A Warrior's Path (The Castes and the OutCastes) (10 page)

She took Shalom Street to Sickle Road before going
south on Bright Rose Road.  Along the way, she came across a patrol of the City Watch – Kummas all.  The Watch, along with the Ashokan Guard and the High Army, made up the three branches of Ashoka’s military.  While the Guard and High Army had the duty of defending Ashoka in case of attack from Suwraith’s hordes of Chimeras, the Watch – far smaller at only three hundred men – was tasked with keeping the peace for the entire city and her surrounding Oasis.

Luckily, their responsibility was made easier by several simple facts.  First, if someone
committed an offense, they either paid for it with coin or with the acceptance of severe corporal punishment – or both.  Second, beyond Ashoka’s borders was the Wildness, a perilous place full of danger and death.  If someone couldn’t get along with his neighbors, his choice was simple: correct his behavior or leave the city.

As a result, c
rime was
very
rare in Ashoka.

To Mira’s way to thinking, it was
also
exactly
what the degenerate lawbreakers deserved.  The city lacked the resources to coddle the criminal.

She nodded to the patrol and set her horse to a trot.  Soon enough, she came upon the massive Inner Wall that prot
ected Ashoka proper.  The crenelated battlements soared fifty feet, and the evenly spaced towers reached up another twenty.  The wall was thick enough to allow troops to march five abreast.  Even now, warriors of the Ashokan Guard paced the wall, keeping watch over the fields and looking toward the distant outer wall.  The protection of Ashoka was a duty shared by the High Army and the Guard.  While the Guard was a reserve unit, it was also highly professional, which wasn’t a surprise since most of the ranks were filled by every able-bodied Kumma male who had completed the Trials.  The rest of their approximately 23,000 warriors were veterans from Castes Muran and Rahail with a smattering of Duriahs thrown in as well.  And though they only trained four days a month, there was little difference in quality between the Ashokan Guard and the High Army.

Mira passed into the cool shadow of the Kubar Gate, one of the three gates of the Inner Wall.  Each
gate was forty feet thick and wide enough for two large wagons to pass one another with room to spare on either side.  The gatehouse loomed above as a menacing presence with murder holes all along its length, and the heavy portcullis, made of thick ironwood, was always kept ready to crash down at a moment’s notice.

The traffic was light with only a f
ew wagons and pedestrians traveling through the gate.  Mira would have been quickly through the Kubar, but everyone had to pause and step aside for a returning Ashokan Guard patrol.  From their camouflage clothing, tired demeanor, and grimy faces, Mira guessed they must have been out in the field, scouting beyond Ashoka’s borders.  Regular reconnaissance for up to a three days journey into the Wildness was standard procedure for the Guard and the Army.  Mira studied the returning warriors and recognized a few of them from Houses Suzay and Shektan. It was Fifth Platoon – 23 men – of Third Company, Second Brigade, Third Legion. Their commander, Lieutenant Rector Bryce, saw her and saluted.

Mira waved back, more out of courtesy rather than
any real feeling of affection.  The lieutenant was someone Nanna had mentioned as a potential husband.  She wasn’t sure what she thought of the man given how little she knew him, even though, like herself, he was of House Shektan.  He’d only recently returned from his fourth and final Trial – a respectable number – choosing to settle down while he still had his health.  From what she remembered of him as a young girl before he had left Ashoka for the first time, Rector had seemed warm, generous, and lively.  Not so much now.  The lieutenant was ruggedly handsome, but his time in the Wildness had returned him weather-worn and grim.

Her N
anna wasn’t like that.  While he might have been similarly worn down by his time outside Ashoka, Nanna was still bright and cheerful.  Even with over twenty years of marriage behind them, Nanna could still make Amma smile with just a word and a glance; implying a hidden meaning only the two of them understood.  Mira wanted the kind of closeness her parents shared, and she doubted she would have it with someone like Rector Bryce.

