CHAPTER VII

[The Anagolay]

There is a time when I think drinking is killing oneself. Yes, perhaps it could kill. But when things go south, I do believe it helps. After the events in Essius, with the girl I was holding just vanishes, again, I decided to walk three hours from Essius to Horr.

"One more," I say raising the wooden flagon, in addition to my tenth.

The man behind the bar who serves only coconut liquor and cider stares at me under his profuse eyebrows. He fills my cup, annoyance painted on his face. He is wearing what Aeon wants him to wear and that is a cotton wool shirt. I am guessing he is in slightly baggy cotton wool trousers, brown as his skin. Funny how we have become slaves in our own land.

"Look, people around here is leaving. Riots are getting worse. Soldiers will come and they will… I do not wish any trouble." The man sounding guttural, speaks in one of Gjid's dialect. He pauses his talk, that is when I realize he was not facing me.

"Ehpta, shauir." Just go, you both.

I look at the person he is mainly talking to. He is wearing a dark cloak, his face hidden by the hood sitting three stools from me. Aside from him, all of the circular tables are empty in the pub's humble space. There is no drink in front of him. I have not seen or heard him enter.

I must be drunk. I swig satisfyingly to my content. I will finish this flagon whatever is happening.

This tribespeople are colonized by Aeonnites and this is the southern border of that dominion. When Thraine guerrillas knew of what Lur has endured, they became furious creating troubles up and about. Horr is the least guarded fort, appealing to the guerrillas. And so as word got out that Sanim is alive, right when he was taken by slave traders, at once they concentrated their efforts in finding the heir. Also, the fastest place to look would be Horr. The betrayal and more likely the failure of the Anagolay is now the talk of the town.

I burp loudly with a laugh which disturbed the man tending the pub very much. I grin at him but he cannot see it. I am in a guise, I call him Fin. He is wearing a shawl over the head, bandanna covering the lower face and neck and only the eyes are shown. Clothed in linen shirt and trousers he is also wearing a tunic with a hood. He carries a knapsack with change of clothes, spare food and arrows. The Tanabas on his belt, a recurve bow on his back.

In the least they still do not know who Anagolay really is.

I put silver coins on the bar as payment and I slip on my stool taking my knapsack by the arm. I left, wobbly. I stumble upon the Nipa shanties of Horr scattered in no particular position just as the mahogany trees where they are surrounded with. Streets are no more than a less grassed wide path.

Two ladies, each carrying large jars on their heads, balancing in perfect postures crosses in front of me. I look for my way, passing a child squatting on one of the homes, an old man smoking tobacco but other than that it is already quiet for two hours before sunset.

On the main road which is just a bit wider but still as rocky and vegetated, the last of those who evacuated can be seen traversing a small hill on the winding path. The bulky knapsacks on their backs look a lot like the shells of turtles.

All the while, careening towards Horr is twelve Aeonnite soldiers on horses in steady gallop.

The striking red capes are hard to miss even on a distance. Sparrow-tailed banner of Aeon being carried by a standard bearer at the front of the pack flashes into view. A man with wavy hair the color of corn in silver armor and red sash rides beside the bearer. The two are followed by men with blank faces. It is as if the storm clouds descend upon us.

They reach the outskirts of town and they slow, proceeding with a speed of a king on procession. The way they carry themselves, straight backs, raised chins and fluid grace, as though they cannot be doubted as the superior individuals.

They seize every attention, every blade of grass, every tree. The road is on a standstill.

They command the land – they own it.

Elite soldiers move past me with not much of a glance. About in the middle, another captain in his stead, with white distinctive hair braided tightly near his nape, turns his unusually calm eyes at me. His eyes are the color of the sun but with the coldness of the deep seas.

Time seems to slip by slowly. As I gaze upon those eyes, those unusually calm eyes, I see wrath and anguish burning.

The captain's name is Gaviel Remenniah.

Sir Gaviel, is captain of Unit II Elite which is quite an achievement for his age and he is not even older than me. I have heard a lot about him. Well, when you know who to bribe you will recognize almost everyone working under the King's name. But that is not the reason he is known.

The Thraine call him Akuipatha, the white-haired beast. The natives just call him beast. They say he is barely human. Elites are human indeed but they are highly skilled even that Dunn Loticuss, a co-captain of his, the charmer.

