town that Darken Gray knew of. One she wanted to show Ivory.
From the thick forests of the East, a great wedge of grey rock thrust up, nearly three hundred feet higher than the largest of the trees that surrounded it. It was roughly triangular in shape, and the town had been built up along its sides.
The flying pagoda came to a stop at the top of the rock, where a great monastery had been constructed. Ivory jumped from the pagoda and onto the wood of the decking around the monastery. It creaked under her feet, the sound indicating its age, but it had been well built and still held up. She looked up at the building which seemed impossibly fragile. Many towers raised up around in, in each a huge, silver bell.
"Is it deserted?" Ivory asked. "Really?"
"Deserted and forgotten, thought it endures."
"Why? It is far from things, but why is it deserted."
Darken Gray, heels clicking on the old wood, walked towards the monastery. "The monks came here first and built this," she raised her hand, indicating all around them. "They were called the Second Brothers of the Unconquered Sun, founded by a Solar perhaps three hundred years ago."
"What happened to the Solar?"
"The Wyld Hunt. They got to him before he could become too powerful, killed him, erased all records of his name and caste, but the monks escaped. They travelled East, to a location that he, the Solar, had told them about, here."
"Why here?"
"The rising sun hits the top of this rock every dawn, warming the stone. As the sun passed through the sky the cliff's shadow passed over the forest below like a vast sun dial. Over time it became holy to the sun. The monks came here, eventually capped the demense and built the monastery here."
"What about the Wyld Hunt?"
"They lost track of the monks, for the Solar was stronger than they had expected, and they lost many of their numbers."
"The Sidereals?"
"This location is sacred to the Unconquered Sun, and the monks had been taught Golden Janissary style by the Solar. The rock and the monastery are protected. To attack it would have been a political mess."
"Why is the town here?" Ivory paused, looking over a railing, down at the many buildings on the side of the rock.
"Others came, some to learn to fight, others because it was safe, the town grew, as did the reputation of the monks."
"But it is deserted." Ivory hurried after her. Darken Gray had reached the entrance of the monastery.
Darken Gray nodded as she put her hands on the broad doors of the building and pushed, opening them. "They could not attack it, but the Sidereals of the Bronze Faction were not about to let it continue."
Beyond the doors was a great room, circular, glass for walls, in the centre a wooden carving of the Unconquered Sun, nearly thirty feet tall. The polished wood glowed gold and was so smooth it almost looked like metal.
Ivory looked up at it, the stern look on his beautiful face. She recalled what she had said in Great Forks, of the shrine to the Unconquered Sun there. This seemed more the sort of building that Sol Invictus deserved. She thought about the kind of place it must have been when the monks had been there and said, "If a Solar were to have found this place she would have had a well-trained army."
"Yes, exactly so."
"What did they do?"
"They poisoned the water. An elemental was made to take up residence below, secreting its poisons into the great underground spring beneath. Within weeks this place was deserted. No damage was done to it. No offence was given to the Unconquered Sun."
"What happened to them? The monks and the others who fled?"
"Most were killed by the Wyld Hunt in the weeks that followed, those that survived went into hiding. For all purposes the monks were ended. This town wiped out."
"That's terrible."
"It is. And I want you to keep it in mind. Even if your enemies are unable to touch you directly, they can find other ways."
Ivory walked up to the wooden carving and knelt down upon the floor, pressing her hands together in front of her, offering up her prayer, the simple one she almost always prayed.
As she got up and walked back to Darken Gray Ivory asked, "Is the elemental still under here?"
"It is. Ostensibly she is this place's caretaker, which mollifies those that might otherwise argue that disrespect is being offered to Sol Invictus. In truth she is the watchdog here, to keep all away."
"Will she come here, because of our presence?" Ivory asked, not particularly frightened by the prospect.
"No, not while I am here."
"You? Why?"
"Because if she ever puts herself in my sight I will end her. Her poison, it killed all the children that had been here."
Later, as the flying pagoda left the town and the monastery behind Ivory leaned on the fence around the garden and looked back at the rock that rose from the forest. Her red hair was pulled loose by the wind and blew around her face.
"One day," she said to Hu, "I will go back there and drive that elemental away, or kill it, and take that place back."
"It is what I would expect from you," Hu told her.
Ivory wondered if that meant Hu approved.
The flying pagoda put down just outside of the gates of Nechara. The city state was influential and notable for being the farthest South Eastern stop of the Guild's trade routes. It was also on the trade routes that led to the wealthy Dreaming Sea states.
Guild officials, the caravan drivers and their guards, the small traders who went out into far east and the borderlands, as well as the citizen's themselves, mixed together in a colourful weave and pattern.
