Anka was consumed by darkness, as though she was floating in an infinite void. But she was surrounded by the muffled sounds of faraway screams. She could feel Shanessa’s little arms tight around her waist, and she hugged Shanessa back even tighter. For hours and hours they were there, it felt like they would spend an eternity in that darkness, unless the fiery chaos suddenly broke through and swallowed them.
Then it was morning. The Sun was painfully bright. The
streets were empty. Kurush was silent. Anka and Shanessa stood in their home.
The familiar furniture and decorations were all still there, but the house was
as cold and soulless as a corpse. Anka could feel that cold seeping deeper and
deeper into her, until she herself became a corpse that was somehow still
standing.
Something tugged at her heart, and she was yanked upwards,
as though she’d been at the bottom of the ocean, now being dragged to the
surface at lightning speed. Water rushed past her ears, the crushing pressure
of the sea eased, the light of the Sun replaced the murk of the depths, and she
collided with the border between fantasy and reality.
She realised she was in her room in Lurush’s mansion,
sprawled across her bed. She still felt cold. Slowly memories from the previous
night dripped into her mind. Styra might have lacked any shame, but she was
just trying to survive, just like me. If I’d known that pushing her into Ragur’s
arms would lead to her death, I wouldn’t have. But that’s exactly what I did.
The sensible thing to do would be to tell Tiuk what I heard,
and maybe she’d be able to break up the hurum-digesting ring. Maybe Ragur and
his friends would even get the chop. But would that stop rich lishas from
eating poor hurums? More importantly, would that protect me, or would I just
earn the hatred of those lishas? Would that just delay the inevitable?
No matter how dedicated Tiuk is, she is only given the bare
minimum of resources to fulfil her duty. And it’s no secret that she is not
well liked by the Ikarkurs, except perhaps Lurush. If Tiuk tried and failed to
break up the ring, or if there’s another ring out there that’s not even
connected to Ragur, the ringleaders would have a strong incentive to make an
example out of me. Tiuk might not even want to take any action – investigating
the son of an Ikarkur on suspicion of murder, based solely on a conversation
overheard at a party, could cost her her job.
I’m so stupid, she thought, I’m so naïve. For years I’ve
assumed that the Rush was the safest place in the world, that because rich
lishas can afford mountains of the finest food and seas of orokosa, they would
never dream of digesting a hurum. I expected them to be selfish, greedy and
lustful, but murderous? Even on the Night of Hunger, no hurums in the Rush went
missing, or so I’d heard at least.
But the reality is, whether they’re rich or poor, lishas see
hurums as food. No matter how well-dressed they are, they’re still merciless
predators underneath. In the corner of the room was the chest painted deep blue
with smooth bronze edges which contained the funerary figurines of her parents
and sister. If Oresh was here, he’d say that everything will turn out okay
eventually – but how? There’s no point thinking about how the world ought to
be. The world is the way it is.
No, there must be hope. I just need to keep climbing until I
can protect myself. I need to become an independent, established,
well-respected, notoriously wealthy merchant of the Rush, with my own mansion
and bodyguards. And then once I can afford the one hundred gold a year fee,
I’ll become an Ikarkur and no-one will dare touch me. But it’s not like I can
achieve all of that overnight. Do I have enough talent to climb that far high?
Do I have what it takes to survive?
A knock at the door made her jump.
“Anka, it’s me,” came Bukur’s voice, “can I come in?”
“Uh…”
Bukur let himself in. His polished bronze breastplate
dazzled Anka’s bleary eyes.
“I’m going to be on duty until midnight tonight. I was
hoping I could have a good breakfast to get me through the day”
He knelt on the end of the bed, a playful look in his eyes.
Anka shuffled away from him and pulled the blanket up to her neck. She was
still wearing her outfit from last night, if he saw her in that she wasn’t sure
he’d be able to restrain himself.
“Come on,” said Bukur as he inched towards her on all fours,
“I’ll be quick”
She grabbed his snout and pushed him away, “No!”
“Ow! Okay, okay, no breakfast. Is everything okay?”
