I believe that the voice in Nebud's head is an aid in its journey to reclaiming the throne.... Thanks. For this update obehid.....

Getting more interesting. Weldone and more inspiration to you

Thanks for the update obehid I thought that since musa has growth now he should have regrown his stump

cassbeat:
I believe that the voice in Nebud's head is an aid in its journey to reclaiming the throne.... Thanks. For this update obehid.....

I totally agree with you

@cassbeat ...hmmm we shall see

@doctorexcel thank you!

@ayshow6102 lol, Musa's always had growth, it needs spectra too

Part 4
--------

Our departure was made in haste. The nobles who’d come to pick Fabiana up refused to wait for the uspec to be properly attired as befitted its rank. While they did not say it, it was obvious that the uspecs suspected that Fabiana, if given the chance, would escape. I could have told them that they were wrong. Fabiana had no desire to escape. I watched the uspec, studying the calm which had settled over it. Its progenitor appeared harried. The uspec paced across the grounds in front of us, moving between the two-band noble and its offspring. To the noble, it yelled profanities, to its offspring, it whispered assurances. Neither seemed to be moved by the duke’s efforts at persuasion.

Of course, I understood the cause of the duke’s alarm. It had only just reunited with its offspring. It was not yet willing to see it gone. From the determined set of Fabiana’s face, I knew that it had every intention of declaring itself as Uspecipyte when it was put to the inquest. The fool was willing to die for its faith, for its god. A god like Chuspecip did not deserve an adherent as staunch as Fabiana. If I thought that there was anything I could say, any words of wisdom I could impart to the uspec to make it declare itself as Kuworyte, I would have said it. I did not understand this faith. Surely it made sense for the uspec to save itself. What good would its religion do if it was dead?

My thoughts rested on Fabiana and the state of its progenitor, and so I did not notice as Musa drew closer to me. I was not aware of its proximity until I heard its voice whispering into my ear. The duke was yelling at the noble now, so its voice drowned out Musa’s.

“You should not go master,” it advised, “it is too risky. In fact, I think you should stay far away from the Palace and Salin, until we’ve retrieved your ring, and are able to return you to your rightful place.”

Musa’s words bore merit of course. Yet, as well meant as the advice was, I could not heed it. Perhaps if it had solely been a matter of the eye, I would have delayed. I was not eager to face Checha. Not when I knew that it was one of the Kaisers in the plenum. No. The only Kaiser I’d faced had been Sophila, and with Sophila I’d been lucky. The uspec had been dazed by lust at a moment when the Castle had been in upheaval. It would take a long time for me to put myself in such a beneficial position to be able to take Checha’s eye. I would have to gain the uspec’s trust, somehow find a way into its inner circle. Just the thought of all of that made me sick.

I was tired. I was tired of the voice and tired of the eyes it tasked me with taking. But this would be the last. I had no more empty eye sockets to fill. Why did that thought not bring me more comfort? Checha was a Kaiser in the plenum. If anyone was untouchable, it was it. I did not want its eye.

Checha’s eye.

The voice in my head prompted, right on cue, reminding me that my life did not belong to me. Perhaps I could have put off my scouting trip. But my reasons for wanting to go to the palace were not primarily for Checha. I was going for Fabiana. If the uspec was foolish enough to declare itself Uspecipyte in a room filled with Kuworytes, then it would need my help to escape with its life. Although what help I would be able to give I could not say.

“Enough!” The two-band noble barked. “We are to the Palace now. If you wish to resist, then do so at your own peril.”

The duke frowned. It opened its mouth to speak and I could just imagine the scathing retort it meant to deal to the younger uspec.

Fabiana spoke before its progenitor could. “I do not resist. I only ask that you permit my friend to accompany me.” Fabiana’s gaze turned to me then, and I could see the silent appeal in its eyes. For some reason, the uspec felt as though it needed my strength.

“I will come with you.” I stated, repeating my earlier remarks.

“Gratitude.” Fabiana bowed slightly to me.

The duke turned to face me then. It was the first time since its appearance in the room that it had singled me out. Now it frowned as it stared at me. There was something in its eyes, a mild look of confusion, as if it wasn’t sure what to make of my presence. Was there also a bit of recognition in that look? Did it perhaps see my line in me? I studied the uspec’s face much longer than was proper. I should have curtsied at that point, and then waited for Fabiana to perform the formal introductions. By the time I realized my mistake, and was about to correct it, a large pool of quicksand formed on the ground underneath us.

The two-band noble dropped a solid golden pellet into the quicksand and we were all pulled in. It wasn’t till we reached our destination that I realized Musa had been teleported with us.

Our destination was the foot of a solid bridge built out of hardened fog. A signpost by the bridge declared it as the COURT WALKWAY. I allowed myself to lag behind, confident that the uspecs would move on without me. Once they’d began the climb across the bridge, I grabbed onto Musa’s arm and pulled the imp towards me.

“Do not follow.” I ordered. “Return to the duke’s dwelling.”

Musa shook its head. Its lips set in uncompromising lines as it said in reply, “if you must go, then I will follow.”

“Don’t be a fool.” I snapped. “Salin will recognize you.”

Musa remained obstinate. “I will not let you go alone.”

I could tell the moment Fabiana noticed my absence. It stopped in its tracks and turned around to search for me. Fabiana’s turning would only spur the bannerets. My arm tightened painfully on the imp’s arm.

“Then at least find a way to remove your appearance without drawing suspicion.” I snapped in a whisper. There were uspecs around us, uspecs who would notice if an imp suddenly disappeared. But Musa was smart, it could find an opportunity to slip away and make itself invisible.

“Sirga?” Fabiana called out from the bridge. It had stopped moving. Its halt caused the two-band noble and the bannerets accompanying it to stop too. Those bannerets had their eyes trained on Fabiana, they would not let it slip out of their sight. But Fabiana had pansophy. Perhaps I could give it the same advice I’d just given my imp.

I nodded at it before moving quickly to cover the distance between us.

The bridge was a short one. It should have been an easy stroll across it, but our presence seemed to cause something of a stir amongst the other uspecs walking with us. Fabiana’s progenitor was the duke of the first metropolis which would make it one of the most powerful dukes in the port. I had no doubt that the passersby knew who it was. Perhaps some of them remembered enough about Fabiana’s appearance to guess at its identity. And the presence of the banneret escort was probably enough to make tongues wag. I didn’t realize, until that moment, how well I fit in with the other bannerets. We all appeared to be in uniform, wearing similar silver belts and silver neckcloths. Of course the sigil on my neckcloth was different from the sigils on these bannerets. In hindsight, I realized that I should have taken note of their sigils. For all I knew, they wore the sigil of my line.

When at long last we came to the end of the bridge, I saw Fabiana’s shoulders stiffen slightly. It was not as unaffected by the coming exchange as it would like its progenitor to believe.

We descended from the bridge and came across an entrance. This entrance was marked by thick golden curtains, tied to side posts with velvet ribbons. A contingent of four guards stood at this entrance, two by either post. These were the first guards I’d seen since stepping into Lahooni. The guards wore black belts with sheathed swords, and black shoulder pads which had a sigil sewn into the top of the left shoulder. Again, I wondered if perhaps this was the sigil of my line, of the Kaisers of Lahooni.

Unfortunately, I did not have the time to find out. The two-band noble walked in and the duke followed behind it. My gaze darted to the guards as I made my way in. I expected them to stop me, and demand my weapons, but they made no move towards us. Their eyes barely even seemed to register our presence there. I did not know what to think of this brand of security.

The grounds in the Palace appeared to be made of hardened quicksand. The quicksand was painted and styled, but I could still tell from the feel of it, what it was. We walked through a short empty corridor with walls of styled quicksand surrounding us. Something about the walls reminded me of a vision I’d had in Damejo. I had looked into the ring, in the moment that Fajahromo flashed it at me, and I’d seen this Palace, I’d seen this place built from hardened quicksand, and I’d known that there were tricks built into these walls.

I had to shake my head, to clear it from such thoughts.

The corridor ended in a strange wall. The perimeter of the wall was hard and styled as all the others were, but the interior was soft. It was quicksand, as it appeared in the natural form for teleportation, but vertical. The two-band noble walked through it and immediately disappeared. The duke followed behind it. Fabiana went next. When it was my turn to go, I couldn’t help but wonder if the wall was quicksand with a different amount of form, or if it was empty space given the appearance of quicksand. Whatever it was, I felt nothing when I walked through it. As soon as I emerged from it though, my ears filled with ordered noise.

“Welcome to the Lahooni court.” Fabiana stated. “I’d hoped to introduce you to it under better circumstances.”

I smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

The Lahooni court.

I saw several large sets of curtains, and solid fog walls breaking the room up into smaller sections. But the area we walked through appeared to be something of a large entertaining room. There were several lounging beds artistically arranged around center tables. On some of these tables I saw plates, large plates filled with morsels, small plates filled with fruits, trays with pastries. On other tables there were nothing but decanters and goblets for imbibing wine. Still others were filled with parchments and pens for writing on them. Some tables had cards, others were loitered with tomes. It seemed that each table could be put to whatever use the uspecs around it deemed fit. I looked around this room and wondered what purpose a room like this held in the Palace. The Palace was the Kaiser’s home, why would it build a large room and gift it to the nobles? Surely these nobles could entertain themselves in the luxury of their own homes.

As we walked through the room, whispers began to rise. The uspecs bowed in deference to the duke, but their eyes fastened on Fabiana who followed dutifully after its progenitor. None of them bothered with me, but why would they when I appeared to be one of three bannerets escorting wellborn nobles? I looked around the room and noticed for the first time that all the uspecs in this room were nobles. Most of them had golden armbands on. Those that did not, had silver on instead, showing them to be made nobles, the type of noble I pretended to be. There were the wealthy halcyons in their silver wristbands, loyal adherents in their silver headbands, and of course the bannerets in their silver neckcloths. I had never seen a larger assemblage of nobles in a single place. While the majority of the nobles appeared to be of the hooni spectrum, I caught sight of a few exceptions.

The two-band noble paused when we reached another set of thick golden curtains. It turned around then, its gaze landing on the bannerets that had accompanied it. With a nod, it dismissed them. The bannerets turned around and joined the nobles in their lounging.

With the bannerets dismissed, the noble pulled the curtains open and walked through. There was a short walkway between these set of curtains and another, directly opposite.

“Wait here.” The duke said to its offspring. “I will speak to my sibling first.”

Fabiana sighed. “There is no need mater, you and I both know that senior cognate Salin will not be reasoned with.”

The duke’s jaw clenched. “I mean to try.” It said stubbornly. “Wait.” The duke left us with that order.

Fabiana and I walked through the curtains. We let them fall behind us, and as soon as their bottoms swept the quicksand ground, the noise from the previous hall was removed. It was as if the curtains had been imbued with some sort of magic to prevent sound from passing through it.

Fabiana took a few steps forward and then it turned to its right. I noticed then that there was another walkway which broke off from the one we stood in.

“That leads to the library.” Fabiana inclined its head towards the path. “The greatest library in this existence. I spent a great deal of time in it before my ability for pansophy was found. If only life could be as simple as it was then.”

I realized that the time had come for me to talk Fabiana out of getting itself killed.

“Declare Kuworyte.” I said without preamble. “Chuspecip is not worth dying for.”

Fabiana looked on me with the same patient smile that it had whenever our discussions had turned to religion. “You are wrong.” It stated simply.

“I am not!” I had to struggle to keep my emotions in check.

“You are.”

I shook my head at its intransigence. “Do you think that I came here to watch you die?” I demanded. “If you do something foolish, like, let’s say, declare yourself Uspecipyte, and they try to kill you, I am honor bound to fight for you. You are not only risking your life, you are risking mine. Does your god deserve my life too?”

Fabiana chuckled. “Chuspecip is the founder. If not for it, neither of us would exist. It deserves all uspec life.” Fabiana approached me. “Do not die for me sirga. I asked you to come along because I see the aura of greatness around you, I always have. Your presence gave me the courage to make the walk here with my head held high. Now, you must go sirga. The rest of this I can do on my own.”

I grasped the uspec’s upper arms and shook it. “You are insane. How do you think your family will survive your loss? Your siblings, your mater? If not for me, then live for them.”

Fabiana shook its head. “I have betrayed Chuspecip once. I swore never to again. If I abandoned my god now, I would never be able to live with myself. I would rather die with my faith than live without it.”

What madness was this? Panic set in as Fabiana’s calm really began to sink in. I had heard of the chasm, and laughed at uspecs like this, uspecs who declared themselves servants of the wrong god, even though they knew doing so would mean their death. Never had I thought that the chasm would get close to me, that I would befriend an uspec who cared more for faith in a god, than it did for its own life. This was madness, but it was madness that I could not cure.

Unless…

“The last brio.” I stated.

Fabiana frowned. “What?”

“The last brio.” I was whispering now. “You said that your purpose was to find the last brio and defend it. If you die, who will do that? The last brio needs you. You are the only uspec faithful enough to protect it with your life. Don’t you see, you mean more to Chuspecip alive than dead. Live for your mission.”

Fabiana faltered. The calm acceptance that had descended on it went away. It looked at me with pained eyes and I could taste victory. Fabiana was not yet ready to give up on its quest for the last brio.

Fabiana’s voice shook as it spoke. “I cannot, sirga. I cannot declare myself as anything other than Uspecipyte. I cannot do it. My conscience won’t allow it.”

“Then escape. You have pansophy, remove your appearance and leave. Save yourself. You cannot be made to answer if no one can find you.”

Again, I saw Fabiana falter. It contemplated my words. I could tell from the looks that crossed its face that it was not quite as ready to die as it wanted me to believe. This uspec wanted to live.

It shook its head. “If I escape my senior cognate Salin will blame my family. I cannot leave them to bear the punishment for my cowardice.”

I released my hold on the uspec’s arm disgusted with it for its stupid faith, and with myself for caring for it. “The plenum will find the last brio and they will use it to destroy Chuspecip.” I did not know where the words came from. Perhaps it was my desperation, my last gambit to get Fabiana to change its mind. “Your death will do nothing for the god you claim to serve.”

“You find it.” Fabiana’s response cut me off guard.

“What?”

“Find the last brio. You have seen all that I have. You know of the invasion, you know that the plenum does not have the power to stop it. You may not like Chuspecip, but you would rather have it than have a spectral existence ruled by imps. Find the last brio and save this existence. Perhaps that is your calling. Maybe that is the reason we met.”

I almost laughed in the uspec’s face. If only it knew the truth, if only it knew that its precious last brio was in the wind, and that the closest uspec to finding it was Fajahromo, an ambitious irira eager to slaughter Chuspecip, and the plenum, for power.

“No.” I turned hard, unflinching, eyes on the uspec. “You may be willing to die for your coward god, Chuspecip, but I am not. I will never be.” My mind filled with thoughts of a coffer and a ring, of an uspec Fajahromo, of the plenum who were responsible for the death of my line, of an invasion planned by imps. I thought of all this, yet I could not accept Fabiana’s mission, not if it meant that the uspec would willingly hand itself over to death.

“It is funny how ‘never’, never quite seems to last forever. Just ask my cognate Foild. Only five years ago it pledged to never forsake my family, not for any riches or worldly possessions. Now, it has handed me over for the inquisition all to gain favor in our senior cognate Salin’s eyes.”

“You think Foild told Salin that you were here?” I asked.

“Foild is the only one who could have.” Fabiana shrugged. “Not that it matters now.”

The curtains on the other side were drawn.

“The majestic Fabiana.” A voice boomed. “You are summoned to appear before the mighty Checha and the high Salin.”

Fabiana smiled sadly. “That is my cue.” It said. Its hands settled on my upper arms. This time I knew what the touch meant. There was a part of me, a stubborn, resentful part, that wanted to deny Fabiana this parting embrace, but I found that I could not. My arms rose. I returned the uspec’s touch.

“Think on my words Nebud, find the last brio.” It released me, and then turned to face its execution.

I was so shaken by its use of my name, that it took me a while to realize that Fabiana had walked into the other room.

I ran after it, bursting into the room before the curtains were closed.

My arrival did not seem to cause the fuss I’d imagined. In fact, the proceedings continued as if I was not there.

There was a stage to the right of where I stood. I turned to face it, just as Fabiana had done. Immediately, I recognized the high Salin as the uspec from the pits of Hakute. It sat on a large throne. Another familiar uspec stood by its side.

Fabiana bowed deeply. “Salutations senior cognate Salin.” It greeted.

Salin’s face was set in grim lines. It nodded at Fabiana, then it inclined its head to the side. The uspec standing beside it, the one that I had thought familiar, took a step forward.

“Majestic.” It said with a jerk of its head. “I believe we met on the commune road, but we were not properly introduced.” Commune road? It hit me, this was the four band noble whose life Fabiana had saved.

“Salutations.” Fabiana bowed deeply to it.

“I am Chechin.” The uspec’s arrogant words filled the room. “Junior cognate of the mighty Checha.” The uspec pointed to the left, to the uspec seated beside Salin on the stage. “Before we make the formal introductions and welcome you back home, we must ensure that we are amongst friends.”