From the forest near the river, three hundred twenty pillars rose into the sky, each one fifty feet high and half that in diameter. What their purpose had been Darken Gray could not say, and Ivory could not guess, but now they formed the base for the city. A huge platform of wood and steel had been laid out upon it, and on that platform much of the city was constructed.
The effect was a large city that rose high above the trees, seeming to float above the canopy.
Darken Gray found some men who would guard the Pagoda. She paid them well and likely used some magic to ensure their honesty. Then she and Ivory entered the city proper.
The platform itself was almost as thick as the pillars were high. On the edges Ivory made out old structures, previous buildings that the current city had been built upon. She wondered if there were tunnels of old streets and chambers of old buildings beneath her feet.
As they walked Darken Gray explained how the city came to be, of how the Guild's presence shaped what had developed there.
"You'll find many city states like Nechara along the edges of Creation, surviving on trade and the Guild's presence. Slaves travel from within Creation, out to the edges and the Fair Folk who purchase those slaves, wonders from the Wyld flow back."
"Is this important?" Ivory asked. Paying attention to Darken Gray made it harder to look around at all there was to see.
"It is if one day you decide to end or co-opt the Guild."
Demons, Wyld Hunts, the dead, these were the things that had occupied Ivory's attention over the past months. The Guild was not something that had seemed too important to her.
Darken Gray's words made her think about it.
While she was thinking about that Darken Gray said, "The nobility here have courted the favour of the elementals and spirits, even the demons."
"Courted?"
"As in seeking breeding partners."
Ivory wanted to appear to be cosmopolitan, but she felt her cheeks heat up slightly. "I see," she said, trying to keep her voice steady.
"They use the powers they get from their supernatural parents to provide for the city. Come here."
She led Ivory to the walled edge of the platform, an open area on which stood box fed, spring powered ballistae, where guards walked, looking out into the jungle. The wall was low enough that Ivory could look over it if she stood on her toes.
"What am I looking at?"
"Orchards, beyond that rice patties, beyond that, grain fields. They likely keep goats close to the city, and they husband wild boar in the forests."
Ivory looked at the fields and the forest, at the people moving among the patties and orchards, wondered if there were hunting parties among the woods.
"Everything seems to be growing well."
"That is so. Those who are children of wood elementals work hard to make those crops grow well."
Ivory looked out at the fields for a little longer and then asked, "What about those that have parents that are other types of elementals or demons?"
"Slay monsters, break armies, oppress their people and negotiate with other city states from a position of power."
"And Nechara benefits?"
"Very much?"
"And what do the surrogates demand for their seed?" Ivory asked, glad she had not blushed.
"That is the question. The spirits and elementals of course demand much, and that is one of the reasons that Nechara has had to indebt itself to the Guild. The Guild is one of the few organisations that can help them meet all those demands."
Ivory thought about it. "So, if someone like me could help them meet those demands I could cut the guild out and set up a position of power?"
Darken Gray smiled. "If that is what you wished."
"Are there would be others places like Nechara?"
"There are others in similar situations. This far east there are many threats. The Guild is one of those few groups that have enough power to help them. The Guild helps maintains many cities like this on the borders of Creation. They benefit of course."
"Do we need them?"
"The Guild or the cities?"
"Both. Either."
"Places like this help maintain the borders," Darken Gray said.
"Pardon?"
"They help hold back the forces of Chaos. They are real, and their presence alone makes the area around them more real. They help to keep the Wyld from creeping farther in."
"Oh," Ivory said with a nod.
Darken Gray led Ivory away from the city's edge and began to talk about the City's history, as much as she knew. "The pillars, they are almost certainly from the First Age, likely some great project that was never finished. Forgotten, until after the Great Contagion, until after the Fair Folk invaded, this was the place where a small group of survivors made their stand. Most died here."
Ivory was not certain what to think of something that had happened so long ago, and so many had died in those times.
"A Solar Exalted was here."
"Really?" Ivory asked. Now she was interested.
"A handful of mortals, against an army of Fair Folk, a single swordsman stepping out against a mighty champion of his enemy. Of course he Exalted. He had twenty years here before the Wyld Hunt finally was able to find him. He built a city greater than what is here now, and the Wyld Hunt burnt it down in killing him. Or perhaps he burnt it down so no one else could take it."
"What do you think?" Ivory asked as she followed Darken Gray.
"I think it will never be known, but even with the city gone the Solar had done much to make the area around here safe and bountiful. It was little wonder that others came and rebuilt. It grew and again became great until the Arczeckhi horde attacked. This was where one of the decisive battles took place. One of those actions that drove the Arczeckhi back and broke their power for centuries. It also destroyed much of the city."
"And they rebuilt it," Ivory said.
"Mortals will almost always rebuild, given time. It is one of their defining features."
