Kurush: The First City - Chapter 17

When Oresh arrived at the Sapphire Temple at midday, Askura was already waiting outside holding what looked like two large wooden boxes held together by rope. His heart sank.

“Thanks for coming. Today we’re going to be distributing food to lishas in need. The less hungry they are, the safer hurums are, right? But I needed someone to carry the food. You’re going to be our beast of burden”

The memory of losing to Anka at arm wrestling once when they were kids flashed in his mind. If I tell her I’m not strong enough for this kind of work, he thought, would she let me go?

“Also, Tiuk is loaning us a soldier for the day. It’s good to have someone else around, just in case this soldier wants me for lunch”

Potentially fighting a soldier and manual labour?! Askura could see the anxiety in his face.

“When we said we’d try to heal Kurush, were you expecting something else?”

“I thought we might be writing an inspiring speech or something…” he mumbled

“It’ll be fine! I’m really glad you’re here”

A lisha carrying a spear and wearing scratched bronze armour accosted them.

“You Askura? I’m Lekur”

His eyes were half-open, as though he hadn’t actually woken up yet.

“I’m Oresh, the beast of burden”

Lekur grunted in what Oresh assumed was acknowledgment.

“Excellent!” said Askura, “Let’s get going”

They walked down to the meat market, where Askura bought two dozen fat gana steaks with the two copper ingots the Sapphire Temple had given her. When Oresh first attempted to lift the boxes full of meat off of the ground, he thought that even if somehow his legs didn’t give way, his dignity surely would as everyone in the vicinity watched him struggle. One box was in front of him and the other rested on his back, with the ropes between them across his shoulders. Because of their tails lishas naturally leant forward slightly, but because of a barely-conscious desire to appear smaller than he actually was, Oresh visibly hunched forward more than any other lisha. At first it felt like he was being strangled by one box and crushed by the other, like some ridiculous torture method, but as he learnt to straighten his back he was eventually able to walk.

The three of them meandered around Kurush handing out the steaks to lishas begging on the street. Askura did all of the talking. One beggar asked if he could eat her instead, which she simply laughed off. They attracted the vague attention of lishas and hurums walking past, and Oresh worried that their eyes were drawn by the embarrassing spectacle of a grown lisha struggling to carry some boxes. But even if that’s true, he reasoned, I’m helping to remind Kurush that kindness still exists.

“Doesn’t your heart just feel a bit lighter each time we help someone?” said Askura once they had handed out half of the steaks

“Yeah, and so do these boxes,” said Oresh, “Shouldn’t we go to the Ekuan quarter?”

Lekur snorted, “Are you kidding? Three Oshuans wandering around the Ekuan quarter? We’d get lynched”

It occurred to Oresh that he had never seen a soldier in the Ekuan quarter, not even once. He had only seen soldiers look down at it from Kurush’s outer wall. The Ekuans – both lishas and hurums – had been left to fend for themselves.

“It’s as much a part of Kurush as the Rush is,” said Oresh, “Surely we need to go to where the need is?”

“Exactly!” said Askura, “Let’s go”

She led the way down an alleyway behind the meat market, although only as they entered did Oresh notice the skull of a lisha, its eternal toothy grin seemingly mocking the living, hanging from a rope strung between the walls. Was that there this morning, he thought, surely I would have noticed?

In the dark corners of the Ekuan quarter, amidst the piles of rubbish and sewage, they found lishas grateful for some food. They even found one family who had made a home for themselves in a narrow cul-de-sac. The grandmother refused to take a steak, muttering something about poison. All the while, Lekur was constantly turning his head as though he expected wild axe-wielding lishas to burst through the walls at any second. A more real threat were the kamas which were slinking down the walls trying to snatch the steaks from Oresh’s boxes.

One alley had a unique stench that stung the nostrils, like a lake of piss, with a hint of rotting fruit.

“There must be an orokosa brewery nearby”, said Askura

“Oh so that’s what that is”, said Oresh

“Yep, the main ingredient is oro leaves, which are toxic, which is what makes the lisha throw up. They mix in the bark from a kosa tree, which cancels out the poison of the oro leaves while keeping the stew nauseating. I’ve also heard that something in the bark weakens the lisha’s stomach acid. So, basically, the perfect way for a lisha to eat a hurum without either of them getting hurt”

“But surely lishas shouldn’t get used to eating hurums, even if it is safe?” said Oresh, “I mean, what if the orokosa runs out one day? The lishas will still have the desires they’ve been satisfying. It’s not easy giving up something you’re used to indulging in”

“Yeah, but can you imagine what it was like for hurums before orokosa?” said Askura, “Living amongst giant creatures, their restraint being the only thing protecting you from becoming dinner? Lishas will always want to eat hurums, but with orokosa, they can satisfy their urges without hurting anyone. That’s nothing short of a miracle for hurums”

“Wait, where’s Lekur?”

“He must have run off. No worries, we’re almost done anyway”

They turned a corner and came across a lisha scratching something into the wall. He had golden scales and dark arrowheads running down his face. He appeared to be drawing a stick-figure hurum screaming between the jaws of a lisha. Not exactly fine art, thought Oresh. As soon as he saw them, he stopped defacing the wall and strutted their way.

“What’s a couple of fancy-ass Oshuans doing down here?”

Oresh was a little offended. I’m pretty sure I look very unkempt, he thought.

“Are you hungry?” said Askura, “You can have a gana steak, if you like”

A vicious smile spread across his face. He leant down so that they were nose-to-nose.

“I’d rather have you. You look like you’d be nice and filling. You’d be a very satisfying meal. I’d love to feel you wriggling in my belly”

Oresh stepped forward, “Watch what you say. That is not acceptable”

“Calm down, I was only joking”

“Well, I’d love to pour shit down your throat and watch you drown,” spat Askura, “Oh, I’m only joking! Because you can say whatever the hell you like as long as you’re joking, right?”

