LILEA:
Wake, Atuyo, the sun is close to dawning,
And I have news to lighten up your heart!
ATUYO:
What is it? Speak.
LILEA:
[I have a plan to save us.
ATUYO:
What is it worth? 'Tis all so lost and dark.
My husband, dead, my soldiers, slain beside him.
My life is empty, and my heart as well.
What news could bring me hope, could lift my spirits,
When all my hope and light in battle fell?
LILEA:
Dilasis, who is priest here, told unthinking
That the trickster god has led astray
Our soldiers, to a dark forgotten valley
Where in eternal sleep they must now lay.
You must awake them, bring them to Kaveyan,
We must attack, and fight for our lives.
ATUYO:
(Suddenly hopeful)
If that is true, then maybe my fair husband
Alseep and lost in yonder valley lies!
(He rises to his feet.)
Then I will go, if this is fate's decision.
I will not fail sweet Marthala again.
LILEA:
I have seen it in the flowing water:
You must leave now, your chance is better then.
ATUYO:
But how can we escape?
LILEA:
[I saw it also:
As we slept here, not knowing our fate,
A traitor from Kaveyan came to save us,
To throw to us the key to this here gate.
It lies upon the ground there, look, and find it.
ATUYO:
I see it, there!
LILEA:
[Good. Now unlock the gate.
Go, Atuyo, save our noble soldiers
From the valley, before it is too late.
ATUYO:
And you?
LILEA:
[What, me? I will go into hiding.
So when you do attack, make yourself heard.
Now go, we have time only to the morning,
Be on your guard and always stay alert.
ATUYO:
But why can you not join me? Why must you stay
Within this cursed city? Can you not
Flee with me, to find our friends and comrades?
LILEA:
No. There is but one path, one true lot.
If I left with you, we would be discovered,
If I stayed here, they would ask me where you were.
No, you must leave alone, and I must stay here,
So that the best of chances might occur.
Leave, now. And find Marthala's soldiers,
Then come back to this godsforsaken place.
ATUYO:
Then when I see you next, I hope that freedom
Will lay a smile upon your gentle face.
(Lilea opens the gate and ushers Atuyo through it.)
YOU ARE READING
The Iveni Saga
FantasyIs it really ppossible to stay truly neutral? And is neutrality something you can afford in a war? An epic, written in verse, tells the tale of two cities, intertwined by fate... The city-states of Marthala and Kaveyan have lived peacefully side by...
