Black Hand, Black Heart

Open fighting has come to the streets of Medinaat al-Salaam!
The Khadi searhc her winding avenues for a missing boy who may know the identity of a traitorous revolutionary. The Moto, long ignored, prepare to reclaim their place among her inhabitants. And everyone scours the underworld for the Keys to unlocking the secrets of the Awakening.
In this time of vindictive killers, outlaw sahir, and desperate conquerors, there are those whose sinister goals touch everyone, without impunity. Two age-old rivals, linked by blood, engage in deadly trials of righteous steel and diabolic ritual, with the afterlives of every man, woman and child at stake.
Now both have been drawn into the ancient struggle. The stalwart Ebonites seek peace and resolution to the current crisis in the city before it explodes into open warfare, and they seek to take back what has been stolen from them. The Jackals have discovered signs and portents pointing to a great upheaval in the near future and strive to prevent them.
Every life is a story.
Which one will you tell?

The Tale of the Robber and the Caliph, Part 3

Evening crept inot the city's weaving avenues, shrouding those lingering along them in its cool embrace. Shopkeeps in the Merchant's Quarter had long ago closed their doors, but the buyers and sellers of the festival grounds would continue long into the night.
     Within her elaborate chambers, the Caliph, Divider of Loyalties, observed the young robber once again with an intrigued, though impatient eye. For the third night, the robber knelt chained to a ring in the floor, pleading for his life with a story of the last days before the Awakening...

     ...and that brings us to the crux of things, Most Exalted One, there are forces in these corridors that have walked here long before you or I, or even the first builders. They remain with us still in the crevices of our vision, where only memory and fear hold sway...
     Amru had gone with the Senpet. His face - I saw now - was painted with a strange sigil. From this I guessed he must have been a sahir, perhaps one of the royals, though why such an individual would be lurking in the home of simple traders was another question altogether.
     I chose to follow them, ignoring the cloud of fatigue sweeping over me. The dark-skinned man ducked between buildings and across crowded streets, always watching for pursuit. He was quite skilled, really, and only my many years of out-smarting the city guard prevented his discovery of me. After several tense moments and a long ferry ride, we arrived at the outskirts of the far size of the Maze.
     This part of the city is well-known to me. Those with little to fight for anymore or without the will to go on make it their home. It is called the Khesir Quarter by most, but to those that live here, it called the Last Stop. The homeless and forsaken souls who have given up lurch along in its pale stone walks every hour of the day, squabbling amongst themselves over tonight's sleeping arrangements or a half-empty bottle of turned milk.
     I said I know of it, Highness. But I must also say that I avoid it all costs.
     My curiosity was peaked now, for I could not understand why the Senpet would choose to bring the girl here. She would simply become another possession to barter...
     The dark-skinned man turned then into Redemption's Court and briskly stepped past the rusted gate, pulling Amru across the cobblestones to the far wall within. I waited outside...
     You see, Redemption's Court has a curious history. It is said that those who enter risk judgement for their indiscretion. No one goes there unless they are longing for a new beginning... or an early end. I, for one, was not willing to take that chance. Instead, I watched as the Senpet vanished into a narrow crack between two barren porches.
     An hour later, I considered returning to the relative safety of the River Quarter and finding a place to bed down for the evening. But my less rational side won out, and I found myself passing through the gate and into the heart of the Court despite my earlier misgivings.
     Dear Caliph, the terrible truths revealed to me therein haunt me to this day. Even I were strong enough to repeat them, they would only serve to tarnish your radiant beauty...
     But Caliph, I would never consider patronizing one of your obvious discernment, let alone one with the station and opportunity to take my life. I am, as all others, your obedient servant...
     Very well, I shall continue...
     Within the crevice to which the sahir had taken Amru, I found a descending staricase spiraling into darkness. The sound of coursing water and the rank scent of sewage drifting up to me indicated that this was yet another entrance into the tunnels beneath the city.
     That would be the second time that day that I had ventured into the underworld, an act no sane person considers at all. Still, it was better than returning through the Court, so I braced my hand against the right wall and stepped down into the abyss once more.
     Not twenty mindful steps later, I heard voices close by. Concentrating, I could make out two people speaking: a woman, and a man I assumed was the Senpet. The woman's words had a playful tone, but his were dispassionate and calculating.
