Chapter 26

The royal palace was situated on a piece of land surrounded by a moat. Over the centuries, the Ibanee kings had continuously widened the moat; so much so the common people named the palace ‘King’s Island’. The twin-towers guarding the drawbridge landwards of the moat had grown up into decent fortresses as well, and were called ‘The Fangs’.

The garrison of The Fangs came alive as the column of state guests, escorted by their royal and imperial guards, was nearing the gates. Soldiers streamed out of barracks, swarming out to man the battlements and the various defensive fortifications. They didn’t prepare to defend the gates, obviously; their motivation was to prove their readiness. The drawbridge to the palace had not been pulled up for years and the last time was just to check if the mechanism was still working. The commander of the garrison welcomed the procession at the open gate.

Agon turned to Evanis. “Here we are; your men can’t accompany us any farther,” he declared. “If you allow, I’ll order one of the garrison officers to show your men their quarters. As I told you, their housing isn’t far away and of course you can inspect it yourself anytime you wish to.”

Evanis nodded and then faced the patch-men to issue her orders. “You’ll accept your quarters and stay there until I call for you. You won’t obey any orders and you’ll cut into pieces anyone attempting to lock you up or disarm you.”

The Imperial Guard hoarsely roared their well-known “Aye, Commander.”

Agon was still gaping at Evanis as she passed him and returned to the group of guests.

After their escort of two-hundred Ibanee Royal Guards was also reduced to a mere twenty, they followed Agon through the tower gate and across the bridge. It was a long bridge and so wide that ten people easily could walk side by side on it. The first ten yards were the wooden drawbridge part of The Fangs. The next hundred yards of the bridge was made of stone, permanently unmovable. The last ten yards again sported a wooden drawbridge which was flanked by two smaller towers built on King’s Island. The much smaller towers were named ‘The Little Brothers’ and guarded a second gate at the island end of the bridge.

The royal palace, the same as the towers, was predominantly built from sandstone. Its base was a square of ninety-seven and a third feet by ninety-seven and a third feet and the height up to the top of its onion dome was again ninety-seven and a third feet. An odd number which held a mystical importance to the Ibanee was the reason the architects had chosen this size, a multiple of that mystic number.

Agon led them through the heavily guarded palace main entrance and a long colonnade toward the throne hall. Walking along the colonnade they marvelled at the masterful decorations. The high pillars had been shaped to represent various animals and the rich wall ornaments displayed various scenes of Ibanees history.

With Agon and Anjatta var Dosha in the lead, they entered the throne hall. As they marched closer to the throne, all conversation of the members of the royal court died in their wake, as though their presence sucked the sounds out of the air. Among the usual members of the royal court, Anjatta also noticed several special attendees accompanied by animals and she started to worry.

As the group reached the end of the long hall, they looked curiously upon the Throne of Ibanee. A large, ornate bronze bowl anchored on a dark, foreboding pedestal, stood in front of the throne. Fire crackled from within the bowl, consuming several logs held within. Beyond the pedestal and bowl, twelve sweeping, black stairs led to a dais upon which sat a massive throne, seemingly growing out of the dais itself. Stairs, dais, and throne, all were hewn from a single rock of utter black.

“According to legend, the rock fell from the sky many centuries ago, killing the oldest son of the first King of Ibanee,” Agon said quietly to his guests.

The King, currently occupying the throne, had strong facial features. He possessed a full head of curly black hair and a long beard, woven into three tight braids, reached to the middle of his wide chest. Hassunabi var Dosha made a stately figure sitting on his throne

Anjatta ended their approach when they had reached a point from where they could comfortably talk to the King. She bowed before her uncle and then repeated the introductions she had used earlier when the group was welcomed by her brother and cousin.

While Anjatta made the introductions, the King intensely studied the group in front of him.

“I thank you, my niece,” Hassunabi said when Anjatta finished. “You did your homeland and me a great favor inviting these guests. Princess Sybelien Rossano’Shenta,” he addressed. “I welcome you to Ibanee. My good sister, Luwani, talked a lot about you,” he remarked with a smile. “Let me reassure you that we don’t always share an opinion. I have a proposal for you but we’ll discuss it at a later time.”

The King’s gaze fell on Jabbit next. “About you, Luwani talked as well - the Nameless Son,” Hassunabi related. “My son wasn’t as impressed by you as my good sister, though. I want to make up my own mind about your divine origin. So I ask you to prove you are a god - here and now.”

Jabbit responded to the King’s intense gaze with his own curious look. “Do you know how I can prove I am a god?”

His reply elicited a smile on Hassunabi’s face, whereas it prompted Evanis to shake her head and groan.

“I summoned our spiritual leaders to take on this task,” the King declared and made a gesture toward the group of attendees accompanied by various animals.

Prompted by the King’s signal a man and a woman departed the group and strode to the bowl on the pedestal. The man carried a long wooden staff with finely crafted carvings all over its surface. He wore a wide, wavy robe and a lynx on a leash trotted alongside him.