The uspecs words faded to the back of my mind as my gaze fastened on the uspec seated by Salin. This was Checha. It was garbed in a long red coat with a collar which covered its neck. It wore a tall hat over its head, and the tail of its coat was blown and reached all the way to the ground. The only parts of its body which I could see was its fully filled face, and its hand with the golden rings. On one finger in each hand it had an additional cyan ring. I had known that Checha was a member of the plenum, but looking at the uspec now, I knew that I was in the presence of the plenum.

“Tiyoseriwosin Fabiana?” The uspec Chechin asked.

Fabiana parted its lips to respond.

I found myself speaking before Fabiana could.

“My name is Nebud,” I announced in a loud clear voice, drawing the attention of every uspec in the room. “I am the last brio.”

What!!

is this uspec maad?

Seriously, this uspec is indirectly revealing itself

No planning, Nebud aaarrrggghhhhh

What!

Lol.... Nebud yaff kolo o... Saturday should come quick

What is Nebud up to this time around?

This is seriously serious. Cant wait for saturday. My heart is doing gidigba gidigba gbum gbum gbun. Obehid weldone. Saturday come quick i beg

What is Nebud up to? Not thinking through as usual. My guy...

I have stopped bothering myself over Nebud. He is the one narrating the story so he definitely can't die. My new friend is Fazemood sorry Fabiana. Gratitude Obehid.

Na wah for Nebud o! What is he hoping to achieve? Anyway, thus far his instincts have been spot on.


Ride on obehiD

obehiD:
As we walked through the room, whispers began to rise. The uspecs bowed in deference to the duke, but their eyes fastened on Fabiana who followed dutifully after its progenitor. None of them bothered with me, but why would they when I appeared to be one of three bannerets escorting wellborn nobles? I looked around the room and noticed for the first time that all the uspecs in this room were nobles. Most of them had golden armbands on. Those that did not, had silver on instead, showing them to be made nobles, the type of noble I pretended to be. There were the wealthy halcyons in their silver wristbands, loyal adherents in their silver headbands, and of course the bannerets in their silver neckcloths. I had never seen a larger assemblage of nobles in a single place. While the majority of the nobles appeared to be of the hooni spectrum, I caught sight of a few exceptions.

The two-band noble paused when we reached another set of thick golden curtains. It turned around then, its gaze landing on the bannerets that had accompanied it. With a nod, it dismissed them. The bannerets turned around and joined the nobles in their lounging.

With the bannerets dismissed, the noble pulled the curtains open and walked through. There was a short walkway between these set of curtains and another, directly opposite.

“Wait here.” The duke said to its offspring. “I will speak to my sibling first.”

Fabiana sighed. “There is no need mater, you and I both know that senior cognate Salin will not be reasoned with.”

The duke’s jaw clenched. “I mean to try.” It said stubbornly. “Wait.” The duke left us with that order.

Fabiana and I walked through the curtains. We let them fall behind us, and as soon as their bottoms swept the quicksand ground, the noise from the previous hall was removed. It was as if the curtains had been imbued with some sort of magic to prevent sound from passing through it.

Fabiana took a few steps forward and then it turned to its right. I noticed then that there was another walkway which broke off from the one we stood in.

“That leads to the library.” Fabiana inclined its head towards the path. “The greatest library in this existence. I spent a great deal of time in it before my ability for pansophy was found. If only life could be as simple as it was then.”

I realized that the time had come for me to talk Fabiana out of getting itself killed.

“Declare Kuworyte.” I said without preamble. “Chuspecip is not worth dying for.”

Fabiana looked on me with the same patient smile that it had whenever our discussions had turned to religion. “You are wrong.” It stated simply.

“I am not!” I had to struggle to keep my emotions in check.

“You are.”

I shook my head at its intransigence. “Do you think that I came here to watch you die?” I demanded. “If you do something foolish, like, let’s say, declare yourself Uspecipyte, and they try to kill you, I am honor bound to fight for you. You are not only risking your life, you are risking mine. Does your god deserve my life too?”

Fabiana chuckled. “Chuspecip is the founder. If not for it, neither of us would exist. It deserves all uspec life.” Fabiana approached me. “Do not die for me sirga. I asked you to come along because I see the aura of greatness around you, I always have. Your presence gave me the courage to make the walk here with my head held high. Now, you must go sirga. The rest of this I can do on my own.”

I grasped the uspec’s upper arms and shook it. “You are insane. How do you think your family will survive your loss? Your siblings, your mater? If not for me, then live for them.”

Fabiana shook its head. “I have betrayed Chuspecip once. I swore never to again. If I abandoned my god now, I would never be able to live with myself. I would rather die with my faith than live without it.”

What madness was this? Panic set in as Fabiana’s calm really began to sink in. I had heard of the chasm, and laughed at uspecs like this, uspecs who declared themselves servants of the wrong god, even though they knew doing so would mean their death. Never had I thought that the chasm would get close to me, that I would befriend an uspec who cared more for faith in a god, than it did for its own life. This was madness, but it was madness that I could not cure.

Unless…

“The last brio.” I stated.

Fabiana frowned. “What?”

“The last brio.” I was whispering now. “You said that your purpose was to find the last brio and defend it. If you die, who will do that? The last brio needs you. You are the only uspec faithful enough to protect it with your life. Don’t you see, you mean more to Chuspecip alive than dead. Live for your mission.”

Fabiana faltered. The calm acceptance that had descended on it went away. It looked at me with pained eyes and I could taste victory. Fabiana was not yet ready to give up on its quest for the last brio.

Fabiana’s voice shook as it spoke. “I cannot, sirga. I cannot declare myself as anything other than Uspecipyte. I cannot do it. My conscience won’t allow it.”

“Then escape. You have pansophy, remove your appearance and leave. Save yourself. You cannot be made to answer if no one can find you.”

Again, I saw Fabiana falter. It contemplated my words. I could tell from the looks that crossed its face that it was not quite as ready to die as it wanted me to believe. This uspec wanted to live.

It shook its head. “If I escape my senior cognate Salin will blame my family. I cannot leave them to bear the punishment for my cowardice.”

I released my hold on the uspec’s arm disgusted with it for its stupid faith, and with myself for caring for it. “The plenum will find the last brio and they will use it to destroy Chuspecip.” I did not know where the words came from. Perhaps it was my desperation, my last gambit to get Fabiana to change its mind. “Your death will do nothing for the god you claim to serve.”

“You find it.” Fabiana’s response cut me off guard.

“What?”

“Find the last brio. You have seen all that I have. You know of the invasion, you know that the plenum does not have the power to stop it. You may not like Chuspecip, but you would rather have it than have a spectral existence ruled by imps. Find the last brio and save this existence. Perhaps that is your calling. Maybe that is the reason we met.”

I almost laughed in the uspec’s face. If only it knew the truth, if only it knew that its precious last brio was in the wind, and that the closest uspec to finding it was Fajahromo, an ambitious irira eager to slaughter Chuspecip, and the plenum, for power.

“No.” I turned hard, unflinching, eyes on the uspec. “You may be willing to die for your coward god, Chuspecip, but I am not. I will never be.” My mind filled with thoughts of a coffer and a ring, of an uspec Fajahromo, of the plenum who were responsible for the death of my line, of an invasion planned by imps. I thought of all this, yet I could not accept Fabiana’s mission, not if it meant that the uspec would willingly hand itself over to death.

“It is funny how ‘never’, never quite seems to last forever. Just ask my cognate Foild. Only five years ago it pledged to never forsake my family, not for any riches or worldly possessions. Now, it has handed me over for the inquisition all to gain favor in our senior cognate Salin’s eyes.”

“You think Foild told Salin that you were here?” I asked.

“Foild is the only one who could have.” Fabiana shrugged. “Not that it matters now.”

The curtains on the other side were drawn.

“The majestic Fabiana.” A voice boomed. “You are summoned to appear before the mighty Checha and the high Salin.”

Fabiana smiled sadly. “That is my cue.” It said. Its hands settled on my upper arms. This time I knew what the touch meant. There was a part of me, a stubborn, resentful part, that wanted to deny Fabiana this parting embrace, but I found that I could not. My arms rose. I returned the uspec’s touch.

“Think on my words Nebud, find the last brio.” It released me, and then turned to face its execution.

I was so shaken by its use of my name, that it took me a while to realize that Fabiana had walked into the other room.

I ran after it, bursting into the room before the curtains were closed.

My arrival did not seem to cause the fuss I’d imagined. In fact, the proceedings continued as if I was not there.

