By dawn, a few of Tez' Mu's assumptions had been proven correct, earning him his escorts' begrudging respect. Merchants using the Mirin route were now being allowed into the city, though the Keolyor had doubled security. That was an opportunity, one he intended to use.
The escorts got to work dismantling the carriage. The panels were stripped away, the seats pulled out, and the doors pried off, reducing it to little more than a skeletal frame. The roof came off last, leaving an open cart. With the shell gone, they bundled together dry branches and kindling, stacking them onto the flat base. The wood was uneven, hastily gathered from nearby scrub and discarded piles along the roadside, but it would pass at a glance. Once the load was secured with thick ropes, the carriage had become a firewood merchant's wagon.
Sari gave their handiwork an appraising look. "Not bad," he murmured, running a hand over the coarse bark.
Tez' Mu turned to him. "Think up a believable story to get you and Annir inside. You have money to buy second-hand tunics for everyone. If they ask where you're coming from, say Nuhai."
Sari tapped his temple and grinned. "Don't worry about all that." He swung onto the driver's seat, and as soon as Annir climbed up beside him, he flicked the reins. The horse charged out and soon disappeared over the crest of the hill.
Tez' Mu turned to the guards. "We have work to do here."
"What's that, my lord?" Kal' Yu asked. Tez' Mu gestured to the rest of the luggage.
"Hiding any evidence that we were here. Let's hurry!"
As the others set to work covering their tracks, Tez' Mu climbed a low ridge, weaving his way through the undergrowth until he found a vantage point. Crouching behind the broad-leafed branches of a towering shrubbery tree, he peered down at the valley below. The gates of Mirin loomed in the distance, blocked by the Keolyor encampment.
From his perch, he spotted Sari and Annir's wagon merging into a sluggish queue of merchants inching toward the city. The first checkpoint lay within the Keolyor camp itself, the road to the gate threading straight through it. The soldiers paused each wagon for inspection, pulling aside canvas coverings and prodding at cargo.
Tez' Mu froze, turning his brain loose. If the Keolyor saw his red hair, questions would follow.
What can I do?
The answer came just as quickly.
I have Miyuan blood.
The eastern kingdom's accent wouldn't be hard to fake.
He dropped lightly from the branches, landing on his toes. "Kal' Yu!" he called.
The deputy looked up from where he had been tending to the horses.
"We'll have to split up," Tez' Mu said before Kal' Yu could object. "If we enter with Sari and Annir again right after they leave, it'll raise suspicion."
Kal' Yu's expression darkened. "Then I must remain with you, my lord, to ensure your safety."
Tez' Mu shook his head. "We have to be discrete. I'll stick with Sari—I can pass as his brother. You and Annir will team up. The others will form a separate group."
Kal' Yu folded his arms, scowling as if the whole world had turned against him. "I don't agree," he said. "Send your servant and the stable boy together, and the guards can—"
"No." Tez' Mu's tone was final. "I've made my decision. If you're not satisfied, you can head back to the capital."
A muscle twitched in Kal' Yu's jaw, but he said nothing. He turned on his heel to go relay the plan to the others, muttering a few choice oaths under his breath.
Then a voice called out. "My lord!"
Tez' Mu turned to see the second lieutenant crouched over his luggage, tightening the last of his pack straps. "Where do we regroup after we get inside?" he asked. "Are we spending the night in the city?"
Tez' Mu walked toward them. "We meet beyond Mirin." he replied. "To avoid suspicion, we mustn't be seen together. While you're in the city, keep your ears open—we need to know all we can about the Keolyor's next moves."
They had just finished breakfast when Sari and Annir returned, the sound of wheels reaching their ears even before the wagon crested the hill. The escorts secured their packs to their saddles, while Tez' Mu bent over a boulder, a map of the western provinces spread out before him, tracing his finger along the roads to confirm their route.
"There's a troop heading in this direction!" Sari called out, "We need to move, now!" He expertly steered the wagon into a shallow pit, where the land dipped just enough to hide its bulk, maneuvering it beneath thick foliage until it all but vanished from sight. The escorts scrambled to take cover under the trees.
