Legon Awakening

chapter Eleven

Salkay



“It always amazes me that people believe only that which they want to, no matter how absurd. Of course, that being said, people tend to be easy to lead for the same reason, and provided their leader is just, even the truly wicked amongst us can be made into good people.”

-Memoirs of the Ruler of the First Dynasty



They made camp right outside of the town of Salkay. Kovos couldn’t see it, but it was there just over the hill. He could hear the sound of the Kayloose River, one of the largest rivers in the area and the basis for Salkay’s rapid growth. Most towns and villages were built near a body of water, be it a river, stream, or lake. This was the case for Salkay. From what he understood, there were mills in Salkay, and mills meant money.

It was cool this morning and he could see his breath when he got out of the tent. He appeared to be the only one up except for Arkin at the edge of camp, looking not toward the town but back up the road where they’d come, sitting on his heels and not moving a muscle. This must have been the Jeesie or Jezeer or whatever it was called. Kovos didn’t know and frankly he didn’t care. All that stuff was fine for Arkin but not for him.

He began to build a fire. He loved the mornings when he was camping, or at least he loved them when he was sitting at a fire eating. He felt a hand on his shoulder. It was small and soft. His heart skipped a beat. Emma? No, not Emma. Sasha.

“Good morning. How are you today?” she said, yawning.

He spoke more to the ground than to her. “I’m fine.”

“Just fine?”

“Yeah I’m fine, really, I am.” She was giving him a knowing look.

“You thought I was Emma, didn’t you?” she asked softly.

“I’m sorry Sasha. How did you sleep?” And moreover, how did she know what he was thinking?



She smiled at him. “Why are you sorry? I’m sure she misses you too.”

“Do you think so? I mean, she said that she loved me, but I don’t know. Now I’m gone and I bet she has her eye on others. I don’t know.” He chuckled a bit. “Listen to me, I sound like a moron. You don’t want to hear my sob story.”

She laughed, and this caught him off guard. “You don’t know anything about women, do you?”

Now it was his turn to laugh. “Well no, I guess not.”

“I don’t think you’re a moron, I’m happy for you. It’s cute the…”

“Oh no, don’t start that ‘cute’ stuff. Emma says that crap all the time when I get all soft,” he said pointing a finger at her in a playful way.

“It is cute, and I’m sure she misses you a lot. She even talked to me about you, so there’s a sign.”

That was definitely a sign. Emma didn’t talk to Sasha; none of the girls in town did. They talked about her for sure, but it wasn’t kind.

“She did? What did she say? What did you tell her?” She had his attention now; he didn’t want Sasha to think he was soft, but this was too good. She sat down opposite him and held her hands out over the growing fire. They didn’t even notice Arkin looking at them.

“Well, she came up to me in town and offered to buy me tea. I knew something was up because her parents don’t want her to talk to me. We went to the tavern and she started asking all these questions about you. She thought that you and Legon talked about your relationships all the time.”

“I want to make one thing clear: We never . . .” Kovos started.

“Yes, I know you’re men. Gods forbid you show emotion. Anyway, after a bit she was trying to get me to tell Legon to tell you to propose to her, so I would say she likes you, even loves you. When you go back home she’ll say yes. And then her dad will probably kill you,” she finished with a smile.

She wanted to marry him. This was great! But something didn’t make sense.

“Sasha, I’m confused.”

“I’m sure, you’re a man.”

“Ha ha. If she loves me, why didn’t she say it or have you tell me to marry her? Why Legon?”



There was a sympathetic look on her face, the same his mother gave him whenever he did or said something stupid but tried to do the right thing.

“She dropped lots of hints.”

“Like what? She never dropped a hint. I’d have noticed.”

“She asked you to pick out linens and table cloths,” Sasha said with a hint of exasperation.

“Yeah, so what?”

“For your new home together.” She was spoon feeding him something but still it didn’t click.

“No, it was for her aunt, not our house.”

