Four #2
Walking into Irrikah was like walking into another world, an idea that sounded strangely familiar, as if Raithe might’ve told
me that before. Ironically, I felt the loss of his presence even more keenly, wishing he was here to share his city with me.
We crossed a gently arching bridge over a river and entered the oasis-like city of the iylvahn. Everywhere I looked, I saw
different shades of green, with vivid splashes of color scattered throughout. Emerald and pink, white, yellow, purple, and
every shade in between. The roads were shaded with trees, leaves rustling overhead. Birdsong echoed in the approaching dusk,
and I caught glimpses of brilliantly colored creatures flitting through the branches. No drab dust sparrows here. Everything
about Irrikah was alive, elegant, beautiful. The vines and flowers, though they grew everywhere, were not wild or tangled
but carefully maintained to look as natural yet as pleasing as possible. Even the structures and bridges seemed hand-carved
out of stone, their walls lovingly shaped, as if designed by the will of a talented giant.
And then, of course, there were the iylvahn.
No one openly stared as we made our way up the winding streets and across whimsical curving bridges hundreds of feet in the
air. There was no blatant gawking, no whispers that followed us down the paths. But the presence of the iylvahn was unmistakable.
They were everywhere, walking down the roads or standing in doorways, their pale eyes glowing in the shade cast by overhanging
branches. They were all different, and yet, like the stories in Kovass said, they were universally tall, graceful, and beautiful.
They moved through their city like songs in motion, not a single movement wasted or clunky. As if they knew everything had
been designed for them and they were part of this surreal, glorious landscape.
I felt even more grubby and out of place, a common dust sparrow surrounded by elegant peafowl. The urge to disappear, to slip
away and hide in the shadows, rose up stronger than ever, but there was no place I could run to. Drawing further into my hood,
I kept walking, following our guides up the winding streets, past shimmering waterfalls and through tunnels of vegetation,
toward the enormous palace at the summit of the mountain.
Halek drew close and gently bumped my shoulder with his own. “Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” he whispered. “I’ve wanted to see
the hidden city ever since I heard the stories as a boy. I spent years looking for information about it—poems, stories, pictures—but
there was nothing. Not even a limerick.”
“That’s because no one remembers the city,” I said, making his eyebrows shoot up.
“Raithe told me as much, before we came here. He said it’s part of the magic the queen uses to keep her people safe.
Once we leave, our memories of what happened in the city will fade.
That’s why outsiders know of Irrikah, but no one remembers how to get there or even where in the Maze it is. ”
“Really.” Halek’s brow furrowed. “So, we’re going to lose all our memories of what we do in Irrikah, huh? Kind of a shame—memories
are all I keep of a place. Ah, well.” He sighed. “It was good while it lasted. Maybe someday I’ll find my way back.”
“It makes you wonder, though.” Kysa’s voice echoed behind me. The insect rider had dismounted from Rhyne at the gates, perhaps
not wanting to be the only one riding through the city atop a giant rock beetle, or maybe she wanted to be physically closer
to us. “Irrikah has existed for hundreds of years,” Kysa went on. “Surely there have been visitors, scholars, or even curious
minds, who have jotted down their experiences while in the city. And yet there are no books written about it, no journals,
not even vague sketches. No physical evidence of Irrikah outside the Maze. How is that possible? Unless the queen sends her
kahjai to take back anything that might unravel Irrikah’s mystery and silence any who would speak of it.”
The cold in my stomach spread to the rest of my body. Had Raithe ever done that? The kahjai were the assassins of the queen,
sent to remove the “weak threads” from the Weave at her command. I wondered if Raithe had ever been tasked to silence someone
who knew too much about Irrikah, because the queen demanded her city, her people, and her own existence be kept a secret.
“Hmm,” Halek mused. “Maybe I won’t compose a poem about the wonders of Irrikah, after all.”
We were fast reaching the summit, and the amount of vegetation and waterfalls only seemed to increase the closer we got to
the palace. After ascending a set of curving steps to the final terrace, we ducked through an arch and stepped into a magnificent
garden. The air was nearly overpowering with the scent of flowers, and petals rained down on us from overhead branches, drifting
to the cobbles like ash. A strange, spindly creature peered down at me from a limb, looking almost like a tiny furry human
with a long, slinky tail. It gave a strange hooting cry, before it leaped into the branches and vanished from sight. From
a cluster of flowers, a jewel-bright bird barely the size of my thumb zipped through the air to hover in front of me, its
wings moving too fast to be seen. Halek, a huge smile on his face, raised a gloved hand to the tiny creature. The bird zipped
up to him and hovered over his fingers, regarding the Fatechaser curiously. Then, faster than thought, it darted away, vanishing
in a blur of green and red. Halek beamed.
