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.
'I am Prindah. I wonder, are you the young man who is staying with Grohal and his family?'
'Yes, sir. I'm Thamet,' I nodded, wondering why somebody as important as him would notice somebody as unimportant as me.
'Ah, yes. Call me Prindah, please. So you've come to visit us. This building was built in the Before Time, as I'm sure you've guessed. A wonderful place. We are so lucky to have it, my boy. This room is called the Great Hall. Perfect for our meetings and all the business of the city.'
'It's overwhelming. I can't think of another word to describe it.' I shook my head in wonder.
Prindah smiled at me, satisfied with my compliment, almost as though he had constructed the building himself. He took me by the arm.
'Let me show you around. There are lots of interesting things that you wouldn't notice without a guide.' He turned to Joria and Rushu. 'Follow us, but give us space to talk privately,' he instructed them.
We toured the Great Hall. I saw the record scrolls which were kept rolled up and carefully organised on shelves. He took me to another room that housed the robes, chains of office and various ornaments that the councillors wore on special occasions.
At the end of the Great Hall was a private room. Prindah bade my guards to wait outside this room, and he took me inside into the councillors' dining room. A meal was laid out on a long table. Prindah invited me to help myself to some of the food. I felt awkward about this and said so.
'Oh, no. It is here for the councillors. I don't think that they would appreciate somebody like me touching it.' I was a guest here and had no intention of getting into trouble.
'I'm sure they won't mind, my boy,' he said. 'After all, I'm one of the councillors and I don't object to you having some!'
I was startled. He hadn't told me that he was a member of the council, although his robe made it clear that he was a wealthy man. At his urging I took some meat from the table, a piece of spiced chicken. I chewed the moist, tender meat then sucked the grease from my fingers and wiped them dry on my robe. Prindah had also taken a piece which he ate with enjoyment, then he called a servant who brought him water and a towel to clean his fingers with. I winced and decided that I should make an effort to improve my manners so that I fitted in here.
Prindah did not seem concerned by my lack of table manners. He urged me to take more from the table while he ate bread, cakes and fruit. His girth told me that he was a man who like to indulge himself. I ate a few dates and waited for him to finish.
At last he had sated and cleaned himself up to his satisfaction. He belched and grinned.
'A man cannot think or work on an empty stomach, my boy,' he said, patting his ample middle. 'Now that I am able to think, let me show you around some of the parts of the building that most people never see.'
In truth, I was wondering if I should be making my way back to Soni's house, I had not told anybody where I was going. However, the guards were with me, I was not a prisoner and so it should be up to me what I did.
'I'd like to see all that you can show me,' I said, smiling at him.
'Excellent, my boy. Let's start with some of the store rooms below ground. There are some most interesting carvings down there.' He tucked his arm through mine again, which still felt odd to me, given that we had only just met. It was as though he was trying to show that we were better acquainted than we really were, but I supposed he was just being kind.
We left the dining room and set off along the Great Hall. My guards kept pace with us as Prindah talked without stopping of the wonders of the building, his role on the council and his concerns about the current harvest. He traded in grain, and he told me that it was becoming harder to buy at the end of each summer.
'It becomes more expensive and there is less of it. The rain falls less each spring and so the Lesser Harn is not flooding the uplands. The fields do not produce as much grain as they used to. We have to buy grain that is brought in from the other side of the mountains. Polemmy will starve in a year or two if the rains do not come back.'
I noticed the frown line etched between his eyebrows and understood that he took this seriously. We walked almost the entire length of the building until he halted in front of a door which was protected by two more city guards.
'This is why it's so important to have grain stores. We keep it here for times of need.' He pulled a key from the pocket of his robe and unlocked the door.
Steps led down into the darkness. The familiar feelings came flooding into my mind. It was dark and there could be relics that would cause me pain. One of the guards who stood by the door lit two lamps and handed them to us, telling Joria and Rushu that they should wait at the top of the stairs as there was no need for them to accompany me down into the storerooms. I did not want to offend Prindah, but I was alarmed.
I told myself that I was being foolish, I would be with Prindah and there was no reason to fear the relics – the pellet I had chewed would prevent me from feeling any pain. Prindah didn't seem to notice my worries as he started off down the stone steps without looking back at me. I took a deep breath and followed him, leaving the guards behind me.
At the bottom of the steps was a large hall, just as in the Ustelin. I wondered how much of their time the Forgotten People spent down here in the dark when they had the beautiful Great Hall above them.
Prindah led me into a corridor which was decorated with carvings of waves and plants all along its length. I stooped to look at a carving of a leaf. It wasn't like any plant I'd ever seen; it had a great flat surface that floated on top of the water and long stems that anchored it to the bottom. Beneath the leaf were clusters of round shapes – perhaps they were bubbles trapped beneath the leaf. There were the faintest tracings of veins in the leaf and ribs on the stems, which I could see in the lamplight and just feel when I ran my fingers over it.
Footsteps in the corridor distracted me and I saw a man holding a lamp approaching us.
'Ostla! What are you doing here?'
'Prindah! My friend! The guards told me that you were down here. I want to show you the contents of the last store room. I wonder whether it will be suitable...' The new man walked past me and gave Prindah a slap on the back.
Prindah smiled at him and called to me. 'Thamet, my boy. Take your time looking at the carvings. I will be down at the end of this corridor with Ostla, here. There's no need to rush. Just call out if you need me.'
I nodded to him, more interested in the carvings than in the grain that so concerned the others. I traced the cool stone with my fingertips, marvelling at the detail and precision of the workmanship. It told me something about the Forgotten People – they had spent time decorating this dark corridor that would rarely be seen. The beauty of the world around them must have been important to them, or at least to the person that made these carvings. Had Soni ever seen them?
The carvings went around the side of a doorway and I wondered if they were the same inside the room as outside it. I pushed open the heavy door and went into the room. It was piled with sacks and clay jars of grain. I looked closely at the carvings on the wall. Here they had changed to show a more rippled surface to the water and a different kind of plant. I was so engrossed in studying the structure of the leaves that I failed to hear any noises.
Until the door slammed shut behind me.
***
What do you think of the Council Hall? Do you trust Prindah?
Who has trapped him in the store room?
Any feedback good or bad is truly appreciated, I am trying to make this the best story I can. Please let me know if you find anything confusing or if you think I've left anything out.
And finally, if you liked it, please press the little yellow ⭐️ to let me know!
Anni X