“Oh my goodness Kovos, are you really that thick?”

It clicked.

“What!? That’s stupid! Why did she do that? If that’s what she wanted why didn’t she just say it?”



Sasha rolled her eyes at him. “We don’t say it, we hint, and apparently you guys don’t get it.”

“If you guys want something and don’t tell us, then it’s not our fault, it’s yours.”



Sasha chuckled in a bit of a menacing way. “Ha! It’s our fault you aren’t bright enough to figure it out?” Kovos was about to talk but was cut off by Arkin.

“Kovos, she likes you and that’s what matters. Sasha, men are dumb.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“And so are women,” Arkin finished, walking to his tent before Sasha could retort.

* * * * *

Keither thought he heard a debate heating up outside—no doubt Sasha and Kovos talking about relationships. That never ended well. It was a good time to keep quiet. Not that he talked much anyway. The conversation cooled down after breakfast, and Kovos seemed to be in a good mood about Emma liking him.

Keither was happy for him in a way. Except for once, Keither hadn’t ever really liked anybody. That one didn’t matter though; he hadn’t had the balls to talk to her, and the queen’s men had taken her earlier in the year. She had been nice, though. She was one of Sasha’s friends. Come to think of it, her only friend. It’s too bad people were terrified of what they didn’t understand.

Keither left his tent and tried to help break camp, but his side was killing him and Legon told him not to do anything.

“I can help,” he insisted.

“I know you can, Keither, but your ribs need to heal, and the fastest way for that to happen is for you not to do much for the next few days. Don’t worry. Once you can help, you will,” he said with a smile.

“Trust him on this one. He knows what he’s talking about,” Kovos added.

Odd. His brother was being nicer to him than before. Maybe he felt bad about what had happened. It didn’t matter; the change was welcome. He knew that Kovos cared about him and only wanted him to be safe and happy, so he didn’t really hold it against him when he was mean. Still, this new way was easier to take. When they were ready to leave Sasha walked Murray over to him.

“I want you to ride Murray for a few days while I work with Pixie, and then it will be your turn to be trained, ok?”

“Ok. Sorry I’m not good at this stuff. Thank you for your help.”

“Don’t be sorry. We all have to learn, and you’ve never had a reason to.”



She was so nice to people. Why on earth was she like that? It didn’t make any sense. These thoughts left him as they rode. They were coming over the hill now and that meant Salkay would be in view. He was excited; one of the traveling merchants that came to town said that Salkay was growing due to the new mills they had built over the last few years. Mills. Now that was where it was at. He had never seen one, so this was going to be good. Most people didn’t appreciate what mills could do.

As they came over the hill, Salkay came into view. It was larger than Salmont, but not by much. There was a big wall surrounding the town and a road leading to the river, which was wide here. The road split in two, each path leading to the river where it then became a fortified mill bridge. The bridge closest to them had five large wheels underneath. On the left on the bridge and closest to the town were two buildings, both with tall roofs and no smoke. Downriver a bit were a larger bridge with seven wheels and two more buildings, both producing huge amounts of smoke.

“Are those mills with fortified bridges?” asked Kovos.

“Yes they are,” responded Arkin.

“What’s with the one with the dome thing by it?” asked Sasha.

The dome thing; Keither hadn’t noticed that. He looked harder. “No way.”

“‘No way’ what, Keither?” Sasha asked.

“Arkin, is that a sanitizer?” he asked excitedly.

“Very good, Keither. Why don’t you tell the others about the mills and the bridges?”

Why had he spoken? Now he was going to have to try to explain this and they were going to think he was a moron. “Come on,” prompted Arkin.

“Well ok, bear with me. I will explain each in turn.” He paused, gathering his thoughts.

“You see that first bridge, the one with five wheels?” They all nodded. “The bridge is fortified because those wheels are the most valuable part of the town. Without them the town will bust, so they need to be protected.” He held up his hand, forestalling questions.

