Revolutions

77 - Teqosa

With his eyes narrowed, Upachu alternates his gaze between the papyrus and the amulet. His face is practically pressed against them, and he mutters unintelligibly as he meticulously studies the glyphs on the sheets from the retrieved lumuli chest. Resting along the wall, the remaining clay pots are placed close by, some laying on their sides. The lapis lazuli necklace on the plain gold chain sways gently as it dangles from his wrinkled, weathered hand, catching the soft morning light to illuminate a brilliant blue.

"The handwriting is the same," Upachu observes. "The strokes, the way the brush flowed on the papyrus... Definitely made by the same person."

He sits up on his bedroll, still bundled in an assortment of alpaca wool blankets woven in red, blue, and brown patterns. Color has returned to his cheeks, and he looks his usual spirited self. For a brief moment earlier in the morning, he got up to make some herbal tea for us, as well as the two guards posted outside the door of his home, before succumbing to exhaustion and returning to his room. Though he can only act in short bursts of movement, it's a relief to see him moving about once again.

"Who do you think is the 'symbol weaver'?" I ask, uncertain how to address the person responsible for making these glyphs.

"It's difficult to say," he responds, stroking his chin as the gold chain clatters about with the movement while still clutching the papyrus in his other hand. "The maker of these marks could be Atima, considering where we discovered the glyphs initially. But the question remains: how many more of these chests exist?"

"And do they all contain amulets?" I add. "This one stored the lapis lazuli amulet, but did the other one that we found at the Temple of the Titans possess one, as well? If so–"

"Did Qaschiqe discover it and hand it to Anqatil?" Upachu finishes my troubling thought. "Or Iquna—has that man been accounted for? He was the suspicious person lurking around the temple. Who was that man?"

I had nearly forgotten that name; it has been so long, and the journey so long, as well. Thoughts surge through me like a river in flood. Could this Iquna be a cultist of the Eye in the Flame? Did we defeat him there, or does he still live? If alive, and due to the proximity between Hilaqta and the Temple of the Titans, could he be the one who sent the assassin after us? What did that one zealot say with his dying breaths? "The champions were shown the way through the glyphs." And a mention of a 'Sunfire', surely their leader. Do these glyphs lead to more amulets?

"We never should have allowed Qaschiqe to live," I grumble. "He's the source to much of these troubles."

"And my understanding is, he hasn't returned to the Great Library since that fateful day," Upachu says, shaking his head in disappointment. "You think you know somebody..."

Rage ignites within me like a racing wildfire through my veins. But I do my best to force my anger to subside, choosing instead to focus on what we can solve. "What did you discover regarding the clay pots from Wichanaqta?"

A grin spans widely on Upachu's face. "When I was well-rested enough, I conversed with several keepers at the Great Library who are well traveled around Pachil. It was difficult to abstractly convey the images on the pots without revealing such mystical items were in our possession. However, a few were surprisingly able to decipher what I was describing. Given the rough portrayal of the landmarks and–"

"Out of curiosity," I interrupt to ask, "what did you tell them you were seeking with these images?"

He tilts his head side to side, his eyes darting about like a child caught in the act of committing trouble. "Well, I may have suggested that I was undertaking a grand project," Upachu begins with a sheepish grin. "I told them I intended to paint the Pachil landscape as a mural on the inner walls of the Great Library. I said I wanted to capture the essence of all the distinct, rich—don't you dare laugh—locations across our great continent. It was, after all, for the sake of 'artistic and cultural preservation'."