Chapter 9

Rehny wore a black hood over his head, a white shirt beneath a brown doublet and black breeches that reached his ankles. The sun was high in the sky and he'd spent most of his day evading Legion captains and dodging military meetings. It was his duty as the Chief Commander of the hundred legions to avail himself to all military proceedings but Rehny felt he would rather lie naked on a bed of thorns than indulge the requirements of his rank.

The senior most commander of the hundred legions was a station of pride. It meant one was closest to the King in battle, right next to the seventh legion who covered the King's flanks. It also meant he acted as the King's mouthpiece in times of war and orchestrated assault positions and tactical retreats best suited to the King's insight. Any job that placed one in the presence of the King during a battle was envied greatly for it was a position that would allow one to witness the full potential of the Jojoh Meena. Rehny felt he'd rather gorge out his eyes than witness anymore of that bullshit.

He was outside the palace making his way through the houses of the nobles that lined the walls surrounding the palace. The nobles saw proximity to the King as a form of honor and their architectural designs screamed this fact with their windows and doors facing the palace and their streets all curving in the general direction of the King's dwelling. Rehny sometimes imagined himself setting fire to the houses of the nobles, such thoughts brought him temporary joy.

Rehny's swift strides led him past the inner ring of Binoria where the nobles dwelt into the middle ring that was the marketplace where nobles and peasants alike interacted. The city guards frequently roamed the market place acting as a symbol of safety and comfort to the nobles and a bane to the peasants. Rehny's hood hid his face from anyone who might recognize him and his attire resembled those of a noble bachelor so as not to draw the attention of the City guards.

The market was busy as he intended it to be with donkeys and horses carrying goods clogging the streets. Hawkers shouted the quality of the spices and garments that they sold and he caught the eye of the occasional lady of the night looking for her next client. Rehny held his head low and made for a wooden tavern at the outskirts of the market ring bordering the outer ring which was the housing place for peasants and was where poverty and disease ran most rampant.

He entered the tavern and with him came a blanketing silence as everyone in the packed tavern turned to regard him. He'd only been there fifty one times and the regulars of the place had come to associate his presence as a sign of war looming within the horizon. There were excited whispers as he made his way to the counter where a short and balding bulky man with a neck as thick as his waist and a moustache that fell over his lips stood cleaning cups.

Upon seeing him the man grunted. "Commander." He said.

"Niao, is she in?" Rehny asked skipping over the pleasantries to go straight to the reason he was in the establishment. The short man grunted once more and exited the counter, he beckoned Rehny to follow and led him to the back of the tavern where there were a set of stairs that led to rooms above.

They ascended the steps and the short man took him to the first door on the left and knocked on it once before departing and leaving Rehny in the dim light offered by a narrow window at the end of the hallway. The room door opened revealing a middle aged woman dressed in a green gown with deep crow feet at the edge of her eyes and skin as light as snow. She had dark hair that fell to her shoulders and her neck and arms were studded with jewels of ranging colors.

"Commander." She said.

"Nerie." replied Rehny while taking out two gold vigons and passing it to her. Nerie's eyes brightened at the sight of the gold coins and she took it quickly and ushered Rehny into the room while locking the door behind them. The room was bare save for one table that had two chairs next to them and a burning heath. A red leather bag lay on the ground and it was towards that bag that Nerie made her way.

A dark curtain fell over the only window in the room and the glow from the heath acted as the only source of illumination. Rehny sat himself on one of the chairs and observed the dim room. Fifty one times he had been there and fifty times he had come out with his curiosity quenched.

"What do you seek to know?" Nerie asked as she bent over the leather bag, ravaging through its contents.

 It was always the same question with her and his answer had always been the same except for the first time. His first reply to the question had been, "Does she still love me?" Nerie had burnt three Kolotian fingers to answer that question and she had been unable to come up with a response claiming that the Gods had a veil over the question.

"Will I survive the coming war?" Rehny asked. Fifty times he had asked that question and every single time the answer had always been the same. His presence there at the moment was living proof that Nerie's flame reading skills were exemplary. Fifty times she had predicted that he would live and he had lived. She had once predicted a minor injury to his shoulder and an enemy blade had scraped his shoulder. She was among the few that he trusted.

"Which battle, with Talisi or with Remu?" Nerie asked. .

"Mmmh, word spreads huh."

"Binoria is alight with tales of war, they say the Talisi can't match this year's quota at the gift giving ceremony and that the Remu were responsible for the death of the High Lord of the South Local." Nerie said. She stood up with her hands emerging from the leather bag with a single shriveled finger that was blue tipped and two small vials, one of dark liquid that was the blood of a Yendw wolf and the second one contained yellow oil from the gut of a Rankf Leviathan.

"I doubt there will be war against the Talisi, I'm asking about Remu." Rehny replied. .

Nerie nodded, "I'll tell you what the Gods reveal." Rehny nodded and left the seer to her craft. He watched as Nerie opened both vials and poured their contents on the severed finger, making sure they spread out evenly upon the finger's blue tip. She produced a needle from her garment and approached him, Rehny gave her his hand and she pricked his middle finger and applied his blood onto the severed finger. She then walked over to the hearth and stirred the coal, adding more wood to feed the flame and then she sat on the ground with her legs crossed and her hands before her observing the dancing sparks of the flame.

"Meena, speak for me before the Gods, allow the veil over the future to part for me your humble servant, reach forth and guide me to that which lies beyond time." said Nerie. She then dropped the finger into the flame and watched as the fire swallowed it and burned with a raging intensity, sucking up the oil and giving off an orange-red hue. Rehny was used to the ritual, he knew what came after, Nerie will observe the flame for a while then she'll stand up and tell him that he will survive the coming war. It meant that his miserable life went on and that the Gods took some sort of delight in watching him breath and shit.

He wondered what he'd do if she one day gave him the opposite of the news he was so used to getting. Part of him was scared at the prospect of death and another part of him didn't quite think that what he was currently doing was living. He felt like a walking corpse trying to imitate life by going through the same daily routines the living went through.

"I see that you will survive the war." Nerie said as she stared into the flame. He knew it, he started to rise.

"Will I be injured?" Rehny asked, on his feet.

"I don't see any injury, wait, I see something odd, something.." Nerie's hands started to tremble, lightly at first then increased in vigor until her entire body was shaking. Rehny cocked a questioning brow in confusion. Nerie trembling had never happened before. The fire suddenly changed its orange-red hue to a violet colour that occasionally flickered into amber and back to violet. Nerie let out a scream and fell back, she started crawling away from the fire while wailing.

Rehny rushed to her side, "What did you see? What did you see?" He asked but as a reply all he received were screams from the woman. The door to the room started banging and the short bartender shouldered his way into the room bringing the door down. Niao rushed to his wife's side and tried to sooth her but nothing he did could calm the screaming woman.

"What did you do to her?" Niao asked coldly.

"Nothing, she saw something in the flame." replied Rehny.

"THE MAD KING COMES! THE MAD KING COMES! THE MAD KING COMES!" Nerie started screaming the same sentence repeatedly. Mad King comes? Rehny stood up while pondering the words. He stared at the screaming woman beneath him and wondered whether it was a ploy by her and her husband to get him to part with more gold vigons for further prophesy.

"It's best you leave." said Niao. Rehny obliged, a crowd was forming at the door and he pushed his way past them in a quest to leave the establishment as quick as he could. This was his fifty second visit to Nerie, fifty times she had satisfied his curiosity and once she had been unable to predict the future. Today she had done something even more peculiar than the other times. The mad king comes? If it was a ploy to get more gold out of him it was surely an absurd one.

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