“Let me finish and then you can ask away. Ok, here’s how it works: those wheels are turned by the river’s current and in turn they lead to a gear building. From there the building turns shafts that lead to the structures on either side for various works. Ok?” They nodded, and a proud look crossed Arkin’s face. So far this was going well.

He pointed to the mills closest to them. “Neither of those buildings have smoke stacks, so that probably means that one is a grain mill and the other a saw mill. Like Arkin’s shop, an open flame is an issue in both those buildings, more so for the grain mill. There is enough dust in there to actually make the building explode if ignited.” This time there were a few “Wows!” from the others.

“There’s probably a loom on the lower level of the bridge too. It looks tall enough. Now, the big one downstream that has a lot of smoke is a foundry. The wheels drive billows and hammers, helping them to make a lot of stuff faster.”

Kovos broke in. “Yeah, I’ve heard of those. They’re used to make large-scale stuff and to refine ore into ingots that other smiths can use, but what is the dome for?”

“That’s a good question. I don’t know much about them, but I do know they are made by the Iumenta, and that most large cities have them. Arkin, can you help me out?”

Arkin smiled warmly at him. “Well done, Keither, and yes, I can help you out. Legon, can you tell me what happens to towns with dirty water?”

“People get sick, and I mean really sick, with diphtheria and other disease; that’s why towns put their dung heaps a good distance away from town or in a river to sweep it away.”

“There. You hit it right on the head: put in the river and swept down for another town to deal with. This is one of the only times you will hear me say that the Iumenta did something good, even though they only did it to keep their workforce in better condition.” Arkin really did hate the Iumenta, but Keither wasn’t sure why. They had done some good things, hadn’t they?

“If you look closely at that bridge you’ll see intakes where water is going into the far building. In that building are augers that are powered by the river. They carry water up to a main well in town. As soon as the well reaches a certain level, it encounters another pipe that diverts water to another well, and so on and so forth.” He paused, waiting for questions.

“Ok, so it’s easier to get water,” Legon said.

“Yes, and when the well reaches another level, the water is diverted to a pit where people dump waste, be it food, dung, or otherwise.”

“So then the waste is flushed to the river, I got it.”

“Not yet. The waste is flushed to that dome, which is called a condenser. Under it is a pit that’s around thirty feet deep and at the bottom a huge steel plate. Inside the main building and under the steel plate is a furnace. Bellows are run from the mill, keeping the furnace hot. All of the waste wood and grain from the other mills go there and to the foundry, too. The leftovers from the other mills are small and burn hot and fast. Also, the belongings of sick people can be burned here as well, and in some cases the corpses of the sick.”

“So whatever it is doesn’t spread, right?” asked Sasha. With her background, Keither figured she would show an interest in anything that kept illness from spreading.

“Right. The furnace makes the steel plate hot and boils off the water in the pit. There is another auger that is pumping water inside that dome, which is made of ceramics. Iumenta use a lot of ceramics; it’s one of their specialties. That water keeps the dome cold, so as steam hits is it, the steam condenses into water and is caught in a little ridge with holes that circles the rim of the dome, and then it goes into the river clean.”

“So the waste doesn’t infect another town,” said Legon.

“Correct. At the end of the day there is a stop in the pipe leading to the pit and people go in there and collect all of the remaining waste to be burnt in the furnace the next day. There are some other details from there, but you get how it works now,” he finished.

“Seems like a lot of time and money just to keep a workforce alive,” Keither added. He wasn’t sure just how bad the empire could be. After all, most people lived in relative comfort, and wasn’t it the good of the many that mattered? Moreover, he was feeling confident. None of the others could figure out the stuff he had, so why would Arkin be any different?

“It keeps your workforce healthy, yes. From my understanding this was a big fight with the Elves. Humans resisted placing measures like this in towns and cities because of the cost,” Arkin responded.

