Ashtium: City of Sun

GRETA

“What is it?” I ask one of my sisters.

We stand in their sleeping chamber having finished our prayers already. Supper was an hour ago, but the ale I drank filled my belly well enough that I did not feel the need to join them.

Eldest sister pushes by the others to get to me first.

“A pearl. Our god has great plans for you.”

So this small sphere is what my god thinks of me?

Eldest sister snatches the gift from me and has a good look over the strange small white glass object for herself. She looks at it from many angles while my other sisters wait for an explanation along with me. It does look a little shiny I think. It’s so tiny though, what use could it have?

If I drop it, it will just roll away and be easily lost.

Eldest sister hands me the gift back with wide eyes. “You are to be his bride.”

“No!” I argue while staring at the atrocious object with new hate. My voice quickly becomes small seeing them shrink back away from me, “This is a mistake. I will throw it in the trash pail. I do not want it. Greta is not going to be tied to anyone. Not a slave beater like him. I saw him attack them, my sisters. He is just like the Empress.”

I slump down the wall and onto the ground. My sisters join me.

“Not anymore,” eldest sister counters. She scoots over to me. “You should know he has changed greatly, sister. It is because of you. Every morning, when I go out to clean the porridge pot, his personal guards stand post by our building. He is having you protected because you are special,” she boasts. She sets the strange thing on my lap. “Before you came to us, he would never be present to hear our prayers. He would be with his whores. Now he comes out alone and listens,” she finishes.

“You are all wrong. It is not what you think,” I argue quickly. “I do not want to be anyone’s wife!”

Her voice turns tart as she begins painting my nails in dark paint, “You are both miserable, but you have not seen our god at his worst. He is happy now and you wish to throw the sacred pearl in the trash! You will keep it as you keep his other blessings here.”

“I do not want it,” I repeat.

My mind is already falling backward, trying to make sense of my sister’s proclamation. I do not mind Adler’s company, but it is different from the company of Enoch. I’m much more comfortable with Enoch.

One of my other sisters takes the bead from my lap. She dips a needle in the flame of a wax candle and I watch as the end of the pointy object lightens in its shine. A thin trail of smoke drifts off of it as she stabs the needle’s end into the pearl.

The needle remains in the pearl even when she holds it upside down.

How sacred can it be if they damage it like this?

Eldest sister takes it. “Such lies you feed each other! I will not let you waste a blessing. Open your mouth,” she scolds. “Hold out your tongue.”

“Why?”

“Do not question an elder!”

I obey, wincing when eldest sister drives the needle’s end into my tongue. I know she means me well, so I don’t bite her wrinkly hand as she pulls away. I do scream though for blood trails down the very thing I use to eat and taste.

“This is what you get for speaking against your god. Your skin will heal around it and you will wear it with pride!”

I hang my head feeling shameful under their glares. One of my sisters hands me a small square mirror and I open my mouth to have a look at the strange new thing mounted on top of my tongue. The needle hiding beneath it, and keeping it in place, brings me terrible misery, but I am not quite against the shiny orb’s appearance resting on top.

It gives me something new to look at and feel. I close my mouth, rolling the smooth surface of the object against the roof of my mouth. The sensation makes my tongue flare-up in agony as the needle moves within my flesh.

The pain dulls when my sisters give me salve to wipe over my tongue. Eldest sister peers inside my mouth to check on the pearl.

“You must speak less now for such a token of power will draw the attention that you are not ready to receive. Only talk now with those you trust most. Otherwise, take it out,” sister says while tearing the pearl out. I holler in pain feeling her stab it back into my tongue. “And be held to the Empress’s wrath.”

“I will wear it,” I mumble through tears. “I am not against its look. Although I wish you would have planted it with more grace,” I whisper angrily.

My newly decorated tongue pulses in agreement.

“I think you have done enough complaining for this eve’s end, sister Greta. Return to your bedchamber and have a good morrow.”

I don’t want to sleep now. I want to explore. No other time in the day do I get the chance to. I miss the courtyard.

Someone else walks into the bedchamber of my sisters.

“Greta? Is Greta here?”

My sisters move in front of me, blocking me from the Empress’s view. I can hear the metallic clinking of her guards as they crowd into the small room.

“No,” eldest sister answers.

I hear something heavy hit the ground, and then, the murmuring of her guards as they move around my sisters.

The smell of smoke fills the air. The Empress’s voice sounds further away, “Let the flames find the truth in your words. Don’t worry, the building was evacuated already. A funny thing how sound travels in here. It must work well to house the secrets you hide. You will leave with us if you don’t have any.”

“She’s gone,” one of my sisters says. “We must leave! There is no time to check the rooms, let us hope she speaks the truth.”

Eldest sister shakes her arms. Her voice soothing, “Do not panic, our god will protect us. We will not wilt to her wish. We remain here. The fire will go out. There is not much to feed it in here.”

Their cries and arguing become white noise as I cower back into the corner of the room. Walls of great flames lick the walls and floor of the chamber. So bright it must be, for the fire glows a light grey with a blinding shine. Liquid trickles down the corners of my eyes.

One of my sisters doesn’t listen to eldest sister and goes to escape the growing danger through the doorway.

Eldest sister chases her. “Stop!”

She doesn’t listen, and for some reason, more of my sisters follow the path she took. The silver blur of their bodies gets lost in the wall of growing fire leaving me uncertain if they made it safely out. Eldest sister follows the path they took too.

