And so the Light of the World said, “We must make something better. It must have the beauty of the issur, the understanding of the āmu. It must combine what is good in both, and it must have what each of them lacks. I know the shape it will have, but to make it as it should be, all three of us must join in the work.”
They took the wind; they took the soil. They made a creature with the wings of the issur, the eyes of the āmu. Of breezes and stone was it made, of rain and the roots of growing things. The issur came and breathed upon it as a blessing. The āmu came and shed its blood upon it as a gift. And last of all the Maker of Above and Below placed its light within their creation, the divine spark, so that it would know the three and do them honour.
It came to life. It looked around. It walked the earth and flew through the air; it saw the world from above and below. It sang the names of the three and gave them praise.
All this came to pass in the time before the world was changed.
1 I wonder if this is a specific mountain? A volcano, one presumes. One we might be able to identify?—AC
2 The context makes me think this must refer to dragons, but normally they’d use umharra for that. So maybe not? Maybe something mythical? Or this is just an older term.—AC
3 If the first word is indeed “dragon,” then this would presumably indicate humans. But again, it isn’t the usual word (that would be lansin), so I’m not sure.—AC
LOOTED TEMPLE FOUND
Seghayan Site Stripped to the Stone
Rouhani Mourns Destruction
“So much history has been lost”
Archaeologists exploring near the city of Djedad in Seghaye have found another ancient Draconean temple, hewn out of the living rock of the Ghurib hills—but alas, they were not the first to discover it. Hormizd Rouhani, leader of the expedition, says that looters had already ransacked the site, carrying away unknown riches.
“We will never know what used to be here,” Rouhani wrote in a letter to the Seghayan Antiquities Commission. “Undoubtedly many of the artifacts have already made their way to the black market, but without their context, they lose much of their power to tell us about the past.”
The temple is of a type seen elsewhere, with an inner chamber whose ceiling contains an oculus, an opening to the sky that scholars believe would have been covered in ancient times. During ceremonies, the priests would have removed the covering at the key moment, allowing the light of the sun to enter the chamber. An earthquake in the area caused the blockage over the oculus to collapse, which Rouhani believes is how looters found the site.
When asked whether the temple could have been picked over in past centuries, he replied, “I cannot say what condition it was in when the looters entered it. But we have found cigarette butts, candy wrappers, and the rubble where they attempted to chisel a mural off the wall, destroying it in the process. There is no question that they were here recently—I would say within the last five years.”
What remains hints at the temple’s previous glory. There are painted murals, their colours still vis i ble, depicting an as-yet unidentified Draconean queen engaging in rituals for the preservation of her empire. In the back of the chamber stands an empty tablet chest of the “foundation” type, left free-standing when the surrounding stone was quarried away. Shards found next to the chest show its sides were once decorated with winged sun discs of painted ceramic, one of which was badly broken during removal and abandoned by the looters.
Discoveries of ransacked sites are increasingly common in recent years, as excitement over the upcoming Falchester Congress drives public interest in Draconean artifacts to levels not seen since Lady Trent’s heyday. According to Joseph Dorak, one of Scirland’s most prominent antiquities dealers, “Even ordinary artifacts are being sold for two or three times the price they would have fetched five years ago.” The fervor is only expected to mount as the congress draws nearer.
From: Alan Preston
To: Simeon Cavall
14 Pluvis
#17 Rue des joncs
Ecraie, Thiessin
Dear Simeon,
Here’s a peculiarity for you to chew on.
I received a letter the other day from Rafaat ibn Hazir in Sarmizi. The usual sort of thing, difficulties of funding and his endless personality conflicts with ibn Fulaih—and by the way, he’s hoping I can interest you in financing a joint expedition, the Tomphries and the al-Bahatulaam, to go do some proper excavations on the breeding pens at Ribaysah, not (and I quote) “that hack job Viadro did at Shahtri”—but you and I can discuss that when I’m back in Scirland next week.
Anyway, of course he brought up this whole business with Gleinleigh’s tablets. You know how things are in Akhia these days—constant push and pull between those who want to learn more about the Draconean past, and those who worry that digging up even one more cylinder seal means that the modern Draconean population will come swooping in and reclaim the entirety of southern Anthiope for their new empire. Right now the latter are on top, which means there’s been essentially no patrolling of the Qajr to keep out looters.
When I read that, I had to put down the letter and pace outside for a while until my head cooled off. Every time the anti-Draconean nationalists get the upper hand, we lose countless historical treasures to the underground antiquities market—not that it’s possible to stop that anyway; there are just too many sites, and the only way to protect them all would be to put the entire able-bodied male population of Akhia to work as watchmen. But it’s one thing to fall short, and another to not try at all, the way the nationalists do. I presume you saw the news about that temple near Djedad? At least the Seghayan government is doing what they can, even if things still slip through.
My one solace is that the western Qajr is so barren and remote—not to mention lacking in obviously attractive targets like the Labyrinth of Drakes has—that the looters may find it as daunting to raid as the army does to patrol.
Back I went to Rafaat’s letter. Only to find him lamenting that the Akhians cannot even mount their own expedition to the region! They would like to search around and see whether that cache was the only thing there . . . but it turns out the permit sold to Lord Gleinleigh was for the exclusive right of excavation and collection in that part of the Qajr. For the next three years.
Before you can crack a tooth with grinding, though, let me tell you the rest of it.
Naturally I was incensed. The nationalists got one of their own appointed to handle permits last year; I think he must have been banking on Gleinleigh’s dilettante nature to give up before his people found anything, or perhaps he just assumed there was nothing to find. At any rate, until that time is up, the only other people who can explore that area are looters.
Yes, the thought crossed my mind. But before I convinced myself to break the law and hire people to conduct clandestine excavations on our behalf, I thought I might at least try the straightforward approach. So this morning, hearing that he was in town, I went to talk to Gleinleigh.
I didn’t expect anything to come of it. The meeting was just a way of persuading myself not to add fuel to the fire that is the illegal market. (For starters, you would disown me as a friend, after how I bludgeoned the Tomphries into making that pledge not to buy from Dorak and the rest of the black market.) I can hardly fault Lady Trent for discovering a living population of Draconeans and announcing their presence to the world . . . but the appetite for antiquities has been ferocious ever since, and there are all too many poverty-stricken locals willing to smash their way through sites in search of items they can sell for a few dinars. The last thing I should be doing is encouraging that sort of thing.