Attempts at Fiction

Kurush: The First City

In a Bronze Age city where lizard-people and humans live side-by-side, a young woman must find a way to survive as society crumbles around her. Contains adult themes.

First Chapter

Table of Contents & Maps

Keep Calm and Carry On Wasting Time

A short story set in 2050, as fascism raises its head in the United Kingdom.

Historia Alium

What if the Roman Empire never fell? How would it evolve as it discovered new lands and technologies? How would it change the world?

First chapter

Table of contents

Attempts at Philosophy

Will Philosophers Save the World? A perspective on social change across history and its implications for today's challenges

Will Trump Cause the Collapse of Civilisation? A perspective on how civilisations grow, die and evolve

What does it mean to be human? An exploration of Yuval Noah Harari's fictions

Is Equality Possible?

Kurush: The First City - Chapter 46

Sunlight drifted through the window. A gentle breeze played with the white curtains. Oresh was still asleep. It had been a year since the clifftop battle but the scars that chequered his body still looked raw. His eyelids were flickering. Anka wondered what he was dreaming of – he was smiling like an idiot, it must have been a good one.

She carefully lifted his arm off of her, got out of bed as quietly as she could and went to the window. The vast, shimmering sea spread out before her, and the Sun was floating just above the horizon. Far below, she could see some ships that must have left the docks at the crack of dawn and were now sailing eagerly along the coast, laden with goods destined for distant lands. Across the sea, somewhere over the horizon, was Kurush. Anka tried to imagine what it must look like now – crumbling walls, heaps of charred rubble, empty silence save for the occasional scavenger digging for abandoned valuables.

She heard Oresh yawn and get up. He sidled up behind her, wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her head.

“Do you miss Kurush?” he asked

Anka wasn’t surprised that he could read her mind, “Do I miss the walls, the statues, the mansions? No. But I do miss the people”

Oresh nodded, “When you love someone, it’s like they hold a piece of your soul. When you lose them, you lose that piece too. But we’ve got to keep moving forward, that’s what they would want for us. I’ve been thinking, we need a new word. Something like ‘city’. Kurush was the first city, and Niarush is the second city”

“’City’? Sounds weird”

“We’ve done something incredible here in Niarush. We’ve proved that Kurush wasn’t an aberration, that we can make cities work. Maybe one day, hopefully many centuries from now, Niarush will fall. But another, stronger city will be built in its place, and another and another, each time taking what was best from the previous and refining it. The future probably holds hundreds of cities”

“Hundreds?” said Anka, “That’s ridiculous”

“Something else I’ve been thinking about – we should use the word ‘people’ more. Lishas and hurums have different needs, different experiences, so we need to keep those words. But we all suffer, we all love, we’re all fumbling our way through the world. There’s not a lot that separates us, so why use words that do?”

“Wasn’t the title of your poem going to be ‘The Lishas and Hurums of Kurush’? Is it going to be ‘The People of Kurush’ now?”

“Maybe,” said Oresh, “or maybe ‘The Last Battle of Kurush and the First Battle of Niarush’”

“Very fitting for a warrior-poet”

Oresh’s hands surreptitiously made their way down her figure, gently squeezing her as if to remind himself how soft she was.

“Are you hungry, by any chance?” said Anka

“I could do with a good breakfast”

Suddenly he threw her onto the bed, making her squeal in delight. He was instantly on top of her, their faces almost touching. The burning desire in his eyes made her heart pound. Both their chests were heaving. She was about to take her nightgown off when the door burst open with a bang that made the two of them jump out of their skins.

“Anka!” Ekur bellowed, “Polur’s stolen and hidden my scale-brush again!”

“I haven’t!” said Polur, “Why would I want that disgusting thing?”

“To piss me off, you pillock!”

“You’ve just lost it again, you dimwit!”

Anka took a deep breath and rolled out from under Oresh, “Boys, calm down. Polur, help him find it. Ekur, I expect my bodyguard to behave more like an adult. Come on, get ready, we should leave soon”

Their white-washed home was lacking in decorations and furniture, and with only three rooms for four people it was hard to avoid bumping into each other. But it was still new, it had only been built a few months ago. And after living in a tent for most of the past year, it felt like a palace to Anka. She’d happily live there for the rest of her life.

In the courtyard they had two hapas munching on straw as Anka and Ekur loaded their packs onto their backs. Ekur had put on his bronze armour and helmet, and had his spear at the ready.

“Ekur, I realise that being alone with Anka out in the country might give your stomach some ideas,” said Oresh, “but you had better control yourself“

Ekur gulped, “I wouldn’t even dare to dream of it”

“I’ll be fine,” said Anka, “I can rely on Ekur. My safety is his top priority, isn’t that right?”

“Yes ma’am!”

“Are you stopping by Potamyz?” Oresh asked

“Yep, it’ll be good to see Lurush and Dila again”

“I really struggle to imagine Lurush as a farmer. Presumably Dila does most of the work”

“Actually Lurush does her fair share,” said Anka, “I think she enjoys the simplicity. Help me up, will you?”

Oresh lifted her up onto the hapa. Anka pulled him close and rested her forehead on his.

“Stay safe out there”, he said

“I’ll be back before you know it, my warrior-poet,” she planted a kiss on his nose, “right, let’s get going”

Oresh and Polur waved them off as Anka and Ekur rode onto the streets. The market of Niarush was already bustling as people haggled over eye-catching outfits and nose-stinging spices. Merchants from across the region had emerged out of the woodwork and silently decided that Niarush would be the next big trade centre. With the raiders driven away and the docks rebuilt, the handful of traders wanting to barter here had swelled into a swarm, attracting smiths, clothiers, potters, masons and a host of other artisans. Standard-weight ingots of copper and gold issued by the New Sapphire Temple had already become the established currency.

The goods on sale were almost as diverse as they had been in Kurush’s markets. Not long ago, Anka had been amazed to find her family’s funerary chest on sale. The deep blue-painted lid was cracked and the bronze edges scratched, but unbelievably the figurines of her sister, parents and ancestors were still inside. She would have paid more than she actually did, making her feel a little sorry for the scavenger who had unwittingly dug up something so precious from the rubble of Lurush’s estate. It now sat on a mantlepiece in their home.

They passed through the main gate, which was permanently open. In front of it stood a black megalith, at the top of which in the Paruan alphabet were the names of those who were killed in the battle to free Niarush. But people had quickly begun to add the names of lost loved ones underneath, including many who did not make it out of Kurush. Anka and Oresh had chiselled some themselves.

As they went down the headland’s slope, they passed simple, newly-built mud-brick homes. It was as though an entire district had sprung up overnight. People worked hard when they believed that the structure was working, not just for them but for everyone. Anyone could take food from the communal granaries, and anyone who asked the New Sapphire Temple for a job was given one. No-one in Niarush went hungry.

A city is like a wheel rolling along the ground, thought Anka. One spoke is the institution that protects its existence, another spoke is the values that institution is founded on. As more people believe in the strength of the institution, the more they believe in its values, which strengthens the institution more, and so on. As it rolls on, inevitably it bounces over bumpy ground, slowing it down, until eventually it hits something it can’t roll over. It rolls back, people see the weakness of the institution, so they stop believing in its values, which weakens the city even further, until it drags to a halt and topples over. That’s what happened with Kurush. But Niarush had the momentum of youth. Everyday people believed in Niarush a bit more, everyday Niarush became stronger. No doubt there would be bumps in the path ahead, but they would keep moving forward.

One potential bump ahead was the Yrsti. Parua’s traditional feast of hurums would almost certainly become a flashpoint between the city and the villages. The New Sapphire Temple would condemn and forestall the Yrsti, and many Paruans would accuse them of trying to trample on their traditions. But it wasn’t going to be called for several years at least, they had time to negotiate a settlement which prevented conflict. After all, the city still needed food from the villages, and the villages still needed protection from the raiders. That’s why Anka went on tours of Parua, laying the groundwork, putting forward Niarush’s perspective and listening to the villagers’ concerns. This was a chance not only to save the lives of countless hurums, but also to build a partnership that lasted centuries, to unify Parua into one solid society.

They reached the outer wall, which was little more than a six-foot high ring of stone that protected the base of the headland. Anyone could easily climb over it if they wanted to, but they had little to fear while it was being completed. There was a wide gap in the wall where a monumental new gate was due to be constructed. This morning, the gap was blocked with tree branches and other detritus to try and deter people sneaking in under cover of night.

“Ah, sorry Anka,” Staroz ran towards them, “we’ll move all this out of your way”

“That’s fine,” said Anka, “thank you”

“When you say ‘we’ll move it’, I take it you mean me?”, said Ragur as he sluggishly ambled over

“You should be used to manual labour by now”, said Staroz

“My months of hard work on the wall have taught me that I am more suited to intellectual pursuits”

“In other words, you want to go back to doing nothing all day, you posh cunt!”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, you ignorant pleb!”

