CHAPTER SIX- The Mask of Inanna

CHAPTER SIX
THE MASK OF INANNA

Year 1667 Month 05 Week 06 Day 06
We eventually found a path and followed it north. Hills rolled by and for hours silence held strong. Then the wind shifted and for a moment Toby looked my way, as if to say something, but stopped and gagged instead. Bent over, gasping for breath, he motioned for me to get away, were we being attacked? Was this the effects of some kind of spell, or some poison that I, as a troll, was resistant to? My questions were resolved as I leapt back.

“WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WASHED, GODDAMNIT?” Toby exclaimed.

I stared back at him, stunned -had I really been downwind from him up until now, then anger bubbled to the surface, “I thought you were being attacked or something, you asshole.” I retorted. Toby rummaged through his bag desperately. I wasn’t going to let him off so easily so, I advanced on Toby, only for him to produce some kind of potion. The Bottle was a deep green and shaped like a large flask, he uncorked the bottle and carefully allowed a drop to leak.

“It’s called ‘Giants’ Gulp’,” Toby announced, “They say an entire ocean can be found within.” His claim was ridiculous; at least I would have thought so before coming here. I watched the tiny drop fall to the ground, a sizeable pool splashed against the floor. The water quickly settled forming a perfectly circular puddle on the ground. I saw my reflection and sure enough I was a dishevelled mess, my face covered in mud and my hair a thick, uneven, black mane. I still lacked a top, so my only covering was ragged pelt that kept my unmentionables from showing. Toby produced a second potion bottle, one that was almost identical in every single way. “And this is a cleanser,” Toby announced again, waving his free hand as if this was even more amazing than the first potion. What poured out could only really be described as soup, it mixed into the water causing white foam to gather over the top.

“How can you tell the difference?” I asked, forgetting my anger,

“The alchemist I bought all this from, a Dwarf in Warka, you’ll probably meet him soon enough. He doubles as a sorcerer –you see”, Toby explained, “and he put enchantments on his products meaning that only the owner can tell the difference,” his voice became to sound quite odd, was he holding his breath. Persistently Toby brought out both identical bottles in either hand; it would seem as if he would explain this phenomenon to me with his last breath,

“The only way to become the owner is if the previous one gives it to you,” he struggled. With that he handed me the bottles, after placing my spear down I took them and they changed. One bottle shrunk in size, becoming cream coloured as it did so. The other remained the same size, but changed into the shape of something closer to a small brown gorge. I had to adjust my grip carefully just to keep both bottles in my hands. The final change was the words that appeared on the sides of either container: on the gorge, the words ‘Giants’ Gulp’ while the smaller bottle bared the words ‘Never Smell’. I handed them back to Toby and sure enough returned back to featureless green flasks. With that out of the way he gestured for me to get in the puddle. I refused, and he hacked at my ankle with his foot. I fell, my arms reaching out for something to hold onto, until resorting to merely breaking my fall. I crashed into the pool. I tried to get up but he pushed me back in, I tried to catch the bastard and drag him into the pool too, but he avoided me like a slippery serpent.

He let me out after several minutes of reluctantly scrubbing the soup into my skin and through my hair. In the end I looked down at my reflection again, my skin was a dark grey and my hair was at least a consistent mane atop of my head. The scars from the battles earlier today had largely gone. Which reminded me of Toby’s own scars, while still faster than me he was a lot slower than before, I regarded his scars and almost felt bad. He stared back thoughtfully, stroking his furry chin; did he know what I was thinking?

“We really ought to get you something to wear.” He muttered (guess not), “I know,” he reached into his bag again and shuffled around looking for something. His bag normally rested on his back and was easily bigger than his torso, still, it wasn’t big enough to justify the amount of time he seemed to spend searching through it. Soon enough he pulled out a rough cloak, “This will do for now,” Toby said.

With that, I dried up and we continued our journey. Night fell and we settled down, off the road, besides a tall tree. The tree stood like an island in the grassy plains. The open sky above us and the ground beneath us, I had opened for a tent but by now this the exposure didn’t bother me.

“So after all that you fled to the forest?” Toby asked in response to me recounting my story.

“Yeah, pretty much” I replied,

“A two year old running into the forest, and after getting kicked out of school,” Toby mused,

“How old are you anyway?” I asked, not quite ready to continue the story and trying not to get offended.

