The Pursuit (6)
Without needing to prepare, Ondalan and Arnat headed straight for the royal palace. Crossing the majestic grounds and finishing the customary greetings with the royal guards took less than thirty minutes. Upon arriving at the throne room, the two were taken aback to find the throne empty. It was then that a voice reached them.
“Please, follow me.”
One of the handmaidens serving the King led them with a polite bow.
Passing through the throne room, they were guided to the garden at the rear.
Erdil stood before a fountain carved with luxurious designs, in front of a pond where marble steps allowed water to flow in tiers. In Cellabris, a region defined by the desert, this was an incredibly extravagant structure.
“You have come?”
“The children of the Gravekeeper pay their respects to Your Majesty.”
Ondalan and Arnat bowed their heads, bringing their staffs together with both hands and lightly tapping the ground.
Erdil scattered the last of the breadcrumbs in his hand into the water. Fish with smooth scales and fins began to eat the crumbs from the surface, mouths gasping. One of them leaped above the water and splashed back down.
“Raise your heads.”
It was the King’s command. The two lifted their heads.
“Do you know why I have summoned you?”
The King’s words were abrupt. Ondalan opened his mouth.
“Forgive my presumption, Your Majesty, but I surmise it is to hold us accountable for the failure of this National Soul Festival.”
“Correct.”
Ondalan and Arnat’s faces stiffened. As expected. The King did not hold them in high regard. The authority of the Gravekeeper family came from their duty to attend to the King’s death and to fulfill the responsibility of connecting the next King to the gods. But they had failed to do so.
“You are already aware that your father, Hartras, has been thrown into prison.”
Erdil rubbed his fingers over the staff Ondalan was holding.
“This staff is your duty and your symbol. To lead the King and his followers to the gods, and to ensure the gods, satisfied with the offering of the soul, return to promise their grace to the next King. That is the Gravekeeper. However, what must be done if that guidance is refused? Answer me, sons of the Gravekeeper.”
Ondalan lowered his gaze and spoke.
“To not follow the Gravekeeper’s guidance during the National Soul Festival is an act of disloyalty, as one has not followed the King they served, and it is also evidence of apostasy, for they have forsaken the gods. In such a case, the Gravekeeper has the right to hunt them down, pass judgment, and rectify the failed ritual.”
“Yes. You know well. That is the final right I can grant you.”
The two brothers gritted their teeth. It was the worst possible turn of events. Even if the National Soul Festival hadn’t failed, they would have faced scrutiny, but because Erdil’s succession was already marred by the Prince’s escape, he was openly showing hostility toward the Peanus family.
This might not be apparent to the public, but rumors spread subtly no matter how much one tries to control them. Now that a problem had occurred with the National Soul Festival, which had been maintained for thousands of years, the repercussions would manifest in one way or another once the final seven-day ritual concluded.
“Are you telling us to dispose of the one who refused?”
“Yes. Have you heard who escaped from the tomb?”
Noticing Ondalan’s hesitation, Erdil added in a stern voice.
“I know you went to the prison to see your father. You must have heard something. Tell the truth.”
“……Yes. My father said that Prince Akasa, the son of the late King, has escaped.”
“If you know who it is, catching him shouldn’t be difficult.”
Inside his heart, Ondalan screamed at the top of his lungs.
‘Your Majesty. That child is your nephew!’
“You seem to have something you want to say?”
“Nothing…… at all.”
But those words, and that look, could not draw out any agitation from Erdil.
Unlike his brother, Arnat was merely casting his gaze at the King’s feet with coldly sunken eyes.
“You say nothing.”
The King’s gaze suddenly turned to Arnat.
Ondalan was slightly flustered, but he kept his head bowed without even glancing to the side. Then, Arnat spoke.
“I apologize if my silence was unpleasant, Your Majesty. Since the words and authority of our house belong to the eldest, I simply intended to wait quietly.”
A flicker of interest crossed Erdil’s eyes for a moment. Looking down at Arnat’s head, Erdil said abruptly.
“You are the one who will go.”
“Your Majesty……?”
Ondalan lifted his head.
“This is the first royal decree I issue to the Gravekeeper family since my ascension, and at the same time, it is an opportunity I grant you. Your father has been imprisoned for the crime of failing to see the National Soul Festival through to the end, but he may be released thanks to his son’s merit.”
