Chapter 2

He was back in the rear of the wagon. The other boys were there, cowering. Marr looked out, watched as the bound and gagged girl was dragged closer. His mouth opened, but no words came forth. He willed his body to move, even though he knew it would mean his death, yet nothing happened.

“It’s a memory. You can’t change memories.”

He turned round. Adeena was sitting there, In the wagon. Her hair was unbound, and she was bare footed and legged. All she was wearing was that plain dress of hers that he had always liked. Though by right, she shouldn’t have been wearing it, as it had been, she had been, smaller than she was currently.

Marr turned back to look at the girl, except now they were standing at the edge of the pit, looking down at the stones. He felt her hand take his.

“She had a family. They all had.” Adeena said simply, there was no masking the sorrow in her voice.

A full bladder woke Marr. As gently and quietly as he could, he slipped from Adeena’s embrace and stepped outside. Walking a few steps to be out of view of those inside the cave. He released a stream of dark urine that steamed in the moons pre-dawn light. Marr shook himself dry and returned to the cave. Adeena was breathing heavily, but still fast asleep. Moonlight glinted off the open eyes of the two horses, but they didn’t stir. Marr heated the rocks, filling the cave full of heat again.

Like the horses, they hadn’t much food left, so they went for breakfast.

“Marr?”

“Mmm?”

“Where we are going. When we get there.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m your wife.”

Marr simply nodded. Once his sister decided a thing, it was difficult to change her mind. Besides, he liked the idea. Still, he couldn’t resist teasing her a little.

“A wife has responsibilities. Are you going to fully commit to the role?”

“Yes.” She said with utter conviction.

Marr hadn’t really expected that answer, nor the conviction with which it was stated. He saddled the horses and after walking them long enough for them to loosen up, Marr and his sister mounted them and increased the pace. Marr had always liked the mountains from the distance, but now that he was actually in them, he longed for gentle hills and trees. Lots of trees.

To his side, Adeena raised a hand to her face and studied her fingers. Marr watched her because there was nothing else of interest to watch. A ball of flame appeared and it gently weaved in amongst her splayed fingers. The movement brought back memories of his first few months of novice training.

The lesson was a simple act of control over the element of fire, along with the ability to control magic streams. The first few weeks had also been a lesson in situational awareness, with uncontrolled fireballs careering around the room and the smell of singed hair and burnt flesh.

“How are you doing that?”

Adeena turned to look at him, the tiny little fireball continuing it’s slow, lazy meandering. She shrugged.

“I will it to follow a path and it follows.”

“Yes, but how did you know how to create it in the first place?”

“I just ... knew.”

Marr nodded, thinking.

“Were you in the wagon with me last night?” The answer he expected was ’What wagon?’.

“You dream about her a lot. Like, a lot... ”

“I can’t help it. I like to torture myself with things I can’t change.” They plodded on in silence.

“How did you get in there anyway?” He asked of her, gaining another ambivalent shrug.

After a few hundred meters of silence, he tried again. “When did you start to have abilities. I mean, when did you first notice streams and the ability to weave them?”

The little fireball winked out and she dropped her hand. First onto the saddle in front of her, then she moved her hand to her midriff. A look on her face as though she was remembering something. The horses plodded on stoically. Marr decided after a while that she wasn’t going to answer and that she was done talking.

“After the first time.” Her voice was quiet, introspective.

Marr turned to look at her, the leather of his saddle creaking. She was looking forward, eyes distant, the focus of her gaze on an internal point rather than external.

“It was everything I thought it was going to be. And more. The pleasure. The sensations. The colours. And I felt you. Not just inside me, but inside me. As though you were a piece of me I didn’t know was missing. You awakened me. Not just physically. But, I don’t know. My mind? I knew things I didn’t know before. It was all a bit weird. Scary. The next time was different. Just as intense, but, I ... There are words in my head that I don’t know. I don’t know where they came from. I don’t know how I know what they mean. I want to say it was a ‘revelation’. But the word. The word is a stranger to me. Yet it fits. I know it fits. I just don’t know why it fits.” Her voice petered off and there was just the sound of the horses hooves on the stone.

