The Empire of Jherrazad [End]

[Ayen]

Dust of sands kicked up into the air and blew across the desert sand as Zora and Gabrielle arrived to the Empire of Jherrazad. It was like a middle-eastern country back in her world, the people wore robes to keep cool in the hot climate. Wooden stands with signs at the front were set up to act as shops on either side of town from the entrance. Some sold fruit and vegetable, some sold meat and clothes. Some even sold shavers, go figure.

The homes themselves as far as Zora could tell possessed electricity muggles loved so much to power their lights. Looking up ahead the young witch could see the black castle and a single tower above it that shadowed over the entire desert empire and its people. All around the entrance were guards with glowing green eyes and mouths, with spears in their arms and wings on their back entirely made of stone. They looked like gargoyles but was not bound to a single place during the day like gargoyles in her own world.

The majority of homes built and aligned on either side of the entrance of the city were small with the exception of a single tavern on the right-hand side of the city from the entrance, at the end of the aligned buildings where the pathway to the castle's gates begin. There were some human guards who walked alongside the statutes, holding muggle wands that looked old enough to belong in the 19th Century. Zora turned her head to see one man sitting outside his home trying to get a small black box with bunny ears at the top to work and properly showcase a black and white picture of people inside it.

At the heart of the city the two rows of buildings separated providing another path. The west led out to the harsh desert sands of Jherrazad and right led to the town square where the buildings grew large, a set of steps led up to a narrowed path where you were near the top of the buildings (not the roofs) and the most people gathered. Passed the black castle was a great wall of stone, despite being so far away from it Zora could sense a powerful magic coming from it, no doubt a means to protect it and make it impenetrable meaning the only means of exits were to the west and back the way they came. Zora kept close to Gabrielle, not trusting the gargoyle like guards or the men with muggle wands in the palms of their hands. She tried her best to hide her fears but they became ever more obvious as time went on, her eyes now directed to the black castle north of the city.

“Do you think it's in there? The vampire I mean.”

[Gabrielle]

Gabrielle looked up to the castle that towered over the rest of the city. Her eyes scanning down the castle and finding the animated statues who stood guard at the gates. The Battling Bard of Potidaea saw many things that was strange and foreign to her. The weapons that the human guards wielded, the devices men were using to trim the corners of their beards and last but not least the small box with bunny ears that had people in it. Things her mind couldn't comprehend. Were they trapped in there? Gabrielle walked over and pulled the box off its stand and looked it over, the man immediately rising from his seat to yell at her.

"What are you doing, lady!?"
"How did you get the people in here?"
"What?"
Gabrielle put the box down and then grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt and pulled him to her.
"How did you get the people in the box?"
"It's a TV! The people aren't literally in there!"
Gabrielle took another look at the box, seeing no signs of horror from the people inside where one would expect while trapped and no indication that the man was lying so she let him go and walked away before her exchange attracted one of the guards. Gabrielle looked down to where Zora was when she asked about the vampire.
"I don't know. Probably. Vampires can't come out during the day, at least they can't to my knowledge. Either way I doubt royalty would be mingling with the townsfolk."

[Ayen]

Zora raised an eyebrow at Gabrielle as she argued with the man with the small black box, finding humor in their little exchange before it came to a conclusion and the blond returned to her side.

"I don't know. Probably. Vampires can't come out during the day, at least they can't to my knowledge. Either way I doubt royalty would be mingling with the townsfolk."

“I want to have a look inside the castle. Get me inside.”

Said Zora, her bossy attributes came out again as her desire for some form of familiarity surfaced the more they explored this strange new world.

[Gabrielle]

"Trust me, kid. A vampire isn't something you want to meet. Besides we aren't here for a detour, we're here to find answers and stock up on supplies. Speaking of which..."
Gabrielle looked over to one of the stands to see a man selling bread. Now was as good a time as any to see how well the money she did have on her would hold up.
"Hi. My kids and I are from out of town and we're a little fuzzy on how everything works here."
Gabrielle held out a gold coin from her world and showed it to the man.
"Is this good here?"
The man looked it over before taking it, biting it and handing it back to her.
"It's gold, it's good."
"That's all I needed to know. Thanks."

Gabrielle bought several loafs of bread that would last them a while and then bottles of water for them to take on their trip with the money they had already.
"All right, this should be enough to last us a while. Some of it we'll be able to share with the refugees out in the desert. Now..."
Gabrielle trailed off and looked around the city for anywhere they may be able to find out more information on the world they were in.
"Someone around here must know something that can help us."

[Ayen]

"Trust me, kid. A vampire isn't something you want to meet."

“Au contraire, mon cher, vampires are wonderful creatures and witches and wizards alike could go a whole lifetime without so much as seeing one. You have to get me into that castle, you just have to!”