Near the centre of the city was a high pillar made of steel and wood. Ivory had seen it when they came in, but up close she was able to see how large it was, and as they closed she needed to tilt her head back to see the top. And at the top was a winged giant, made of woven branches, like some huge wicker work basket.
"That is Imenza, Elemental Lord of either air or wood or both in some unnatural mating."
"Imenza?"
"A rogue, who has been," she paused, "providing a great deal of his seed to those who seek it. In return he demands worship, daily prayers, obedience."
Ivory looked around, taking note of the men and women in robes who circled the area. She had given them little attention before, but watching could see them moving their lips in quiet prayer while manipulating chains of wooden beads.
Ivory frowned.
"What are you thinking?"
"The Immaculate Order speaks up against exactly this thing. And while I know the Order is so much," she paused, as she had been about to swear, something she had heard a soldier use in Lookshy, "garbage, it is hard to forget it all. I am also thinking that elemental has a job that is not being done."
Ivory thought she might have heard a creak and squeak of wood sliding on wood. She looked up, wondered if the giant above was looking towards her.
She almost hoped it was.
"Things have changed since the First Age. As you say, many gods and elementals are not doing what they should."
Again there was that sound, like wood sliding on wood. Ivory did not look up this time.
Darken Gray walked towards the base of the pillar. Ivory followed her around the pillar, to an opening on the other side. Within a set of stairs spiralled down. Darken Gray started down them, Ivory went after.
The stairs were well cared for, clean, the wear on the steps suggested they were often used. At the bottom was a flat surface, Ivory thought it was likely the top of one of the pillars the city was built on.
A chamber there was lit by a large lamp, most of its light directed onto man sized rock, wrapped in hemp ropes hung with paper prayer strips.
"This is a shrine, raised to the Solar from long ago. The Wyld Hunt did not quite remove all evidence of him."
Ivory walked up to the rock, saw the Old Realm carvings on it. "Deiffen First Blade," she read out loud, "Champion of the Sun."
"Only a handful still remember who he was, know what he did, but they have not entirely forgotten."
"Does the elemental above help hide this?"
"If so that is a happy accident. Imenza only cares for Imenza. If he ever chooses to fight for this city it will only be to protect his worshippers so they can continue to direct prayers and essence towards him. But he is like a big dog in the yard, even if the dog will not bite."
Ivory nodded as she stood in front of the rock. She stared at it for almost a minute, frowning as she did. "I don't want to end up like this, only remembered by a few."
Darken Gray did not say anything.
After a few minutes, Ivory turned away from the stone. "Thank you for showing me this."
"It is the history of this place. Now we will see what books we can buy. I will expect an essay by tomorrow morning." She started up the stairs.
"Tomorrow? I won't have time to do anything else."
"Ivory, we are travelling about Creation. I think you will find plenty of time to pursue your goals, but tonight you will be writing an essay."
Ivory did not protest or grumble about it, for she knew it would not change Darken Gray's mind.
However she was growing tired of being told what to do.
Few beings had told her what to do in Malfeas.
Later in the afternoon, hired servants walking behind them, their arms loaded down with boxes of books and other purchases, Ivory and Darken Gray returned to the Pagoda. There they found a small crowd of curious onlookers. Among them was a well-dressed woman, accompanied by big guards in armour, carrying long, sheathed great swords.
Older than most in the crowd, but tall and straight and beautiful, she stepped forward, not quite blocking Darken Gray's path. "This artefact, the flying house, it is yours?" Up close Ivory could see a particular cast to her features that reminded her of the Neomah from Malfeas.
Demon Blooded.
Ivory recalled Darken Gray saying some of those that were the offspring of the Supernatural oppressed their people. She had a feeling that this woman was like that.
Ivory looked between the two women, noting Darken Gray did not answer immediately.
"It is," the goddess said just before the silence could grow uncomfortable, or threatening.
"Would you sell it."
"No," Darken Gray answered immediately.
The older woman looked at Darken Gray, the crowd about them. Ivory could almost see the calculus in her mind. The value of the floating pagoda. The witnesses. She did not look at Ivory, discounting her.
Ivory considered the number of ways she might kill the woman.
Might kill everyone in the crowd.
It was only a momentary thought.
It surprised her though, and she kept silent where she might otherwise talk.
"I understand," the woman said a few seconds later, her calculations done. "If you change your mind, please seek me out." From her robe she drew out a card of thick, white paper, covered in ink so black it shone purple in the late sunlight.
"Of course," Darken Gray said politely as she took the card.
The woman stepped to the side and circled around Darken Gray, walking away. Her guards went with her.
Ivory watched them until Darken Gray called her.
She followed her into the Pagoda. A short time later it lifted into the air and gently floated away from the city state, picking up speed, leaving Nechara behind.
Ivory stood in the garden, watching the city recede in the distance.