After the Guard patrol passed by, Mira was able to quickly make her way through the Kubar, exiting back into the warm sunlight.
In the hazy distance, she saw the thin line representing the Outer Wall: the even more massive fortification bordering the very edge of Ashoka’s Oasis.  The Kubar Road continued on past the Inner Wall, still wide and true, and Mira continued on it for another few miles.  By then, most of the other travelers had already dispersed, and when she took a turnoff onto a narrow track, a path paved in gravel and barely wide enough for a single wagon, she traveled alone.

She was out amongst Ashoka’s farms
.  They took up all the space between the city’s two walls and were already verdant under the influence of the warm, spring weather.  The air was filled with the pungent smell of turned earth, manure, and hay. Gentle, rolling hills were etched in straight rows of green: wheat and soybeans, the first crops of the season, though it would still be a few months before they were ready for harvest.  The temperate climate of Ashoka allowed for three growing seasons.  One of the most important crops, though, wouldn’t be planted until well into the heat of the summer: the city’s famed spidergrass.

Since metals of any kind were scarce in all the Oases, and any ore mines were inaccessible thanks to the Queen, people had to rely on other material
s with which to make products requiring strength and hardness.  For the most part, they had turned to ironwood and spidergrass, a thin, reedy type of grass with a green blade so dark as to be almost black in color.  Despite its slender appearance it was tough and grew to over six feet in height, capped by a brilliant orange, feathery tassel.  Over time, the Muran farmers had developed several different strains of spidergrass, each one useful in a different way.  The
mericene
cultivar was used for tools such as wagon axles, nails, and hammers whereas the
japchin
was shaped into spears and arrows – shaft and tip – as well as armor.

A very special and rare variety, the
sathana
, was used for swords.

Mira had once seen the making of such a blade.

It had been the work of a Duriah smith, which was only to be expected given their Talent.  Just as no other Caste could compare to Kummas when it came to battle, Duriahs were experts in their own fields: they were unmatchable artisans.  Through their ability to Cohese, Duriahs could work with various objects and substances, transforming them into something more useful.  They had developed an innate understanding of materials and manufacturing and had become experts in the creation of everything from wagons to fine furniture to retaining walls.  Even the alchemy needed in the careful mixing of various ingredients within a glass vase until it glowed like a firefly – the eponymously named firefly lamp and the most common means of lighting throughout the world – was a skill only the Duriahs possessed.

In
the case of the
sathana
sword, the Duriah smith had Cohesed hundreds of strands of spidergrass into a thick block, a spibar.  Afterward, he had hammered the spibar flat and folded it onto itself before gently heating it, using
Jivatma
to make sure it didn’t burn.  Then came more hammering and heating. More hammering and heating.  The Duriah had kept at it for hours, forcing out all air, water, and other impurities from within the spibar.  When he was done and had forged the spidergrass block into the shape of a blade, he had then carefully glazed it with a thin, translucent layer of black ink made from the sap of the cerumen tree, which grew best in Arjun.  Next came the kiln, and when the blade came out of the oven seven days later, it had a matte black finish and in Mira’s imagination, oozed menace.

The resultant
sathana
sword, according to the Duriahs, had properties similar to those of the finest steel: hard and flexible, yet able to accept an edge sharp enough to slice a feather in mid-air.  Of course, how a spidergrass blade would really compare to a steel weapon was a question never likely to be answered.  After all, very little of that famed metal still existed, and the few remaining pieces were all priceless family heirlooms, not to be broken and wasted on foolish stress tests.

Mira pulled the mare to halt in sudden realization.  She’d never actually seen steel.  She shook her head in bemusement.

