Rise of the Harlequin Read online

  His harsh words scared some returning infants and one of them began to cry. I remembered the way I used to be somewhat in awe of him, myself. I had almost fourteen solstices when I’d killed the eldest who tried to abuse my mother, an act which forced me to flee Axyum and set me on the road to my destiny. He had been taller than me then – a full grown chrome who seemed to be the worldliest young rake I’d ever met. Now I was surprised to find that I could gaze over his head with ease. When had I grown so much? My body was sinewy and tempered like iron from a hard life on the road. Who did he see, now, when he looked at me? I couldn’t help but notice he had trouble meeting my eyes.

  “Why do you do this Astor?” asked a male infant. “Why do you want to fight the Harlequin? He is our friend.”

  The cunning Green chrome seemed for a moment, uncertain. By now, other adult Greens had ventured out of the forest to see what the fuss was about. My other Harlequins, Xai, Yanetz, Aprin and Rovyul quickly made their way to my side. They formed a defensive circle that I didn’t need or want right now.

  Astor pointed at us, saying: “These outlaws will bring us bad fortune. The Black will come looking for them. Or the Blue. And they will humiliate us, again.”

  “The Mother Goddess brought them here and I have no intention of making them leave,” Failan responded.

  “Then you will regret this for the rest of your life!” said Astor. He stalked off.

  After that, the priestess turned to the infants and soothed them. “It’s all right, little ones. It’s all right. Go on and practice your Moxia.” We watched them set out the materials they’d found and then kneel on the ground to receive some mud that she expertly applied to their arms and faces.

  “Astor is right,” I told her. “I have left a trail of blood that will eventually lead here. I am putting your Nation in danger.”

  “Danger, power, oppression…what weak chromes we are if we still have not learned our lessons.” She remained silent for a little while and then suddenly added: “Ah, never mind. If you have decided to leave, then go — but go with the new day. Tonight, the Moxia will be a celebration of nature, and nature should be celebrated with friends.”

  I nodded. “Thank you for your friendship.”

  She called out: “Sylai! Cochlea!” Immediately, two females appeared and bowed to us. “Please help our Harlequin friends prepare for our rite.” Then, she left, but not without passing Daerec so she could give him a flirtatious brush of the hand. Sylai and Cochlea also giggled as we watched Daerec’s face turn the color of a purple plum.

  “Is she always like this?” asked Daerec, but the two females didn’t reply. They plucked vials of various colored substances from their sleeves and offered them to us with another bow.

  “We adult Green also use the colors of the Mother Goddess to become one with her,” Said Sylai.

  “Green, like our forests, but also brown like our earth,” added Cochlea.

  They painted my arm with different shades of these two colors. When they had finished, they ushered me over to a star singer sapling and positioned me in front of the trunk. My arm blended in with its bark to the point where it was invisible! My friends and I were very impressed by the artistic skill it took to achieve this illusion.

  “There are other colors, as well,” said Sylai. This time, she painted Xai’s back with yellow and red. Cochlea added grass and leaves. They positioned Xai face down on the grass. All I can say is… his back seemed no longer to be his back, but a funny bunch of flowers topped by his head, enjoying the last rays of the sun.

  “Now you try it.” Cochlea said. They bowed and left us their paints. We stripped and began our attempts to become one with the Mother Goddess, joking with one another about our lack of skill and clumsiness.

  Dusk was greeted with the clamor of musical wood sticks banging against hollow tree trunks. The incessant sounds, coming from different areas of Everdia, quickly united into one rhythm. Fires were lit and a festive mood began to spread throughout the ruins. We were rejoined by Failan who led us to a banquet table that had been prepared in the open center of the amphitheater. Seated at the table, I could study this ancient structure at my leisure. The outer wall was studded with hundreds, if not thousands of towering wind chimes that gave it a thorny look. Their sound was muted and sublime. Clearly this place had been the center of a once mighty civilization, boasting six levels positioned in free-form curving lines. Flowering plants dominated each level, hiding the stone benches where the denizens of Everdia used to recline. I had long ago studied it from above when I accepted a dare from my Harlequins to climb a star singer. I was astonished to discover that the amphitheater had been designed to form the mask of the Mother Goddess.

