Guardian of Heaven and Earth
-
Kanbal
Part 4 - The Crown Prince's Pride
Chapter 4 - At the Bottom of Sea
Chagum awoke suddenly from a dream. He sat up in his canopy bed and wiped sweat from his forehead. He was staying in a room of the royal palace reserved for guests of state. Chagum looked up at the thickly woven canopy in the light of a candle resting on a side table.
He forgot what he’d been dreaming about the moment he’d opened his eyes. He had an uneasy feeling that didn’t fade even after he was fully awake. He had been having dreams every night lately. They weren’t nightmares, exactly, but he always woke up with his heart racing and goosebumps rising on his skin. He felt like there was a need to hurry, but he didn’t know why.
He was going to accompany the Kanbalese army to Rota before heading back to his homeland of New Yogo. It was possible that the sense of urgency he felt in his dreams came from that; there was a lot to be done before he and the army were ready to depart. But Chagum didn’t feel like that was the case. The burning impatience he felt had another cause, but he couldn’t put it into words.
This place is close to Nayugu...
Chagum felt like he was about to be drawn into Nayugu at any time. The smell of Nayugu’s water followed him everywhere in this palace.
I’m leaving in two days. I’ll be fine.
The cavalry would be ready to depart in the morning just two days from now. The baggage trains and supply lines for the army should all be prepared by tonight. The delay in preparations was mostly caused by the distance people had to travel to muster up and by the sudden shortage of very fast horses as they were snapped up by the army.
Chagum lay back in bed and closed his eyes. He wanted to sleep, but he was also afraid to. He was hovering right on the border of wakefulness when he heard the sound of a Herder whistling. He fell asleep listening to the sound.
When Chagum awoke, he stretched extravagantly and looked over at Balsa, who lay in the bed across the room. She was sitting up slightly and looking out the window. It was nearly dawn.
“It’s early. Sorry,” Balsa said. “But you should get dressed.”
Chagum rubbed his eyes and got out of bed. The floor was as cold as ice and his teeth chattered. “Did something happen?” Chagum asked.
Balsa passed a folded set of Kanbalese winter clothes over to Chagum. “The Herders have summoned the King and the King’s Spears to the caves.”
Chagum blinked in surprise. “The Herders can summon the King of Kanbal?”
Balsa nodded. “You’ve probably noticed, but the Herders and the Kanbalese people and the Herders come from completely different lineages. While Kanbalese people live and work in the mountains above ground, the Herders are born from the heart of the mountains. Kanbal has two different worlds: the surface world, and the world under the mountains. The two worlds don’t have equal power or authority. When the Mountain King’s people summon the King of Kanbal, he must answer.”
Chagum listened to Balsa’s explanation as he pulled on thick woolen clothes.
“I know you were angry at the Herders for refusing to summon King Radalle to the Mountain King’s Hall, but doing that would be a warping of the natural order, or at least bending the rules. The Mountain King only calls the King of Kanbal for specific reasons, and those reasons don’t include forging an alliance with foreign nations. I should have anticipated that before we went to the Herders for help. Forgive me.” She smiled a bit regretfully, then handed Chagum a thick karro coat and a shuma face covering.
“The Herders have asked me to guide you to the heart of the mountain,” Balsa said.
Chagum and Balsa went out into the hallway. There was no one around. Walking through the deserted palace in the pre-dawn light felt eerie and dreamlike. Usually, the northern door to the king’s chamber was locked tight, but today it was wide open. There weren’t even any guards in front of it.
Balsa and Chagum left the palace and went outside. The overwhelming smell of the water of Nayugu surrounded Chagum. He and Balsa were behind the palace; mountains towered overhead. A little way ahead, there was the wide opening of a cave. When Chagum was standing directly in front of it, he saw the wide expanse of a deep lake. The lake wasn’t in Sagu, but in Nayugu. The lake’s surface was the deep blue color of lapis lazuli.
Is this part of Nayugu’s ocean? Or is it different? Chagum thought.
Goosebumps prickled on his arms. He was starting to understand the urgency of his dreams. Near the edge of the lake, he could see the rocky bottom clearly, but as he and Balsa entered the cave, it was impossible to see much of anything. He was sure that the water level of this lake had risen recently, and dramatically. He stared at Nayugu’s lake and could not look away.
“Are you all right?” Balsa asked. Her voice came from far off, as if Chagum was hearing her from underwater.
Chagum took a deep breath and reached frantically for Balsa. “Hold onto my hand, Balsa. This cave...isn’t safe.”
Balsa nodded. She squeezed Chagum’s hand to reassure him. The walked through the cave together, side by side.
