“I have to say we handled ourselves nicely,” Fato remarked. They were eating a small meal before bed.
“Basha, why did you have to bring that…new sword with you?” Oaka asked, for lack of a better term, after a moment’s silence from him.
“Must we talk about this now?” Fato asked.
“I did not want to leave it behind,” Basha said, shaking his head. “It did its job,” He said lamely.
“It did…that thing…” Oaka shuddered. “I don’t want to know what you were thinking of when--” He sighed. “Never mind, perhaps--”
“You want me to forget about it?” Basha asked. “Forget about--I know what I did.” He said. “I cannot forget about it.”
“All right, fine, just don’t bring it up.” Oaka said, shaking his head. He was still disappointed that he hadn’t been able to summon up his fire, again, back at the warehouse. What was the point of having magic like that if you couldn’t use it to defend yourself with? He just couldn’t understand it.
“You’re the one who brought it up,” Fato remarked.
“Never mind!” Oaka exclaimed, and then--“What’s that?” He asked when the horses were agitated, and it sounded like something was moving in the forest beyond their firelight.
“Steady, I don’t think it’s a Black Wolf,” Fato said, peering into the darkness.
“Is that much of a comfort?” Basha asked, unsheathing his old sword when his new sword was still in his pack. He was tempted to reach for his pack, but it was too far away, and whoever or whatever it was--
“Stop!” A voice called, and all three of them recognized it.
“Monika?” Basha asked as the young woman approached, leading her horse.
“I suppose we’re even--I followed you all here now, after you followed me.” She said, nodding at the falcon.
“Hey, Oaka, it’s the girl--”
“Yes, no need to remind me, Fato--”
“Has she come back to beat you up some more?” Fato asked Oaka with a snicker.
“Have you--”
“No, I have not, Basha.” Monika said, staring at him. “It’s been awhile since--I’m sorry I got so worked up at the warehouse earlier, I just--did not expect you two to burst in there like that.” She petted her horse. “And then...there were a couple of men killed. Some seriously injured. I don’t think you had anything to do with the deaths, Basha,” She said, seeing the look on his face, “I might have caused those. Those still alive had to be questioned, and then--I had to leave before it got complicated,” She said. “Paperwork is not really my forte.”
“Nor for me either, though I can’t really hold a pen.” Fato remarked.
“You mean…you call…” Basha started to say.
“Look, I am not of your country,” Monika said. “Paperwork is very complicated for me when I am not supposed to be here at all. I got into Arria because I helped out in another case, prior to this, and actually, this was the last part of the other case, but it’s complicated. I am not supposed to be here at all.” She said.
“So we’ve established that.” Oaka said.
“Oaka…” Basha said, and shook his head. “I do not know what you have been through, Monika, but...I do not know what you are talking about.” He said.
“Never mind.” Monika said, turning about. “Can I just sit here awhile? Talk about a few things? I usually do not have company when I travel.”
Basha hesitated, turning towards Oaka, who shook his head, but Fato nodded, and so it was up to him. “I suppose for a little while,” He said, slowly nodding. “Just if you want to rest.”
Monika nodded. “Thank you.” She said. “Can I leave my horse with yours?” She asked.
Basha nodded, and Monika went off to loosen the saddle from her horse’s back. Oaka leaned over and hissed, “Are you sure we should be doing this? We don’t know that much about her.”
“I think she’s friendly.” Basha told him.
“I agree.” Fato put in.
“I think she was helping out the Border Guards, fighting those smugglers.” Basha said, nodding.
“Yes, but she accused us of being monsters.” Oaka said. “And she was involved in that barroom fight.”
“That was different.” Basha said. “She probably got involved in that barroom fight just because she was there when it happened, and she didn’t have a choice, and as far as accusing us of being monsters, we were...acting strange,” He said, talking about himself. “And she didn’t know anything about us, or not that much at any rate. She had no clue what we were doing there.”
“Neither did we.” Oaka remarked as Monika came back, carrying her saddle and its packs.
“Why were you in Coe Anji in the first place?” Monika asked, turning to Basha as she sat down beside the fire across from them.
“You get the first question?” Basha asked.
“It’s a reasonable question.” Monika said, unloading food from a pack. “You know what I was doing there, assisting your Border Guards. I know nothing about what you two were doing there. For all I know, you were following me from Coe Baba.” She said, unwrapping a piece of bread. “You never traveled far from Coe Baba, that’s what you said yourself.” She remarked, munching on the bread.
“Good memory.” Oaka said.
“Close enough, Basha made an impression on me.” She said, turning towards Oaka. “But it’s a fact, is it not? You two haven’t been far from Coe Baba before now? So what has brought you here, all this way? And why are you still going?” She asked, turning towards Basha.
“Oh, boy, here we go,” Oaka said.
“I’m on a quest.” Basha said. “For Tau’s Cup.”
“What? Tau’s Cup?” Fato the falcon cried, with a pop-eye look, and everyone turned to stare at him. It was creepy. “You never said!”
