Kurush: The First City - Chapter 26

Ashen clouds darkened the morning. The swathes of rubble and shattered wood around the docks were being trampled by crowds of lishas and hurums. Some were dragging bodies out of the canal and laying them in rows. Some were fishing out the bricks of the two towers which had guarded the entrance to the canal – the wave had swept away their foundations, making them fall and block the waterway. The only ship to survive was the enormous galley with a blood red hull owned by Lurush, currently precariously perched on top of several houses. A team of volunteers had tied ropes around it and were slowly pulling the behemoth back towards the canal.

Bukur had found Gishka amongst a group busily rebuilding a ship on what had been the dockside marketplace. He knew his aunt wasn’t the type to get her hands dirty – in fact she was wearing a bright pink dress that made her look like she was expecting to wine and dine with the great and the good later on – yet she was kneeling on the deck hammering the wood into place like nothing else mattered. Next to her was a gold-scaled lisha with a face chequered with scars wearing a tattered tunic. He kept inching towards her, but she kept inching away from him.

Bukur found a hammer and some wooden planks that had avoided becoming splintered, and joined the effort. He learnt the gold-scaled lisha was called Gamoz, and there were two bearded hurum brothers called Iddyr and Oddyr working on the hull. The merchant whose ship it was sat under the bow with his head in his hands – any valuables on the ship or in one of the dockside warehouses, if they had somehow survived the wave, would no doubt have been looted before the Sun had even risen.

"You know, the wave wouldn't have hit just Kurush," said Gamoz, "all the fishing villages on the island, and on Zemyz, and on the Paruan coast, they're probably smashed to smithereens"

Bukur noticed that he pronounced 'Kurush' more like 'Kuruz', "You're not from Kurush, are you?"

"Born and raised in Parua"

"Could that mean that all the pirates have been wiped out?"

"Maybe," said Gamoz, "but they'll be mending their ships as desperately as we are. And if they think we're ripe for pillaging, I'm sure they're hungry enough to make their move. More than anything, they’ll want our hurums in their bellies "

"Let's just hope they got battered more than we did. I don't want to have to defend Kurush while it's in this state"

Someone scoffed. Bukur turned to see a lisha with dark arrowheads running down his face who was refitting the hull around the stern.

"You're a soldier?"

"I am," said Bukur, "I'm off-duty today"

"Surprised you could be bothered to come down from the Rush, to take a break standing around on those high walls to help us little people"

"Soldiers are sworn to protect all citizens of Kurush, no matter what the threat"

"So where are all the others? Why aren't they helping?"

Bukur looked back down at the planks he was hammering, "I'm sure the order will come soon"

He noticed a lisha standing around on the docks, anxiously looking left and right. It was Oresh.

"Stop standing there and help!" a priestess carrying some wood told him. It was Askura from the Sapphire Temple, not someone Bukur would ever forget. After all, she was the first hurum he had ever eaten. The memory of that ecstatic night, of her impossibly sweet taste, was only marred by her telling him matter-of-factly afterwards that she’d never let him eat her again.

"I want to," said Oresh, "but I don't know how"

"Just get stuck in", Askura shoved the wood into his hands

“Oresh!” Bukur waved to him, “How’s Anka?”

“Exhausted. She wouldn’t eat any breakfast. She told me to go, but I asked Lurush’s aide to look after her. We’ve got to protect her Bukur, no matter what”

“I know”

The previous night, after Anka had run out onto the streets, Bukur ran to the Rush’s gate, thinking that she might have resolved to find her demise in the Ekuan quarter. Instead he found Oresh trying to get in, beside himself with worry. Luckily the on-duty guard owed Bukur a favour, and the two of them started combing the Rush’s streets for her. Then they heard the scream from the zenith of the Palace.

“I remember you,” said the lisha with the arrowheads, “and I remember her”, he licked his lips as he leered at Askura

Oresh took a deep breath, walked over to him and extended his hand, “Oresh”

The lisha stared at his hand for second before clasping it, “Staroz”

“Let me help you,” said Oresh as he slotted a plank next to his, “We need to get the docks in working order again if we want to avoid a famine. Kurush survives on trade”

“True enough,” said Staroz, “but what about the people who don’t have homes anymore? What about all the new orphans?”

“The Ikark should give out some of their money, so that people can actually afford to live. Also we’re going to need to buy more wood, tin, copper, stone and all that if we’re ever actually going to completely rebuild”

Staroz chuckled, “You think the Ikark will be that generous?”