There was a stage to the right of where I stood. I turned to face it, just as Fabiana had done. Immediately, I recognized the high Salin as the uspec from the pits of Hakute. It sat on a large throne. Another familiar uspec stood by its side.

Fabiana bowed deeply. “Salutations senior cognate Salin.” It greeted.

Salin’s face was set in grim lines. It nodded at Fabiana, then it inclined its head to the side. The uspec standing beside it, the one that I had thought familiar, took a step forward.

“Majestic.” It said with a jerk of its head. “I believe we met on the commune road, but we were not properly introduced.” Commune road? It hit me, this was the four band noble whose life Fabiana had saved.

“Salutations.” Fabiana bowed deeply to it.

“I am Chechin.” The uspec’s arrogant words filled the room. “Junior cognate of the mighty Checha.” The uspec pointed to the left, to the uspec seated beside Salin on the stage. “Before we make the formal introductions and welcome you back home, we must ensure that we are amongst friends.”

The uspecs words faded to the back of my mind as my gaze fastened on the uspec seated by Salin. This was Checha. It was garbed in a long red coat with a collar which covered its neck. It wore a tall hat over its head, and the tail of its coat was blown and reached all the way to the ground. The only parts of its body which I could see was its fully filled face, and its hand with the golden rings. On one finger in each hand it had an additional cyan ring. I had known that Checha was a member of the plenum, but looking at the uspec now, I knew that I was in the presence of the plenum.

“Tiyoseriwosin Fabiana?” The uspec Chechin asked.

Fabiana parted its lips to respond.

I found myself speaking before Fabiana could.

“My name is Nebud,” I announced in a loud clear voice, drawing the attention of every uspec in the room. “I am the last brio.”

Well oh well.

Part 5
--------

Stunned silence greeted my words. It took some time for the occupants of the room to really hear me. I had always believed that there was some sort of dissociation between our minds and our ears, such that when we heard crucial information, it took time for the brain to fully understand it. This time proved to be useful as the occupants remained in their stools, frozen by the words I’d spoken. It was time that I used to think.

Rather, it was time that I should have been using to think. Even as my mind reeled with the words that I’d spoken, I found my lips parting, saliva wetting my throat as I prepared again to speak. I did not know where the words I’d spoken had come from, and I had no idea what it was that my lips seemed so eager to say. Before I could stop myself, I heard myself saying,

“Mighty one,” then I turned to the plenum Kaiser, Checha, and bowed, “the last time I crossed paths with an uspec from the plenum was in the pits of Hakute. While I was in the pits, I came across an uspec Gerangi. As you know, Gerangi is a faithful servant of the plenum. It was tasked with finding the last brio, and it did, it found me. On the off chance that I crossed paths with the plenum again, without Gerangi’s company, Gerangi planted this message in my head, and used pansophy to ensure that I revealed myself to you.”

Then it was done, the message had been relayed, and I was in full position of my lips and my wits. As the upsecs continued to stare bemused at me, my mind raced to piece together what had happened to me. It only took a little time for me to realize how this had been done, not just how, but when. I remembered clearly the first time that I had met the plenum. My meeting with the plenum in the pits had not been of import to me. My concerns had been geared more towards Fajahromo and trying to escape from the pits. But I did recall Gerangi. I remembered walking into its cell and telling it that I had met the plenum. I remember the odd way that it had taken the news. It had been upset by the fact that I’d met the plenum without it, and then it had touched me. I had not known of the contact nature of pansophy at that point, or really what pansophy could do, but now, in hindsight, I could clearly see that Gerangi had used pansophy on me. It had touched me and then collapsed onto the floor, as if in that simple touch it had overtaxed itself. This was what that touch had meant. This, me revealing myself as the last brio to the plenum, the ones so eager to find it.

If only Gerangi was not already dead, I would find it just for the satisfaction of killing it myself, slowly.

Now what was I to do?

Checha’s stun was starting to shake. I could see its eyes narrowing on me.

‘What have you done?’ the words filled my head. I could tell from their presence in my mind that they had been put there by pansophy.

Immediately, I swiveled, searching frantically for the guilty party. My eyes caught on the green hand touching me and the familiar face it led to. It was only Fabiana.

I sighed in relief.

‘Use this opportunity,’ I thought, ‘to remove yourself from this place. Salin will be too distracted to focus on questioning you now. Go majestic.’

‘And leave you? Now? I cannot.’

I thought of a million responses, but Salin’s towering rage cut our conversation short. It let out a growl so horrid, it startled me enough to break contact with Fabiana.

“What is the meaning of this nonsense?” Salin demanded. “You bring a crazy uspec to my presence Fabiana?”

Fabiana shook its head. It was about to respond when the plenum Kaiser, Checha, lifted its hand. As soon as Checha made that single gesture, Fabiana’s mouth snapped shut. Checha said nothing, it simply continued to stare at me. I could tell from its gaze that it had only one question on its mind. It was the same question on mine.

Was it true?

It was all well and good for Gerangi to plant rubbish in my head, but I knew Gerangi. The way the uspec had responded to the knowledge that I had met the plenum, had seemed odd. It was so odd that I recalled it as soon as the current events prompted me to look back. One thing was clear, Gerangi believed that I was the last brio. But why? Nothing I’d seen pointed to this. Perhaps there was some confusion to it. Gerangi had known of my true parentage, it had known that I was Calami’s offspring, the heir to Lahooni. Perhaps it had also known that my line had been tasked with protecting the last brio. Maybe it had meant to have me make some sort of stunning revelation, like the ludicrous announcement I’d made about being the last brio, so that the plenum would be forced to summon it. That seemed far more likely. Why would Gerangi just give the plenum the last brio without ensuring that it could get something for itself in return? But if the plenum was forced to summon Gerangi, then Gerangi could use its knowledge to somehow barter for advantages from them. It was too bad that Gerangi had not foreseen its death.

Too bad for me, I thought, as I watched Checha rise from its stool and walk slowly towards me. How was I supposed to get myself out of the mess Gerangi had put me in?

When Checha stopped only a few steps in front of me, I gulped. This uspec was a Kaiser in the plenum. I had thought their garment of choice off the first time that I’d seen it, but now, now I could see how a group such as them would choose outfits like this. Something in the shade of red of the cloak bore a rather chilling resemblance to blood spilt underneath the shimmering illumination of the daylight dots. Power radiated from this uspec. It was bad enough that it was a Kaiser, but a Kaiser in the plenum spoke of another level of power. It was power which I could not even begin to guess at. This was the uspec whose eye I had been tasked with taking.

It was quite obvious now, that the voice in my head wanted me dead. There was no way that I could steal this uspec’s eye. Perhaps I’d had a chance before, but now, after I’d delivered Gerangi’s message, I was doomed. I saw that clearly in the uspec’s eyes.

“Who are you?” It asked.

I felt a wave of terror pass through me. Fear like I’d never felt before. It only lasted for a brief moment, but it was enough to leave me shaken. I had to clench my hands into fists by my sides to keep them from shaking. When I opened my mouth, my throat felt too dry to form words. Just being in the uspec’s presence I felt struck dumb with fear.

Checha’s gaze did not falter. I assumed it knew of the reactions it wrought in me. I was certain uspecs quavered in its presence all the time. Though I had not thought myself one to quiver with fear, this was the plenum. I had to remind myself that this was the plenum, the ones responsible for the end of my line.

I swallowed, forcing moisture from my mouth down my throat.

“Nebud.” I stated, when at long last, I felt composed enough to speak.

Checha nodded. “And where is Gerangi?”

Again, I had to swallow before I could speak. “Dead.”

“That’s a shame. It will be missed. Did you kill it?”

I shook my head. Perhaps that was not wholly the truth. It had died after trying to follow me into that green room. The green room which had been called the Isle of brio. Or had it been situated on the Isle of Brio? That whole journey had been rather bizarre. But it was called the Isle of Brio. I knew that much. And Gerangi had been convinced that I was the key to opening it. The last brio, the isle of brio, surely there was some commonality. And the green sludge? As soon as I thought of the green sludge, I remembered the vision I’d seen in the ring, when Fajahromo flashed it at me. That ring, my ring which Fajahromo had stolen, had shown me in a room with green sludge, staring up at a green face which looked on me with love. Love. Calam. I could not tell how I knew for sure, but I was suddenly filled with an unwavering belief that I’d been to that place with Calam. If so, then why did I not remember it? Why was my earliest memory that of a de trop in Hakute? Even that suddenly felt odd. I was Calami’s offspring. Shouldn’t I remember being born in the hatch? I had spent time with my sire, with Chike, with Musa, even with Animaon. Why did I not recall any of them? A progenitor’s bond, that formed in the hatch, could not be so easily forgotten. I had read several tomes to that effect. According to Musa, I had bonded with Calam in the hatch, but I could not recall this.