From what I gather, Sir Gaviel is a prodigy. King Cirrhinus found him on the streets eventually training him as a soldier. To his surprise, whatever weapon they provide him, he can wield in accuracy and deft no one has ever seen before. As though the boy was created just for wars. Now he is favored by the king since he is the very definition of a warrior, executing orders no questions asked.

He is ruthless, without mercy, without conscience.

I watch him ride away until they disappear on a curve. I came to watch a battle but instead I am getting a desolation.

Well, first things first.

I continue to the deeper parts of Horr. The path inclines upwards, the canopy rises higher to the sky, immersing me in the shadows. I feel myself getting unsteady for a few footsteps and the ground looks close then closer. Right before I hit face first on the dirt someone plucked my arm, and made me stand. I realize from the cloak he is wearing; this was the man in the pub. How long was he following me?

"Why are you following me?" I ask in Gjid's dialect.

"Stop pretending to be drunk," the stranger says, in Aeonnite. Sharply, I stop. This voice. I yank my arm and I pull down the other person's hood.

Lila.

When the mystery is something that makes your head ache, you need to stop dealing with it. Yet, here she is again, in front of me. In her own accord for tikbalang's sake. What is she even doing here? How did she find me? I let her go, she escaped without my permission even, so why in the world would she come back into my life?!

Oh.

Sanim of Lur. Of course. I should not be surprised.

"We need to find him," she speaks softly.

"Kid, there is no 'we' you understand? I do not care whatever happens to the both of you. You bring trouble wherever you go so do me the favor and stay away from me."

I turn back to my way, leaving her in a haste. I have an errand I need to do before sunset.

Anger seems to fuel my steps. I trek faster as silent as I can be. Through bamboo trees, sycamores and other wild trees I went. I reach the top of the slope path, mere inches from a drop. To my left my path continues north around a huge acacia tree. Tracing the edge of the cliff the path becomes dry, rocky with no plant growth. It leads through snaking stairs hewn right at the face of the hill. Down below is a small flat vale, green of carabao grasses and without trees, a shift right before the land again ascends to lush rolling hills.

Beyond those hills, I can see the infamous jagged mountains of Kuraka Leonne. Its peaks, hostile and unyielding hiding in a mist. It runs a great length searing like a great crack throughout Freobel. The Kuraka Leonne mountain ranges are what keeps the Aeon contained, acting like a natural barrier. There is something in those mountains, they do not dare enter it. They fear the unending caves that according to myths lead to dismay.

At the bottom of this hill is a wattle and daub hut with amakan walls. A smoke rises idly from the roof of the hut. Somebody is home. I climb down the hill even more determined.

I find the door of the hut open. Laughter echoes out. As I enter, the slave traders see me at once, heads turn at the same time. I let my knapsack fall and raise my arms in greeting. They are numbering a dozen, in a rectangular table and they were at a middle of drinking. Most likely celebrating as food is everywhere.

"Brothers!" I say cheerfully in common tongue, as if I miss the company.

"Fin? Is it you?" Says one.

"Where have you been, you?" Says another, walking up to me to look me closely. Disbelief is in their faces but they cheer. The others stand up as well, thumping wooden mugs on the table, sending wild cider everywhere.

"We found Sanim," says Bror, closest to me. He grins wide, rusted teeth on black gums.

"Did you now?" I say to him.

"Come! Eat with us!"

"Fin, Fin, Fin, you have come in great tidings," says Tapyo, the leader of the Slavers. He is seated on the head of the table then he stands to greet me.

"But is it not suspicious, the timing of your arrival I mean."

He walks towards me, slowly, reaping a piece of chicken from the table.

"What do you mean?" Feigning ignorance, I ask. He opens his mouth to answer but Bror speaks up first.

"Who are you?" Bror says, gaze beyond my shoulder.

You cannot be serious.

I do not even have to turn around to know. I grit my teeth, forcing down my flaring anger and I turn to where they are all eyeing now.

Lila, standing half hidden on the door raises her arms in surrender. Her hood is still up as she reluctantly joins us. I grasp her arm, dragging her near me.

"Almost forgot," I say. "I have come with a slave."

