Book Four Begin

Chapter 228 - Servants of a Dead God

Nilya’s heart was racing as he sprinted across the wet, mossy marsh outside his village. He clutched a woven basket which contained his meagre findings from the morning’s foraging, its contents bouncing loosely within as he hurried across the uneven terrain.

He was young - only twelve years of age, with a small, wiry body that hadn’t yet seen the touch of puberty. He had bronze skin, tanned from days under the sun. His black hair was tightly braided into thick cords that resembled vines, they bounced on his shoulders as he bounded across the marsh.

He was quite far from the village - the mushrooms and herbs that he had been looking for had long been foraged closer to home. His moccasin-clad feet were light and nimble, close familiarity with the terrain keeping him on the high, drier parts of the path, out of the slippery mud and puddles that would slow him down.

He wove across the terrain, avoiding the thick bunches of black bramble that were steeped in the stagnant water. Though it was late spring, the vegetation this year was late coming. Long, fibrous black weeds, woody rushes and clumps of yellowed thick-bladed grass covered the ground. Where new growth did poke up above the weeds and detritus it was thin and pale.

Gnarled trees with spindly, clumped branches, interspersed throughout the marsh were hunched and wilted. They seemed to watch Nilya with forlorn gazes as he passed, judging him silently.

Have you lost your mind? Running from a guru-chi? What if he takes offense?

Nilya’s conscience nagged at him, though his rich imagination caused him to hear the voice in his head coming from the trees instead. The trees have eyes and ears, after all. The spirits would be judging him. Somewhere out there in His holy kingdom, Prince Deka would be judging him.

Nilya drew a line with his index finger from his lips to his heart as he ran. A gesture of worship to the God of Life.

But guru-chi are aligned with the Sun God, not Prince Deka. Nilya reasoned with the voice. So it doesn’t matter if I show respect.

The trees rustled in a cold breeze, shaking their branches at him like disapproving elders. Regardless of who they follow, guru-chi are holy men. Your mother told you that they must always be respected.

Nilya grit his teeth, responding to his conscience. He didn’t see me. He didn’t know I was there.

His inner voice replied: Terrible things happen to people who anger the guru-chi.

Shut up! Nilya hit himself on the head to force himself to stop that line of thought.

The ground hardened under his feet as he ran up to the top of a slope. His spirit rose as he scrambled up onto the dirt road that signalled that he was nearly home. The road was elevated above the swamp, though time and lack of upkeep had caused many parts of it to erode away.

He flew down the meandering rode, running at full speed until he reached the door of his home.

He slammed into it, startling his mother and uncle as he burst into the room. They looked up from a woven mattress on the floor, where his older sister lay suffering from fever. His trip into the marsh had been an attempt to find both food and medicine for her.

“Nilya! You’re back so soon?” His mother’s brow creased in concern.

He dropped the basket onto the straw mat floor. His back heaved up and down as he rested his hands against his knees, trying to recover his breath.

“Did you find the fiamenos?” His uncle looked over to the basket which had dumped its contents on the ground. A few earwig mushrooms, a bundle of woody reeds, several handfuls of black berries. No herbs to cure his sister’s illness.

“G..guru-chi!” He stammered, “I saw one in the swamp!”

His relatives looked at each other with concern and skepticism.

“In the lowlands, past Three Head Rock. I was looking for fiamenos in the rushes when I saw a person in the distance.” Nilya continued, “He was just like the stories… Dressed in furs, with belts and pouches. His head was wrapped in black cloth and talismans and he had glowing red eyes.”

His mother rushed over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, looking into his eyes with worry, “Did he approach you? Did he talk to you?”

Nilya shook his head, “I hid in the rushes. He was standing and looking around. I think he was lost. As soon as I realized he was a guru-chi I quietly snuck away and ran back.”

“Oh my Nilya-ka, that was foolish!” His mother scolded, “If the guru-chi saw you, he will be mad! He must have been looking for our village! There’s no other town nearby. If he was lost, then you should have brought him back! That would have been proper!”

His mother sighed, looking at Nilya who hung his head in shame.

“He didn’t see me- I’m sure-“ Nilya trembled.

“Nilya was scared.” His uncle replied, “Look at him, he’s shaking so hard he can barely stand.”

“I wasn’t!” Nilya nearly shouted, though he couldn’t raise his eyes.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It means you noticed the true nature of a goru-chi.” His uncle said. The man shook his head with a grimace, “Guru-chi are inhuman. They don’t feel compassion or empathy. You know why they hide their faces? Because they are monsters underneath.”

“Sammo!” Nilya’s mother reprimanded her brother as she pulled Nilya into an embrace, “Don’t tell such ridiculous stories!”

“They’re not stories, Katlina. I saw one, once. Long ago. I have never been so scared in my life, and I am not afraid to admit it.” Sammo said. He glanced at Nilya with a knowing look, “Our family has a sixth sense for these things. We know when things aren’t right. We can feel it in our guts. Isn’t that right. Nilya?”

Nilya looked over his mother’s shoulder at his uncle’s face without responding. There was a fatherly understanding in the thin man’s eyes, this man who had taken care of Nilya nearly his whole life. He had a dark expression as he looked directly into Nilya’s eyes, “He didn’t see you? Good. Hopefully he will pass through the village and not bother us.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Sammo!“ Katlina replied, “Guru-chi are healers, holy men of the Sun God. They bring blessings to the villages that they visit. It can only mean good things if one has come.”

