Samut Nalir's Miraculous Elixir of Life

Chapter 6

The letter arrived about two weeks after I'd sold my "elixir of life".  In retrospect, I suppose the contents of the letter should have warned me of what was to come, but to be honest, I was, for lack of a better word, ignorant.

The very first indication that there was something significant about this letter was one I noticed immediately.  The small scroll that the little messenger boy handed to me was tied with a purple ribbon.  In this region, the postal service sorted mail with color-coded ribbons: red for friendly letters, yellow for bills and government papers, blue for flyers and invitations, green for news.  I had also received my fair share of black-ribbon letters, which were legal papers, sometimes court summons.  But I had never seen a purple ribbon before.

I thanked the messenger, tipped him meagerly, and unrolled the scroll.  The parchment was embossed decoratively along the edges, and the writing was fancy and neat.  I began to read:

To Messr. Samut Nalir, of Ethene,

His nobility, Dalliran Amolnor of Endalona, hereby requests your presence at his place of residence, on the midday of the first of the month of June.  Your company is implored, and your assistance is essential.

With highest regards,

Dalliran Amolnor of Endalona

c/o Laenor Faradi, Esq.

of the Noble and Royal House of the Amolnor Consanguinity

"What's that?" I heard Lapis ask.  I jumped, not having seen her trying to look over my shoulder.

"I'm not sure," I replied. "Isn't Amolnor the name of our current king?"

Lapis nodded. "Yes, why?"

I handed her the letter, and she read it carefully, her eyes narrowing after every line.  Finally, she sighed, folded it neatly, and gave it back to me.  "I've never seen anyone use that much space for their signature.  It certainly looks like some sort of royal invitation-- although I can't imagine why anyone would ever implore your company, let alone royalty."

I glared at her, but let the matter at hand take priority.  "The royal family lives in Lucorea, right? How long does it take to get there from Ethene?"

"Over a week on foot, several days by wagon," she replied, raising one eyebrow suspiciously.  "You're not seriously considering going, are you?  It's probably just a stupid joke, anyway."

"Possibly," I said thoughtfully, staring down at the letter. "But what if it's genuine?"

"Oh, please!" Lapis snorted. "Why in the world would some royal duke, or marquess, or whatever Dalliran is, need your assistance? What could possibly make you so important?"

"I don't know," I replied honestly. "But, if it is real, I'd like to find out."

Lapis sighed and rolled her eyes, but finally nodded. "Okay, okay, let the con artist be conned.  I don't have to pay you for the days we miss.  We'll have to head out tomorrow if we're going to make it to Lucorea by midday on June first.  I'll rent us out a horse and wagon, and you can get started on the packing."

She left at these words, muttering under her breath.  I believe I caught the word "gullible" once or twice, but I didn't mind.  I knew, somehow, that the letter was authentic.  It was mostly a strange feeling in the pit of my gut, but it was there all the same.  Looking back, I suppose that feeling may have just been bile, but at the time, it was intuition enough.

The trip to Lucorea was frustratingly dull.  The horses were rather slow, but the road was bumpy enough that I was grateful rather than annoyed.  However, the wagon Lapis had rented had no top, so by the second day of travel, my face had already begun to peel from sunburn.  It also began to grow steadily more humid, and I wasn't entirely sure that the clothes I'd brought along would last me the whole trip.

We ate light, and we stayed at the smallest and cheapest inns we could find, despite my efforts to convince Lapis to let us stay at a hotel with a fully-furnished suite.  Then again, we probably wouldn't have been altogether welcome there anyway, since Lapis had insisted that we bring along our worse clothes.  Her reasoning was that if the letter turned out to be a hoax after all, she didn't want us to look like we had been too eager to meet royalty.

The fourth and last day was the hardest for travel.  The humidity that had been steadily increasing finally gave way to a downpour of rain, and the horses took a great deal of coaxing to continue their route.  Even once we finally got onto the road again, the progress was slow, we had to stop twice to work a wheel of the wagon out of the mud, and Lapis and I were both soaked to the bone by the time we arrived in Lucorea, much later in the afternoon than we had planned.

As we rode up towards the gates of the king's castle, I glanced edgily at Lapis.  "So what do you suppose?  I don't think I'm just supposed to walk up to the front door and knock."

"Ask him," Lapis said, pointing to man in a royal guard uniform.

I stepped carefully out of the carriage and approached the man in question.  He was standing unmoving at the end of the gate, and I thought to myself that, even though the rain was finally letting up, he looked unfairly dry.  "Excuse me, sir!" I called to him.  "I'm looking for someone!"

The guard stood resolutely, not responding to my voice in the slightest.  I scowled; I knew he had heard me.  "I need to find Dalliran Amolnor.  Do you know where he--?"

"His highness will already be at the amphitheater," the guard responded suddenly, no part of him moving but his mouth.  "If your need is urgent, you can find him there, at the southernmost part of the city.  Perhaps you can catch him before the ceremony begins."

"Erm, thanks," I said uncertainly.  I climbed back into the wagon with Lapis as conveyed to her what the guard had said.

"You see?" Lapis said almost gleefully, "If this guy had been expecting you, then why is he at the amphitheater for some ceremony?"

"Maybe he didn't think I was going to show," I replied hopefully. "After all, he said to come at midday, and we're really running behind.  Maybe he decided to leave because he was sick of waiting.  Let's at least check.  Please?"

Lapis sighed in exasperation, but then, to my delight, she took up the reins and steered the wagon towards the south side of the city.

It was easy to locate the amphitheater when we arrived.  Apparently, the ceremony occuring there today was quite an event; the amphitheater was packed and noisy, and those who couldn't fit inside were milling around the edges excitedly, trying to find a place with a decent view.

We left the wagon team at the edge of the crowd and fought our way towards the arena's entrance.  Several guards stood there, wearing the same uniform as the man we had spotted at the castle.  "Excuse me!" I shouted, trying to get their attention.  "I'm looking for someone, a Dalliran Amolnor? I have a-- hang on," I muttered, fishing the letter out of my pocket.  I shoved it under the nose of the nearest guard.  "I got this letter, see, and I--"

The guard finally seemed to notice me, and his eyebrows rose at the sight of the letter.  "My apologies!" he cried, momentarily forgetting his professional poise. "You'd be Mister Nalir, right?  If you just step in here, I'm sure everything will be sorted out."

I cast a smirk at Lapis' face, which was agog with surprise, before darting into the hall the guard had indicated.  Almost immediately, and hand grabbed onto my shoulder.

"There you are!" a voice cried. "I'd almost thought you wouldn't arrive.  Never mind, never mind, you're here now.  Come along, quickly now."

"Hang on," I said hastily, hurrying to keep pace with my companion.  I felt like I recognized his voice, and his appearance seemed vaguely familiar, too.  I just couldn't put my finger on it.  "Do you think we could--"

"No time for anything," my companion said breathlessly.  "You arrived just in time, Samut.  Ah, here we are!"

I realized where "here" was half a second before we got there.  I felt slightly faint as I stepped onto the amphitheater stage.  Rows and rows of seats reached up towards the sky, and I stood at the bottommost rung, looking sickly up at the multitude of excited faces.

Only one thought made its way through my mind at that moment: This cannot be good.