by Emil Toth
He laid there in the dark beside the only woman he ever made love to. It is a good thing none of my friends can see me. I cannot seem to stop smiling and I love it. I can attest to the fact I am now truly a man. I never thought anything could fill me with such joy. I am content and in love with this woman and want her to be mine for the rest of my life.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Janos approached the mystic’s home and saw Sharika sitting with the healer and walked a bit slower to behold the Hun. He was not keen on foreigners and never went out his way to meet her. Janos stopped in front of Kaathi’s hut, where she sat with Sharika. “Hello, Kaathi, here is the box you requested. I hope it suits your needs.”
“Thank you, Janos.” She noticed he had carved her face on the lid. “It is sweet of you to carve my face on the lid. It is exquisite and unexpected. It delights me you thought enough of me to decorate it.”
He appreciated her kind words and smiled saying, “You have done so much for my family, it hardly compares.”
She stood and gave him a warm embrace. She released him and sat down to watch his reaction to Sharika.
He turned his attention from Kaathi to the newcomer and smiled. The smile he gave Sharika had made many hearts flutter. Janos was not a man any woman could easily ignore. He was of average height; it was the only thing average about him. He was one of the handsomest men in Kahali. His sienna colored skin was hairless, and his muscled body was chiseled to perfection. He was blue eyed, with dark reddish, black, tightly waved hair. His smile melted every mothers’ heart, and a rich, hardy laugh to accompany his light hearted, good nature. He was a marvelous catch for any woman. The reality was he had not been caught.
Janos had the good fortune of having parents who loved each other and adored their only child. He never had trouble understanding the interconnection of the council, High Priest and people. He knew how to make children and people happy and had more friends than most children growing up. Ever since he could remember women of all ages dotted over him and gave him affection. He in turn made them happy with his time and attention. There was no young boy more suited to be an apprentice to The Friend of All council person, Logan. It never happened. He never speculated why but every woman sensed it was Logan’s ego. His jealousy of Janos clouded his decision and he refrained from making Janos his apprentice. The young boy would steal his thunder with the women.
“I presume this beautiful creature next to you is Sharika. I am sorry I have not met you sooner. I am, Janos, a friend of Kaathi, Pauli and Jacob.”
Sharika stuck out her hand to the young, handsome man with the fantastic smile. “You presume correctly, Janos.”
“The whole village is talking about you and Ashlee,” he remarked.
“I know,” she unabashedly admitted. “Most every head turns as I pass them. I am not sure if it is because I am a foreigner or I am notorious.”
“I will give you a third choice; you are a stunning woman. Is your mother beautiful?”
Sharika’s mother was a fine looking woman and her father was handsome. The combination of the two provided the world with a beautiful child and she never lost her beauty as she grew older, unlike some of the other children. Sharika valued her intelligence more than her looks. It grew in its prominence the more she discussed life and philosophy with the Chief of the Huns.
Kaathi smiled at how easily she was forgotten in favor of the two flirting. “Would you excuse me?”
They did and Sharika replied to his compliment, “I am not sure the others in Kahali would agree with you.”
“If they do not, it is because their eyes have grown weak.”
She grinned. “You do know how to make a woman’s ego take flight.”
“I shall take your compliment. I do tell women of their other qualities as well. Of course, I do it when I know them.”
“And here I thought you were without substance.”
“Oh, I am also good at hearing sarcasm. Are you attempting to chase me off?”
“Not at all, I am trying to determine if you can withstand it?”
“Madam, I have withstood much worse than what you have targeted me with. I am used to friends jesting at my expense. I think my looks have brought this upon me.”
“Well, it does not seem to have affected you.”
“It would, if I did not know it was done mirthfully.”
Sharika’s mind quickly compared Janos to Chief Victor. While Victor had many qualities she liked, Janos’ lightness was captivating and refreshing. Perhaps it was going to be easier to soothe her healing heart then she suspected.
“What do you do in Kahali?”
He flashed his best smile. “Most of my time is spent trying to find a woman like you.”
Pleased, she smiled.
“I live with my parents as all single men do. I go on hunts most of the days with my friends. The days I do not, I help patrol our area to keep it free from predators. In my spare time I carve wood.”
“I saw by your gift to Kaathi, you are an excellent one. I never would have taken you to be a carver.”
“I am glad I could surprise you. The piece I did for Kaathi was for her next trip. She requested me to make it to keep her oils safe. A friend of mine made her a number of tiny jars to store the oils. The insides are a little larger than the size of my thumb. It took him a long time to make the first one and get the glaze right.”
“What is she going to use as a lid for them?”
“Another person she has treated is making them out of cork.”
“Cork? I have never heard of it.”
“Cork is the bark of a particular oak tree. It is soft and makes a watertight stopper.”
“Can you show me this tree?”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“I need to get my weapons.”
“And I shall get mine.”
