Chapter 2 - Searching
#2 of Interesting Times
"Melik! Wake up!" called a voice that Melik was sure he recognized, "Wake up!"
After a moment's hesitation Melik rolled out of his bed, walked quickly over to the shutters, and flung them open. He was rewarded with a squeek and shout as Airuk tumbled into the street below.
"Ow! Watch it!" Airuk yelled up at the window as he held his slightly injured tail, "What did you have to go and do that for?"
Melik appeared to ponder the question for a moment before responding, "Airuk, the sun isn't even out yet. I can barely see you down there. Why are you of all people up?"
"My mom was talking last night about me helping Annah with the cleaning today. So I had to escape before they all woke up."
Melik stared down incredulously at the mouse below him, "I'm going back to sleep."
For a second Airuk looked vaguely panicked before starting to yell at Melik in a voice that best resembled a high pitched squeek, "I've been up all night though! And you're always talking about me needing to wake up earlier!"
"Why were you awake all night?" Melik asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Em... I didn't think I'd be able to wake up early enough so I decided the best way was not to go to sleep."
Melik stared incredulously at Airuk for several seconds before responding, "I'm going back to sleep, good morning!"
"Fine! I'll wait then!" Airuk yelled. Incensed about Melik's decision to go back to sleep he paced up and down the alley. A couple of minutes later and a bit tired Airuk sat up against a wall, arms crossed, and staring up at Melik's window with a furious look on his face. Twenty minutes later when Melik came down he found Airuk in the same position, except with his head titled back, eyes closed, and a little bit of drool at the corner of his mouth.
Contemplating the situation, Melik decided to make the best of it. He nudged Airuk with his foot and then said in the deepest voice he could manage, "Wake up vagrant."
Airuk awoke with a start and glanced hurriedly up and down the alley before his eyes settled on Melik. "Oh, it's you. About time! Em, how long was I asleep?"
"Only about half an hour," Melik said as he helped Airuk off the ground, "But why are you waking me up this early?"
At the invitiation to talk Airuk's face brightened and he began to speak fast enough that Melik had trouble understanding him, "See, if the human is teaching then he'll have to go to the university early. Once he's in the Imperial quarter we'll never be able to find him. So what we gotta do is ask all of the reputable inns near the quarter if they've got a human. If he's not there then we have time to wait by Mullen's Hall."
Melik was forced to admit that there was logic of sorts to the plan. Mullen's hall was where the visiting lecturers stayed. Of course, the whole plan hinged on the human being a guest lecturer at the university. If he or she wasn't, Melik wasn't sure if he could tell the difference, then the plan wasn't good for anything. When he pointed that out to Airuk, there was an answer for that to.
"Well then we can go and ask one of the news boys if there's anything in them about a human. If that doesn't work we can try and convince one of the town guards that we're supposed to give him a message. And if that doesn't work then we use chicken bones to divine where he's at."
Melik had been tacitly agreeing with Airuk's plan up until that point, "Chicken bones?"
"I read about it in a book."
"Did it have giants in it?" asked Melik as innocently as possible. Airuk then did his best to 'accidentally' force Melik into a wall. As Melik had about ten pounds on the diminutive mouse, the end result was Airuk being squished up against the opposite wall. Twenty minutes and three minor arguments later the two mice had arrived at the edge of the Imperial Quarter. Rather then entering, they began to travel around the periphery. At each inn they thought suitable for a human to stay at they went in and Airuk asked anyone he saw working if the inn had a human in residence. More often then not the question was greeted with stares that suggested they thought Airuk was playing a few cards short of a deck.
Throughout the whole process Melik did his best to appear as if he thought his friend was crazy as well. This meant that when one particularly portly innkeeper chased a squeaking Airuk out of the inn, Melik went unnoticed. Just before he left to join Airuk out in the street, Melik saw a figure he recognized descending down the stairwell. It was one of the guards from the day before, wearing his distinctive white robes and brightly polished cuirass. Unlike the last four, this one wore a steel helm that obscured most of his face. A few seconds after he entered the room the guard nodded and down the staircase came a tall figure dressed in purple and ducking so as not to hit his head on the low ceilings.
Melik quickly rushed out of the inn to tell Airuk what he had seen. There he found Airuk holding a slightly damaged ear and cursing the innkeeper with the vilest insults his 13 year old mind could conceive of. "There you are," said Airuk, "I had thought the innke-"
"Quiet," Malik said as he interrupted Airuk, "The human is in there. I think he's about to come out. I saw his guards. They look mean and I don't think running into them again will make them like you anymore."
