Chapter 26: Chapter 20

“Ooh, look Yuri!  It’s enormous!”  Sarduna called out excitedly to me.  She was pointing out at a large mass of structures sticking out from the horizon.

Following Sarduna’s finger I could see several pyramidal shapes poking out from over a set of walls with yet more, smaller shapes dotted around the walls.  Hugging the river that ran next to it, a sizable collection of buildings was slowly creeping forward.  With various boats that could just barely be made out riding along the water’s surface.  The haze from the heat obstructing my view but I could still tell that this was more than some simple village, it was a city.

I gripped the railing of our boat to steady myself as I leaned upwards to get a better look.

After having spent a week recuperating, we had finally begun travelling again.  With a much reduced group we moved quickly south till we came to a river; actually, I believe this was the same river we had been paralleling back when I first joined this caravan.  Eh, whatever, Istara contracted a river barge to transport us down the river.  All together it had taken several uneventful weeks to get where we are currently.

Finally, we were approaching this fabled city of Aruk that the caravan had been travelling towards.  This wasn’t the first city that we had passed while floating down the river, there were numerous settlements hugging the vital waters, but it was slowly becoming obvious that this one was by far the largest yet.  It almost seemed to be gleaming beneath the sun’s rays, with the tops of the stepped pyramids and the city walls colored white, reflecting the light back out at us.  The general area around the city showed heightened signs of agriculture; almost every inch of this river’s shore was farmed, but here the extensive irrigation ditches intensified in scope and the number of women tending to the fields grew by a considerable number.  I could even see numerous girls going about completely naked as they worked in the mud.

Sarduna was beaming with delight at the wonderous sight from my side; Naira stood on the other side of Sarduna trying to maintain a calm and aloof posture.  Ever since she lashed out then needed to be saved by me there has been this awkward tension with her where she clearly wanted to scowl or be hostile with towards me, but she seemed conflicted in her desires.  Ironically, she refused to leave my presence, essentially becoming my shadow at all times.

“Yuri.”

While we were continuing to take in the sight of the city, Aura called out to me as she approached us from the other end of the boat.  She was fully decked out in her bronze armor, apparently ready for anything once we reached the shore.  Upon seeing Aura coming towards us Naira scampered closer to me, practically hiding behind me while Sarduna giggled at her actions.  On the day Naira called Aura a slut, she received a bath from Aura; a rather rough and aggressive bath that left Naira utterly traumatized, it had taken me interceding to finally stop the harassment.

I guess despite her own self-depreciation, she doesn’t like others so crudely pointing out her own perceived flaws.

After that she ignored Naira, preferring to pester me and Sarduna on when we were ready for her to join us in bed.  Unfortunately, due to the lingering paranoia amongst the remaining group, our sleeping arraignments had been reorganized; with me, Sarduna and Naira sleeping with remaining girls of the group in a single tent.  This had made it rather awkward for me and Sarduna to do anything more than kiss and grope each other after that first night. 

In the meantime, Aura had spent much of her spare time with her various girlfriends; I always knew she had other relationships, but I hadn’t realized how many.  Now that our group had been reduced it seemed almost all of the remaining girls were her lovers.  Who knew that she was single-handedly holding what was left of this caravan together.

Honestly, I’m concerned that once I finally make love to Sarduna I’m setting up both me and her to joining Aura’s harem, and not her joining mine.

“Yes, Aura.”  I responded to her call.

“We’re about to land, so be ready to move cause we’re heading straight for Istara’s place as soon as we enter the city.”  Aura stated.

“Okay.”  I responded, turning slightly towards Sarduna who was readying our meager possessions. 

“Um… what happens after we’ve finish?”  I ask Aura turning back to her.

“Well, I was planning on stopping at an inn for the night.  After that, there’s always plenty of merchants looking for guards to protect their goods.”  She shrugged unconcerned.  “Or warlords looking for warriors.”

Huh, the image of random warlords with help wanted signs for their schemes of conquest and domination just popped into my head. 

Anyway, the boat came up to a small pier that had a couple of other boats docked and it was buzzing with activity.  As soon as our boat docked the other girls on board immediately started hopping off to join the throng of women already there.  I followed curiously, taking in all of the new sights as I went. 

Taking Sarduna’s hand and feeling Naira’s presence closely behind me (I mean how can I not, she’s grabbing the hemp of my skirt), I followed Aura in bobbing and weaving through the packed crowd.  It had only taken a few moments to cross the pier and into the harbor, but our group had quickly been strung out into a disorganized mess.  And the harbor proper was even worse!

Even while occupied by this hectic mayhem I was astonished at what was all around me.  Cat-girls unloading from a ship, a pair of girls with curled horns leading a small flock of sheep, human women with a variety of clothes, hairstyles and skin tones walking about, a heated argument in one corner, all this and dozens more were crowded onto this harbor.  The entire area was drowned in a cacophony of noise that threatened to overload my senses.  I could see innumerable different goods being moved about, foods such as wheat, barley, millet, dates and fish, but also finer goods like pottery, wood, cloth and various precious stones.  Seeing all of these materials flowing in and out of this city, I was reminded of our pitiful cargo.

I don’t know why Istara was so keen to get here, she had been forced to trade the bulk of her goods for new supplies; probably because she no longer had the girlpower to haul it all here.  There were only a few bundles remaining from what was originally carried by dozens of onagers.  Maybe she considered the caravan a wash, that there was no point dragging it out and had just wanted to return home.

