Empire of the Endless Wall

Far from home, strangers in strange lands, the six gasped at the sight of a wall that stretched from horizon to horizon.

            “That is a fucking big wall.” Anne Hyland chewed fish on a skewer. “This is really nice by the way,” she said to Sir Danielle Longbow, “thanks for teaching me to fish. Think someone’s compensating for something?” Anne licked bits of fish from her lips.

            “It isn’t called the Empire of the Endless Wall for nothing,” said Sir Aled Cadogan. “How do we get over that? Do we have to climb it in the middle of the night? It must be fifty foot high at least.”

            “More like sixty,” said Sir Euan Errol.

            “We’re not going to climb the wall. We’re going to pose as traders and walk through one of the gates. There’s a gate every twenty miles.”

            “Twenty miles? Every twenty miles?” Anne coughed on half chewed fish. She dropped her skewer and thumped her chest with a closed fist. Una Donohuei stepped back as chewed fish and spittle sprayed her blue jeogori jacket. Miss Hyland gave Sir Euan a thumbs up when he handed her his water skin.

            “What do we have to trade?” Una asked, brushing the debris of Anne’s meal from her clothes. “Other than our fishy clothes?”

            “We still have the gold,” Barra Mohani said, straightening his red jeogori and baji trousers. “More than you think.”

            “Did you rob someone again?” Danielle scowled at the assassin, who had turned out to be an excellent thief on their journey. “I liked Sumok Dosi. I was hoping to stop there again on the way back.”

            “I liked the lanterns on the strings.” Anne smiled wistfully. “And the pork skewers. And the hats.” She took off her black hat which had a wide brim, a tall bit for her head and a flat top. “Gat is hat. I like that. It was annoying that they didn’t want me wearing one though.” She grinned mischievously then put the hat back on. “Looks good right? Shame none of us has one of those twirly moustaches to go with their gat, I think a dark twirly moustache would suit these.”

            “Are you sure I can’t gag her?” Barra asked, looking balefully at Anne.

            “No. She’d just enjoy it and make us all feel awkward.”

            “Gag me red acolyte, please,” Miss Hyland held her palms together. “Bind my wrists and have your way with me, naughty man.” She made a kissing sound at him.

            “God of Dire Necessity preserve me,” said Barra, as Anne began laughing.

            “Or preserve her in amber,” said Una.

            “Or chains?” Miss Hyland made a movement that summoned the image of her in handcuffs. “Prudes. Life is short. Live a little. Love a lot.”

Barra’s strategy took them to the gate of the wall, where he knocked hard and waited. The gate was as small as it could be to let a cart through.

            “They’ve got the right idea with this. A wall like this might have turned the armies of the empire away on sight. Solid steel gates, watch towers. This is what Leonor needs.”

            “Leonor has those.” Anne, born and raised in Leonor city, pouted.

            “But nothing on this scale,” said Danielle.

            “On this continent, Quin Shi is the empire. It’s the closest thing to the Empire of the Holy Proclamation these lands know.” Barra’s voice was scolding as he whispered. “Let me do the talking.”

            “As if they’d know what we’re saying.” Anne scoffed.

            “Anyone can hear a tone of voice and infer the meaning, which is worse. Hard as it is for you, please keep your mouth shut.”

            A gate within the gate made a metallic creaking scream as it opened. Out stepped a man in armour. Tiny plates of metal stitched over each other in a lizard scale pattern hung from a jacket with a simple medallion on the collar. The medallion had a serpentine creature with the mouth of a dog and long wisps of moustache or beard, Danielle couldn’t tell. It had four legs; unlike any snake she had ever heard of. Flaps that covered the man’s legs like an ankle length skirt with slits for movement at the front and back meant the man had a full range of movement. A short sword hung at his waist. The sword was straight until the end which had a slight curve. The bronze pommel was a simple cylinder with the same creature on the round edge that faced her.

            Barra began talking right away. Aiming gesticulation at everyone in the group as the gate guard listened silently. The man’s narrowed eyes took everyone in with cold measure.

            “He’s got a moustache,” Anne whispered by Danielle’s side. “His beard is interesting as well. It looks like black teeth.”

            “Let Barra talk please.”

            “I am.”

            The gate guard nodded and went through the gate, closing it behind him.

            “Did you insult his beard? Or his moustache? Great job idiot.” Anne folded her arms.

            “He’s gone to find an officer to ask if we can be allowed in. We’re to wait here.”

            “I hate waiting,” said Miss Hyland.

            “So does anyone who has to wait with you,” said Una.

            “What was the creature on his uniform? The snake with legs?” Danielle asked Barra.

            “That’s what they think dragons look like in this part of the world,” said the red acolyte.

            “It doesn’t have wings,” said Anne almost angrily.

            “The dragons in their stories fly without wings, like fish swimming in the sky. They’re associated with water.”

            “What does associated mean?” Anne asked.

            “You are associated with scandalous screaming in the middle of the night,” said Barra.

            “So, it means known for having a good time?” Miss Hyland smirked.

            “Known for or related to, that’s what it means,” hissed Una. The grey acolyte let out a long huffing breath and stormed away from the soldier of Crann.

            “She needs to get her leg over, badly,” said Anne, whispering to Danielle.

The sun was setting over the horizon to the west when the creaking of the gate roused them from sitting around on rocks by the roadside.

            A man in gold patterned armour emerged from the door in the gate. Flanked by ten soldiers all wearing a similar uniform to the gate guard, he stood out like a new gold coin among old coppers. His helmet had twisted dragons circling a gold disc Danielle presumed was the sun. The helmet’s purple plume stood a foot taller than the man. Complementing the plume was the purple fabric of his gambeson style armour.

