Servitude: The Hydrangea Chapters

Chp 6: The Call Before the Clash

'What a fascinating flock these people are.' Marlina thought to herself. During her years in Urush, anyone who had spoken of The Everlasting Expanse only stressed tales of caution. Either about the difficult terrain, the creatures beneath the sand, or even the desert leading men to madness. Despite the hazards, these people created a haven against such opposition. Skilled warriors strong enough to slay that giant monstrosity that swallowed her whole, leadership that is swift to decide the best course of action in a tense situation, and people who show great compassion for the living and the dead. With the mention of defenses to be made, she would wonder what that entailed for beasts like the one before. But from being underground, she wouldn't be able to find out.

Wanting to take the seed she showed to Elek and Tessa, she struggled for a few moments to push the seed from the mostly occupied trolley into one of the holes at her wrists. Not the easiest for one who didn't have any hands. Once it was in, she had to shift and twist her arm to avoid the other holes in her so the seed would drop down to her foot where she kept it before for safekeeping. Once she heard it drop and shook her foot to confirm the rattle, she'd step outside the door. Peeking out of the tunnel, she no longer saw Elek. Stepping out, her footsteps made a quiet metallic clank against the sandstone beneath her feet. Not wanting to upset Elek, she decided to stay within the building so that no one would see her outside.

As she traversed, the structure differed from what she was used to seeing in Urushian architecture. The corridors and larger rooms were fairly open with few walls, hardly segmented by the wide arches and pillars neatly lined across the space. While the pillars and arches had aged cracks, there were shutters made from tightly woven fronds of palms that Marlina saw littered outside the outpost. Finding a lever at the end of a long segment of pillars and arches, she would hesitate for only a moment to use her forearms and push the lever up and down, the shutters shifting from open to closed with each shift. This must be what they use to keep the sand out.

It took some moments for her to find an incline that led her to an upper level, more open space with mismatched types of furniture placed in various areas. But by getting a closer look at the pieces, at least one could use their intuition to figure out which room was for dining, which one was for the construction of tools and more sleds, the living spaces, etc. Compared to some of the large homes and lavish castles she had stayed in within Urush, it seemed this was a more humble dwelling that utilized a long-abandoned space.

Finding a window that overlooked the courtyard she and Elek passed through earlier, she managed to spot Aurea and Tessa standing at the edge of the lake. It was a little hard to make out due to the distance, but Marlina was sure that she saw Aurea kneeling at the edge of the water and trailing her hand over her staff, her hand passing from one end of the staff and the water forming into a long spire of what looked to be ice from the tip of the staff. She can create ice? In a place like this? From what Marlina learned in her travels in Urush, she had learned that Urushians can only manipulate certain parts of nature, ice not being one of those things. Then again, Aurea didn't look like Tessa and Mordecai who were Urushian with their tan skin. Taking it out of the water, she would hold up a piece of paper and use the tip of the long spire on her staff to draw a magic circle into the water, the water freezing instantly as she drew the circle. Then tapping her staff in the middle of the circle once she completed drawing it, Aurea would lift it from the water and press the circle into the sand to make an impression in the sand. Once Aurea pulled it away, Tessa would kneel at the circle impression and place her hands upon it, glowing and the sand collecting and condensing, rising from the ground and creating a thick spire as tall as them protruding from the ground. Watching as the two of them would repeat this process, they seemed to be making a perimeter of these spires yards from the walls around the outpost. Marlina was so engrossed in watching that she hadn't noticed the man with the eyepatch called Mordecai from earlier standing near her and watching with her.