Elria: The New World

6 - Illuka

Water is for those who take it and I do and will.
- An excerpt from a transcript of the late Empress Tinai's coronation speech.

Illuka walked through the Unukapi* camp, wading through the chaos of training rebel soldiers and opportunistic hawkers selling goods and water replacements. Illuka ignored them all and approached the command tent. The two "people'' guarding the entrance let him in with little fanfare. Illuka didn't look at them, didn't meet their dead gazes or see the pulsing dark veins that criss crossed their grey skin.

The command tent was heavy with the scent of exotic spices and cactus wine. Maps and intel decorated the tent walls, and in the centre sat Menlor. He was a rotund lump of flesh, a former war hero reduced to a despot sat at the end of the table. The table was almost bent and broken by the weight of the feast laid out on it. More food than anyone else in the camp had seen in a year.

"The little godling deigns to grace us with his presence," Menlor spoke between nasty bites of soggy mutton. "What do you have to report?"

"The empress' Oracle has detected the presence of other demigods from the unknown lands beyond the North Sea."

Menlor paused, bird leg in hand. For just a moment, Illuka saw the shrewdness that impressed many to come to his side.

"I assume I don't need to tell you to keep an eye on the situation."

"Of course."

Menlor snapped his fingers, and a grey-skinned attendant shambled forward, balancing a bound scroll on a trey. Illuka tried his best to ignore Menlor's enslaved drones, but he recognized this drone.

Maris stumbled up to him, face blank as he picked up the scroll. She shuffled backwards, standing slumped over at the back of the tent.

"This is evidence of the Empress's water reclamation project in the Westland. She's hiding it for some reason. Find out why."

Illuka left the camp behind and climbed on his steed: a feathery Griffin-Chimera mutt. She was adorable in a hideous way: She was two-headed, with a goat head and eagle, and had a headless neck stump. Her skin was feathery, scaly and furry with several bald patches, and her four eyes bugged out of her skull like a frog's. She was also blind in one of her eyes, though Illuka isn't sure which one it was again.

"Hey, Betti," Illuka muttered, giving her several under-ear scratches. "It's time to go back. Are you ready?"

The beast snorted, exhaling an eye-watering toxic gas. Illuka laughed and hopped onto her back, strapping himself into the saddle. He tugged her reins gently, and Betti looked up to the sky and began to bound forward. She spread her tattered, massive wings out once she gained momentum and flung herself ungracefully into the air.

The ground below was a dusty, sunburnt orange, pockmarked with dried out wells and lakes. The desert stretched out for miles, randomly interrupted by spatterings of barely living and heavily guarded green.

Soon, the city of Karenth came into view, a brilliant stark black against the bright desert. Betti swooped down over the city's concentric ringed moats and speckled amphibolite spires. The city's archers ignored him; they were used to his method of entry by now. They began to descend as Betti approached the ostentatious castle that lay in the city's centre. She landed in front of the castle gates, and Illuka unstrapped and disembarked, then tied Betti to a post outside, leaving her with a pat on one of her heads.

He was searched by suspicious guards and ushered into the Empress's throne room, followed by two guards. The Empress sat, fully submerged in a pool of crystal clear water as her raven hair and black spider silk gown floated to the top of the pool.

"Welcome back, godling," The empress purred, swimming towards the pool's edge. "What's your report?"

"Menlor is planning to approach from the southwest with Chimera riders. He plans to take the Serash outpost," Illuka explained. "He's coming through the Weri dead plains."

"We'll fortify the outpost and intercept his army," The empress swam back and climbed onto her amphibolite throne. "I assume you want the same payment as last time?"

Illuka nodded, and the Empress gestured towards one of her guards. "Have some of your men share 100 rubies worth of water in the outlands," She turned her attention back to Illuka.

"Now, little altruist, I want you to make yourself acquainted with the soon to arrive demigods."

Illuka bowed and left the room, winding his way through the castle. He stopped at his room and changed out of his Unukapi rebel gear and into the light linen customary to the court. Leaving his room, he walked out of the castle to find Betti again.

"Hey sweetheart," He combed his hand through her grey-green feathers as a mildly disgusted soldier untied her.

Illuka ignored them and climbed on her back. He tugged her reins and took to the air, flying towards the eastern outer wall of Karneth. He landed on a parapet and fed Betti some sugar cane treats. He watched the desert sun set. From his vantage point, he could see the dense, swirling sandstorms that had been raging for days on the horizon. He could also see some of the empress guards following her orders and sharing barrels of water out to waiting desert dwellers. The sandstorms were getting worse, stronger, and more frequent. The sun was getting hotter and hotter, and the land beyond the walls was getting dryer.

How long till it was impossible for them to eke out a living in the barren plains? Till the people beyond the walls began to die out?

How long till he needed to make a choice? Betray Menlor or the Empress? Aid Menlor's dubiously altruistic desire to conquer Karenth and force the city to share its abundance? Help such a glutinous, power-hungry despot and a slaver for the chance of helping the desert dwellers? The empress was hardly a better choice. She was an equally brutal leader; she and her dynasty were the reason the unnamed land was dying out, but she promised change, a way for desert dwellers to earn their way into Karenth. They both held something over his head: The Empress knowledge and Menlor family.

Maris, you would know what to do.

*Ash water in Pitjantjatjara