Staroz was trying hard to avoid meeting eyes with Anka, but when she caught a glance, she saw overwhelming regret, as though he was still pleading for her forgiveness. Remembering the past whilst not letting it get in the way of the future, thought Anka, it’s a task as difficult as it is necessary.

She turned and looked up at the summit of Niarush. The chief’s hall had been renamed the New Sapphire Temple, there were already plans to dismantle the thatched dome and build a new structure, with a statue at the pinnacle of a hurum sitting on a lisha’s shoulder, her hand reaching toward the Sun. But it was going to take years to complete.

Anka went up there occasionally to see Hyza, who was teaching her Paruan. Lysta, who was used to roaming the land, now always seemed a bit restless. But they were both happy to have so much time together. The Holy Reincarnations of Sapesh and Galka had three servants administering Niarush for them: giving out the blessings was their Ushi Sopri Peshura, managing the finances was their Ushi Umbisag Gamoz, and protecting the walls was their Ushi Karsh Bukur. All three had local deputies they were training to take up their roles in due course, something Anka never failed to remind the chiefs of Parua.

She remembered how every morning in Kurush she would look hungrily up at dazzling mansions of the Rush. That felt like a lifetime ago. Maybe I thought that by climbing up to the Rush, I could escape the world, Anka thought. But now I’ve found a much greater ambition – to make the world a place worth living in. Once Staroz and Ragur had finished clearing the way, Anka and Ekur rode through the gateway and out into the landscape of golden rock and emerald pines with the Sun on their backs.

The End

Constructive criticism welcome

© Paul Bramhall

Kurush: The First City - Chapter 45

There was not a single source of light, making it hard for Anka to estimate how many hours she’d spent there. She hadn’t had a wink of sleep, for all she knew the Sun had already risen. She was locked in a cramped, empty pantry, her wrists tied tightly to a ceiling plank and her ankles tied together. The most she could move was to wiggle slightly. Her arms had long passed through exhaustion and pain, and now it felt oddly like they weren’t there, as though they no longer belonged to her.

She raised her head when she heard the door’s bolt clank. In came a golden-scaled lisha. As soon as Anka saw the dark arrowheads running down his face, her blood began to boil.

“Long time no see!” said Staroz, “How have you been?”

“I’ve been better”, Anka scowled

“You know, last night, the lightning woke me up, so I decided to go for a stroll. And what do I find? An amphora in an empty alley with its handles missing. It took me back to that night when a vicious little hurum gouged out the eyes of my good friend, who was just trying to have a nice dinner”

“Maybe he should have realised that hurums will do anything to survive”

Staroz scoffed, “You were lucky, but I’ve had my fair share of nice dinners and I don’t have any scars to show for it. I should have realised earlier that hurums are just walking, talking meals. Your sister made me realise that. Oh don’t worry, long after you’re gone, I’ll still remember her. I don’t think I’ll ever forget her taste,” he stepped closer and breathed in Anka’s scent, “I wouldn’t mind a reminder though”

“Aren’t you here to bring Gilkush his breakfast? He’s wanted me much longer than you”

Staroz looked puzzled, then chortled, “You don’t have to worry about Gilkush! The way I heard it, one morning he suddenly found a knife in his back. No, Kyroz calls the shots now. He says we can divvy up the hurums as soon as we’ve dealt with you pesky lot, you righteous order deniers. Maybe he’ll give you to me, wouldn’t that be nice? Me and my girl Lydda, we’re thinking of starting a family, we could use some help around the home. Although, to be honest, I don’t think you’d make a good slave. I don’t think you’d last long”

“Do you actually believe Kyroz when he says the Sun talks to him?”

“Kyroz understood how hard life was for us in Kurush, how we needed a big change”

“That’s not what I asked”

Staroz shrugged, “He said Kurush would collapse because of the hurums in charge, and it did. Enough mind games, Kyroz wants to have a chat with you now”

He untied the rope around her ankles, and released her from the ceiling, keeping the many coils binding her forearms together. With one hand clasping her hair, he pushed her out of the pantry with his palm. Anka saw the surviving hurums cowering in the gloom of the basement. Dila, her arms wrapped around Polur, watched her with heavy eyes.

Staroz took her up to the main chamber, where a hundred restless lishas stopped bantering to stare at Anka’s march through their ranks. The bright Sun seared her eyes when he pushed her out onto the balcony. Once they had adjusted, she saw Kisha and Ragur with arrogant smirks and eyes aflame with hunger. Kyroz, in his black toga and the cross and diamond painted on his forehead, stood before the outstretched ocean under the rising Sun. Staroz pushed her down onto her knees.

“Anka, is it?” said Kyroz, “It’s a pleasure to meet you”

“Actually we’ve met before. Last time I saw you, you made a meal out of Myra”

“Ah yes, of course, how could I forget? That certainly was a night to remember. Gilkush was livid that he had to leave you behind, I’m sure he took the regret of never eating you to his grave. Now, to business. After your friends’ pointless attack last night, they’ve gone into hiding. We’ll find them of course, but Parua is a big place, and it would save us a lot of time if you could just tell us where they would be camped”

“Like I’d ever tell you that”

“Kisha and Ragur have known you since you were little, right?” said Kyroz, “They’ve told me all about you, about how scrappy, ambitious and down-to-earth you are. You see the world as it is, and you find the path that gives you the best chance of surviving. Well, the facts are that you’re tied up, in a fortress guarded by hundreds of lishas, and behind you there are three lishas in particular who would very much like to have you in their stomach”

“Dibs!” said Ragur

Kisha grabbed his collar, “You wouldn’t dare. She’s mine”

Ragur wilted, “Okay, okay…”

“You’d have to take her from me first”, said Staroz

Kisha’s glower shifted to Staroz, “Do you really want to fight me?”

“I’ve beaten stuck-up Oshuan soldiers before”

“Silence!” said Kyroz, “Anka, I’m offering you protection from these three. Tell me where they are, and I’ll allow you to become my personal slave. I can guarantee your safety”

Anka looked at the ground pensively, “For how long?”

Kyroz smiled, “Let’s say three years”

“And then what?”

“I’d have to make a decision. Maybe I could sell you to one of these three, or maybe we could conclude our relationship with a private dinner, just the two of us. If you’re an obedient slave, perhaps I’ll let you choose”

“Make it five years and we have a deal”

Kyroz chuckled, “So be it”

“Do you know the standing stones? We agreed that if the attack failed, the New Sapphire Temple would regroup there. It has clear views of the surrounding area, it will be hard to sneak up on them”

“Thank you Anka, I appreciate your cooperation. Staroz, tell the troops and the Ujuans we’re moving out. Leave a contingent to guard Niarush. Anka, you’re going with Kisha. Kisha, if it turns out she’s lying, you have my blessing to do what you will with her”

Kisha took the rope around Anka’s arms and tied the loose end tightly onto the straps of her bronze chest-plate. She stared down at Anka with piercing eyes, Anka stared back without blinking.

A horn echoed around Niarush, and the eager horde of lishas rumbled out of the town. There was a jarring mixture of Oshuan soldiers with polished bronze armour, Ekuan thugs with ragged tunics and dusk raiders who were all but naked, but all of them had the cross and diamond painted on their foreheads. Kisha and Anka were at the head of the column, behind Kyroz. Anka had to walk quickly to avoid being dragged along the ground by Kisha’s pace, as well as having to avoid the swinging tails of all the lishas surrounding her. Kisha’s tail in particular made her nervous, as she had four bronze spikes strapped to the tip. Once they had reached the bottom of Niarush’s headland, they climbed the winding cliff-path onto Parua’s barren plateau and marched across the sweltering scrubland.

“Your mother’s dead, by the way,” said Anka, “in case there’s any part of you that cares. She was stabbed in the Ekuan quarter, the night Kurush collapsed”

“I’m not surprised my idiot brother couldn’t protect her”, said Kisha

“I don’t remember you helping him at all. When your family needed you most, you were busy staging a mutiny against Tiuk”

“The world’s an unforgiving place, it’s not my problem if they’re not strong enough to survive it. By the way, Tiuk was no saint. She was the one who ate your father”

“I know, and Gilkush ate my mother. Why did he share a secret like that with you?”

“He didn’t. I saw it happen”

Anka nearly tripped over, “What?! You fucking gargantuan mountain of shit, you’ve known for all these years?”

Kisha looked down at her, her eyes alight with glee, “I’d never seen lishas have so much fun before! It made me realise the idea that lishas and hurums are somehow equal is just laughable. You can barely defend yourselves, you don’t even have claws. So why should we treat you as anything more than food? If you can’t realise yourself what your place in the world is, we’ll just have to make you understand”

“Have you ever wondered why no-one likes you? If all you want to do is stamp your will on others, then obviously you’re going to be alone forever”

Kisha looked as though she was about to spit fire, “I don’t need any fucking friends! What I need is for people to get out of my way, and if delusional do-gooders refuse to do that, then I’ll tear them limb from limb. Now shut your mouth”

Anka looked ahead over the plateau of sun-bleached rock. To get to the standing stones, they’d have to descend into a steep valley and cross the Alaza river – the perfect place for an ambush, assuming that scouts were tracking the column of lishas from Niarush and the main force could move into position quickly enough. Anka knew that she might get caught in the crossfire, or Kisha might devour her before charging into battle, but she had made her peace with that risk, if it gave her friends a chance to defeat these bastards and build a home for themselves in Parua.

