“You.”
When Kah the Wise spoke, it was slowly, as if in a dream.
“Who are you?”
His voice was thick and rasping, but the eyes that peered out from beneath his bushy white brows gleamed with intelligence.
Guin, who had been sizing up Dodok the Brave’s considerable strength and girth, turned his gaze to the other leader of the Lagon. Kah’s eyes met his, probing him with a deep curiosity.
“I am…”
The moment Guin opened his mouth to reply, a stir went through the Lagon. Though a few among them had already heard him speak, most were now seeing him for the first time and were astonished to find that this leopard-headed man—like a creature out of some myth—could speak their own tongue.
Dodok’s gaze filled with surprise beneath his jutting brow.
Only Kah the Wise showed no sign of untoward alarm. Slowly, he tilted his head, lending an ear to Guin’s words.
“My name is Guin. I am… a warrior, though I know not whence I came, nor the name of my land of birth.”
“Guin? Why do you not know where you hail from? Who are you?” Kah repeated quietly. Guin frowned, uncertain where to begin.
“He knows not whence he comes!” a deep, dangerous voice thundered. It was Dodok the Brave. “It is because he is an evil spirit—a demon! Kah the Wise, he has come from the Land of the Dead to wreak vengeance upon lagon. It is certain.”
Here and there, the Lagon muttered in agreement. Some merely nodded, while others shouted that such a creature did not deserve a trial, and should be killed on the spot.
Kah the Wise slowly lifted his right hand. Again, the Lagon fell silent. “You will tell us. Who are you?”
This time, Guin had an answer for him. “I am Guin. I came here under orders to lead the Lagon down the true path.”
“Whose orders?” Kah asked swiftly.
“Heaven’s.”
“What is ‘heaven’?”
“It is the two-faced god Janos, who rules this world.”
This… Janos, we do not know this god,” said the Lagon chieftain.
“And who determines how the Lagon should be? Who determines their fate, or the way they must live? Who makes all things in the world move, protecting the Lagon, and giving righteous judgment to you, Kah? Alphetto?”
“Alphetto?” Kah replied incredulously, disdain clear in his voice. “Alphetto! That is the mud-god of the Sem. He is the god of foul insects that walk the Land of the Dead—the maggots that infest the corpse of our world, the Sem. Lagon care nothing for Alphetto.”
“Then what? Whom do the Lagon worship?”
“You speak of Aqrra,” Kah replied solemnly. To Guin’s astonishment, the moment he said that word, all the Lagon seated around the clearing lowered their heads as one. “Aqrra made lagon, Aqrra protects lagon, Aqrra is the beginning of all things. There are many gods upon the land. Yet only Aqrra made us. Aqrra belongs only to us.” Then he began to chant in a monotone: Aqrra is only of lagon, and lagon were made by Aqrra.”
All the Lagon echoed the chant in a low voice.
“Then that’s who sent me,” said Guin. “This Aqrra, in my language he is known as Janos. I came here under orders from Aqrra.”
“Aqrra is only Aqrra. Aqrra has no other name. Aqrra is known only to lagon, whom Aqrra has made, and no other,” Kah said forcefully. Guin began to grow irritated. Above him, Aeris was already high in the sky. He had no time to waste debating theology.
“Nonetheless, I came here from Aqrra!” the leopard-man exclaimed, thrusting out his chest. “I’m a messenger from Aqrra!”
“Aqrra!” the Lagon shouted, another ripple passing through the crowd. Now Dodok the Brave stood, towering so high he seemed almost to touch the low-hanging clouds.
“Silence him! Cut out his tongue, and cure it with salt! He has profaned the sacred Aqrra. He came to steal precious white salt from lagon. He claims to be a messenger from Aqrra, yet he is a thieving demon. Kill him.”
Cries of “Kill him, kill him!” erupted from the crowd. The Lagon thrust their fists into the air, shouting for blood.
“Silence!”
The voice of Kah the Wise rang across the clearing. His right hand slowly rose, and at once, the commotion settled. Guin looked at that raised hand, then blinked and counted: Kah the Wise had six fingers.
Perhaps this was a requirement for becoming a sage among these people, Guin surmised, momentarily forgetting the urgency of his predicament, until his thoughts were interrupted by Kah’s ever-calm voice.
“Guin, Warrior with the Head of a Beast, Dodok the Brave has made mighty accusations against you. One, that you are a demon from the Land of the Dead come to wreak vengeance upon lagon. Two, that you steal salt from the sacred valley. Should these claims prove true, they are grave matters indeed. But if these claims are not true, then still you have committed a sin far graver than that of being a demon: to blaspheme the name of Aqrra is to lagon worse than stealing salt, or killing a man in his sleep. Can you explain your two trespasses here, before myself, Kah the Wise, and Dodok the Brave? Can you prove these words that have come from your mouth?”
