Tanith of Gold 16

The Gold delivery

Abzukan scowled, thinking of the news that Mercury had brought. Their output of gold has been dwindling in his widespread kingdom.

His people throughout the land had been delving and digging in the rich veins of the earth. Each village had a circular hut of prescribed measurements. In the exact middle of the hut there was a carefully constructed pit connected to a trench leading under the wall. In the trench was placed a solid gold bar, long and thin, of a specific dimension.

As he descended the steep pathway down the hill which meandered between massive rocks, Abzukan began the preparing for the arduous task ahead of him. He had been trained for years by the God-Priests before they left so mysteriously. He began to intone the secret syllables, flexing his diaphragm and expanding his chest, readying himself for the supreme effort which would leave him prostrate for hours.

He and his guards entered the narrow entrance to the Gold Warehouse. Massive walls guarded the storehouses. The perimeter wall had been precisely engineered to channel the wild forces which would be soon unleashed. A narrow passage led from the entrance around the circular structure.

Abzuban's wide shoulders touched the stone of the passage and the noise of his bare footfall was strangely amplified. His guards quietly fell into step behind him. It was forbidden to speak in the enclosure.  The walls of the narrow passage were lined with gold.

They emerged into the bright sunlight where he found the Harmonizers assembled. They were ten women and ten men who had been trained rigorously in the sounding techniques. They were naked because clothing and adornment were not allowed as they could melt and ignite in the ceremony.

Calmly, Abzukan stepped out of his breeches and stood before them. This was a daily ritual and he led them in a stretching and breathing exercise. They were all glistening with sweat when he faced them and softly hummed the first phrase of the song which was the prelude to the Calling. A servant brought the Gold Trump to him and he ceremoniously accepted it with a gesture. It was a solid gold musical instrument shaped like a very long trumpet. At the far end where the throat flared out the end of the trumpet was fixed to a pivot. The trumpet faced the long circular tunnel in which they had entered.

Abzukan felt the familiar high-pitched buzzing in his ears. He began the Calling by blowing in a particular way until the trumpet grew warm to the touch, then began the calling sound. The chorus caught his tone and subtly modified and augmented it.  All the objects around them began to shimmer as the energy grew. The sound amplified down the passageway until the walls rippled. Transcending space the energy called the harmonising gold bars in all the collection huts across the land. Each bar began to pulse with energy. The piles of gold collected by the workers began to glow and vanished within a few seconds. In an instant the gold from all the collection points arrived at the focal point of the spiral in the Gold Warehouse. Dross was left behind so the gold that arrived was the purest possible.

The collection platform in the epicentre of the spiral of the stone building glowed dull red as the gold materialised in the form of large pebble shapes. The pile grew to knee-height and when it showed no sign of increasing Abzukan slowed the frequency of the sound until he stopped. The familiar effects of the exhaustion crashed into him. His vigilant guards caught him as he swayed and led him to a waiting pile of soft furs. He gave way to the swooning darkness, dreamless and comforting.

While Abzukan slept he was tended by maids who bathed him where he lay and rubbed his limbs with ointments. An officious looking man arrived to measure the gold with a measuring rod. He then busied himself scribing the exact measurements in a document and waited patiently for Abzukan to surface.

As his consciousness returned, Abzukan remembered the words implanted in him by Mercury.

"The Lord Gods are displeased. They bid me tell you that your production of gold is dwindling. They remind you that your sole purpose in this realm is to produce gold. Your blood-line protects your life but you will be transported to a less pleasant realm if ...." Mercury had smiled his most unctuous smile and disappeared.

He awoke refreshed for the next stage of transfer. The heaped gold pebbles gleamed in front of him, lustrous in the sun's rays, ready for transmission to the destination.

There was a commotion and a raised female voice which disturbed his thoughts  Two muscular guards were dragging a naked woman towards a small platform. She was struggling with all her lithe body. It was his companion of the night and he did feel a small regret when the guards efficiently killed her with a gold club and laid her body on the platform. Human blood was required for the final transmission of gold. Abzukan watched dispassionately as the blood was collected in a gold receptacle and poured carefully over the gold pebbles. The heart and liver were expertly removed and placed on top.

He stretched luxuriously before beginning the Sending harmony, a thinner, piercing tone. Only the female Harmonizers joined him and the passageway pulsed with a colder light. The gold pebbles glowed brilliantly and for a brief moment seemed to hover above the platform before disappearing. A sweet smell  wafted towards him. Above him he saw the lazy sweep of vultures waiting for the human remains to be given to them in the nearby field.