Camiel, who had meanwhile leaned his back against the room's wall, took out a peach from the baggage and shared the others with the three boys. 'If there's one thing I miss about the Empire, it's Meliro's fruit. Even after many days, it remains ripe and retains all its taste.' He took a bite and looked up at Fez, who made terrified expressions at regular intervals. 'What do you think of Kallup?'
'He seems like a good man,' the boy replied, holding the shiny bolt in his hand.
'I saw you were very interested in him. It's not common to meet a Zalesian living in Amanastre.'
Fez scratched his forehead. 'What really happened to Zalesia? My father never wanted to talk about it.'
Camiel took another bite and threw the pit out the window."
"You need to know that nine years ago, the Sultan pursued his court's opponents. He hunted them throughout the desert. Many were forced to flee the country, including Kallup's family. These are not facts you can find in school books. The Sultan was brutal with the rebels."
"What did they do?" Fez sat down next to Cora.
"When people die of hunger and can barely drink water, problems arise," Hyon replied.
"Why didn't they overthrow him if they all agreed?" Elidana asked.
"They tried, but it was futile. In addition to having a well-trained army, the Light Merchants of Zaal ask for support from the Kharzanians, with the Sultan's backing. That way, they maintain an apparent stability, and those who oppose them are arrested or disappear," Hyon answered. Cora got up and went to the window. He felt numb. For a moment, the rebels' problems, Ethan Standford, Lud... everything became distant. He observed his hands and squinted. A really annoying buzzing began to grow in his ears.
Inside the Dremis abyss, time seemed to stand still. In the two days that followed, they emerged from the maze of rocks and entered a dense forest. Yllin's vehicle accelerated, as if the shadow of the trees, which offered pleasant shelter, were the worst of dangers. Whatever the reason, Yllin seemed unable to stay still. He looked around, grunted with a higher-pitched voice, and, to Cora's surprise, at one point began leaving behind large pieces of meat. The boy followed what could have been a good meal, moving away and getting dirty with the earth and dust. But it was at that moment that he understood the vehicle owner's motivations. A feline taller than a horse leaped onto the offered meat and devoured it in a few bites.
Cora pulled Fez towards him and pointed to the striped beast. "Look..." he murmured.
The young friend swallowed and shook his head. "We won't stop around here, will we?"
Cora shrugged, but he too hoped they wouldn't have to spend the night in that stretch of forest.
When the vegetation became sparser, they looked out over a pleasant meadow, and it was there that Yllin's vehicle came to an abrupt stop. With gestures, the homunculus invited the passengers to get out, and when they were all outside, he threw their luggage out. He made a deep bow to the master and seemed to almost tear out his hair with the force with which he pulled it. Finally, he returned to the driver's seat and raced away without giving the others a glance.
"Very polite!" Marmorel exclaimed. "Very polite indeed!"
Hyon advanced and pointed to a point towards the mountain. A long serpent of rock that disappeared into the horizon. "Let's get closer, the entrance is this way!"
Cora remained at the end of the line with Fez. They continued to observe around and point out the numerous camps that extended to the foot of the mountain, places occupied by abandoned stumps and decomposing animal carcasses.
"What are they?" Fez asked.
"Travelers rejected by Laeth wait here for the Yllin's return," Camiel explained. "And these days, I don't think anyone has managed to get through the entrance."
The rock crest in front of them disappeared into the sky, a harmonious natural structure without any grip from which to start a possible climb. A few steps away, Cora saw two rectangular monoliths. He approached and noticed that they were at the sides of an opening in the mountain, a hole whose end could not be seen.
"Watch carefully," whispered Hyon, satisfied. On each of the two pieces was a mosaic made of small crystals of Seorite of different colors. Both designs depicted a woman with a long light tunic, holding what looked like the symbol of a star in her hand. Their gazes crossed at an unspecified point in the center, right in front of the passage.
"Who could have left something like this in the middle of nowhere?" Cora asked. "These creations are older than the cities of Lamia and Kharzan," Camiel replied. "Perhaps older than the Sultanate itself."
