Chapter 26

Ishar wore nothing beneath his grey cloak and the gaping hole in the garment courtesy of Sergeant Goki's spear allowed for the cold night's breeze to sink into Ishar's flesh. He shivered as he tried to match the pace of the soldiers surrounding him and he felt a pang of hunger too. "Mairek, have you any food left?" Ishar asked. Mairek walked beside him, his friend hadn't said a word since the Green Army had joined them on their journey, choosing instead to stoop and hunch his shoulders in a visible effort not to be noticed. Mairek carried Ishar's makeshift bag and his own, he had taken it upon himself to do so in order to prevent Ishar any unnecessary movement that may tamper with the bird shit smeared over his head and face.

"There's some bread." Mairek replied.

Ishar shivered and wrapped his arms around himself to ward off the cold. "Give me some." He answered.

"No." Mairek replied.

"What?" Ishar asked.

"Eating might mess with the layout of bird droppings upon you." Mairek said. "We need it to be as accurately displayed as the Gods intended for it so the seer can be able to decipher it as accurately as possible."

They were climbing up a hill that seemed to be one among hundreds they'd climbed and descended. Ishar stopped walking and everyone else stopped too. "I am hungry Mairek!" Ishar said, anger touched at his words and Mairek took a step back. "I'm hungry and I don't care about the bird shit, it's just shit! There's no divine meaning to it, there's no Gods trying to send a message! You Talisi are so superstitious for a people who have forgotten their own Gods!"

Both Mairek's hands held the bedsheets that wrapped their belongings and food. He let go of them and they hit the ground with a thud! The makeshift bags rolled down the steep slope of the hill until one of the soldiers stopped them with his foot three paces down the hill. Mairek's hands clenched into fists and he took a step towards Ishar, he pointed at him. "You..Y..Y.. You!" He stuttered and poked Ishar's chest with his index finger "You've killed us Ishar! Can't you see that? The only thing keeping us alive is that bird shit! By the Gods man can't you take this seriously?"

"Killed us? How have I killed us? We aren't in danger Mairek!" Ishar pointed at the soldiers surrounding them. "They are the ones in danger, not us!" The soldiers shifted their feet nervously and a couple of them tilted their spears towards Ishar. Dhiliaf who'd stayed closest to Ishar throughout the journey took a step away from him. "Look around you Mairek!" Ishar continued. "Can't you smell it? Can't you sense it? Can you not see the fear? It's like sheep before a Yendw wolf, Mairek, and let me tell you, we aren't the sheep."

"There's something wrong with you Ishar-" Mairek started.

"Godsdammit of course there is! I'm fucking hungry!" Ishar replied.

"Hey Yendw wolf!" Sergeant Goki called from the crest of the hill. Everyone turned to face him. "We have arrived. You shall eat after the Entrail Seer sees you."

Everyone mastered their last bit of energy and scaled the hill to its summit. Ishar's eyes widened as he took in what he saw, before him was the largest stretch of level land he had ever seen. There wasn't a single hill in sight save the one they stood on and for miles out the Ganidan plain was washed in the golden glow of lit torches and green tents that looked black beneath the stars. Despite the numerous number of tents and glowing torches, the larger portion of the plain was bare for as far as the eye could see in the dim light offered by the constellations.

"Those are a lot of people." Mairek commented standing beside Ishar, he was hunched under the weight of the makeshift bags he'd recovered.

"Fourty thousand Talisi Green Army, two hundred Red priests, the royals and their entourage, five thousand women taken from five hundred villages and towns and one Entrail Seer." Goki said.

"How can we find Niada in all this?" Ishar asked aloud.

"Who?" Goki asked.

"Ahmmm, Sergeant sir, I think it's best if we find the Entrail Seer and get this over with, my friend starts muttering random nonsense on an empty stomach." Mairek said.

Sergeant Goki nodded and started descending the hill with everyone following close behind him. Instead of heading straight into the numerous clusters of tents they instead crested the outskirts of them, heading to the west and walking behind the tents that formed the outer ring of the densely populated stretch of land. They walked for what seemed like half an hour, slowly distancing themselves from the tents and the torch lights that accompanied them.

Ishar walked directly behind Sergeant Goki and when he turned his face to the right he met eyes with Dhiliaf whose eyes seemed to be glued to him. "What are you looking at?" Ishar asked the big man.

Dhiliaf grunted. "You're very small yet you carry yourself with the attitude of one who can crush mountains."

"And you're very big yet you carry yourself with the attitude of one trapped beneath one." Ishar replied.

Dhiliaf seemed to ponder over something, turning the thought around in his mind with the aim of judging whether it was worthy or not of touching his tongue. After a while he spoke. "Do you get such confidence from the Goddess Meena?" 

"Who?" Ishar asked.

"The Goddess Meena."

"Oh, you mean the bitch you worship who gave the Binorians power to shit on you and take whatever they wanted from you including the daughters of your land?" Ishar asked. Sergeant Goki turned his head to observe Ishar from the corner of his eye, Ishar felt the man's attention on him but it didn't carry any hostility, instead he felt mild curiosity from Goki mingled with…Was that respect?

Dhiliaf didn't answer Ishar, instead he fell silent and for the first time turned his eyes away from him but not before Ishar saw the shame in them. Ishar wondered where they were heading to as they drifted further away from the tents when he was hit by the stench of rotting meat. After a while he was able to make out a tent before him from where the stench came. The solitary tent had a faint orange glow emanating from its half opened flap and Ishar knew that they'd arrived at their destination.

"Can't ever get used to the stench." Said one of the soldiers, he was a skinny man of medium height with knobbed fingers that fidgeted with the spear they held.

"Shut up Memo." Said another soldier who was six feet tall with very shaggy white hair and an unkempt white beard.

"I'm just saying, it wouldn't hurt if -" Goki held up a fist as they neared the tent and Memo went silent. Everybody stopped moving, forcing Ishar and Mairek to follow suit. Goki took a couple of steps forward towards the entrance of the tent while everyone else remained standing at attention save Mairek who was hunched under the load of bedsheet bags and Ishar who was rubbing at his arms in an effort to warm himself.

"Kenne!" Goki called. "We've got something you should see."

Shuffling could be heard from within the tent then a croaky voice answered. "Alas! You have the anomaly with you. I've been expecting him."

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