Tez' Mu snatched his map off the rock and hurried after them, creepingthrough the undergrowth until he reached them, all out of breath. Sari had started handing out the clothes. By the time Tez' Mu blinked, his men had transformed into ordinary men in loose tunics with dirt-smudged faces.
Then came the sound of hooves.
The Keolyor squadron ascended the hill in a raucous procession, their voices loud and unguarded. They called to one another with cheers and laughter, speaking in the mainland tongue, laced heavily with western dialect words.
"Did you see how that chuha nearly wet himself when we stormed in?" one of the soldiers chortled, "Ancestors be my witness, I was expecting a real fight! The streets gave us more trouble than the governor!"
His captain responded in pure western, and laughter rang out again.
Tez' Mu peeped through the leaves. There were twelve of them, all lancers, their armor dusted from the road. His heart raced as, when the troupe passed by the remnants of the campsite, the captain abruptly reined in his horse and sniffed the air.
"Qo, what do you think?" The helmeted captain turned his horse around. "Let's go back. There's nothing to see out here. The hiarmak is too paranoid."
"Whatever you say, captain," the soldier called Qo replied.
Sari nudged Tez' Mu, but he already knew. Hiarmak? Qo? These were desert troops. He heaved a sigh of relief as the soldiers, with as much fanfare as they had come, turned around just meters from their hiding place and returned, galloping down the hill with snickers and laughter.
Sari reached out to move aside the canopy of leaves covering him. "That was a sign, ke," he murmured ominously, "That hiarmak knows we're here. We must be careful!"
"That's all the more reason for me to come with you, my lord!" Kal' Yu quickly interjected, "If the commander of the Keolyor already suspects your servant and ordered a troop after him, then we must either go another way, or move with discretion."
Tez' Mu frowned. It didn't feel like a coincidence, but he would rather have a duel with the hiarmak than have Kal' Yu tag after him.
"The plan remains the same." He said firmly, "Sari, I'm the brother you picked up outside the city after the battle concluded, and we're both from Miyuan. Kal' Yu, you're a farmer and Annir is your son. You two," he nodded towards the other escorts, "are guards of a lord in Kehir, who he sent to Nuhai to bury his old mother."
The two escorts looked to Kal' Yu, whose face was now as dark as night. However, he said nothing.
They rose then, and arranged themselves according to instructions. Kal' Yu and Annir were to set out first, the other guards following after a short delay, and Tez' Mu and Sari would bring up the rear, keeping some distance from the others, so the three groups would not be linked together.
Kal' Yu departed in a huff, and Annir rushed after him, not very used to horseback.
Tez' Mu and Sari glanced at each other.
"We can't stay here. It's too open," Sari said. He pointed south, toward the distant ridge where a dark opening could be seen nestled between weathered rocks. "Let's head over there and wait."
Tez' Mu nodded, his brow furrowed in thought as he pulled hard on the reins of his horse. The animal responded with a nervous whinny, but he guided it swiftly toward the cavern. The ground beneath shifted from loose stones to compact earth, as the path wound between rocky outcrops.
Sari spoke after a while. "The city was only besieged for five days before the governor voluntarily surrendered." He shifted in the saddle, "It seems Lord Kest had this planned."
Tez' Mu nodded, gazing ahead. "Kehir was taken the same way." He paused, then shrugged. "Although it seems their count is in cahoots with Offal' Kest. What else did you hear?"
"All merchants heading to the capital were arrested."
Tez' Mu frowned. "Then I guess the Dowager will also cut off the west's trade route. The steward's plan is to take Guho Valley."
Sari shook his head. "Unless the Dowager draws on the support of the other great-generals, I don't think that will be possible. Think about it, ke. The rebels have the Kest Army, these Keolyors, and all the military might of the cities they are annexing." He paused, "Mirin itself is full of able bodied men who, if given weapons, would stand as a formidable force. Now think: Mirin, Guho, Kehir and Uimal! And the steward thinks the Imperial Army can handle all of them?"
"The Imperial Army isn't as small as you think."
"I'm not talking about the size; I'm saying they'll be compassed on all sides," Sari argued. "Assuming the steward convinces her majesty to regain the west through Guho; that means Offal' Kest will send out his best men to hinder the attempt. If this situation escalates into a war, it won't end in ten years."