“I’m ten years old,” Toby said beating his chest as he did so, “So mind your manners youngster,” the man-child mumbled as he chewed the bones of a rabbit he caught earlier. I barely contained my laughter; he saw that and unquestioningly smirked in response. We just kind of laughed there. Then the laughter died down and he started staring up at the stars, I played with the grass plucking the tiny green bundles from the ground. Then he spoke again, “It’s impressive that you’re alive right now,” I didn’t respond, wanting him to elaborate, so he did, “Yes you’re strong, but there are some seriously dangerous stuff roaming the forest,”

“I know,” was all I could say.

“Next time, I’ll come along with you.” He patted Heylel, his sword.

“Next time?” I glared at him, “I’m never going back there.”

“Why not?” he whimpered, yep, he’s the adult here,

“Because you just said-” I started, and then I thought, “What’s out there? What’s worth risking your life over?”

“Life.” He said a perpetual smile on his face “What is life without adventure,” he gestured about himself, “Action,” he patted Heylel again, “And friends,” then he gestured at me.
I looked at him for a moment, he held my gaze.

“Damnit,” I grumbled, I nodded showing that I understood.

“Watch your language asshole.” He retorted back at me, grinning through his teeth.

“So what’s Warka like?” I asked

Toby looked at me, wide eyed, “We’re not going to be there long, I’m going to the adventurer's guild, look up for any information they have on these bandits and then we’re gone,” his tone was stern, there was no arguing against it. What was so bad about Warka?
We slept on either end of the fire, I watched it die down as I let sleep take me.

I woke up in a tent, someone was calling out from outside, I got up and was in my armour in less than a minute, I walked out of my tent, sword and shield in hand,

“We’re under attack” some man screamed. Some ran I would not; I headed towards the commotion, peering through the crowd and dust to try and make out the threat. What faced me was a large mountain troll. Watching it fight the other troops was like watching a toddler wrestle its dolls. It's huge, bulging red eyes zeroed in on me. A grin spread out across its face. This monster thought it had found a new toy. It lashed out, reaching to grab me but I sprang to attack just as quickly, I cut into its wrists and blood oozed out, it squealed and monstrous cry that shook my very bones. With its other hand it swung a soldier at me, despicable, to use men as mere tools.

“Know your place monster,” I shrieked, I proceeded to threw my shield at its face, it struck true and dazed the beast, before it could retaliate I had plunged my sword into its thigh and rolled away to cover. Then I saw the real threat, behind the troll was a harpy, a subtype of beastman, and the creature wielded some kind of amulet, the magical device irradiated a red aura, was the harpy controlling the troll. I picked up the spear of a fallen comrade, and stalked the harpy, allowing other soldiers to occupy the Troll. However before I could do anything the troll had been killed and the harpy fled. Gilgamesh had joined the fray. I kneeled to my king.

“Raise soldier, you have done well.” His voice boomed,

“Thank you my lord, you are too kind,” I stood up, though my eyes never left his feet,

“Tell me your name and rank,”

“Sibri, my lord, I am but a humble foot soldier in your army,” I spoke in a uniform tone,

“No more, you are wasted as a simple soldier,” Then he raised his voice and spoke to everyone in the area, “Behold, Sibri, the latest Captain of my army against the monsters of the world.” The men cheered, more for our lord and saviour than for me.

The memory faded.

Year 1667 Month 05 Week 06 Day 07
My journey with Toby was short lived. He even commented on the fact, “And here I thought trolls were slow, now slow down,” he was trailing behind me; it would seem that his initial zeal gave way to my own relentless stamina. But he couldn’t stop me if he tried, I was excited to see such a big city, my live up until now had been in the most rural and secluded of villages on the edge of civilisation.

By the morning we had reached Warka, The walled stone city towered over the surrounding grassy plains. The stone resonated with the sun, giving it a vibrant yellow colour. The walls weren’t anything particularly special; it was the buildings behind it. For the most part there was a general consensus between most buildings, in that they were all of the same level, being only barely visible above the walls, which were at least twice the height of any man. The roofs were flat and nearer the centre was a larger building that was erected in several tiers, each smaller than the last and each decidingly square with a single flight of stairs that could be seen and followed all the way to the very top.

