Guardian of Heaven and Earth
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Kanbal
Part 1 - Kanbal
Chapter 6 - Evidence of Betrayal
The weather was so warm and clear for the next few days that Balsa found it hard to believe that it was winter in Kanbal. She and Chagum entered Kanbal's capital city only ten days after crossing the border. The people of the capital were all celebrating the arrival of the new year. Children carrying drums made of goatskin marched up and down the streets, beating out a fast rhythm with their instruments. Every store was open; merchants had traveled from each of the ten clan provinces to the capital to sell their wares for this event.
The capital was already the largest city in Kanbal by far; with the addition of all the extra people and animals who had come for the new year, it really did resemble a small city in Rota or New Yogo. Merchants set up their stalls inside of stone buildings or out on the streets; the entire setup had the festive air of a carnival. Chagum had spent a great deal of time in Tsuram harbor and Talsh cities on the southern continent, so Kanbal's capital appeared small to him--small and impoverished, like everywhere else he'd seen in Kanbal.
In part because the merchants and crowds seemed relatively sparse, Chagum’s eyes were drawn to Kanbal’s warriors. He saw thirty or forty young men--some young enough to still be boys--all carrying spears. This is a country of warriors, Chagum thought. Everyone seemed so tall and strong, even the women and children.
When Chagum looked up, he saw an eagle flying. Thin clouds streaked by overhead like trails of smoke. Though it was warm for winter, the wind was bitterly cold. Kanbal was a hard place full of hard people.
Chagum faced Balsa and said, “Balsa...you were raised here, right?”
“Yeah. Well, not here here. There’s a district a little to the east where all of the palace guards and servants live with their families. That’s where I lived until I was six.” She looked around, then shook her head a little. “When I was that age, I thought this city was enormous. There were more people than I’d ever seen before...well, I’d never really seen anywhere else. I never thought that Kanbal or my family was poor. It’s something of a surprise, coming back here after everything I’ve seen and done. Now the city seems small. Odd how time and experience change things.”
Balsa paused and looked at the children playing drums in the street. “It was fun to be a child here. Did you see the vendor selling red candy on that street we just passed?”
Chagum nodded. “That was candy? It looked like red fruit to me.”
“Yes, but it’s not. It’s marro, my favorite food in the world. My father always bought it for me when we came here. He spoiled me, probably.” She sighed. “It was just the two of us from early on, except for when aunt Yuka came to visit.” She was smiling, but there was pain behind her eyes.
Balsa and Chagum continued on their way in silence. They reached the outskirts of the city and found themselves surrounded by more Yogoese refugees like the ones they’d met at the inn. Some of them were huddled together, whispering and passing red pieces of paper back and forth.
“That looks like fortune telling,” Chagum said. Yogoese people always bought fortune slips at the start of the new year. They would face south, pray for the new year to be a good one, and read their fortunes. Even though all these Yogoese people were trapped in a foreign land, it seemed that some enterprising soul had made fortune slips and sold them.
It really is a new year. It had been hard for Chagum to believe it--the past year had passed in something of the blue of speed--but seeing the fortune slips made the passage of time real to him.
New Yogo would go to war this year.
“You can take off your face covering,” Balsa said. “It’s not that cold, and no one will look at us twice here--not even a Talsh spy, I think. It’s good for your wound to get a little air.”
Chagum pulled his hood back and lifted his face covering.
Balsa shifted a little toward him in her saddle. “Oh, I just remembered. Shihana said something about you seeing the spy who was working to bring Kanbal into an alliance with Talsh. Do you remember meeting anyone like that?”
Chagum thought for a long moment. “Uh...I don’t remember meeting anyone like that.” He nodded at his own words. “Yes, I definitely don’t. But I do remember one of the guards that Prince Ihan sent with me saying something like that.” He faced Balsa squarely. “I’ve been thinking about Prince Ihan’s letter, too, and the strategy behind it. It’s risky; I’m a little surprised at how fast he went along with the idea.” He sighed. “And I can’t stop thinking about that other Talsh spy I met. He was right there in Sangal with all the rulers of the northern continent. Whoever we’re looking for, he’s probably well-known and influential.” He frowned. “And if he’s well-known and influential in Kanbal, he’s probably a warrior.”