“Now who’s telling stories?” Sammo replied, though it was half-hearted. It was true - Guru-chi were renowned healers and miracle makers. Nationless wanderers who helped those that they crossed, and cursed evil-doers. Sammo shrugged, frowning, “I know what the stories say, Misa, but you’ve never met one.”

“Neither have you.” Nilya’s mother snuffed. “You only saw him from across a market.”

“What are guru-chi, uncle?” Nilya asked hesitantly as his mother finally released her embrace. “Where do they come from?”

Sammo turned his attention back to the sleeping girl beside him, taking a damp cloth and wiping the sweat off her pained face. He shrugged, “There’s only legends and old stories. Your mother will scold me if I tell you.”

“Mom?” Nilya looked at his mother, who crossed her arms and scowled at Sammo.

After a moment she sighed and waved her hand dismissively as she knelt down to pick up the scattered items from the basket. “Go on then, tell him.”

“Guru-chi were immortal subjects of the Sun God, they were His advisors, who handled every matter of His kingdom. In the War of the Five Kings, Lord Noga of Kumin and Lord Matsuhara of Huan killed the Sun God and burned Ying Chu to ashes. You remember the stories?”

Nilya nodded. The stories of the War of the Five Kings were commonly told in Fuha, not least of which because Prince Deka also suffered defeat at the hands of Lord Noga. The end of the war a thousand years ago marked the decline of Fuha from the beautiful and vibrant nation it used to be.

“Before the Sun God died, there was a prophecy that one day the Sun God’s heir would return to Ying Chu and reclaim the throne. The prophecy said that a guru-chi’s duty was to find the rightful heir, their Oji, and raise them to fulfill their destiny.” Sammo continued. “There are apparently many guru-chi, though they do not travel together. Instead, a guru-chi will travel the land with their chosen heir and raise them while looking for the one who will fulfill the prophecy.”

“The search has been going on for a thousand years. After the fall of Ying Chu they spread across the world, though they stayed far away from Noga.” Sammo said, “Since Fuha is so close to NianXing, we rarely see guru-chi. I think they’re more common in Byran to the south, though. Perhaps that’s where this one is.”

Sammo rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “The guru-chi I saw was with a young man who was definitely his Oji. The Oji certainly looked like a prince. He was confident and dressed in expensive clothing. The guru-chi stayed back, letting the Oji seem like he was in charge…”

Nilya picked up on his uncle’s line of thought and shook his head, “The guru-chi I saw was alone. There was no one else.”

Sammo nodded, “A guru-chi and his Oji are supposedly never far apart. You only observed him from a distance. Perhaps his Oji was just a bit farther off.”

“What happens if a guru-chi doesn’t have an Oji?” Nilya asked the question that popped into his head. “Like if the Oji died or something.”

“It’s possible. In that case, the guru-chi would definitely be doing everything they can to find the next one.” Sammo said. He looked pointedly at Nilya, “You’re sure he didn’t see you, right? If you weren’t careful, maybe you’d become his next Oji.”

“Sammo! Enough!” Katlina scolded his uncle as Nilya felt a chill run through his body.

The older man’s serious expression broke as he laughed, “I’m joking, I’m joking.”

“You’ll give him nightmares.” The woman frowned, turning to Nilya with a softer tone. She stroked him gently on the cheek, “No one will take you, Nilya-ka. These are all just old myths, nothing to be afraid of. It is good to be cautious around goru-chi, they are close to Godliness and see the world different than normal folk. However there are just as many legends around their generosity and miracles. They are not monsters. Okay, Nilya? You’ve calmed down now? Good. Go wash up, I’ll make you some soup.”

Nilya nodded, rushing out the door to the back of his home. He rushed past the raised mounds of gardening beds that his family tended to, heading down to the slow stream that curved around the village.

The sound of singing and voices traveled down the wind as he saw his neighbours carrying about their daily tasks. He saw some of his friends playing near the stream and stayed away from them as he dipped his mud-soaked legs in to wash them.

Doubt filled his mind as he recalled his experience. It wasn’t that he had told a lie to his family - He had only seen the guru-chi from a distance, that was true. The guru-chi was alone and looking off into the distance away from him when Nilya had stumbled upon the man.

However as Nilya had tried to sneak off he had stumbled and fell in the rushes. The guru-chi turned and looked in his direction. Nilya froze until the guru-chi turned away again.

Certainly the man had heard Nilya stumble, but the rushes were thick enough and Nilya was far enough that it would have been hard to tell what had caused the rushes to stir. Since the goru-chi had not moved from his spot, but turned back around, Nilya assumed that he had not been spotted; an animal or a sudden gust could have caused the noise.

He didn’t see me, right? The question haunted Nilya as he recalled the man’s glowing red eyes. If he had seen me, surely he would have paid more attention and not let me slip away.

Further up the stream a number of the boys had started shouting and pointing. The singing stopped as the women turned their heads and looked in the direction of the town’s entrance.

Nilya’s blood froze as he heard what his friends were yelling.

“Guru-chi!”