“I can,” Guin said, staring directly back at him, “…I think.”
“Then do so. Lagon are fair, lagon are just. If you are true, then you have nothing to fear.”
“Then I shall explain myself,” Guin said, taking a half-step forward. For a moment, his three guards tensed to strike, yet when they saw that he intended no action, they resumed their statue-like vigil.
The moon slipped out from behind a cloud, lighting the village of stone. Guin had placed himself in the exact center of the open ground. Legs wide set, hands bound behind his back at the wrists, the warrior thrust out his chest, and the pale blue-white gaze of Aeris made his feline head and muscular body swim with wavering light, like a statue at the bottom of the sea.
“I can prove myself,” Guin repeated, somewhat louder. Kah leaned forward in his chair, tilting an ear toward the captive. The warriors, women, and children of the Lagon had fallen quiet. No demon had ever been tried in the village clearing before, and they didn’t want to miss a moment.
“Listen to my words,” Guin began, “then decide whether to punish me or not. I know the Lagon to be fair. See me here now. I speak your words, and except for my beast-head, I share your form. Is my appearance cause enough to treat me as a demon? I do not think you are so barbarous as that. I believe in the Lagon.”
“Yes, we are fair,” came an undercurrent of voices in the crowd, but faded swiftly into silence, like water seeping into the sand.
“To the first accusation—namely, that I, Guin, am a demon come from the Land of the Dead to wreak vengeance upon the Lagon—this could not be more untrue. I cannot understand why you might think such a thing. I am no creature of death! As you can see, I live and I move. Red blood flows in my veins; I know thirst, I know hunger. I can speak your words, walk upon two legs, and fight with two arms. This is what it means to live.
“The dead are cold and lie beneath the ground without moving, and when by sorcery they do move, they need neither food nor drink. They do not raise swords to fight, but breathe foul vapors that bring disease, or turn their enemies to stone. Do I seem a demon to your eyes? Do I seem such an unholy creature? I eat, like you, and wield a blade to cut my foes. I do not use some demon-spell to rot their flesh.
“Yes, I came from the desert, but I was not born there, and it is not the Land of the Dead, as you say. You know the Sem, and other living things that thrive in those sands. The desert dunes are not entirely unlike your mountain home. How can you call it the Land—”
“Kah!” One of the Lagon stood. He was a young warrior, about the same height and build as Guin. He spoke with barely restrained excitement. “He claims the word of lagon is a lie! The desert is the Land of the Dead. Even a child of three knows the Sem and the yidoh, and the sandworms, are demons in a land of decay. He profanes Aqrra! Make your judgment, and have him hung on the end of a spear.”
A great chorus of agreement rose up, yet Guin could hear there were some dissenters. Still, it was a failure. Without knowing it, he seemed to have stepped over the line and profaned a Lagon taboo.
“Wait!” he shouted above the rising swell of the crowd. “I have not finished my explanation! If the Lagon are fair and honor their laws, then you must not pass judgment before you hear all I have to say—is this not so, Kah the Wise?”
“The Warrior with the Head of a Beast is correct.”
The six-fingered sage lifted his malformed hand slowly, speaking in a steady voice. “Continue your explanation. Ran, you will hold your tongue until he is finished.”
Guin bowed to the sage in thanks. Then he continued, testing each word gingerly, as though stepping on thin ice across a rushing stream. “Yes, I came through the desert. Yet this was only because there was no other way to reach your village. I fought with many creatures in those sands. Isn’t the fact that I passed through this ‘Land of the Dead’ and remained a living being proof that I am not a demon? You look at me, at my head, and call me a demon from the desert. Yet, just as I crossed through the sands but was not born there, so too I wear this head though I was not born with it. It was a curse that made me as I am today. Beneath this head of a beast… is a face like yours.
Now, as for the other accusation—that I am a thief come to steal your salt. Never before have I visited your mountain home. I came to speak with you, and your wise leaders. Yet I did not know exactly where the Lagon village lay, nor did I know the ways of your people. I did not know the white salt was precious to you, nor did I know that placing it in my provision-bag was a sin, for no one had ever told me this. Had I known, I would never have done something so foolish as to profane that which is sacred to the Lagon. I explained this to the ones who seized me, and I gave them the salt I had put in my bag. You will know this is true if you speak to the warriors who captured me.