My head spun.

“Tell me Nebud,” Checha’s softly spoken words pulled me out of my troubling thoughts, “what is your epic?”

My epic? Mugakute or Murekute? Neither of those would work. Not when I’d just confessed to knowledge of Gerangi. How could I then explain my presence in the pits of Hakute? I could say I had gone to watch a fight and had run into Gerangi. But why would Gerangi choose that moment to use pansophy to hide a secret message in my head? Gerangi was not the type to do such without formulating a better plan. Even if I could have gotten away with pretending that Gerangi had only been in an acquaintance, I couldn’t do that now, not when I’d just told the Kaiser that Gerangi was dead. What drove Gerangi to do this to me? I cursed pansophy.

“I am not the last brio.” I stated. I knew I was not the last brio. The last brio was not a person, it was a thing, an object, a coffer. Perhaps I should say that. I thought about revealing all I knew about the last brio. All I had to do was say Fajahromo, ring, Takabat, and the plenum would go after Fajahromo. I could tell them all of Fajahromo’s plans and they would help me to kill it. I could turn the plenum into my ally against Fajahromo. But how would I explain my expert knowledge of all of this? And even if the plenum was willing to make me an ally, why would I want to be allied with the people responsible for the death of my line? No, I would rather die than give them the satisfaction of finding the last brio. Not that I was doing this for Chuspecip, of course not, I did it for my line. And the invasion? What did I care about the invasion if I was dead?

Checha stared at me with the patience of a progenitor. I found that strange. I had expected Checha to be evil. Sophila’s wickedness had been etched onto its features. One only had to look at that uspec to tell that it was bad. It was not so for Checha. There was a gentleness about the uspec, one that I could not quite explain.

It shook its head. “Gerangi would not lie to us. If Gerangi said that you are the last brio, then you are the last brio, whether or not you believe it. Tell me your epic Nebud. I want to know what it is about you that makes you so special.”

“Surely this last brio must be an object, an artifact, not a person.” I let the words out, in the chance that they could take root.

“At one time we thought so.” Checha said. “But, for a while now, I’ve had my suspicions. A brio is too powerful to be kept in an artifact. Perhaps Chuspecip kept its lifeforms in artifacts, but not the brio. I see now that my suspicions were right. But why you?”

I shook my head. “It couldn’t be me.” I swore, trying my best to keep my fears at bay. “I am nothing.”

Checha shook its head. “You are not nothing. You are what my progenitor would call darai, alive.” It took a step closer towards me, and I felt myself inching backwards. “I come from a long line of Uspecipytes. I broke off from them of course, the kuwor is our true god, but my line is old. Not as old as the line of Lahooni, but second only to them. After Chuspecip started the line of the Kaisers of Lahooni, it chose other Kaiser lines. Like Vatikute, Aboga, Noarusoaru, Katsoaru, and my port, Monachooni. Our lines are old, and those with knowledge of the old Uspecipyte religion can sense things. Now that I stand close to you, now that I let myself look, I see. There is an aura around you Nebud, there is life in you that surpasses that of any regular uspec. You are what Gerangi said you are. You are the last brio.”

Silence greeted Checha’s words.

Salin spoke and I was startled to see that it had moved down from its stage. It was now standing behind Checha. “Then we must kill it and finally put an end to Chuspecip.”

“No!” Fabiana yelled.

I shook my head, even as I saw fog begin to grow in the air. Someone was using boga magic. Someone was trying to kill me. I was afraid. I’d felt true fear once I’d come face to face with Checha, and so it was not too hard for me to reach through my fear to the boga eye which I’d stolen from Sophila. I created fogs of my own. I was not sure what to do, but it seemed that the fog did not need much prompting. It felt my fear, it was a fear of death, and so it grew around the fog which another member of the room created. The fog appeared the same shade of red, but somehow, I could tell mine from the others. Then a loud bang sounded, and both patches of fog were gone.

My fog destroyed the other. It was empowering to feel this, to know that I had used spectra to save myself. This was not the first time that I’d used spectra, but this time I had planned to use spectra and I had done it. This felt more joyous than when I hadn’t known what I was doing, but somehow managed to do it anyway. It felt like control.

“Kill it!” Salin ordered.

Guards who’d been standing around the room pulled closer to me. They pulled out their swords. How many where there? At least ten. I could take them, I knew it, but not if the uspecs with spectra joined in. I could not focus on spectra and fighting at the same time. The lit okun. If I could summon the pain to create it…I had no control over where it appeared, I could kill everyone in the room, Fabiana included. There had to be another way.

My eyes caught on Fabiana and its pater, uspecs of the line of the dukes of Lahooni. These guards were also of the line of Lahooni. An idea began to form in my head. It was stupid, and risky, but if it worked, I could turn the guards against Salin. The last time we’d met, Fajahromo had taught me a lesson in politics. These guards belonged to Salin. But where they loyal to it? They were hooni, they wore the uniform of guards of Lahooni. Sigils which no doubt belonged to my line, unless Salin had already had its own sigil made. But if they were Lahooni guards, they had to be sworn to Lahooni, to the rightful line. I could try to create a lit okun, but if I did Fabiana and its pater would be casualties, and Checha could use its quicksand to escape. I was not safe in a world where Checha existed believing that I was the last brio. I had to kill Checha, but how? Certainly not in this room, not here. The only chance I would have against one like Checha was under an equipoise. But I didn’t even have the time to find one in Lahooni. I needed time.

I wasn’t even sure I knew what I was doing, but I found myself doing it anyway. I rose my hands to the neckcloth hiding my scales, and I took it off. I let the neckcloth drop, revealing what I was to the room.

“Irira!” An uspec guard spat at me.

Fabiana looked shocked. I was heartened to see that it did not bear the same level of disgust as the guards or as Chechin, the four-band noble. Checha seemed shocked, but not disgusted. I found this off for one who was a member of the plenum, the same plenum that had ordered Arexon to slaughter all iriras in Chiboga. A guard took a step towards me, and I halted it with my words.

“You are right,” I said to Checha. “I am not nothing. Nebud is the name I was given when I was taken to a slum in Hakute, and left there as de trop. But it is not the name my line gave me.”

Fabiana’s eyes widened, and I knew, I knew that it knew my true identity even before I said it. Checha must have been right. Perhaps there was something in the Uspecipyte religion that allowed some true believers to see what others could not. Fabiana nodded at me, but the nod seemed more like a bow.

“I am Cala.” I announced. Salin gasped. Fabiana’s progenitor paled, and Fabiana smiled. The guards did not flinch. I found this odd and very unsettling. I could tell from looking at these guards faces, that they had no idea who Cala was. They had never heard the name before. But I had already started, I could not stop now. “My progenitor was the imperial undead Calami, and my sire was the mighty Calam, Kaiser of Lahooni. My sire claimed me, that makes me the rightful heir to Lahooni. Salin is a usurper. Lower your weapons,” I ordered the guards, “it is me you serve.”

My gambit failed. None of the guards as much as made a move to lower their weapons. They held their swords determinedly towards me.

“A valiant effort.” Checha said. “It would have worked too, if these guards were Lahooni. They are not, they are Monachooni, plenum soldiers Cala, they have no loyalty to your line.”

Salin panicked. “You have to kill it now mighty one, you cannot let it live.”

“No.” It was the duke who spoke. “We must investigate this claim.” Its eyes settled on the scales on my neck. “We must…”

“Shut up you righteous old fool.” Salin snapped. “Take your offspring and be gone from here. Tell no one of what you heard here, or you will die, just as surely as this imposter will.”

The duke’s shoulders straightened. It frowned at Salin, and I could feel the storm of anger coming. Just as quickly as I felt it, it was taken away. The duke had not spent its emotion, someone else snatched it. There was another kun in the room, one with power to manipulate emotions like me.

I looked around, but I saw no other irira.

“Think Fabian,” Checha spoke cajolingly, “you cannot win this. The plenum will send its soldiers to march on Lahooni if you tried. We will not allow Lahooni to rise up again, certainly not under the power of the last brio. Never. Cala will die and your entire port will die with it. Think of your offspring. Of Fabin, of cunning Fabinna, of little Fib, and of your eldest, your heir, Fabiana. Swear us your silence and leave now. If you do this, the courageous, faithful, Fabiana will never be subjected to the inquisition. What say you Fabian? Will you be friend or foe to the plenum?”

The duke stared at me.

“No mater, you cannot.” Fabiana pleaded.

“It is an imposter!” Salin snapped. “Cala died with Calam, we saw its dead body.”

