local settlement date 35,989
We underestimated our ability to forget. It is one of our greatest talents.
King Namor Zujahrah
07 a brew outside the castle
Namor was the new king with a mission. He walked outside of the dream and it became slowly obvious that his obsession was infectious. When he walked the hall ways and through the gardens, even those who did not know him could see that he carried his own energy. He had an idea or a notion that cut through the entertainment information.
People talked about the King of Kings.
The more he talked to people and explained his proclamation, the more his idea took root and started flowering among the young and old.
His closest of friends started to understand his magic and took time to read and wonder about the power of an idea.
"King Namor. You are charged like a boy in love."
"Lexus, I can see something. There is a real bigger than our dream. And I don't feel like I am one. I feel like I am many. That what I see and feel, it isn't just me. It is something in us that reaches both a long way back and somehow even before us. Like, I we, if we could just wake up, we would already be much more than we have been teaching ourselves to believe."
Lexus took his hand and let Namor take her to a King with a private library. He was a friend of a friend and had heard of the proclamation of the king who wanted to know the meaning of the language that still survived in their tired dream world.
The King's private Drave escorted Namor and Lexus into the King's library.
"King Namor, I presume."
"Yes, I am King Namor. And this is my sister, Queen Lexus."
"You are the first king who has shown an interest in what has interested me since before your mother was born. I am guessing. Let me show you a treasure I have been hoping to show you since I heard there was a king looking for a lost library."
A very old looking drawing was laid out on a large table under glass.
"What is it."
"This is a hand made copy of a hand made copy. I made this one. This is copy 306."
Namor studied it for a moment but understood nothing. He had never seen a drawing like it. Lines and words. Measurements. All fairly meaningless to Namor. Except that it was obviously a structural plan of something.
"Many generations ago, Castle City. The first ring was built according to this plan."
"Castle City plan. That would make it one of the most important drawings that exists. It shows that there was a beginning. A time before us in our castle."
"Yes. Of course. But that isn't the most shocking meaning of the drawing. Our family stared building around a round mountain. And if you ask me."
"I am asking. What is the significance of the mountain."
"If I understand the nature of a mountain. This, what is under our castle, wasn't a mountain."
"What else could it be."
"What is a mountain, if I may ask."
The Old King and Namor looked at Lexus. Then the Old King gave a guess at what he thought a mountain was. Namor nodded as if he thought that it was a large rock formation of various sizes, often in the company of other mountains. A natural event that was never very perfect. As was the object under the castle. Suggesting it was not natural.
"The drawings say nothing of what the foundation is. Perhaps because there was only one thing it could be and it was not necessary to note it."
"Something everyone understood then and no one now."
"That is my conclusion on most days. The drawing shows where the 36 rivers flow at equal distance. Everything perfectly symmetrical. Like almost nothing in Castle City."
Namor looked at the Old King after studying the drawing for a long time.
"These are rivers."
"That's what these lines represent. Our water supply."
"It looks unbelievable."
"That it is. I've spent many years trying to figure it out. I even came to the idea of royal family fabricated paradise. A world built to be a perfect paradise of luxury for the royal family."
"What. What is paradise."
"It's a legend possibly older than Castle City. There is hint of it in some older books of fiction. And I think the builders of this Castle might have believed something like that. They wanted a castle that had everything so they would never have to leave."
"That is madness."
"Oh, King Namor. My clever friend. That is very likely exactly what it is. Some kind of madness. And we don't even remember that it is what we had wanted. If we did want it. If it isn't something more frightening."
"What could be more frightening."
"Incarceration."
Namor looked at the Old King then at Lexus to see if she understood.
"Have you ever been out of the Castle."
"Not once."
"Did you ever want to go outside the castle."
"Many times."
"But we don't go outside of the castle."
"No. Kings and Queens stay in their castle. That is what the castle is for."
"Did you know there is an ocean all around us."
"I've heard it among the Draves. I eat the dried fish that come from there."
Namor attempted to understand the rivers.
"Where does all the water come from. The sky."
"I don't know. I can't imagine it. The drawing shows only that they all run straight out of the center."
Namor had so many questions that the Old King invited him and Lexus to stay the night. After an evening meal, the Old King showed Namor where the word 'Library' was printed on the old drawing. With Namor watching him, the Old King drew that section of the castle so Namor would know where to dig.
"Where to dig."
"Yes, King Namor. I don't know how many generations ago this castle was first built but I know that it is still being built and nothing on this drawing is like it was. If we are lucky, the library was left when the castle grew over it. If not, then you are welcome to the few books that I have."
In the morning, after a fine breakfast, Namor thanked the Old King, accepting his invitation to return soon and often. Namor took with him a couple books and his sketch and he and Lexus ran back to tell his brothers and uncles who had made it their mission to assist Namor.
"We have the location of the library in sector 36 of the castle. If it is still there, we will have to dig to find it."