At least he was enjoying himself. I might’ve been more in awe if my insides hadn’t been a squirming mass of fear and nerves,
knowing that, somewhere beyond this paradise, a Deathless queen waited for me.
We continued across the garden until we reached a final flight of wide, curving steps that led to the arched entryway to the palace.
A figure stood at the top of the stairs, watching us approach.
An iylvahn in brilliant white robes, the pendant of a sun hanging from a large gold chain around his neck.
He bowed to me as we reached the top, and our two guides fell into a perfect flank beside him.
“Welcome, Fateless.” Straightening, the iylvahn smiled at me, though it didn’t quite reach his pale blue eyes. “I am High
Chancellor Llorek, the voice of the queen, and it is an honor to greet you and your companions in the Palace of the Sun.”
“Thank you,” I said cautiously, with a quick glance at my friends. Halek stood calmly at my side, his smile and casual posture
completely at ease. Kysa, however, did not smile.
“The queen once again offers her apologies for the creature you encountered in the Maze,” Llorek went on, unruffled by the
thinly veiled distrust coming from the insect rider. “Normally, the menagerie keep to the deepest parts of the labyrinth and
are never encountered by those traveling legally to Irrikah. That it had to be destroyed is regrettable—it was the only one
of its kind—but the well-being of the Fateless and her companions is far more important. I trust there were no further mishaps
on the way to the palace?” he asked, turning to the iylvahn who had brought us here.
“No, Chancellor,” one of our guides answered.
“Excellent.” The chancellor nodded, then gazed back at us with a slight frown. “But was there not one more?” he wondered.
“What of the kahjai who accompanied the Fateless this far?”
“Kahjai Raithe has returned to the conclave, Chancellor,” the second iylvahn replied. “His mission was to deliver the Fateless
safely to Irrikah, and now he awaits further orders from the queen.”
The lump in my stomach grew. The way they spoke of him .
. . It was like he was a tool or a weapon, not a person.
Was this how the kahjai were viewed by their own people?
As soulless assassins? I wished Raithe was here so I could ask him, but then again, that was probably yet another thing he wouldn’t tell me.
“I see. Well then, Fateless, I am to inform you that you have an audience with the queen on the morrow,” the chancellor went
on, glancing at me again. “Until that time, allow us to show you to your accommodations. You and your companions will be honored
guests within the palace. All we ask is that you heed the guards if they tell you certain areas are restricted. You will,
of course, have full access to the city. Should you wish to explore Irrikah, we can provide you with competent guides that
will take you wherever you wish to go. As for your . . . mounts . . .” He eyed the rock beetles with perfectly polite interest.
“We have stables on the palace grounds that should suffice. Provided rock beetles do not mind keeping company with wall runners.”
“Wall runners?”
“A lizard species that our scouts use to patrol the Maze.”
“Oh.” I remembered the two iylvahn appearing in front of Raithe, seeming to materialize from nothing. “I think they should
be all right. Kysa?”
The insect rider gave a stiff nod. “As long as they have adequate room and do not feel boxed in,” she replied. “Then they
might start eating their stalls.”
The chancellor’s brow tightened, before he gave a pleased nod. “Very good,” he replied. “We can, of course, get them settled
for you—our stable hands are adept at caring for different mounts.”
“No,” Kysa said immediately. “It is against our code. No one but the warriors of the Scarab Clan may handle our rock beetles. Fateless . . .” She fixed me with a steely gaze. “Go on without me. I will take care of Ratuk tonight.”
“Are you sure, Kysa?”
She nodded. “I do not like leaving you with these people, but the kahjai is not here, and your audience with the queen is
tomorrow. I will not have anyone touching the rock beetles but us. If you need me, I will not be far. Do not hesitate to call
if anything seems amiss.” Her dark eyes went cold. “And if you see the kahjai, tell him he had best keep his distance, from
all of us, if he knows what is good for him.”
Throughout this exchange, the chancellor waited patiently, a fixed smile on his face. As Kysa and our rock beetles walked