“You don’t get it, do you? We’re sick and tired of being oppressed by you hurum elites”

“What are you talking about?” said Oresh, “Four of the five Ikarkurs are lishas”

The lisha scoffed, “The Ikarkurs are traitors to their own kind. Just like you. You’re all a bunch of gullible dimwits who need to stop listening to hurums”

“If you do just one thing today,” said Oresh, “please sit somewhere quiet for a while and give some serious thought about the problems Kurush faces and how we can solve them. Don’t just believe some loudmouth ranting on the street. Please, I’m begging you”

The lisha burst out laughing, “That’s what you need, not me! My advice, eat her as soon as you can. Before someone else does”

He brushed past Oresh before swaggering out of sight.

Oresh sighed, “The fact there are people like him in the world… it’s just depressing”

“At least you tried,” said Askura, “and thanks for standing up for me. How many steaks are there left?”

“Just one. Ah, and I know who should have it”

Oresh took Askura to his flat, where, as usual, the lisha man with scars on his face was lying in the alleyway outside. His face brightened when he saw them.

“Young man, good afternoon”

“I’m sorry, this is really rude, I feel like I should know your name…”

“It’s Gamoz”

“Gamoz, would you like a steak?”

“That depends, did it come from a gana that was only fed olives? I can only eat the finest food, you see”

“Uh…”

“Ha! The look on your face! No, I’ll take a steak. Much obliged,” Gamoz wolfed it down, “Actually I tried olive-fed gana steak once, many years ago, not long after I came to Kurush. Tasted bloody good. I used to earn a decent living as an accountant. But after business dried up, beer became my best friend, and before I knew it I didn’t have a single leaf in my pocket. I tried to take out my frustration on a lisha, in exchange he gave me these scars. Life isn’t as predictable as it looks when you’re young. Ah I shouldn’t complain too much, I’m still alive after all. I don’t think I’ve seen you before, young lady? When you arrived here, you had two hurum girls with you, didn’t you?”

“My adopted sisters. One of them had to leave,” said Oresh, “the other… died”

Askura laid her hand on his arm, “I’m so sorry”

Gamoz shook his head solemnly, “Very sad to hear. We live in dark times”

Oresh noticed that there were some strange symbols painted next to their door.

“You know that woman who chucked me out and threw me down here?” said Gamoz, “She came back earlier”

“Lydda? Did she paint those symbols? What do they mean? Was she drunk? It looks like she was trying to write fish, bird, justice, sea, claw…”

Gamoz chuckled, “It says ‘This flat belongs to Hastoz’. I took you to be a scribe or something, but you can’t even read”

“I am a scribe!” said Oresh

“Really? How many characters do you know?”

“A thousand”, Oresh couldn’t help but look a little smug

“Impressive, but down here you only need to know about twenty. Each character is a sound, not an idea. Sounds mad, I know, but you get used to it”

“But who’s Hastoz?” asked Oresh

“Blimey, you are new down here. Don’t piss him off, that’s all I’m gonna say. You live with your mother?”

“That’s right”

“She left a while ago, all dressed up in her jewellery. What a fine looking woman”

Oresh didn’t know which was worse, his mother being stupid enough to walk around the Ekuan quarter like that or Gamoz thirsting after her. She would probably gag at the idea of becoming intimate with a beggar.

“Can I see inside your flat?” asked Askura

Oresh suddenly regretted bringing her here, “There’s not much to see”

She grabbed his arm and dragged him up the steps, “Come on, I’m curious. Nice meeting you Gamoz”

“Thank you for the steak, young lady”

She hardly cast her eyes around the bare flat before focusing on Oresh.

“Why don’t you sit down”, she said

He was a little perplexed but because of her gently commanding tone he sat on the floor. She slowly rolled her pure white tunic up and threw it off. For a second Oresh gawped at her young slender body, her flawless tan skin, her shapely chest, her tender-looking belly – she was the most beautiful and delicious thing he had ever seen. Then he slapped his hands over his eyes and clamped them shut.  

“Don’t tell me you don’t want to eat me. I know that you do”

He heard her come closer. His nose couldn’t escape the smell of her sweat. His brain felt like it was spinning so fast it was about to catch fire.

“You’ve never used orokosa before, have you? Don’t you want to try it at least once? You don’t want to be on your death bed and not know what a hurum tastes like, do you? Don’t worry, it’s perfectly safe, I’ll guide you through it. But first, don’t you want a little taste?”

He knew she was right in front of him. He knew all he had to do was stick his tongue out to find out how she tasted. He gulped down the saliva that had flooded his mouth.

“I… I just don’t understand,” he said, “why do you want this? Isn’t it… humiliating? To be food?”

“You’re thinking too much about this. Just accept the fact that we both want the same thing. We both want you to eat me up”

“No, I don’t want that. Look, I’m sure you can find someone else to do this with”

“You’re a good person, Oresh. That’s why I’m here, practically naked in your home and not someone else’s. It’s not easy to find someone trustworthy in Kurush. I’d rather have someone I can trust than a pile of gold. You’ll still be a good person afterwards, I can assure you. You just need to learn to let loose a little”

Suddenly he felt her soft flesh against his snout, he jolted as though he’d been struck by lightning. He rolled away and scrambled to his feet, fumbling for her tunic on the floor while taking care to block his view of Askura with his hand. Once he found it, he tossed it to her.

“I’m sorry”, he said

Askura sighed and put her tunic back on, “Can you take me back home?”

Oresh escorted her back to the Sapphire Temple. On the way, neither of them said a single word.  

Next chapter

Constructive criticism welcome

© Paul Bramhall