"And that's why I'm here," Tez' Mu tapped his chest, his face grim. They had reached the cavern. He slid down his horse and pulled it under the cover of one of the outcropping ledges.
"What did the Dowager ask you to offer Lord Kest?" Sari asked as he dismounted, walking after Tez' Mu into the cave. It was larger than it appeared from the outside. Jagged rocks filled the interior, and a few plants grew through the cracks in the ground. Tez' Mu wondered how they were surviving without sunlight.
"It was the steward that drew up the treaty," Tez' Mu flicked his hand as he retrieved it from his spatial ring. He tossed it to Sari, who caught it and untied the red ribbon.
Sari's eyebrows went up as he started to read.
"Have you—have you looked through this 'treaty letter' at all, my ke?" He asked in an even voice. Tez' Mu had squatted down to examine some of the plants. He glanced up at his servant.
"No. Why?"
Sari narrowed his eyes in concentration, the same moment Tez' Mu looked away. On the scroll, at his bidding, some of the curly words started to disappear, his eyes glinting ever so slightly.
Tez' Mu reached out to pluck the tiny red flower bud just visible under two curled up leaves.
A trace of blood rolled down the corner of Sari's mouth. He wiped it away quickly, and tucked the scroll under his arm just as Tez' Mu turned around, holding the small bud in his palm.
"Do you know what this is?" he asked with a coy smile. Sari shook his head. Tez' Mu did not notice his servant's strange expression.
"It's nahyar. Does that sound familiar?" His eyes were shining.
Sari shook his head again. Tez' Mu sniggered.
"Your mother's not a healer; you wouldn't know." He stood up. "This herb's a gem. If crushed and applied to the eyes, it changes their color. If swallowed, it alters your voice."
Sari frowned. "What's that got to do with healing? It sounds more like something a spy might use."
Tez' Mu chuckled. "What are we doing now? Look around. Let's find more. Even Kal' Yu won't recognize us when we catch up."
"Hah." Sari grunted, his voice dry.
The two of them moved quickly through the cave and its surroundings, but most of the nahyar plants hadn't bloomed yet.
Tez' Mu cursed. "What a waste. Let's at least grab the leaves. I'm sure they'll be good for something too."
"I just hope to the ancestors they're not poisonous," Sari growled instead, as the first leaf he plucked let out a strange red sap. He shook it off his hands as if stung.
Tez' Mu's voice came from further within the cave. "I found more! There's a whole colony here!"
Sari got up and followed, feeling his way into the darker parts. He stumbled along, losing his footing a few times. He suddenly felt a sense of foreboding as he turned sharply to the left.
"Ke!" He called. "Where are you?"
There was no response. Sari looked back the way he had come, shocked that the faint light was no longer there.
"Ke!"
His breathing started to come in fast gasps. Closing his eyes, he let out a low groan as a weight seemed to drop into his stomach. What was happening?!
Tez' Mu did not hear the dull thud of Sari collapsing a few meters away. He was too focused on the flowers he was plucking. Later, he would curse himself and the ancestors for forgetting the exact reason nahyar flowers were so rare.
A vine crept out from between the crevices above him and slithered along the wall, then dropped to the ground. It inched towards his leg and slowly started to twist around his ankle. Tez' Mu remained unaware until he made to rise from his crouch.
He found himself locked in place, unable to move.
Whip! Another vine suddenly lashed out from a gap on the right, striking him hard across the face.
Tez' Mu saw stars.
"Upon the ancestors' dead guts!" he swore loudly. More vines erupted from the cave walls, twisting and writhing, coming at him from all directions. Tez' Mu leapt up, staggered, then looked down.
The vine around his leg had started to tighten, crushing his foot.
"Damn!" He yanked his leg upwards, but the vine came up with it. He grabbed it and flung it off, just as another coiled round his left arm.
I need essence! He thought frantically.
Absorb!
But instead of guiding the essence to his body, he set it ablaze.
Flames roared to life, devouring the vines and nahyar plants in a blazing inferno. But as thick reddish smoke billowed up, warning bells rang in Tez' Mu's mind.
He started to cough, his eyes stinging. He flung off the vine around his arm, while another lashed him from behind.
"Aah!"
Setting them on fire was a bad idea. Hot vine was more painful than cold vine.