“I love you. I have always loved you. But now? It consumes me. I want you. Just looking at you makes me feel. I don’t know. It’s hard to think. All I can think, is how good you make me feel. How complete. I can’t stop thinking about us together. It’s distracting. And yet. I don’t care. I just want to be held by you. To feel your lips upon mine. I ... I ... I just feel so safe when you hold me.”

Marr turned away from her gaze. It was too piercing to be comfortable. This was all far more intimate than he had been expecting. Could honestly cope with. He was aware that he should be saying something in return. That she was waiting for something to be said in return. Relationships were all new to him. As confusing and unworldly as magic. He knew that if he didn’t reply it was going to cause problems, yet, he also knew that he was going to say the wrong thing. Marr took the cowards option. His horsemanship was every bit as good as his relationship ability, but he managed to move his mount closer to Adeena’s and reached out a hand.

She took it and though no words were said, seemed happy enough with just the physical contact even if the verbal was lacking.

The rocky nature of the ground made it hard for the horses to walk together and they soon pulled apart, forcing Marr and his sister to break their hold.

The wind was cold, biting, bringing home to Marr just how unprepared for this journey he had been. Marr leaned back, forced himself to relax, sought and found streams of air, mixed them in with streams of earth. He created a barrier around them and the wind dropped away.

Soaking up heat from the ground, Marr added it into the weave. The air warmed noticeably and the heads of the horses lifted up and Marr felt the horse relax under him. It was a challenge keeping two elements mixed at the best of times, but to do so whilst moving was proving quite a challenge to his inexperienced abilities.

As the morning progressed, his control faltered more and more. Part of him found the whole situation rather ironic, as he was learning more about control and interweaving as the hours passed, than he had over many months at the Tower. His horse stumbled over a loose stone and his attention was diverted enough for a cold blast to slip through.

Marr became aware of another presence in the weave. There was a gentle trickle of power, additional control and the weave steadied, became less exhausting to hold. Marr turned to his sister. She gave him a shy smile.

“Thanks.” Marr said gratefully.

They did not stop at lunchtime as Mar was eager to get the hills behind them. The two stolen horses seemed content to just plod along at their steady pace, their demeanour much improved now that they were warmer and out of the cutting wind.

Flurries of snow drifted past, little mounds of white collecting in the lee of boulders. There was no obvious signs of shelter, no caves, no mountain bothies, forcing Marr to stop earlier than he wished. He dismounted from his mount and surveyed the surrounding terrain. The wind had died back, replaced in turn by an coalescing white cloud that was hugging the ground.

Removing his cloak and sword belt, Marr lifted the nearest large boulder he believed he could manage and stacked it between two others. Working as fast as he could, he started to build a wall forming a horseshoe shape. Small stones filled gaps and prepared the growing wall for the next layer of stone. Marr made the height just under six foot and the entranceway into the horseshoe wide enough to lead the horses through.

The horses happily lay down after their saddles were removed, leaning against the curve, heads towards the one entrance/exit. Marr sat between them, leaning back against the saddles propped up against the stone. He now only had to provide a barrier against the elements across the doorway and over the top of the stone walls.

Adeena sat between his legs leaning back against him.

“Marr, you know that you could have used weaves to move the stone, and melted the stone into each other ... It would have saved you a lot of time and effort.”

“And you mention this now?”

“Well, you looked like you were enjoying yourself.” She took hold of his arms, wrapping one round her stomach and draping the other between her thighs. “Now relax, focus.”

“On what?”

“On me you idiot. Look for me. And don’t say ‘I’m in front of you... ‘ Look for me.”

The murky moonlight did not reach into their stone enclosure and all Marr could see was darkness. He closed his eyes and focused. There was ... something ... Marr investigated, moving in ways he did not fully understand or comprehend. There was ... power ... he tentatively touched it.

“That’s it.” Adeena whispered. “Let it enfold you, welcome it...”

