TONIGHT IT IS TIME TO GET OUT OF KINGSBORO WHILE THE GETTING IS GOOD
His holy name was Menowy, and this was how he signed the letter.
Connleth Arragareth sent a message to Ohean from the Foothills telling him it was time to come. Above him, to the northwest, like layers and layers and layers of green were hills that led to the wild Western Wood and the border of Chyr. This was the part of Westrial that had never ceased to be Royan where white men were few and the name of Cedd was said with caution.
He was lonely, and looking forward to being taken in by friends or friends of friends. He knew his blue cloak gained him respect. Conn Arragareth knew that part of his problem was he had not learned to live with other people. He had not lived alone since his severe year and a half training at the Rootless Isle. If he were a mage as Ohean, he would have stayed much longer, but as a Blue Priest, Ohean often came to him at the temple to teach him.
“But you will have to go to the Isle and live under Nimerly for a year and a half. That much is necessity.”
Because of what he was, Conn knew his initiation would be different from others, and it had been. The day he went through the last of the Testings, and passed from apprentice to mage, Conn sat in his room, exhausted from the trials the Nine had put him through. He had not stood before Coviane, for she refused to test him or even confront him since the time he had predicted that her days her numbered and life soon to end.
“The sooner he leaves for the Hidden Tower,” she told his uncle Jasper, “the better.”
Jasper of the bronze hair and handsome face was his father and while Senaye was often gone, he was always here. Often Conn was with the Tribes, and his cousin, the Wyvilo rider Thano, a warrior with witchcraft in his blood. Jasper had promised, when he had gone through the Red Test—which Conn knew nothing of—and when he had come through his trials he would go north, to Senaye’s family, and then on he would go to the Hidden Tower.
“Where is the Hidden Tower?” Conn whispered.
Jasper, born in part of the tribes, with his high cheekbones and green eyes, smiled.
“It is Hidden,” he said.
Outside the boys of the island, lead by Jasper, his father, and Nimerly were singing:
He is in everything
The Lord moves over the mountains
He is everything
The Lord moves over the sea
He is in everything
And through the wheat heavy fields.
He is in everything.
That night as Conn lay drifting in and out of sleep, he heard a voice call, “Arragareth! Arragareth!”
He turned over, thinking he might still be sleeping, but opened his eyes to behold Jasper standing over him.
“Come my son,” Jasper said. “Come.”
They went out of his room and through the halls and out of the house into the woods and followed a shooting river. Conn could see the light of the moon shimmering on it and when she stood by it, Jasper said, “Take off your clothes.”
Conn obeyed, and while he undressed, his father stripped until he was in a breech clout, and Thano stripped to a thong.
“There are other rites, Arragareth,” Jasper said, as he lit a white bundle and the pungent smell of sage came to Conn’s nose, “the rites of the Elundi, but also the rites of men as the women have their own rites. You have been initiated Enchanter, but you have not been initiated Priest. Depart my son, with Thano as your companion. Go and cross the water.”
Conn looked at Thano. His cousin was taller and a little more fit than he, and he nodded solemnly, his face almost like a carving while he held the smoking sage.
“Let us go,” Conn said.
They waded through the waters and into the forest, and they went through the tree branches, following the secret paths. The branches stung Conn and he felt the cool of the late winter, but there was an exhalation in him coming through the earth up his feet. The cares of most days passed from him. He felt light, not as if he would float away, but as if he were a blade of grass, so very deep in the earth, and Thano was another one of those blades and together they were rooted deep into the land. Westrial and all the lands of the north would be fine. The war would be fine. All of the outside world would be fine. Things were not in his hands. Only this moment was in his hand.
And just as he thought this he stopped, for something new was coming through the words. Before he could whisper his father’s name, or understand that this would have been the wrong direction for his father to come, the moon shone full on the figure coming through the clearing. He was taller than any man and bare chested, and his skin was… yes… not dyed by the moon light, blue. His bare chest, his slightly bearded chin, was blue, and he wore a mantle of fur, or of animal skin, for his crown was what at first seemed to be the head of a stag, but now seemed the head of an aurochs, for it had both high antlers and curving horns and the face of the man looked on him with solemnity and merriment at the same time. He had heard of the priest of the Wild One, possessed of the God, but this was the wrong time of year for them to come out. And then, suddenly he saw the animal headdress, and it seems as if the man’s head was an ornament and the animal head was the true head and suddenly, one of the great black eyes of the Beast winked at him.
Conn put a hand to his mouth and the Beast Lord said only, “Arragareth!”
And then he was gone.