Balsa nodded. “I strongly suspect it’s one of the King’s Spears. They’re more free to travel than others, and them traveling doesn’t look too suspicious. Jiguro’s nephew is an honest sort, and he’s one of the Spears. I’m thinking of tracking him down and asking how things are in the palace before we go in.”
“Jiguro’s nephew?” Chagum’s face brightened. “I’d love to meet him.”
Balsa smiled. “All right, let’s do it. He lives in the same area I told you about, to the east of the royal palace, so we’ll be able to see the palace on the way there. Do you want to linger a little and take a look around?”
“Sure!”
The ground rose gradually into a hill as they left the city behind. The royal palace of Kanbal was built into the foot of a mountain; it towered majestically over the city below.
Chagum broke into a cold sweat and started shivering uncontrollably the moment the palace came into view.
“What’s wrong?” Balsa asked.
“I don’t know,” Chagum said. “I’m getting this strange feeling--not from the palace, but from the mountain behind it.”
Balsa’s eyebrows drew together. She knew that the Mountain King’s hall was at the very core of that mountain, deep below. The herders called that place a part of Noyook. Tanda and Chagum would call it Nayugu.
Balsa remembered when Chagum was still carrying the egg of the immature water spirit within himself. His expression now resembled his expressions then when was frightened of something in Nayugu.
“What kind of strange feeling?” Balsa asked. “Are you cold?”
“No... It’s like my guts have turned to water.” He looked down and blushed. “But it’s probably nothing. Just my imagination.”
Balsa tried to lay her doubts to rest; if Chagum said the feeling was nothing to be concerned about, she’d believe him. But he started shaking again when they were close to the palace. Goosebumps stood out all over his skin.
And then he smelled it, and knew he could not be mistaken: the water of Nayugu. He smelled it all around him, bright and clear and intense. This place was connected to Nayugu. He took a deep breath and tried to see what Naygu looked like here.
“Chagum?” Balsa asked. She shook his shoulder when he didn’t respond. He blinked in surprise. “Are you all right?” Balsa asked. “You’re white as a sheet.”
Chagum wiped cold sweat from his forehead. “I’m fine,” he said, “but can we move back a little? I don’t want to get any closer to the palace than this.”
“We can move away from it,” Balsa said. “What happened? Are you all right?”
Chagum sucked in a breath, then let it out slowly. “This place is close to Nayugu. I can smell Nayugu’s water. The closer I get to the palace, the more I feel like Nayugu is calling me. It’s hard to resist.”
Balsa pulled up on her reins to stop her horse. “Nayugu still calls to you, even though the egg is gone?”
Chagum nodded. “I thought I’d lose all awareness of Nayugu when the egg hatched, but I didn’t.” He thought for a moment. “I’ve been to places, special places where Nayugu and Sagu seem to touch. When I’m there, it’s like Nayugu is inviting me to come there to stay for good. I felt the same feeling in Sangal, and on a ship to Talsh.”
As Chagum spoke, several mounted warriors appeared at the gate of the royal palace. There were even more warriors mounted behind them, riding in file. They were riding into the city to help keep the peace during the new year’s festival. Balsa and Chagum glanced at them, then turned their backs on the royal palace and started riding away.
Balsa rode in silence for a while, but then she decided to tell Chagum at least a little of what she knew about this place. “The bottom of the mountain,” she said, “is definitely connected to Nayugu.”
Chagum looked at her in surprise.
“It’s a sacred place where a secret ceremony takes place. I can’t say much about it, even to you, but I can tell you that Nayugu and Sagu are connected in that place.”
Now Chagum was even more surprised: Balsa had seen Nayugu, or evidence of it, and she wasn’t going to tell him about it?
They entered the eastern part of the King’s city near the royal palace, where guards, retainers, and King’s Spears lived with their families. There were several stone buildings large enough to be considered houses and mansions all lined up in a long row down the street. One of the mansions had very high walls and a high, arched gate.
Balsa checked her horse in front of the mansion. “This is where I was born,” she said softly.
The walls were overgrown with vines and leaves. Chagum saw dead and withering trees on the other side of the gate; the mansion and its garden were clearly not being tended anymore.