Why aren’t I?

My back hits the wall, taking up the tiny space left untouched by the angry growing danger. A sob bubbles in my throat. I scream hearing the ceiling snap and rumble as the fire eats away at it. What happens next sends me trying to crawl up the wall to the high window to no avail. I cower in the corner, holding my legs in and watching the ceiling.

It caves in. Heavy rock rains down as though to smash out the last of the dying fire.

A scream tears through me when a chunk of rock lands on my knee.

My body shakes violently seeing the rock wedged where it doesn’t belong. No more do I hear the crackle of fire. The collapsed ceiling must have diffused it. Now I remain, stuck underneath the rubble.

A sledge of slate landed over my head, just barely missing smashing me. If I had my full strength, I could crawl out to the other side and maybe find my way out. With a whimper, I try to stop the blood pouring out my knee. I want to take the rock out, but it hurts too bad.

On the other side of the wall behind me, I hear the trotting of the beasts and the voices of women yelling. Then it gets quiet.

“...keepers are outside with other occupants. The Empress found them in there and got them out,” Brommy says to someone.

“Brommy!”

Can he hear me in here? I scream, banging the wall with my elbow. If I had my armor on, I could have maybe walked through the fire or perhaps used my sword. I should not have changed for bed. I should have followed my sisters, but the fire terrified me and blinded my vision.

“Help!” I yell, but I can’t even hear their voices anymore.

Hours come and go. Soon, it gets cold and very dim. Carts pass by outside the hospice, I hear their wooden wheels clatter against the paved roads. The bugs begin chirping when everything falls to black.

I try to stretch my knee, but I simply cannot without excruciating pain. It’s what keeps me still and to think I thought the pearl was painful.

I don’t know anymore if it’s blood falling down my face or water. This rock in my knee isn’t so large though. I don’t think it broke bone, but it may be splintered. All around me is the rubble of marble. I pick up a few pebbles and toss them into the crawl space ahead.

“Hello! Is anyone here?” I hear Enoch holler. “Greta? Come on, Lucas. Help me start moving these rocks around!”

He sounds so distant.

“Enoch!” I holler in relief. “I’m on the far side of the room.”

“Greta! We’re going to get you out! Are you hurt?”

“My knee is bleeding, Enoch. I don’t think I’m going to be able to crawl out. There is a crawl space, do you see it?”

“I don’t see any crawl space, Greta. Lucas help me look.”

The other man, Lucas, sounds very far away too.

“Alright, but we are going to need more help. If she’s injured and some idiot steps in the wrong place her body will be crushed. We have to be careful if more come in here.”

“Go get help,” Enoch tells him. “I’m not leaving.”

***

ENOCH

After we made it back to the palace, Greta fell asleep in my room. I let Lucas in to discuss what to do now that the city knows a fire happened in one of our oldest buildings.

“It is the cause you should be worried about, Enoch. If you ask me, you got two choices. We both know it was your mother. So there’s your first option; tell everyone she has lost her mind. The other, of course, you could claim it the aloof spy we have yet to find.”

I nod. “When Greta wakes up we’ll know for certain, but you’re right, it probably was my mother. She knows she will be replaced soon.”

Greta murmurs something in her sleep. Her little body looks so frail. She won’t be allowed to do any guarding now with her knee like that.

What will become of her?

Lucas crosses his arms. He pats down the sleeves of his tunic, glancing back at the door.

“Alright, since she is asleep, now would be a good time to address your advisors about the situation. In case it wasn’t your mother, you’ll want to make sure the enemy was outside of your council.”

“True,” I agree. “I just don’t want to leave her alone in here. I’ll tell them tomorrow.”

Some more of our palace’s hospice workers enter my room. They wipe more of the blood from Greta’s eyes away.

When they finish cleaning her up, she wakes back up having heard them slam the door shut.

She turns over on her side, hiding from Lucas and I.

“Greta? How are you feeling?” I ask.

“Fine,” she answers shortly. Lucas chuckles a little at her grouchy tone of voice. “Thank you for healing me, Enoch. Can I go back to the hospice now?”

“No, Greta. I’m really sorry, but you have to stay here until your knee gets better,” I confess. When she makes no response, I lean down, kissing her cheek. “You had me so scared.”

Her hand feels my face fleetingly as she sits up and faces me. Her eyes are so cloudy now. Can she see me?

“I’ve lost it, Enoch. My optical lense, have you another in here I can use?”

“No,” I sigh while sitting down on my bed. “Lucas, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” he says while heading out. “I hope you get well soon, Greta.”

When the door closes, I scoot under the blankets with Greta. She rolls back over on her side facing away from me.

“It was her, wasn’t it?” I ask.

“I don’t want to talk about her right now, Enoch. I want to talk about why you left for the taverns again without coming to the hospice last night.”

“Greta, I’m so sorry! Please, forgive me. I honestly forgot. What has happened to you is so horrific. So please do not be angry with me right now. I need to know if you’re still in danger. Let me know, please.”

She won’t respond.

It hurts to look at her when she’s suffered so much and knowing what I’ve done has added to her pain.

Giving up on getting her to talk anymore, I stand up. “I’ll let you go back to sleep then. Just let me know when you’re ready to talk.”

“Thank you, Enoch. I was wondering if you could make sure my sisters have a safe place to stay for the night.”

“Yes, I’ll make sure of it.”