Chi'Urvha peeks out the forge window. In the distance she sees two figures approaching over the sands, garbed unlike any she has seen before. She shivers, despite the suffocating heat of the forge and does her best to remain quiet. She can tell they are not Irekei. As they come close, she can smell them, rank like peccarim, the wild pigs of the desert.
Uhrstod looks around.
"Seems awfully empty here, Sister," he says. He is cloaked in strange colored robes, oddly damp in places, and bears a shield with a foreign and disturbing crest. "The Irekei must be in hiding."
"I do not blame them," Sinia replies. Head to foot this female (from her voice) is covered in red lacquered metal; she towers over her male companion.
"How so?" Uhrstod asks, but his tone betrays no hint of interest as he gazes at the few buildings and tents that make up this little virakt. Scattered about are the still smoking ruins of destroyed buildings and toppled walls and towers. An expression of contempt flickers over his face.
"I, too would run, should the Inquistion be brought to my door." She pauses and looks around thoughtfully. "And yet I feel as if I am being watched."
"Yes. There is a presence of something vile here, and I do not think it is the smell of the foul red elves."
"The tracks of a lighter-built frame are in the sands, Brother." Sinia points to the ground where it has been disturbed.
"Where, Sister?" Uhrstod asks. "Perhaps it is a Irekei child."
The giant armored woman squats and points out the traces. "The tracks lead here," Sinia says, gesturing at the forge.
"Into this forge?"
"Aye."
Uhrstod stands in the shadowed doorway and feels the doors. "The forge doors seem to be locked" he says.
Chi'Urvha, inside, hides behind the water barrel, listening to their voices, unable to understand what they are saying.
"Who is in there?" asks Uhrstod in a calm voice accustomed to compliance. "Come out, whoever you are. We will not... hurt you."
"Gho auay. Chi'chi jov'nkuq ov ta!" squeaks a small frightened voice. Go away. Chi'chi not scared of you!
Uhrstod snorts. "Do you not know the common tongue, beast?" he asks.
Chi'Urvha peeks out the door.
"Come out." An uninflected demand for obedience.
Chi'Urvha shivers.
"Chi oa, we mean no harm," says Sinia. She fails to look unthreatening.
As Uhrstod mouths another command, he and Sinia are attacked from behind. A young Irekei Bard, Najwa, spies the Confessor and the Templar standing outside her family forge and strikes without warning.
Chi'Urvha flies from the forge, shrieking, "Uri dek'im, Chi'chi nkoroq-nu!" Bad things, Chi'chi scared!
"Ghet bak 'n qhe forge, shaklan!" Najwa cries to the little half-breed jov'uus. Get back in the forge, fool! But it is too late for Chi'Urvha to retreat, and so she flees.
Against the combined power of the two humans Najwa has little chance of victory, and her spirit soon departs from her body.
"Foolish devil!" Uhrstod snaps, vexed, as he slays the young Irekei. During the confusion of the fight Chi'Urhva slips away, swimming to short-lived safety on the island south of her Masters' home.
Chi'Urvho whispers to her Uus, Najwa, "Chi'chi uri." Chi'chi was a bad girl. She cries. She runs up the beach on the island into the small settlement, but finds it deserted. Great buildings of strange construction stand in rows, adorned with statues of peculiar animals and unfathomable symbols.
"Halt!"
Chi'Urvha turns and screams. The strange ones who killed her Uus have found her again.
"What are you doing out here, Misborn?" asks Uhrstod, eyeing the frightened girl.
Chi'Urvha cringes at the tone of Uhrstod the Scorned's voice. "Jov, ghaka'ov Chi'chi!" she begs. No, don't kill Chi'chi!
"Speak the Common Tongue!" Uhrstod demands.
"She does not want you to kill her", Sinia says in a mild voice, able to discern some of what the girl is saying.
Chi'Urvha looks from Uhrstod to Sinia and back, trembling. She doesn't look as if she understands a word they say.
"What are you doing living with the Irekei?" Uhrstod asks. "Please try to translate that for me, Sister."
"Chi'chi nkoroq!" says the terrified girl. "Pliis nu-dhak'ov, Cho'oa!" Chi'chi scared! Please don't hurt me, Big One!
Uhrstod looks down at the half-breed, smiling a smile that contains no warmth. "Yes ... this seems like an excellent subject for a cleansing", he says.
Chi'Urvha senses the danger in that voice. She backs up a step, turns, and runs.
"Stop!" a voice booms out behind her, but she only sprints harder, sand flying from beneath her heels. The word means nothing to her and the tone is threatening. Chi'Urvha keeps running, whispering across the world to her Uus, Najwa, "Tha riki arha nu!" They are running after me!
"Asit'nu!!!" she cries as she flees, the "big ones" in pursuit of her. Help!!! Her voice echoes over the dunes and scrub grass, unanswered save by the heavy breathing and metallic sounds of her pursuers.