"Besides we aren't here for a detour, we're here to find answers and stock up on supplies. Speaking of which..."

Zora followed Gabrielle's movements over to the bread shop, where she was trying to determine if her money was worth anything, and spoke,

“Then surely the castle could provide us with both our needs, would it not?”

"All right, this should be enough to last us a while. Some of it we'll be able to share with the refugees out in the desert. Now..."

Zora took some of the food and water Gabrielle handed to her and then questioned on something the woman said earlier,

“So I'm your daughter now?”

She found the very idea laughable. Zora C. Manson, the daughter of a muggle woman? That would make her a – ew. Zora didn't want to so much as entertain the idea.

“Don't make a habit of doing that. And why should we share any of our food with those deserts dwellers? They aren't our concern.”

"Someone around here must know something that can help us."

“I'm sure we could find plenty of people that can help us... inside the castle!”

[Gabrielle]

Boy when Zora put her mind on something she could be very stubborn about it and now she was speaking French?
"Ma chere," corrected Gabrielle.
"The correct phrase is, "Au contraire, ma chere - 'Mon cher' would be if I was a boy."
Gabrielle smiled at the girl and then noticed the tavern up ahead. Taverns proved to be a great source of information in the past and the Battling Bard of Potidaea was counting on that to be a universal fact.
"Over there. The tavern would be a good place to start."

Leading Zora towards the tavern Gabrielle addressed a statement she made earlier.
"And what would you rather I addressed you as? Mother or eldest sister would be the most obvious choices otherwise people could grow suspicious of me traveling with children."
Reaching the inside of the tavern Gabrielle would finally be greeted to some familiarity as the place was dark, the smell of alcohol could be picked up immediately and men and women alike were seen at the tables drinking away. Some things just never changed.
"Stay close," whispered Gabrielle to Zora as she walked over to the bar where the barkeep was.

"What would it be?" asked the barkeep.
"I was wondering if there's anything you can tell me about 'here'."
"What is it you're looking to know?"
"Well where exactly is 'here'?"
"This here's Jherrazad."
"I know that but what is the place where Jherrazad is?"
"The Jherrazad desert?"
"Reach back a little more."
"I don't know anything bigger than the desert."
Oh this was going to be productive, Gabrielle could already tell...

[Ayen]

"Ma chere."

“Excuse me?”

"The correct phrase is, "Au contraire, ma chere - 'Mon cher' would be if I was a boy."

“I-I knew that.”

"Over there. The tavern would be a good place to start."

“Ah yes, an old, crummy, smelly tavern is so much better than a castle!” said Zora sarcastically.

"And what would you rather I addressed you as? Mother or eldest sister would be the most obvious choices otherwise people could grow suspicious of me traveling with children."

“Anything but mum, or sister, or anything that would suggest to others that you and I are blood relatives!”

Zora spat (not literally) as she followed Gabrielle into the tavern and just as she guessed, the place smelled horrible. Hardly a place for a child of high stature like herself. Perfect for Gabrielle and Daniel though. The Witch chose to remain quiet for now, staying by Gabrielle's side as she talked with one of the employees at the tavern. After a rather painful exchange Zora finally decided to interject, “What do you call this miserable rock of desert and crystallized ice, you buffoon!”

The man looked at Zora confused by her rudeness but then it occurred to her what it was they were asking and he replied, “Genesis. This world is Genesis and you're in Jherrazad, Jherra.”

“Thanks.” Zora turned to face Gabrielle. “Anything else you want to ask?”

[Gabrielle]

Genesis. They called it neither Earth nor Gaia but Genesis. This place regardless of the similarities it had with Gaia was a different planet entirely. Had she traveled through the heavens and the stars to a new place? How far away from Gaia was she? So many questions and realistically speaking this man would only be able to answer so many of them. It was best to find out all she could from this man before moving on.
"And what is this part of Genesis called? The continent that hold all these places together?"
Gabrielle asked as she pulled out the map Daniel gave her and unfolded it in front of him.

"You are on Jherra."
"Jherra?"
Yes.
"Okay, good. We're getting somewhere. What can you tell me about the other places in Jherra?"
The man pointed to Isafaro on the map, "This place is bad."
"It's bad?"
"Bad. Yes."
"How are they bad?"
"They wish to overthrow us. They wield the strength of the gods. They are demons!"
Surprised by that answer Gabrielle turned to Zora the only person she knew among them to have been there in person and asked, "Is that true?"

[Ayen]

Zora returned to doing what she did quite little of. Being quiet. She just watched as Gabrielle continued the conversation with the man behind the bar, and if you asked her she would've told you she thought the man was a retard. He sounded like one too. Or perhaps English wasn't the country's strong suit. Who knows. They knew virtually nothing about this world. It wasn't until she was specifically addressed that she would speak up.