  As night fell, we reclined on supple, woven branch couches that had been placed before the long stone table which was loaded with ripe fruits and vegetables. There were also wooden carafes, full of a heady, sweet mead the Green’s made from the honey of the star singer bees and crushed green cherries. A Green host was about to pour some in my cup, but I shook my head. I had tasted it before and it had made me dizzy. I was not willing to go through that experience, again. “The Harlequin doesn’t drink the nectar of our forest?” He asked, puzzled. “Why then, I will take your part so I can remain under the Mother Goddess’ spell until dawn!”

  “Treinor, even a cup of water puts you in the Mother Goddess’ spell!” Another Green commented. Everyone, including Treinor, burst out laughing. Well… everyone that is, except Astor, who glumly made his way to the far end of our table. He did not talk to anyone but only gave his attention to the wooden carafe closest to him.

  Failan sat opposite Astor, to my right. She flirted with Daerec and asked him about the Red Kingdom. Soon the discussion moved to all the other territories.

  “Ah yes, the territories,” Failan sighed, “where all nations remain obsessed with winning more power, more wealth and staying ready to do anything for it. That ‘anything’ includes murder.”

  “Not everyone is like that,” I told her, but she didn’t acknowledge my comment because she was too busy offering berries to Daerec, who accepted them with pleasure.

  “Do you know why there is no harmony outside of Everdia?” She continued in a condescending tone. “Because the female chromes in the other territories are not in charge, that’s why!”

  “The Blacks have the elders, male of course; dear me, we could never have female sages could we, in that gods forsaken city of Axyum. The Blue have the barons, male too, naturally. Who else could control the commerce there? Then we have the Yellows and Orange who still have their strange divisions and customs to worry about. And finally… the Red. Well… they had a male king, too. We all know what happened there.”

  “They also had a princess,” I said.

  “Not my princess,” Daerec was quick to add.

  “In any event, from what you have told us, they no longer have either a king or a princess. The Blacks have destroyed Samaris.” Astor said coldly.

  There was a moment of silence and I could see Yanetz’s eyes become moist.

  “Samaris was never our city, Yanetz,” Daerec blurted. “It was the Ashis and Sayis’ city.”

  Yanetz nodded half-heartedly.

  “So what is going to happen to the Reds now?” Failan wondered.

  Jadreen, one of the other Greens spoke up: “I heard most have fled, although there are still groups of errant, renegade Reds that roam the territories.”

  “Do you know what happened to their princess?” I asked, anxious. He shook his head.

  The Green chrome called Treinor stopped drinking long enough to chime in: “Apparently, one of your kind, a Harlequin, killed her father.”

  “Is that true?” Failan glanced my way, raising an eyebrow.

  “No, it was not a Harlequin that killed Quadrio but another noble.” I told her. That was the truth. But she wasn’t satisfied with my answer and she pressed me for more details.

  “Did you not say that you came from the
Red Kingdom?”

  I took a moment to compose myself, before answering. “I was a friend of Quadrio,” I said. “And the reason I’m sure it wasn’t a Harlequin that killed him is because I was the one that managed to do in his assassin.” Everyone stopped eating during this revelation. Even my merchrome friends regarded me in shock. Only Failan did not seem to be surprised.

  “You knew our king?” asked Xai.

  “I knew him well.”

  “And?” inquired Failan. “Who killed him then?”

  “It was one of the nobles closest to him. A chrome named Oris,” I replied.

  “ Minister Oris?” repeated Daerec, even more shocked.

  I nodded. “Before I killed him, he confessed he had colluded with Black elders — planning for the attack on Samaris.”

  “I’m trying to keep an open mind, but I find it very hard to believe that a Red noble, especially one who already had wealth and power, would conspire against his own king to help the Blacks.” The Green Priestess admitted. “In truth, I think it’s even more bizarre, that you, a Harlequin, befriended the Red king.”