For some time, naked, Conn stood beside Thano. He did not speak to his cousin right away. When he did he asked him: “Did you see that?”
Thano did not speak, but when Conn looked on the handsome boy he saw that pressing through his thong was an erection, and Conn looked down on himself and realized he had one too. He remembered the story of the Man and Woman in the Garden, discovering they were naked. Nimerly had said this was the first initiation.
Thano looked on Conn, still not speaking, and then Conn put his hands to the band of Thano’s thong and pulled it off so they were both naked.
“Your father said,” Thano began in a breathless voice, “if the God comes, you have been received as priest, and if he does not…” Thano said nothing else. He pressed himself to Conn and kissed him, and Conn pulled him down gently in the softness of the grass. The need and the desire moved through them and Conn realized, on some level, he had desired this with Thano for some time. They kissed and touched each other slowly, and in the grass took each other in their mouths. Conn gasped as Thano’s tongue darted inside of thim. In the end he held his cousin’s face in his hands and then kissed him, and he turned around and felt Thano overshadow him. The head of his cock pressed inside of Conn painfully, and then rested in him. But once it was there, the rest of Thano fit easily to him. As they rocked their bodies together, giving and taking, they made no noise in the grove of trees. When Thano came out of him, kneeling over him, he ejaculated like a spray of hot water across Conn, his body shuddering. Thano knelt over him saying nothing, not entirely sure what to say.
He’s scared, Conn realized even while he still felt Thano throbbing inside of him.
He always wanted this and he’s scared that he’s hurt me, scared that he’s discrespected me, scared of… my feeling… for…
Conn reached up and took Thano by the hand and brought the other boy down beside him.
“We should lay here a while and go to sleep.”
“Do you think Jasper is waiting for us?” Thano asked him.
“No,” Conn said.
“Look at you,” Thano said, after a time.
Conn did not need to look to know he was so stiff it hurt, and now Thano began tugging at him, and then wetting his and to make the tugging better, to make Conn moan with pleasure. Thano, at last, knelt on him, pulled Conn inside of him, rode him through the night while, Thano’s hands on his chest, Conn looked up at the stars and felt pleasure he had never known.
In the end, feeling a new force, he flipped Thano over and plowed into him fiercely until, with a loud cry, he came with a groan that was something like defeat, or surrender, shooting and spilling, and at last collapsing.
In the night they made love twice, desperately one might say except they were not desperate. Conn felt triumphant. As the sky turned grey they padded through the trees, holding hands, and crossed the river which now seemed so cold. They dunked up and down in it several times and then redressed, their clothes on the other side of the river. Sure enough, Jasper was not there, and though Thano seemed lost for a moment, Conn knew the way, and so they came at last to the house and to his chambers where they undressed and climbed into the same bed.
“What will we say to everyone?” Thano asked.
“We will say nothing. What did you want to say?”
“I will have to leave in a few days,” Thano said.
“Ah, yes, but while you’re here, you’re here, and now you’ve made me a man.”
“Don’t say that,” Thano cried, embarrassed, while Conn laughed.
As sleep passed over him, a voice whispered like the wind, and Conn remembered how it was near this time that new names were received.
“Menowy…. Menowy…. Thou art Menowy…”
THE BLUE TEMPLE
That afternoon, Connleth Aragareth, Priest of the Second Grade approaching the Third, was bent over a vellum scroll with his lover, Derek Annakar looking over him while he chanted:
nabda 'ughniat Muses of Helicon maeahum ,
aladhin yahmilun jabal hlykwn aleazim walmuqadis ,
wahawl nabeih albunafasijii wamudhbihah alshadid qawiu Kronios ,
walraqus ealaa 'aqdam latifat ,
w aladhin baed alaistihmam basharathum alnnaeimat fi Permessos
Now and again, Derek would correct him, but mostly he smiled, and Conn, in his Blue Robe continued to chant The Story of the Making of Things
5 'aw nabe alhassan 'aw Olmeios almuqadas ealaa qimat alhulikun
shakal raqasatihim jamila alraqasat alty tuthir alshahwat
watataharak bishakl mathirin. min alhalikun yanhidun muhjibat fi dabab
eamiq wayamshun khilal allayl yursilun sawtihim 'ajmal
10 tarnimat tarnimat zuyus walsayidat hira w Argive fi sandal min dhahab
, w aibnatu zius , 'athinaan ramadiat aleaynayn ,
As he was continuing, Abbot Hyrum swept into the library and stood to the side, looking at Derek, but when Derek opened his mouth to stop Conn, Hyrum shook his head and Conn continued”
Belmarine, Olea, alldhan yuskiban alsiham ,
buasidun , hamil washakir jaya
'aghustus thaymis wa'ufrudit min aleuyun
alkhatifat w wahibi bitajihaan aldhahabii wadiun
aljamila litu wayabitus wakrunus min mushawirat multawiat
w 'iius w hilius aleazimat w satie silayn w Gaia w Okeanos aleazim
Vox lathana aleashirat almuqadasat lghyrhm
min alqatlaa aldhyn hum daymana
When he stopped, he looked up and saw that Derek was looking in the direction of Abbot Hyrum.