“Didn’t we tell you?” Basha asked.
“No!” Fato cried. “No one tells me anything, apparently.” He muttered, growling to himself. “I just thought that you two were going on some business somewhere, and if you had told me, maybe I wasn’t really paying attention then.” He frowned, and tilted his head. “Maybe I did hear you two mention Tau’s Cup the other day, but I didn’t know that was what you two were searching for.”
“We are on a quest for Tau’s Cup,” Basha said, turning towards Monika. “Going all the way to Coe Pidaria. Remember when I told you about Lovers’ Rock, and the girl that I was planning to ask for? That was it. I was about to go up on that Rock, about to ask ‘will you marry me, Jawen?’ when I realized that I needed a dower to go along with my marriage proposal, and not just any dower, the best. Tau’s Cup just sprang to mind. I made my promise with an oath to Tau himself. I even got approval from the Oracle of Mila to go on my quest.” He said.
Monika, finished with the bread, had moved on to a bit of meat, and now was about to open her mouth when Oaka interrupted her. “It was spur of the moment, literally.” He said. “I went along to keep him safe. So did Sir Nickleby.”
“Sir Nickleby?” Monika said, “I actually mentioned Sir Nickleby to the major, Basha, just today. I told him that you had been trained by the knight, and of course he knew who that fellow was.” Monika rolled her eyes, “But then where is he?” She asked, “Why isn’t he here with you all?”
Basha and Oaka told the story, with Fato supplying anecdotal evidence of his own. “I was flying through the air from Coe Dobila, reciting my message again when no one could hear me,” Fato said, “and then suddenly a whole pack of Black Wolves started chasing me. They knew that I was a royal messenger bird, and that I carried vital information for King Sonnagh, meant for his ears only. I tried to lose their pursuit, but instead I led them straight by accident to these poor fellows. I tried to warn them, or at least Basha, but one of them, Sir Nickleby, got killed instead when he made a valiant attempt to stand against these Black Wolves. The Black Wolves broke off their pursuit after a little while, for I had foiled them, disappearing into the trees, and they had no clue where I w
as going. So there has been no sign of them ever since.”
“You have never said anything about--” Basha started to say, but then he stopped as he realized that it was a bit of a double standard, considering what he had not or might not have said to Fato in the first place. He had held back information, and Fato had repaid him in kind.
“What an amazing story.” Monika said, finished with the meat and peeling an apple. “I never would have believed…I’m sorry for what happened to Sir Nickleby.” She said, looking up. “The major did remark that that the knight was a good fighter, from what he had heard of him, and I suppose that he was if he taught you.”
Basha shook his head. “I don’t know half of what I did the other day, to be honest. That was...something else.” He said.
“Definitely something else,” Oaka muttered, glancing at Basha’s pack.
Monika stopped just before she took a bite. “Can it be…” She started to say, but then she shook her head. “Never mind, I shouldn’t. The point is, I haven’t got any place else to go, not really, and I want to join you all.” She said.
“Are you serious?” Oaka asked as they all stared at her, Fato most intensely of all.
“Yes, I am serious, strange as it may be,” Monika said, staring back at him and Basha. “I want to go with you all. I mean, I can help. I know how to fight, you all saw me back there, I don’t need any…whatever,” She said, waving her hand, although Basha knew that she meant to say ‘sword’, his new sword to be exact. “And if we were to meet Black Wolves, or whatever might be out there, then you could use all the help you can get,” She said, biting her apple.
Oaka frowned. “This sounds a lot like when…”
“Wait a minute, Oaka.”
“Basha! This is just what happened when Fato joined us.”
“Hey!” The falcon exclaimed.
“Trying to get us to believe that he would be useful.” Oaka muttered.
“He has been useful, Oaka.” Basha said.
“Thank you,” Fato said, bowing his head and mumbling to himself.
“I won’t have another person join this group without my say-so.” Oaka started to say.
“Excuse me, but I am involved in this discussion,” Monika remarked. “I won’t have you three discuss me in a way that…I am coming, whether you like it or not. I just came over to ask your permission, and ask what is going on here.” She said.
“Basha, she…I don’t understand what is going on here, but she is trying to get in for whatever reason she has.” Oaka said.
“For your information, I have the best of intentions.” Monika remarked, standing up and facing Oaka. “I do not intend to get you all killed. I am here to protect you all, do you understand me now?” She asked Oaka.
“Wow,” Fato said, staring up at Monika.
“I don’t believe you.” Oaka said.
“Believe me, it’s the truth. You won’t get protection like mine anywhere else,” She said, “You won’t be able to depend on anyone else like you can depend on me. I have been around a few times and I know that there are some very dangerous people out there, people who will take advantage of you if you let them. But I am not asking anything of you all except that you let me come with you. I will prove myself valuable to you all. I will show you all that I have what it takes to be…” She stopped, and shook her head. “Forget it, just forget it!” She said, storming off, taking her saddle and packs with her.