Marr tried. Whispers of wind. The heat of sun. The smell of flowers.

“Don’t fight it.”

Marr didn’t think that he was fighting anything. There was laughter from his mouth that wasn’t his. He could feel the grass under his feet. The sublime joy in his heart. Large hands had enclosed his waist and he was circling, flying, around ... himself.

Marr looked down upon a face that was most definitely his, though a face younger by a good five years at least. Air whistled where air shouldn’t and he felt the flutter of what he knew, somehow, was a dress, about his bare legs. He was full of joy and happiness.

Marr laughed.

They heard the sounds of human existence long before they saw it. The chink of metal implements on stone and the shouts of angry command. They dismounted and crept up to the summit of the ridge. Marr felt the use of streams.

“Do you feel that?” Adeena asked.

Marr nodded and he peeked cautiously over the rise. Some great beast had taken a large chunk out of the hillside opposite. Black mites swarmed all over the bite.

It took a moment for Marr to work out what was going on, having to watch the process to its conclusion to understand.

The black mites were people. The massive ‘bite’ was split into levels and the people on the levels were slowly removing the stone. The stone was being cut into uniform blocks and dragged down to the bottom of the valley floor on wooden sleds. There, the cut stone was loaded onto many wheeled wagons which were pulled by teams of horse like creatures.

The wagons were led down a stone slabbed path that disappeared down the valley. A steady stream of empty wagons were being led back up the valley.

“What are they doing?” Adeena whispered as she joined him in peeking over the summit.

“I have no idea Ads.”

“Why are they removing all the rock?”

Marr thought back to the Tower and its uniform stone blocks, all the stone buildings that surrounded it. All made up of regular cut stone. Marr had read about ‘quarries’ but this was the first time that he had actually seen one.

“It’s a quarry. They take the stone, use it to lay roads and build tall buildings.”

“Why?”

“It lasts longer than river mud and can take a lot more weight. A lot more.”

“Oh.”

Marr could tell that she didn’t truly understand. He followed the streams back to one garishly clad individual trailed by two naked women.

Adeena must have spotted them as well, as she shivered and muttered “It’s not that warm...”

As the fat colourful man walked along the ledge, he was directing the streams at and into the ground beneath, melting and cutting into the stone. There was a strange flow from the two women following into the man. Behind the three magic wielders, came a squad of men and boys. The boys placed wedges into the cut created by the Mage whilst the men pounded the wedges with large hammers.

Every now and then, there was a large ‘crack’ and the hammer team moved further along the cut. Further back and on levels below, teams of mostly black skinned men and boys used hammers and chisels to split the large slices of stone into smaller uniform blocks which could be lifted onto the skids and be taken down to the beast drawn wagons below.

“Why are they all so black?” Asked Adeena.

“I don’t know. Maybe its dirt?”

“I thought women were not able to wield magic?”

Marr tilted his head to the side to look at his sister. “Says the woman who wields magic better than I?”

“You know what I mean...”

They watched a bit longer.

“I don’t like this place Marr. They are all chained together at the ankles.”

Marr couldn’t really see. His sister obviously had better vision. Now that she had mentioned it, all the people in the quarry did seem to be walking funny, with the exception of the fat well-dressed black man, who waddled, and the two naked women following behind.

“Come on Ads. Let’s go.” Marr slithered back, tapping Adeena on her ankle as she continued to watch the activity going on in the quarry.

There was a valley that followed alongside the one with all the industrial activity, so Marr followed that down off the mountain range. Eventually the two valleys combined with the track Marr was following joining with the stone paved one carrying the quarry traffic. Other than the curious stares by the wagon drivers, Marr and his sister’s passage was not challenged.

The road continued its slow descent and the air grew considerably warmer. The surrounding hills started to shrink and level out to green plains showing heavy agricultural use.

“What are those!”

Marr followed his sister’s pointing hand. They were currently making their way down a gentle slope towards a large town next to a riverbank. Moored along the riverbank, were ships. Some empty and waiting, some full of neatly stacked stone heading downstream with the current.

