Acropolis

Agora

"Chiron, Circinus and I will lead to the left of the gate and gallop to those groves of trees. If any danger arises, you are mighty strong, so it will be safer for you to hold back stance and fight out of hindsight."

"I should think I will be the one in front to ward off oncoming attackers." Chiron coughed then spit. Acacia ignored the foreign gesture.

"Yes, but we have all the weapons."

"Do as you wish, young mare."

Agora-atlantisia was too endless to veer around but too dangerous to pass through, but Acacia did what they had to do.

Without heed to warning or silence, they swiftly charged down the hill and veered left. They were met with a mob of speared fishermen and wild village dwellers. As Circinus hopped the railing, the citizens barely lanced enough spears to scratch his underbelly. Chiron was not so lucky. He continued to stay behind when a harpoon forced him to collapse. Circinus escaped first over the fence toward a narrow, cobble-paved street to allow Chiron headway but there were so many spears; Chiron could not trample and fight off the attackers. Acacia pulled Circinus's mane back to see a stream of bright red come from beneath the feet of fifty mob men and women.

"Murderers!" screeched the offenders. "Barbarians!" the accusations were loud but unclear.

Harpoons flew past Circinus's head as Acacia ducked; he climbed the precipice, but they did not evade the attacks. Villagers from hidden alleyways and windows were already armed. There was no time to look back on Chiron. All of them wore strange war markings bearing intricate designs of folding arrows. The pair, however, did not find time to look carefully. One arrow protruding from an alleyway made Acacia's head turn. The arrow came too soon and sliced off a bit of Acacia's ear. Cries of the villagers soon faded into a pronounced ringing that comes only after stark silence.

Everyone became quiet again.

When muffled arrows flung and failed to dodge Circinus and Acacia, Circinus realized Chiron could not escape and they made leave back. Circinus brayed and tried to knock down the barricade of citizens as much as possible to help the wounded Chiron. There were broken bones and cries of agony, but it was a wicked agony. The agony which mattered was Chiron's. He forced one last weak bray. The barricade was so thick it meant less to steer away. Back at the bottom of the precipice, Acacia made only one attempt at escape.

"Citizens! Tell me where I am and I will tell you who I am. Acacia, warrior anointed by Kazimir the Great, the Famulus! The Young High Priest of Acropolis!" Her new voice rang and the same eerie silence then shielded the lunacy, if just for one moment. No one laughed although she laughed inside. Acacia never thought she could address herself with so much respect, but far away from the bureaucracy, she held so much sway. Obviously, a foreigner had been in Agora before, perhaps to spread the rumor she and the unicorns were murderers. Whether or not rumors told Agora to fear them, something about their very appearance set them off besides their larrikin greetings. "Please, who is the priest of this town?"

A man with overalls, looking to be manufactured from an old curtain, with a navy sailor's hat, had a plume in the middle of his crown; and his cap was folded in a similar fashion to the hats of Japanese soldiers. He held his headpiece, frowned, and then spoke.

"This town has no one in charge. We are in charge."

"I'm afraid...that I don't understand."

"We have no leader. We have many leaders: the sailors, the merchants, but especially the priests. I am the high sailor."

"Okay, that's all I needed to figure out, first, but still, have I more questions. Who again is high priest?"

When the high sailor heard this, he shooed the buzzing village people away with his harpoon. "I have business matters to attend to, naves." He looked at the travelers. "Have I more questions also," sneered the sailor. "What makes you think you could be so tame around us brutes? I was sure you'd be thanking us."