After gathering their weapons, Janos led her out of the village to one of the larger woods bordering the river.
“Are you in demand as a carver?”
“There are enough requests to keep me from being bored.”
“I cannot imagine you getting bored. I would think any number of women would seek you out to do some carving for them or something else.”
Janos smiled at her inference. They penetrated the forest and he informed her, “We only have six of these trees fully grown. The younger trees’ bark is not ready to be used. They were discovered several seasons ago by accident. Part of the bark was dislodged by an animal and he came across it on the ground and thought it looked strange. He brought it back with him and gave it to one of our carvers who found it was not good for carving. He did discover it made good stoppers for small openings.”
“How did Kaathi think of making small jars?”
“When her mentor, Batu, returned from Sumati, after discovering what caused their epidemic, Victor sent his best clay potter to instruct our people in the art of pottery. Kaathi first saw the potential in making small pots or jars to house essential oils.”
“Your Talker Healers have a great many skills in many areas,” she pointed out.
“They do.”
Janos found the trees with the cork bark. Sharika found a piece broken away from the tree and looked at it. “Can I take this with me?”
“Of course.”
They took their time walking back to the village.
“Would you mind if I carved a bust of you?”
The unexpected request pleased Sharika. “It would take up a great deal of your time.”
He smiled. “I do not mind. It would give me the chance to see you often.”
“What would you do with it once you have completed it?”
“I would give it to you.”
Sharika smiled and took his arm.
CHAPTER NINE
Janos, Pauli, Sandor, Sharika, two other women and fifteen Kahali men finished meditating and Jacob made sure he had the attention of all of them.
“Before every session we shall me
ditate. The reason for meditating is to calm your mind in order for you to be aware of the lag between thought and action. Without the calm you will never experience the lag.”
The group before him was the first to take advantage of the open invitation to the villagers to learn how to recognize the phenomenon. Prior to today only the Warrior Hunters and their apprentices were privy to the knowledge.
Jacob was not surprised to see Sharika. She had peppered him with questions on how he used energy on the long journey home from Sumati.
Jacob needed a volunteer to receive smacks on his back from a small switch. One of the men eagerly jumped up and went to Jacob.
“I am going to place blows on Bidu’s back at different intervals and see if he can anticipate when the blows are going to land. Bidu, I want you to say, ‘Now,’ if you think the blow is about to land.”
He turned Bidu around with his back to the group. Jacob landed four blows before Bidu spoke.
He turned Bidu to face the class. “How did you know the blow was going to land?”
Bidu sheepishly said, “I guessed.”
“So you did not read my thoughts to know when I was going to strike.”
“I did not.”
“Thank you for being honest. A good warrior is cognizant of everything around him or her. It is essential for a warrior to stay alive and this skill helps him accomplish it. Pauli and Sandor have been learning this skill for some time now. Some of you may be quicker to sense thoughts than others. There is no shame in being slower to sense it.
“You need to know Bidu, the strange thing about this process is I do not actively think about hitting you, even though my mind registers it.
“Once again I urge you to not be afraid to speak up if you hear yourself giving you a warning or sense anything. Eventually, you will hear or sense something. It takes repetition and more repetition.
“Let us try this again. Turn around. Let me know if you sense my thought.”
Jacob placed fifteen blows on Bidu’s back. He called out on half of them and none registered correctly.
“Bidu was using something which was not the ability to sense the lag. What was Bidu using?”
“Anticipation,” called out Sharika.
“Exactly. There is nothing wrong with anticipating. Warriors use anticipation in battles. What you are learning is outside the realm of anticipation. You are learning to sense or read the thought or energy before the blow lands.
“I want all of you to pair up and move away at least ten steps from the others. It will help prevent interference of sound or thought. Begin to experiment as I did with Bidu. Make sure you vary the time interval between blows.” He smiled. “And do not take pleasure in striking your partner. Remember you will have to go under the switch next.”
Sharika immediately walked up to Jacob and paired up with him.
He raised his eyebrows. “I thought you would have paired up with Janos since the two of you are seeing each other.”
She smiled. “I want to learn from the best.”
He had sensed she would and was pleased his intuition served him.
“Pauli, Sandor I want you to move around and help each pair while I work with Sharika.”
“Remember to clear your minds and let your partner know you are ready. If you hear anything in your mind or sense anything on your body, which can foretell the blow, speak up,” Jacob advised everyone. “Learn to trust yourself.”
Sharika took the switch and grinned mischievously. “I hope I can control myself.”
Jacob grinned back. “Just remember I do you next.”
The moment Jacob turned around Sharika let her first blow land. Jacob did not respond.
“Why did you not say something?”
“I was still concentrating on how mischievous you looked. Do it again.”
She took a long time before she struck him. He spoke up simultaneously with the blow.
She sent another blow to him immediately and he detected it before the blow sounded on his back. She waited two breaths and directed another blow to his skin. He sensed it, while her hand was moving. She waited seven breaths and made sure she did not think about landing the blow. It did not make any difference, he sensed it again.