Then her heart stopped and her blood froze. Scouts hadn’t been tracking the column. Up ahead, by the edge of the cliff, was the New Sapphire Temple’s camp. They must have thought the elevation would give them a good line of sight. But now they were cornered.    

 

***

 

Oresh saw Anka, bound to Kisha, her face drained of colour, for a second before the horde of lishas scurried in front. They formed a wall of swords, spears and muscle, trapping their enemies against the steep precipice behind, panting like ravenous predators impatient to lunge at their prey. The supercilious soldiers, the loutish thugs, the barbaric raiders – they each had their own enraging flavour of brutality.

“Good lishas of Parua and Kurush!” Kyroz called out from the rear of his army, “We have no quarrel with you. Surrender and you will live. But first you may want to eat your hurum companions. If you don’t, we’ll gladly take them!”

The horde cackled. Oresh could feel the fear rippling through what remained of the New Sapphire Temple’s lishas and hurums. After the failed night attack, many Paruans had gone home to their villages, leaving only a hundred of them left. He closed his eyes and focused on the feeling of the dusty ground beneath his feet, on the invigorating heat the Sun was pouring onto his scales. Everything was as clear as the summer sky. He needed Anka, she was in peril, she had to live.

“What happens here today will be written and remembered,” Oresh told his comrades, “the eyes of our innumerable descendants are upon us. Whatever follows Kurush will be built here. If we win, Parua will become a place of peace, justice and prosperity for all. If they win, it will become a place of hatred, misery and tyranny. Whether we win or lose, whether you live or die, don’t you want the ages to remember that you fought for a better world?”

He walked forward, tightening the strap of his helmet, wooden shield in one hand, shining sword in the other. He broke into a canter, his eyes fixed on the wall of lishas ahead of him, breathing sharper and sharper, running faster and faster until it felt like he was flying over the rocky ground. He couldn’t hear his enemies’ taunts, he couldn’t hear his comrades’ battle cries, he had no idea if any of them were charging with him. He saw that he was speeding towards Lydda, the lisha who had stopped him from saving Askura that night. He launched himself at her. He saw her eyes were wide with fear. His sword sliced her chest open.

Oresh propelled forward into the mass of lishas, refusing to lose any momentum, slashing left and right in a maniacal rampage. He didn’t know if any of his swings were landing, he dimly felt blades cutting through his scales, but he didn’t care, his soul was consumed by one singular purpose. Behind him there was a thunderous clash as a hundred bodies collided into the army. The sweeping tremor shattered the solid wall and Oresh drilled through to the far side.

He saw Anka, but an instant later Kisha’s spear plunged into his shoulder, halting his momentum. She uprooted it from his flesh and raised it above his head, but as she brought it down, Anka pulled on the rope binding her to Kisha and the spear hit only air. Anka was leaning with all her weight, her heels digging into the dirt, as she tried to heave Kisha away from Oresh. Kisha swung her tail, forcing Anka to lose her balance as she jumped to avoid the bronze spikes. Oresh sprang forward, but her tail slammed into his legs, the spikes ripping through his calves. He span in the air before crumpling onto the ground. Despite Anka yanking at the rope, Kisha walked to stand over her brother.

“You always were pathetic”, she spat as she raised her spear once more

An arrow whistled and ringed against Kisha’s helmet. Iddyr was running towards them, bow in hand, from the flank. Kisha turned to face him, but didn’t expect Oresh to leap to his feet. He thrust his sword at her spear-arm, she dodged but the blade scraped a swathe of scales off. Iddyr took his helmet off and put it on Anka’s head, unsheathed a dagger and started sawing the tight coils of rope binding her arms together. Kisha could see the rescue attempt, but again and again Oresh threw himself at her, swinging his sword in a frenzy. Each time Kisha’s spear pierced him and each time he raised himself to pounce again, preventing her from stopping Iddyr, making her roar in frustration. She swung her tail at the two hurums, they leapt over the spikes and kept feverishly cutting through the rope. One coil was severed, then another and another.

Kisha’s spear sliced Oresh’s wrist, his sword slipped out of his hand. Her free hand, clenched into a fist, battered his jaw, knocking it out of place. Oresh, his eyes bleary, stumbled and collapsed. Kisha spun round and without hesitation drove her spear into Iddyr’s skull. His life departed instantly and his blood-soaked body toppled over.

Kisha turned back and stamped on Oresh’s hand as he reached for his sword, his fingers cracking. With one foot on his chest, pinning him to the ground with her colossal weight, she raised her spear. Anka picked up Iddyr’s dagger, freed herself from the final coil, pounced onto Kisha’s tail and sank the blade into her back. She shrieked, dropping her spear to clasp at Anka wildly, snatching her from her back, her claws tearing into Anka’s flesh. Kisha’s eyes were bloodshot with rage, she opened her jaws, Anka knew she was about to rip her head off. Then she froze. Streams of blood began to trickle from her mouth. Oresh’s sword had cleanly cut sideways through her throat. He drew it out with a sickening squelch and Kisha tumbled over like a boulder as a torrent gushed from the wound.

Oresh fell onto his hands and knees, the pain of his myriad injuries catching up to him. His eyes felt heavy, but they shot open when he heard Kyroz howl.

“The world must revere me,” he hissed, “the world will revere me!”

He pulled a dagger from the folds of his toga and stormed towards Oresh. Anka pried herself from Kisha’s stiffening grip and with Iddyr’s dagger in hand jumped onto Oresh’s back to hurl herself onto Kyroz. He barely had a moment to see that a hurum was attacking him with burning hate before she drove her blade into his eye. Oresh tackled his legs and he fell onto his back. Kyroz desperately tried to pull the hurum gouging his face off of him, swiping his claws frantically at her. But once she slit his throat, he lost his strength. His arms fell to the ground and he began to quietly gargle blood.

Anka clambered off of the corpse and sat next to Oresh. Both of them were panting so hard they couldn’t speak. He rolled over so that his head rested on her lap, despite her tunic being drenched in other people’s blood. She wrapped her arms around his snout. Their pounding hearts began to slow down. She watched as the dregs of Kyroz’s army scurried away into the wasteland. Apparently they were prepared to kill for their cause, but not to die for it. Lysta, riding Ozoz the hapa, was circling the gigantic chief of the dusk raiders, lancing him with her spear again and again until with one final blow to his chest he was felled.

Like the calm after a storm, an uneasy quiet descended onto the battlefield. A metallic stench hung over the sea of bodies. Bukur stood amongst their fallen friends and foes, looking over the field of victory, his armour and glaive splattered with blood, silently satisfied that he had lived up to his duty. Hyza rushed over with a bundle of thick leaves and started hurriedly tying them tightly over Oresh’s wounds to stem the flow of blood.

“Is it over?” Oresh asked

In the distance, Anka saw Staroz looking over his shoulder as he hobbled away. There was an arrow sticking out of his thigh.

“Not quite,” said Anka, “can I leave you for a moment?”

“If I die now, after everything, I’ll be very annoyed with myself”

“You’ll live,” said Hyza, “but you’ll look like a menacing warrior for the rest of your days”

Anka left Oresh in Hyza’s care and walked without haste after Staroz, Iddyr’s dagger still in hand and his helmet on her head. She found him slumped in the shade of an olive tree, cringing in pain. He didn’t seem surprised when he saw Anka.

“I won’t try and stop you,” he said, “I know I don’t have any right to ask anything from you, but could you make it quick?”

Anka stood and stared at the pitiful lisha, her fingers gripping the dagger. But the fury bubbling inside her drained away. She sighed.

“Kyroz is dead. Do you accept that he was lying to you? That hurums are in fact people too?”

“Yes, yes…”

“Do you promise not to eat anyone else? Do you promise not to cause any trouble for anyone ever again?”

Staroz looked up at her, “What?”

“Do you?”

Anka looked steadily into his eyes, searching for any hint of malice or trickery, but all she found was honest confusion.

“Yes…”  

With the dagger she cut the hem of her tunic to make a strip of cloth, then knelt beside him to loop it around his leg.

“But… why?” said Staroz

“Don’t you think enough people have died already? Right, are you ready?”

“Wait, wai- Aargh!”

She plucked the arrow out of his flesh and tied a knot as tightly as she could before much blood could spurt out. After a while, he was able to get back on his feet and with Anka supporting him, they walked back to the other survivors.

