The air in Lurush’s study was light and clear. Iddyr, the goateed jeweller, was sat opposite Anka, Lurush and Dila, his eyes darting around the room nervously. On the table between them was a brooch, a ring and a necklace, all bronze and each with its own shining little gemstone.
“How about sixty copper ingots and five tin a month?” he
said
“Iddyr, I know your work is good,” said Anka, “We’ve been
friends for a long time, I want to give you a good deal. But I need to make
sure Lurush gets a good deal too. Let’s say fifty copper and five tin”
Iddyr grimaced as he tried to make up his mind.
“I know who’s been hoarding all the diamonds coming into
Kurush,” Anka continued, “I’ll work my magic on him and get you a good deal.
How about it, you can make your first diamond ring! And as long as you sell
exclusively to us, we’ll do our part to make your name synonymous with fine
jewellery. Lurush, you’ll wear his necklaces, won’t you?”
“Of course!”
Iddyr beamed, “Okay, it’s a deal”
He stood to shake hands with the three women. For the past
few weeks, Anka had been sitting in on Lurush’s negotiations and making a
mental list of tricks and tips. And perhaps more importantly, she had been
learning to control her temper – whenever she felt an insult rising from her
chest towards her mouth, she took a deep breath, pushed it back down and let it
erupt out as soon as the intended recipient was out of earshot. Dila had to ask
several times whom exactly she was accusing of fornicating with animals.
At the same time, she’d been learning more about Lurush’s
businesses. She owned a forge, an orokosa brewery, several weavers and
bakeries, and a swathe of rental accommodation in the Ekuan quarter.
Nonetheless, she was grateful to Anka for introducing her to businesses she
wouldn’t have otherwise come across, such as Iddyr’s.
“Excellent, thank you young man,” said Lurush, “by making me
richer, you will make all of Kurush richer. And the Sun loves the rich! And I know
just the man to supply the copper, there’s this lovely chap called Ea Nasir”
“We’ve stopped trading with Ea Nasir,” said Dila, “he only
sells sub-standard copper”
“Nonsense, his copper is perfectly fine”, said Lurush
“That’s not true, nobody buys his copper anymore”
Lurush furrowed her brow, “But I think it, so it must be
true?”
“That’s not how reality works”, said Dila
“Um, I hope you don’t mind,” said Iddyr as he dug out a
tablet from his bag, “but some friends of mine wanted me to pass this onto you.
They’re some of your tenants in the Ekuan quarter. They’re hoping you’d
consider dropping rents back down to the level they were last year. They’re
struggling to pay, and all of Kurush knows how generous you are”
“Yes I am generous,” said Lurush with a smug grin, “I give
to the needy as a gesture of my good-will, to show them that I feel bad for
them. If the plebs know that there are people up here in the Rush rooting for
them, they’ll work hard to improve their situation. Also they’ll be less likely
to cause us trouble. But I don’t see what my philanthropy has to do with
rents?”
“The rents might be cancelling out your philanthropy,” said
Anka, “you give them money, then they give it back to you”
“But I have to charge high rents. I have expenses I need to
cover. How do you think I can afford being so philanthropic?”
Anka took the petition from Iddyr with an uneasy smile,
“We’ll give it some thought, thank you”
He packed away his jewellery and awkwardly bowed to Lurush
as he bade farewell. As Anka escorted him back to the entrance of the Rush, she
asked how Oddyr was.
“He’s getting angrier by the day. He’s putting some of that
anger into his smithing, with mixed results. He’s set fire to his beard three
times this week already”
“Why the anger?”
“Things are getting worse. We hear about another hurum who’s
disappeared at least once a day. A guy we’ve known since we were kids went
missing the night of the midsummer festival. We’ve stopped telling the guards,
they always say there’s nothing they can do. Oddyr’s started talking about
leaving Kurush and building a hurum-only village somewhere”
“Lishas would follow you,” said Anka, “one way or another,
they’d make that village theirs. We can’t escape them”
“That’s what I tell him. I’ve started smearing shit on my
tunic, only a lisha with no nose would eat me. Oh don’t worry, I washed it for
today! I suppose you’ve got more refined options for making yourself
unappetising. I’ve seen hurums with so many piercings they must taste like
bronze. And look at that man, he’s so wide he must be impossible to swallow”
“I suppose…”, Anka had never considered the possibility of actively
making herself disgusting to lishas
“Actually I know a guy who does piercings. If you like we
could go there now and-“
“No no, thank you though. I don’t mind looking appetising,”
Anka turned red, “I mean, not that I want to get eaten, obviously!”
“I suppose you don’t have to worry about that up here in the
Rush. Good for you for making it!”
Anka knew he genuinely meant it, but she wouldn’t have
blamed him if he was being snarky. She had allowed herself to forget about the
outside world, but her trial period with Lurush was almost over. Soon she’d
probably be asked to leave the Rush, and then be eaten by whichever lisha found
her first. At least she had been able to help a friend like Iddyr before that
happened.
Once she returned to Lurush’s estate, when she walked past
the pool amidst the shady forest, she was struck at how clear the water looked.
It was midday and the Sun was pouring a deluge of heat onto Kurush. On a whim she
threw off her tunic and sandals, and jumped in. The cold water soothed and
numbed her uptight body. She let herself float on the surface like a leaf. I
need to appreciate this while I still can, she thought, most people never
experience this level of luxury. Even if my life is cut short, at least I
worked hard enough to get a taste of it.
Once the novelty had worn off, she got out and, still
dripping, walked to the house. In the ground floor kitchen, she found a jug of
beer. For a brief moment she ascended to heaven as the sweet nectar revitalised
her.
“Well well, what have we here?”
Lurush had come from upstairs, her eyes alight. Anka’s heart
froze. All she had on was her chest band and loin cloth. She frantically tried
to remember where she’d left her gourd of orokosa.
“I came down for some lunch, and what do I find? Oh my, you
look scrumptious!”
She crept closer, licking her lips, backing Anka into a
corner.
“Wait Lurush, remember our deal?”
“Our deal?”
“Yes, our deal! You said you wouldn’t eat me”
“That doesn’t sound like something I’d say”
“That was definitely our deal!”
Lurush was practically on top of her, her massive rotund
body forcing her against the wall, saliva dripping from her jaws onto Anka’s
face.
“Not even a taste?”
“No”
Anka looked straight into Lurush’s eyes, resisting the urge
to blink. She knew that the moment she lost her resolve, she would be lunch,
but looking resolute wasn’t easy when you were face-to-face with a predator
hungry for your flesh. Lurush leant down, their eyes locked, their breaths
getting deeper. Eventually Lurush broke her gaze.
“Okay, fine,” she said as she turned and waddled away, “I’m
absolutely famished now though. Let me find Dila. Oh, and after that, I’ll ask
her to fill in the form for your full residency in the Rush”
“You mean…?”
“I’d like you to stay here. I’ll make you a first-class money-maker”
Anka found herself alone in the kitchen, her chest still
rising and falling. Her relief at escaping becoming lunch clouded her thoughts.
Did she say I could stay? I have a permanent home in the Rush? So I’m not going
to be devoured and digested? She took another swig of beer.
“Fuck yeah!”
Her heart was still beating fast. Her whole body felt warm
and tingly, as though she had had to run across the island from Lurush’s
clutches. Maybe I made the wrong choice, she thought, maybe it would’ve been
fun to be lunch.
Constructive criticism welcome
© Paul Bramhall
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