Running until she is out of breath and land, Chi'Urvha stops at the water's edge and tries to hide. "Asit nu, pliis, Uus, uri'cho'oa'im chaasni-nu!" she whispers again to Najwa. Help me, please, Mistress, the bad-big-ones are chasing me!
Her pursuers, though gasping for breath and stinking of sweat in their heavy clothes and armor, catch up to her and leave her no escape but the water. Chi'Urvha hides her eyes.
"You are very tiresome, half-breed," Uhrstod says. "Now, you shall come with us to the Temple."
The girl begins to cry again.
Najwa whispers to her, "Tu nkoroq'ov, Chi'Chi, nu uill saav tu." You don't be scared, Chi'Chi, I will save you.
"Tears will not help you, Misborn," Uhrstod says in a stern voice. Despite his words, he does not seem displeased by the girl's tears.
Chi'Urvha blinks, looking completely puzzled. Uhrstod the Scorned chuckles.
"Yu haba ith skah chi oa?" asks Sinia, struggling to find Irekei words. How do you live with filth, little one?
The question comes as a puzzlement and a surprise. "Chi'chi habat uith Uus aht Uus' jhor'al," answers Chi'Urvha. "Chi'chi iri blavalar, bhaka Corax'al." Chi'chi lives with Master and Master's kin. Chi'chi is a good worker, loyal to the Corax'al.
"Interesting. I did not think Irekei had much liking for Aelfborn," Uhrstod says. Apparently he has learned a few Irekei words from the many he has cleansed.
Sinia frowns as she concentrates on translating. "They do not," she says.
"And yet here we have a Aelfborn that lives in a Irekei village and speaks only Irekei," notes Uhrstod, watching the shaking girl, tattoos and sweat marring an otherwise pretty face.
"She refers to them as "masters"," says Sinia.
"A slave, then." Uhrstod pauses for a moment as he ponders. "We must free her. We can not let anyone be a slave to Irekei, not even a Misborn."
Uhrstod looks at Chi'Urvha with contempt in his eyes.
"Uhy qha Chi'chi gruk'ov uhat ta takh, cho?" the girl asks them. Why does Chi'chi not understand what you say, much?
Chi'Urvha hears the voice of her Uus, Najwa whispering, "Uhere kham tu?" Where are you?
Chi'Urvha whispers back, "Iiland. Cho'oa'im kragh Chi'chi." On the Island. Big-ones have caught Chi'chi.
Uhrstod puts his hand on Chi'Urvha's shoulder. The girl recoils, terrified.
"Now, will you come with us, Aelfborn?" Uhrstod fails to sound reassuring.
Najwa whispers, "Tu khamji habat suun." You will be home, soon.
Chi'Urvha watches him speak, but doesn't understand. "Nu kan gho habat, nou?" she asks. May I go home, now?
"Arha qhe Confessor," says Sinia. Follow the Confessor.
"Uhat kham "Confessor"?" What is 'Confessor'?
Sinia points to Uhrstod and repeats, "Arha."
Chi'Urvha looks at the big strange person. They move up off the beach, back into the Island city; Uhrstod leading, Chi'chi following, prodded from behind by Sinia.
Uhrstod the Scorned points at Temple of the Cleansing Flame. This is the largest and most imposing building there, a file of high steps leading up and up into the interior. Braziers to either side of the edifice draw Chi'Urvha's eyes. They hold fires with no visible source of fuel; they burn fiercely and the flame is whipped into spirals by the desert wind.
"Khal ... " she says softly and shivers. There is something wrong with this flame, though she cannot place it. With a great effort of will she passes between the fires, up and up the stairs.
Najwa whispers to Chi'Urvha, "Nu kraghji tu kalaq." I will have you summoned.
Uhrstod frowns at the Aelfborn. She has stopped at the very threshhold.
"Arha," says Sinia again.
"What is the matter, Sister?"
Najwa whispers to Chi'Urvha, "Uus Kaylus kalji-tu, suun. Acciipt thuh kal, gruk?" Master Kaylus will summon you, soon. Accept his summons, understand?
"Kiki, Uus" she whispers back as she peers around the great edifice. Yes-yes, Mistress. She steps inside, peering around the dim and echoing interior of the Temple.
"Now, what should we do to her, Sister?" says Uhrstod. "We can not let her go back to her so-called "masters"."
"Uhat kham qhis uz?" asks Chi'Urvha, looking back and forth from Sinia to Uhrstod. What is this place?
"This is the Temple of the Cleansing Flame, Misborn. We are the servants of the All-Father, bringing the Flame to the heathens and wicked," Uhrstod answers.
Najwa whispers, "Suun."
"Hruh?" Chi'urvha's face scrunches in confusion.
"Tu aya sa nuh bhokhar," she says wonderingly to Sinia, who has raised her visor, revealing her face. You look like my mother.
Uhrstod looks at the Misborn with cold eyes. Sinia sighs.
"Chi'sa," says the girl. A little bit like. Her voice trails off. Her destruction is in their eyes.