“I am Nahib var Shun, Mantesh of Kurbaresh, God of the Hunt,” the man introduced himself.

The woman carried a richly jeweled scepter and a king python was draped over her shoulders. Less modestly dressed than the man, her body was clad in a number of gauzy veils and these flimsy pieces of garment waved as she moved.

“I am Shiriena sun Thass, Irvanie of Elayakanarras, Goddess of the Seasons,” she joined the introductions. “The bowl you see contains the Eternal Flame of Ghunbhansur, home of the gods. It’s the favor of our gods which keeps the Eternal Flame alive and it’s our gods’ power which protects Ibanee from its enemies.”

“The Eternal Flame is a manifestation of divinity and its fire acknowledges the divine,” Nahib var Shun completed the statement. “The Eternal Flame will be your test and reveal whether you are a god.”

Jabbit frowned. “A flame and two servants?” He asked. “None of your gods will join us?”

The man glared at Jabbit. “I am the Mantesh of Kurbaresh! The god has chosen me as the vessel for his power.”

“That isn’t a fair test. I have a priestess, too. She’ll do the test in my name. That’s fair.”

While both spiritual leaders stared at him, a squealed “Me?”, and a snort from someone else commented Jabbit’s declaration.

“Me?” Rhaseris repeated. “But I’ve no idea what to do and no godly powers whatsoever.”

Jabbit turned to face her and shrugged. “You are my priestess, are you not?”

There was a flicker in Rhaseris’ brown eyes and she took a deep breath. “Yes, I am. I’m your First Priestess!” She insisted and moved to the front. “What do you want me to do to prove Jabbit is a god?” She asked the two religious experts who were no longer staring at Jabbit but at her.

“Where is your Shataz? Does your god not have a Shataz?” Shiriena sun Thass asked, sneering.

“What’s a Shataz?” Rhaseris asked.

“A spiritual animal companion which represents the god’s worldly presence,” Nahib var Shun lectured.

Rhaseris reflexively looked up but all she saw was the ceiling of the throne hall - no Shataz. She looked over her shoulder at Jabbit but his grin was no help either.

“Ehm...” she started but the excited squealing of a little girl interrupted Rhaseris.

“Look, mommy, a bunny!”

And indeed, a little black rabbit hopped onto the scene. Dauntless and determined, he dug his way through the courtly onlookers. When the rabbit reached Rhaseris’ feet, he sat down on his haunches.

Alas, the calm demeanor of the rabbit sitting at Rhaseris feet had an opposite effect on the lynx and the python. The lynx pounced, targeting the rabbit. The snake slithered down the body of her mistress, messing up the carefully arranged veils. The rabbit dodged the lynx’s attack and dashed around the foot of the pedestal. The lynx, in hot pursuit, coiled its leash around the iron column. The leash jerked at the hand of the lynx’s human companion, clutching the line, and the man stumbled. He hit the bowl and the Eternal Flame set his wavy robe ablaze. In a panic, he jumped away from the flame and crashed into the Irvanie of Elayakanarras. Wrestling for balance, he set her flimsy garments on fire, too, and they both fell to the floor. They rolled on the floor, burning and screaming in pain. Lynx and python fled the tumult. The rabbit returned to Rhaseris’ feet and sat down on his hunches once more.

Agon, Anjatta, people of the royal court, guards, all ran and tried to help, but the Eternal Flame couldn’t be quenched. The man and the woman rolling screaming on the floor first stopped moving, then stopped screaming, and finally stopped living – but they never stopped burning.

To remove the burning corpses from the throne hall proved to be a difficult proposition, too. In the end, soldiers used grappling hooks affixed to chains to drag the burning corpses out of the hall. The corpses were thrown into the moat and continued to burn even under water but at least they sank and couldn’t be seen anymore. The muddy water of the moat swallowed the light from the fire.

“Why is everyone staring at me?” Rhaseris complained. “I didn’t do anything!”

It was only a slight exaggeration. Most everyone present in the throne hall was indeed looking at Rhaseris. The few exceptions were the people who had come with her and the little girl who first had noticed the rabbit. She wasn’t staring at the Princess but was watching the rabbit, still following Rhaseris around.

“That’s my daughter, Nahseyra; she’s six,” Agon proudly announced and waved the little girl over.

Agon’s daughter proved to be quite fast on her feet. “May I pet the bunny, please?” She asked Rhaseris with wide-open eyes. The little girl was a bit out of breath after her sprint but still well-behaved.

“Ouh... , “ Rhaseris hesitated and looked at Jabbit. “Is the rabbit dangerous?”

“How would I know?” He replied, grinning. “It’s your Shataz.”

Evanis guffawed. “Dangerous? It’s a rabbit! Do you know what’s dangerous? I’m dangerous. Are you afraid of me?”