The Windcaster [Fantasy/Adventure | Featured | Complete ]

Chapter 14: The Great Enki of Kiramone

"This is the residence of the Windcaster of Kiramone?" Tia's incredulous voice echoed up and down the high-ceilinged hall. Mommu shushed her, looking like a frightened rabbit, his eyes darting to all the archways down the length of the walkway. Tia craned back over her shoulder. She had thought – they had all thought – this was a meeting place for the great and powerful. Not a home.

They had been silent as they passed the guards standing at alert at the intricate metal front gates, who had sharp lances in their right hands and not a muscle twitching under their smart, colourful uniforms. The marble steps were polished to a gleaming white, the long, thick carpet under their feet carefully hand-stitched and embroidered. The soles of their boots sunk into the soft material. Paintings hung all the way down the great hallway. Coats of armour stood stiffly at equal distances at the sides. Tia could swear she heard angelic music in the background, soft and sweet.

"He certainly captured the essence of Kiramone well," Enlil said dryly, his pale eyes taking into every intricate detail and gleam of gold-plated decoration.He had the same disgusted look on his face as during the mage's performance.

"Welcome, my friends!" A dramatic, melodic cry came from the top of the stairs, at the end of the hall. The four turned to the source of the voice. The two trainees' jaws dropped and Enlil sighed heavily. "It is I! The great Enki of Kiramone! How blessed I am to have you in my brilliant presence! Oh what joy! What happiness!"

Master Anu's arms trembled – whether from suppressed laughter or displeasure, it was hard to tell – as the figure gambolled down the stairs, his cloak fluttering theatrically behind him and the multi-coloured feathers atop his gleaming hat fluttering in motion. Before the four travellers, Enki of Kiramone removed his hat and took a sweeping bow, so deep that his chin-length golden hair nearly touched the deep purple carpet. He snapped up again, replacing the hat at a jaunty, confident angle and scanning the three gobsmacked young people with sparkling blue eyes.

"Do you appreciate my beautiful abode? My sumptuous sanctuary? My ravishing residence?"

Tia gaped. She'd never seen such a confident person before, or such an unconventional Windcaster. She peeped at Enlil; he seemed nauseated. She struggled to keep her face straight.

Master Enki looked – and probably was – very young for a Windcaster. He brushed, with a swift hand, his golden hair out of his face, closing his eyes for extra effect, and sighed.

"It is wonderful to have the great Caster Anu in my humble home," he cried, reaching the bottom of the stairs. It seemed he was unable to keep his voice to a reasonable conversational level. "Please! Make yourself at home – I insist upon it!"

His looks and histrionic personality gave her little room to form coherent thought. She suddenly met the man's eyes.

"And this beautiful lady–" With a deft hand, he grabbed Tia's in his own, bent down to her eye level, and stared straight into her startled green eyes. She gave a squeak of surprise. A furious blush made its way up to the roots of her hair. The glittering baby blue held an intense gaze. She was put on the spotlight. "– is your apprentice, Anu? Surely you are too old to have such a gorgeous young female to be doing all your chores and hard labour!"

"Tiamat is more than capable of being Master Anu's apprentice," Enlil said, a little too sharply. Tia was startled by the hostility in his voice. The respect he held for Master Anu was wholly absent. Master Enki paused, blinking at the slave boy.

"Oh?" he said, his silky voice more serious as he dropped Tia's hand. He glanced at him up and down with a deliberate expression. "You are not a Caster. I do not sense the Wind in you."