The man seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. He was rather skinny, with bony forearms that hung out of his extra large sleeves. He was dressed in a royal-looking cloak with gems embroidered right into the edges, giving him the appearance of a king who is down on his luck. “Ahh, the Urumqi,” he said airily, greeting them with a formal bow. “We have been expecting you.” He waited for a response, but received seventeen blank stares. “Do come along,” he finished slowly, starting off down the hallway.
As the Urumqi followed the wiry man into the heart of the mountains, Oro tried to decide if he had been in this hallway before. The answer was yes and no; the mouth of the cave served as the entrance to only one tunnel, yet after only a few steps he found himself in an entirely different room than before, this one much larger, and decorated elegantly. Although not as massive as the Great Circle back home, this room was still too big for Oro to take in everything at once. The focal point of the chamber was a rectangular oaken table, complete with fifty high-backed wooden chairs, each one filled by a single man. Glancing upward, Oro noticed a multitude of tiered balconies, where the common folk could observe the Assembly meetings. On a high veranda above the head of the table, Caliphia stood, smiling down on him. Instantly, he was renewed with confidence.
The wiry man cleared his throat. “At this time, the Assembly of the Lehdeo recognizes the delegation of…Urumqi.” A hush fell over the room. Every man seated at the table was silent; every person watching from above became quiet. The Urumqi stood in their loose formation, not daring anything other than silence. The bald man seated at the head of the table quietly stood up. “Which one of you will be speaking on behalf of your faction?” he called. Although his words formed a question, his demeanor expressed a demand. “We all shall speak. We are a democracy!” boomed Ja, startling a few of the council members. “Very well,” said the leader. “To begin, am I correct in saying that you are here because of this…army that has trudged onto our lands?” “Yes; we wish to prevent them from causing any harm,” answered Oro. “Now why would you believe that they would harm anyone within your own kingdom? Are you not a part of the kingdom that this army is told to protect?” “It is our destiny to destroy the Guranqi,” explained Aan. “What do the Guranqi have to do with this army? There are no Guranqi here; only you,” the leader said sharply.
“I believe you are mistaken, sir,” noted Oro in the kindest tone possible. “There is a Guranqi here, for the army is that of the Guranqi.” Silence. “That army is a battalion of our kingdom, our Empire if you will. The Guranqi have controlled this Empire ever since its dawn,” clarified Oro. “So then is it correct for me to say that, considering your obvious ability to control the Qi and your association with this…Empire, you yourself are a Guranqi?” scoffed the leader. Aan was outranged by the question. “No! No, we are Urumqi…” he offered.
Oro couldn’t help but be surprised by the general confusion of nearly every member of the assembly. They were all pointing and whispering to each other, as if clarifying what Aan had said. “Allow me to explain,” grumbled a gray bearded man at the other end of the table. “Before you arrived here in the mountains, the popular belief was that the true Urumqi of Olde, as you would call them, became…extinct with the coming of the first Guran from the sea.” Oro could tell that this man was different from the others. Although he spoke gruffly, there was something reassuring in his voice. “It is obvious now that this belief is completely false, for here you stand before the council just like your ancestors did in the past,” continued the bearded man.
“Enough of my rambling…now that you are here, there is something that we must…” The wiry greeter burst into the council chamber. “Sir, there’s been a disturbance in the Southeast corner,” he spewed hysterically. “One of…one of THEM is down there…” he wavered, pointing an accusing finger at the Urumqi. “Well, I think that settles any disputes,” boomed the gray bearded man. “The Guranqi that they speak of has indeed broken through our defenses…” “First things first,” interrupted the bald man. “Everyone stay put! Send someone down to that corner.” His cold eyes burned into Oro’s. “But if we catch him now, we could prevent an entire war!” explained Nom. “This may be the only chance we have to catch him alone, without the interference of the other Guranqi.”
From high above, Oro heard the thunderous applause of the onlookers. ‘Now the people see the assembly’s inability to make decisions,’ he thought. Ja stepped closer to the bald man’s chair. “Allow us to go, and we will catch the Guranqi. Forbid us, and you shall be captured as well.” Jim and Vicky stepped up to join him, as did Seth and Mac. Ryan, Slay, and the others took a few steps back. Only Nom seemed to waver, shifting slowly toward the nearest corridor. Oro remembered what Caliphia had told him. The Lehdeo were peaceful people, but their power lies in the mind. But it was already too late. With a slight nod of the bald man’s head, Ja’s supporters fell unconscious to the ground.