  “What I have told you is the truth,” I said. “And I have learned, at great expense, that there are more strange and ruthless alliances being made in the territories than what we’ve been led to believe.”

  “Such as?”

  “The concept itself of having a chrome is a false truth. One that King Quadrio, himself revealed to me. The real truth is… chrome doesn’t exist! It’s all one big evil lie used to keep us separate and under control.”

  “Hmmm, spoken like a true Harlequin!” said Failan, plucking a green cherry, and clearly unconvinced of my words. “But what of the characteristics that seem to be the trademark of a certain color. Can you imagine a Blue turning away from his passionate pursuit of wealth and embracing humility, like a Green? Or a Violet repudiating their deft ability with scents in favor of raising cattle like the Yellow?”

  Everyone around the table, convinced of these long-held ‘truths’, nodded their agreement. My mind drifted back to my own experience. I really couldn’t blame them – I, too, had resisted these new concepts when chtomio first tried proving them to me.

  “No, of course not,” I came back to the present when I heard Failan agree with her guests.

  “So you see, in answer to your question, the color of our chrome is, at heart, the way we define our differences. Irreconcilable differences.”

  “She’s right Asheva,” Daerec added. “All the chromes are different.”

  “You’re all wrong,” I replied.

  I stood up and said: “Those differences should be viewed as things we can learn from — not things to die for because we cannot change.” The Green chromes at the other tables had stared at me. I took advantage of their attention by jumping up on a tree trunk to be heard by them as well. “I don’t think a dose of Green humility would hurt Blue chromes. I think it would make them better. Nor do I think that a Violet could do without some lessons on how to graze cattle so they could feed themselves during lean years.”

  “This is pure fantasy,” laughed Jadreen.

  “Perhaps it is,” I acknowledged. “And if it is a harmless indulgence, may I give you yet another taste of how wonderful our world, as I see it, could be?” I paused for dramatic effect and then I painted them a picture, taking a cue from the exciting way Failan engaged the Green infants when she taught them about the Moxia. “I can imagine a Black chrome turning away from the harsh, aggressive warrior edicts of his nation and his convictions of war and religion and embracing love and beauty. I can imagine Red chromes forsaking their caste system to live as equals. I can imagine Violet chromes helping the Green rebuild Everdia. I can imagine the Yellow and the Orange working together instead of competing for Red and Blue favor. I can imagine a table full of the fruits of the earth, where all chromes of different nations can sit together in peace and break bread.”

  I looked at everyone and smiled at them. “Finally, I can imagine a world where all our great nations can peacefully co-exist, no longer divided by colors or masks, but united as one, just as you Greens have long wished for it to be.”

  I then raised my chalice and slowly everyone else followed suit. “And this world already exists— in many Chromes’ hearts.”

  “Hear, hear!” shouted Daerec, holding up his cup in my direction.

  To my amazement, many other Greens also raised their cups and cheered me. All, except the two sitting at the far end of the table: Astor and Failan.

  The Green priestess got up and came near me. “You have the heart of a Harlequin but I’ve come to know you well, Asheva. And I think you still also have a lot of rage inside you,” she whispered to me. She cupped my face with her hands. “A unification on this grand a scale needs love, not wrath. And I don’t know yet which of the two is strongest inside you.”

  I did not know myself. I was saved from having to answer her when the low, mournful notes of Green ram horns interrupted us. The Greens bolted from the stone table, dashing into all parts of the Amphitheater.

  “What is happening?” I asked.

  “It is the gathering for the Moxia,” replied Treinor, getting up. “Come.”

  I couldn’t believe it. I’d been so caught up in my speech, and the intense feelings that fueled it, that the very reason for our having gathered together in the first place had completely slipped my mind! We followed Treinor into a grotto that had been created in the deepest level of the Amphitheater, right at its center. The Green all huddled inside and in unison, raised their arms and wiggled their hands in the air while chanting strange words. They made patterns and pictures with their words and gave rhythm to the chant they spontaneously created by punctuating it with eerie high-pitched notes. This jarred my senses and I noticed the other Harlequins reacting the same way. I felt as though a large snake was, slowly creeping up through my gut. Suddenly, the Green divided into two groups: male and female. Males guided females to amphitheater’s lowest wall, calling and responding in an arcane chant.