            Danielle was shocked that a man of high status wore fabric instead of plate. The detailing on his ankle length armour was incredible, covered with hundreds of tiny golden studs in the middle of diamond shaped lines of stitching.

            His sword was equally bombastic, a gold-plated dragon danced along the black scabbard. Hanging on the opposite hip was an object that demanded Danielle’s attention. A gun.

            Apart from a bone handle it was the least flashy thing the man wore. Sir Longbow was drawn to the item and repulsed by it simultaneously.

            Her pulse raced as ten guards raised longer versions of the weapons and aimed them at her group. Her palms began to sweat as she considered drawing her sword and taking her chances that she could kill the eleven men and take those weapons.

            Those fire lances were all she needed to go home. If she could just take them, she could return to Lupita, to Nettle, to Carl.

            Barra Mohani was talking, handing the man in purple a bag of gold. The commander tossed the pouch in his hand then opened it up. Barra gestured to the rest of the group and raised his voice.

            The dragon knight of Quin Shi looked around them down the road and grunted something that had the intonation of someone calling them all crazy.

            “No horses,” Barra muttered, then switched back to talking in Quingo, spoken in Quin Shi and Niquin, behind them.

            The commander said something to his gunmen that made them laugh.

            Don’t shoot us, please. I need to see Lupita again.

            The commander’s ten bodyguards lowered their weapons. The purple and gold man went through the door in the gate, followed by his men.

            “Come on. We can go through now.” Mister Mohani gestured for the other five to follow him. “He thinks I’m in charge.” He looked at Sir Longbow. “When I said you were our leader, he told his men as if it was a joke.”

            “The punchline to that joke is me breaking his nose.” Danielle followed Barra through the door into Quin Shi, the Empire of the Endless Wall.

            What lay before them mirrored what lay behind, mountains. In the dark distance the lights of a great city brought a familiar taste of excitement and dread to her mouth.

            The soldiers and the commander mounted horses. They were not the tall, beautiful things they had seen elsewhere on the continent. The steady little horses the knights of Quin Shi rode reminded her of the small war horses favoured by Crann and its neighbours.

            The commander made another joke that roused laughter in his men.

            “He says we’re used to walking so we’ll have to keep up with them as escort on the way to Wubianjing.”

            “What is woo bean jing?” Anne asked.

            “The city we’re being taken to. Don’t call it that loud enough for them to hear you.”

            “That’s what you said.”

            “It’s not what I said, not at all,” Barra growled, starting to jog to keep up with the horses. They all had to. The Quin Shi soldiers looked back and laughed again.

            “Taken to? I don’t like the sound of that,” said Danielle. She wheezed as she spoke, thirsty after what had already been a long day of walking.

            “They’re escorting us, for our safety he says.”

            “They don’t trust us then?” Sir Longbow asked, she gasped with the pain from her mangled feet. They would heal but it would mean more scars for her collection.

            “Would you? I’m sure they didn’t build the wall for no reason. You don’t do that if you have peaceful neighbours.”

            “I need to lie down for the rest of my life,” said Anne. Jogging beside them with her beloved gat hat in her hand, she had sweat pouring down her red face.

Wubianjing was immense. They had time to take in the scale of it as they descended into the valley it filled. Most houses were thatched and yet it looked nothing like any of the houses Danielle knew from Crann. They had wooden beams that hung out from the ends and open spaces in the top.

            Danielle had to squint in the darkness to make out the details, tripping on stones in the road as she jogged.

            On they went, following the road that seemed to lead past the city until it doubled back on itself, taking a sharp turn. Down they went.

            Some buildings had tiled rooves that reminded her of the curved rooves in Niquin’s cities. Corners of the rooftops tilted up into points that aimed for the sky. It was beautiful but looked like a pain in the backside for the builders.

            A river which had not been visible from the mountain road above, ran along the edge of Wubianjing. The road pulled alongside the river. She saw boats on the river, long canoe looking boats with roofs propped on wooden beams.

            Haphazard looking houses sat over the water of the river on stilts. Familiar sounds of people drinking and enjoying rest after a day of work came to her ear with the accent of Quin Shi.

            Poorer locals wore or carried wide brimmed straw hats. People in more colourful clothes had hats of various designs. Some were carried in boxes that were carried by uniformed men wearing grey.

            Why don’t they just ride a horse or get a carriage?

            The horsemen stopped at a building surrounded by drinking labourers. The laughter and the singing stopped as the armed men reigned in their horses.

            “He says we should stay here for the night. By should, he means must.”

            “It’s an inn?” Danielle asked Barra.

            “Yes.”

            Every drunken face turned to look at them. The gold and purple commander rode away with eight of his bodyguards. Two stayed on horseback. One pointed to the inn and shouted at Barra.

            “Come on. Let’s not antagonise them.”

            “We get to sleep now?” Anne asked, coughing.

            “Hopefully,” said the red acolyte. He was in better shape than Miss Hyland but still sweating and grimacing with every step.

            He spoke to the drunks, who nodded at the door to the building. He said something in a simpering tone that received a dead eyed look from every face in response.

            The building was made almost entirely from bamboo. It creaked beneath their feet and as they walked further inside Danielle realised that she could hear running water beneath their feet.

            Barra spoke to a stout man with a ruddy face and narrow eyes. For a while the man just stared at them as if he’d never seen people before. After a long time and many repetitions from Mister Mohani, the inn keeper showed them to a room. He took several gold coins from them and checked each one with his teeth.

            “I get the bed,” said Anne in a rush and flung herself down on the thin mattress on the floor. Una lay down next to her. The grey acolyte elbowed her way to a half share of the lump of fabric.

            Not caring that there was no hint of a bed for her, Danielle lay down on the floor. She rested her head on her arm and gave in to the sweet oblivion of total exhaustion.