Gruesome. So gruesome. Never would I do such a thing. But then, I’m a selfish man.
“Tell me, Deyer Halva. Why are there not more people making for Celestial Dome? In fact, why are there not more citizens here on the dock?”
As I said this, I turned landward, and saw at once that the denizens of Celestial City had been barred from the dockyard. There they were, on up the tiers to the highest summit, lining the main boulevard and completely packing sections of other streets that I was able to view from my position. The local constables had barred all routes just above the beachfront. I hadn’t noticed beforehand, too intent on the duties of a ship owner. The dockyard still had the usual complement of workers, but now I realized that none made attempts to approach Celestial Path. And in fact, there were no vendors and whores on the docks this day either, unusual in itself.
“Oh,” I said.
“It is always this way,” Halva told me. “Intana chooses from among the worthy of Verdant first. These others will see the new Oradhé on his triumphal march up to the palace.”
Yes. It was always this way. Only the worthy first, the worthy, the rich.
“Ah. So your esteemed warriors and scholars are already within Celestial Dome?” I asked. Yes, I can be sarcastic, but I generally hid it with smiles and polite blandness. One cannot make good business contracts with disgruntled associates.
“But of course. Those that have their patrons’ vouchers.”
“Ah.” I see. I, unworthy infidel, have this day gained an esteemed and wealthy patron. Halva had made use of my purportedly unprecedented arrival to snatch up a novelty to parade before his peers, an outsider that had come into harbour despite that today was the day of the new Oradhé’s investiture. I tell you, I had to refrain from making a cynical smile. “I look forward to this, Deyer Halva,” I said, smiling, but politely. I made a small bow to veil the certain derision in my eyes. I can only hide so much. A direct look would not do right now.
Halva knocked me on the shoulder again and we at last set foot on Celestial Path. And I felt as if the skin of my forehead had tightened to the point of ripping apart. Would it be the first section to crawl into my bones?
The long waving bounce of the planks became easier for my mind to bear than the distant statues that we approached. I strode along, looking down with a frown, for the first time realizing that Celestial Path never seemed lower or higher than the first steps of the dome. Ah, marvels. I was an idiot. All these years and it had been before my eyes. Impossible for the path not to change in height compared to the dome, unless both responded equally to the tide. Celestial Dome truly did float upon the waves.
“Deyer—?”
“Yes, Choné?”
“How is it that the path stays so very straight upon the water? Is it anchored in some manner as well?”
“Why, yes, but…not as you might expect.” I looked up and at him. He was smiling, smug and self-important. “Beneath us is nothing but the water, but beneath the water are the guide planks that lay in the seabed, and these make the ones above stay in position.”
“Guide planks? Unattached?” I was thinking anchors still, but it was nothing so simple.
“Unattached. There is a magic within the boards of Celestial Path. They are governed by the position of the planks set in the seabed below. The tide can move the ones we stride upon, but only up or down.”
“Amazing!” Truly. I couldn’t believe it, and yet I knew I should. There ahead was Celestial Dome, and logic dictated that it floated, for I would see the change in position compared to the cerulean path if not. But Celestial Dome had always been at the same height as its causeway. “These boards? How were they put in the seabed?”
“It was amongst the first tasks, after the rout of the enemy, that the first Oradhé demanded of Intana.”
Ah. Divinity’s fingers mixing in earthly mediums again. Naturally nothing that had once been ordinary would be as anyone expected, given this truth. I began to wonder if Verdant’s celebrated paint had its origin in the same extraordinary process.
“Ah, Deyer! So many things I have learned in only a few minutes! Your people have been legendary for keeping your religious matters a secret, and yet the things you have said!”
Halva pulled me to a stop on the causeway. “But Choné! You are of Ardu now? Do you not see that? You cannot reveal these things to any others! It would be sacrilege!”
I stared at Halva a few seconds, wondering to what depth he may have sunk me into his religion. “Um…my crew arrived here with me, Deyer. What of them?”
“They are of no account. You are their master, and only you matter in the eyes of Omos. It was you, good man, that Omos permitted into the harbour. It is a certainty. The First Servant said it to me himself when we stood on the west balcony of the dome and watched your ship sail in past the points.”
“I see.” I drew in a firming breath, glancing back at the harbour and thinking as I had done upon arriving that it was oddly barren of foreign vessels. There were a few, but it seemed that they had been there since before today. I wondered if their crews had been forced to remain on ship for the duration of the investiture. “I see. Then I must respect your traditions and keep the secrets of the Ardu,” I said to Halva.
Halva beamed at me. I received yet another good thump on my back, and off we went again. My cheeks were beginning to feel stretched. Would the skin there creep beneath my muscles before my forehead did? I looked down at the cerulean planks. So bland, so blue, easier to contemplate than the twins guarding the steps up the shine. We hadn’t walked a third of the distance yet, and I wanted to turn back already.
Something dark flashed past to the side, something in the water, something huge. I jerked Halva to a halt.
“Halva! There are sharks in the harbour! Does not your god keep them out? It was my understanding.”
“Keep them out?” Halva scanned the water lapping close to the path. “Well, He keeps them out of the main parts, yes. But beneath the cerulean path, and under the dome, they are free to wander. No unprepared man of Verdant may trespass beneath the holy edifice, or inspect the mechanisms of the walkway."
How many times had I jumped into the harbour water with my crew for a good dip when the weather had been too warm? I couldn’t count. Those were breaker sharks down there, sharks that hunted along shorelines. These were the type that had made man a delicacy on their menu. No other shark in all the oceans were as voracious when it came to hunting humans that dared encroach on Vaal’s territory without permission. Vaal is my god, and looking at His favourite servants, my skin crawled less than when my attention was on the marble effigies of Omos.
One of the breaker sharks came up close to the path and rolled so that one black eye looked at me as it glided by. Black back, grey sides, white belly. Beautiful, dangerous child of Vaal.
“Peace, little brother,” I said. “I didn’t know you were there. I’ll give you a gift later to make amends.”
The dark shadows beneath the ripples flashed away and were gone. Next to me, Halva made a small shocked noise, then grabbed my upper arm. “Choné! I’ve never seen that happen before! What have you done?”
“Nothing of any import. They only came up so that I would notice.”
He stared at me a moment, then looked again at the empty depths. “How could you not have noticed them before now?”
“I’ve never been this far up the path before. Last time, I turned back only ten feet out from the shore.” And now I was a good hundred and fifty feet out, and still only a third of the way there. I didn’t know if I could make it further.
“But I’ve never seen them leave just from a man talking to them,” Halva said. “Why would they listen to you?”
“But don’t you know, Deyer. They are children of Vaal, just as I am. That is what my people believe.”
“Vaal?” Halva repeated. His expression hinted of distaste. I looked away to avoid being further offended. “But you were claimed by Omos this day. Come. You must enter the dome at once.”
A sharp tug on my arm, and we were moving again. From the corner of my eye, little brother reappeared, and he was grinning. Mercy, Vaal. What were you thinking to send me into this harbour on this day? Do you owe Omos a favour?
However much my skin now pained me, I could not turn back. I had been given a mission. I had best see the innards of Celestial Dome, or Vaal would send me to his favoured offspring the next time I dared to take a dip anywhere but in a small tub.