“So where the Elves failed the Iumenta have succeeded. Isn’t it possible that the Iumenta are not as bad as some people think, and that they think of the good of the many versus the cost?”

“You’d better not say the Iumenta are misunderstood, Keither,” Sasha said. He was taken aback by the tone in her voice. “Do you think the Royal Guard that killed a woman in front of your eyes was misunderstood? Or was that for the good of the many as well?” There was a defiant bite to her tone now. She did have a point, but the actions of an isolated group of human soldiers didn’t tarnish the entire Iumenta race. He began to open his mouth to retort but was cut off by Arkin.

“We are near town now. This talk can wait for later, and yes, Keither, it is a talk we will have. You don’t have to take my word. The Iumenta are not our friends. I’m sure you will be given more evidence than you have already.”

“But why not now? The…”

“Because we are fugitives and I don’t want attention, that’s why.” Arkin sounded irritated, like Keither had said something ignorant or childish. Was it wrong to want to continue the conversation?

* * * * *

Sasha felt anger seething in her. She couldn’t believe what Keither was saying. Didn’t he understand, didn’t he see how the queen was? This was all “academic” for him; he wasn’t in any near danger of being made a slave. He wasn’t there when they took Sara. She gripped the horn on her saddle harder, hearing the leather creak. It was rare for her to feel anger this strong, but when she did it was usually justified. It wasn’t that Keither didn’t have good points, the good of the many and such, but he was justifying the end result. There was a lot more to justice and good than most of the people having a comfortable lifestyle.

Or was there? She wasn’t sure. She knew the queen was evil, but why? That’s what mattered. Keither’s logic was sound but still she knew it was wrong. She thought hard, not noticing Salkay come closer and closer. Arkin had taught them one of the principles of the Mahann: “Black and white is all there is. Grey is just misunderstanding.” What did that mean?

Her eye caught a glimmer of something silver. They were at the gate of Salkay, and the glimmer was the end of guard’s spear. The owner was leaning against the wall of the town talking to another guard on the other side of the entrance. The man was tall and wearing leather armor with a wooden chest plate. There was about a week’s worth of black stubble on his face that matched his hair. The man looked very friendly, like the guy everyone knew and liked—ideal for a guard.

* * * * *

Legon wasn’t nervous about the guards. They probably wouldn’t bother them.

“Hey there, can I help you find something here?” said the guard.

These men were paid by the town to keep order and deter robbers, but also to act as guides. They were nothing like the guards from children’s stories that always harassed people who came by and were always ready for a fight. If there was no threat there was no need. It didn’t make sense for the empire to place soldiers in every town; if you did that then your fighting force was too spread out, so each town paid people to do the job. These people would fight, but they also helped the town thrive. They knew every shop and resident, so if you needed something when you came to a town you weren’t familiar with, the guards could guide you. This was also a great way to protect a town; happy and cheery guards got people talking, and people that might be trouble often gave themselves away.

“We need to get some supplies and I need to sell some horses,” Arkin said to the guard as they approached.

“Then you’ll want to see Bear. Go to your left and you can’t miss him, and if it’s traveling supplies you’re in need of, there’s Peg’s shop next door that can help you out.”

“Thank you. Bear?” Arkin asked.

“That’s a nickname. The guy is fat and hairy and looks like, well, a bear.”

“Does he like that name?”

The man laughed heartily. “Nope, not at all, but he’ll tell you he loves it just to save face.”

“Thank you for your assistance,” Arkin said graciously.



They entered the town and started to Bear’s shop. As they went Legon noticed that unlike Salmont, Salkay was a planned city. That meant that if you wanted to build in the town you first needed to submit plans to the regent, and the building needed to meet certain guidelines. This was for several reasons. First of all, Salkay had a wall and a defensive plan, so if your building hurt that plan or affected it you might not get approved. Also, things like sanitation were taken into account.

