Enlightened Empire

Chapter 264

A single bad day was all it had taken to uproot Ulan's precarious life. In the streets of Arguna, she used to be known as the beauty with the silver tongue. Back then, she had sung for whoever would pay her, and she had gained much fame as a result.

But before even those days, she used to live in the city with her parents and her brother. Back then, there was order in her life. Their family had been the best performers in all of Arguna ever since her grandfather's generation, so they had accrued much fame and even a bit of wealth. While they were performers, they were no traveling folk. Instead, they were proper Yakua. Thus, they were far more welcome in the houses of nobles and rich commoners than others of the same trade, and they were also safe from persecution.

In her younger years, she had even lived through a short romance with a warrior's descendant. Well-fed, pretty and in love, she had felt on top of the world back then. However, her happiness would be short-lived. The first change in fortune had come with the Ancestral Hall's new laws. Once the emperor had died and the old men had come to power, the ancestors had decreed all forms of public entertainment indecent, which had put a damper on their family's fortunes. Although they still had ample savings, their status within the city had changed from one day to another. Not long after, her first crush had also given up on her. Without a word of excuse, he had broken off their planned engagement. Though in his words, he had been forced by his elders, Ulan saw him stroll the streets of the city soon after, with several other women in tow.

Despite all the pressure and cold treatment from their supposed friends, her family managed to hold on, at least for a while. They were still well-off, still healthy, and still owned a large estate within Arguna's outer city. However, since music performances in Arguna were illegal and thus risky, they had been forced to travel the country, just like the traveling folk she used to look down on.

On one such trip to Porcero, she had stayed behind to look after their house, as one of them always did. The news of the pandemic outbreak had hit several days later. Not long after had come the news of her entire family's passing. With dwindling savings and no one to depend on, Ulan had begun to take on the work her parents had always warned her about.

Dark alleys, illegal gambling houses, hidden bordellos, she would sing for whoever would pay her the most coin, in the most disgusting parts of the city. Yet no matter how humiliating her work had been, she had never been brave enough to venture beyond the walls, not after what had happened to her family.

For a while, she had managed to live well enough. With her singing alone, she could feed herself and pay the city's taxes to retain her family's manor. Soon, she had developed a reputation once again. Though it was only within the lowest parts of Arguna's society, it was enough for a stable life, and enough to launch her back into glory if the Ancestral Hall's strict laws were ever rescinded. Yet even the little she had rebuilt up until then had ended on that one, fateful day.

She had worked the same gambling house many times already. Every time she showed up for a performance, she could feel every patron's eyes on her. Most of them were too busy losing money to bother her. However, one specific pair of eyes would always be among them, a member of the city guard on his rounds to take bribes. Every time she had performed, he had been there like clockwork, no matter what time of day she showed up. And every time, he would stand in a corner and watch.

On that day, he had waited for her at the exit into the back alley behind the gambling house and had confronted her. That time, he had wanted more from her than just a few songs. She had tried to turn back inside, but the owner had shut the door behind her. Before her life had become a tragedy, the owner had been an old friend of her father's. That was how she had gotten her start as a solo singer, gained her first bit of reputation. However, in the faces of death and power, friendship appeared to be worth a whole lot less.

“I've watched you all this time,” the guard had said, and “you owe it to me,” and finally, “I'll take care of you.”

Under all other circumstances, they were words she should have been happy to hear, even from him. While he was far older than her, at least he would have been dependable, someone to rely on so she wouldn't have to struggle so much by herself. However, she didn't even have to think about rejection. Maybe it was his breath that reeked of alcohol, or maybe the way he walked, lurched forward like a hyena, but her body revolted all on its own.

In her moment of panic, the knife had felt nothing less than natural in her hand. Confident in his size and strength, the drunk man never even expected any resistance. As his blood had run cold in the street, so had the blood in her veins. Without so much as a thought, she had dropped the knife and rushed towards the city's southern exit.

Gone were her concerns for her family's manor, gone were her fears of the outside world. All she had wanted at that point was to get away. It took a few days, but a while after she had left the city she had realized that the capital's enforcers weren't hot on her heels. Maybe killing a corrupt guard in a dark alley with no witnesses wasn't a high priority crime for them. Something like that would happen almost every day in the dark corners of Arguna. Once she had calmed down, she had drifted around the central kingdom for a while, doing menial tasks, before she followed a group of travelers down south.

All of them had been on their way to the southern kingdom, towards the city of Saniya. She had heard of that city's grand reputation, as had most people in the north. Over the past few years, it had become a popular destination for many craftsmen in the central kingdom, just like many scholars had left for the northern kingdom of King Amautu. Maybe, she thought, she could find her fortune there in the south, the fortune she had lost together with her family.

