Chamber.' Jyotish spoke directly to Atreus, as though Demanding that he bring his pet under control. 'No man may take his own guards into the queen's presence.' Atreus nodded. 'Of course. I should have thought of that myself.' He turned to Yago and said, 'Why don't you wait here?'
A growl of displeasure rumbled deep in Yago's throat, but he was too good a soldier to argue the matter in front of others. He stepped back into the courtyard. 'Give a yell if you need me.'
'I'm sure I'll be fine,' said Atreus. 'There's no reason to expect trouble.'
'That's when it's most dangerous.' Yago snarled down at Jyotish, displaying his orange fangs, then spread his feet and folded his arms. 'I'll be listening.'
Jyotish scowled at the ogre's not-so-subtle warning, then turned to lead the way into the palace. As he opened the mahogany doors he quietly asked, 'Is your bodyguard always so unruly?' 'Unruly?' Atreus raised his brow, genuinely surprised.
That's not unruly. Not for an ogre.' He stepped through the doorway into a dark, many- pillared room full of droning voices and sweet-smelling smoke. The lower walls were decorated with floral patterns of gold filigree on deep red lacquer. The upper parts were covered with brilliant frescoes depicting charging war elephants and strange, golem like warriors. Tiny, shaven-headed Mar priests sat in apses along the walls, rocking back and forth and chanting in gravelly voices while toothless old women squatted on the floor chattering incessantly and spinning yarn with their fingers. Children ran about laughing and chasing each other, paying so little attention to where they were going that one of them crashed into Atreus at a dead sprint.
The little girl landed at Atreus's feet still yelling and giggling, then suddenly fell silent when she noticed how one set of the stranger's toes turned inward. As her eyes ran up his bowed legs to his thick midsection, she scowled and began to scoot backward across the floor. Her gaze continued to rise toward his gruesome visage, and Atreus knew what was about to happen. He could only stand and watch as the girl's mouth fell open.
'Ysdar!' she bawled, pointing at him. 'Ysdaaaaar!'
The room fell instantly silent and all eyes turned in Atreus's direction. Knowing he would only make the situation worse by reaching out to comfort the child, Atreus spread his hands at his side and tried a smile.
The girl's wail became a shriek. She leaped to her feet and disappeared screaming into the chamber's dark recesses. Jyotish stared at Atreus in horror, then stepped aside and began to click and prattle in the strange language of his people. The other Mar backed away, clapping their hands and jabbering admonitions Atreus did not understand, save for the occasional reference to 'Ysdar.' He could only shake his head and smile.
After a moment, a handsome young Mar with satyr like ears and a cultured bearing stepped out of the crowd. Attired in cotton trousers and a silk tunic, he was dressed more in the manner of Faerun than that of the Utter East. He started chattering at his fellows and waving them back. When the tumult finally began to subside, he turned to Atreus and said, 'Honored Guest, it is better if you keep your teeth hidden.' This Mar's Realmspeak was modern, tinged with a Sembian accent, and-unlike Jyotish's-easy to understand. 'The Mar are a backward and superstitious people who already think you one of Ysdar's fiends. There is no need to encourage them in this silliness.' 'Encourage them?'
'By implying you want to eat them.' The Mar flashed a pearly grin and tapped his bright teeth. 'This means you are hungry.'
Atreus brought his lips together. 'Please apologize for me. Tell them I am an ignorant foreigner who is not hungry at all.'
The Mar spoke first to Jyotish, then to his jabbering fellows. Jyotish nodded, and the crowd stopped hissing and clapping, though they continued to warily eye the stranger's hideous face.
Atreus's savior bowed to him. 'Honored sir, allow me to introduce myself. I am Rishi Saubhari, a bahrana only recently come to Edenvale myself.'
A bahrana was a member of the Mar upper class. Atreus did not yet grasp the subtle differences of appearance between bahranas and the lower class taroks, but after coming ashore in the Utter East, he had quickly learned what a grave insult it was to ask a bahrana to do a taroks work.
'In his wisdom, the esteemed Jyotish senses that you nave need of a companion familiar with our customs,' said Rishi. 'He asks that I serve you in this capacity, if you will have me.'