It was dark inside the caves, but a faint light emanated from the walls at irregular intervals. The path sloped gently downward for a long way, then flattened out and expanded in width. At the end of the path, there was an enormous cavern. This was where Balsa had fought the hyoulu in the Spear Dance at the Giving Ceremony.
The King’s Spears were in the cavern, sitting on the floor. They stood up to face Balsa and Chagum. Many Herders stood behind the King’s Spears in the cavern. Their eyes were not glowing. Chagum found it difficult to focus on the Herders because of all the water in this chamber. Like the rest of the caves, this cavern was completely submerged in Nayugu’s water. Countless spirits swam in its depths. There was a soft sound like tinkling bells as the spirits danced and darted around one another. Water bubbles tickled Chagum’s skin. He couldn’t identify all of the spirits, but many of them were Yona Ro Gai, water dwellers that he had seen often in New Yogo.
There was a large, perfectly round hole at Chagum’s feet. It was in Nayugu and not Sagu; it seemed like Balsa and the Kanbalese people couldn’t see it. The hole looked like the opening of a den or a nest to Chagum. The opening’s walls were smooth as if they’d been polished.
Chagum wanted to run away from this place. Every fiber of his being was commanding him to flee. He gripped Balsa’s hand hard. Balsa squeezed back with equal force. Her grip didn’t calm him, but it reminded him why he was here.
It was too warm in the cave because of the water. Chagum resisted the impulse to wipe sweat off his forehead and looked at the assembled Herders.
The Herders and the King’s Spears seemed to be waiting for something. After a few minutes, one old Herder walked out in front of the others. Chagum remembered him as the Herder who had refused to lead him here before.
“So you really are an oi ragi,” the old Herder said. “The woman who took you in was my granddaughter’s daughter. She told me that your body was always about to pass into Noyook. I didn’t believe her, but now that I’ve seen you with my own eyes...well, I’ll have to apologize to her later.”
“What’s an oi ragi?” Chagum asked.
“Oi ragi means ‘overlapping worlds.’ It means that you can see the normal world and Noyook simultaneously. Isn’t that right? Most of the people above aren’t born with that ability, but you saw Noyook the moment you entered the caves, didn’t you?”
Chagum took a deep breath to steady himself. The old Herder was definitely talking about Nayugu, though he called it Noyook. “Yes, I can see Na--Noyook, and this world, just like you said. But the Herders are the same, aren’t they? Can’t you see Noyook, too?”
“Yes, but not as freely as you can,” the old Herder said. “We derive this power from the Mountain King, and can share it with the Kanbalese under certain circumstances.”
The old Herder turned away from Chagum and faced King Radalle. “Your Majesty, if you doubt the truth of any of our claims, please ask this young man to confirm them.”
Radalle blinked, then coughed. “So you can...see something? Down here?” he asked Chagum.
Chagum swallowed. “I see that we’re surrounded by deep blue water. It’s like being at the bottom of the sea. In this world, we’re in a cave under the mountains, but in Noyook, this place is completely underwater. I first saw it when I entered the caves. I can’t tell where Noyook’s ocean ends--it’s huge.” He paused, then said, “There are spirits swimming in the water. Lots of them. Some are familiar, but there are others with shapes that I’ve never seen before. Their swimming looks like--like dancing. And, um...” He looked around, squinting. “They seem to be in pairs. All the spirits have a matching one near them.”
The King and the King’s Spears all exchanged glances. The old Herder approached Chagum and touched his shoulder.
“Turn around,” the old Herder said. “Can you see anything else?”
Chagum turned and saw a mountain rising out of the ground behind him. It was part of a much larger mountain range. The peaks of the mountains were above Nayugu’s water--just--but most of the range was submerged. Seeing green trees growing on the mountains through a water haze gave Chagum a strange feeling, like the world had been turned upside-down.
“If the water gets much higher...” Chagum gulped. “All of those mountains will be underwater, too.”
The old Herder nodded. “Yes. We Herders have noticed the water level rising little by little over the years. You’ve probably heard that it is spring in Noyook now. The snow on Noyook’s mountains is melting; the snowmelt flows down into the ocean.
“Spring in Noyook only comes once every four hundred years. The ocean rises, the mountains are drowned, and all of the spirits gather here and other sacred spaces. So many spirits have arrived here in recent years via a great migration from the nations to the south. New life is born on the ocean shore.”
Chagum remembered seeing the spirits migrating when he’d crossed the ocean from New Yogo to Sangal. They’d formed a long line of light like a river of stars in the sky, flowing from the south to the north.