“If it were spring,” Balsa said, “there would be so many flowers. Even now.” She looked up at the thin branches of the trees overhead. “I always heard that my mother loved flowers. Even after she died, the house and the garden always smelled like flowers.”
Balsa turned away from the gate. “Let’s go,” she said. “This is a stranger’s house now.”
Chagum nodded. They walked down the street at a slow pace. Red evening light bathed Balsa’s shoulders in a soft glow. He remembered what she’d told him about her family and her past when they’d spent the winter in Hunter’s Hole together.
Balsa had spent long years away from home fighting many battles. It was hard to describe what she felt now that she was home again. She turned corners and observed everything around her with a kind of quiet interior peace. The homes and mansions were lined up like the mounted guards they’d seen riding out of the gates of the palace.
Sometimes, she heard voices coming from the other side of a house’s wall. The people she heard were probably making dinner; it was about that time. She caught cooking smells wafting through the air as her horse advanced.
She stopped in front of another house with a tall wrought-iron gate. Snow gleamed on its dark surface. The stone road here was white and even, like it had just been freshly paved. The gate’s door was made of a thick and sturdy wood bound with more iron. Decorations that looked like red fruit hung from the door.
“This is where Kahm Musa lives,” Balsa said. “I’ve been here before when I was injured and needed help. Kahm might not be here, but I’m pretty sure they’ll let us wait to see him.”
Balsa used the butt end of her spear to knock on the gate.
“Who is it?” a muffled voice asked from the other side.
“Forgive me for dropping by unexpectedly,” Balsa said. “I’m Balsa of the Yonsa clan. I was hoping to meet with Kahm of the Musa clan. May I come in?”
She heard whispers on the other side of the gate, but she couldn’t make out what anyone was saying. She waited a few minutes in awkward silence until she heard the gate opening from the inside.
There was a guard on the other side of the gate, tall and muscular. Two other men stood behind him. All three carried short spears like Balsa’s--and all three looked astonishingly young. Balsa had been gone for so long that she didn’t recognize any of them.
“Please forgive us for making you wait,” the leader of the guards said. “Come in.”
Balsa and Chagum dismounted and passed the reins of their horses into the hands of an approaching servant who appeared to be some kind of stablehand. She set down her weapon so that it could be collected by the guards: this was part of Kanbalese hospitality to ensure that guests and their hosts would not be harmed. Chagum set down his own weapon as well.
The guards led them across a courtyard garden paved with smooth stone. They fanned out in a formation in front and behind Balsa and Chagum as if they were trying to protect their guests. Trees loomed overhead in the half-darkness. Some servants passed them carrying torches to keep the garden lit at night. Smells of wet wood and moss smarted in Balsa’s nostrils.
The house came into view at the other side of the courtyard. The door to the house was open; a tall man stood in the doorway. He was illuminated from behind, so Balsa and Chagum couldn’t see his face, but Balsa thought that he looked a lot like Jiguro.
They climbed the steps up to the house and were finally close enough to see the man’s face. “Balsa,” Kahm said.
His voice was so familiar to her. She’d thought it when she’d met him the first time, but he was very like Jiguro as a young man. She stopped and stood still, waiting for him to say more.
Chagum stopped at Balsa’s shoulder and looked at Kahm. Something in his hard, closed-off expression made Chagum break out in a cold sense of dread. “Balsa,” he whispered in warning. He grabbed her elbow.
There were men standing behind Kahm whose air was threatening. She searched Kahm’s face for understanding and saw terrible pain in his expression--the same kind of pain Jiguro had experienced when killing his friends.
One of the guards behind her raised his spear. She turned around and punched him in the throat. Another guard attacked before the first one hit the ground. She grabbed his arm and side-stepped behind him, then yanked his arm all the way up and back until she heard a crack: his arm was broken.
“Stop,” Kahm said. He reached Chagum in two steps and pulled his arms behind his back. Chagum had no doubt that Kahm was capable of breaking his arm as easily as Balsa had just broken the guard’s.
Balsa stepped away from the other guards and glared at Kahm. The only guard still standing stood behind Balsa and slapped his hands over her ears, splitting her eardrums. She felt a shock, then pain, before she passed out.
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