Next chapter

Constructive criticism welcome

© Paul Bramhall

Kurush: The First City - Chapter 44

It had only been about an hour, but already Anka was in pain all over. She was squatting in a flat-bottomed amphora, on top of a dozen bronze daggers. On her head she balanced a pan of water, in the hope that if anyone opened the amphora they wouldn’t look past the surface. Her arms, legs and back felt like they were slowly turning to stone. All she could hear outside was the wheels of the cart grinding against the rocky path and trees rustling in the restless wind.

When she had climbed into the amphora, it was almost sunset, and ominously dark clouds were swirling above. Lysta was hauling the cart carrying the amphora, it was just the two of them. The plan was to get through Niarush’s gates just before they closed them for the night.

The cart ground to a halt, and Anka could hear Lysta talking. She took a deep breath. But before long, the cart was moving again. Presumably the guards were in a rush to close the gates or were too lazy to bother with any inspection. Suddenly the peace and quiet of the Paruan countryside was replaced by the cacophony of Niarush. She was surrounded by banter and quarrels, the cart rocked as Lysta swerved to avoid the louts. She recognised some Paruan words here and there, but a lot of the conversations she could hear were in a guttural but unnervingly familiar language. She even heard one lisha cry out what sounded like “Delicious!” in Oshuan. No doubt it was the dusk raiders.

Lysta took her deep into the town and set the amphora down in a quiet spot. Then they waited, or at least Anka assumed Lysta was waiting beside her. She hadn’t talked much with Lysta, not helped by the fact that Anka was not yet fluent in Paruan and Lysta was not yet fluent in Oshuan. But Hyza was unequivocal that she was as reliable as could be, and Oresh had said that her skill with a spear was something to behold. That was enough for Anka.

“Wotcha doin’ here?”

Anka flinched in surprise, spilling some of the water over her head. The voice sounded painfully familiar, where had she heard this man before?

“Resting,” said Lysta, “I walk all day”

“Yeah but why here?”

“I have nowhere”

Anka heard the amphora’s lid be lifted. She held her breath and stayed as still as a statue.

“You’ve been lugging this water all day, have you?”

“No,” Lysta said with a hint of impatience, “I do other things today”

The lid dropped back down and Anka breathed again.

There was a long, unsettling pause, “Don’t step out of line, don’t even breathe in a weird way, unless you’re looking for trouble”

She heard the man walk away, but Anka couldn’t relax. She didn’t let herself move an inch or even close her eyes. As time wore on it felt like her muscles had finished petrifying. In the distance they could hear the shouting and guffawing of the lishas encamped by the gate. Eventually their din began to gradually die down, until after what felt like an eternity of monotony Niarush became perfectly still. Lysta lifted the lid.

“Let’s go”, she whispered

She helped Anka out of the amphora, which given how floppy and useless her muscles had suddenly become she was very grateful for. She never thought she’d be so glad to breathe fresh air, even in the middle of enemy territory. They were in a deserted nook next to the imposing thatched dome of the chief’s hall. Lysta was certain that they’d be keeping any captured hurums in the storerooms in the basement, and as it happened as children she and her friends would sometimes sneak in there to steal cured pork and other treats.

Lysta patted a large stone at the base of the wall, “This one”

She prised it from the daub and rolled it away, revealing a narrow earthen tunnel. Lysta had obviously grown a lot, there was no chance she could fit through there, but Anka could just about squeeze in. With a lot of wriggling and Lysta pushing her backside, she came out the other end and tumbled from a high shelf in the corner of an empty larder. As she picked herself up, she saw movement up ahead. In the darkness, she dimly saw the shape of a woman peering at her from a doorway.

“Anka…?” a quiet voice said

It took a moment to see who it was, her hair was a free-flowing mess rather than in the usual neat bun.

“Dila? Dila!”

Anka launched herself at her and hugged her tight.

“How?” said Dila, “How are you alive?”

“Good friends and a good helping of luck. I’m sorry we couldn’t come sooner, I was terrified it would be too late. And I’m sorry I just let the soldiers take us from your home. I’m the reason you’re here”

Dila patted her on the back, “No you’re not”

“I’m here to make it up to you”

A boy hesitantly emerged from the gloom.

“Polur, it’s great to see you! Is your mother…?”

Dila wrapped her arms around Polur’s neck and shook her head sombrely.

“Are you here to get us out?” asked Polur

“More than that. You’re our secret weapon. How many hurums are down here?”

Dila assembled the twenty-four remaining hurums. Despite Dila assuring them that Anka was a friend, they all had haunted looks in their eyes.

“Listen closely,” said Anka, “once you’re outside, you’ll meet a lisha called Lysta. She grew up in this town, she’ll give you a dagger and then lead us to the gate. Don’t talk, don’t make any noise. Move quickly but watch where you’re going. At the gate, we’re taking out the guards. It’s late and they’re lishas, so they’ll be out cold by now. Get into teams of four or five. Two need to pin down the arms, one needs to hold their mouth shut, and one needs to slit the throat. Everyone understand? They think they’re better than us because they’re strong. The only way to defeat them is to prove how weak they actually are. Let’s show them we’re more than just food, let’s show them why they shouldn’t fuck with hurums, let’s show them how strong we are”

“I’m not waiting around to become some bastard’s dinner,” said Dila, “lead the way”

Anka helped the captives climb up to the hole in the wall. To her surprise, every single one was willing to take the risk. Even Polur had a determined look in his eyes. Once everyone else was out, she scrambled back up the tunnel. She borrowed one of the daggers Lysta had been handing out to chip off the handles of the amphora. Lysta gave her a quizzical look, but Anka knew from that night in the Ekuan quarter that they would do the job.

In single file they dashed through Niarush, sticking close to the town wall, slinking behind the cuboid homes of the townspeople as they slept. The moon was shrouded by dark clouds, the only light they had to avoid tripping over detritus came from distant flashes of lightning. There was silence save for the rumbling roar of thunder as the storm announced its arrival.

There were several lishas at the gate, just as they’d hoped they were all slouched against the wall snoring. Following Anka’s instructions, the freed hurums piled onto one lisha at a time, pinning them to the ground and forcing their mouths shut simultaneously before drawing their daggers across the throat and not letting go until the brute, desperately trying to flail and scream for their life, finally fell limp.

Anka and Lysta climbed up onto the ramparts, where another lisha was fast asleep, oblivious to the death being dealt soundlessly to his comrades below. Lysta pounced on him, pinning his jaws shut and wrapping her legs around his body. Before he could even wake from his slumber, Anka leapt onto him and drove the amphora handles into the jugular, spraying her hands with cold blood. Nearby there was a flaming torch – Anka raised it high and waved it in the air, signalling the army waiting in the darkness outside the walls. Almost all of the guards had been taken care of, it was only a matter of time before they opened the gate.

Then the blare of a horn boomed from the chief’s hall. This woke a lisha on the ramparts they had missed, who saw the bloody bodies around the gate and hastily blared his own horn. Anka jumped when a bolt of lightning struck nearby, flooding Niarush with bright light, the sky cackling deafeningly at its own cruelty.

She looked down to see if the gate was open yet. There was a column of lishas charging through the town, howling at the dusk raiders to get out of their tents and prepare to repel an attack. Blasts of wind came rolling from the ocean, bringing battering sheets of rain. The hurums started prying open the heavy wooden gate, but moments later they were inundated with lishas who pulled them away. Lysta, seeing the sea of enemies, jumped down onto the ground outside the walls.

“Anka, come! I catch!”

She clambered up onto the battlements, but before she could jump, a scaly hand grabbed her by the neck and pulled her back. It was Kisha, a smug grin showing off her jagged teeth. Out of the gloom below emerged the throng of the New Sapphire Temple’s lishas and hurums, their spears and swords ready for battle, but jittery as they faced the solidly closed gate. They were headed by Bukur and Oresh, who stood aghast as Kisha raised Anka into the air as though she was a spoil of victory.

“Run!” Anka rasped as Kisha squeezed her throat

Oresh ran forward, his eyes glued on Anka, as though he had abandoned all thought, his instincts driving him to scale the stone walls. More lishas arrived on the ramparts and, seeing the army assembled at their gates, immediately began hurling spears and firing arrows.

“Run!” Anka screamed as loudly as her lungs could bear

Lysta grabbed Oresh’s arm and dragged him out of range. The New Sapphire Temple melted away into the night, to which the beastly lishas roared with glee. Anka saw Oresh’s bright eyes, clouded with tears, fade into the darkness before Kisha hoisted her over her shoulder to carry her back towards the heart of Niarush. At least he survived, Anka consoled herself, hopefully he can find a good life for himself without me.

Next chapter

Constructive criticism welcome

© Paul Bramhall

Kurush: The First City - Chapter 43

Anka pulled the hapa up the path by the reins. Behind her was a troop of lishas, each with a weapon in one hand and a sack of supplies over their backs. Travelling across a strange land with lishas she didn’t know had been a little nerve-racking, but she had never felt in danger. They were all united in purpose. The previous night around the campfire they had even had fun teaching her Paruan curses. Her favourite was statafyla, ‘dung-humper’.

