The Witch Woman's Prophecy

23 | The Council Hall |

Polemmy looked magnificent in the late afternoon. The sunlight washed everything with a golden light, and I was excited to be out in the city, exploring its riches. The Council Hall glowed against the turquoise sky behind it, and the Temple with its glass dome looked like a piece of jewellery; a crystal crown waiting to be set on a queen's head. I was so lucky to be here in this wonderful place.

As I walked odd twinges of pain flickered through my head, but either the pellet was damping down the pain or else they were being caused by distant or small relics. Joria and Rushu followed without drawing attention to themselves and I did my best to forget they were there.

At the side of the Wasnami I lingered for a few moments in the shade of its trees. All the people around me had tasks to occupy them or they were busy chattering to friends. Even the young children were chasing their playmates. I envied them their busy lives and families to go home to. My loneliness rose up again and I sighed and pushed the feeling down. I had a new life here in Polemmy, and it was time to concentrate on the present instead on dwelling in the past.

When I reached the Council Hall I took time to examine the outside before I went in. I had never seen a building like it. The stones were fitted together so tightly that I could not imagine a knife blade thin enough to slip between them, perhaps the wing of a fly might be fine enough. Like Soni, I wondered how they had been made so perfectly and what skills the Forgotten People had possessed that we now lacked.

The stones were warm from the heat of the afternoon sun and they had the faint sheen I had noticed on the stones forming the walls of the Ustelin. The walls of the great building stretched away before me, with no bends or breaks, except for the doorways and windows set at intervals. Where had these stones come from? How had they been shaped so accurately?

I was a stranger here and I was not sure I would be welcomed, although Soni had told me that the Council Hall and the meetings held there were open for all to enter and watch. I was a guest of Soni's and working at the request of the Head Ustel, and I decided that I would not be badly treated even if I was not supposed to be there. With my head held high, I squared my shoulders and walked in through the door as though it was something I did every day, my guards followed close behind me.

My attempt to look as though I belonged must have failed instantly. I gaped at the vastness of the Council Hall. I turned around slowly, trying to take it all in. It was so large that foot races could have been held in there with room to spare. Like the Ustelin it was high, but whereas the Ustelin was dark, here there was light, so much light that my eyes stung. The floor was laid with shiny patterned tiles and the walls and ceiling were a rich blue which rivalled the colour of the sky outside. It was cooler inside, and I gave a great sigh of relief. I had spent too long under the sun's burning rays.

My head swam as I looked up at the ceiling. I felt almost as though the earth had flipped over and I was falling down into a chasm. I swayed with the disorientation and almost lost my balance. I felt a strange sense of familiarity, almost as if I had been there before, but that was impossible.

A hand on my elbow both steadied and surprised me. I looked round to see a short, chubby man who wore a robe of fine red fabric. I wasn't sure that I liked a stranger touching me, but he wore a kind smile and was trying to help me so I relaxed and tried not to think of arrows. Joria and Rushu stood close by and did not seem alarmed that the stranger had approached me so I relaxed.

'It must be your first time here,' he said. 'It affects many of us like this until we get used to it.'

'Thank you, sir. I am glad to know I am not the only one troubled by the height of the roof,' I said, looking up again into the vastness above me, marvelling at the way the roof was supported on arches which seemed to grow out of the walls.