Friday, May 27, 2022 The Killing Gardens

Ekerri found the anchor point. This world was easier to find, it must be closer to reattaching itself. A prediction that proved true when he easily opened the way and stepped in.

The floral scent was delicate and enticing as he entered a sunny meadow. The flowers that dotted the field were lovely, in turquoise and violet colors with the occasional splash of orange. A flock of birds were chorusing gently in a strange, almost operatic voice.

As Ekerri stepped onto the field he looked and saw a small path leading further into the woods. The trees harbored apples, pears, and fruit that he had never seen before. He grabbed a pear and cast a discrete bit of magic on it to make sure it was safe to eat before tasting it.

Finer than anything he had ever had, it was perfect. As were the rest of the fruit on the trees. All of them were perfectly ripe.

He frowned a bit but continued down the path, discretely casting magics. At times he could hear the branches move and leaves flutter but nothing was ever there.

A small deer like creature with three eyes bounded by, pursued by others of its kind. Overhead, a V of birds with iridescent plumage flew.

He continued down the trail, slowly allowing his magic to suffuse his surroundings. He knew about the small bugs in the soil. the various rodents and larger creatures in the forest. There were no traps to be found, nor predators.

He continued along the path which slowly, almost imperceptibly became more regular and he defined. Eventually the dirt trail became warm gray stones, each cunningly attached to the next with carefully carved joinery. Each one perfect.

A small, picturesque stone bridge went over a bubbling stream.

He continued on, admiring the clear air. The few clouds in the upper atmosphere were white and puffy and the breeze was gentle but persistent.

His magic continued to detect small animals and other wildlife but nothing else. It told him that this was the world of the Keres and yet he could not find them. This land was far different than the rough, nomadic hunters that he had been expecting.

As the trail rounded a corner of a rolling hill, even he, who had built cities and wonders of unsurpassing majesty, stopped as he regarded the small stone village in front of him. Each white stone house had the same fine craftsmanship as he had seen in the road he was on. Each was also almost imperceptibly etched with fine filagree, each line perfect. The roofs were earthen brownish-red tile. Flower boxes at each window and carefully tended vines climbing the houses, small clusters of grapes hanging artfully.

He continued down the path but saw nothing. As he got closer, his magic seeped into the houses as well, revealing fine woodwork, all with that same gentle figuring, barely there. If you were to touch it, you might not even noticed it.

And suddenly, quite without warning, on the path stood one of the Keres. She beckoned him near. She stood eight feet tall, muscular as he remembered them being, with its wings folded neatly behind it. it’s three eyes regarding him. Her skin was a green-gray and rippled with color and her hair was in long dreadlocks that were pulled back into a queue.

What was different, and horribly so, was that it was wearing a sort of apron and had in its clawed hands a garland of flowers.

As Ekerri came neared the creature motioned with the garland, and Ekerri suffered for it to be put on him.

It motioned him to follow. Why did it not speak?

He went into one of the houses, where sat another of the Keres, similar in appearance to the first. She motioned him to a seat, and the one that had brought him here left.

“Would you care for some wine?” it’s voice was rich and mellifluous. It spoke in an odd dialect of its ancestors and it took a moment for Ekerri to understand it.

“Thank you, it would be kind.”

The creature moved to a kitchen and poured a single glass of red wine from a wooden stoppered jug.

It presented the glass to him and sat patiently waiting.

Ekerri took a sip and his eyes widened in appreciation.

“This is truly wonderful.”

He greedily took another sip, savoring the fine wine with flavors he could not put names to.

The creature sat there calmly.

“It has been long since I have met your people,” he said politely. These Keres were so different than the ones he had known. He may have to see if the Manticore could be used, this was peaceful. The contentment and pacific gaze of the creature in front of him spoke to their lack of utility. He needed a hunter, someone who could bypass the modern weaponry of the Aqrabuamelu. His drow were not up to the task. He had troops, but they were also proving difficult to arm.

The Keres sat placid and silent.

“Do you have other visitors?” This hidden kingdom had been closed, but perhaps it had intermittently been open.

“No. You are the first. Our Queen said that there were once other thinking creatures, but she said they were all gone.”

“Your people seem remarkably calm then.”

It sat there.

“Are they not nervous?”

“No. Why would we be? You are, after all, surrounded by us.”