"We certainly will not dig to not find it. We shall dig till we find your library even if we have to dig forever."
"Namor, King Namor my brother, you shine like a god."
"Lexus. I think that is what we might be, the sleeping gods. We are the matter of the matter that matters. We have simply been sleeping in an ugly dream."
"Brother, how can you say that our dream is ugly."
"It is comfortable, it is true, but it is not the matter of the matter which makes it an ugly situation. And if you were a Drave, Brother, you would not find our dream a pretty thing."
"Thank the gods we aren't Draves."
"Thank the gods that we can see that the dream is a dream and that life in not a dream. And what happens outside of the dream is in our hands. It is for us to mold. To determine what it is to be."
Lexus laughed and jumped up to kiss Namor.
"Namor. They see you. We see you. Tell us we are going to go and see where the library is. Let us do what it is you have been looking to do for far too long."
"Yes. Let us go there now, just to see it. To find the best place to start digging."
"Digging. King Namor and his brothers digging for books."
"Books buried under many generations. Waiting for the brothers to come a digging."
"Come to find the wall or the floor."
"When we have done our digging there won't be no wall no more."
"King Namor. King Namor. The King of Kings who reads many books."
"Thought his family must have a history so he went to have a look."
"So the Kings and the Queens. Help us here, King Namor. You laugh and don't sing."
"I am too happy to hear my brothers and uncles singing a new song. I am afraid I will cry if I try to sing."
Lexus kissed her excited brother several times on the long walk to the Lost Library.
"Namor. King Namor. Why have none of the kings and queens gone a digging before."
"That is quite simple, no one ever suspected there was anything to go digging for."
"They weren't really Kings and Queens. They were sleeping children waiting for King Namor."
Namor was pleased to find everyone so excited about the Lost Library. Or at least excited about his excitement about it.
"Imagine a time before Castle City. A time before the royal family. Before the castle."
"Why. King Namor. Let us not imagine something that seems like such a hassle."
"Imagine anything was possible and we have been locked in to the simplest one."
"What do you propose we imagine, dear brother help us, for we are so dumb."
"Imagine there was a way to be that is so different that even the Draves where free. The castle was gone and we lived under the sea. We lived with the fish. We saw the sun and the moon but had no words."
"What we going to eat."
"Fish, of course."
"I think I like the castle better."
After nearly half a day of thinking and talking nonsense and rhyme and walking, they came to the door to the street where the river ran as indicated on Namor's sketch. Namor was not impressed with the door. It seemed lost and out of place.
Two Draves. Guards armed. Stood in front of the small metal door.
"Is this the door to the street with the river."
"It is the door to outside the castle. There there is a street and a river."
"We request that the door be opened."
"It is dangerous out there for royal family."
"Dangerous."
"Dangerous."
Namor tried to picture it. He looked at his sister and brothers and uncles. Except for Lexus, they all wore swords and had all been trained to defend themselves. They were the royal family of the castle. The castle was the definition of royalty.
"Open the bloody door, Draves. We have not come to see if the door is well guarded."
The guards opened the many locks and let the six royal family members through. Out to the street.
"Well slice the neck of a Drave and throw her mother in the beast, it's a bit different out here, isn't it."
"It has more magic than I could imagine."
"It stinks much more than I could imagine."
"The smell is not bad. It is different."
"These Draves are living like mold."
"They are living on what we have left them."
"Left them. I don't remember leaving them anything."
"We have left them very little, obviously, my brother. We use those men there to collect from them."
"What men."
"Down toward the big gate. Those are our tax collectors."
"Our tax collectors. Supplying our castle. Well we should thank them for their job well done."
There were little huts along both sides of the street and little gardens along the river that ran down the center of the street.
Namor decided to move from the gate. An old man was watching him so Namor walked over to where he sat in his little garden while the rest of the royal visitors watched.
"You look at me funny. Have you never seen a Royal Family member."
"I've never seen a Drave King."
"If my brothers heard you call me Drave King, you would lose your head."
"They must be blind."
"Perhaps. But perhaps it is only that they are in a dream."
"May I touch you. Drave King."
"Why do you want to touch me."
"It will be easier to remember you as real."
"I am one King among countless."
"You are the one that will count. The Queen and other Kings know this. They have come because they have followed you."
Namor was self conscious about looking like a Drave. He understood it to be a simple matter of his mother having sex with a Drave. Conceiving a Drave in the royal family. He could not have been the first. The over reaction of the old Drave seemed out of proportion. Namor dismissed it. The old man touched his face.
"It is a good thing that you come."
"I've come to find a lost library."
"I'm sure a library is a good thing to find. If it brings a Drave King out of the Castle."
"I will bring you a book when we find it."
"You will find your library. And you will find you way after that. Trust your instinct, Drave King. It wears you well."
"My instinct."
The old man patted Namor gently on his belly.
"Listen here. And let your heart tell you what to see."
"In here."
Namor returned to his sister and bothers. They had stood and watched his first contact.
