Plague Doctor

Chapter 196: The Elder of Ulthar

‘Same type?’ Hearing that, different thoughts crossed Gu Jun’s mind, in the end, he decided to shuffle towards the two. This was a risky choice but it would be much riskier for him to stay behind. He trailed behind the two youth and passed through the maze-like alleys, turning and twisting around the narrow paths between the black towers. The sound of pursuit was fading away. Gu Jun paid attention to his surroundings as he moved. There was nothing unusual. Occasionally, a passer-by might glance at them, clearly rushing about at night was not a common occurrence at Dylath-Leen. There was a strange smell that lingered in the air, it was quite pungent and carried a scent of danger with it.

At the same time, Gu Jun was observing his two new companions. They both had long black hair and lithe physique. The man was slightly older and looked quite unassuming but the woman was quite beautiful.

‘Why would they help me? What do they mean by we’re of the same type?’ After some journeying, they reached a shore underneath a stone bridge. There was an old raft that could fit 5 people which was tethered there. The bamboo pole at the stern had an oil lamp hanging on it, its dim light lit up the surrounding. The man got onto the raft first and picked up the oars to ready their escape. The woman said, “Sir, please get on.”

“Ah.” Gu Jun croaked, still refusing to expose his own language because the usage of either earth’s language or the foreign language would expose too much information about him. He pointed at his eyeballs and returned to his use of ‘eyeball language’, “Who are you people?”

“Sir, that will put so much strain on your eyes...” The woman frowned. “I am Peacock and that is Malachite.” Gu Jun frowned behind his mask. He was quite sure that was not their real name. Both peacock and malachite were names of jewels and they did not explain much about the two strangers’ origin. Probably like him, they too did not want to reveal too much about themselves.

“Why did you choose to help me?” He moved his eyeballs to enquire, to try to probe for their intention. It was still Peacock who spoke. She said seriously, “Sir, you are a disciple of the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan, right? Its power could be felt through your nightmare, it was not strong but we could sense it, you have summoned its power before.”

It then dawned on Gu Jun. ‘So the same type meant that they were all training from the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan?’ He thought about it and probed further. “And I thought you saved me because we are of the same race.”

“That naturally is the other reason.” Peacock smiled. “Sir, you sure are cautious.” Gu Jun glanced at the black towers that lined the river banks. Living at this kind of place, caution was a virtue needed to survive. “Where are you guys heading?” He asked.

“We need to leave Dylath-Leen immediately.” Peacock looked at him and said kindly. “We do not know what has happened to you, but you cannot stay here any longer. The black merchants will not allow their slave to escape. Whenever one did, every black merchant would unite and search the whole city to recapture them. Once they were captured, they would be stuffed into a wooden barrel until they die from starvation.” She turned to look down the horizon before adding, “We’re heading towards Ulthar, sir, you are welcome to come with us. When we reach there, you are free to go your own way.”

Gu Jun thought to himself. ‘This group of people are very familiar with this world. If i ask about Ulthar, it would expose my ignorance which might be construed as vulnerability...’ So instead he asked, “Why are you guys going there?”

“We’re going to visit Atal, the great elder at the Ulthar Temple.” Peacock answered, “We have something to ask him.” Peacock did not go into details. Gu Jun understood this was caution on their part, after all wasn’t he doing the same? Changing tack, he switched the subject, “Where are your other companions?”

“They still have things to do at Dylath-Leen.” Peacock answered. “Sir, time is running out. You’ll have to decide whether you’re coming with us or not.”

“Then how did you know I was making my escape?” Gu Jun pressed. “You appear to be waiting for me at the exit.”

“Because we were at the backstage of the theatre at the time.” Peacock answered. “We saw people running in fear and screaming that the nightmare man was coming after them.” Gu Jun did remember the trio of audience members. It was an acceptable explanation but it was still too much of a coincidence for Gu Jun’s preference...