“I don't know anything about gods but they did have a lot of fancy equipment. Nothing I could explain to you in specific detail. I don't know much about muggle technology in any world and I don't much care to learn.”

[Gabrielle]

"Muggle technology? What is muggle technology?"
"Kid talk! You know these kids, always making up words. Give us a moment."
With a gentle hand, Gabrielle led Zora away from earshot of the man and whispered to her, "I know it's hard for you too but I'm going to have to ask you refrain from any terms that are commonly use in your world, both for the safety of this one and your own. Do you understand?"
Gabrielle then went back to the barkeep but when she did both him and the map was gone.
"Oh no. Hey! Hey, everybody, listen! Did anyone see the man behind this bar run off?"
People only glanced over at them for a moment and then returned to their drinks without a care in the world as Gabrielle swore underneath her breath.
"All right he couldn't have gotten far. Let's go."

[Ayen]

"Muggle technology? What is muggle technology?"

"Kid talk! You know these kids, always making up words."

Zora rolled her eyes, “Oh brother.”

"Give us a moment."

Zora allowed herself to be led away by Gabrielle, at least she continued to tell herself that she had a choice in the matter, and listened to what she had to say to her.

"I know it's hard for you too but I'm going to have to ask you refrain from any terms that are commonly use in your world, both for the safety of this one and your own. Do you understand?"

“I understand that that man is running off with our map.”

"Oh no."

“You're doing a splendid job,” said Zora sarcastically.

Zora followed Gabrielle out of the tavern and after the trail of the barkeep turned thief. The Young Witch saw him running into the business district and took out her wand, aiming it towards him and shouting, “Locomotor Mortis!” and binding his legs together causing him to fall flat on his face coughing up sand. Catching up to him, Zora grabbed the map and handed it back to Gabrielle.

“Here you go.”

[Gabrielle]

That didn't take long to rectify, perhaps there were hope for this kid yet. Gabrielle took back the map and then looked down to the man who was already begging forgiveness.
"Please! Do not hurt me!"
"Why did you steal from us? It's a map of your own continent surely you'd be able to buy your own."
"I don't have the money. I can barely make end meats for my family. Outsiders like you come here everyday, if I had map I could sell it and have enough money to move out of this place. Please do not kill me!"

Gabrielle looked up to see that their little commotion has earned them the attention of civilians and castle guards alike so looking to avoid a confrontation she looked back down to the man and said, "We're not going to kill you. Go on. Get out of here."
"Thank you!" the man replied as he kissed her feet. "Thank you!"
Gabrielle stepped away from the man.
"No need to thank me. Really."
The man stood up to his feet and then headed back to the tavern.
"That was unpleasant."

[Ayen]

"Please! Do not hurt me!"

“We'll take your request under advisement!” said Zora angrily.

"Why did you steal from us? It's a map of your own continent surely you'd be able to buy your own."

"I don't have the money. I can barely make end meats for my family. Outsiders like you come here everyday, if I had map I could sell it and have enough money to move out of this place. Please do not kill me!"

“How typical, using the old 'I did it for my family' excuse! It's obvious he's just a no good dirty thief and a liar!”

"We're not going to kill you. Go on. Get out of here."

“What are you doing?”

"Thank you! Thank you!"

"No need to thank me. Really."

“You got that right,” mumbled Zora underneath her breath. Reluctantly performing the counter curse so the man could leave without any difficulty.

"That was unpleasant."

“What were you thinking? That man stole from us and you didn't even think to alert the authorities. Why did you let him go?”

[Gabrielle]

It would seem Gabrielle spoke too soon where Zora was concerned.
"Because it's the right thing to do."
Gabrielle put the map back into her pocket before glancing towards the child a second time.
"Come on. Let's go share what we can with the people out of town. We can worry about where to go from there after that."
Perhaps a little generous hospitality would make Kain and his people a little more willing to help them. Putting a smile on her face to reassure those watching, Gabrielle proceeded to lead Zora out of Jherrazad.

[Ayen]

"Because it's the right thing to do."

Zora felt like she was going to hurl. As if long-term exposure to a muggle wasn't bad enough her alleged moral compass was starting to make parallels to Saint Potter and that was more frightening than all the crazy gadgets Isafaro uses on children.

"Come on. Let's go share what we can with the people out of town. We can worry about where to go from there after that."

You're a fool, Gabrielle, thought Zora. A damn fool!

The Young Witch looked around to the observers and faked charging after them causing some people to scream. Snickering to herself, Zora followed after Gabrielle out of town certain that she would be given a speech about how wrong her little tease just now was. Something told her that this was going to be a long journey.