“The ocean is warm. You feel it, right?” the old Herder asked. “The warmth of the water makes our world warmer, too.” He looked at King Radalle and the King’s Spears. “You must have felt that the weather has been warmer recently, too. Our winters have been less harsh for the past few years. This happens whenever the season in Noyook changes to spring. The grass grows thicker; the goats birth more young; there are more fish in the rivers and lakes. Goats produce more milk, for their young and for us. Thanks to this abundance of food, our own families grow, too.”
The old Herder stopped speaking. He faced Chagum again, frowning. “For the most part, spring in Noyook is something to celebrate, but there is another side to it. All this water is dangerous.”
“There have been landslides in this province,” King Radalle said, “and on Musa and Yonsa clan lands. Lots of them, and getting worse, because the weather’s been so warm.”
“It’s only going to get warmer,” the old Herder said severely. “Landslides and avalanches will be more frequent and more severe. We investigated the mountain caves over winter to determine how far the water extends and how deep it is at various points. Many new fissures have opened up in the ground from the pressure already.”
The King’s Spears whispered darkly to one another. After a moment, Kahm got to his knees and said, “Forgive me, Your Majesty, but may I be permitted to speak?”
“You may,” King Radalle said.
“I received a message from my father Kaguro yesterday,” Kahm said. “It said almost the same thing as what Crown Prince Chagum and Toto the Elder just did. He wants to evacuate villages in the areas of greatest risk for landslides.”
Dagu Yonsa, another King’s Spear, removed a rolled-up piece of parchment from his breast pocket. “My father sent the same request,” he said. “There are hundreds of people in low-lying areas that could easily be wiped out by one bad avalanche.”
“The problem is where,” one of the other King’s Spears said. “My clan has asked the Herders, but it doesn’t seem like there’s any safe place to evacuate to.”
“How do we know where these landslides will happen? Is there any way to tell?” another man asked.
“Even if there a place safe enough to evacuate to, would it be able to accommodate all the people who will have to flee their homes?”
King Radalle lifted both hands, commanding silence. “One at a time,” he said. “I can’t understand anything when everyone talks at once. Let’s discuss the requested evacuations in more detail after we return to the palace. I’m sure there’s something we can do.”
Hagu Muro nodded. “Your Majesty is right. We may be able to temporarily evacuate our people south to Rota until the danger passes.”
The other King’s Spears visibly relaxed.
King Radalle faced Toto the Elder. “I believe you,” he said. “Please tell us everything you’ve learned while investigating the caves. If there are safe places in Kanbal to flee to, tell us at once and I’ll send out messengers as soon as possible.”
Toto the Elder nodded. “Of course we will tell you. We are messengers of the mountain; it is our duty to inform you whenever we sense a disaster.”
Chagum was overwhelmed with the desire to run away from this place again. What he feared did seem to be some kind of disaster.
Toto the Elder looked up at Chagum. “You’re one of the people from beyond the Misty Blue Mountains. Are you their leader?”
“Uh, my father is.”
Toto the Elder nodded. “Then we’ll tell you what we know, too. Noyook’s ocean covers much of New Yogo now, too. The water level is much higher this year compared to previous ones. Your land is also under threat of natural disasters.”
Chagum felt a cold hand close around his heart. He felt exhausted, cold, and numb. If all the water on the mountains melted and traveled through New Yogo’s waterways...
The Blue Bow and Bird Song rivers both flowed past Kosenkyo. If they both overflowed, there would be a terrible flood. A flood so huge that the depths of the water could cover mountains.
“Chagum.” Balsa gripped his shoulder.
“Balsa,” Chagum gasped. His breaths were coming shallowly now. “The capital...Kosenkyo... I have to go home. I have to warn everyone before it’s too late.”
Balsa slapped his shoulder for reassurance, but Chagum was not reassured. “You know you can’t go back. Not right now.”
Chagum’s eyes widened. “Why?”
“Think about it,” Balsa said. “If you went back to the capital right now and told everyone that a disaster was coming, what would happen?”
Chagum understood what Balsa meant. Even if he relied on his status as the child of a god to get people to believe him, his father never would. And if the Mikado didn’t realize there was a disaster, Chagum claiming that there would be one would only make him angry.
Chagum and the Mikado had been at odds since Chagum’s childhood. If Chagum claimed that there would be a disaster, the Mikado would claim the opposite. The words of the Mikado were the words of a god.
“I’ll go to New Yogo,” Balsa said. “I’ll warn Torogai, and Shuga, and everyone else who can get the message out. They’re smart; they’ll figure out a way to get people to safety.”
Chagum’s eyes were full of fear and doubt.
“Besides, I’m worried about Tanda.” Balsa smiled. “Leave it all to me.”
Chagum bit his lip. He stared at Balsa for a long time in tense silence, then nodded.
No comments:
Post a Comment