A few minutes later Malik's prediction proved correct as the first of three guards exited the inn. An instant later the guards were followed by the human and two more guards. Doing there best not to be noticed, they silently tagged along as the human traveled down the awakening streets. They ducked from alley to alley and doorway to doorway. Airuk was almost certain that they had avoided any detection. Malik was almost certain that all their sneaking did was make them look even more conspicuous.
As Airuk had predicted, the human went into the Imperial Quarter before eventually heading into an ancient building that had stood since the time of the Empire. Because of that, or perhaps because it was the buildings original name, it was called the Emperor's Hall. They waited for almost a minute before following the human into the building. A small smattering of older students were already there, but not nearly enough for the pair to have blended into.
Doing their best to look inconspicuous, and looking all the more so because of it, they explored the building looking for any sign of their quarry. When they had searched the entire first floor and were halfway through the second floor Airuk spotted a guard standing outside one of the doors. As he moved to get a better view Melik grabbed the sleeve of his tunic and frantically tried to whisper into Airuk's ear.
"Stop! There's only one of them. There were always at least two. Let's get out of here." Before the two of them could move very far the guard near the door moved towards them as two more guards entered the hallway from side rooms. Instead of the spears they had carried earlier, each had a short sword and looked ready to use it.
Both of the boys tried to make a break for it and escape down the hallway but the guards moved too quickly. Airuk was slammed up against a wall while another knocked Malik onto the ground and held him at sword point. Out of the corner Airuk saw the guard in the steel helmet approaching them
"Good work," the commander said before turning to examine the two children his men had captured. Airuk was sputtering and gasping for breath as he was held up by his neck while Malik seemed transfixed at the sword point an inch from his nose. "Put him down before he passes out." With that the guard let go and Airuk collapsed onto the ground and immediately grabbed hold of his throat.
"Now, perhaps the two of you would like to tell me why you were following us." the chief guard said. Airuk only continued to try and regain his breath. Malik swallowed and did his best to answer the question.
"My friend, sir. He wanted to ask the human a question about the republic and the Empire."
The guards all exchanged dubious glances upon hearing Malik's explanation. The chief guard then bent down infront of Malik. Drawing his own sword he placed it square on the center of Malik's chest and began to slowly apply pressure. "You see boy, that doesn't make much sense if you ask me. What, with running into us yesterday, going to half the inns in town, and following us all the way here. Seems more likely to me that the two of you are being paid by someone. And I want to know who."
Malik tried to scurry backwards as the pressure from the blade mounted. His paws though found little traction on the slick marble floor and he quickly ran into the gauntlets of a guard standing directly behind him. Just when Malik thought the blade was going to plunge into him a deep, rumbling voice boomed down corridor.
"That will be quite enough Drineus. Help those two boys to their feet and put your swords away before someone else sees them and starts a commotion." The human was walking towards them at a brisk pace. The mouse two guards walking behind him almost had to jog to keep up. Airuk wasn't to his feet yet when he got there so the human reached down and picked him up with one hand. Airuk had stopped holding his throat but was crying and tears matted the fur on his cheek. Melik was still petrified in mute terror.
"Oh this won't do at all. Come on you to." the human said. He grabbed each boys hand and half dragged them down the hall to a door which opened with a push of his foot. Inside were two chairs and another doorway. The human set Melik down into one of the chairs before pointing to a guard, "Fix him. If he asks for something, get it. And now you," he said while pointing towards Airuk, "Come with me."
Behind the second door was a small room bare except for a large oaken desk and a chair on either side. A single window behind the desk provided illumination. Picking him up under the armpits, the human set Airuk down into the oversized chair. Unlike every other room in the building, this one looked as if the furnishings had been fashioned for human sized beings. Airuk was dwarfed his chair and even more so by the massive desk which the human sat behind. "So, questions about the Republic is it? You must be a pretty curious lad to go to all this trouble. Why, waking up early on a day off?"
Airuk sniffled and tried to wipe some of the snot off his nose. After a few moments of composing himself he began to speak softly while staring at the floor. "Yessir. I read a few books and they didn't tell me a lot. And I wanted to know more about the republic. I thought since you were a human I thought you might know something about it."
The human seemed to ponder Airuk's reply for a moment before tilting his head back and laughing. It was a deep, throaty laugh that encouraged Airuk slightly. "Well my boy, the Republic was along time ago. Almost 3000 years ago in fact. I know I look old, but do I really look quite that old?"
"No sir, I mean. It's just that..." Airuk fell silent. He had to admit, when put that way his motive didn't make much sense even to himself. "Em. Is this your office sir?"