"Sari!" Tez' Mu yelled. "Where are you—!" His shout was cut off as he inhaled a mouthful of smoke.
The vines reared up like enraged beasts, coiling and uncoiling as they towered over him, flinging out barbed tentacles, piercing through his clothes and his skin, sinking deep. The fire raged on, more smoke than flame, devouring the last pockets of air in the cave. With effort, Tez' Mu wrenched his sword from its scabbard and slashed at the vines. But for every severed tendril, three more sprouted in its place.
Tez' Mu's head spun as his breath grew ragged.
The metal band on his wrist suddenly shone red, heating against his skin. He gasped as blue light poured out of it and surrounded him, wrapping him in a bubble.
The bubble started to levitate.
A shield artifact?
His excitement was extinguished when his head hit the roof of the cave with a dull thump and the vines closed in. They had stamped out the fire. Rising with a fury impossible for even sentient plants, they started to seal off the exit path, intertwining so quickly that Tez' Mu's eyes swam. He yelled out for Sari one last time before the vines covered the exit completely.
***
Sari woke up on the ground, his head ringing. A sharp pain in his right hand made him raise it to his face. He gasped.
It was swollen to four times its size, raw, red and rubbery. If a tiny splotch of the nahyar sap knocked him out cold for ancestors knew how long and turned his hand into this monstrosity, then what would a lot of it do to—
"Ke!" His voice shocked him, coming out hoarse. Sari rolled onto his side and pressed his good left arm to the ground, raising himself to sit. A fit of coughing overtook him, and he put his hand to his mouth to wipe off a smear of blood.
"Ke!" He called out again, as he started to rise from the ground. Eerie silence answered. He started crawling forward, his heart pounding. Merciful ancestors, he beseeched, please let my young master be fine!
Blundering along in the semi-darkness, Sari continued to edge on, panic now creeping up his spine. His hands and feet dragged over bumpy ledges and dips in the floor, and then the cave abruptly came to an end.
"Ke!" Sari roared as he rose to his feet, fear clouding his reasoning. Had the roof given out and hemmed his master in? He pushed hard against the 'fallen rocks', then flinched away with fright.
The rocks were alive.
They were pulsing like a living thing! Sari crept close and ignited a flame on the tip of his left forefinger. These aren't rocks, he thought, as he examined them by the light of the flame, his bewilderment glancing off unknown peaks. Rocks weren't green, fleshy, slimy and intertwined.
Vines!
Sari knew what kind of vines these were, unlike his master. But he was not the happier for knowing. Instead, the little hope he had for saving Tez' Mu was extinguished immediately at the sight of them.
He slumped to the ground. Drawing in a long breath, he raised his head and let out a loud scream.
***
Eisan viren sia hesdash. It was a stern creed in Huijan. Never provoke the guardian vines. That was the first thing children were taught once they started to walk and talk, as the town and its surrounding villages specialized in the herb gathering trade, which the locals survived on. Sari especially remembered that phrase, as it was burnt into his memory in the image of two longish bundles placed side by side in the village square; the noticeable bump around the middle on the other sending waves of anguish coursing through him. It was the day he became an orphan.
Mere hours before, his mother, had given him a wet kiss as she dropped him off at her friends', reminding him to be obedient, hoisting the metalwork basket onto her back and following after the fast disappearing figure of his father. That wasn't the first day they left him like that, to go gather herbs. They certainly knew the admonition to not go after the cursed herbs that had guardian plants, expensive though they were. But they still did.
The old coroner of Huijan had extensively examined the couple, and decided that the wounds on their bodies were the result of a vine attack. It was common knowledge that the hesdash did not attack unless provoked. And only harvesting what they were protecting could provoke them.
The last conversation of his parents still rang in Sari's head as he stared blankly at the rigid bodies, his six years of age not comprehending the significance the previous night.
"We'll try the glen tomorrow," his father had said, staring blankly out the window, "Mihas will come by in the evening. We must have something to give him."
As young as Sari was, he knew who Mihas was, and what he meant to his family. The stocky man's appearance at their weathered door meant strung tensions, raised voices, leering snickers, and his mother weeping behind the curtain. Mihas was a creditor.