“They are here.” A chill went down Ekerri’s back. He pushed with his magic. There was nobody else here. He then frowned, the creature in front of him did not register to his magic and that should be possible. The first Keres that led him here was also absent.

He stood up and went to the open window in the wall and looked outside. There was the Keres that his magic said wasn’t there.

And then he saw a distortion, like the ripple in a pond, but in the air, and he knew. The Keres were here, and, if anything, their magic had become more powerful.

“How foolish of me. So many of you are here.”

The Keres began to appear one at s time until he saw that the town was actually quite full. They moved around in exacting manner, all of them purposeful.

“I would like to see your Queen, please.”

He was announced as just “Ekerri.” Queen Nyx CCCV sat in a throne of wood, a cunningly shaped treee that had been molded as it grew into a throne unlike any other.

The Queen’s voice was in that same dialect, and he sat in a chair before she allowed him to. He was not a supplicant and did not bow.

She regarded him quietly. He noticed the telltale ripples in the air of more of the Keres, perhaps hundreds of them in this room. He began to gather his magic into this room, saturating the air, and trying to sense them, to wrap them in subtle bindings that could turn to steel. But he could not. He could not find them. He could not find the Queen on her throne right in front of him.

“Welcome stranger. You are the first to visit us. The ancient records speak of an Emperor Ekerri. Are you he?”

The Queen looked at him waiting.

He debated lying, but what did it matter? “Yes, I am.”

“I understand you have tried the wine and found it suitable to your liking?”

“Yes, it was quite amazing.”

“Excellent. It is hard to know what it should be like since none of our people drink it.”

Ekerri almost lost his composure, “Who do you make the wine for?”

“For visitors, of course.”

“Have you had many of these visitors?”

“No, you are the first.”

Ekerri was uncertain what was happening here and it made him uncomfortable. He felt there was some undercurrent to the conversation he was not following.

After thirty thousand years, these Keres had become oddly serene; they had grown strange in their isolation. He needed to be direct here and avoid any misunderstanding.

“I seek a boon. Long ago, I stood in front of your predecessor Queen Nyx, the First, and made similar requests.”

He waited and then belatedly and then remembered to actually ask a question, “May I ask a boon?”

“Not yet. We wish to ask a boon of you. May we?”

Ekerri decided this was far too dangerous. These Keres were too odd.

“I will allow it, but later. Your people have a wonderous place here and I wish to learn more. Will you grant me a guide and show me your land?” He needed to understand more before he let her ask for a favor.

She made that strange head motion that the Keres used to indicate assent and motioned. A Keres materialized in the air right next to Ekerri, and Ekerri controlled his startlement.

“This is Akhlys, she will be your guide.”

Frenchette, TriBeCa, Manhattan, New York, United States

Charlie sat across from Adrahasis. He was looking at the menu, quite lost. It was cute and she let him dangle a bit longer.

“Would you like me to help?”

He looked up in relief and nodded yes. When the waiter came, Charlie ordered for both of them.

“We’ll have the brouillade to start. He will have the tartare frites, and I’ll have the aile de raie. And a bottle of Les Ruisseaux. Thank you.”

The waiter walked away and Charlie could then focus back on Adra. He was nicely dressed in slacks and a sport coat over a white button down, Charlie detected Ella’s hand in that. What was new was a stone necklace, carefully woven leather braids working their way in and out.

“What is that?”

Adra brought his hand to the necklace. “A memory braid. Our fallen, well we keep them close to us with this.” What he didn’t say is that they ate their dead and that some of those stones on the necklace were polished bones from Etana. As the necklace stones were replaced with bones, they would slowly be more white until fully so when another one was started.

Charlie knew about it, but she had compartmentalized that knowledge. It was easy for her since she lived a life of small denials.

The champagne and appetizers came quickly and they set to. Small chatter in the rapidly crowding restaurant gave way to more relaxed talk.

“My only experiences outside our home was going to Cairo. It was sometimes the same as New York but mostly very different. It is a beautiful city, with wonderful people. They would sound out to call the people to prayer and it would suddenly quiet for a moment. Then we would meet someone new and do training and afterwards would eat amazing food at someone’s house.”

After dinner they walked over to Pier 25 and then down to Rockefeller Park. Holding hands.

Charlie could have died of embarrassment for being that cheesy, but she just didn’t care anymore.