Kingdom of Rust Chapter 36

We were allowed a week to rest and recuperate after returning to the tower.

Nobody had attacked the estate in our absence, although, I heard the maids whispering about people seen watching the house. Anyone foolish enough to attack the residence of the Chosen deserved what they got but it just added to the fact that there were not enough Chosen to go around.

After spending the week coming to grips with everything that happened, the funeral for Matteos was held in the courtyard. I watched from my seat next to the other initiates as Master Mgumba climbed onto the short platform. His appearance hadn’t recovered much since we returned and I worried about his health.

Master Renold along with two other Masters – I hadn’t met – were the only others in attendance. It was a lackluster affair for someone who had given his life to defend the kingdom and it made me both sad and angry.

“We are in trying times,” Master Mgumba started. “First one of the Father’s minions escapes, then we lose a promising young talent. I wished I could have spared you initiates from those horrors until you became true masters but alas that was not so. I am proud of each and every one of you for your dedication to our cause and unflinching loyalty in the face of true horror. The fact that one of you willingly sacrificed his life to save his fellow Chosen will not be forgotten.”

“Our lives are not our own as soon as the Mother chooses us for this duty and we are no strangers to death and loss. But we do not forget and we do not forgive those that assault our morals and values.”

It felt like that last line was meant not for us but maybe someone else.

“Matteos was a kind soul, one I wasn’t sure would ever become a master due to his kind and benevolent ways. But last week he proved me wrong. For that I am grateful… As with all of our fallen, they are immortalized in name on the remembrance. For Matteos’ sacrifice, I bequeath him the honorary title of Master. Forever may he be remembered as a pillar of what we stand for.”

Everyone stood and clapped after Master finished his speech. All but Master Renold seemed genuinely moved by the words.

The remembrance was a white marble octagonal pillar that stood in the center of the courtyard. An artisan had already carved the fallen man’s name into the pillar and Master Mgumba walked over, removing the silk cover, exposing the gold inlaid name along with many others that I had never known.

Master said a quiet prayer and walked off, giving anyone else that wanted an opportunity to do the same. Master Renold walked over to quietly speak with Master Mgumba. I was waiting my turn when their quiet conversation turned heated.

“Fine, you old fool,” Master Renold huffed and stormed off.

Master Mgumba’s eyes followed the portly man as he exited the courtyard.

I wondered what that was all about but soon it was my turn to say goodbye. I walked up to the monument with a bit of trepidation.

“Hey, Matteos…I’m sorry I didn’t get to know you better as a person…” I honestly didn’t know what else to say so I said what I would want to hear. “I hope you rest safely in the Mother’s arms. Rest easy, we will keep the world safe.” I put all my hope in that statement because the alternative was too horrible to contemplate.

***

Another few weeks went by as everyone quietly tried to get back into their previous habits. For some, it worked, for others, not so much. Laris was still withdrawn and quiet. The flighty talkative man was completely devoid of his old self. He was now quiet and reserved, rarely verbally acknowledging people.

Rebeka also was less bubbly. She still smiled, but more often than not her eyes were red from crying, though she didn’t do so in public. I felt bad for her, I believed she and Matteos were quite close.

Quimby seemed the least affected, being his usual stoic self but even he wasn’t completely unfazed by his friend's death. I would occasionally see him look up from a book, or glance around only to catch himself and sigh.

As for me, I hadn’t known Matteos long enough to be affected by his passing for long. I was also no stranger to death or losing a loved one. But I did what I always did to help cope with the loss, I threw myself into training. This is where Rebeka found me and I was glad for the reprieve.

“Bakus, a moment, please.”

I paused in my sword practice, sweat pouring from my body as I panted from the exertion. Pushing myself to exhaustion helped keep the nightmares away.

“Oh, hey, Rebeka, what’s up?” I asked as I tried to catch my breath.

“The festival of life is coming up and Laris, Quimby, and I are going. It was one of Matteos’ favorite things to do so we would like to honor him by attending. Would you like to come? I know it would have meant a lot to him.”

“Oh…” I was surprised by the invitation. I wasn’t exactly close to any of them, I should probably try harder to get to know my fellow initiates and Chosen.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” she replied quickly, “I just thought we could all also use a bit of joy and fun after…”

“Sure,” I smiled, “when is it?” The idea of unwinding and honoring Matteos at the same time sounded like a great idea to me.

She smiled back and a bit of her old personality returned for a moment. “It's this weekend. We go incognito though so people don’t walk on eggshells around us,” she whispered conspiratorially.

I laughed, “Well, that sounds like it’ll be fun. I haven’t been to a festival in years.” That was technically true.

My hometown never threw festivals. I didn’t think it too odd at the time, they weren’t a large or very prosperous town. But with what I knew now, it was probably because they worshiped the Father. That left other towns. I visited a few towns during festival times with my father when I was younger but the man was a miser and called festivals “a waste of time and money”. The man was a real joy to be around as a child, especially after my mother passed away.