We met a pair of guards who stood in front of the open gate. They wore metal breastplates with straps that covered their shoulders. Underneath was a long tunic which covered their arms in long sleeves and reached all the down to their lower thigh. Between their lower thighs and knees was a sliver of metal that indicated chainmail was probably worn under the tunic. Over their wrists were metal braces. With their left hand they held fairly large rounded shields while the right wandered to the swords strapped to their side. Outside of that they had very little in terms of armour. They were nothing like the metal man that had helped killed the bear or Toby who was largely covered with leather pads. Still it was only natural for quality to be sacrificed for standardisation. They regarded us both suspiciously then whispered a word, “gilha,” with that word they both seemed to study the space above Toby, seeing their line of sight I looked at Toby, who grinned at me and before I know it their attention had turned to me.

“State your business in Warka, stranger.” One guard said,

Toby jumped to my rescue, “He’s with me, and he’s a soon-to-be adventure.” Toby trumpeted as he pushed me past the two of them. Walking into the city we were constantly surrounded by, well, walls. Toby had already plunged us into a crowd of people, all dressed in robes and tunics, all carrying baskets of goods, or sporting some kind of weapon. It was hard to hear much of anything, but I knew for a fact that those ears of Toby’s weren’t just for show, in fact as things stand they weren’t for show at all, they hid behind his hood along with the rest of his head, but I digress.

“So I guess you want to know what that was all about,” he stated, projecting his voice forcefully at me, this whole time he had assumed the role of a teacher or father figure, at least he liked to think so,

“No, I know about adventurers and the signal above their heads,” I smirked at him, shit he was rubbing off on me.

“Oh,” he seemed disappointed.

As it happens, licenced adventurers have largely invisible magical markers placed above their heads; “gilha” is the elven word for reveal and operates as a trigger that allows the speaker to see the mark. Adventurers have a number of privileges (like being able to enter any country) so having the marker and making it so, just about, anyone can check it is naturally important.

We made our way to a street just off of the market place, which was bustling with activity, farmers dragging livestock along, Pastors preaching the love of Inanna to all who would listen, “Love all, forgive all, treat all as you would be treated, our godly patron demands it, so let it be so” I heard one, his audience on the street seemed to appreciate the reminder.

Still we moved on past then and the market place altogether. I would have asked where we were going had we not reached our destination. There was a tavern which would have gone unnoticed as just another building if not for the sign above its doors. Toby told me to “Wait here” as we approached the tavern, “I’ll get us somewhere to sleep,” he punctuated ‘I’ with a thumb pointed at his chest, it didn’t fill me with confidence.

I stood outside the tavern, waiting for Toby to get back to me while watching the crowds of people pass. After wait felt like hours I saw something rather odd. Three men, in single file, draped in long black cloaks walked past, the citizens gave them a wide berth as the continued to walk on wordlessly. I watched them from under my own hood as they disappeared around the corner. They had worn masks over their faces. Rigid stone masks that covered their faces.

I started to get hungry and impatient so I turned and barged open the door, ready to kill Toby if need be. He was no-where to be found. The woman behind the bar looked at me worryingly; I supposed a mysterious cloaked figure would make anyone nervous. I approached the bar and addressed her,

“Have you seen an adventure come through here,” I tried describing him, “He’s a hooded man, like me, with leather armour over fur garments,” she sized me up for a moment, though my child like voice disarmed her, no matter how imposing a force, I am still four.

“You mean Toby, yeah –I’ve seen ‘em, who are you though?” she avoided my eyes, instead scanning the over occupants of the otherwise full bar.

“A friend of his, my names Robert, he told me to stay outside,” she heard the honesty in my voice and nodded in acknowledgement, relaxing after hearing my name, had Toby told her about me.

“That fool Toby was taken,” she said,

“By whom?” the thought of Toby having enemies crossed my mind, rival adventures or villains he may have thwarted in the past.

“What do you know about,” she whispered, “The masks of Warka?” my silence was enough of a response.

“Then you might want to head behind the mask.” She said, then quickly beckoned for one of her waiters over, the maid was young looking, perhaps eight or seven years old (putting her between fourteen and sixteen in earth years), she had deep red hair and ultimately looked like a younger clone of the woman behind the bar, the woman talked quickly to her young employee, or daughter, “Take him downstairs.” The young maid nodded and leaded me through a back entrance.

We emerged from the tavern in an alley; the girl hunched over and began peeling bricks and tiles from the floor. “What are you doing?” I blurted,

“Aunty Red probably thought it was easier to show you than explain.” The girl said as she finished creating the hole in the floor making it wide enough for a person to fit through, conveniently enough there was a ladder ready for use, “Let’s go,” The girl said and we descended into the darkness. I had expected a cellar, a place we could talk in private so that everything could be explained to me. What I found under the city, was in fact another city.