“Checha believes that this is Cala.” Fabiana said in reply. “Mater…”

“Will you risk you family for an uspec who just confessed to being de trop, from a slum? Think sibling. If you do this for us, we will never forget it.” Salin interceded.

“Mater…”

Fabian cut Fabiana off. It rose its clenched fist in the air, and brought it down hard on the back of Fabiana’s skull. Fabiana fell to the ground, unconscious. Fabian turned to Salin then. “Cala died with Calam. This is an imposter.” It said. “I am loyal, as always, to you, sibling.”

Salin smiled. “Now we can kill it.”

“No.” Checha shook its head. “For Cala, a descendant of Calam’s illustrious line, I have something better planned.”

“But…” Salin began.

Checha cut it off. “Have no fear Salin, it will die, just not quite yet.”
I reached into myself then remembering my pain. I thought of my offspring’s death, of how it had felt to have it taken from me. I felt the pain begin to rise like a storm cloud and then, just before I could use it, it was taken, stolen from me. I gaped. Someone had used emotions to snatch my pain away from me. But who? There was no other irira in the room.

“None of that now.” Checha scolded me.

Quicksand appeared underneath me, just before I could fully contemplate Checha’s words right on the heel of my snatched pain emotions. The quicksand pulled me in as I thought of the lack of an irira in the room. I was teleported to an empty room made from fog. The walls were made of hard black fog. There was a patch of red on a side wall, that single patch appeared like a spot of clouds in a darkened alley. It illuminated the room with red light, as if under the illumination of night clouds.

I looked around. There was a single bed in the room, and a bucket halfway filled with pink liquid. Nothing else. This room reminded me of the pits of Hakute. I did not like it.

I sat on the bed, warring thoughts crossed my mind as I thought of the emotions that had been taken from me. The duke’s anger had been taken, and my pain. So an irirakun like me, one of anger and pain, kute and hooni. But there had been no iriras in the room. I had searched after the duke’s anger was taken away from it. All in the room had neck scales as their only features, and those scales had been prominently displayed.

All but one.

The thought flashed through my mind, but once it was there, it was too stirring to shake. The ingenuity of it. Suddenly, I remembered the plenum’s garb in more detail. The red cloak with the high collar and the puffy bottom, easy to hide a tail and neck scales underneath that.

The irira was Checha, it had to be. Checha, the Kaiser from the plenum, the one that ordered Arexon to slaughter iriras, the one that claimed to be driven to the Kuworyte religion out of a hatred for iriras. That Checha was itself an irira. I had always known that the plenum’s motivation had nothing to do with religion, but this was my confirmation.

Damnnnnn!!! Really good update, Musa is still with Nebud so there is hope...

Been so long I have missed this story.

Nebud, Nebud Oh interesting Nebud, what a terrible life you have experienced, all this while being a pawn in everyone's chess. You keep moving from one game to another, from one plot to another. Having not achieved anything of your own. This is sad, you are not to be blamed. You were hidden in a slum so that you could survive and that caused your lack of education which led to your illiteracy that led to you being not smart enough to see through others plots when it comes to politics.

Your life have been so wronged, anyone in your shoe would be very frustrated. Everybody knew who you were before you did. Fajarhomo, Gerangi, Arexon and others all knew even Fabiana suspected it. All of these uspecs knew who you were and used that to their own advantages. It's really a sad life you have Nebud. I hope that you find your way out and destroy all who have caused you pain and made you suffer. You need to reclaim all that are yours and end that life.


Obehid it's been awhile I have really missed a whole lot. I am happy to back after being off for a while. It has been too busy for me, hardly have time to check on this site and this story. But I am back and I believe we will finish this story together.

Thanks dear for your hard work, the updates are all great.

Checha would be a worthy adversary. Bring it on ObehiD. I don't want it easy for Nebud..

@Smooth278 thanks and thank you for reading!

@Fazemood welcome back! I'm happy to see that you're starting to understand the depths of Nebud's sufferings and all the challenges that it faces

@HotB I agree! Let's wait to see

Part 6
-------

Many thoughts buzzed around my mind as I tried not to think too hard on my immediate future. The cell that Checha teleported me to was a bleak place. The fog walls were all hard fog, black, with the exception of the single spot of red. That red provided lighting to the room, but the color did not change with the passage of time. There was no way to tell what time of day it was outside. I thought perhaps that I could tell time by the arrival of food, but no meals came.

There was complete silence. I had no visitors, no voices to contemplate, no thoughts to hear and share, save my own. And my thoughts were not pleasing. Every time I tried to run away from the memory of me condemning myself with my own lips, my mind darted to Checha and the fact that it was a kute-hooni kun like me. An irira, I shook my head at the hypocrisy of it. Not that there was much I could do from inside this cell. Why was I in this cell? Checha had stolen my emotions. It was a thing that few had ever been able to do to me. The memory of it took me back to a time in my life I prepared to forget. Checha had stolen my emotions, but where had it transferred it? This was a curiosity. If Checha had exhausted my pain, I would have had a fount of it before it went away, certainly enough to create a lit okun. Checha must have known this, which is why it transferred it. But no uspec had appeared to be filled with polluted pain, so where had it gone.

I stood up from the bed and paced.

It was a tight confinement. I could barely walk five steps before I came to the opposite wall. It felt like I was in a box, a tightly sealed box with no opening. Surely there had to be a door to this cell, or was the only way in with spectra? Too many questions, too many things that I had no answers for. I walked back to the bed and collapsed onto it. My ailerons slammed against the soft padding.

I sighed.

Why the cell? Checha had the advantage. It had taken my emotions away, it stopped me from creating lit okun. If it had combined its forces with Salin, it could have used the fogs to kill me. From what I knew of spectra, it was a contest of strength and ability. Two strong skilled uspecs using the magic of fogs against me…I wouldn’t have stood a chance. So why not do that? Checha believed me to be the last brio, yet it was willing to let me live. I looked around the cell and was almost tempted to change that assessment. But no, life in a cell was still life. Was this it then, did it plan to make me rot in here? Starve me to death?

I found that thought about as palatable as all the others that came before it. A fleeting memory of me declaring myself as the rightful heir to Lahooni flashed across my mind. What had possessed me to do that? I thought about it, and perhaps it could have worked. If the guards had been Lahooni guards. If Fabian, Fabiana’s progenitor, had not proved so easily cowered. Not that it mattered now, no one would ever know my secret. Well, I amended, Fabiana would know. Would it tell others? Would they plan a rescue? Not likely.

The last brio. Rot Gerangi! The uspec’s death had been too simple. It had died knowing that the message it planted in my head would be revealed with the right prompting. And I had gone to the plenum and put Gerangi’s plan to action. That, I could not have helped. Gerangi had pansophy, it had used the magic on me long before I even understood how it worked. Then it had hidden the message in my mind. Perhaps if I had pansophy I would have been able to thoroughly examine my lifeforces and I would have found it. Or perhaps not. Once the voice in my head set me on the course of taking Checha’s eye, this end had become inevitable. Sooner or later I would have had to confront Checha, and in Checha’s presence Gerangi’s message would have been revealed.

At least this way I had saved Fabiana from the inquisition. It would never need to worry about it ever again, thanks to the deal that its progenitor had made. It was a deal that ensured my own destruction, but I tried not to dwell too long on that.

Time passed slowly and I had nothing to do but wait. My eyes closed several times, and when they opened, I knew that I had slept. I did not know how long I slept each time. It could have been minutes, or hours, there was no way to tell. No food came though. I imagined days must have passed, because I felt the emptiness in my stomach. I felt hunger pangs, the kind that one only felt after missing at least a day’s worth of meals. It did not matter how much my stomach sang for food, I got none.

I became grateful for the bucket of okun. I did not waste it on cleaning. I drank it. I used my palm as a cup and imbibed a few gulps at a time. I did not know how long Checha planned to keep me here, and I had no intention of dying sooner than could be helped. If it meant to starve me, it would find me far more resilient than it expected.

It was not until I started to face the reality that I would die alone and unseen in this cell, that something happened.

I was lying on my back, my arms folded underneath my head, when the wall in front of me began to change color. It went from a dark shade of black, to grey and then slowly, the opacity began to reduce. I sat up, watching bemusedly as the fog turned transparent.

Of all the uspecs I expected to see, the one standing in front of me took me by surprise. I’d thought Fabiana would come to visit me. Perhaps I had even longed to see Musa. I would not let myself think it, of course, not after Musa had betrayed me, keeping the invasion and its ties to the wrath a secret, but still, it was a longing I might have felt.