Coming from the crest of the hill were the sounds of cooking, hammering, yelling and chattering. Her legs were burning, it felt like she had walked more in the past month than the rest of her life. The simple pleasure of sitting somewhere comfortable for a moment was all she wanted.

After they passed the sentries, she saw Bukur training some of the recruits, forcing them to pose in one stance after another. One of them was Oresh, looking awkward with his bronze armour and sword. When he noticed Anka, he stared at her longingly, until Bukur’s spear clanged against his helmet.

“Oresh, eyes forward!” Bukur barked, “Don’t get distracted, unless you want to get skewered by the enemy”

“Yessir…”

“You could learn a thing or two from Ekur. The hatchling is already a more disciplined soldier than you”

“Permission to cane the laziness out of Oresh, sir!” shouted Ekur

Bukur buried his head in his hands, “Are we really ready for tomorrow?”

The camp was crammed with lishas and hurums, chatting over their humble meals. The Paruans were teaching those from Kurush their language using gestures and playacting, laughing raucously at every mistake, then patting them on the back and asking to learn the equivalent Oshuan word. To Anka, everyone seemed relaxed yet eager. After all, they had cornered the dusk raiders in Niarush. All that was left was the final blow.  

“Peshura!” Anka called out, “I’ve brought some new recruits for you”

The plump priestess hurried to them, and led the troop of lishas to the peak of the hill. There, sat cross-legged on top of a boulder, was Lysta. Hyza scrambled to climb up onto her shoulders. They sat there without moving, their eyes on the horizon, trying to look dignified and timeless, and almost succeeding.

“You stand in the presence of Sapesh and Galka,” Peshura proclaimed in Paruan, “who have returned to Parua after thousands of years in its time of need. They lived in a time when lishas and hurums knew no fear of war or of each other, a time of peace, fruitfulness and harmony. They have returned because now is the time to rebuild that world. We stand on the cusp of a new age! Soldiers, will you fight alongside Sapesh and Galka to make Parua glorious?”

The lishas raised their spears and resoundingly cried out, “Yes!”

Anka went down into the heart of the camp, where she found Gamoz sat amongst stacks of clay tablets. In front of him he had several abacuses recording their supplies of food, bronze, recruits and such, and a rough map of Parua drawn on a strip of gana hide, with different coloured stones placed where there allies or raiders were positioned. She handed him a tablet, which he glanced at.

“From chief Mikroz? You finally got him! How did you manage it?”

“I thought about what he really wants,” said Anka, “He already has riches, loyal friends, a loving wife. Then I realised he’s the shortest lisha I’ve ever seen, he’s about as tall as me. So I explained to him what a statue was, and said we could make one of him twice his size. He agreed in a flash”

Gamoz chuckled, “That’ll do it. Oresh told me you used to sell jewellery, is that right?”

“The finest in Kurush”

“Well you’ve done a fine job of selling the New Sapphire Temple. Did he give us any metals?”

“Twenty copper ingots and five tin. I’ll take them to Iddyr now”

She found Iddyr carefully pouring a pot of bubbling molten bronze into a mould. He had a whole team of lishas and hurums working for him, squeezing the forge’s bellows, cutting products out of moulds and sharpening blades. Iddyr’s manicured goatee had grown into a wild beard, and he stank of sweat and smoke.

“Damnit, I was just about to have a break”, he said with an exhausted smile once he saw the ingots Anka had brought, “Looks like we’ll be working through the night”

Nearby were small mountains of spears, swords, and arrows, and some other things Anka didn’t recognise. She picked one up, it looked like a misshapen bowl. Iddyr took it out of her hands and put it on her head.

“A helmet for hurums,” said Anka, “I never would have imagined something like that”

“Plenty of hurums want to fight. They’ll be our edge against the enemy, those arrogant lishas won’t know what hit them. But they can’t rush into battle unprotected, right? They’ve got to stay safe”

His eyes lingered in Anka’s. She had an ominous feeling he was about to say something she wouldn’t know how to respond to.

“I bet you’d never thought you’d go from making jewellery to weapons. Don’t worry too much about making them pretty!”

She turned to go, but she had barely walked two paces when Hyza suddenly appeared and caught her by the arm.

“I just wanted to say thank you for everything”

“I’m just playing my part,” said Anka, “like everyone else”

“But it was you and Oresh who came up with the New Sapphire Temple. No-one would be here if it wasn’t for you”

“To be honest, I’m surprised the idea caught on so fast,” said Anka, “we’re asking for a lot of faith”

“Paruans are tired of the dusk raiders,” said Hyza, “it’s been obvious for some time that the chiefs weren’t going to get rid of them. And the High Shaman might say that the Yrsti is one of our hallowed traditions, but there are a lot of lishas who don’t want to digest their friends and a lot of hurums who don’t want to be digested. You’ve showed us a way that our obsolete leaders never could, you’ve showed us that a better world is possible. That’s why everyone is following you”

“You mean everyone is following you and Lysta. There’s no chance the New Sapphire Temple would succeed if it was led by Oshuans”

“Listen, this is the last of my orokosa. I want you to have it”

Anka’s face turned red, “What? Why?”

Hyza shoved the gourd into Anka’s hands with a wink, “Why else?”

She flitted back into the crowd. Anka surreptitiously put the gourd into her pocket.

Feeling the need to leave the noise and bustle, she wound her way to the edge of the camp. There she found Lurush sitting on the edge of a cliff, staring out over Parua. The sea was a shimmering sliver on the horizon. The white walls of Niarush were just visible, standing on its high peninsula jutting out into the ocean.

“Do you think she’s still alive?” said Lurush, “Dila, I mean”

They knew Gilkush had brought all of the hurums from the Rush with him to Parua, but for all they knew they had all been eaten by now.

“I’m sure they’re too scared to eat her,” said Anka, “she’d give them a right tongue-lashing if they ever tried”

Lurush smiled weakly, “Please bring her back to me”

“I’ll try”

Someone cleared their throat behind them. It was Oresh.

“Would you like to go for a walk?” he said, shifting awkwardly on his feet

“That would be nice. Get some rest, Lurush”

Lurush nodded but kept staring at the horizon. Anka took Oresh’s outstretched hand, and they walked around the side of the hill. The Sun was about to set behind the mountains, casting majestic shadows that stretched across Parua. Both the sky and the land glowed like they had been painted with flowing gold. They found a spot away from the din of the camp, inhabited by a sole olive tree.

“You look good in that armour”, said Anka

“I’m still not used to it. It doesn’t suit me”

“That will change tomorrow”

Oresh looked her straight in the eyes, “It doesn’t have to be you”

“Yes it does. It needs to be a hurum they know, I’m the only person who qualifies”

“But-“

“No buts, I need to do this. In Kurush, I gave up on everything. This is the least I can do to atone for that. Now, look what Hyza gave me”  

She popped open the gourd and the noxious smell of orokosa wafted out. Oresh stepped back, his eyes fixed on the gourd as though it was a coiled snake about to spring.

“Isn’t this why you wanted some time alone with me?” said Anka, “Besides, who knows what will happen tomorrow, do you really want to live the rest of your life not knowing what I taste like?”

“Don’t talk like that, that’s not funny”

Anka stepped closer to him, “Look at those claws, those teeth. You’re not some disembodied spirit, you’re a wild beast. And we soft, yummy hurums are your natural prey. Come on, tell me what you are”

“I… I am a lisha”

“And what do you want to eat?”

Oresh gulped, “You”

He looked down at her with steady eyes. In them she could see that unmistakeable desire she hadn’t seen in him for years. He tentatively wrapped his hands around her chest, bent down and slowly, gently licked her cheek. She started breathing deeply, and warmth of anticipation spread from her heart to the tips of her fingers and toes.

She unfastened his bronze chest-plate and helped him take it off. He shakily pulled her tunic up and she wriggled out of it. Oresh’s mouth hung open slightly, his chest heaving, as he guzzled up the sight of Anka’s terracotta skin and the curves of her body. She took his hands and gracefully pulled him down to the ground. Anka lay on the slope, with Oresh propping himself over her, entranced by her tender-looking belly.

He leant down. She gasped when the wet tip of his tongue slipped into her bellybutton. He instantly jolted up as though he’d been stung, but his eyes were wide, as though he couldn’t believe what his tongue was telling him. He lowered himself back down and sedately led his tongue around the rim of her bellybutton.

“Do I taste good?” she asked breathlessly

Oresh nodded contentedly, “Once I saw this amazing cake being carried into the Rush, I can still remember all of the berries on top, the streams of honey. You’re how I imagine that cake tasted. Oh my, I’m starting to get really quite hungry. My stomach’s impatient for you”

“It’s waited long enough”

He picked up the gourd, “All of it?”

“Yes, and try to avoid any of it touching your tongue”

He downed the orokosa and his expression quickly soured, “By the Sun that’s horrible!”

