The Longest Journey Part 2: The City of Ghuls
I have dated this entry as the nineteenth, but in truth I can not be sure it is correct. I asked al-Nahash how long we took in the tunnels, and he gave the elegant Naga shrug, his head dipping on a neck more supple than any humans. It is a question without a true answer, he explained, but it might be called two days.
Two days in the complete darkness beyond Al-Tana. It could have been that long, or much longer, or only minutes. Passage through the caves was strange and timeless. I know we did not sleep during the journey, though I longed to lay my head down. al-Nahash gave us all a tiny vial of wakefulness he had carried from the sleep market of Tarshish, so that we could pass through without pause. It was barely enough to keep me going, though I suppose it proved enough in the end. At every intersection al-Nahash would raise his lantern to examine the markings, sometimes refreshing them with a bit of chalk, and one time correcting them. I asked about that, and he shrugged again before saying that sometimes they were changed by the tunnels. He refused to say more, and I decided that I would rather not know.
When the light came, it was sudden and overwhelming. The passage twisted in the strangest way, and went from stygian darkness to the brightness of sun in a single step. I cried out and covered my eyes, and only barely kept Sithchain from harming herself in panic. But the pain of the light faded in a minute or two, and then we passed out onto a broad shelf of stone overlooking the Al-Kubra.
It was a scene familiar to me from my dreams, and I even drew out my sketchbook to compare. I could not have produced a more accurate likeness than what I had already drawn. The sun was where I had placed it, and the dunes, and every grain of sand. My head spun with it - I felt as though I had stepped out of the world and into my dreams. Perhaps I had.
I turned my gaze away from the desert to look back where we came. The entrance to the cave gave no clue to how far it went or that it had anything special about it. As we set up camp for the night I sketched it with the vague idea that I might need to recognize it some day. I don't know that being able to spot it again will help me, not knowing the way back through the tunnels, but it couldn't hurt, and it gave me something to do other than gaze down upon the desert. Tomorrow, we will descend to the Al-Kubra proper, and begin our trek across that strange and alien land.
We began to descend to the desert as soon as there was light enough to see, intending to travel as far as we could in the morning before the sun rose too high. It was chill when we began, but warmed quickly as the sun rose. The trail down from the cave entrance was steep and narrow, and I led Sithchain rather than riding.
The descent took all morning, and when we reached the end of the trail al-Nahash had us set up a temporary camp, consisting mostly of some canopies for shade. We rested for several hours as the sun beat down, and I could feel myself beginning to bake. Only when the sun began to descend again did we set out. Al-Nahash insisted that we must be on the Asthimarga before moonrise. I didn't recognize the word, and asked one of the camel drivers what it meant. According to him, it is the Way of Bones, or the Bone-strewn Path. When I asked why it was called that, he just chuckled and declared that it would be obvious before too long. We went on until shortly after sunset, as the last light was fading from the sky, when we finally arrived on the mysterious road. It was nothing special to my eyes - merely a stone road, covered in places by drifting sand, but everyone assured me that it was the only safe place to be in this part of the Al-Kubra at night.
Last night I lay underneath the skies of the Al-Kubra and studied the stars. They are not like those I have known all my life - the familiar constellations are all replaced by other, strange configurations, and I cannot see the stories they tell yet. I fell asleep while watching them, and had the first dream I recall since entering the darkness of Al-Tana.
In my dream, I was still lying there watching the stars when I got the strange feeling that they were watching me in return. As I watched, some of the stars at the edges of the sky seemed to shift, like eyes moving in dark faces, turning their attention my way. First one, and then dozens of them underwent this subtle change, until I was certain that the sky was crowded with hundreds or thousands of beings too dark to be seen but with bright, shining eyes. The star-eyes grew closer still, leaving vast gaps in the sky as they converged above me, crowding closer and closer. Before I woke, they had formed into a single vast eye that took up the sky directly above me, and I was pinned under the weight of that gaze. A strange, heavy sensation siezed my body, and I felt like I was being pressed or squeezed, like a fruit in the marketplace being tested for ripeness. I slipped into blackness under that strange pressure, and when I woke I still felt the weight of it in my bones.
For the last few days, we have been traveling on the Asthimarga, and I have learned the origin of the road's name. The trail has begun to wind through what can only be described as a forest of enormous bones, left behind by creatures that I can not begin to imagine. Al-Nahash says that the largest bones have been here as long as anyone can remember, and that whatever once left them is unknown. But there are many smaller bones as well, which have been arranged into strange towers among the giants. They are clearly intended to be art of some sort, although what macabre artist made them is unknown to me.
During our break today, three men were executed. I had not paid attention to these men before, and only now learned that this was why they had been brought along - they were condemned criminals that al-Nahash had appropriated for the journey. I asked why, and was told that they were to be a gift to the ruler of Madinat al-Ghul, to ensure our safe passage through the part of the Al-Kubra we were going to. We were safe as long as we traveled towards the city on the Asthimarga, but would require the permission and blessings of the Shaitan-e-Asthi, lord of the Ghuls, to travel any further. I turned away then, not wanting to see the men die, and I wonder what other sacrifices are planned to enable this journey.
At last we have come to Madinat al-Ghul, the city of Ghuls. It is unlike any city I have seen. The buildings are scattered at random, with no streets or walls. Their doors are open, and inside I saw dark pits opening into the earth beneath the desert. We arrived shortly before nightfall, and al-Nahash had the bodies brought forward to the largest of the buildings, and waited there with them while the rest of us withdrew beyond the edge of the city and waited on the road. I could see him there, standing over the men he had brought to feed to the ghuls, and feared what would happen if the offering was not deemed sufficient.
As quick as shadow, figures emerged from the dark buildings. I heard the sounds of hooves on stone, and al-Nahash was surrounded by the ghuls. They crouched on crooked legs, but were still as tall as the Naga and I could see that each was different - some had the heads of great cats, while others looked like desiccated corpses or beautiful women. The one feature they all had in common were their feet, which looked like donkey's hooves - that, and the hunger that showed on their faces.
Al-Nahash spoke to them in a language I do not know, but which sounded achingly familiar, like a childhood lullaby, and I leaned towards them hoping to catch the meaning somehow. The ghuls replied, and in moments they had taken the bodies and al-Nahash into the darkness within the tower. My companions grew tense to see them go, and I feared that all had gone wrong. But before a quarter-hour had passed, al-Nahash emerged again, in the company of one of the ghuls who bore the appearance of a young woman. He returned and announced that our petition for passage was granted, and that the Shaitan-e-Asthi had been pleased enough to offer us a guide. She smiled then, and did not offer us a name, and I saw hunger in her eyes as she glanced at me. I doubt I will sleep while she is among us. Tomorrow we will leave Madinat al-Ghul, and travel on to our true destination in the heart of the Al-Kubra.
This article was originally written for Spooktober 2024. You can find all of my Spooktober Articles at Spooktober Central.
This article was originally written for Spooktober 2023. You can find all of my Spooktober Articles at Spooktober Central.
Your storytelling is so good. I love it.
Explore Etrea | March of 31 Tales
Thank you so much!