But altogether different, firstly there was the simple fact that there wasn’t a single human being here. The crowds of people that walked past me were all covered in matted fur, much like Toby, even the maid I had entered with touched a point on her forehead and transformed into a much shorter stouter figure, she was a dwarf. “The names, Bergljot, and this is the Face of Warka”, she said, walking quickly through the crowds while I struggled to follow,

“Wait how is this all here?” I asked

“The city Warka, is inspired by another city in Uruk, on called Inanna, named after its’ patron goddess.” She didn’t stop, making every other word next to impossible to make out, she continues regardless “At some point in the past, someone made a mask in her likeness; the mask was called Warka and inspired this city to be built. Like the mask the city you see on the surface is an exact replica of the holy city Inanna, this was built under so that even those that didn’t belong could have a place of their own.” We walked through the market place, lit up entirely by torches an odd mix of creatures bought and sold. We stopped at a wooden stall, built as an extension of a larger interconnected stone building. A Dwarf greeted us. He was pale in complexion, though that could be expected, and had huge green eyes that made the rest of his face, or at least whatever wasn’t covered by his beard, feel out of focus.

“I am Frode, the most spectacular and stupendous of alchemists, how may I be of assistance?” The Dwarf bellowed in a practiced jovial tone. He smiled at Bergljot and then looked up at me, I was perhaps twice his height and that did not go unnoticed. Seeing the lack of facial fur, even under my hood, “Why did you bring a human here!” he lashed at Bergljot, she stood her ground,

“He’s no human and he wants to help Toby.” She said, signalling me to remove the hood. How did she know I wasn’t human, did this lady Red tell her? But then how would that woman know? Still I obliged, showing my grey skin, a few bystanders saw me and gasped, Forde’s own jaw dropped at the sight of me.

“Come now let’s go inside,” He hurried us in with a wave of his hand. The entrance was easy enough to get through, though once I was inside, I immediately felt stuffed, the room was small and ceiling was barely high enough for me to stand in.

“What are you, a half Troll?” He asked, and then nodded to his own question as he studied me closely; he had a pipe in his mouth and was puffing white clouds of smoke as soon as I got in. He continued in his inquiry, “so you want to help, dear Toby now,” he said, then looked puzzled at the Dwarf girl, “What is this, what happened to Toby?” he asked, she had sat down and taken a biscuit or two from the tray on the table, we were in some kind of living room, complete with a fireplace and several chairs that would surely break under me, so I remained standing, much to my companies discomfort.

Bergljot, seeing that I was equally interested by how she would answer this question, began her story in full, “Toby walked into the tavern earlier today,” she recounted, “As always, he went straight to the bar and asked Auntie for the same old cheap drink, I forget what it was exactly-“

“Get to the point girl” Forde insisted,

“Well,” she looked hurt by his rudeness, “he took a seat and started to ask if there was a vacant rooms when the person next to him looked just a bit too hard at what was under his hood-”

“See if he wasn’t so cheap,” Frode began, “that wouldn’t be a prob-“.

“Anyway,” Bergljot continued, “the man pointed out that Toby was a beastman and the whole bar went silent-”

“So what, normal warriors don’t hold a candle to Toby,” Forde interjected, again, then looked at me, “You should see our Toby fight, he’s an angle with that sword of his,” he grinned at the thought,

“I know, I fought him.” I said blankly, that shut them both up. Then I gestured for Bergljot to continue and she gathered her composure,

“That’s when one of the masked ones stood up, Toby ran out of the tavern through the back and the masked one pursued him. That was almost half an hour before you” looking at me, “came in.”

“Who are the Masked Ones?” I asked,

“They are a fanatic faction within the city who believes that Inannas’ love was meant only for man, humans, and that all other races are an insult to the gods.” Forde replied. He could barely contain his disgust for them,

“If they get their hands on Heylel,” Bergljot began; the power of that sword was undeniable,

“Don’t worry, Heylel is an old Elven sword, they won’t know what to do with it, I’m more worried about Toby, adventure or not, they could execute him.” He let that stew for a moment, looking with contempt at the ground. Then he snapped “Bergljot, my girl, go back to your Auntie”, she nodded and hurried past me and was gone soon enough. Then he looked at me, “The adventure guild won’t help us, so we’re alone,” he sat down and stewed again, “any ideas?” I could see Cosmos reflection in the window; maybe I did have an idea or two.