I feel the girl on my side still. She did not see that coming. She tears her arm and she backs away from me but Timon blocks her exit. Another slave trader grabs her arms and locks it behind her back, she cries in pain. Behind the hood, I can feel her glare.

Tapyo walks toward Lila examining her. He yanks down her hood, the face surfacing. Sharp intake of breaths was the only sound when they saw her. Tapyo, sees a prize. He grins, ear to ear and his eyes fill with possession. He squeezes her face with his right hand checking her teeth with the left but the girl bites him. I smirk involuntarily under the shawl.

Tapyo, nettled, backhanded her hard she coughs out blood. I curl my fingers to a ball but hide it behind me, keeping a cool indifference.

"You have luck at your side my friend," he says to me, grin ever present on his face. "A Vanuyan? A Vanuyan! This here costs more than the boy!"

"Yes, yes." I say back.

"A Vanuyan was seen on Essius. And I thought the rumors were not true."

"But..."

In one motion, I snatch the scythe from his loincloth slicing straight to his neck. Tapyo's dead body falls. Everybody went rigid except Lila who screams.

The air suddenly heavy.

With Tapyo's blade, I did not waste any second. Lila stumps her foot hard to the one holding her and when she got away I jab the scythe to his chest. The others recovering quickly attack with their swords.

I move swiftly, the scythe a part of me like a sting of a scorpion. Bror comes at me, bolo high above his head swinging to take a piece of my shoulder. I sidestep him and instead he cuts his fellow slave trader. I kick him hard in the gut sending him flying out of the thin amakan walls. I slash through the ones left, avoiding and blocking their attacks simultaneously. Facing another, I caught his arm gashing his chest.

Within a couple of minutes in the dance of battle, slave traders lie on the floorboards and I stand above them. There is a nick on my tunic but I am not wounded.

"You killed them all," horrified she sounds she covers her mouth. Lila is as white as ghost, almost in a state to retch. And she did. Her whole body in a fit of tremor.

"That is the idea," I say throwing Tapyo's scythe beside him. I remove the shawl scattering my brown curls and I use it to rub the blood splatters on my hands.

"This isn't..." Lila sweeps her gaze, pitying the bodies on the floor. "You could have asked them where Sanim is!"

When my hands are clean enough I toss the shawl aside and I sling the knapsack on my shoulders.

"If you would rather have them bring more children to slavery then you should have stopped me. You are good at that, yes? Meddling in other's personal vendetta. Besides, I did not come here to find the boy."

I did not wait for her answer, I did not even look at her face. I walk back whence I came.

"Anagolay wait, we really need to find Sanim." She says, inches away on my side. She must have followed me hurriedly.

"Then go find him."

"You don't understand. Do you know where he is?"

I ignore her all the way to the foot of the hill. As I start to climb the stairs she says weakly, "The king has send a seeker to find the two of you."

How did she…

I do not care, I remind myself, I do not care. Just ignore her and she will disappear again. My life is money. I do not ask and I do not want to know as long as I get paid. I continue to ascend reciting those words in my head. I will be long gone before that seeker will find my tracks but Sanim, they will find him easily.

"So, you can't find him?" She shouts. My eyebrow shots up and I halt, looking at her over my shoulders.

"Kid, I can find anybody."

Just when I say it I realize it was a bait. She smiles up to me, knowing I am caught.

"Don't worry, I will pay you." Lila says. Suddenly, a hearty laugh escapes from my lips. She is funny.

"With what?"

"Information," she says. "Do you accept that type of payment? Information? Ask me anything."

Anything? My ears are suddenly alert, hearing something interesting. Clever, really clever using my curiosity like that.

"How about I just kill you?"

"If you wanted to kill me, you would have done it already."

I stare at her seeing parts of her in a new light.

"You will answer everything I ask of you with honesty?" She nods and I face her fully.

"Why?"

"Why what?" She asks back. We are in a bit of a distance and so I jump, clearing the distance immediately. I drop near her almost knocking her over.

"Why are you trying to save Sanim when you cannot even protect yourself?"

"I take that as a yes," she says, slightly surprised. Realizing what she has gotten herself into Lila looks unable to answer. After a minute, she lifts her head.

"It's like I have an obligation, that he is my responsibility – and I have to know. I have to confirm something because everything started because of him."