"What did the old Drave tell you."
"To listen to my instinct."
"What's an instinct."
"I think it's partly the stomach."
"That sounds like sound advice. My stomach is calling out for a brew or two."
"If I understand tax collectors, King Morhart, I believe we won't have to go far to find a brew."
"Let's find us a tax collector."
"We are entering their sector."
They walked down the street, leaving the huts and vegetable gardens and entered a vast moving market. Goods were being unloaded and young Draves were being taken away into dark entranceways to large buildings.
The sun blared off the stone under their feet and off the walls. So much direct sun.
"I can barely keep my eyes opened."
"They all love you, Namor."
"They are simply stunned to see us."
A large robust tax collector pranced up to the visiting royalty and bowed.
"Roll me over and burn me both sides in the desert sun, the royal family has come for a visit."
"Is that so odd."
"It is an odd honour and pleasure that I've never hear of before."
"My brother, King Namor, studies many books and is led to believe that a member of the royal family may find a fresh brew along with the hospitality of a tax collector where one finds tax collectors."
"He is a wise King, your brother. By pure chance, you are speaking to a tax collector who is known for his excellent brew. It would be a great honour for that tax collector to drink one or several brew with such honoured and royal company."
"I propose we accept his proposal."
The tax collector led the royal entourage around a caravan preparing for departure. They passed over the river on one of many bridges, through a courtyard that opened toward the large open gate. Farther from their castle door.
Namor tried to focus outside of the large gate. He could only make out chaos behind a thin cloud of dust. He was certain he saw what he saw correctly.
The dwelling of the tax collector was up a wooden stair case three long flights up. The front of the dwelling was a small garden with a large tree in the middle that provided shade. There were twelve levels of what Namor figured to be the homes of the tax collectors. They all looked out to the expansive open courtyard.
At a glance, it looked like chaos. But upon more attentive observation, many things were being done. Men, women and children ran up and down the length and height of the stairways.
"Namor."
"What is it, Lexus."
"You are my King."
Lexus kissed Namor.
The brew was served.
"Before any drinking proposals are made, I must remind those in my company that I want to see the outside wall before night."
"Let us drink one to the outside wall."
"To show our satisfaction in the hospitality of brew master and tax collector, I propose we accept his offer for a second."
"Our man will thereafter propose three and I would not want to run the risk of insult by not drinking the third."
They eventually, with much friendly debate, settled on four, a few pieces of meat and a few tax collector stories.
"I know of the best location in the outside village for a brew suitable for royal tastes."
"The village."
"Village 36. It's a very big village. Nearly a day's ride to get out to the desert. All in all, 36 villages all the way around the wall."
Namor stood to show he was ready to go. His host and Lexus stood with him. His brothers and uncles finished off their drinks and followed the tax collector down the stairs and over the courtyard to the main gate. Gate 36.
"Thirty six gates like this one."
"That's right. At least as far as I know. And I know the next gate is gate one."
"Is it always so busy here at the gate."
"Always at least this busy."
The gate was enormous. The outside wall was wider than the approaching three-wagon caravan was long.
"Legend has it."
"Legend."
"Yes. That at one time, there was much more coming through this gate."
"For the building of the Castle. When there was more room for building."
Before they were to the outside of the outside wall, Namor knew there was no way in from the outside. The wall was, from appearance, virtually impenetrable. Except for the monstrous gate that had no doors to close it.
"Why the wall."
"To keep the Draves out."
"Castle City is full of Draves."
"Then I don't know."
The tax collector smiled at the kings.
"The wall was always here. As were soup houses with good brew. The one I'll take you to, it has the best in village sector 36."
It was endless, near chaos. Smoke came from many of the dwelling. Smells. Walls of smells sometimes as they passed some dwellings. Some more appealing than others.
"Brother. Look at this architecture."
"Architecture. Brother, this is simply brutal."
"It is beautiful. Efficient."
"King Namor, you need a brew."
"We are nearly there."
They were not nearly there. There were more roads and paths, stairways, wooden walkways and bridges to cross before they came to a small soup kitchen.
"Old Man. I have the honour to bring you kings and a queen to sample your brew."
"This is a great honour. Be seated and your brew will be served."
The soup kitchen was soon very busy with Draves and the odd tax collector wanting to drink with the royal family.
The old man brought the royal family many brew and much meat before anyone made a proclamation that the sun was no longer in the sky.
"I can arrange for rooms."
"A proposal to drink to."
The tax collector jumped up and made the arrangements with the old man.
"Namor, look at you."
"How can I."
Lexus leaned over to kiss him.
Namor could see that she was happy to see him happy. He realized he was happy. He was happy he knew where to start digging for the library. He was happy to find a world outside of Castle City. Already two worlds and they had just stepped out of the Castle that afternoon.
"Lexus. Almost anything could be possible."
"When I look at you, I can see it, King Namor."
chapter 08
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