“I told you!” she said giggling, “Nevermind, your tastebuds will forgive you in a moment”

He lifted up her feet, and she felt his hot breath on her toes as he carefully placed them in his mouth. He closed his eyes as his tongue leisurely explored every nook and cranny. Eventually he swallowed her feet and started moving up her legs little by little, as though every inch of her calves and thighs deserved time.

Anka was breathing deeply as more and more of her slowly but surely slipped into his throat. Her hands clasped his snout. His short, blunt teeth pressed into her delicate skin as he chewed lightly on her, she could tell he was enjoying the feel of such tender meat between his jaws. His eyes still closed, he wore the same blissful expression he always had when he was enjoying his food. His tongue was thoroughly caressing her sides, determined to collect every ounce of flavour, sometimes curling upwards so that the tip could tickle her bellybutton once again. With every stroke of his tongue, Oresh let out a quiet groan, each time a little louder and higher, until it sounded as though her taste was making him ascend to never-before reached realms of heavenly rapture. Anka’s soul was already swimming in a warm sea of pleasure as she felt his wet tongue rove across her skin and massage her flesh, making her feel like a delicacy. Finally, after all these years, she could give herself to him.

Soon after his nose had bumped into her bosom, Oresh stopped chewing and opened his eyes. Both of them breathing deeply, they looked deeply into each other’s eyes. Anka’s heart started pounding. He cradled her head in one hand, then lifted her into the air. She stretched her arms over her head as she felt herself slipping down, panting faster and faster, her mind crackling with excitement. He started gulping, and she descended into the hot, dark, saliva-drenched maw, trembling with exhilaration, crying out in delight as he jerkily swallowed the rest of her body, ecstatic in the knowledge she had become a wonderfully, unforgettably delicious meal for her beloved.

As soon as she curled up in the stomach, the slimy walls embraced her. Her whole body still tingling, she relaxed as the stomach began to knead its food. No thoughts drifted through her dazed mind, everything simply felt good, everything simply felt right. She closed her eyes, savouring the warm tranquillity, but was abruptly woken back up when the stomach started quivering, then suddenly clenched. She was squeezed upwards, and a moment later tumbled out of Oresh’s mouth. Once she had caught her breath, she turned to see him sobbing.

“What’s wrong?” she rushed to him, “Did it hurt?”

“You… you’re the most delicious thing I’ve ever eaten. You must be the most delicious thing in the world”

Anka burst out laughing and slipped into his arms, “You’re very welcome”

Next chapter

Constructive criticism welcome

© Paul Bramhall

Kurush: The First City - Chapter 42

Kisha dragged a hurum girl out of the basement of the chief’s hall by her hair, then lifted her up in the air. She savoured her aroma - beneath the earthiness that was to be expected from unwashed food, there was the exhilarating scent of sweet meat. After weeks of loyally following his commands, Kyroz had finally given her leave to dine on one of their captives. Her stomach happily rumbled in anticipation. The girl was limp, but Kisha could feel her heartbeat racing.

“Please don’t eat me”, the girl whimpered

“Louder”

“Please don’t eat me!”

“Come on, put your heart into it,” Kisha grinned, “maybe I’ll let you go if you beg hard enough”

She forcefully licked her cheek, making the girl tremble. Then they heard a horn blow from outside. Kisha’s face soured. She threw the girl back into the basement, locked the door behind her and charged outside. The lishas and hurums of Niarush were cowering in their hovels. When she reached the gate, she saw Kyroz climbing down from the ramparts.

“Open the gate”, he ordered

A host of dusk raiders was stood outside. The muscle-bound lishas were restless, but there was no eagerness in their faces or voices, no thirst for battle and victory. Instead it looked like they’d rather not be there.

Kyroz walked out flanked by Kisha and Staroz. Leading the dusk raiders was a lisha with cracked black scales, his toned chest chequered with deep scars. He looked down at Kyroz with unwavering, austere eyes. A lisha woman with emerald green scales stepped forward.

“You stand in the presence of Jikuj, chief of the Ujuans in Parua,” she said, “I am his daughter Unja. My father does not speak Oshuan, so I speak for him”

“It is a pleasure to welcome you to Niarush,” said Kyroz, “may I ask why you have come?”

“For many years, we have taken what we needed to survive from the Paruans. But since the great wave, this has become… more challenging. The Paruans started attacking our camps, somehow they always knew where we were. We joined our bands together to take one of their villages, but when we arrived, they were already waiting for us – a whole horde of them. We couldn’t defeat them. There are lishas and hurums from Kurush helping them. You are from Kurush as well, yes?”

“That’s right,” said Kyroz, “but the simple Paruans and their wicked allies don’t like those of us who walk the path of righteousness. Their traders refuse to sell us any metals. When we double the price, still they lie and say they have none”

Unja nodded, “The paths around Niarush have been quiet lately. But we did capture a hurum on a hapa running between villages. We think he was a messenger”

“Where is he?” said Kisha

Unja grinned and patted her stomach, “Where he belongs. But he was carrying this”

She handed a clay tablet to Kisha, “It says ‘fish moon camp high sea…”

“Give it here,” said Staroz, “I thought you Oshuans knew how to read? It says ‘Calling all Paruans, lisha or hurum, defend your homeland. If you can fight or forge, or want to learn how, find us atop Cracked Skull Hill. Bring one standard copper ingot, two gana steaks and five loaves of bread per person, also any spears, axes, knives, arrows, helmets and hapas you can spare. The dusk raider camp has moved to the base of the Quartz Waterfall, about three hundred lishas remain. Avoid the vicinity of Niarush. We outnumber the enemy, we will be the wave that washes Parua clean. Led by Sapesh and Galka, Paruan heroes of old, we will build a paradise not seen since the days of legends, where lishas and hurums have no fear of war or each other. The foundation of this new world will be the New Sapphire Temple. Together we will write a new legend. Baked on the eleventh of Ululu.’ That’s only half of it, I don’t understand the rest”

Kyroz looked over his shoulder, “It’s the same again but in Paruan. They’re teaching the Paruans the script we Ekuans invented, the treacherous scum. And they think they can build a new Sapphire Temple? Why rebuild that brothel?”

“They’re preparing to attack Niarush,” said Unja, “we can help you. We both need the Paruans to understand their place. But we can’t be of much help while we’re on this side of your walls”

“Do you really think we’d just let you through our gates?” said Kisha, “Letting you camp in the shadow of our walls would be generous enough”

Kyroz turned to the chief, his eyes steely and inscrutable.

“There are no hurums in your tribe. Why is that?”

“Not in Parua,” said Unja, “They slow us down. They have little appetite for bloodshed and plunder”

“They are weak and deceitful creatures, are they not?” said Kyroz, “They are not blessed with the Sun’s strength like we are”

“I suppose so…”

Kyroz pointed at the cross and diamond painted on his forehead, “This is a sign that I uphold the Sun’s righteous order, that I see hurums as they truly are – animals fit only as labour and food. Any lisha who has this sign is welcome in Niarush”

Unja relayed what was said to her father. He chuckled, a gravelly laugh a hunter might make once he’d cornered his prey. He stepped towards Kyroz, making Kisha spring forward with her spear. But he casually pushed the spear away, keeping his eyes fixed on Kyroz. The savage towered over the prophet, the two men unblinkingly peering into the depths of the other’s soul, searching for any glint of doubt. Then Jikuj lowered his head.

“Kisha, fetch the ink,” said Kyroz, “and Staroz, bring out the finest dishes we have from the basement. Let us welcome our new friends with a feast!”

Next chapter

Constructive criticism welcome

© Paul Bramhall

Kurush: The First City - Chapter 41

The sky had an unearthly indigo glow. A circle of seven towering stones stood atop a hill, gleaming golden as they caught the light of the setting sun. The place was already bustling by the time the delegation from Potamyz arrived. Young lishas were wrestling playfully with each other, and old hurums were sat in cliques gossiping amongst themselves.

The refugees from Kurush were turning a lot of heads. Their clothes were colourful yet tattered, making them look opulent yet dishevelled. Anka wondered whether the Paruans would see her friends’ green scales and think they were dusk raiders. One bare-chested lisha shaking his spear in the air started shouting at them, only to be quickly drowned out by Hyza and Lysta shouting back.

The chief of Potamyz was the last to arrive, so the gathering could begin. The chiefs with their hapa-crest crowns sat within the stone circle, while their entourages stood outside in silence, holding torches which cast a myriad flickering shadows. Leading the meeting, whilst saying barely a word, was the High Shaman, a withered old lisha who had three blood-red gemstones embedded in the scales of his forehead.

The only Paruan phrases Anka knew were ‘Hello, it is an absolute pleasure to meet you’, ‘your ship is so beautiful your wife must be jealous’ and some others she had learnt to flatter merchants in Kurush, so she couldn’t follow what the chiefs were discussing. Her attention drifted to the grand megalith they stood next to – carved into it was a reptilian monster baring its teeth and claws. It had a crest like the setting sun, and two long horns above its eyes. It reminded Anka of Tiuk’s helmet, the two colossal statues that guarded the gate to the Rush, and the mosaic outside Lurush’s estate. There was no doubt that it was the same creature. She asked Hyza what it was.