“Only if we demand it”

After another hour of work, the ship was sea-worthy again. Another group nearby had finished rebuilding a jetty, and together they pushed the ship back into the water. But the docks were still unnervingly empty. There were only half the ships there had been the day before, and it had felt empty even then. All that was left on the dockside were piles of cracked bricks and splintered wood.

Bukur pulled the merchant to his feet, “Come on, don’t you want get back to business?”

“What’s the point?”

“Then become a fisherman. People need to eat”

“Right, I’m going up to the Rush”, said Oresh

“I’m coming with you”, said Staroz

“But-“

Before Oresh could say anything, Staroz had whistled at some grim-looking Ekuan lishas loitering nearby, “Come on lads, we’re going to the Rush. They can’t ignore us if all of Kurush is banging on their door”

As they walked up the hill, they realised that they were at the head of a swelling column, as though all of Kurush had had the same thought at once. The hucksters of the high market stared at them in bafflement as they marched through. As soon as the guards at the entrance to the Rush saw the mass of people surging towards them, they scampered inside and pushed the heavy gates shut.

Bukur, Oresh and Staroz were pushed by the crowd until they were pressed against the mahogany gates. Behind them was Gishka, Gamoz, Askura, Iddyr, Oddyr, and a multitude of lishas and hurums of dazzling variety. There were gold scales, green scales, olive skin, terracotta skin and every other imaginable shade. Each face was unique and had their own unique story, but they had all come together for one purpose. They were restless and raucous, but slowly the random angry shouts coalesced into a chant that reverberated around the square.

“Enough is enough! Enough is enough! Enough is enough!”

“I’ve had dreams like this,” said Oresh, “is this real?”

Tiuk in her gleaming bronze armour appeared on the walls, between the two heads of the gargantuan stone crested-lizards that stood either side of the gate. She cast her gaze across the crowd, but Bukur wasn’t sure his mother had seen him. She raised her hand until the chanting died down.

“Tadarur, the eldest Ikarkur, shall speak to you”

A lisha with dark, lumpy scales stepped forward.

“What is this all about?” his tone seemed more confused than concerned

He was met with a burst of garbled shouting. Staroz elbowed Oresh in the ribs.

“Release funds from the Ikark’s treasury, please!” Oresh called up to him, “And lend us the muscle of your soldiers. The docks, the warehouses, the towers, the dockside market, people’s homes, they need to be rebuilt. And until Kurush has recovered, people need food and shelter”

Tadarur rolled his eyes, “The path to prosperity is not jealousy. You must learn to earn your livelihood, not to beg. Freedom is the bedrock upon which Kurush is built, the freedom to walk your own path and not be pestered by those who want what you’ve earned for yourself. I will not simply throw that freedom away on a whim, that would only lead to disaster”

“How can we be free if we’re dead?!” Oresh spluttered, “Why is it too much to ask you to govern?!”

The multitude jeered in support. Tadarur said something to Tiuk, but she crossed her arms and shook her head.

“I order you to do it!” he screeched at her, his finger jabbing at the crowd

Tiuk glared at him with steely eyes until he stormed off.

“It’s time to start smashing shit up,” said Staroz, “that’ll make them listen”

“No!” said Oresh, “Everything would spiral out of control”

“They’d have little choice but to use force,” said Bukur, “there might not be enough soldiers to fight all of Kurush, but people would definitely die”

For hours, the multitude chanted and roared and sang, and were met only with silence from the soldiers eying them from atop the high walls. Slowly the crowd dissipated as lishas and hurums peeled away. Eventually there was only a dozen left. Gishka said she had to go and start cooking dinner, and Gamoz followed her. Iddyr and Oddyr said they had to go back to their forge to catch up on their workload.

“Fuck it!” said Staroz as he kicked the gate, “Fuck it! Fuck it! Fuck it!”

 He stumbled back when the gate suddenly creaked open and ten spear-wielding soldiers marched out. They took position between the feet of the statues.  

“Did we achieve anything?” said Oresh, “Has anything changed?”

“Lishas and hurums have responsibilities,” said Bukur, “they can’t sacrifice everything for change”

“But things can’t go on as they are,” said Oresh, “people are dying”

“Kurush is too soft, that’s why nothing changed,” said Staroz, “I’m starving, I need to find some lunch”

Bukur’s stomach was also demanding lunch. He said his goodbyes, and awkwardly sidled past his comrades into the Rush. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he bumped into his mother.

“Get your armour on and come with me”

His heart sank. Today’s going to be a long day, he thought.

Next chapter

Constructive criticism welcome

© Paul Bramhall