They made their way through narrow streets. Most of the shops along this way were travel-related and there weren’t a lot of dwellings. Soon they came to a one-story building with a large fenced in an area off to the right side with horses, donkeys, and mules walking around. Attached to the building were stables.

They all dismounted and followed Arkin through a large door that horses could go through as well. The room was a hall that had stalls going up either side. At the end of the hall there was sunlight to the right, indicating the exit to the fenced-in area. A short round man with black hair and beard came out of a stall to their left, and sure enough he looked like a black bear. The image was made stronger by his soot-covered clothing that indicated he made his own horseshoes. Arkin diverted his eyes, trying not to chuckle at the accuracy of Bear’s nickname. Bear approached them with a large “I’m going to take your money” smile on his face.

“Well hello there. What can I do for you today?” His voice was energetic and happy. The perfect salesman.

“I am assuming you’re Bear,” Arkin said, extending his hand. The man flinched for just a moment.

“Yes that’s me. They call me Bear because, well not to sound like I have a big head, but I’m strong like a bear.” He laughed in an exaggerated fashion. “Silly, really. I tell people not to call me that, but you know how people are.”

“Yes I do. We are traveling and in need a few things. Can you help us?”

“Well, I’m sure I can. By the looks of it you have more than enough horses. I take it you need tack and things of that nature?”

“Yes, and we would like to sell seven of these horses as well.”

A look of incredulity crossed Bear’s wide face. “You want to sell seven?”

“Yes. Can you buy them, or would you like us to try someone else?”

“No, no, I can take them. Let me have a look. I hope you’re not expecting a lot for them, I mean,” Bear said, walking up to Calvin and Phantom.

“Not those ones. The ones that have stuff tied to them. You can have whichever seven you want, it doesn’t matter to me.” Bear inspected the horses that a few days ago had belonged the queen. Legon wondered if Bear would figure it out.

“These are exceptional horses. You can tell just looking at them. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were military grade. Say, how did you get them?” There was a suspicious look on Bear’s face. He was going to figure it out. They must look guilty bringing in this many horses to sell.

Arkin didn’t lose his cool and said in a calm voice, “We killed ten royal guard and these were their horses.”

Legon looked at Arkin in disbelief. He wanted to say something but his voice wasn’t working. Bear looked a little uncomfortable; he looked them over, eyes lingering on Sasha and Keither, and then gave a loud bark of laugher.

“Ok, ok, I get your point. I won’t go sticking my nose into your business. Killed ten royal guards, eh? I like you, buddy. Ok, so here’s what my thoughts are: there are five of you and you are going to have eight horses, so my guess is that three of them will be for pack. Now I don’t have the money to pay you for all seven, but,” he said raising a finger,

“I will do this instead: I will take the seven and will trade out the riding saddles for the three you keep with pack saddles. Then I will shoe all your horses and make any repairs to your current equipment.” Bear smiled widely, like he was going out of his way. Arkin took a moment to answer.

“We’ll take that deal, plus four hundred shells.” Legon did another double take. That was a good chunk of change, and they didn’t need the money. What was Arkin doing?

Bear frowned. “Three hundred and I get help with the shoes.”

Arkin looked at Kovos. “It’s your call—you’re the smith.”

“Oh, you’re a smith?” Bear asked.

“Yeah, ok, deal,” Kovos said. “But one question: Why don’t you go to the forge? Why do you need my help?”

“Ah, the forge. Well, that’s government-owned and you can buy ingots from it, but as far as production it only does government work.”

“Like what?” asked Keither.

Bear looked at the boy and smirked. “Looks like you had a riding accident. If you like I would be happy to give you some lessons while you’re here.”

“Thank you, but I’m not interested,” Keither replied. “What does the forge make?”

“Oh, the forge. Well, anything for the government really—armor, weapons, wheels, you name it.”

“So nothing for the town?”

“No, it doesn’t, that’s why we need a smith, and…”

“We don’t want to take any more of your time. We need to get a few other things while we’re here. How long with this take you?” Arkin asked.

