The Illuminated Maiden

Chapter XV

Datu Linaw, Baliad, and Jalili were strolling through the streets of Kota Hamabar, where people stared at them in awe and admiration. It was not every day that commoners would catch sight of someone like the datu within their ranks, let alone, on the streets of the city he ruled, but it was a change for Datu Linaw, who wished to escape the dreary confines of the palace. His two councilors encouraged him to do so. The sun was out, even as there were traces of rain in the past days, and it was nearly midday. The rays seared down on the three, who strolled at a pace.

Along the way where Datu Linaw walked were longhouses made of straw and wood, with windows covered by beads, elevated by tree trunks serving as stilts, surrounded by grass, and fenced with either bamboo or rattan. Outside were woven banners and drapes of different colors. Some of these houses had chicken coops below, where residents tied up or housed their poultry. There were other smaller houses, but in Kota Hamabar, the longhouses were prevalent, flanking the stone embedded within the dirt road.

Merchants roamed around with water buffalos carrying their goods. Some of them set up shop with makeshift bamboo stalls, where fishermen sold their catch from the Halas Strait and where farmers sold their harvest. In some parts were smithies forging cheap blades, striking steel that glowed scarlet. They manufactured weapons commoners would use, their hilts made of either ironwood or buffalo horn. Some even sold shields made of hardwood and rattan, laminated with resin and decorated with carvings which only their artisans could interpret.

Trees were prevalent, and there were some with carvings of the old deities and ancestral saints, serving as shrines for the babaylans of the land, and a place of worship for devout citizens. Surrounding the city of Kota Hamabar were hills with their peaks sometimes engulfed in fog, a strange occurrence, covered with trees making the city distinct. To the western end of the city flowed a tributary of the Galang River, where citizens fetched water for themselves.

In the middle of the city was the square, which had a statue of a water buffalo bull preparing to charge. Stalls set up by merchants, who also roamed with travoises containing goods such as silk, woven garments, and sheets and mats made of hemp, among others. There were also some who sold amulets, brass ornaments, and golden trinkets that looked ingenuine.

To the north was a temple of limestone bricks, arched, yet pyramidic in shape, with steps leading to a foyer, where in the middle was a golden statue of Makapitan, depicted as a man of great physical prowess, sitting with crisscross legs, donning a diadem towering above his head, with his hands placed upon his knees and his eyes closed in prayer.

Beside the statue of Makapitan were smaller stone edifices with depictions of his different incarnations: Magwayan, the female avatar of the underworld, donning a tall tiara, her bosoms exposed, as she wore but a long-flowing cloth as her only garment; Sugih, the avatar of prosperity, stout, bald, and wearing the clothes of a destitute, but smiling; and Bodhi, the avatar of wisdom, dressed in robes that made him appear almost melting;

On the northernmost end, of course, was the palace, a triangular structure rising above the city, made of both stone and lumber, with its roofing coated in gold, featuring rafters with floral carvings, and ends flowing and protruding like wings. Its walls, thin lumber, embedded against stone, were colored with resin darkening them. Stone bulwarks, enough for any man to leap over, surrounded the entire place, which from above, formed a mandala with its pathways and trees.

There were the citizens going about their business, with tattooed men wearing robes or loincloths, donning headdresses, and carrying blades on their waists, and women who wore dresses, covering either their heads or their shoulders with shawls. The datu and his two companions sometimes dodged the spit of those chewing areca nut, who would smile at them in an apologetic way, revealing their teeth stained red.