“What, the boats Ads?” She looked at him not understanding. “The wooden things on the water?”

“Yes! them!”

“They are boats. Made out of strips of wood. They float on water. The same way a tightly woven reed basket floats on water. I thought you knew everything I knew?”

“There was a lot of stuff in there. Do you know everything in my memories?”

“No. There was a lot to process.” As far as Marr could tell, his sister’s memories had mostly been of flowers, smells of things and lots of fantasies about him. Some of which they had already made reality.

“Well, there you go then.”

The carts all pulled off the road towards the river down a side road that appeared to bypass most of the town in front.

“So much colour!”

Marr wasn’t sure if she meant the clothing or the flesh underneath. Marr tried not to stare, but many of the male individuals walking the roads had skin the colour of soot. There were many people whose skin was of shades in between the soot black and Marr’s own white. Not unlike the same way the colour on his arms differed from that on his legs. He couldn’t really see if it was the same for the women as they all wore clothing that hid every part of their skin apart from their eyes. The only indication as to the sex of the wearer being in the curve of hip and breast.

A lot of the looks directed at them were to Adeena. Which was making her uncomfortable.

“Why are they all staring at me?” She whispered nervously to Marr.

“I don’t think they are used to looking at women who aren’t covered head to toe in cloth.”

“It’s just my head, neck and hands!”

“And what a pretty head and neck it is...”

“Are you saying my hands are ugly?”

“Frightfully so.”

Adeena smiled at him. “There’s so many people. How do they not use all the air up!”

“We use less air than you think. Come, we need to get rid of these horses and take passage out of here to a city somewhere.”

“Why not stay here?”

“Because it’ll be the first place anyone arrives at when they come after us.”

“Will they? Come after us, I mean.”

“I didn’t think so last time and look how that turned out. We need to get far way.”

They found a trader who would take the horses. Marr knew he was being ripped off, but since he hadn’t bought them anyway and they would just be a liability, it was best just to be rid of them.

There wasn’t much to be taken from the saddlebags. Just a change of clothes and Marr’s axe. They had eaten all the food. Marr split the coins given by the trader for the horses and gave half to Adeena.

“We’d better get you that thing the women all wear.”

“I don’t want to wear that stuffy looking thing.”

“I know, but we need to blend in.”

“Says the man head and shoulders above and a different colour, to everyone else.”

They picked up a chamfor, which was the modesty covering for Adeena. She wasn’t happy, but she donned it. Marr found and paid for a trip down the river. The barges were slow but still faster than walking.

The cargo of their barge was stone. It looked to Marr to be the same stone as the quarry they had skirted round. They passed a few larger towns as they travelled, but Marr wanted to be as far from the Mage Tower as possible.

The ship’s pilot and captain spoke good Marina, Marr’s mother tongue, and seemed happy enough to talk to pass the time.

“Where is your cargo headed?”

“To Salinad. The capital of the world, and then onto the lesser places.”

“So like a distribution point?”

“No, and yes my friend. Most will be used to build monuments to the prophet Salinazar. The lesser stone will be shipped elsewhere to bring Salinazar’s light.”

Marr didn’t know stone could carry light, but he was finding out that there was a lot he didn’t know.

“From where do you hail my son?”

Marr looked back the way they had come. “The mountains. In a valley.”

“It is cold, yes?”

“Compared to here, yes.”

Adeena snorted, “And preferable to being in this cloth oven...”

The ship’s captain carried on as though Adeena had not spoken. “Man is not expected to live in cold. He can only thrive in Salinazar’s warmth.”

Adeena muttered under her breath about what Salinazar could do with his warmth.

“And all women must remain covered?” Marr asked, giving his sister a warning look.

“All good women.” Clarified the captain. “Otherwise they shall be burned by the prophet’s light.”

Adeena snorted. “Is that literarily of figuratively...”

Again, the Captain ignored Adeena, not even looking in her direction. “My son, it is good to have a quiet wife, least one of the prophet’s Sharam removes the loose tongue from her mouth.”