She gently heeled the mare back into motion, glancing about at the surrounding fields and their low-lying crops.  Every so often she crossed a wooden bridge spanning a stone-lined and arrow-straight stream.  The brooks were irrigation canals sourced from the Gaunt River.  They spread like veins or arteries throughout the wide area between Ashoka’s Walls and brought needed water to the farms.  The Gaunt River coursed into Ashoka’s Oasis as a powerful flood, carving a deep canyon through the heart of Mount Creolite north of the city proper before emptying into the Sickle Sea.  But with the need for water from both the surrounding fields and the city itself, the river was but a rivulet by the time it reached its delta.

Mira
crossed another bridge, entering a familiar village.  The buildings were of tan stucco and wood with roofs of yellow tile or thatch.  Most were two or three stories tall, both wide and deep with short alleys paved in brick passing between a few of the structures.  The road Mira travelled grew finer and wider, paved in crushed stone and mortar and Cohesed by a Duriah.  It became the main thoroughfare for the small but lively village.

This was a place
peopled entirely by Murans, who were tall, well-built with golden-brown skin and dark hair.  Their clothing was generally severe, dark and full length.  In addition, the men wore wide-brimmed hats and if married, grew full, thick beards.  They would have appeared grim or imposing if not for their generous smiles and their bright, lively emerald green eyes, a hallmark of their Caste.

Most Murans lived in ten such villages, each between two and five thousand, scattered throughout the land between the Inner and Outer Walls.  Where they chose to live wasn’t surprising since their Talent was the ability to bring life to most any kind of ground.  As such,
most Murans were farmers, with the men and women sharing equally in the work.  Those who didn’t live a life in the fields went on Trial, joined the High Army, or became private gardeners.  But the glory of Caste Muran was borne by those who could sing.  The finest singers were always Muran, and a Clan was highly honored if one of their own was chosen for the Larina, Ashoka’s School of Song.

Mira nodded greeting but didn’t slow or stop, and she soon left the village behind her.  Once more, the road became gravel, her horse’s hooves crunching loudly.  She passed a field where a small herd of cows munched contentedly
.  Further in the distance, she saw men and women walking the fields, examining the crops for pests or blight.

The road rose into a series of low, rolling hills, which let her know she was nearing her destination: a
sathana
spidergrass plantation, co-owned by House Suzay and Clan Weathervine of Caste Muran.  Several Suzays had recently graduated from the Fort and Sword, the martial school favored by their House and all of them required an
Insufi
blade – the sword given during the
Upanayana
ceremony.  It was the religious rite which
represented the transformation of a boy into a man and consecrated a young Kumma to his duties.  It was a holy ritual, sacred to Devesh, and even though most members of her Caste weren’t religious – unlike the Murans who, along with the Shiyens, were the most devout of all of them – the
Upanayana
was a ceremony no Kumma would think to disregard.

She pulled her attention back to the road when she saw the turnoff, kneeing the mare onto a gravel drive.  The small lane was lined with thick, lush azaleas in bloom; pink, red,
and white, and Mira breathed in their seductive fragrance.  The drive continued toward a large barn in the distance, but a brick footpath also curled to the left, ending in front of a large, two-story house with yellow clapboard siding and a large, wraparound porch.  The roof was shingled with cedar shakes, and a set of chimes gently jingled in the mild breeze.  It was a typical Muran dwelling, in which several generations of a Clan shared the same home.

Mira dismounted
and tied her mare to a nearby rail before passing through a small gate into the fenced yard.  Within, chickens roamed, clucking as they ran alongside her.  Mira walked up the stairs, onto the large, neat and tidy front porch.  Near the door, several green rocking chairs were arranged around a small, round ironwood table upon which a glass of tea gathered condensation.  From inside, a sweet contralto voice sang a song of glory to the sun and rain.

Mira knocked on the door.

A woman in her mid-sixties answered.  Like all Muran, she had emerald green-eyes and golden-brown skin.  Her once dark hair was mostly gray now and her face was lined with wrinkles, a reflection of a life spent outdoors.  She still stood straight and tall, almost able to look Mira in the eyes.

“Mistress Shull,” Mira said with a nod.  “It is good to see you again.”