“You can leave sometime tomorrow afternoon, provided your companion here knows what he’s doing.”

“I’ll have the shoes done tonight. If you can get the tack and other stuff we can leave by morning. You guys go run your errands. I’ll hook up with you later,” Kovos said, starting to rummage through his bags. Bear gave them directions to a local inn and shops they needed to go to. By nightfall they were done with their shopping and were in Arkin’s room at the inn.

“Why did you tell Bear that we killed those men?” Keither asked. Arkin looked at him with a wry smile.

“Because no one would admit that, and it’s hard to believe. Sometimes the best way to hide something is to put it in the open. No doubt your next question will be about why I asked such a steep price for the horses when we have money. Well, that’s also easy—if we look like we’re rich then we draw attention, but if we look like we’re just bargaining then we won’t.”

Kovos came in the room filthy. “Ok they’re all done. We can leave in the morning, and believe me, that will not be soon enough. Bear is driving me crazy!”

Legon chuckled. “Why is that?”

“He will not shut up, and he keeps trying to sell me stuff. He tried to get me to buy this old nag that looked like it was ready to die. Told me it was a great ‘pre-owned horse.’ Honestly!” Kovos sat hard on the bed next to him and placed his hands on his knees.

“Well he’s a used-horse salesman, what do you expect?” Sasha said.

They continued to talk for a bit and then decided to head off to bed. Arkin had his own room and Legon and Sasha were sharing one. The place was nice, a lot like their home, but it felt odd not to have his own room. Not that Sasha was a bother, but the man at the front desk had asked about them being married and that had made his skin crawl a bit. At the same time he wasn’t keen to leave her side. He was in protection mode right now and he probably wouldn’t sleep unless he knew she was fine.

It was nice sliding under the sheets and putting his head on a somewhat soft pillow, almost like this was just any other trip. Soon the ceiling he was looking at faded away as sleep took over.

The ceiling was replaced by clouds. In his dream he rolled on the ground. “Great, another one of these,” he thought. He was on the field tonight, but to his left he saw dirt and gravel, so he was somewhere in between the two… two… whatever these were. To his left in the mist was the outline of the black dragon, to his right just mist. This was such an odd dream. He never saw the other dragon, just the one that he associated with evil and bad things. He wondered… if he only saw the black dragon, did that mean that he was a bad person? There was an overwhelming feeling of confirmation, which somehow he knew was coming from the black dragon. He was a bad person, but why was he moving toward the field where perhaps the white dragon was?

The feeling came again, this time saying he couldn’t make it. But there was a new feeling now, one that came from somewhere else, one that felt good and hopeful. There was a grumble from the black dragon; he needed to be paying more attention to it. “No I don’t. Maybe I need to concentrate on the other feeling,” he thought, or did he say it? Could you think to yourself in a dream? What did all this mean anyway? Did it mean anything? He wasn’t sure.

He thought about this for awhile and then looked down, noticing that he had gotten closer to the black dragon. Fear came. He didn’t want to be closer to that one. Still lying on the ground, he started to inch the other way but somehow he kept getting closer to the dragon. He rolled around on his belly, facing the field away from the dragon, crawling, straining to remember the feeling of hope that he had felt. The more he thought about it the more he moved away from the dragon. He wanted to turn back and look but something made him keep his eyes ahead of him.

The mist was getting thick now and he couldn’t see the ground, even on his belly. There was a thunderous THUD… THUD. The second was softer and coming from behind him. The dragon was leaving. THUD. He pawed the ground, wanting to keep moving away but it was so hard to figure what way to go. THUD. His fingers closed around a vine that was on the ground. He pulled himself along, holding to the vine, hoping it led away from danger. THUD. Soft now. Deep breathing from high above him. There was the fear again. What if this was not the white dragon? What if this was just another Iumenta? He looked up into a violent flash of bright blue.