"We should end her suffering," says Uhrstod. "Let her feel the warmth of the Flame."
"Uus takhni Chi'chi, uant nu gho kalaqji suun," Chi'Urvha tells the humans. Mistress is telling Chi'chi, she wants me to be summoned soon.
"Patience, Brother," Sinia requests. "Give me time." Uhrstod snorts.
Chi'Urvha stands with one foot on the other, looking scared. "Ta allou nu ghoji, nou?" she says. Will you allow me to go, now?
Uhrstod points at her and asks, "Chi'Chi?" The girl doesn't answer his implied question, but exclaims instead, "Uus ghetni Chi'chi kal. Aht nu liek'ov dek uz!" as she assents to the pull of the summons. Mistress is getting Chi'chi a summons. And I do not like this place!
And suddenly she is in a different place, on the Vir, surrounded on every side by strange Irekei.
Kaylus nods to Chi'Urvha. "Najwa is a friend", he says.
"I smell elf!" says another, Jalbar.
"I'm not an elf!" says a third, Talmarr.
Several of them chuckle.
"Her, the jov'uus", says Kaylus. They are Irekei, and speak in the only language she understands, but quite differently from those she lives with, deeper in the vir.
"Elf meat good to eat... tastes like chicken", says Talmarr, eyeing the girl.
"Slowly roasted," says Jalbar, licking his lips.
"On a spit," adds Talmarr, prodding her in the ribs with a finger.
Chi'Urvha kneels in the middle of the Irekei. "Jha, Uus'al," she says.
Retsudo Shadow Dancer bows to her, lighthearted and mocking.
"Bho iko kal, Uus'al," says Chi'Urvha. "Uhere Uus Najwa, pliis?"
Kaylus sees how nervous Chi'Urvha is and reassures her, "Najwa is coming."
"Iri, Chi'chi cho nkoroq!" she says and shivers.
Najwa whispers to her, "Be calm, Chi'Chi, I am coming."
Chi'Urvha smiles shyly at Kaylus and whispers to Najwa, "Kiki."
Najwa whispers, "Nuh Khalusht Secularum uill jalla nu uhen thu lirnan nu let thuh faviraq Jov'uus ghiruq bi Tribunal." My Father Secularum will punish me when he learns I let his favorite servant be taken by the Tribunal.
Chi'Urvha, who is watching with interest as the Masters dispatch some Trolls-- creatures she would be deathly afraid of, if so many Uus'al weren't there-- has little time to ponder what her mistress says. Over a dune she spies Najwa, wreathed in the magic summoned by her song, running toward them.
"Jha, jhor," says Kaylus. Greetings, sister.
"Jha, again," answers Najwa, out of breath.
Chi'Urvha tells Najwa, "Jov, Uus Secularum shuud biit Chi'chi, insa." No, Master Secularum should beat Chi'chi, instead.
"Bho iko saavni nuh fe-jov'uus," Najwa says to Kaylus, with a bow. My thanks for saving my girl-servant.
Chi'Urvha kneels to Najwa, who casts a hard eye at her.
"Of course," Kaylus answers with a smile. "Anything for kin."
"Qhis jov'uus kham sorri, Uus Najwa," Chi'Urvha says to Najwa, tugging on her sleeve. This servant is sorry, Mistress Najwa.
Najwa sighs. "Jov ko sorri sa nu uhen Khalusht Secularum lirnan." Not so sorry as I when Secularum my Father learns. "Jha'ov, Kin," says Najwa. "Thank you again for your help." She is careful to speak so they can easily understand.
"Happy to help," says Kaylus. "No thanks needed on virakar," says Jalbar.
Najwa nudges Chi'urvha. "Thank Kaylus, Chi'Chi."
"Bhoko, Uus," says Chi'Urvha. Thank you very much, Master.
Najwa smiles and says, "Time to put the little bird back in her cage."
"Hunt well, Najwa", Jalbar says in parting.
Najwa orders Chi'Urvha to follow her and begins to sing a desert song for traveling. Magic gathers around them in a spinning light and soon they are moving swiftly over the sands.
"Uus... uhere kham nha?" Mistress... where are we?
"Qhe Vir," Najwa answers. The Sands.
Chi'Urvha nods, as if she has any clue.
"Nha gho to N'Hala," Najwa says. We go to Hate.
"Citi, N'Hala?" The city, called Hate? Even Chi'Urvha has heard tales of the City of Hate.
"Ki."
"Kiki, Uus Najwa."
Soon they approach the ruins of a great city. Huge, toppled walls and broken towers litter the landscape, much like their home only more vast in scale. The first free Irekei city since the breaking, untouched by the fir'khanim who infest and corrupt Khar Th'Sekt. The first Irekei city destroyed. N'hala; N'hala, N'koth.
They dodge between the fallen stones and emerge in the center of the once great fortress. They find a thriving tree and several impressive structures. N'hala reborn. Here they find safety and shade before returning home.