Arnat lifted his gaze and asked.
“Are you saying…… you can release my father?”
“It is a royal decree. There is no reversing it. However, the crime your father committed is deep and great. To reflect on that failure and the responsibility for this incident, the one who begins the pursuit must never step foot on the desert sands until the objective is achieved. That is the condition I set. Will you accept it?”
“If my father can be released, what does such a condition matter?”
Erdil nodded solemnly and commanded Arnat, not Ondalan.
“Go and capture the traitor of the kingdom. Son of the Gravekeeper.”
Arnat bowed, putting strength into the hands gripping his upright staff.
“I accept Your Majesty’s command.”
***
“This is madness!”
Ondalan shouted at Arnat, who was packing his belongings. Watching his brother, Arnat replied with an indifferent face.
“It’s a royal decree, brother.”
There was almost nothing to pack. A bit of emergency rations, water, a camel to ride to the edge of the desert, a change of clothes, and his staff—the weapon used by the Gravekeepers.
Watching his younger brother pack so swiftly, Ondalan felt his insides drying up. The King had given Arnat a day’s grace before leaving.
Yet, Arnat was packing as if he wanted to leave this very instant.
“Do you think this is right?”
Arnat’s hands paused. He sighed and looked at his brother.
“Right or wrong isn’t what matters. If it’s wrong, are you going to disobey a royal decree? Who was it that was lecturing me about the crime of lese-majeste earlier?”
Ondalan said.
“Still, something is wrong with this. Akasa is the son of the late King, and he is His Majesty’s nephew. A prince is not an object of loyalty to a King. You can’t apply such things to family, to father and son. And yet, to hunt him down on charges of disloyalty……”
“That was just something I said because that’s what His Majesty wanted to hear.”
Ondalan’s face brightened as he said.
“The fact that you say that means you know this is wrong! And yet you still intend to leave? Do you truly intend to catch that young child and see him killed?”
“As I said. It’s a royal decree.”
“Look me in the eye and say that.”
Arnat turned and met Ondalan’s gaze directly.
He was always like this—a truly clean and clear person. Perhaps that was the normal way to be. The brother he knew was a kind-hearted person who had shed tears for the late Prince Akasa even the day after the ritual ended.
But at the very least, he was not that kind of person.
“And our father is supposed to spend the rest of his life imprisoned because of that little prince?”
“That is……”
Ondalan was choked by his brother’s words. It was as Arnat said. If Akasa died, their father would be released. But conversely, if Akasa was not caught, the King’s clutches would gradually spread to the entire Gravekeeper family. The noose was already tightened.
Arnat was the only one who had obtained the right to remove it.
“Brother. I truly love your kind heart. But I hope you don’t follow the path of a good-natured person who is full of kindness but cannot take responsibility. I mean that sincerely.”
Because of this, Arnat felt a certain gratitude that the King had given him the command. If it were his kind-hearted brother, unless he found Akasa and persuaded him to return, he might have chosen to live the rest of his life unable to return to his homeland.
“But to leave so suddenly like this. It’s too cruel that you can’t return until the mission is complete. It makes no sense for you to bear that responsibility alone!”
“It’s better that I go. I’ve always been the one drifting on the outside. And it’s not just me bearing the responsibility.”
“What?”
“You are the one who must stay here, strengthen our foundation, and attend to Father. That is right.”
“You……”
“If His Majesty had tried to send you, I would have said I would go instead. Nothing would have changed.”
At his deep-thinking brother’s words, Ondalan’s eyes eventually moistened.
“There is nothing that takes precedence over duty. Brother. Except for one thing.”
“What is that?”
“Family.”
Holding the staff he had used for half his life horizontally, Arnat lightly draped the Pipunbok (wind-shielding garment) he had been holding over his shoulders. It was a special item made of fabric imbued with essence, protecting him from sandstorms and the humidity of the night. Watching Arnat mount the camel, Ondalan looked at him with eyes full of complex emotions, then finally sighed and said.
“Go safely. May your journey be filled with good fortune.”
“Thank you. Please take care of the family and Father while I’m gone.”