"No, you are." I object, dramatically. "You saved his life, you stopped me on Lur, now almost all of Freobel is looking for him – for me! My reputation is ruined, hah! My years of hard work gone like nothing…" My voice rises getting madder by the second.

"It is you who started everything."

She opens her mouth to answer but guilt stops her. An emotion crosses on her eyes I did not recognize for she looks away. She scratches her head then I notice the bandage on her neck. She sighs heavily.

"I ruined your reputation, huh?"

Of all that I said, that is what she gets. I look at her highly unsatisfied.

"What are you anyway?" I ask going back to the original set of questions I planned to ask her in Essius.

"Are you a diwata? Are you a human?"

"Of course, I'm human…" she trails off. Lila, in another contemplation, quiets herself. With the silence, I hear something else in the wind. Swords. Shouting. It is coming from Horr.

It has begun.

"Answer me later." I say to her. I prod her to the stairways and we run up.

I lead her to the opposite path of where we came, towards the other side of the hill facing the walls built by Aeon marking its territory, to our right is the town of Horr. I step deftly down the slope, the girl behind me, looking for a place to hide. I cringe when I hear a twig snap. Lila stops walking and I give her a look. She is in difficulty being quiet, face pinched hard in concentration, arms trying to balance on her sides.

"You are too loud," I mouth. She nods apologizing at the same time. Slightly down the hill, a coconut tree is bended near its roots then straights up like normal. We head for it. The roots are broad enough to hide two bodies. Leaning on, we do not have to look far below the clearing to see fighting men, the Elite and Xengus.

The Elites I believe were expecting Thraine guerillas. Some say Xengus are vigilantes, so called for gouging the eyes and cutting the tongue and ears off their Aeonnite victims.

They might be against Aeon before but I found some three years ago when I accidentally barged into their turf tavern, they are being paid by the kingdom to kill the guerrillas. Xengus were here for the same reason Elites are. King Cirrhinus is throwing them against each other.

"You're sick you know that? You just watch them kill each other?"

"Better them than me."

Sir Gaviel is not hard to find amidst other Aeonnites. His huge body, terrifyingly lithe despite the bulk, plunders on the Xengus like they are unwanted weeds. He is not unsheathing their famous rapier yet instead he is using bare hands to seize, block, tackle and kill. I wince as one Xengu take an elbow to his nose.

He is fast, I give him that.

"You should've seen him run," Lila mutters. I watch her as her words sink in carefully. Her face twists in such a way that she was not planning on telling me about it.

"You met him?" I say in disbelief. It feels like my eyes are lidless with how I look at Lila.

"No – I mean yeah, yes I did." She says stifling the dread in her voice. They have cross paths and she lived? She was in Aeon! Unbelievable. I remember the linen on her neck, a wrap for a wound. So, she was almost killed.

"He tried to kill you. What happened you disappeared on him too?" I quietly whisper. Her expression changes, it softened. Color blooms back on her skin as if speaking about him gives her warmth.

"He spared my life."

A frown forms in my forehead. That is… hard to believe. It does not make any sense. Elites always, always, go for the kill.

"So why did he not do it?" I just had to ask, unable to grasp his intentions.

"I can ask you the same thing."

Me?

She shifts her weight for a better view of the captain but her foot slips.

I barely grab the hood of her cloak, as I take hold of the tree's roots with my other hand. She struggles kicking her way up, the sliding leaves and soil seems to sound like a landslide of great magnitude.

"Lie still." I say and she did. I heave Lila, muscles exerting to her weight. I wedge her back safely beside me but she is still panting hard, eyes comically large on her face. I peek at the battle, wanting for no one to hear our commotion.

The white-haired beast scans the hill where we are.

I duck my head immediately. He may have spared her life for whatever miraculous reason but he will not be able to if they capture us. We lay there for a while and I listen to the sound of footsteps toward us, before I peer back.

The battle has ended quickly. Corpses are heaped on one side, some bunch of disregarded animals. One Elite crouches down on the heap and takes something. They ride their horses then, Sir Dunn leading. I release a breath.

It did not take long and we are back on our feet. I drag Lila to the flat vale again not to bury those slave traders as she suggested but to take the route through the hills then to Kuraka Leonne mountain ranges. The last light of the day paints the sky purple and blue.

"Can't we just go back in Horr and I don't know, spend the night?" She asks.