“It’s the Rizoz,” Hyza whispered, “giant lizards who lived in Parua when the world was young. They put these stones here and made the carvings with their claws. But when lishas and hurums came and settled here, the Sun ordered them to move to the mountains, so that they didn’t accidentally trample on fields and houses. At least, that’s what the legends say”

“So they’re not real?”  

“Oh they’re real. Me and Lysta saw one once, wandering the scrubland. It looked hungry, so we ran as fast as we could. What a day that was!”

A wave of surprise rippled through the crowd. Some of the young lishas started murmuring excitedly in each other’s ears. Hyza’s face had frozen.

“What happened?” said Anka

“One of the chiefs suggested holding a Yrsti”

“What’s that?”

“A… a sacred feast,” said Hyza, who was still intently listening to the chiefs, “the lishas fight each other for the most desirable hurums”

“We had that in Kurush too, once a year. A good day for the orokosa merchants”

“Here it’s once a generation, and there’s no orokosa. It’s to stop hurums from outnumbering the lishas. To preserve the Izora. Ah, how would you say that? The balance? The last one was sixteen years ago, it’s far too early for the next one. But that chief reckons it would give the lishas the strength to drive out the dusk raiders, and the arrivals from Kurush”

Apparently the dusk raiders aren’t the only thing to worry about in Parua, thought Anka. The Paruans were afraid that with the dusk raiders coming from the plains and Kurush’s refugees coming from the sea, they would be trapped between them. The destruction of their fishing villages by the great wave didn’t help matters. Not only had it dented their food supplies, they were scared that it was an omen that Parua was about to drown under a flood of invaders. Time dragged on as the chiefs carried on deliberating until the sky became bejewelled with stars. By the time they had finished, Anka’s body was stiff and numb. Hyza said that nothing had been decided.

“How long has it been since the Paruans tried to kick the raiders out?” Anka asked

“A few years ago, a lisha went around telling everyone he was the reincarnation of the legendary hero Mistiz. He managed to convince a lot of lishas to follow him, he raised a whole army, but he ended up being killed by the raiders”

“Could we talk to the High Shaman?” said Anka, nudging Oresh who was dozing off

“Sure,” said Hyza with a quizzical look, “but why?”

“Isn’t he the highest authority here? All the chiefs of Parua came here as soon as he asked”

“I suppose. Okay, come on”

Dragging Oresh by the arm, Anka followed Hyza into the stone circle, where the wizened lisha was still sat cross-legged. They knelt in front of him, and Hyza explained to him in Paruan who these two foreigners were. He peered at Anka and Oresh with stern eyes. Anka realised that the gemstones on his forehead weren’t simply glued to his scales, they had been hammered into his skull.

“He says he’s pleased to meet you,” said Hyza, “what did you want to ask him?”

“Why couldn’t the chiefs come to a decision?” said Anka

The High Shaman sighed before he replied.

“Each has their own lishas and hurums to think about,” said Hyza, “they want peace, but they don’t want to risk anything to achieve it. They don’t want to lose any more friends and family to the dusk raiders. They’re too mobile, they attack when we least expect and then vanish. The chiefs can’t see any way to survive except hope that their village walls hold firm”

“What do you think the solution is?”

“Oshuan traders have passed through our lands for a thousand years. I know the lishas and hurums of Kurush can be our allies. We ought to work together to drive out the dusk raiders”

“Great!” said Anka, “We want to do everything we can to help. We can be the edge you need to win this fight. So, since the chiefs couldn’t make a decision, why don’t you announce an alliance between us?”

He scoffed and waved the suggestion away.

“He says his role is just to bring the chiefs together to talk,” said Hyza, “to do anything more would risk the Izora, the balance. Long ago, when the world was pristine, there was no toil, disease or oppression. Lishas and hurums roamed living off of the land, and did not fear becoming dominated by their peers. But some lishas did not want to wait for the Yrsti and ate hurums wantonly. This angered the Sun, and he unleashed his fiery rage upon the world, turning the lush green lands to desert. The righteous fashioned hoes and started farming. We will never see that golden age again, but by respecting each other and our traditions, we have worked hard to achieve the Izora, to reach as close to that original paradise as we can. If I were to start giving orders, the Izora would collapse. You surely understand this better than anyone. Kurush ignored the Izora, built a hierarchy founded upon greed, and ultimately paid the price with its ruin”

“A hierarchy is going to be built in Parua, whether you want it or not,” said Oresh, “I envy how close to the tranquillity of nature you live, but you can’t escape bronze. The question is what kind of hierarchy will it be. Will it be one that is fair, open and guarantees the safety of all, or will it be one where the strongest do as they please?”

The High Shaman glared at Oresh before muttering something to Hyza and rising to his feet.

“He’s tired”, said Hyza with a nervous laugh

“What you said almost sounded like a threat”, Anka said to Oresh with a smile

“Oh… shit”

“It was worth a try”

They left the stone circle as the Paruan lishas assembled to sing the boisterous songs of their ancestors and dance around the fire in the centre, their hands raised to the lustrous moon above, while the hurums stood around the stones clapping in time. The dance became faster and faster until they were running, a throbbing mass of golden-scaled lishas spinning frantically in concentric circles, the ground shaking with every collective step. The eldest lishas were in the innermost ring, singing just as raucously as their grandchildren dashing around the edges.

A little down the slope, Anka and Oresh found Gamoz with some children. With a torch in one hand, he was using a stick to write in the dust. To Anka it looked like gibberish, but Oresh simply asked Gamoz for the stick and did the same.

“Bird camp bronze piety… Oresh, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten how to write?”

Oresh smiled at her, “You don’t recognise it? How about this”

“Moon mountain island moon, if they were written in a rush. What’s this supposed to be? Wait a minute…”

The name Anka sounded like the words ‘rock woman’, so that’s how she had always signed her name on tablets. Moon mountain island moon was quickly growing on her.

“What’s this?” said Oresh, jabbing at a character in the dirt with the stick, “Your name isn’t Gamosh, Gamoz”

“Well, you Oshuans don’t have a word starting with ‘z’, so there’s no character for it”

“We had better invent one then,” said Oresh, “what’s a Paruan word starting with ‘z’?”

Gamoz stroked his chin, “How about zolta? It means ‘laughter’”

Oresh scrubbed out the character and replaced it with a rough version of the symbol for laughter – a stroke down and a stroke up, like a mischievous smile.

“It definitely suits you more than ‘piety’!”

Gamoz grinned, “How dare you! Maybe your name should have the characters for ‘cheeky bastard’”

“Er, sorry to interrupt…” Peshura walked sheepishly towards them, “I managed to save some things from the Sapphire Temple, before getting on the ship. Here, on this ancient, sacred hill, it seems like a good place for them”

She opened her satchel to reveal a hoard of dried mushrooms. Anka rushed to find Bukur, knowing how much he liked consuming exotic things, but to her surprise he refused.

“I’ll keep watch,” he said, “I’ll make sure you’re safe while you and Oresh have fun. Besides… Peshura scares the shit out of me”

“After all these years? She must have really given you an earful after she caught you sneaking around her Temple”

“Just hope you never get on her bad side”

Anka found more enthusiasm in Hyza and Lysta, and it wasn’t long before there was a small crowd surrounding Peshura. They tasted like leather with a hint of vomit. Once they had washed the taste out of their mouths with water, they sat on the hillside and waited in anticipation.

Anka saw Hyza curl up in Lysta’s arms. Oresh was lain on his back nearby. She slowly climbed onto him, laying herself down on top of him, the back of her head resting on his chest. He said nothing and gently placed his hands on her stomach. Together they looked up at the night sky.

Gradually the stars became brighter, they shone in every colour of the rainbow. The sounds of the Paruans singing and dancing in their primordial ritual became a celestial rhythm the stars twinkled in tune with. Before she noticed, the world around her had peeled away and Anka was surrounded by dancing stars, their kindly mother the Moon watching on, the never-ending darkness of the night alive with vibrant mists that swirled into original, never-before-seen shapes.

Someone nearby guffawed loudly, and Anka remembered that she was bound to the earth. She realised that she had no idea how long she had been lain there staring upwards. It was probably just a few minutes, but it felt like it might be almost dawn already.

“What are the stars?”

“I think they’re trying to tell me,” said Oresh slowly, “but I don’t understand what they’re saying”

“And what even is the Sun? There are so many stories about him, but all I’ve ever seen is a ball of fire”

“The stories are made up by lishas and hurums. But the feeling of sunlight on your scales after a cold night, the feeling of energy being poured into your body, that silent, warm bliss, that’s real”

“Can’t we just lay here forever?” said Anka, “And stop worrying about hierarchy, conflict, death…”

Oresh chuckled, “That sounds nice. We probably wouldn’t last long though. Some bastard who does worry about those things would make sure of that”

“But at least we’d be happy for a little while” 

Anka’s stomach had been grumbling for some time, and was now vigorously complaining about being empty. Be quiet, Anka internally commanded it, I’m busy trying to figure out the meaning of life. But it would not stop rumbling, but equally the thought of getting up to find some food was out of the question.