“Thank you for the warning captain. I shall properly chastise her. You are a good man. Is there many of my colour in Salinad?”

“There are a few, yes. Traders, scholars, diplomats, swords for hire.”

They chatted for a while before the captain excused himself to attend to his craft.

Adeena leaned over and whispered in Marr’s ear.

“I look forward to my chastisement later, brother...”

The journey took four days, their meals consisting of a simple soup and a chewy, strong flavoured meat. At night, Marr and Adeena slept together on simple blankets laid out on the deck, the air around them warmed at night by the heat of the days sun stored within the stone.

Xavier, the barge captain, used the slow current of the river water to guide his heavily laden barge into a vacant berth between two stone piers. Xavier called out and one of the crew at the rear released an iron anchor into the water. The barge gently slowed as the bow headed towards the stone harbour wall and the large ball of rushes hanging just above the water line. The barge stopped shy a few fingers width shy of the rushes.

Marr turned to Xavier “Nicely done.”

Xavier smiled and nodded at the compliment as harbour workers quickly moved to the wooden beam contraptions stationed on the quaysides and swung them over the barge as planks were laid to bridge the gap between barge and quayside.

“Safe travels Marr and may Salinazar guide your path and keep you in his light.”

“You have been a good host Xavier. May Salinazar also hold you in his light and keep you safe upon the water.”

“It’s amusing how all the good deities are male and all the evil duplicitous ones are female.” Adeena muttered as they made their way across the planks to the quayside.

Hawkers rushed forward to be the first to offer Marr their wares. Adeena they ignored. Marr pushed through their cries of how their products cured all ails, made you irresistible to women and would bring eternal wealth. Marr found it overwhelming.

Back In Klasgrow, traders avoided those wearing the Towers emblem, especially those hawking items lacking the mystical properties they were supposed to have. No potential sale of a useless trinket was worth the magical ire and accompanying pain, an unhappy mage would deliver in exchange.

Adeena kept close to his side, unnerved by the existence of so many people all talking and moving at once. She wasn’t sure if she would ever get used to it. Marr kept to the seedier part of the city, which turned out to be the area closest to the docks. They didn’t have that much money and he wanted to retain as much as he could, until he found decent enough paying employment.

It was the twelfth establishment they tried before Adeena gave him the nod. Marr didn’t know that much about keeping house, so was happy enough to devolve responsibility of choosing to his sister.

The room was cramped with barely enough room for the bed and a single dresser. The bed itself looked to be a tight fit for two people, let alone one of the individuals being of Marr’s size. Adeena seemed happy enough and wasted no time in removing her chamfor.

“I’m in no hurry to get back into that thing.” She said with relief as she removed it.

Marr looked around. “Our new home. For a moment, at least.”

“Not much of an improvement. The exact opposite.” Adeena grumbled.

“Better than being outside.”

“Oh I don’t know. Your stone house from a few nights ago had a rustic charm about it.”

“I’m going to go and ask about work. I shouldn’t be too long. I think you should stay here, for the next day or two. At least until we see what’s what. And if you have to leave, don’t forget to wear your chamfor. I know you don’t like it, but I don’t want to lose you Ads. And for the love of all the gods, don’t weave.”

“Hrmph. Take care of yourself, you lout. I haven’t come all the way to lose you either.”

Marr managed to find some simple labouring work at the docks. The pay was not great, and the hours long, but it paid for their food and lodging.

“Marr?” Adeena asked as she spooned herself into his body as they lay in their bed.

“Hmm?”

“Can we go for a tour of the city? I would like to leave this room before I lose my mind.”

Marr thought back to how he hated being cooped up at the tower. Although for the last week, he had been travelling back and forth between their room and the docks, Adeena had been cooped up in the house with nobody but their landlady and the occasional female guest.

“We can go the day after tomorrow. I’ll take the day off.”

“Thank you husband dearest.” Adeena reached behind her and slipped a hand between his legs and deliberately teased him till she got the physical reaction she desired. “I wonder how I can show my appreciation...” she said with mock sincerity. Wiggling her hips, she slowly slid herself onto him, answering her own question.

