City

Chapter 33: City

Xin woke up with tremble; his eyes met the stripes-riddled sky. Stretching his stiff neck, he crossed his legs and looked around. Trees and bushed were crawling around their wagon. The light-brown newborn road was splashing under the wheels. There was a rain recently, and forest dries long.

The boy crawled out of his cage and breathed moist air. Lightly he touched his chest. Still a bit achy, but times better than how it was before. Their travel has only been going for about two weeks, far from enough to heal this wound without any medicaments, but his miraculous ability deserved its adjective. He felt a slight shiver just imagining how would he have faired without it.

"Tub!"

The wagon run into another hummock. They were rarer and rarer now that they were closing to the mysterious beast-city; somehow, it was disappointing for Xin who previously was training his balance with them.

"We will be there soon." Said the grey wolf, Mo Guang, sitting behind the reins lead by two big black wolves. No matter how much he was looking at that scene, Xin was still finding it ludicrous.

"Woke up your master." Said the wolf with an unusual rise in his tone, maybe even excitement.

Xin turned his head to the cage covered with cloth.

Cages… Mo Guang said that it is the only wagon they had, for rare and little beasts; well, Xin couldn't say the cages weren't comfortable, there was a layer of gentle grass laid. Still, that was he. To be honest, Xin felt that these days his living condition was degrading so fast that at some point he might be happy eating insects and sleeping in hollows. Maha, in turn, had bit reluctant look on her face when first seeing their "carriage"; probably bad memories.

He took the cloth off and patted the girl's shoulder. Immediately her eyes opened with yellow shine.

"What time is it now?" Sounded, or rather just appeared in his mind.

"Morning, he said to wake you up." He thought in turn; Maha briefly glanced at the wolf.

"Good." She shined.

"Do you remember how should you act?"

"Yes." The boy almost rolled his eyes but quickly restrained himself. Honestly, now that he was almost alone with Maha, - for Mo Guang rarely interacted with them- he found out she really liked to impose rules. Stricter than Shan.

"I don't know how strong their leader is, but I do not believe he can see that you lack Demonic Crystal. If you don't speak about the Empire, you should be safe."

Her tone was also pressingly formal. Nevertheless, he still felt bad for complaining like that, even in his mind. Because he knew, she does it for his good.

"Here it is!" The wolf suddenly stood up and jumped to the ground. "Splash!" For the first time, he looked so lively. Xin and the girl followed his fervent gaze. Their wagon was at the edge of a hillock, overlooking a vast and shockingly deforested plain with two intersecting rivers. Everything was in fog, wait, no, it was smoke. Many bonfires were on the ground, half-finished buildings both of stone and wood riddled the ground. The work was boiling. From this height, Xin could see only slowly moving black dots, but these dots were of different size. How many kinds of beasts were there? And how many of what he thought as buildings were beasts?

"City, the first city." The wolf showed something similar to a smile.

"See, Demons, we also can do it…"

Xin felt strange. It was certainly impressive, for before it was unheard of animals building something so… large. Even more impressive is that they were working together on that, Ying Zheng said that cooperation is a rare occasion reserved for wars.

So, good for them? Yes, but, they are enemies, right? They have injured brother Hao, they… He shook he head. Too complicated to think in the morning.

Maha nodded.

"I can't say I am not surprised. You did good work." Though her words, Maha was still rather calm in her judgment.

"It isn't Us, it's my brother." Mo Guang closed his eyes.

"He will lead us toward prosperity, against humans." He clenched his clawless palm.

"Let's go, he wants to meet you."

Slowly the carriage headed down. Wolves were really good mounts, fast and agile, but Xin wasn't stupid to say it. Looking at the city getting nearer and neared, he also felt a trace of excitement. It will be his first time in a big urban center, surely unforgettable experience. Although it wasn't how he imagined it would be, however, well, you can never guess the future.

"Toward the shore, but into the depth…"

Soon they passed a still growing stonewall. He knew that people use winches to build them, but beasts had a different way. A large furless animal with a long trunk was lifting baskets of rubble unto the wall. And it wasn't alone. Other of its, and even different kinds were helping with the construction. Xin looked into one of the pots where water was heating to be poured into holes full of mortar. Before twitching his face out of the burning-hot fog, he saw a glowing red crocodile inside.

It was very busy, everyone was engrossed in work, but still, some animals were paying attention to them. However, not aloud. First, they were looking at him and Maha, then the wolf, and then they were eagerly returning to the masonry. Seems like Mo Guang had… some reputation here. No one dared to even greet him.

Xin saw many different animals. The most common were Something-man, but four-legged were also present. Red-white-red baboon with the name respective to the coloring of the body, winged giant mantis, purple-yellow butterfly...

Also, some beast that he couldn't make up a name for like an octopus with snakes instead of tentacles.

"I smell… Human?" Suddenly a large pond of mud trembled; a giant mountain as if rose from it and opened its mouth full of brown teeth.

"Where!?" Sounded a deep female voice and the beast leaned its large muddy head toward Xin. The boy abruptly stepped back and put his hands on his sabre. The wolves leading the carriage growled but crouched.

"Stop it, Lo, they with me." Rang the gentle voice of the wolf who raised his hand. The beast stepped back dripping the mud outside the pond.

"Master Guang?!" Its slow and monotone voice was indescribably nervous.

"Forgive me…" The mountain of mud leaned down.

"It's nothing." The wolf waved his palm and the beast immediately submerged into the pond.

Xin wiped greyish substance from his cheek and looked at the wolf.

He felt that that beast was… afraid of him? Now looking around, it was almost unnatural how hard working the animals are, and how they are avoiding looking at them or asking any questions. Why Mo Guang had such bad reputation? He was quite calm and collected during their journey. That hive-like beast and the lizard had similar reactions, too.

"Forgive her; they can't see the difference between your kind and humans." The wolf shook his head.

"Many older beasts, like Lo, saw the invasion with their eye. They are very sensitive because of it, you shouldn't be angry with them."

"I understand." Maha slightly nodded.

"Thank you."

"The invasion?"

Xin finally couldn't endure and asked. He also concentrated on the wolf, partly to see his expression and partly to avoid the piercing look of Maha.

"Yes, young demon, you don't know. It happened many years ago; the humans, race from the west, entered our lands and started pillaging, hunting, destroying. No one was ready, there wasn't even such a thing as "we". Only many families and tribes. The first alliance was made, but what it was? Spiteful mess." The wolf clenched his teeth.

"We lost, we ran, lived in fear that one day they will come again. But then, my brother changed it." Like always, that topic made the wolf's eyes shine.

"He… you will see. There is his residence."

Xin stood up to see beyond the wolf's back. It wasn't as impressive as he thought, a circle of stone stairs leading toward a stone building of about three meters. Not much higher than his late mansion.

"A demon like you may see it as humble, but one day, this place will be holy."

"My brother always says: it isn't appearance, but meaning what makes something."