Revelations

For several hours the small group had taken their break at the lake, which was far outside Jarifa. As Zhèngyi had expected, it didn't seem that Xianzhu had his men looking for the three of them so far out of town.

"I think we have our peace from him," Kiyu said when they were all around the campfire they had made in the evening. "Who are we too? Three kids who caused a little chaos."

Now that she thought about the past situation in retrospect, her fear seemed so ridiculous. The fear that lord Xianzhu would mobilize entire masses of troops just to bring the three to their just punishment.

"But I wonder about one thing," Laki, who had been cuddling up to Kiyu, expressed. "lord Xianzhu seemed to have come from out of town. Why wasn't he in Jarifa from the start as a city lord?"

"True..." added Kiyu, who had been asking herself the same question.

How was it that Tānlán had wreaked havoc in the city for so long? After all, Xianzhu had not approved of his representative's behavior either and even wanted to have him executed for it.

"You don't know?" asked Zhèngyi, looking at the two with upturned eyes.

"Know what?" wondered Kiyu, who got confused by her friend's statement. Had they missed anything that was quite obvious?

"What do you know about Xianzhu, anyway?" asked Zhèngyi, who by now had leaned over to be a little closer to the other two.

"Well..." hesitated Kiyu. "All we know is that he bought the position as Jarifa's city lord and set very strict rules. At least that's what Jorgas and Durgo told us."

"Who are.... nevermind," Zhèngyi replied, confused. "It's true that Xianzhu bought his position with money," he explained.

"But it's not just Jarifa." He now added in a sharper tone, clarifying that he was in no mood to joke.

"What do you mean?" Laki and Kiyu looked at each other in wonder. They knew nothing about Xianzhu, especially what he was up to deeper in the country.

"Well." Zhèngyi said, "Xianzhu has built up great wealth and bought cities all over the country. Jarifa is sort of just a village to him. A small region."

"There hasn't been a ruler in Purista for 187 years, but if there were to be one, Xianzhu would be one of the few contenders for the position."

"Purista?" asked Kiyu, looking at Laki, who, however, also just shrugged.

Zhèngyi, who had witnessed the cluelessness of the two, was more than just surprised, as he had stared over at the two with his mouth open for a few moments, at a loss for words.

"You don't even know the name of this kingdom?" he exclaimed in shock. "Where are you guys from again?"

"Harios," Laki murmured, squeezing tighter into Kiyu's arms, who then hugged her.

"Harios was a tiny fishing village in the north of Jarifa. Just two days from here," Kiyu told him. "It was the last village before the sea. After that, it only goes by boat. But it was not a big village. Most people were fishers, and we never had much contact with other villages or towns."

"I see" replied Zhèngyi, staring at the ground. "That explains a lot. Hmmm."

The fire crackled away, and they all looked to the ground in silence until Zhèngyi lashed out again.

"Well, let me bring you up to date," he announced, clenching a fist. "Where best to start.... ah!"

"Well, as I mentioned earlier, the kingdom's name we're in is Purista. Purista used to be a great kingdom, but because of humans being drawn into Avescar, there have always been periods of stability and periods of unrest." He explained, looking at Kiyu and Laki.

"Right now, you could say Purista is in a period of unrest. There has not been a king for 187 years, and no man since then has solidified his power in his lifetime in such a way that he could have become an unchallenged ruler. But even far before we were born, there were more smaller regions that governed themselves."

Kiyu suspected he included the brief pause after that to make sure she and Laki understood everything as well. It was indeed a lot of additional information for them, and difficult to process.

"Meanwhile, there are few autonomous regions left. A few powerful people have brought the other realms of Purista under their control and have been fighting for the supremacy of Purista ever since." he continued. "And lord Xianzhu is one of those few individuals whose network and power is so entrenched that he has a real chance for the title of king."

Only now did Laki and Kiyu understand what kind of man they had been messing with. That their opponent was no ordinary city lord, they had noticed in the fight with him. But even in the fight, he had held back so as not to burn down his own city.

She felt sick to her stomach at the thought of what he would have been capable of if he had not cared about the lives of the inhabitants. She wouldn't be sitting around the campfire with Laki and Zhèngyi now.

"I understand," Kiyu replied, half of which felt like a lie.

She had processed the information so far, but was she able to grasp the magnitude of it? However, letting it intimidate her did her no good.

"How do you know so much, Zhèngyi? You've been living in Jarifa all your life, too, haven't you?" she asked him, awaiting his answer.

"Merchants." he replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Xianzhu has always ensured a certain balance of wealth in his realms, so he issued many trade decrees. As a result, many merchants from different places came to Jarifa. I overheard them."

That explained a lot! But it also meant something else.

"We can't show our faces anywhere where Xianzhu is in control," Kiyu whispered. "How many cities are there in this region of Purista and how many of them does Xianzhu control?" she wanted to know, upset.

"I'm not sure," he replied.

"But the further inland we get, the worse it gets. As far as I know, there are only a few independent cities in the north, and I don't think they ever mattered to Xianzhu. And there are many of his political opponents lurking in the south, west and east. But we would have to get there first."

"Are there any independent cities here, then?" asked Laki, who must have also been well aware of the extent of their situation.

Zhèngyi shook his head and lowered his head. "The nearest town is Oras, it is behind the mountains by the sea. As far as I know, ships leave from there to many areas of Purista. From there we might escape by ship to the next larger city with a bigger port and a ride to another kingdom, but...."

"But Xianzhu will have us search in Oras as well, won't he?" completed Laki's sentence, staring into the mountains. "So there's a risk of getting caught."

Zhèngyi nodded at her.

"I see." Kiyu tried to go through all the options left to them, but the outlook was bleak.

A spirit destroyed Harios along with its dock, and few merchants approached Harios, anyway. Jarifa was not an option anymore, and if they would follow the road to the south, the chance was high to meet soldiers of Xianzhu or in other towns that belonged to him.

'One city alone is dangerous enough.' Entering Oras and finding a ship to take them was dangerous. But crossing several villages and towns on foot was a far more hopeless situation for them.

"We can't go south on foot," she summarized. "There is too much danger of running into Xianzhu soldiers on the trails, or of being discovered in every single town."

"I suggest we make our way to Oras and try our luck with a ship heading south!"

It was risky, but the only way out for them.

"Unless you don't agree?" she asked the group, looking at the faces of her friends.

They both nodded in agreement. There was no other alternative for the group, anyway. But one thing remained to be clarified.

"Do you know the way through the mountains?" she asked, looking into Zhèngyi's eyes.

"Better yet!" he grinned. "I know a smuggler's route. Far away from guards and soldiers. We can move there without danger."

"An unknown smuggler's route?" wondered Kiyu. It was almost too good to be true. As if some supreme being had looked at their suffering and decided it was time for the group to have some luck, too.

"Alright then, that's settled!" she said, "Tomorrow we'll head to Oras and take a ship south!"