  “It sounds like a swarm of giant crickets!” Xai murmured.

  “I just hope the wild animals lurking in this forest aren’t part of their rite too,” Daerec said.

  The two factions swirled and danced, following the pattern made by the terraced wall around the Amphitheater several times. Then they merged into a tight circle with a tiny space in the middle. I wanted their singing to end because of the painful emotions it brought up within me. Failan’s assessment of me rose like an unbidden accusation in my mind: She was right. I had a rage inside, something so strong it was deadly! I tried to rationalize my feeling: Wasn’t it this same rage that enabled me to survive for so long? The Territories controlled by Violet, Red and Blue were no less violent than the Black I told myself. But as much as I tried to justify my actions, they no longer felt right. Oh yes… the look of shock and fear on my friends’ faces when I admitted to killing Oris had impressed themselves in me. I knew they had viewed me as a monster.

  Suddenly, the Green dancers stopped. One of the male Chromes issued a low hum from deep in his throat, which echoed throughout the entire Amphitheater and became amplified by its curved walls. Then it was the female Greens’ turn. They keened a primitive response in a warbling tone. All the other males joined in until the sound no longer seemed discordant. It blended harmoniously into one long sustained and joyous cry. My spirits lifted with it. Out of nowhere, Failan emerged inside the ring. As she rose up, all the others kneeled.

  The Green priestess sang her own melody, a strange hypnotic chant, which signaled all of the Greens to leave the amphitheater. They staggered into the forest, again, as if under a spell. Many disappeared in the bushes. Others began to undress and color themselves with body paints similar to the ones that Sylai and Cochlea had shown us. Still more plastered leaves all over their bodies.

  “Oh… this is becoming interesting!” Daerec snickered. We laughed amongst ourselves to downplay our jangled nerves. Under the full moon, w
e could see how slowly the Greens were camouflaging themselves so they could become one with their surroundings. Soon, we no longer saw any of them. It was as if they had disappeared right before our eyes! Now we Harlequins were the only creatures left standing in the Amphitheater. Even Failan had been spirited away. Only the natural sounds of the forest filled the night. The Green hid so well that their city seemed once again abandoned to time.

  “Amazing!” cried Aprin. Spoken words sounded blasphemous here.

  “Shh!” I whispered. “Let us respect their rite and keep silent.”

  “How long does the Moxia last?” whispered Yanetz. “Because I’d like to go talk to Sylai about coloring her back.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Let’s walk away from here and go up the steps of the temple. We won’t disturb them there.” Then something moved from the bushes. “Ah, I spoke too soon.” Yet, only one Green Chrome revealed himself. He wasn’t walking straight. He almost fell down, as if wounded.

  It was Astor.

  “Ah the Moxia!” he screamed out with his arms open wide. “The Moxia, the Moxia, the Moxia!” Astor staggered around in a drunken circle. “Go ahead, hide yourself Green nation! Make yourselves invisible, you cowards!”

  “He’s gone mad!” said Yanetz. “He’ll ruin the ceremony!”

  “We don’t fight, oh no! We’re Green, if you humiliate us, we love you back! He-he.”

  “The moon must have made him mad,” said Xai.

  “More like the honey mead of the green cherries,” I commented.

  “Come out, brothers! Show yourself sisters! Don’t be shy! The Territories won’t bite you!”

  “We have to do something Asheva!” said Aprin.

  I advanced on Astor to stop him and when he saw me, he was genuinely startled. “You!” he shouted. “I shall kill you! That way everyone will know Greens can kill as well!”

  He lunged at me, but he tripped and fell down in the mud. I came close to him, feeling somewhat embarrassed for him. He tried to attack me again but his reflexes were slow and I simply stepped to the side to avoid him. “You are a coward!” he screamed. “Fight me!” He tried to get up but couldn’t do it.