“I am done. I want to try it.”
“Good. Remember clear your mind and let me know when you are ready. As you wait for my blow, check for any impression made on you, your body or mind.”
Sharika nodded and turned. “Ready.”
Jacob waited two breaths and struck her.
Jacob waited four breaths and struck her.
Jacob waited one breath and struck her.
He varied the routine and somewhere around mid-morning she raised her voice as the blow struck.
“Good. How did you know I was about to strike you?”
“I felt a twitch on my forehead. Before I could think about it I spoke automatically.”
“Excellent. Let us continue and see if what happened is repeatable for you and learn to trust it.”
Out of the next twenty blows she determined four of them. With each one he stopped and quizzed her if the twitch made her aware of the blow. Jacob noticed the sun was overhead and excused the class to eat and attend to other things.
Jacob, Pauli and Sandor stayed behind to discuss their students’ progress. Jacob was not surprised when the tally showed Sharika had doubled the correct calls of her nearest classmate. Anyone brave enough to journey alone into the unknown, as she had done, might very well be better equipped to do so than others. He wondered if there was something innate in her clan allowing her to be uniquely gifted.
CHAPTER TEN
Brock lie in bed going over the disturbing dream filled with Kaathi’s image. The dream recurred several times in the past dozen nights to his chagrin. They often awakened him, and he had trouble getting back to sleep. He did not mind having dreams of women, provided they were sexual. He enjoyed them. These were not enjoyable. The statement Kaathi had made of Romir, a previous High Priest, also disturbed him. He had asked one of his friends if what she told him was true. His friend said the Elder had told the villagers he suspected Romir had lied and poisoned people to get them to behave the way he wanted them to and also said Kiirt had killed Batu. How did I forget what Caleb said? Was I busy talking to someone? If what the Elder said was true, Romir and Kiirt were terrible representatives of the position. And what is wrong with the gods? Romir always told us to rely on them. There were nearly two dozen of us pleading for the gods to take Kaathi’s life. They failed us miserably. Now these damn dreams are plaguing me and seemingly urging me to talk to Kaathi. Crap, I have to get things straight in my head, or I will never have a decent night’s sleep.
Brock stood in front of the Talker Healer’s hut for some moments, vacillating whether to call Kaathi’s name. She unexpectedly appeared at the entrance, seeing Brock she warmly smiled.
“Brock, I am happy to see you.”
He offered no greeting in return. “I need to talk to you. Are you free?”
“I am.” She turned her head to announce to those inside, “I have someone wanting to talk to me.” She turned back to Brock. “Where do you want to talk?”
“Under the trees by the river.”
“Do you mind if I take your arm?”
His reply was sharp, “Yes I do.”
His mind was racing with all he wanted to say to her and it now included her audacity to want to hold onto him. He was married and married men did not cling to another woman. He remained silent until they sat down.
“Did you think by taking hold of my arm you could throw me off guard?”
“No it is something I have become used to doing with people to set them at ease.”
“Well, it would not set me at ease. The reason I wanted to talk with you is due to my dreams. You keep popping up in them, and they are disturbing me. Are you causing them?”
The brows on her child like face puckered together. “I would never think of doing something
to influence your subconscious. Can I ask, am I threatening you in the dreams?”
“No. The fact is I do not like you and do not want you in my dreams.”
“Why not?”
His voice was forceful as he answered, “I am a traditionalist, and you are usurping tradition and it aggravates me.”
She nodded. “Ah, I see.”
“If we discard tradition and laws we will become barbarians.”
“I agree. We did away with only those traditions suppressing women. The same goes for our laws. We created new ones to make certain our women were equal to our men. I hope you saw long ago some of our men were barbaric.”
“I find your words offensive,” he stated.
“I am sorry. I am not sure if you know this. My mutant friend, Isaac, treated his wife with more respect than most of our men treated their wives.”
“Bullshit, it is not true,” he stammered.
“On the contrary, their tribe, the Searchers, saw how men and women complemented each other. They lived from day to day and counted on each other to stay alive. They respected each other for all the things they did for each other. They knew without the help of their mates they would not survive in the harsh environment amidst the volatile and prejudicial tribes continually hunting them.”
“You cannot compare mutants to us. It is where your philosophy fails. Men are superior to women.”
“In what way?”
“They cannot hunt, think properly and are weaker.”
“I beg to differ. Sharika has been on hunts with Jacob and matches his prowess with the bow, where none of our men do. In addition, she is quickly learning his hunting skills. Do you know why the Huns are not good hunters? It is because they have domesticated animals and have little need to hunt and they raise crops. As far as intelligence is concerned, Batu disproved men were superior during all her discussions and debates, and her memory was legendary. While women are indeed weaker than men, can you show me one man willing to go through what a woman goes through to give birth?”