'What a relief that would be,' Atreus said, then gestured at his face. 'As you can see, it's hard enough for me to make a good impression.'
Rishi's expression remained unreadable. 'I do not see why that should be.' He drew closer and spoke in a quieter tome. 'But we do have need to discuss compensation.'
'Have no fear,' Atreus replied, jangling his heavy purse. 'You'll be well paid.'
Rishi's eyes lit up. 'A blessing on you, sir!' He took Atreus's arm and started forward as he spoke. 'Shall we attend to the queen?'
The sea of Mar divided before the procession, shaking tassels at the ugly foreigner and softly murmuring about Ysdar.
Atreus leaned down to speak quietly to Rishi. 'What is this Ysdar?'
'Pay no attention to those heathens!' Rishi lowered his voice and spoke in a confidential tone. 'The Mar of Edenvale are superstitious fools who would not know a devil of Ysdar if they saw one.'
'All the same, I would like to know why they fear me,' insisted Atreus.
'Very well.' Rishi cast a meaningful glance at Atreus's purse. 'But you must remember I am only doing as you command.'
'Your truthfulness will be rewarded.'
'Then as you wish,' said Rishi. 'According to legend, Ysdar is a devil from another world, an ancient evil unleashed many ages ago when the Lords of the Five Kingdoms weakened his prison.'
Rishi was speaking of the Bloodforge Wars, of course. No traveler to the Utter East could escape hearing about the ancient carnage, for the wars were more a part of the region's history than the Ten Days of Eleint were part of Tethyr's. Shortly after conquering the Utter East, the Lords of the Five Kingdoms discovered the bloodforges, ancient war machines capable of manufacturing whole armies of magic golems. Unrestrained by the expense of raising and maintaining armies, the lords went mad with battle-lust, nearly destroying their lands and their peoples. To make matters worse, the lords did not realize that a horde of antediluvian horrors had lain trapped beneath the land so long they had vanished from memory. Every use of the Bloodforges weakened the mystical bonds of their prison, and the creatures soon began to overrun the Five Kingdoms. Eventually, the lords realized their folly and struck a bargain not to use the terrible war machines but the damage had already been done. According to rumor the land had been filled with slime-smeared monsters and slithering horrors ever since. 'Ysdar is one of the Forgotten Ones?'
Rishi nodded. 'The King of the Forgotten Ones, if the myths are to be believed.' He glanced away, then added more quietly, 'It is said his face is so ugly that anyone who looks upon it goes mad… though this is in no way a reflection on your honored person.'
'Of course it is,' Atreus replied, trying to keep the bitter-ness out of his voice. 'Edenvale is no different than my own home. When people see ugly, they think evil.'
The golden faces and black hair of the Mar began to give way to the creamier visages of the Ffolk, who stood conversing quietly in small groups of three and four. In many ways, the Ffolk still resembled their conquering ancestors.
They were larger than the Mar and lighter of complexion, with pale eyes and square, western jaws. Though they had long ago exchanged the heavy furs and dreary wool of the Moonshae Isles for the bright cotton and colorful silks more suited to the Utter East's sweltering climate, they still preferred tight trousers and snug tunics to the billowing fashions of the Mar.
At the far end of the chamber stood a large enclosure surrounded by red velvet drapes, through which the Royal warden was ushering a sporadic stream of haughty-looking supplicants, Ffolk and Mar alike. More often than not, the petitioners looked content as they departed, a sign that the queen considered herself duty bound to serve her people as much as they served her. Atreus hoped her sense of fairness would extend to foreigners.
As they approached, the warden raised a hand and spoke quietly to Rishi and Jyotish in Thorass, all the while frowning and stealing glances at Atreus. Jyotish said something about a hired elephant and a royal letter, while Rishi spoke in rapid Maran and plucked at his own tunic.
Finally, the stony-eyed warden gave a reluctant nod, and Rishi removed his silk shirt and held it up before Atreus. Though such behavior would have scandalized any royal court in the west, no one in the Paradise Mahal