The human smiled at the question, "Now that is a question I can answer. Yes it is, for whenever I visit. They keep it just for me, awfully nice of them to. But, don't be too disappointed. I may be able to answer some of your questions about the Republic after all."
After thinking for a moment and again using his sleeve to wipe his nose Airuk said, "What's your name sir?"
"I would have to be quite ancient for that to be a question about the Republic. But my name is Raiktor, and I assure you that if you search you will not find it in any history books. Or at least none that I've yet found. Anything else you'd care to ask? I've got another half hour before I'm supposed to be anywhere and you did go through an awful lot of trouble to find me."
"Sir, you said to me that Airaneus was the fiftieth imperator. But Dorin, our librarian, said that was impossible. And that the republic wasn't nearly old enough for that. And none of the books I found mentioned anything about Airaneus before he founded the Empire. And one of them even said he fought giants, but I know giants aren't real."
Raiktor chuckled before starting to answer Airuk's questions, "He was the fifty-third imperator. And as for Dorin, I've known that stodgy old rabbit since he was a student in Pulrich. If it's not in at least half a dozen peer reviewed publications it's not real to him. The republic was certainly older then Dorian thinks. How old exactly, I cannot say. But if an imperator served for life, and Airaneus was the fifty-third, it must have been a very long time indeed. He lived during a time of great turmoil, and until the stability of the Empire there were few who spent their time recording history. And giants boy?"
Airuk's eyes again fell to his feet, "I know sir."
"Well good. Of course they're real. Not many left now days. But sure enough, if you look hard enough they're there. Anything else?"
Airuk was pretty sure that Raiktor was just pulling his tail about the giants, but he decided to ask his final question anyway. "Yessir, it said that Airaneus enslaved all of us non-humans."
At that Raiktor's face became completely emotionless, "That is, perhaps something of an exaggeration. Remember, the Emperor lived in much different times then today. Not everything is as it seems, and you should not judge him so harshly. He was a very brave man and sacrificed a very great deal for the safety of others. Now, I have something that I want to give you." Raiktor said as he opened up a drawer. From it he produced a small velvet covered case which he handed to Airuk.
Airuk examined the case for a moment and then looked for Raiktor's approval before opening it. Inside, seated upon a plush cushion, was a heavy gold coin almost the size of his palm. "That, is one Imperial draat, the equivalent to say, one royal today. The man upon it is Airaneus."
Airuk stared at the ancient coin, as shiny as the day it was minted, for almost a minute. Along the edge of the coin was inscribed, "The Year 12 in the reign of Airaneus the Liberator" in Imperial. On the backside was a picture of a classical Imperial temple. Carved into the coin across the temple was a jagged scrawl in a language Airuk had never seen before. It looked almost as if someone had simply scratched the letters in.
"It says, 'Interesting Times'," Raiktor said before Airuk could ask the question. "Now, if there's not anything else, I have somewhere to be and people to see. You young man, need to stay out of trouble. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it'll kill a mouse to if you give it the chance."
Raiktor led Airuk out into the entrance of his office where Melik was holding one of the guard's swords and examining it with a fascinated gleam in his eye. Judging from the guard securing his cuirass it looked as if Melik had tried that on as well. When he saw Raiktor and Airuk entering Melik looked slightly startled and quickly handed the sword back to its owner. Raiktor patted Melik on the head as he walked past and his guards followed him out into the hallway. Melik and Airuk were the last to leave.
Outside lectures were about to start and the halls had gotten considerably more crowded. Raiktor's appearance though caused a virtual standstill as the students clamored to get a better view of him. While in most buildings of mouse construction his head would have touched the ceiling, here he seemed unique in being the perfect size for his surroundings. One of the many observers was Dorin who clearly recognized Raiktor from his time at Pulrich. Dorin quickly made his way over to them through a combination of excuse me's and strategically placed elbows.
"Hello Professor. What a pleasure it is to see you after all these years." Dorin said while making something of a half bow.
"And you as well Dorin. It has been a long time. But I'm very busy and must be going so I haven't the time to talk." Raiktor replied before turning to Airuk, "Now, for you. Take care and I'm sure I'll be seeing you again." The tall human then bent down and ruffled the fur between Airuk's ears before walking down the hallway. The sea of students parted to let him through almost as if by command.
Dorin though, stood in something that resembled a form of paralytic shock. Airuk cleared his throat to attract Dorin's attention. Once he had it the young mouse smiled, stuck out his tongue, and walked off down the hallway with his tail swishing from side to side.