"Aquilonia... Fallen?" Safiyyah sipped at her cup of warm tea, turning this new information about in her head. That name was as famous as any in the old world, a city she'd heard of in books of merchant journeys from before the end of nations. It was said that Aquilonia was one of the few cities in the world whose splendor could rival the cities of Iiram. It was a place of learning, a place where bold and well-carved columns held up great structures, where philosophers and actors alike met in stadiums to ply their trade. Aquilonia, it was said, was most beauteous.

It made Safiyyah feel a pang of regret to know yet another of the great empires was merely ashes now.

"You're brooding again," said Chibuzo. The alchemist looked behind to her right to find her dark-skinned bodyguard taking a seat on the other side of the log she was sitting on. "You've had a haunted look ever since we left that pass. Tell me what you saw."

"Witchcraft," Safiyyah mumbled in answer. The scholar shook her head, twisting her torso and moving her legs to face her companion. She felt a numbed throbbing sensation in her leg, but it wasn't so bad. The medicine she'd taken staved off most of the pain. She didn't want to think about that any further; she still had to decide where to go. She still had to find the Philosopher's Stone... or find out what in the name of all holy things was responsible for the strange things she'd just witnessed.

"If this map is accurate," Safiyyah began, holding the map out so her companion could see, "there are few places that are safe for us to go to. The lands to the west, here, are wracked with... some kind of plague." Safiyyah traced a line with her finger across the thick parchment. "And you and I both know there are beastfolk and other such monsters to be found if we go north. You've killed one of those monsters before."

Chibuzo's face was stiff and his expression hard. Safiyyah knew that meant he was troubled. "The world grows smaller every year," he growled. "Perhaps we should return south, back to my home. You could surely find a husband..."

"No," Safiyyah said quietly, thumbing the map with a click of her tongue. "We'll find what we hunt for yet. Look here, along the coastline. What do you make of it?"

Chibuzo squinted at the page, then said the name aloud: "Arsenikos." He folded his arms over his chest and nodded to himself. "It sounds Atlantean."

"More specifically, it's an Atlantean name," said Safiyyah with a little grin. "It's a first name associated with masculinity or manhood, something like that. And if you jot someone's name on a map, surely that must suggest they are in control of that region, no?"

"That seems reasonable. This Arsenikos could be some sort of witch or bloodthirsty warlord, though."

Safiyyah snorted. "It doesn't matter if he's a warlord, a witch, or a seven-chinned merchant prince. What matters is that the name 'Arsenikos' is a lot less foreboding than the words 'Plague' and 'Wolves' and 'Fallen.' What matters is we can resupply and perhaps even find valuable information. Those are [i]cities[/i] on that shore."

Chibuzo grunted, then grabbed his spear and pushed himself to his feet. "Then we'd best get moving while there's daylight."

[hr]

Acharnae was the city the two foreigners decided to go to. It was a long road they treaded, though thankfully an uneventful one. There were a scant few villages they passed through on the way, but these seemed desolate and empty. Where had the people gone? Their homes were intact, but doors were thrown wide open and anything worth plundering had been taken. Had they fled for the hills? Had someone captured them? Did some phantoms whisk them away for some magician's dark designs?

The closer Safiyyah, Chibuzo, and the world's smartest mule came to Arachnae, the more populous the countryside became. First they saw farmlands that were well tended rather than abandoned; then they spotted a little temple built near mountains. It was here the pair chose to stop for the day, and it was in a discourse with the priests that managed the temple of Atlantean gods that Safiyyah first heard something of this "Arsenikos." He was the Emperor, so it was said, though there was some debate among the priesthood about how rightful his claim actually was. Safiyyah kept that information in mind.

The next morning, the alchemist and her bodyguard entered Arachnae through the city gates, presenting themselves as merchants. It took a small sum of silver coins to get into the city without having an intrusive search of her wares conducted, but before it was noon Safiyyah found herself in a city that reminded her of her old home.

While Maliqesh could certainly have been called the prettier of the two cities (at least in her eyes), Safiyyah decided that Arachnae had a certain humble, rustic appeal to it. It had columns, but they were much more simple in form than Safiyyah had imagined an Atlantean city's columns would be. It was smaller than Maliqesh as well, and the market wasn't quite as lively...

[i]But then,[/i] Safiyyah thought as she found herself an empty space to set up her stall, [i]this city is still around and Maliqesh is gone.[/i] That thought rang in her head for a long while.

It did not take long for the exotically dressed merchant with the ebony-skinned warrior to find herself subject to the interest of a great many curious townsfolk. They merely watched her at first, but once her stall was ready there was a suitably large pack of men and women eager to see what sort of wares the easterner had to offer. She sold incense, tinctures to enhance the senses, healing salves and other such useful wonders. She sold, too, some scented candles, some amusing sparkling baubles made of alchemically-reinforced glass that children could play rough with, and even her last bottle of date wine. By the time the sun was starting to go down, Safiyyah found her stall looking a rather lot more empty, and she disappointed more than one customer when she let it be known she had to pack up for the day.

[hr]

As Safiyyah relaxed into her nightgown and laid herself out on her rented bed, she smiled. It had been a fruitful day. All the well-to-do folk were quite interested in foreign wares, and it wouldn't be long before lords and ladies came looking for something to let them stand out amongst their peers. She could stay in the city for a few weeks more if she had to, take her time, and...

The alchemist jerked up to to a sitting position and looked out through the window of her bedroom. She thought for the barest of moments that she saw a face there, staring at her, but there was nothing. She pressed her hand against her chest and calmed herself down. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep again.

She couldn't.

The Iiramite woman got on up from her bed and took a seat at the desk in the room. That was where she'd set out those three strange knives from before, arrayed in the same fashion she'd first seen them. She couldn't help but gaze at the blade of the one that had pierced her before, and she wondered if there might be some sort of spell on her now. She wondered if there was something terrible that could be done to her now that the strange weapon had tasted her blood.

Irritated, Safiyyah shoved the daggers aside, pushing to the far right edge of the desk and against the wall. She then lit a candle and opened the journal she'd stolen from the castle, for the first time taking a closer look inside.

"What secrets do you keep in here, cyclops hands?" she murmured as she stared at the book. Flipping through the hard to read pages, she found very little of note, and she wasn't sure she had the energy to give the book a good, thorough inspection just yet. But she glanced out the window again, as if expecting to see those invisible specters there - [i]hah[/i] - and was glad to see there was still nothing to be seen but the night sky and a quaint little city.

[i]Tomorrow,[/i] she decided as she stared out at the city. [i]Tomorrow, I will find out more about this Arsenikos. I will meet the lords and ladies that call this city home. I will win them over, and through them I'll learn what secrets this Emperor hides. And I will also visit this city's libraries and see what there is to be learned about these daggers and words...[/i]

Safiyyah looked back down at the book, flipping to the part of the journal she'd copied the text from the walls. She wondered if, perhaps, some spirit could leap out from those words as well.

The thought unnerved her. She flipped back to the beginning of the journal and began to read.