She wouldn't do any more singing, that much she had sworn, but she could still earn her keep through menial tasks. With all these craftsmen around, surely many of them would need help in their workshops or around their houses.

Thus, she found herself on a ship atop the Tunki River, which would lead them straight to Saniya, the promised land for commoners. As far as she was concerned, the surroundings didn't look too impressive so far. The weather was cool for summer, but it was so humid that it felt hotter than in the north. The fast-flowing river carried them right through a giant swamp of dirty browns, dirty greens, and dirty grays. All in all, the southern kingdom's landscape didn't look any less soiled than the streets of the empire's capital.

Even worse, when Ulan saw the ship's supposed goal appear in the distance, she was as shocked as she was disappointed.

“This is it, the legendary city everyone wants to move to?” she asked in confusion. Before her was a run-down shantytown in the middle of a nasty swamp, an overgrown village that had long burst past the confines of its cheap, wooden walls.

“Not quite, miss. This is Harkay,” one of the sailors aboard their vessel answered from beside her. When she turned around, she realized that rather than to herself, she had been talking to the ship's captain, an older man with dim eyes and messy hair.

“I thought we were traveling to Saniya, master. What is Harkay?” she asked.

“Harkay is a craftsman's and hunter's town on the edge of the Chawir Marshes, the southern Pluritac estate. People say the town was built a few years ago, to defend the new canal between the Mayura and the Tunki rivers from bandits and surrounding lords.”

None of the captain's explanation lifted her confusion, but she remained patient and tried again.

“So what are we doing here then?”

“Ever since the canal got finished, most of the ships along the two rivers cross through the canal and into Harkay for supplies, or to buy and sell goods. Only a handful travel straight to Saniya. The new town swallows a lot of raw materials from all over the southern kingdom and works it to support the capital. There's a good, new road from Harkay to Saniya as well. That's where most of the product from Harkay goes. Though the road leads through the empty swamps, so it's still better to travel in groups if you wanted to take that route.”

“But this ship was supposed to travel to Saniya, wasn't that the promise?” she asked, now worried. She had paid good money for her place on this ship, only to end up in some tiny town at the edge of a swamp. Confronted with her bluntness, the captain looked a bit uncomfortable.

“Yes, that's still the plan. But these days, no unauthorized ship can enter Saniya without getting checked for smuggled goods and such in Harkay. They've had trouble with spies, I've heard. I'm sorry, miss. But it will only be a one-day stay here, and then just one more toll station before we make our way to Saniya. Should be able to arrive by tomorrow noon.”

Ulan's face went pale and her chest tightened. Would her bad luck never end?

“But... I can't pay for the tolls anymore. What am I supposed to do?”

When she had reached Cashan, she had paid for her place on this boat traveling down the Tunki River, which had used up most of her savings. The rest had been eaten up by the tolls in the various stations along the way. By now, she had reached the inside of the Pluritac estate at least. All she needed to do was find work once she got off the ship in Saniya. However, now everything had become complicated again.

“Well, that's a bit of a problem. But miss, you still have a full day of time left. Harkay's big, and there's lots of work to be done here. You can go get the money for the toll somehow in that day. If you do, we'll be happy to carry you the rest of the way, seeing as you've already paid and all.”

Shocked, Ulan nodded, though her head was empty. How would she get the money that quickly, even more in a dirty city like this, one that was mostly made up of craftsmen? Even so, she didn't have much choice in the matter, and she wouldn't beg the heartless captain for a loan.

Not long after, the ship had docked and Ulan had returned to land. All around her was bustling activity. People ran around with all sorts of livestock, entire herds of them. Some people dragged rickshaws filled with logs of wood or clumps of earth behind them. Others carried crates off or onto ships. There was a constant back and forth. Along the town's gate to the side of the river, people were standing in a long line, waiting to enter. Many of them would be looking for a permanent stay.

In general, this town seemed no smaller than some of the estate capitals she had seen in the past few years. Rather, despite its size, this town looked almost as lively as Arguna did in some places. Yet unlike Arguna, there were no great rich folks showing off their wealth and status here. No one was strutting around the roads or trying to hustle the idiot newcomers. No, to Ulan, everyone seemed earnest and hardworking. Maybe it was just her own imagination, but she took to the place right away.

Although it wasn't glamorous, the unknown town in the swamp would be a nice place to hide. At this point, she still didn't know whether or not she was being chased by guards from Arguna. And all along, all she had wanted was a safe place to disappear into, as she took up work unrelated to her previous professions. From what Ulan could tell, the people here were too preoccupied with their work to worry about music, which suited her just fine. She smelled the sharp stench of the farm animals mixed with the peaty smell of the bog outside, and somehow she breathed free once more.

“Captain,” she said to the man who had just come down the ship besides her. “Could you please refund me the rest of the money I paid for the trip? For now, I don't think I will move on from here.”