His mother had taken another sip of her cold maize soup, hiding her trembling lip behind the bowl, "Not the glen. Surely there should be somewhere else?"
"There isn't. Orlan's men gathered all the herbs everywhere." His father had sighed, turning away, "We have no choice, my darling."
And then Orlan and his men brought back their corpses.
The hesdash had killed them.
***
Tez' Mu had no idea what the hesdash were. He swung Moonfire with fast strikes, slicing the vines at their roots.
They took longer to regenerate that way.
Turned around, he started to force his way out the cave. The vines blocking off the entrance had hardened, frosting up. Tez' Mu ascribed a few more unsavory epithets to the sages and ancestors. The vines were also capable of this?!
Moonfire exploded into a shower of sparks, each ricocheting off the frozen vines. Cracks started to appear along the middle. Tez' Mu ran forward, still within the safe confine of the shield artifact, and threw his weight against it.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
An answering echo came from the other side. Tez' Mu's spirits rose.
"Sari!" He shouted.
"Ke!" Came the anguished response.
"Stand back!"
Among Chan' Mu's stash were several exploding pellets. Tez' Mu retrieved one with a flick of his hand and staggered back, poured a wisp of essence into the shield thereby uncasting it, and flung out the pellet with all his might.
BOOM!
The vines blocking the entrance exploded as the cave shook with a tremor.
Tez' Mu sprinted, cradling his head between his arms as he dodged the avalanche of rocks raining down. Together with Sari, he fled the cave, the rocks crushing the vines as they attempted to slither after them.
Tez' Mu screeched to a halt as he nearly crashed into his horse. Sari was already jumping on his. Grabbed the saddle, he swung on, pulling on the reins, and followed Sari's lead as they galloped swiftly out of the cavern.
"That was a close shave." Tez' Mu found his voice after they had rode for what seemed like an hour, "Those vines were out for blood."
Sari gulped. His face was still pale white, and he held the reins with his left hand, his right hanging loosely by his side, still swollen. "I thought I'd lost you, my ke."
Tez' Mu flashed a shaky grin, "It takes more than slimy vines to end me, Sari."
Sari shook his head. He bit his lower lip as he side-eyed his master's haggard appearance. Tez' Mu was bleeding in at least half a dozen places.
"No." Sari spoke in a low murmur, "It takes nothing more than slimy vines to end you."
Tez' Mu looked affronted, "Come now! I'm not that weak!"
Sari turned his face away and said nothing more.
"So I gave you a scare, alright. Hey, where are we headed? We can't appear before the Keolyor like this!"
The camp, and the road through it, had risen into sight. A few wagons rolled by, but more people were on foot, with several brandishing crude weapons, singing solidarity songs in hoarse voices.
It seemed Mirin was now a mustering spot for Keolyor supporters.
"We're not so different from these people," Sari pointed out, indicating the worn out garbs of the migrants. "We'll blend in just fine."
They joined the queue, stalling their horses as they followed the meandering river of heads inching slowly towards the city. The mood in the camp was lighter, almost benign, as the soldiers at the first checkpoints ushered the refugees in with nods and agreeable smiles.
A man walking next to Sari and Tez' Mu spoke abruptly. "Get down from your horses, lads. They'll regard you more favorably."
They obliged him gratefully, and followed his lead. He smirked at them conspiratorially.
"Worked on your cover story yet? I'm pitching that I'm a fisherman from Kesik. I'm good with a bow."
Tez' Mu raised his eyebrows. So all these migrants were intending to join the rebel forces? The man answered the unasked question.
"Oh, I suppose you're just on your way to the west. Your village heads didn't rouse you up in the middle of the night to flee the raids. It was death or fighting. I chose fighting."
"Your village was raided by the Keolyors?" Tez' Mu choked out.
"Hush!" The man's eyes bulged. "Not the Keolyors. The Keolyors are our saviors. We were raided by the armaks, the wicked ones of the desert. Who are the Keolyor? They are men like us who rose to defend our land."
Tez' Mu glanced at Sari. Who would tell this man? The Keolyors and the armaks were one and the same. The only difference was perspective, and the propaganda Offal' Kest wanted to push.
The line inched forward. Tez' Mu tapped the man on the shoulder.
"Are you a westerner? Do you speak Saor?" he asked. The man shook his head.