Unfortunately, it was green skin, not brown, filling the space in front of me. And the neck of the uspec was plain, not the scale-filled neck of a hooni. Not Fabiana.

Fajahromo.

I clenched my jaw.

The uspec appeared civil. It wore some sort of clothing over its chest, to hide its boga spikes, of course. Its eyes scanned over me, but it did nothing. It made no move towards me. It simply stood there. Did it expect me to speak first?

I stood up from the bed, and found myself running towards the uspec. I still had my belt on, that had not been taken from me, and so I could reach for my dagger. I pulled that dagger out of my belt and threw it at Fajahromo’s neck. I was acting on instinct of course. All the anger that the uspec inspired rushed in on me, accompanied by the pain. Now Fajahromo did not only remind me of the offspring I’d lost, but also of Musa. Musa was not dead, it had healed itself from the samu bite, but our relationship, the relationship we’d shared before the bite, was gone. Things would never be as they had been, and it was all thanks to the uspec standing in front of me.

It did not so much as startle at the sight of the thrown dagger. It did not take me long to realize why. While the fog wall had turned transparent, the form still remained. It was still a hard wall, still impenetrable. The dagger collided with the wall and fell to the ground with a clang. I walked over and bent to pick it up. Then I stayed where I was, glaring at Fajahromo.

“It is done.” A voice said. “It took a piece of merit to bribe the guards, but they agreed. The sound trap has been activated, you may speak at will.”

Then the owner of the voice came into focus, and I was treated to my second shock. I had seen this imp before, recently. The imp had been at Permafrost. It was the one that had spat at me. I could never forget the imp’s face. My hands tightened into impotent fists by my sides. I was so angry I wished I could shatter the walls so that I could get to the pair standing on the other side.

But I could not, and my anger had to fade. Once the anger faded, I noticed something else about the imp. It was dressed peculiarly. I had only ever seen imps dressed like this once before, a long time ago. Perhaps if I had seen the imp alone dressed as it was, I would not have made the connection, but the imp, standing with Fajahromo, dressed as the imps had been that night, it stirred memories. I remembered that night from the pits of Hakute so long ago, the night when fighting imps had made their way into the pits and killed the wardens. Gerangi had been dragged into a cell that night. That had also been the night before my last fight. A farce of a fight really, but I was getting carried away. Had this imp been there that night? Had it been one of the fighters? This imp was from Permafrost, had all of those imps been too? I tried to remember what Xavier had told me about the imps, and how they’d come to belong to Fajahromo. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong, but I could not quite figure out what it was.

“You fool!” Fajahromo snapped.

I shook my focus off the imp and turned to face Fajahromo, my unwanted visitor. I stayed silent, thoroughly enjoying the sight of the uspec’s anger. It always appeared so composed, only allowing me to see the emotions it wanted me to see. Not now though, this was real.

“How could you let yourself be captured by the plenum?” Fajahromo scolded as if we were friends. Its fingers rose to its temples.

“We don’t have time for this.” The imp prodded.

“Shut up!” Fajahromo snapped. “Let me think.”

A look crossed the imp’s face. This was the same imp who’d spat at me in Permafrost, its hatred of uspecs so severe it could not restrain itself. Now it glared at Fajahromo, but it remained silent.

Fajahromo’s gaze turned to me. “I will find a way to get you out.” It said. “The guards can be bribed, and I have pious who could work on breaking down the fog wall. You have much to learn Nebud, but I will help you.” Its gaze on me intensified. “Why did you not tell me that you were the last brio? Why did you not say it? I would have protected you. Why do you always have to be so difficult? I am your friend Nebud, can’t you see it. Can’t you see it!” It shook its head, and I was starting to fear that it might be crazed. “No, the plenum will not have you, they will not best me like this. No!”

The imp turned to Fajahromo and then it spoke to the uspec in a different tongue. I stared amazed at the pair as Fajahromo responded. They spoke a tongue I had only heard in one other place, it was the umani tongue which the imps had spoken in Permafrost. I tried to catch bits of their conversation, hoping that I could get Fabiana to interpret it later.

Later. I had to fight the urge to laugh at myself. Did I really think that there would be a later? That I would somehow survive this cell? And if I did? Fajahromo knew that I was the last brio. How had it found out? Salin, probably. I remembered their friendship. It was a friendship that had almost gotten me killed in the pits of Hakute. How did an uspec like Fajahromo grow to be so well connected?

Then, “be quiet!” Fajahromo snapped, reverting to the kute tongue. “Your tongue is harsh, and it gives me a headache just trying to keep up with it. If you must speak do so in the civilized uspec tongue. If not be silent. I do not care what your mother wills. I am the uspec.”

I could not help but notice the strain that Fajahromo put on the words ‘mother’ and ‘the’. Mother, I guessed referred to another imp this one referred to as its mater, I knew the imps did that often. And ‘the’? Was Fajahromo stressing its superiority? I did not understand the significance of this visit, even though I knew there was a significance to it.

“With all due respect, drogher,” the imp began, speaking the kute tongue, “our mother…”

Fajahromo’s hand lashed out. It wasn’t until the damage had been done, and the imp fell to the floor, blood gushing from its neck, that I realized what Fajahromo had done. My lips quirked in a smile of approval. For a moment, I forgot who Fajahromo was. Then I remembered, and the smile went away.

“I can free you from here.” Fajahromo swore. It moved closer, close enough that its hand touched the transparent wall. “Befriend me Nebud, let it be as it was before. We can work together, you and I. With your help, we can destroy Chuspecip. I am already close to toppling the plenum. This existence can belong to us.”

I said nothing.

“Why will you not consider it? Once you were happy to call me friend.”
I could not help it. Fajahromo’s words forced me to react. “That was before you sought to turn my own offspring against me!” I yelled. “You used it! You used it and because of you it died. I watched as the life left it. We can never be friends.” I snapped in response, reliving the memories as the words flooded out of me. There was no uspec in this world that I could hate more than Fajahromo. None.

The imp twitched. A moment later, it returned to consciousness. It stood, the wound in its neck healing as it rose.

A bang sounded. “Great one!” A panicked voice called out. I could not tell who the voice belonged to, but I heard it clearly, and I heard the tremor of fear in it. “The mighty Checha is approaching, you must leave before it sees you, great one.”

Fajahromo sighed. Its gaze turned to the imp. “Clean up the blood!” It snapped. “No one can know we were here.”

The imp glared at Fajahromo. I felt the loathing in the gaze it directed at the uspec, but it stripped of its shirt, and dropped to its knees to clean its own blood off the ground.

“Think on it.” Fajahromo said to me in hushed tones. “When I return, it will be with the means to free you. Then we can work together as friends, or you can be my hostage. I would prefer to call you friend again.”

After saying that Fajahromo moved away. The imp just barely cleaned up the last of the blood in time to follow behind Fajahromo. The area outside of my cell appeared to be sealed off by opaque fogs, but as soon as Fajahromo drew near, the fogs drifted away, and in their absence, I caught a glimpse of the prison I was locked in. There was no cell directly in front of mine, but several paces away, there was a cell with a transparent wall. I could see into that cell, and what I saw, was an uspec with the tentacles of a soaru.

The opaque fogs reappeared, and my vision of that cell was cut off. Blackness returned to the wall in front of me, returning me to the solitude I had endured before Fajahromo’s visit.

I found myself plagued with troubling thoughts, all of which centered around Fajahromo’s visit. Fajahromo had sounded desperate. That was unlike the uspec. Why was it so desperate to have me? Surely, if it meant to destroy Chuspecip then its purpose was aligned with the plenum. If Fajahromo believed as Checha did, that I was the last brio, then wouldn’t it want my death? Why would it want to save me?

Before I could contemplate further on this, the black wall began to lose its opacity. As it turned from black to grey, I wondered who my new visitor would be. I had gone so long without seeing a single uspec, and now, in the span of minutes, I’d had two.

As soon as the wall turned transparent, I watched as the ground on the other side of that wall rippled. A leather stool rose from the pool of quicksand that had formed. Another stool emerged from the ground, that stool was filled with covered platters and sealed bottles with purple wine. Just the sight of the wine made my stomach stir.

The fog sealing my part of the prison drifted away, and again, I caught sight of the soaru uspec in the only cell I could see from mine. It stood with its back to me, but those tentacles rose painful memories. Would I ever be free of Marcinus and the guilt that followed the pain I’d caused it?

Two imps walked through the fog. They were dressed in a livery I hadn’t seen before. I did not have to wait long to see who they belonged to, as Checha walked in behind them. Then the fog returned.

Checha walked over to the leather stool and sat on it. Its gaze rested ponderingly on me.

“Shall we share a meal?” It asked, breaking the silence.