Marr woke sore and a little stiff in the joints. Some of it was work related, a lot of it from the previous night’s activities. Adeena had been both demanding and enthusiastic. The other members of the household were already at breakfast when he entered the room, Ads following him. Lila, their landlady, was of an age to be their grandmother and gave him a bemused knowing look. The other women in the household gave him looks ranging from disgust, amusement, curiosity, to one he didn’t quite know.

They had been quite loud last night and Ads had been particularly amorous, urging him on to a second round.

Abashed he turned his attention back to Lila, who was dishing out gruel into two bowls.

Seeing that Marr was watching her, Lila pointedly looked at Adeena’s stomach and slid the fuller of the two bowls to Adeena’s setting. Marr knew there was some subtext going on, but couldn’t work out what. He would ask Ads about it later, if he remembered.

Morning pleasantries were said, though Adeena was quite frosty with Zara, who had been giving Marr the strange look. The other women all had various jobs in the city, ranging from seamstress to washerwoman. All were currently unmarried. Lila herself was a widow and used the rent for her income.

Marr had found out from chat amongst fellow workers who could speak Marr’s native language, Marina, that their landlady Lila normally only rented out her rooms to women. When he asked Ads about it, she had just shrugged and said that Lila had seen nothing in Marr that gave her concern for the other women. Marr didn’t understand that either, but pretended that he did.

Inaya finished her meal and donned her chamfor, covering up everything but her eyes, before heading outside. This was another facet of Mutanbi society he couldn’t get his head around. That all women had to be covered when outside the place of residence and only family could see them with the chamfor removed. Marr had it in his mind that the women of Mutanbi were all fantastical fey creatures, and that was why they had to be covered.

Somewhat underwhelmingly, it turned out that they were just women. Some had a slightly darker hue to their skin, but they were still just women. The revelation was disappointing. The other women covered themselves up and left for their places of employment. Lila spoke to Adeena in her native tongue and Adeena answered in kind, causing Marr to look at her in surprise. He had only just grasped ‘Hello’, ‘Goodbye’ and ‘Thank you’. His sister almost sounded like a native.

Adeena caught his amazed look and smiled smugly. Hiding her skin, Adeena and Marr stepped out into the busy street, some calling out a greeting to Marr as they passed.

“How did you learn so much of their language?”

“What else did you think I was going to do all day, cooped up in that house?”

“Oh.” It made a lot of sense put like that.

Adeena knew from Lila the sights she wanted to see and how to get there, so she led the way, Marr looking around curiously at the shops they passed. One of the places was the public library. Adeena knew of books from Marr’s memories, but she still wanted to see them for herself.

There were guards on the entrances. The main entrance was for males and escorted women. There was a smaller door, and that was all it was, further away for unescorted women. That led to a smaller reading room where tomes suitable for ‘frailer’ minds were kept.

The sight of so many books brought back unpleasant memories of his time at the Tower and he was keen to get away as soon as possible. Sensing his restlessness Adeena stopped only long enough to memorise the layout and to hold an actual book and look at the careful calligraphy inside. Adeena said that she would be back in her own time.

Marr didn’t expect to see the inside ever again. If he could possibly help it.

Next up was the main market which was supposed, Adeena had been told, to stock every item possible to be sold. It was certainly very cramped and very busy to Marr’s eyes. He could almost sense the pleasure and excitement emanating from her in waves. And that alone was the only reason he tolerated the noise and bustle. To Marr, it looked indeed like everything that could be sold, was sold. There was so much choice.

The market was so big that it was even split into sections to cater to the various levels of wealth the cities inhabitants possessed. Though Marr couldn’t fail to notice the traders with the more expensive goods, had armed guards nearby. Marr cast an eye over the arms-men.

He could tell by their stance alone, that they were there mostly for show. There was some minor disturbance and the crowd quickly parted for two corpulent and opulently dressed men. Both had a nearly naked girl following close behind them.