“Abbot.”
“You should go downstairs,” Hyrum said. Then, looking to Derek. “You both should go to the sanctuary. Someone is waiting for you.”
When they reached the sanctuary, Ohean was standing there, and all he said was”
“It is time. Ready yourself. We leave in the hour.”
There would be no long goodbyes, and Conn did not want them. Hyrum seemed to know everything, and Gabriel, Quinton, and Cal were already packed as well as Derek.
“Conn has sent a message from up north,” Ohean said. “The Prince is at Purplekirk even now.”
Lorne did not leave. Those who were leaving tightly embraced those who remained, but they had all packed their bags and soon they were following Ohean. Conn felt stupid for not knowing there were stables in the Temple, but then there was everything in the Temple, so he shouldn’t have been surprised. Some of the First Years were working here, and in that place, was a red headed young man.
“Are we ready, Master?” he asked Ohean.
“Yes, Wolf, and these are our new companions.”
“So you true Blue Priests?” the tall redheaded boy said in amazemnent, folding his hands together and bowing with respect.
“Yes,” it was Gabriel who spoke, surprised to be honored so.
“And Master says you will be a mage?”
Ohean made a small grunting noise, reaching into his saddle bag and pulling his hood over his head.
“It would seem so.”
“It is so,” Ohean said.
“Well, now let us be off. There is much to do.
“Master, is this where you got that sword from last year?” Wolf asked.
“It is.”
“It is a magic sword?” Wolf whispered.
“Yes,” Ohean replied, “And it bears this particular magic about it: if you stab a man with it, he will die.”
Wolf only frowned and said to the Blues who were between laughing and trying to stop from laughing, “He’s always this way. You’ll learn.”
They rode north toward the Everdeen District and Varayan Hill and then west until they came to Milno Bridge and crossed the great river, blue in the early spring, and entered Kingsgarth with its high palaces and gardens. They were coming nearer and nearer to the great castle, the Kingsboro, and when Connleth pointed this out, Ohean said, “We are not only coming nearer to it. We are coming into it.”
Conn remembered hearing that there was a public section of the palace that the people often came in and out of, the outer courts, and while Cal had visited here with Hyrum, Conn had never come this close to the long expanse of the Boro. It was like a small city, and indeed, he had heard how once upon a time it was the original city, but the city had expended beyonds its walls. Now they saw the high towers and long walls, the walls beyond walls and beyond them the great buildings and towers of the Kingsboro, all the color of rose colored earth, red tiled and rosy like a sunset. They walked past several gates, going more north along the castle street where there were not only great houses but very humble homes, and then turning north they arrived at the main gate of the Kingsboro, and Conn looked on the high towers and long walls, and beyond them, rising higher, other walls, and the deep towers and the Great and Greater Keep, lofty and filled with crystal windows glinting back the late day sun.
Entering the gate, Ohean left the horses with a porter and after giving him three gold coins, traced a sign of blessing over them and him, and then, without pushing away his hood, continued walking. As they entered the main bailey, four massive towers from each corner of the court looked down on them, but Ohean walked straight ahead to the wall before them, of ancient grey stone, and star walking up its side, and at last they took the long stair which zigzagged and looked down dizzyingly upon the main gate. As they walked up, the stairway went to a great wall and Ohean said, “This is where we will end, for this is what I wanted you to see, both of you.”
This high wall was more pink than rose, and on it, so unlike the rest of this Ayl castle, were the enameled green of palm trees, and the slender paintings of brown men and women leaping up and, faded with time and missing some sections because of the years, white and brown bulls leaping. Derek had never seen the like of this, and Ohean spoke.
“Past that wall is the true palace, which is build very high and not reached by here. In timr of war it could easily be defended and these stairs taken down, but this had never happened.”
“Lord Ekkrebeth—”
“Call me Ohean.”
“Ohean,” Connleth said. “It is beautiful, but why have you brought us here.”
“To show you the age of the world. How old is the Kingsboro, and how old is Westrial?”
“Westrial,” Derek began, “it happened when the Ayl came here, intermarried with the Royan, founded a new kingdom, of the West Ayl, as Sussail is of South Ayl and the Royans and the Sincercians. It was over a thousand years ago.