Hyon gestured to step back. He took the staff and struck the ground with the tip. The embedded Seorite lit up. The master looked resolutely up at the mosaics. A symbol of light appeared and rose into the air above his head; it was the same star that the two women held. The deep toll of Seorite anticipated the words that Hyon uttered: "Miria and Elena, guardians of the land of Dormin, keepers of the path of truth since the first moons. Open the way to me who belongs to these places and to my friends who seek refuge." The master was very serious, more than Cora had seen him in those days. From what they had said, Laeth was his land.
The stars in the hands of the two women lit up: the energy filtered from the earth and filled every mineral tile with light. Cora and the boys stepped back at the same time. Two dazzling waves burst from the mosaic and sucked the colors of the stones to continue dancing in the wind like the calm flow of a river. The masses of energy aggregated into a couple of distinct spheres. The master took a deep breath. Drop by drop, the globes flowed to the ground and defined the features of two women, beings made of pure light.
The faces of the guardians took on the likeness of young girls. The shapes changed abruptly, became unstable, took shape again, and assumed the appearance of old women. Once again, after a moment, they turned into children. A transformation that seemed to have no peace.
The lady on the right took a step towards Hyon and spoke with a graceful voice: "Hyon the wanderer, he who has abandoned the Dogmas of Dormin, we knew you would return to the sacred land of your fathers!"
Hyon cleared his throat. "Miria, I must confer with the Sages and give these boys a safe shelter. Humbly, I ask for your permission."
Elena also took a step and spoke in a more serious tone. "The guide of Laeth left a warning: 'Observe the stars under my vault and you will find harmony.'"
Hyon made a grimace of disappointment. "I have learned to contemplate the firmament even from places beyond your horizon."
The voice turned into a scream, "The law...the dogmas you should honor are the only way. There is no salvation in words carried by deceitful foreign winds."
Hyon slammed his staff on the ground. "Isn't it to quench our thirst for knowledge that we study Dormin's legacies? What does it matter if I also want to understand the behavior of those who have made different choices?"
"You will bring pain to our people," Elena said, her hair swelling. Her form gave way to an irregular tremble before containing itself. A horrifying aspect that lasted only a few moments, but to Cora it seemed like the fruit born of the worst nightmares. "The Rite of the Pact is at the end of the great cycle."
"I won't submit to your saying! You are only the existence of a time that has passed, and to which I owe nothing!" Hyon barked.
Elena looked at the master's travel companions. "Balean, Ronk, Loriel: the list of priests who have succumbed to the temptation of your ideas is long."
"None of you will have our blessing to step on the land that was dear to Dormin. An act, ours, that is due to the sacred office assigned to us," Miria continued. Both pointed a finger at the boys. Cora didn't understand if they were indicating him or the entire group. "The stars have shown us misfortune, a flock of crows fleeing from ill fate. A flock that will be seen thinning out before its dissolution."
Hyon recalled the energy of the staff. "DON'T YOU DARE!" he burst out.
Fez bent down to the ground and got up with his fist clenched. "Let us pass!" he yelled. "Let us pass! Bloody ghosts!"
Elidana and Marmorel approached him, and Fez ran toward the barrier.
Camiel reached out his arm. "NO! Stop!" he shouted. But the boy had already thrown what he held in his hand. The stone shattered against the mosaic. The Seorite tiles crackled, the energy concentrated in a flash of light, a lightning bolt straight toward Fez. Cora held his breath, ready to see his friend hit, sure he could do nothing. A moment later, Fez was no longer there.
He was on the ground, safe and sound. Camiel had thrown him down in time, away from the trajectory of the blow.
Hyon gave him an angry look. "Have you lost your mind?"
The twins watched the scene without any expression. "Dormin's will is inexorable, a force against which no one has ever prevailed," Miria uttered. She and Elena decomposed into amorphous energy and returned to the monoliths to invigorate the mosaic. Finally, they faded away.
"Now what?" Aran asked.
"Honestly, I thought they would let us pass," Hyon shrugged. "But with the Pact Rite coming up, even the very foundations of the city are getting nervous."
"Thanks, Hyon," Aran snapped, "thanks to both of you." He grimaced at Camiel and the master.
"Hey..." Elidana whispered.
"Well, I thought the great warrior of Hozma and the most powerful master of Seorite would be more farsighted. We've come a long way just to be blocked."
Camiel was about to reply, but Hyon stopped him and looked at the others. "Since we don't have many alternatives, let's set up camp and think of a solution when we're more relaxed."
Elidana and Fez nodded.