"Do you want to find Sanim or not?" Not stopping, I say. "The seeker will not rest until they find him. Those Elite soldiers we saw will be there. We will stop only when we reach that--" I point on the peak of the closest hill to us " --probably around midnight then we will take the mountain pass of Kuraka Leonne at first light."

Lila hangs her mouth to me not hiding her disapproval. I nod it off my shoulders.

"Why the mountain pass?"

"I ask the questions around here, you answer them." She growls. Her nostrils are almost flaring.

"You should pick up pace or we will not reach it in time." I say teasing her again.

"Haha." Lila laughs sarcastically. My lips curl on its sides. It takes a moment before I realize, I am smiling.

* * *

We did not stop walking for two hours and we covered enough ground. The kid immediately pops down beside a mango tree, beat up and sore I imagine. She does not even have an energy to get mad.

But I feel the opposite. Energy has just started to kick in. A gibbous moon lights our way tonight and the sky is clear with stars sparkling bright.

"We could clear the path all the way to the mountain ranges."

Lila groans. She slumps on the roots and shakes her head. "Fine, we will take our rest here."

I sit beside her, unpacking from my knapsack a bamboo jug and the piece of bread and dried fish I enfold in a banana leaf. She takes the water without my consent swallowing mouthfuls.

"Have you been living under a rock? Everyone knows water should be reserved." It is too late I should have told her to save it.

"There's a river of freshwater somewhere right?"

I roll my eyes.

We ate silently. The forest seems to breathe, lulling hymns of frogs, crickets and moths. I watch the sway of hills on the distance admiring the shadow of clouds that seem to dance on its surface.

"So, one of your disguise is a drunkard slave trader," she says breaking my reverie. I glance at her nibbling a bread.

"I found out a long time ago I am tolerant to intoxication. I am just having fun pretending to be tipsy."

I hear something that is a combination of chocking and disapproval. A scowl is on her face as she finishes her supper.

"I'm betting everyone disapproves of your ways."

"I really do not care."

Lila softly whispers in the air between us. I look at her but her eyes are already tightly closed, deep in sleep.

"Pretending is not living Anagolay." That is what she said. Her words resonate in my mind.

For the rest of the entire night she slept having her rest and I am awake. Birds chirp around us as if sensing the sun that is about to rise. The fog that have settled in the evening is slowly lifting.

We better start moving too. I nudge Lila but she just snores. I pinch her nose, I find from experience this is quite effective. Waiting… waiting.

She wakes up in a gasp.

"Move."

With the sack again on my back we made our way down. By the time the sun rose, we are on the second hill trudging up and we had our rests every hour.

Lila looks more exhausted every break. Our water is dwindling to nothing despite just small mouthfuls. Still, we continue forward.

Atop our second hill, we see the sun at the middle of two hillocks. Its fiery arms reaching every bend, the bulbous clouds in reds and yellow with the blue violet sky.

Lila, like me, marvels at it. I can already feel its heat in my skin awakening my insides. In an enliven mood, Lila and I tread lower to the bottom.

Our path on the wayside of the hill is level giving our legs a respite from the climb. Tall trees give us shade from the sun which have risen high at notice. The kid, for a long time, has gone silent on my rear.

"You still did not answer my question," I strike a conversation. "You have to pay me remember? Soon, I prefer."

There was no answer. "Kid?" I look back thinking she might have disappeared again.

No Lila.

I walk to where she should be, sweep my gaze around but I see no evidence of her. Great. This makes it the third time she has gone without me noticing it. Curse it.

Staring at the path annoyance would not allow me to move. I kick the soil with a tiny rock scattering it far left. There is a thud sound as the rock hits something. A black thing is partially hidden by a cogon grass. I tilt my head to see it clearly.

It looks like a black cloth and I see boots – that is Lila's cloak.

I run to her and I see her collapsed on the ground.

Lila's limp body is thrown headfirst awkwardly and her hair a mayhem around her. I turn her body; her head falls inanimately on the side. I look for any wounds or protruding arrows and I check her breathing.

I notice that there is no pool of blood in the soil or on her body. She is alive. Relief surges through me. She just fainted is all.

You stupid girl, you had me worried. After I gather myself, I unsling the bow and knapsack from my back, tied it on hers and carry her behind me.