“I’m fine”
There was another knock at the door, this time it was Dila,
“Sorry to interrupt. Gilkush’s son is at the entrance. He says he wants to see
you”
“Don’t let him in!” said Anka, “Whatever you do, do not let
him in!”
Dila raised her eyebrows but said nothing as she went back
downstairs.
“What happened?” said Bukur, “Did he do something to you?”
“No, it’s nothing”
“Well, if you won’t tell me,” he said moving to the door,
“maybe he will”
“No, don’t!” Anka grabbed his hand, knowing that if he gave
Ragur any reason to think that she’d told him what she’d heard last night, he’d
be in danger too, “Please, just go on your patrols. Don’t worry about me”
Lurush hobbled in, her hand pressed against her eyes as
though the morning light was hellfire, “Will you be quiet? What’s all the
ruckus?”
“Apologies, I’ll be going now”, said Bukur
“Where did you go last night?” said Lurush, “I wanted to
show you off to everyone, but I lost you straightaway”
“Sorry”, Anka murmured
“Myra will be coming soon. You’ll get me a good deal from
her, won’t you? Do it out on the terrace, I’ll be upstairs. Don’t disturb me, a
brain as large as mine needs a long time to recover from a night of overindulgence”
“Sure”
“Excellent. To think that a month ago, you couldn’t sell a
beer to a drunkard. Now you’re negotiating with an Ikarkur for an Ikarkur. I
must be the best teacher in Kurush”
“Well, I used to sell jewellery in the high market”
Lurush rubbed her
forehead, “Did you?”
“Yes, remember that jeweller you invested in?”
“Oh, I thought he was just an ex of yours”
Anka took a deep breath, “If you didn’t hire me because of
my trading experience, why did you? Was it… did you just want to eat me?”
Lurush sighed with exasperation, “Maybe that’s partly why.
But mostly it’s because Tiuk is your adopted aunt. She’s been acting agitated
recently, taking things into her own hands. I need something to remind her that
we both want what’s best for Kurush, that I’m not the enemy she needs to fight.
And I know how protective she is of hurums”
“So I’m… a hostage?”
"No, no, of course not. You're twisting my words. I'm
going back to bed"
Silence returned to the room. I've only made it this far
because of luck, Anka realised. It was luck that I know Tiuk, and it was luck
that Lurush wanted a hostage. But now it looks like my luck has run out.
When Myra arrived later that morning, her hair, clothes and the
myriad necklaces that obscured her neck were dripping with water.
“Am I late?” she asked, her eyes drooping and breath still
stinking of beer, “I had my bodyguard eat me to perk me up, didn’t work. Poor
man, he says I taste like shit when I’m hungover”
But as soon as the negotiation began, Myra’s eyes became as
sharp as knives. Lurush was selling one of her orokosa breweries to her - costs
were rising and demand was falling. Myra said she wanted to secure production,
in case the other breweries in Kurush shut down, but Anka had to wonder if she
was merely securing the supply of orokosa to herself. They settled on a price
of twenty-seven gold ingots and, at Myra's suggestion, a dinner-date with
Lurush.
"I think that's a fair deal for both of us," said
Myra as she rose to leave, "Lurush will be happy, I'm sure. Now I need to
get back home before the afternoon heat hits"
"Wait, can I ask, how did you become an Ikarkur? You
went from being a newcomer to the Rush to the Palace in lightning speed. Is
there more to it than just knowing and pleasing the right people?"
Myra sat back down, "You want to be an Ikarkur?"
Anka nodded as eagerly as she could muster.
"Why?"
"To protect myself. To be safe"
"That's not a bad reason. That's why I clawed my way to
the top, even if it meant using rivals as footholds and indulging the desires
of bastards. But once I reached the top, I realised that I was only buying
time. There's no such thing as a safe place. No matter how high you build your
walls, someone will break through them eventually. I know that I'm going to spend
my last moments in a lisha's stomach. You probably will too. Anyway, have a
nice afternoon"
She left Anka sitting on the terrace, the Sun's heat pouring
down, her body as cold as a corpse.
Constructive criticism welcome
© Paul Bramhall
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