In the end, he decided to get on the boat. Math prevailed, dealing with 2 people was much easier than dealing with the whole city of human traffickers. After he shuffled onto the raft, Peacock leaped on. With one at the stern, the other at the brow, they sailed down the river. Gu Jun made use of this chance to take an inventory of his status. His mental corruption was at 24.78 percent, that was incredibly dangerous. Of the 8 sweet dreams, he had 3 left and they were all close to bursting. The vines had become a part of his physiology whether he liked it or not. He would like to cut them off but using the Carlot instrument would expose himself. He slowly lowered the white mask. Under the fuzzy moonlight, the water reflected its blurry shadow. Gu Jun leaned to look at the river and his face stared back at him... And what a monstrosity it was. His face was filled with scars after the scabs had fallen off. The scars were lined closely, overlapping with each other and they were all purplish-red in color... There was a large gash at the left side of his neck and it looked extremely grotesque. The rims of his eyes were puffy and swollen. The blood vessels there had already dried out, stemming blood flow. His eyes spoke of nothingness. Gu Jun looked at that abnormal face and was dazed by his own reflection. ‘I wonder... if I still taste salty now...’

“Sir, we still have not gotten your name.” Peacock suddenly asked with friendliness.

“Nightmare man.” Gu Jun answered with his eyeballs as he put the white mask back on. He could not think of a better moniker.

There was indeed some distance to travel between Ulthar and Dylath-Leen. According to Peacock, it would take 7 days on land and 3 days on water. For the 3 days, whether they were on the raft or camping by the shore, Gu Jun had been meditating while keeping watch on the other two. During this period, Malachite had said less than 10 sentences but Peacock was quite a chatterbox even though she made sure to give nothing away in her conversation.

It slowly came to Gu Jun’s realization that Ulthar appeared to be the location where he was sold by the Zoog to the black merchants. The rivers turned azure and the fertile fields returned. The quiet farmhouses returned to his sight. On the fourth morning, they walked down the cobblestone path to enter the ancient township. The houses were squat with triangular roof. Some houses had balconies extending out to the street. There were chimneys everywhere but even more ubiquitous was the... cats.

After walking for a while, Gu Jun noticed the herds of cats. There were many species of feline. They were all well-fed with furry coats. They did not like strays. Peacock told him warningly. “There is a law at Ulthar, no harm should come to the cats. The cats have great respect here.”

Gu Jun was reminded of Wu Siyu mentioning she sensed cats from the long sword and wooden bow they got from the white ship...

He did not wander off alone but followed the two towards the Ulthar Temple. The temple that was built among the small mounds was simple and unimposing. Gu Jun would have easily mistaken it for the manor of the local baron if he was not told it was a place of worship. At the temple, Gu Jun did not see any idols but he did see more cats. At the tallest mountain of Ulthar, there stood a stone-hewn circular tower. The vines on the outside gave it a green color. The elder Atal was inside the tower. Every day, many locals and foreigners came to visit him, the queue was long at the entrance of the tower.

As they joined the queue, Peacock informed Gu Jun, “The great elder Atal is the disciple of Barzai the Wise, he has learned everything he knows from Barzai. According to legend, they have climbed Hatheg-Kla together but only Atal returned. Based on what Atal said, when Barzai was trying to get a glimpse of the earth’s god, he was taken away by an unknown power.”

Gu Jun’s expression shifted immediately but it was shielded from view due to the mask. ‘Barzai the wise? So that captain really did come from Ulthar?’ At that moment, he appeared to hear Barzai’s maddening scream again, ‘The wisdom of Barzai hath made him greater than earth’s gods, and against his will their spells and barriers are as naught!’

Did that illusion happen when Barzai and Atal were hiking Hatheg-Kla? And what was the power that turned Barzai’s extreme joy into intense fear? Barzai was the ferryman of the travellers into Dreamlands... then would this Atal know how to leave Dreamlands?

Gu Jun was filled with anticipation and some suppressed hope. After a long day of lining up, finally it was their turn to enter the tower.

Inside the inner room of the first floor, Atal in a long robe was seated on top of an ivory stage. When his wrinkled face laid his eyes on them, his expression changed greatly. The serenity that occupied the elder disappeared as he jumped up in a gasp. He shivered as disbelief colored his face. “Barzai the Wise has prophesied this... The arrival of the tattered one in white mask... Oh, Barzai the Wise! It has been 300 years but my knowledge is not even 1 percent of yours...”