It is going to be a long walk.

Is this even worth it?

* * *

There is only much I can do with Lila on my back. After a long day or two, I found the snaking river of Kuraka Leonne and after half a day I found us an abandoned shack.

It is on a flattened ridge wide enough for a small house, high up the soaring mountains and below it is the river. Abandoned it may be but furniture is still doable. From up here, the river looks like a tangle of blue string.

We have rested well and still she sleeps. She only changes position and sleeps as though dead. She opened her eyes once when we first arrived here then she falls back into her bottomless slumber. I have tried to wake her but it is as though she is under an enchantment.

Night pass and morning came; I went to the river. I have not done fishing for a long time. With the Tanabas, I cut thin branches of bamboo and made it into a spear, hacking the end to form as fish hook.

Where I am, the waters flow steady in knee depth. The crystal freshwater teems with viscera of fishes, even eels. I jab, precise and swift, at fishes I know have delicious meat. A while after and I had ten huge tilapias on a stick, an eel, and twelve smaller fishes.

I did not lose my touch. 'Tay should have seen me with all these fish, he would have been very happy.

'Tatay… Seeing my reflection now on the water, I glimpse who I was. Who I might have been. Ripples eventually distorted it.

Satisfied with the catch I went back and I see the bed vacated. I turn, about to look for the kid and I am startled.

Lila is standing before me.

"It is about time you wake up." I say hiding my surprise, putting on the table the fishes I caught. I did not sense her there.

"You are a fisherman," she says, a smile on her face, alight.

"I was," I correct her. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a rock. A squeezed, bone-dried animal, you get it," she says and I notice how her back is slump as though carrying a weight. Lila stares at me oddly then.

"What are you looking at?"

"I want to thank you for –"

I did not let her finish. "There is nothing to be thankful for. You pay me for my services." I say, removing the fishes from the stick.

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head.

"Right. Of course. Freobel encyclopedia," she says whispering the last bit. Strange words.

As I work with our food, she fastens her cloak and sits on the bamboo floor. I am well aware of her hands coiling and uncoiling as though she is working up something to say. Lila's uncertainty fills the air, pressing on my lungs.

"Just out with it. Whatever you want to say."

"I… I am called traveler." She starts in a serious tone. I peer at her, a mistake. Her eyes overshadowed, instantly swallows me whole. The knife in my hand stills. My body a statue. All movements seize as if an incantation holds me to her gaze.

"The payment," she pauses. "I am human. But I have a gift."

The wind is acting weirder and weirder. It prickles in my skin, hair on my neck and arms rise like hackles detecting danger. Like a storm is coming. Like an entity is conjuring.

"I can… connect to some people," Lila says lowering her gaze, freeing me from whatever was binding me.

Everything went back to normal as if nothing ever changed. I must have been imagining it.

"Are you saying you are connected to me?" I ask putting down the knife.

"Yes."

Lila looks out the window on my side, her eyes distant as if weighing what she will say. "I don't exactly disappear I just go to the other person I am connected with."

Then it hits me, why she was in Aeon.

"Sir Gaviel."

I squat in front of her reflecting the seriousness on her face. "You are connected to him too."

She nods.

"What are you saying? How does it work? Exactly…" I trail off. The time is – the distance is... It would have been days if she journeys to Aeon from Essius then to Horr.

"I don't know how it works. I'm in the dark here as you are. But… wherever you go, whatever you do, I can find you."

Wherever you go, whatever you do, I can find you--I repeat her words. It is oddly familiar like long forgotten baby teeth.

I have heard of it before. Where? I feel my eyebrows knotting as I rummage my brain for the memory.

"What's wrong?" She asks but I barely hear her as the memory sprung suddenly out of nowhere.

'Nay tucks me early in the night. She tells me of stories, folklores of old that have existed centuries and centuries back, even before Aeon. Bathala and enkantos that walks the land with humans, and also… She would whisper softly,

'They are shadows in daylight, Royu, and ghosts in the night. They see everything you do and wherever you are they can find you. Beware, beware the Eng't Urh.'

Lila shots to her feet and paces the small space back and forth. I look at her stunned. I cannot believe it.

I cannot believe it. She is a folklore. I thought, she said she was human…

"You are an Eng't Urh," my throat had dried up. My insides want to shred itself to pieces.