As we passed out of the harbor and through the gates into the city I was bombarded by even more sounds and smells.  Everything from the smell of food and beer from nearby stalls to the indistinct voices from the crowds wafted over me all at once.  Even the mud bricks from the nearest buildings had its own odor and heat radiating off of them, that when combined with the surrounding crowds to form an overbearing presence.

Continuing to wander through the narrow streets, following the rest of our group headed by Aura, we gaped at every detail.  Passing through a market with yet more stalls and girls weighting various items.  Girls carried bundles of reeds or wheat on their backs, while others herded sheep through the narrow streets.  In a shaded courtyard I could see a group of girls in a circle with a large pot in the center, they were drinking from it using long straws made of hollow reeds.  Off to one side a number of nude women stood lined up while another girl was pacing in front of them, talking and gesturing in an animated fashion.  I couldn’t make out the words, but it didn’t take long to realize that what I was seeing was a slave trader at work.  I can see that this city has some… interesting aspects to it.

I was also starting to notice a pattern in the clothing of the local women, well two patterns really.  In the harbor there were so many obvious foreigners that it was kind of obscured, but here in the city proper it was getting easy to see.  Most of those I could see wore a two-piece set of clothes, with a skirt that was tied around the waist and a thin shirt or some other cloth wrapping their breasts, a few even wore nothing above the waist.  A number of others were dressed in a simple tunic like one-piece garments that was tied with an equally simple rope waistband.  My awareness of this was reinforced once I noticed that the two styles of clothing were made of different materials, the two-piece sets made of linen while the tunics were made of wool.  This difference was doubly pronounced with their hairstyles, the first group had their hair cut short to neck or chin length, while the second wore their hair long usually tied into ponytails or other similar styles. 

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The majority of these women were human, with their tanned, caramel colored skin; Aura’s description of sun kissed skin is definitely appropriate and gives the whole city an exotic, archaic feel.

Gazing upon all of this reminded me of my thoughts and concerns.

In these past several weeks my thoughts have continually drifted to what my life will be, to what I will do to support my patron, the Primordial Dragon-Goddess, and what I desired for myself.  Many ideas have run through my head, but nothing had stuck out as the one. 

All of these girls going about their lives left me confused about my own.  Should I become a merchant, do I even have the aptitude for moving around all of this…stuff around.  I don’t know, maybe I can ask Aura and Istara about how this city’s economy works…

It was then that my eyes went round.  I suddenly realized that I had lost sight of Aura, Istara or any of the other girls we were with.  In a burst of panic I crane my neck around, hurriedly checking to see that Sarduna and Naira were both still with me.  Both of them gaze back at me worriedly, I then explained that we were now alone.

“Great, just great.  We follow you and you get us lost in a strange city, surrounded by foreigners.”  Naira immediately reacted angrily to our predicament.

“We don’t have time for this, we need to focus on finding the others.”  Quickly scanning our surrounding, I look for a solution.

I stopped at a stall so I could ask the girl there some directions.  “Excuse me, do you know where the warehouses are?”

“************?”  The girl spoke some incomprehensible gibberish while wearing a confused look on her face and cocking her head to one side.  For a moment I just stood there dumbfounded, shaking myself out of it I swiveled my head to Sarduna, she just shrugged her shoulders resignedly, she clearly didn’t understand the girl either and Naira’s brow curled in frustration.  Turning my attention back towards the crowds around us I filtered out the disjointed noise focusing on individual speakers and lines of dialogue.

“*******” “****” “*******” “*******” “****” Each and every one I picked out was as indecipherable as the last, they were speaking in a language that I couldn’t understand at all. 

I tightened my grip on Sarduna’s hand.  “Well, we’re lost.  Any idea on where the others went?”

“Just great.”  Naira sighed irritated.  “Now we have to hope that the crazy slut comes and finds us.”

“Last time I saw Aura, she was heading in that direction.”  Sarduna said while pointing down one of the many alleys.

“Okay, should we start searching that way?”  I asked out loud.

“Um, wouldn’t it be better to stay put till someone finds us?”  Sarduna questioned cautiously.

I take another quickly look around us, focusing on the people around us I notice that we were getting looks.  On top of that we’re standing awfully close to that slave trader and her… ‘merchandise’, best not to tempt fate by idling at a slave market besides the slave trader from before is starting to cast glances in our direction.

“Even the ones who mean us harm?  I don’t think staying here is a good idea.  There are a number of women staring at us.”  Naira whispered nervously.

“Hmm, it’s decided then, we’ll keep moving then.”  I stated resolutely.

Bounding through the market in moments we quickly headed down the alley Sarduna had pointed out previously. 

Finding these streets to be a chaotic mess we twist and turned down the path carefully.  Approaching an intersection, I saw Istara suddenly pop out from around a corner; feeling a wave of relief we immediately rushed her.

“Hah, I’ve been looking for you.”  She said, smiling as soon as she saw us coming.

“Thanks… where is Aura and the others?”  I asked curiously.

“I sent them on ahead while I searched for you three.”  Istara answered.  Three worker girls followed her from around the corner to join us.  “Come let’s rejoin them quickly.”

I nodded at her suggestion, we all moved following Istara through the alleys.

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