     "Be calm, Heaku," she purred, "I merely find it amusing that one of your precious little champions is little more than a newborn."
     "Quiet, woman!" Hekau hissed back. "You have no notion of the incredible vistas this newborn can achieve. She and her kind will be waging this war on levels we cannot dream of!"
     "And that is the great irony... is it not?"
     Another had arrived as they spoke, one whose cavernous voice threatened to swallow all others whole. His words could not be defined by their sound so much as by the immesurably vacant recesses that stirred them: "That they fight so that you may continue dreaming?"
     Hekau was standing beside the striking woman, who leaned against a wall to his left and played with appeared to be a tiny kitten. They turned toward the side tunnel, and a veil of cascading sand dropped before them. Through it stepped an unassuming middle-aged man. Immediately behind him was another, whom I later discovered was the source of the curious voice that had drawn me partially out of hiding. Ashalan, he carried himself with an arrogance that stunned everyone present, myself included. This would not last long, however.
     "Eyla..." Hekau stammered, "I did not expect to see you so soon. We have only collected the firs-"
     "Your efforts are satisfactory but have resulted in unneccessary bloodshed... and consequent retaliation."
     All three figures were gripped by the Ashalan's vacuous statement, anchored. Hekau seemed stunned, while his female companion had ceased playing with and was now clutching the cat. For the first time, I noticed then that the animal was not at all happy with its predicament. In fact, it appeared to me that it was trying to escape the woman's tight purchase.
     As for the other, I cannot say. Only part of him was visible to me at any moment, and that part seemed to shift with every passing instant.
     After a time, the Ashalan spoke again. "Amru can lead you to the others, but extreme caution must be taken in this next endeavor. Your enemies are amassing even now. You have dispatched one of the Khadi - an unprecedented act - and they will wish to know how."
     "They will not learn your mysteries, sayid," Heaku said.
     "Of that, we are not concerned."
     The Senpet had no response, but his eyes sharpened to thin gashes in his proud face. "We are already aware that another of the illayah is a prisoner of the Senpet, held in their garrison at the city's edge."
     "Her loyalty will prove... most difficult to enlist, I would think. Take heed... Tonight is an important phase in your evolution. You must act with all the audacity of your convictions."
     "The Night of the Burning Sky..." the woman murmured.
     "Yes, though we know of it by another name..."
     Left alone after that, the three sahir settled down to a hushed discussion. Amru was nowhere to be seen, but I was sure that she must be near, and so I huddled closely to the wall outside the staircase, where I could watch her abductors.
     It was fortune that I chose a well-concealed location from which to observe, as the next thing that I remember is waking some time later to find my quarry, led by Amru, crossing the stream and heading toward me. Quickly ducking into the stairway, I was surprised to see them pass by altogether and continue down the tunnel into the bowels of the city.
     I slipped out into the tunnel and carefully trailed behind them until they reached an almost vertical shaft, within which they all ascended. Several moments after the last has vanished upward, I followed. From the abundant noise above, I guessed we were underneath the Houses of Delight and Fancy, the entertainment district. I could almost make out the wheel at Rafi's, beckoning me.
     Moments after I emerged from the dislodged grating above, screams echoed back from the street. Outside the alley I was in, a gambling house was being invaded by the Khadi, who was screaming at its owner, Ghassan.
     "Have you seen the boy Dharr here tonight, old man?" he sneered.
     "N-no! Not for a couple days," Ghassan sputtered.
     The Khadi threw him aside and joined two other Khadi, who were exiting his charred doorway and laughing loudly. Fear had swept over the district. People were slipping away, too afraid for even curiosity to keep them. The three Khadi turned toward Abdul-Rafi's, one balling his hand into a sparkling fist.
     From across the street, a clamor cut through the panicked air. Two thundering cries in unison preceeded the arrival of the Janan twins.
     I'm sure you are aware, Caliph, of the Ebonites and their dedication to their own brand of justice. Well, the twins are a living testament to their oath. But I can see you are not interested in such things, I will continue...
