KINGDOM OF THE STONE -- a Wattpad featured novel

Chapter Seven

"Hey, stop!" Macander yelped.

Everyone turned and Karux saw one of the farmers making off with a small bleating kid under his arm. Amantis flung a staff at him, but the farmer was already gone. The other farmers laughed derisively as they limped away across the fields.

"Man we really showed them," Somek shouted, blood lust still shining in his eyes.

Amantis ignored him, stomped up to Macander and slammed him in the chest. Macander staggered backwards, lost his balance and sat down hard.

Theris swung his staff at Amantis, bringing it to a rapid stop just under his chin. "Don't hit my brother," he growled.

Amantis glared at him and slowly pushed the staff away. He turned to Macander and towered over him. "Why did you let him go?"

"I-I don't know."

"You, of all of us, were best able to stop him, yet you let him go."

Macander hung his head.

"You don't stop until the enemy is defeated," Amantis shouted to the group. He turned and stomped away muttering, "Void take it!"

The enemy? Karux wondered. Do we now have enemies?

-=====|==

They got their animals sorted out and headed on to N'shia-Potoma. Just before they arrived, Amantis stopped and gathered everyone around. "I need you each to give me two goats."

"What? Why?" they all demanded.

"I'm going to buy you each something. It would normally cost you more than two goats, but by buying so many, I think I can talk him into it."

"Why? What are you going to get?" Pronos asked.

"I want it to be a surprise."

"I don't know..." Garick shook his head

"I promise you, you won't regret it. In fact you're going to like it a lot."

The boys all looked at each other, measuring the others' skepticism.

"Trust me. Please."

"Very well," Somek said.

"Why not?" Pronos shrugged.

One by one the other boys agreed. Finally it came to Karux who hesitated because two goats was no small matter. He knew his father would notice and would demand an accounting.

"Come on Karux, you have to believe me."

"Yeah!" Pronos added.

"You've got to!" Somek insisted.

Reluctantly, he agreed.

About half an hour later, as the boys crested a low rise in the farmland, the river and the market town it supported appeared before them. A monstrous collection of houses seemed to stretch endlessly along the Pardos' banks. The smell of fish and marshy river-bottom land, of raw sewage and hundreds of unwashed bodies living packed together, greeted them as they neared the north gate. Also called the sheep's gate, it lay near the stockyards where they drove their animals into special stalls just inside the town. A man counted the animals as they entered and slid a handful of differently shaped clay beads onto a string representing the total number of animals penned. In his father's day, Karux knew, the counter just tied knots on a string in a certain pattern. His father had even shown Karux once how to read the pattern, but Karux had mostly forgotten it.

After the animals were counted and the beads strung, the counter pressed the string into a palms-sized square of wet clay and asked him to make his mark. Karux knew wealthy merchants had special signet rings to press into the clay and was relieved when the counter handed him a cut piece of reed. Karux hesitated with his hand over the clay. His father had always placed his mark for their animals. Should he use the same mark or make up his own? The counter waited impatiently. Karux's tribe wasn't the only one to bring their animals down from the hills today. He pressed the reed into the clay, carving a triangle to represent the sacred mountain and then drew a line bisecting it at the base representing the stone he had got there. He started to explain it to the counter, worried his mark might seem too presumptuous, but the counter didn't care to listen. He just handed Karux a corresponding string of beads and sent him on his way.