Chapter 46: Shanakal

Chapter 46: Shanakal The dusty stable grew quietly. The doors behind him creaked and whispered as the winds outside grew stronger. Lucen narrowed his eyes. "What did they say about Otherworlders?" "They said many things, like how their coming—" Hiru’s raspy voice broke into loud coughs. Lucen watched his little body shudder like he was going to fall apart, and sighed. "When was the last time you ate, or drank water?" Hiru’s face turned red as he took ragged breaths. His eyes flicked to the trough on the other end of the stable filled with water. Grimacing, Lucen turned and walked to the doors, waving at him. "Follow me." The boy staggered behind Lucen. They left the stable, walking along the polished stone walls of the Keep to the courtyard. Lucen noticed the wary looks people gave him, and the halfbreed, as they approached the center of the Keep, so he took off the white cloak and gave it to the boy. "Here, cover your head." Hiru stared at him strangely for a few moments, then took and wore the oversized cloak. The courtyard was bustling with people. Liam’s shop had a lot of customers, and he could already foresee some problems if they sat at one of the four banquet tables lined in front of his shop. He pulled the boy to the back of the shop, and hoped Liam’s mom wasn’t around as he rapped his knuckles on the back door. Liam came bursting out, covered in sweat, and different sauces. The sweet smell of stew and butter wafted from the interior of the shop, making Hiru’s legs shake, and his mouth water. "You didn’t come down here yesterday to see me," Liam immediately said. "I thought your mom would at least give you a break," Lucen replied, "after all the shit that happened two days ago." Liam scrunched up his face, but eventually smiled a little. "You’re fucking crazy to think I’d tell her anything." Liam looked down at the boy covered up beside him. The shawl slipped off a little as Hiru stared up at Liam; his purple hair and huge ears popped up. Liam’s eyes widened, and his lips curled in disgust. "I just want him to get one meal, and some water too," Lucen promised. "I can’t let it eat at my tables," Liam cried. "No one will ever want to sit there again." "That’s why I brought him back here. We’ll eat in the backroom." "Lucen, my mother will kill—" "Do it for me. If you can’t do it for him, then do it for me." Liam looked a bit green at the thought of a halfbreed being close to his kitchen, but scowled and stomped his foot hard against the wooden floor. He turned away from them and returned to the kitchen, but left the door open. Lucen dragged Hiru in and sat him down fairly out of sight. The back of Liam’s shop was full of ingredients and some stools. Lucen mashed together his personal favourite: Dirjan mill with cold milk and some sugar and honey. He gave Hiru some water as he waited for the mill to swell with the milk. He went out front to heat up some bread, squeezing between Liam who was frying some eggs, and returned to the back room to find his favourite Stone Bison butter. He glanced at Hiru, who was greedily downing the jug of water Lucen gave him. Lucen pulled the jug from him with little effort. The boy’s thin arm shook as he reached for the jug. "You won’t be able to eat if you fill up on water." He gave the boy the warm bread first since he looked too unstable to properly hold a bowl. "Be careful, it’s—" The boy tore into the bread, stopping to hiss painfully as the bread burnt his tongue. Lucen laughed uncontrollably for a few moments, and Hiru stared at him. Something flashed in his eyes that resembled annoyance. Lucen calmed down and watched the boy eat. His lips were dry, cracked, and covered in old blood. His hands were scarred with many little lines, and some of his fingernails were gone. A long and poorly healed scar ran around his neck in a circle. Hiru’s face was cracked and scarred, his nose bent unnaturally. His eyes were foggy and unfocused. He picked up the bowl of sweet mill, and fed the boy a spoon. Hiru’s face brightened immediately, and he tried to snatch the bowl from his hand. But his small hands couldn’t move Lucen one bit. He slapped the spoon over Hiru’s head. "Calm down. I have my own bowl there. I’m not going to run away." He fed the boy till his arms stopped shaking and left the bowl to him. They both ate in silence. He recalled how he forced Hiru to speak in the stable. He remembered all the disgusted and hateful gazes the little boy received. Lucen’s golden eyes turned murky, and his spoon paused halfway between his mouth and the bowl. Hiru stood from his stool and shuffled over, testing his luck, and took a spoon of Lucen’s food. Lucen looked at him, and he froze to the spot, shaking. "Take it," he grumbled. Once Hiru had devoured the two bowls, he slumped against the wall weakly. "How old are you?" Lucen asked for no reason. Hiru’s head snapped towards him, pausing for a moment, expecting his mouth to answer automatically. When he realized Lucen hadn’t ordered him to answer, he said hurriedly, "Eleven." "Why were your parents executed?" The question felt so disgusting once it left his mind. "You know what, don’t answer—" "Elaris doesn’t allow people to kill children, so they punished my parents for the sin of my birth." Lucen’s mouth turned dry. Something similar was done with the mothers of halfbloods in the Horned Marches. Children couldn’t be punished for the crime of their parents. "So what happened to your neck?" Hiru paused, his distant yellow eyes drifted further away from the present. His body relaxed like an old corpse. "Saul and his friends thought it would be funny to watch me choke. So they hanged me. Their parents came to help me. They scolded them about how their honour would be lost by killing a halfbreed. I still see it sometimes, in my dreams, and I can never—" "That’s enough." He didn’t want to hear any more. The silence hung between them for a few moments. He imagined those little legs thrashing in the air. "What did they say about Otherworlders in the forest?" Lucen kept his mana sense locked on Liam’s position as he served customers. "In Shao history, we have stories of the demigod Shanakal. He saved our people from disaster and protected us from the humans. He left an inheritance in our forest for Otherworlders like him. We were meant to guide you to it." Shanakal. He was one of the old kings of the empire, discharged for betrayal of the empire. He tried to destroy the Kirkian Church. If he was also an Otherworlder, then that created a lot of problems. Did he do anything for halfbreeds? Selene would be the best fit to answer that question. "Can you lead me there? If we went to the forest. Have you also heard of the Nine-Claw Swamp?" Hiru nodded. "The Nine-Claw Swamp is in another region, but I’ve met Nagas that speak of this place. But the trials of the forest..." Hiru looked reluctant to say the rest. His eyes were fixed on the two empty bowls in front of him. "You shouldn’t go to the trials. Shanakal hid many treasures there, but he also intended it to be a death trap for Otherworlders." Lucen’s eyebrow rose. Why would he want to kill other transmigrators? Hiru continued, his voice growing smaller. "He wrote on the doors of his treasury: All you bring to this world is destruction and despair. Heed my words, there is no hope for you."