I shrugged.

A pool of quicksand appeared in my cell. A wooden stool rose out of that pool. It was laden with covered platters and sealed bottles of wine, similar to that on the stool in front of Checha. I could not help looking at the stool with longing. What type of food lay beneath the top covering of the platter? I wondered.

It took some effort, but I forced my gaze away. “What do you want?” I asked the plenum Kaiser.

Checha smiled kindly at me. “To share a meal.” It replied. “Share a meal with an old uspec, perhaps we can even share a few tales.” I turned my gaze away from the uspec. “I knew your progenitor and your sire.” Checha said, tempting me with its words. “I called Calam friend once. Is there nothing you wish to know?”

I swallowed. The wine looked so appealing. And the food in the platter? My stomach grumbled, reminding me loudly, of its empty state. What harm could it do to at least peek at the food? Maybe I would not find it appetizing. I reached for the lid and removed it.

I sighed. Nama. There was a huge slice of nama, slick with the juices used to marinate it. Another platter revealed a loaf of bread and several sweet buns. There was another platter with roasted tubers and grain balls.

It was a test, but I managed to turn my gaze from the inviting food, to the uspec who offered it to me. “Is it poisoned?” I asked, sardonically.

Checha laughed. Its laugh was full and hearty, the kind of laugh you expect from a person with a conscience. It broke off a chunk of bread from its own platter and put that in its mouth. It chewed slowly, and then swallowed. Then it said, “it seems not.”

It was making some sort of joke, I realized, but I could not find it in myself to share its humor.

Checha sobered. “I would never kill you with poison Cala. There is only one way for an uspec of your lineage to die, if it is to die by another’s hands. Only one way.”

I frowned at that. “Which is?”

“In the hatch.” Checha replied, “giving life to another.”

My stomach churned at the words. In the hatch. I knew what it meant of course, but I could not quite believe it. Instead of dwelling on it, I picked up the utensils on another platter, and tore into the nama flesh. I ate a quarter of it, before I unstopped a bottle of wine, and poured a good amount of it down my throat. It was good food, very good food.

“That is why you have kept me alive?” I asked, although I already knew the answer. “You mean to challenge me in the hatch, during a progenitor’s bout.”

Checha shook its head. “No, Cala, do not misunderstand me. I do not mean to challenge you, I mean to kill you.” It picked up its utensils then and tore of a slice of baked tuber. It dipped that slice into a green stew dressing and put it into its mouth. It watched me as it chewed.

“You mean to poison me.” I stated, “like you had Gerangi do to my progenitor.”

Checha nodded. “Calami was stronger than even I thought. The poison was meant to make it weaker, to make it easy for the Hakute imperial to kill it. The poison itself was never meant to be the agent of death. But after Calami killed the imperial, Gerangi panicked. It feared displeasing us, and so it upped the dosage of the poison in the hatch. Calami died. You were born. I did not want Calami to die like that. Like I said, uspecs of your line ought to die nobler deaths. But Calami died in the hatch, and that is a nobler death than Calam’s. Calam’s death saddens me. It was slaughtered, like a commoner. Salin was too impatient. It should have waited for us to come for Calam.”

Conversation of the death of my line did not quite mix well with food. The delicious meal suddenly felt too hard to swallow.

I turned to Checha. “So, you are a weakling.” I stated. “Too weak to fight an honest progenitor’s bout, one determined by strength and skill.”

“No. I am many things Cala, but weak is not one of them. I have two offspring, both gotten from honest bouts. The offspring I get from your corpse will fit in nicely with them. I do not yet have a hooni-kute kun.”

I looked at Checha and I saw in its eyes, that it knew. It knew I knew that it was an irira, and it did not care. What confidence power brought.

“Then fight an honest bout with me.” I countered. “If you are not afraid of losing.”

Checha chuckled. “Perhaps.”

“Perhaps?”

“You had a visitor before I came.” It said. Then it stopped, its gaze turning to its platter of nama as it cut off a piece of the meat. It took its time tearing the piece of meat off, and then raising the fork to its mouth. It chewed slowly, its eyes travelling from my face, to the abandoned food on my stool, and then back to my face. Then it lifted a bottle of wine to its lips, and took a small sip of the contents. It swallowed. “Tell me who the visitor was, and its purpose for coming, then I will consider giving you a fighting chance.”

“No.” I shook my head. “Not for a consideration.”

Checha’s center eyebrow lifted. “You are willing to give this visitor up?”
Eager. I thought. But to Checha I said, “give me your word that the fight will be fair, no poisons, no magic, just strength and skill. Give me your word on that, and I will give you the visitor’s name and its purpose.” I knew what I was risking, but I felt the rightness of it in my bones. Somehow I knew that if this uspec gave its word, it would stand by it. And if it didn’t? Well, at least this way I had a fighting chance.

Checha took another bite of its baked tuber. Its eyes stayed focused on me as it chewed. It ate silently, contemplating, I imagined. As Checha thought, I did the same. There was a part of me, a small part, that told me to consider Fajahromo’s offer. Fajahromo offered me freedom and all it wanted in exchange was for me to help it destroy Chuspecip. I did not care for the founder, so why not? My offspring flashed in my mind, and I knew that I could never side with Fajahromo. I would rather die poisoned in the hatch, than side with Fajahromo.

“Did you know that your line shared a special bond with Chuspecip?” Checha asked. I shrugged, wondering what that had to do with anything. “That, I guess, is why Chuspecip chose to make you the last brio.” I frowned, wishing I could do away with this nonsense of people thinking I was the last brio. The last brio was a coffer, not a person. But I remained silent. “When Chuspecip designed the progenitor’s bout, it was meant to be an equalizer. Noble and commoner alike were to stand an equal chance of winning. It is not, of course, not when magic and poisons can be applied so easily. But the Kaisers of your line sought to follow Chuspecip’s desires, and so whenever an uspec of your line sought to procreate, it did so in a special hatch. It is a hatch surrounded by equipoise. No magic can be used within it, no aerosol poison can cross it. Tell me who the visitor was, and we will fight there, as the uspecs of your line have. No poisons, no magic, just strength and skill.”

I should have suspected the uspec of lying. What uspec would chose to fight me on such an even playing field? Then I thought of Arexon, the one uspec who could easily beat me if strength and skill were the only deciders. What were the odds that this uspec could fight as well as the commander? I did not know. All I knew was that I had to do this. This was the only chance I would have to complete my mission, to take Checha’s eye.

I nodded. “Fajahromo.” I began, and then I revealed all, or as much of the visit as made sense to me. I was certain to stress Fajahromo’s desire to have me, to free me from this cell and somehow use me. I made sure to tell the uspec of Fajahromo’s boast that it was close to toppling the plenum. If I died in the hatch, I would die knowing that Fajahromo would soon follow. When I was done with my tale, Checha nodded solemnly.

“Gratitude.” It said. “Gratitude Cala, you have kept your word. I will keep mine. The bout will take place tomorrow, underneath an equipoise.”

I nodded. “Gratitude.” I said in reply. The civilized nature with which we discussed the coming bout seemed somewhat ludicrous to me. We would both fight tomorrow, and one of us would die.

“May I ask another favor?”

Checha nodded. “Of course.”

I swallowed. For the life of me, I could not say why I was asking for this, but I asked. “May I be granted a visit with the majestic Fabiana. The majestic and I grew close during our travels and I would like to bid it farewell before the bout.”

Checha stared at me. I wondered if it could tell I was lying, or if it could see that I wasn’t even sure why I had made the request.

“Yes Cala.” Checha acquiesced. “You will be granted a private audience with your friend before the bout.”

“Gratitude.” I said in reply.

With the negotiations done, we returned our focus to the meals laid out in front of us.

My dear nebud...what did you do?

Wonderful work obehid..as always
.you do not disappoint!

Sorry Faj, it is time to face your judgement.

Simple and nice update that is what I like.

Tomorrow meaning Saturday we will be in the hatch where we take checha's eye but that will be after we almost died after being beaten to stupor

maynation:
I have stopped bothering myself over Nebud. He is the one narrating the story so he definitely can't die. My new friend is Fazemood sorry Fabiana. Gratitude Obehid.

This got me smiling

I doubt d voice in d head is gerangis because nebud will kill checha... And d voice will still push him 4ward... Musa or fabiana can teach him to suppress d voice... Nefastu curse....

Obehid nice one, I've been constantly following just that I've been really occupied lately but to say a few thing u have dropped a few feature of the work and deviated a little, you have managed to keep the work going but I guess in your bid to keep writing, you have not been paying attention to details, gubblet remember but u used cup instead that is just to mention one very tiny fraction.. You're still on point though.