Incarnation | Wandering Stars Volume One

Chapter 19

KHELRUSA

The home of the Kahyin people was a sprawling city that couldn't have been called a village, even in the first years of its founding. What had once appeared as an ambitious project of human construction now bore signs of angelic influence. Intermingled with elaborate wooden structures, built from timber harvested from the towering forests nearby, works of stone were also beginning to appear. Situated between two intersecting ridges of the mountain of Murakszhug, the capital city of the Kahyin was protected by the landscape on three sides. To the northwest, the land sloped downward toward the Great Waters and a massive wall of timbers spanned the widening vale. On either side of the road that passed through the wall, pillars of stone had been erected to form an entrance. Spreading outward from there, it looked as though the timber was being steadily replaced by the quarried material that was sturdier, and required greater skill to craft.

Sariel was perched in the shadow of a cleft, high on the mountain above the city. In their own tongue, the Kahyin called it Mountain of Watching. Sariel smiled at the coincidence, for though it was the place where their gods had first appeared, coming down from their heavenly place of observance, it had now become the vantage point for Sariel's reconnaissance. And so far, it seemed that the gods had become accustomed to looking down on humans. They never thought to look up.

"Seven of each," Batarel growled.

"I thought you said two Iryllurym and two Anduarym?" Sariel countered, turning to Tamael who was just approaching from the west.

"Perhaps he has more to fear as the days pass." Tamael's feline form moved silently over the rocks and sparse vegetation that struggled to grow at this elevation.

For weeks, Sariel and his companions had watched the road leading away from the city toward Mudena Del-Edha, waiting for some indication that Semjaza was on the move. Finally, earlier in the morning, they spotted him coming into the city. But he traveled with two Anduarym to guard him on the ground, and two Iryllurym who flew circles overhead as he moved. There was no opportunity for Sariel to get the Pri-Rada alone. Instead, they watched helplessly as he entered the human city, then they took up a new observation point on the mountain above. But when Semjaza reached the mines at the base of Murakszhug, another five Anduarym and Iryllurym were waiting. Now, there were a total of fourteen soldiers surrounding him. The odds were moving in the wrong direction.

Sariel peered down through the quickly fading afternoon light. "I can see the road, but the entrance to the mines is obscured."

"It's there," Batarel assured him. "All but two Anduarym accompanied him into the mountain."

Tamael nodded in agreement, having observed the same from the western slope.

"How long does his inspection usually take?"

"Perhaps an hour. Sometimes—"

"Wait," Sariel hissed, squinting. "There he is. He's come out already."

"But it's not dark yet," Batarel growled low in his throat.