     Charging across the square, the twins parted to outflank the Khadi. Spreading out, the sahir prepared to defend themselves. But before the battle could engage, the rumble of approaching horses intervened. With little warning, the forces of the Senpet city guard burst through the crowds, falling upon the Ebonites. It was obvious that the warriors did not seek to kill them, however, as they relied upon blunt weapons and defensive tactics throughout.
     The twins fought valiantly but were badly outnumbered. the assault lasted only a few minutes before they began to tire. One was trapped in Senpet netting, while the other was cornered near Uji's Place. I wondered at the events before me. Why would the Senpet attack Ebonites? They had always tolerated each other before...
     The commander of the Senpet, the one known as Qer Apet, called for thier halt. Stepping forward, he faced Hekau with a look of disgust. Then sudden compassion crossed Qer Apet's face, and he said, "Why  Hekau? Your convictions will only get you killed. Hensatti will-"
     "Do not presume to understand me, Qer Apet!" Hekau spat. "Ours is a long, bloody history! The Senpet have much to answer for at the Awakening!"
     "We all do, brother!"
     "Hekau!" The frantic yell came from within Uji's, where I could see Amru grappling with a hunched figure as he backed inside. A screeching monkey hopped manically on his shoulder.
     As I raced toward the back of the building, violent magical blasts exploded out into the square and chaos resumed. The kitten had transformed into a black, fiery jinn that mercilessly fell upon the Senpet and Khadi as they jointly pushed in on the clustered sahir.
     The back door of Uji's was swinging wildly when I turned the corner. The retreating figure stumbled between a long line of passing elephant-drawn wagons. Glancing down the street, I couldn't see the end of the caravan and resigned myself to having seen everything I would that day.
     Ducking under one fo the beasts and mildly dodging another, I reached the opposite side. The bald monkey man was running down a thoroughfare. He led me across several blocks and turned into an alley leading to the backside of a large structure. I didn't realize until I was nearly upon it that it was the House of the Heavens, our largest holy mosque. He darted in a basement entrance, and I followed.
     Within, I could see a dimly lit corridor. The next leg of the chase lead me deep inside the mosque's lower levels, which until then I did not realize had even existed. Within the cavern and below me were several dozen men dressed in black robes around a murky lake. The surface of the lake did not seem to cast a reflection, but the longer I looked on it, the more things I could see...
     Horrible things... unimaginable things...
     Distorted alter-images of the world we know twisted and contorted into something vicious and cruel. That pool was the very pit of Enala itself...
     At first I did not notice how difficult it was to look away. The flitting images upon the pool's surface only lasted a split-second. If I looked away, I would miss...
     The figures below began to rumble about something. Forcing myself from the pool's provactive call, I saw the monkey man standing below at the pool's edge, Amru in tow. He was forcing her head down so that she would look into it and screaming at her to open her eyes. She squirmed helplessly for several moments before her body went rigid and she began to shake uncontrollably.
     Backing away, the robed figures watched tensely as she stared into the hateful depths of the pool. Tears fell from her strained face and vanished deep inside the waters. A boiling sickness grew in my stomach and bile rose in my throat.
     When she finally pulled away from the pool, falling back onto the barren dirt surrounding it, she continued to convulse. The robed figures came to her and lifted her away, almost caring in their motions. The monkey man stood nearby, waiting.
     Soon, a bulge appeared on the pool's surface, growing with every passing second. As I stood, paralyzed in fear, it took the shpae of a woman, who stepped free of the pool's loathsome embrace and into the monkey man's welcoming arms. Sloughing off the oily membrane, she faced him with the defiant stance of one recently risen from the dead.
     His monkey shrieked in approval...
     ...and then pionted directly at me.
     Panic fled through me and wrestled me to my feet. A booming crash somewhere behind me warned me of imminent danger in the direction from which I had come. Bolting down a sloping ledge leading to the floor of the chamber, I fixed my sights on a side tunnel midway down and doubled my pace.
     Almost upon it, I began to hear a scrabbling, clawing noise from within the dirt wall to my left. Before I could act, a long, skeletal arm thrust outward and swiped at me. Tumbling back onto my rear, I slid down several feet before regaining my footing. By then, several ambling skeletons had broken free of their earthly prisons, their teeth chattering broken codes of hatred.
     Below, the robed figures waited breathlessly for my demise...