The Elder's Curse by Andrew Walbrown (superbooks4u .txt) 📗

leading towards the city. Individual farms lined each side of the road, some grew fruits and vegetables while others focused primarily on livestock. While there were farmhouses and barns scattered as far as the eye could see, Amantius saw no one and heard no conversation. It was as if the countryside had been completely abandoned, only humpbacked cattle blissfully munching on grass in pastures witnessed their arrival.

“Where is everyone?” Nilawen asked. “Surely your farms don’t farm themselves.”

“It is because there is an Emberi here.” Buri nodded towards Amantius and then frowned. “Sorry, I know you’re not an Emberi, but to Kalikkis all Humans are.”

“So the farmers are scared of me?” Amantius asked. This just keeps getting better and better! No booze and now everyone is going to think I’m here to steal their children? I might as well just turn around and go die in the desert.

“Yes,” Bati replied, “but only until we reach our uncle’s home. He works for the High Council and will provide you with a bangle which you must wear at all times. It lets everyone know you are not an enemy of our people.”

“What about us?” Nilawen said. “Do we get one too? I’d like a pretty bangle for my arm if that is possible.”

“Yawan sees so few visitors I am sure we will have plenty to spare.” Bati turned to Amantius. “In fact, to many, you may be the first Human they have ever seen. As long as Buri and I are with you, you will be safe, but we must hurry to my uncle’s home. Though we are generally a peaceful race, some ruffians may attack you out of ignorance.”

Amantius frowned. Ulam chuckled.

Why is he so amused?

“So you’re gone for days on end and, when you return, you come back with an Emberi, a Nogoon, and an Elf?” Bati and Buri’s uncle said with disbelief. “Did you at least find the herbs I requested?”

“Yes, Uncle Tomo,” Buri replied. “They are in our packs.”

“Fine, go get them,” Tomo gestured with the flick of his wrist, “I will entertain our guests while you are away.”

Bati and Buri scurried out of the home and back into the streets of Yawan, leaving Amantius, Ulam, and Nilawen in the cramped living room with Tomo. He was very different than his nephews, not to mention much older as well. Instead of a coat of dust brown hair, Tomo’s fur was completely grayed over, with only a few specks of brown showing near his eyes. He was hunched over and needed a cane to walk, as years of being a public servant were not kind to him. His clothing was different from that of his nephews’ as well; unlike their robes designed to protect against ash storms, Tomo wore an off-white robe with a sky blue sash around his left shoulder. As Amantius watched his host rummage through some trunks it became clear to him that Tomo’s vision was failing. Though after listening to him berate his nephews, it was apparent his mind was still as sharp as a knife.

“Ah, here they are,” Tomo said as he pulled two bangles from a desk drawer. Both armbands were lime green with words from a foreign alphabet engraved in them. “Put these on and everyone will know you are not our enemy.”

“Not my favorite color, but still pretty,” Nilawen muttered as she slipped the bangle around her arm.

“Now, what brings such odd company to the house of an old mouse,” Tomo said as he sat on a pile of cushions scattered on the floor. “Assuming, of course, that you are not actually slavers. If you are, you will find me not worth the effort of abducting; I will talk until you either release me or kill me. Either way, I will not make a useful slave.”

There was an awkward silence as everyone shared glances in the little living room, the only noise coming from Tomo’s heavy breathing. Amantius opened his mouth a few times to speak, but then closed it. There was no definitive reason for crossing the Alakuum aside from pure wanderlust.

“I guess,” he began, “we came for different reasons. Ulam, the Nogoon, as you call him, has been searching for other members of his people for years and thought maybe there would be more somewhere in the Ashlands. I came along because he is my brother, the only family I have, and I want to help him. And I don’t know why Wen came.”

“To see the world, mostly,” Nilawen replied, “and because you two are the only true friends I’ve ever really had. Everyone else tries to either make money from me or to use me as an object for their lust. It’s just refreshing to have friends who treat me as a person.”

Though she was a great actress and excellent at controlling her emotions, it was unlike Nilawen to speak her feelings so plainly. Amantius could not help but smile, her words uplifting his spirit. “Less than a week ago you held a knife to Bati’s throat; I’m glad to know somewhere inside is a softer side to you.”

Tomo nearly spat camel’s milk across the room. “You nearly slit Bati’s throat?”

Nilawen shrugged, completely unbothered by the old Kalikki’s reaction. “He shouldn’t have crossed me.”

Tomo squeezed his eyes shut and let out a defeated sigh. “Whatever your reason I am sure it was justified. They are good kids, Bati and Buri, they just get in trouble far too often. I have tried my best to raise them, but I can only do so much. It is not easy raising two orphans while also serving the High Council, but I do what I can.”

“Uncle Tomo,” Bati said as he and Buri entered the house with bundles of bright green herbs under their arms, “there is a delegation coming this way.”

“No doubt because someone told the High Council an Emberi was inside the city,” Tomo said as he used his cane to stand. “Word flies across this city faster than a flock