"Shut up," she says in a tremulous voice, shaken as I am.

She does not have to tell me that, I can barely speak. Is this how it feels to see a Mystic? She looks exactly like a normal person! Yet, she is an Enkanto, tasked to guide mortals. A Mystic…

"Shh… shh…" she says again. But I did not say anything.

"It makes sense," she states repeatedly under her breath. "Oh Newt, what – why, what were you thinking? A mystic? Newt, why?"

"Who is Newt?" I ask, confuse. She stops pacing.

"What? Nobody." She answers but distracted.

I cannot help but stare like I expect her to grow wings or have a body of a horse – there is an Eng't Urh in front of me.

A freaking Eng't Urh.

I must be dead. I must be.

There is no other explanation here.

"Would you stop looking at me like I've grown a tail in my butt. I'm human. I'm human…" She huffs, sounding as though she is convincing herself and I just nod.

Lila chews her nails, saying, "Oh men, this is crazy…" and sighs like the whole world just smashed her in the face.

"Yes." I agree. "This is life. Life is crazy."

She peers at me then she laughs, a bubble of happiness. And I did too. We are laughing with the craziness and ridiculousness of our situation. The two of us face to face, a failure of an Anagolay and an Eng't Urh.

"I'm not a Vanuyan." She says between laughter. I bob my head. I guess she is right.

"You look exactly like them though. The similarity is uncanny."

"Yeah," the mirth leaves Lila. That would mean that anybody who sees her will think she is a Vanuyan. And therefore, will kill her or sell her for bounty.

On a more solemn dispossession she asks, "What is happening Anagolay, really, in Freobel?"

I start. "I thought… I expected your kind to know everything like looking at us from a bowl of some supernatural view."

Her face twists. "No."

"Right."

"I understand the invaders are the Aeonnites, and they colonized this land, Freobel."

"It will be easier to show you."

We traverse high, on the topmost of the mountain. After the jutting, other ridges of Kuraka Leonne, beyond the copse of trees is a great flatland and further than that is the ocean. The forty-feet tall stone walls are merely a standing peril vilified remotely. I point it to Lila, wordlessly saying there lies the Kingdom of Aeon.

Lila with squinting eyes, surveys the distance. When the clouds clear and the late morning sun again shows itself, the vast area that Aeon occupies is seen. Her mouth falls. And what we can see is just two cities of it.

"Armadas far greater than that of Thraine,

Weapons for victory and to reign.

Pale skin and hair we have never seen,

Tall like trees with malice grin.

In saltwater, they travel.

For gold to unravel,

For conquest, to conquer."

I quoted a passage of old. Its meaning meant nothing to me before.

"We used to sing it when I was a kid," I say. The elderlies in my village were storytellers imparting wisdom and stories but when they get to the Aeonnites, their faces become unsavory.

"I was very young when I heard the Kingdom of Faye being devoured by Aeon. Eventually they chose to be colonized and the daughter of King of Faye married King Cirrhinus of Aeon.

"Only, they got less of what they bargained for. A few years and only the city of Hein or Twin Cities in Aeonnite language stands as a city of Faye. The Gjid, kingdom of tribes, is wiped away and Thraine…"

Lila watches me and the way she does it, it is like a veil is removed from her mind and clarity is perceived.

"If that's what's been happening then you should help your people," she says.

Taken aback, I say, "What?"

What is she talking about? Angry scowl takes form on her thick eyebrows.

"I forgot. You are for hire." Lila tersely says. I know where this is going.

"It is not my problem and neither it is yours, Eng't Urh." I reply coolly. Her face hardens, her mouth set on a thin line.

"But, this is your land, your people…" she states breaking her pause.

"Your home." Lila throws at me bafflement, that I should feel pity, remorse. "And you just gave up on them."

"It is not that simple – stop looking at me with those eyes." I scoff. It is not possible. "And what do you suppose I do, fight for them? Hah! Forget it." Those people cannot even fight for themselves let alone die for anybody.

I avoid the Eng't Urh's gaze, focusing instead on the azure on our heads.

"What happened to you?" Her voice every bit of concern. I must look angry and hurt at the same time about to explode.

The cries of 'Nay, the pain of 'Tay, and my sisters' anguish as they were killed one by one. I imagine them.

