Crytons walked the dirt paths that crisscrossed between the buildings. They were large folk, covered with gold and silver jewelry. Some of the men were close to seven feet tall. Although each face was slightly different, the one constant feature was those bright yellow eyes. Although they stared as if Jade and Eric were on fire, they showed no signs of panic or distress. Word had clearly gotten out that humans roamed the village.
“They must have used a larger dose on you or something,” Jade sneered as they continued on. “Jacob and I have been up for some time. They didn’t mistreat us or anything. When we woke up, they simply untied us and started asking questions. I think that’s mostly because they don’t fear us. The high priestess allowed me to explain what brought us here in the first place. The funny thing was she sort of already knew. There are crytons here that have abilities similar to that of Berkeni’s. She even knew about the puppeteers! We know nothing of their world, yet they have kept a close watch on ours for some time.”
“Is that where we’re going right now? To see this high priestess?” Eric asked, trying his best to take all this in.
“Well, yes, but you’ve already met her.”
“That woman I saw when I first woke up. Of course,” he said as he watched the dark-skinned people staring a hole through him as they marched along. Almost all had little to no hair, but it was still plenty easy to tell the women from the men. They all seemed to be wearing some sort of jewelry. Nose and ear rings seemed to be standard amongst everyone, male or female. Some even had light chains flowing from their nose to pierced parts of their faces, but not in the amount worn by that tall woman, who had been completely covered. “How did you learn to speak their language?” he asked suddenly, not taking his eyes from the path, distracted by the many intense stares.
“I speak many languages,” she shrugged, as if the question seemed moot to her. “But I don’t speak any fluently, just enough to get by and communicate. Keep in mind, crytons and humans used to be allies. Their language has been well documented for many years. But in this case, it turns out the high priestess speaks Common far better than I speak Cryton!”
Children were now starting to show themselves as they peeked from doorways, smiling and waving, all the while whistling for their siblings to come look. Eric smiled and waved back as a simple truth occurred to him. Blind fear and prejudice was always developed later in life, whereas children were all the same no matter their race or culture. When they saw someone who looked different than they, it triggered feelings of curiosity, not fear or distrust. They would learn to hate later in life, when they were shown to do so. He shook his head at the sad reality.
Eric had to rub his eyes several times as they turned the corner. A building made of the same black stone as the others lay in their path, but it was much larger. Pearl-white steps led up to the dark wooden door, which really stood out against the rest of the large dark building. The roof was made of white tile instead of the bamboo used on the others. They marched up the handful of stone steps as Jade opened the door and led the way in.
Inside was nothing like the room Eric had been in earlier. Ornate oil paintings hung about the spacious white-walled room. Scenes of odd rituals being performed seemed to be the theme for most of these paintings. One such piece showed several crytons joining hands around a woman with long white hair. Her own hands were stretched to the sky as if she was performing some sort of magic, or possibly even praying. But what really stood out were the frames that held these paintings: They were all made of polished white bone. As to who or what supplied the bone, Eric had no intention of asking.
In fact, almost every item in the room appeared to be made of bone, including the table and four chairs that surrounded it. The crytons had somehow fused the bones together to form some rather solid-looking furniture. Even the clock on a wooden mantle against the wall was encased in a bone shell, revealing the glass face surrounded with symbols that looked like gibberish to Eric.
The aromas of cooking filled the air as they entered the second room. The high priestess remained seated at a large table made entirely of the same white polished bone. Jacob appeared a little too comfortable as he leaned back in his skeletal throne, rubbing his fingers across the armrest. Both he and the priestess smiled as the two entered.
“It’s about time you woke up!” said Jacob arrogantly as he leaned back even farther. “I was thinking we would have to start without you.”