“And what was before that?”
“The Imperium. When the Sinercians came. They lefy, but some of them, like Quinton and Matt’s ancestor’s, stayed.”
“But before that?” Ohean said. “Or did they tell you of before that in the Temple?”
“We heard the songs, and the legends. Some of them,” Matteo said. “I would have known more, but I am only in my third year.”
“No matter,” Ohean said as his eyes swept or over the faded painting of a leaping dolphin.
“Before that was Ynkurando, and Ynkurando stretched all across the Ayl Kingdoms, even into Hale. It fell into hard times in the end, but it was the heart of the Royan lands. Westrial was the heart of Ynkurando. It’s old name was Locress. Westrial has lasted a thousand years, but Ynrukando’s lasted three thousand years, three thousand years before the last of its kings fell to the Sinercians. But those who were left of that bloodline fled north to establish Rheged and Osariand. You have been told than Kingsboro was built by the West Kings, but this is not quite true. It was rebuilt. This palace was built on the ruins of the old, which we stand upon now. Those were its walls. These stones were brought from the isle of Solea, and they are from before the days of the Third Creation. They come from the time of the Last Creation,”
Derek did not ask what this meant, and Ohean continued, “I tell you this, because very few things survive from that time. But the Blue House is one of those things.”
New people were approaching, but Derek did not dare look away from Ohean.
Ohean’s eyes swept over all of them. Even Cal, standing beside Quinton looked serious.
“The Blue Priests fled Soléa at the end of the last creation and re established that temple,” Ohean said. “They built the doors from Red Tree and the Black Tree and the White. I tell you this because you all this because we are leaving this place and going into a deep and ancient magic, and before you go into it, you mudt also understand that you have come from it as well.”
But now he had stopped talking, and even Connleth recognized Prince Anson. Beside him were two girls in a heavy cloaks, pulling a pony, and the Prince said, “We will meet Pol on our way out of the city.”
“You have brought Imogen?” Ohean said.
“Lord Ohean, please don’t tell me I should go back with my brother—” the princess began, and Connleth realize she was the dark haired princess he had seen on the festival processions to Purplekirk.
“Of course I wasn’t,” Ohean said. He made a brief gesture over her, and Conn blinked, no longer able to focus on her features no matter how he tried.
“That’s better,” Ohean said. “Cedd has a heedless mind, but let him forget you for the next day or so. That’s what we need,” he murmured. “All who see us will forget us, that’s what we need.”
Conn realized that Ohean’s musings were a spell, saw the long brown hand moving about as he spoke.
“Now,” he said, turning to Anson, “We should go.”
They met Pol Kurusagan and Austin Buwa in the Everdeen District, not long after joining Jon and Nialla, the brother in law and sister of Conn Arragareth. Conn. They were also joined by a Marnen girl named Sara and her brother Theo and, to Derek’s surprise. Obala. Who had once lived in the Blue House but gone back to keeping her herds on the fields near the river.
“We are heading for the river,” Nialla told her brother. “We are going to get Obala’s herds and travel with the,”
“It is time for us to be moving,” the large, dark woman said.”
Kingsboro is a great city, and Derek had rarely left it since he’d come seven years ago. It seemed, traveling south to the Ram Road and then along the river, on the pastoral road with all the herders that they would never leave its boundaries. The Great Walking Road, where the Marnen and the many other herding people were entering and leaving the city traveled, stretched out for many miles with river to the right and pasture to the left, a strand of country in the city walls and, at last, it gave way to the stockyards and to the old neighborhoods of the stockyard workers. The living quarters were as diverse as collections of old tenements or almost farm houses, This whole stretch was like great crowded villages with no city life about them, and only in the distance, to the far west could they see the great buildings of Kinsboro. But Kingsboro was very old and it had outgrown its walls many times. It seemed to have no end, but, at last, they passed through the Ram’s Gate, that great door with the two large figures of ram head men, hands on knees, sharp eyes looking out onto the world from their goatish faces, and Wolf, Myrne, Imogen, Thano, Ohean, Anson, Derek and their whole crowd along with the herders and the cyclists, those walking or riding on donkeys and horses came out with them.
Now the great road traveled amidst hills and dipping vales, and they passed through the small suburbs of the King’s City and now and again, over the hills, they could see the luxurious River Road, the other way out of the city for the great cars and buses and sedans. Before long these two roads would come together into the King’s Road and travel north as it traveled east,west and south from the great city.
“But we will travel north,” Ohean informed them.
MORE WEDNESDAY