I will never forget it.

* * *

Leonard needs to learn about this 'point of views'.

At first, he just couldn't understand what was going on until he realized that there's that variable. From what he can tell there are two voices in the story, Gaviel's and that of the Anagolay.

He can't find Lila's POV.

Well it took him about another thirty minutes to digest that Lila would not have a point of view since she's not exactly a character. But there is also, again, another nagging question in his head.

Why is she being catapulted on both point of views? Perhaps, he thinks, because she's a book traveler and like she said she is going to witness whatever is going on.

Coupled with a profound sigh, he massages his temples. If his aunt calls, if aunt Alicia calls –

And then why is she visible?

He asks himself sharply. He's sure an answer is waiting for him if he just continues to read yet he couldn't flip a page after the third chapter. Leonard feels like his cousin is going to die any minute rather, on the next page.

The book, as he considers now, rests alone on top of his desk needing all his attention. There is a main reason why he doesn't want to open it. He crosses his arms on his chest weighing his options.

He needs to know what is going on, that is the only way he'll know. If anything happens to Lila, the only way to find out is to read it. I have to read… he almost screams.

Early this afternoon, before Lila disappeared inside the book she asked him about her father.

"Do you remember anything about him?" She asked. "Come to think of it you probably know him more than I do."

Lila lingered on the stairs as Leo ended his first call. "I can recall his face a little but, he's a stranger to me as to you."

"Oh," she said somewhat disappointed. She started going up the stairs slowly.

"He was a quiet man, Lai." Leo added, sensing Lila's need for details. "I remember, every time your family visits he would piggyback me and he would run as fast as he can. He would play with me like he was a 5-year-old. Strangely, he was the only one who can make me laugh. I liked him, your papa," he said, faded memories playing on his eyes like black and white scenes on an old television.

Lila smiled and she bolted up the stairs as if energized.

I should have stopped her.

His phone rings, jolting him out of his reverie. Leonard doesn't want to answer it because he knows the one calling is his aunt, Lila's mother. With great difficulty, he brought the phone to his ears.

"Aunt Alicia! Hi!"

"Leo, wow, long time. How are you?" Says the electronic voice of her aunt.

"I'm good, I'm perfectly fine." Lying to his aunt, unbelievable Leonard.

"Is Lai there?" she asks. Here it comes.

"Yeah she is but she's already asleep."

"At 7? That's new." aunt Alicia says, shocked.

"Yeah… she says she's tired. Wanna wake her? I can –"

"No, it's ok… I'm just checking. It's nice to hear from you again, Leo."

"You too…" he says. "'Te by the way, she says she's going to be very busy, very busy the next days so I think she won't be able to answer your calls or your texts." Leonard lies further, smoothly, despite the guilt.

"Really? Even the texts?"

"There's this book that Newt wrote so I think she is still coping up with the loss and saying goodbye."

"Ah." His aunt says "Can you tell her then not to bother you so much, I know you're busy and she be careful."

"Sure," he replies. "And that the carenderia is fine as I'm handling it, although some customers are missing her cooked meals." Aunt Alicia adds, which makes him smile.

"Oh, right. No problem 'Te."

"Ok, goodnight."

"Goodnight, bye." Finally, he breathes, relieved.

That turned out well.

However, if there is something that will happen to Lila how could he explain it to his aunt?

Glancing at the book a new determination pushes Leo. He needs to know what is going on. Relying on this, he ignored the hard thumping of his chest as he reads the paragraph of the next chapter. Slowly, he transitioned from the next sentence to another without being freaked out.

As he approaches the end of the chapter, it is happening again.

If Leonard is not mistaken, something went wrong when Lila saved Sanim. The words vanished from the pages of further chapters.

At least, that was when he noticed it. But it started appearing again as though written by an invisible hand, like a polaroid of sorts. It was what surprised Leo that he threw the book on impulse.

He couldn't exactly explain how it is possible, yet what makes sense to him is, it is being re-written. Fast.

Maybe, he pauses from reading as a thought occurs, maybe the moment Lila decided to be involved everything changed.

It is not just being re-written. The storyline had totally shifted in another direction. With that, dread depletes Leo's knees of its strength as another more important fact is revealed to him.

My God. She's trapped.