She smiled again and turned to walk away before stopping. “Um…thanks for agreeing to do this. Matteos may not have said so himself, but he liked you.” She laughed lightly, “Although, he said he hated getting hit with the training sword, but he knew you did it to help us improve. So he forgave you for that.”

I rubbed my head in embarrassment, “Uh, sorry about that.”

“Don’t be,” she giggled. “It saved my life and Quimby’s. I doubt Laris would have made it without your help either. We weren’t prepared for what was out there,” her face fell but she quickly banished the dark thoughts. “I’ll get you a mask to wear… I think you’ll love it. With that, she turned and hurried off.

I smiled wryly. I really hoped this outing helped everyone return to a semblance of normality.

***

Time passed quickly and on the day before the festival, I walked into my room after training and found a mask and a tied bundle along with a note.

I picked up the half mask and shook my head. It had red eyes and a grossly extended nose. Thankfully the red was a darker red than the monster's eyes and didn’t bring flashbacks of the monsters. I set the mask back down and read the note.

Sorry for the mask, it was all I could get on short notice. I also got you a robe, can’t have people seeing us in our initiate gear. See you after dinner tomorrow.

-Rebeka

I smiled at the note and set it aside. The robe was more like a poncho with a sash that you could tie at the waist. It was done up in an exaggerated design to the city guards' outfits. I set it on my dresser and changed into some pajamas for bed. I was glad we got the evenings to ourselves over the weekends. Most of the initiates just stuck around the manor and either practiced in the courtyard or read in the library. But I had seen the initiates coming and going on occasion. This was how I first learned of Rebeka and Matteos' relationship. They would sneak away on a date most weekends. Not that they did a good job of sneaking. I doubted anyone in the manor wasn’t aware of the two being together.

Seeing how hard it was for her after his death, it made sense why Master Mgumba warned me not to get involved with Master Thea. Though I still wondered why he thought I was even interested in that. Plus I saw the way she looked at Holton, if that wasn’t unrequited love, I didn’t know what was.

I lay my head on the pillow and was instantly asleep.

***

The four of us made quite a sight walking down the street in our masks and fake guard clothing but we were far from the only people dressed to excess. If anything, our costumes were tame by comparison. I saw one person walking down the street waving at people while wearing a creepily lifelike full humanoid dog costume. I had to stop and stare at the person and even flinched back as they barked at me.

The man in the costume laughed at my response and continued down the street, waving at people. I just shook my head and ran to catch up to the others who were snickering at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Laris said with a chuckle. “Just never seen a grown man scared by another in a costume.”

“I wasn’t scared,” I argued, “he just surprised me.”

“Sure, sure, let's go. I want to catch the show.”

“What show?” I asked as I kept pace with the group.

“The city always puts on a rendition of the First Chosen. It’s a hoot and Matteos always got a kick out of it. So we’re gonna see that first, then we can go play some of the games and enjoy the festival,” Laris said as he skipped ahead like a child on his way to a party.

“Hey, wait up!” I said. The rest of us hurried after the Aella Chosen as he sneakily used his air affinity to weave effortlessly between the crowds of people while he laughed at us as we tried to catch up.

It was the same trick he used to lose me in the city when I first arrived as a joke. But now I could at least keep up. But we didn’t push ourselves hard as it wasn’t our goal to stand out. Even then we soon reached the stage. It was surrounded by dozens of children all sitting around watching the performers position the puppets and reenact the story. The adults all stood around the edges and everyone smiled and laughed when the performers made the puppets do something ridiculous.

After the play, we kind of all split up to play some games of chance. I found a ring toss game and was tossing a wooden ring to try and get it on some bottles but I suspected most of the bottles had oversized necks as the ring bounced off more than it went on. I didn’t care, I was only doing it for a bit of fun. I did end up winning a small painted figure of the Mother so it wasn’t a complete waste of money.

After the games, the four of us met up again and watched the actual festival. Dancers wearing traditional outfits twirled about a wooden likeness of the Mother with her arms outstretched as if she was going to embrace you for a hug.

There was also a wooden likeness of the Father but his features were twisted into a scowl and his arms were crossed. He also stood upon a pile of bones. The dancers around him were much more violent as they warded him off with their movements and flaming torches. Round and round they went until the dancers all stopped. They turned away from the father, bowed to the crowd, and tossed the torches back over their shoulders so they landed on the wooden likeness.

The statue roared as flames quickly consumed the Father. The crowd clapped at the display as they moved back from the heat. It was a reminder that getting too close to the Father would end in pain. Both literally, and figuratively.

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Well, That was a busy month. With this chapter, the writathon comes to a close. I will be taking the week of the 9th- 15th off and starting the week after that resuming my normal upload schedule. So Monday and Friday on RR and Saturday on Patreon as that was what you voted for in my poll.

I hope everyone is enjoying this story so far, I know it's different than what you are used to but I am having a lot of fun writing it.