"No. I'm from Gaban. Why?"
"Well," Tez' Mu sucked his teeth, "the commanders here are called hiarmaks. That's all I'll say."
The man turned around to glare at Tez' Mu, who shrugged. Weakening the resolve of one man wouldn't turn the tides. But it was good to know what the local people thought.
A woman started to scream. Tez' Mu froze, then stood on tiptoe, stretching his neck. Behind him, Sari spoke.
"Her husband already came by once, in the morning. He was refused entry, so he's trying again. They think he's a spy, so he's being beaten."
Tez' Mu gritted his teeth.
"Thanks, walking tree," he murmured cynically.
Sari snorted. He moved close to Tez' Mu's ear. "We mustn't give ourselves away. Remember that, ke."
Tez' Mu had never felt as acutely conscious of himself as he did when he passed under the eyes of the Keolyor commanders, pulling his horse after him. Nearby, two junior helmeted sergeants were kicking the 'spy' between themselves like a rubber ball. The man was covered in blood.
Tez' Mu gulped and tore his eyes away from the spectacle. He smiled at the soldiers, his lips protesting due to lack of emotion. There were three of them; one seated, supposedly the hiarmak, with the other two flanking him. All of them were very dark-skinned.
The word desert floated around in Tez' Mu's head.
"Nice steed you got there," one of them remarked.
"Thanks," Tez' Mu twisted the words in his mouth till he sounded like Raq' Mu when he was angry. Apparently, that was Miyuan accent.
"What breed is it?"
"Um—" He was about to answer when Sari nudged him from behind.
"It's Southern Stallion, my lord. I got the two at a fair in Jahha," Sari said, rubbing the mane of his own horse. Tez' Mu's brows twitched, but he pressed his lips tight.
"You two look a sight. Was your journey rough?" The hiarmak was a stocky man with scars running the length of his arms. His eyes were piercing.
"My clumsy brother fell into a thorn bush," Sari rolled his eyes, "I got these trying to pull him out," he gestured at his own scrapes. His right hand remained limp by his side. The hiarmak stared hard at it, but did not comment.
"Where are your parents?" he asked instead. Tez' Mu was immediately offended.
"Our father is in Yuyan, with another woman." He answered this time, sneering, "He couldn't care less about us. We've been roaming the continent. We just got here."
"I noticed you're Miyuan." The hiarmak smiled satisfactorily, pleased at his 'correct' guess, "But by here, do you mean Ochelon, or Mirin?"
"Ochelon." Sari answered, "It's said that the west is the most favorable place to settle. The east is too rigid; the north too formal; and the south is plagued with wars."
"We have wars in the west now, too." The hiarmak flashed a toothy grin, "Can you fight?"
Sari laughed.
"We aren't here to fight; we're here to have a good time. But we can never hinder our brothers." He cupped his hands the Miyuan way, fist over palm. "May your cause succeed."
"Oh, it will." The hiarmak shrugged unconcernedly. He leaned forward. "But suppose we need your help; I know you Miyuans have a lot of money…"
Tez' Mu started forward. He stopped in front of the hiarmak and flicked his hand. One of the silver daggers Chan' Mu had gifted him appeared in his hand. He tossed it, and the hiarmak caught it deftly. Unsheathing it slowly, a smile stretched across his scarred face.
"Poisoned blade. This is a treasure, kid. Are you willing to give me just like that?" He raised an eyebrow.
"We are trusting that you will maintain our image of the west as what it is; free for all," Tez' Mu said, his voice low. Sari immediately moved to place a hand on his shoulder. Tez' Mu caught the hint and drew back.
"Splendid, splendid." The dagger disappeared into the folds of the hiarmak's tunic. There was a jangling sound underneath; he wore a chain-mail vest, "Then, can I have the pleasure of knowing your names?"
Tez' Mu frowned. "Can we have the pleasure of knowing yours?"
The hiarmak spread his hands as he rose. "Nerak ez Hoy. Son of the Winterlands."
Tez' Mu snorted. Son of the Wilderness, more like.
"I'm Artar," Sari said, "My brother is Auren. Our family name is Il."
Nerak did not think they could have made all that up. He gestured towards the city, "All yours, my young lords."