Thankfully the standoff was broken by some children who were handing out flatbreads to the hurums and gana steaks to the lishas. As Anka munched on her bread in Oresh’s lap, she was mesmerised by him slowly chewing on his steak, being so gentle with it that it was as though he didn’t want to hurt it, his eyes closed as he meditated on its flavour. Anka couldn’t stop watching, wondering what it would feel like to be that steak, and only once he had swallowed it down did she remember that she hadn’t finished her bread.

“I managed to save something else from the Sapphire Temple”, Peshura announced to the revellers on the hillside

She placed something on the ground swaddled in cloth and started unwrapping it.

Hyza leant over to Anka, “What’s the Sapphire Temple?”

“It was like a bar, a brothel and a charity all in one building. Peshura was the Sopri of Sapesh and Galka there, I suppose she’s a bit like your High Shaman”

Hyza’s eyes were bleary, “A bar, a broth…?”

“A good place to go if you wanted to get eaten”, said Anka with a smirk

“I wish I could have seen it”

Peshura finished unwrapping her treasure to reveal the sculpture of a hurum woman between the jaws of a lisha. The wood was cracked and as dark as coal, but their faces were still strikingly detailed.

“After the earth gave birth to the first lishas and hurums, the Sun decreed that no hurum would be eaten,” said Peshura, “But some lishas gave into their desires, and as punishment the Sun pulled Himself closer to the world, turning it to desert. At that time there was a lisha named Sapesh and a hurum named Galka, who were full of righteousness and love for each other. But as the rivers ran dry and game was nowhere to be found, Sapesh naturally began to hunger for Galka. When she ran, he gave chase. She pleaded the Sun for help, and He sent a sparrow who led her through the mountains. For weeks the sparrow guided her through ravines and over rockfaces, and still Sapesh pursued them.

“Eventually, they reached the other side of the mountains, the mystical land of Reklua. There the sparrow took Galka to a magnificent tree that almost reached the sky. The tree spoke to her: ‘Pluck the leaves from the vines hanging from my branches, tear off the bark from my trunk, and brew them together in boiling water. When the one who is hunting you arrives, offer the brew to him’

“Galka brewed the concoction as the tree had commanded, and soon after she had finished Sapesh arrived at the roots of the tree. Galka said to him, ‘Dearest friend, I know you are tired and famished, I know how ardently you want me in your belly, but before you partake of my flesh, I only ask that you drink this first.’ Sapesh smelled the brew and said, ‘Would you poison me, to save yourself? No, I see only truth in your eyes. In the name of our friendship, I will do as you ask. But know that my belly will not be so easily placated, it demands that it possess you, and as much as it saddens me to do its bidding, I am too weak to deny it’

Anka heard Hyza mumbling to herself. She was nestled in Lysta’s arms, her eyes closed but moving as though she was dreaming. Had Peshura’s story sent her to sleep?

“And so Sapesh drank the brew, and then devoured poor, trembling Galka. For a moment he felt the satisfaction of a full stomach, but then nausea fell upon him. Against his will, he spewed Galka forth. As soon as she landed on the ground, a meadow of golden wheat drooping with heavy heads sprouted from the dusty soil. Ganas, hapas and other animals burrowed out of the earth and approached Sapesh and Galka, eager to do their bidding. They never knew hunger again.

“Orokosa is a gift from the Sun. He realised that lishas could not deny their hunger for hurums, and so gave them a way to satisfy their desires without killing their friends. This story reminds us of the Sun’s kindness and His desire for lishas and hurums to live together in peace. The Sapphire Temple was built to instil this message in Kurush, and the very embodiment of that message is this idol of Sapesh and Galka, carved from one of the branches of the Talking Tree, older than Kurush itsel-“

“No!”

All heads turned to Hyza, her eyes red and defiant.

“Pardon me?” said Peshura

“You think the Sun rewarded a lisha for eating a hurum against her will?” said Hyza, “How can that be the symbol of peace between lishas and hurums? That idol is wrong!”

Peshura marched up to her, her unblinking eyes radiating fury, “To some who don’t know better it might just be a fun way to spend an evening, but the act of being eaten with orokosa is sacred. It’s how we show the Sun that we respect His generosity and His laws. What are you doing? Are you listening to me?”

Hyza had crawled off of Lysta’s lap and was busily moulding a mound of earth with her hands. Anka stared intently at it, but could not figure out what she was sculpting.

“This!” said Hyza, “This is what the idol is meant to be. Galka sitting on Sapesh’s shoulders”

Peshura scoffed, “And how would some Paruan peasant girl know that?”

“Because as you told your story, I was taken there. I spoke with Galka, and she told me the right way. She told me that I am her and she is me”

Peshura erupted, “Blasphemy! Never have I heard such blasphemy! You are just some ditzy girl who has never had a theological thought in her life, not righteous and holy Galka”

“Calm down, Peshura,” said Oresh, still lounging on the ground, “let her do her thing”

Peshura’s terrifying glower was now aimed at Oresh, “When a blasphemer dies, their soul is consumed by the raging fires of the Sun, every piece of them slowly, excruciatingly burnt away, their reason, their memories, their loves disappearing into nothingness, until eventually there is not even a fragment left. It would be better for them to be consumed by fire whilst they are still alive, if there was a chance that they repented in their final moments”

Oresh seemed oblivious to her wrath, “These mushrooms really are amazing! They let us peek behind the veil of the world and ponder the true nature of reality. What if Hyza is simply telling the truth?”

Still fuming, Peshura stomped away, “Clearly those mushrooms are wasted on the uninitiated”

Anka had heard and understood all the words that had been said, but it was taking her some time to piece them together, imagining them like a pebble that knocked a rock that hit a boulder that caused a landslide. Did Hyza really believe she was the reincarnation of a woman from ancient legends?

“You said the Sun is real, but the stories are made up, right?”

“The experience of the Sun is real,” said Oresh, “but only He knows what He really is. Maybe He is just a ball of fire”

“If the experience is real, why isn’t that enough? Why make up stories?”

“Maybe they make it easier to understand reality, with all its trauma, beauty, mystery… also, sometimes stories are just fun to tell”

“But they’re also used by the powerful to justify their position,” said Anka, “Peshura’s so defensive of that wooden carving because it justified the existence of the Sapphire Temple. Not that that matters anymore”

“True, but people believe those stories – including those who tell them. They stir the heart, they propel people to do things that no rational argument ever could. That’s why they’re so powerful, that’s how they’re used like a weapon,” Oresh’s face lit up, “maybe that’s what we need to do, wield Peshura’s story like a weapon. A story about lishas and hurums living in peace. Orokosa itself is practically a metaphor for tempering hierarchy by guaranteeing safety”

“Surely a prude like you isn’t saying that orokosa is a good thing?” Anka said teasingly

“Well, I suppose eating someone with orokosa is like playacting the actual thing. It’s just a harmless fantasy, there’s nothing wrong with that. And when fantasy and reality meet, maybe wonderful things can happen”

Oresh was looking down at her with steady eyes. Behind the calm pensiveness, Anka thought she could see a trace of hunger flicker in his oval pupils. Her face turned red.

She looked away and cleared her throat, “But is it right to use fantasy like that? There’s this lisha called Kyroz, he convinced people that the Sun had told him that hurums are inferior. We can’t deceive and manipulate people like that. Hope has to be built on facts”

“But facts aren’t enough for hope,” said Oresh, “When you’re fighting a monster, you have to take care not to become a monster yourself, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from your enemy. If it works for Kyroz, maybe it would work for us”

“But a story they’ve never heard before is hardly going to unify the Paruans. And even for us from Kurush, Peshura is just a priestess without a temple. All she has is a crooked old sculpture of a lisha eating a hurum against her will. And some mushrooms”

Hyza was still moulding her model of a hurum on a lisha’s shoulders, whilst jabbering at Lysta who was watching in a daze, “I’m telling you, you’re Sapesh! I’m telling you”

Anka’s mind slowly rolled towards an idea, “But maybe we could give an old story a new twist. One that gives Paruans a central role”

Anka and Oresh finessed the idea until it felt like they had spent an epoch talking it through. They went to find Peshura, who was sitting by herself on the hillside.

“What do you want?”

Oresh sat beside her, “I’m sorry for talking back at you. I know you’re still mourning, we all are”

“She was my only child. How can I have any hope for the future without her?”

“That’s what we wanted to talk about,” said Anka, “How would you like to rebuild the Sapphire Temple?”

Next chapter

Constructive criticism welcome

© Paul Bramhall