“Yes. If something happens, I will send a message to Hesno. You’ve had some exchanges with the martial artists there.”
Arnat nodded, stepped into the stirrup, and mounted the camel.
“Let’s go, you beast.”
“Gwooo-!”
Watching his brother’s back as he slowly left footprints in the sand, Ondalan gently wiped his blurred eyes with his fingers.
Not long after, his brother’s figure disappeared beyond the dunes, into the shimmering heat haze.
***
Akasa fell into deep thought. The information the god had revealed was shocking enough to make a young boy contemplate for a long time.
“Uncle Erdil……?”
[Well, it’s obvious, but you wouldn’t have known. There was no reason for Erdil to show his hand to you. Anyway, that’s not what’s important here. For Erdil to face the final National Soul Festival, he needed to conclude it successfully. After all, everything must be finished properly to start the next thing well. But because Hartras tried to save you, everything went wrong.]
Akasa asked in a hurried tone.
“What did my father do? What kind of contract did he make with you, Urnil……”
[Simply put, he wanted me to leave Cellabris.]
“Pardon?”
Akasa’s eyes widened.
[It’s only natural, as the distribution of essence within Cellabris had weakened significantly. Even if he filled it with the National Soul Festival, there was a limit. The dryness of the desert was becoming visible little by little even during Hartras’s reign. Have you ever heard people say that an oasis disappeared or dried up somewhere?]
“I’m not well-versed in such things……”
[Well, you might not know. You’re still young. Anyway. Your father was the best among the kings I frequently communicated with. So he knew that I wasn’t very satisfied here. Because the essence was lacking day by day. So he proposed a contract. He asked what I thought about using you as a vessel and leaving the desert. I readily accepted.]
Urnil added with a giggle.
[In the first place, he had known for a long time that Erdil didn’t think much of the National Soul Festival. For Hartras, who loved you, it was a gamble worth taking.]
“Father……”
Akasa, whose eyes were welling up with tears, wiped them with his wrist. Then, a question popped into his head.
“But Urnil. What does it mean that you used me as a vessel? You’re in the bracelet right now, aren’t you?”
[Ah, about that. Honestly, I was slightly tricked by Hartras.]
“Tricked?”
Akasa’s mouth fell open in surprise.
[Originally, I planned to reside directly within your spirit. But Hartras, perhaps wanting to resurrect you ‘completely,’ made something in secret from me. Using the Sacred Sand (Seongsa) used in the National Soul Festival. The bracelet you are wearing is exactly that. It is called Karmatio.]
“Karmatio.”
Akasa repeated the name and looked down at the bracelet he was wearing. The bracelet, made of sand that seemed to flow slowly, looked more mysterious the more he looked at it. The bracelet spoke.
[Well, so I saved you, but I couldn’t enter your body and ended up in this bracelet, you see.]
“I’m sorry!”
[Hm?]
“My father…… played a trick on you, Urnil!”
[Hahaha. Are you worried about me? How cute. But it’s fine. For me, location doesn’t hold much meaning. Rather, your father’s earnest heart is worthy of praise.]
“But that is, that is toward you……”
[An act of apostasy against me? Because he tricked me?]
“Uh, yes.”
[Well. If you call that apostasy, should I be angry about it?]
“Pardon?”
[The rules for serving me weren’t created by you, were they? I restore the essence of the Cellabris region and watch over it. And you become my offerings for that sake. Isn’t that right?]
“Uh……”
[To put it the other way around, even if your uncle says he will regain the glory of the past, he said he would get rid of the National Soul Festival, which is the ritual for me. If we’re talking about acts of apostasy against a god, shouldn’t I be punishing your uncle?]
“Then…… are you not angry?”
[Yes. So don’t be so scared.]
Only then did Akasa let out a sigh of relief. The god residing within the bracelet was far more benevolent than he had thought.
[For now, let’s ponder how to get out of this desert. Is the place where the ferryman docks still far?]
“I see them here and there…… but I don’t know if they are the ferrymen of the sun.”
Just then, the boy’s body suddenly stiffened.
[Akasa?]
Despite Urnil’s question, Akasa didn’t answer and quickly blended into the crowd of people nearby.
Desert soldiers were walking toward them from the opposite direction.