“Monika, wait!” Basha cried, getting up.
“Of course, run after her and not…” Oaka stopped. “Basha, you have to decide. I am not going any further without some assurance that it is worthwhile.”
“Oaka, please.”
“I miss home and Sisila. I am not doing this without--even if we do come back home safe and sound, I will have nothing to show for it. I am risking everything I have, just because of you, without getting anything in return! These last few days have been horrible enough for me, but none of you have changed my mind about--going back! Basha, you’re as good as my brother, and I hate saying all of this to you, but I still want you to tell me if I am going to get anything out of this. For what end did I leave her?” He said.
“This is not…Oaka!” Basha cried as Oaka left him as well, grabbing his packs and blanket.
Basha was left alone with Fato. “I don’t think this is a very good start.” Fato remarked.
“I should have known, malakel it,” Basha said, “I should have known. To be chased by Black Wolves, seen Sir Nickleby torn apart, taunted by you, and then beaten up by Monika, before that big fight…Oaka should have asked that question a long time before now.” He lowered his head.
“He’s just scared,” Fato said, “But he’ll buck up by morning. Once he does, he’ll ask himself why he ever thought he should go home. He may be a monkey, but he’s still loyal to you. I will credit him that. He’s a good brother, your Oaka is.”
“And I’m not.” Basha said.
“Hey, you’re a good brother, too, Basha, and the best friend that he could ever wish for, a monkey like him.” Fato paused. “I think you should ask yourself what your brother wants out of this trip. And then figure out a way to give him that, if he doesn’t have to go home.” Fato said. The falcon then flew off after Monika, hoping that Basha could come up with something on his own, as he felt like he had to settle these matters before it got to be too late.
She was sitting alone, her blanket folded out near the edge of the firelight, and finishing the last of her meal before bed. Fato landed right beside her. “Hello, Monika,” He said. “I’m sorry about this welcome. I know you’re worried about being able to join up, or whatever, but don’t be. I know that, once things settle down, we’ll be glad to have you.”
“Thank you.” Monika said, staring down at him. “It’s strange, I never thought I would be--this is not like me.” She said, looking across at the fire. “I thought I would be going home as well, but I just keep going farther and farther away from it. Like I do not want to return as well.”
“How long have you been away from home?” Fato asked.
“Many years. I should return, but--I keep putting it off, and then--getting sucked into something or another.” She said, looking down.
“You’ve had a hard life, huh?”
“You have no idea.” She said.
“Why do you want--”
“I don’t want--” Monika sighed, looking up at the bird. “Fato--sometimes it’s easier for me to put the past behind me. To keep moving on, and--go wherever the path might lead me.” She gestured. “Sometimes I do not want to look behind me at what has gone on before. Maybe that’s why I can’t return home. I cannot look back at the bad things that have happened to me, and home is just one of those reminders.” She stared up at the sky. “Sometimes I see or hear things that I can’t quite believe, and--I decide to pursue them, to find out more, the truth, and understand what’s going on.”
“Maybe that’s why I make mistakes.” Monika said, looking back down at Fato. “I want to find out the truth and believe in it. I want to find something worthwhile that will keep me moving forward. Yet I trust too much in what is happening around me, and I get lost in the shuffle of things. I don’t want to forget about what happened behind me, and yet--I cannot look back.” She said.
“I don’t understand half of what you just said.” Fato said, shaking his head.
“Maybe it’s a human problem,” Monika said as the fire went out at Basha’s section, plunging them all into darkness. Had he been listening to her? Monika shook her head and pulled up her blanket, deciding that he was too far away to hear her as she then put away her food, ready to go to sleep.
Fato decided to fly up to a tree branch, and leave Oaka alone, not wanting to visit him tonight. He could settle his own problems.
“Basha, what are you doing?” Oaka asked.
“I’m trying to get something out of here,” Basha told him, wrestling with a jar. “It won’t come out, I might have to grease it.” H
e then dropped the jar, and it broke into a thousand pieces. “Ooops.” He said.
“Typical, Basha, now look what you have done! You’re hopeless,” Oaka said, shaking his head and then bending down to pick up the jar pieces. He cut himself on a thick, sharp shard.
“Ow!” He cried. “See, this is what…where are you?” He asked, staring into the darkness that surrounded him.
“What have you done?” He asked, for there was blood pooling down on the ground, dripping from his hand. “Come out, Basha! What are you?” He cried, searching for his brother, trying to cover up the gash and seek some help.
“Oaka, what have you done?” Sisila cried.
He turned around to see her facing him, horrified by his appearance as…“It’s nothing, Sisila,” He said, covered in blood. “It’s not mine, Basha did this.” He said, his whole body drenched in blood from the gash as if soaking it up.
“I don’t believe you!” Sisila said, turning away from him.
“Come back, Sisila, I want…” He sighed. “Sisila, I love you!”
She turned around. “I don’t love you,” Habala told him, and then turned back into Sisila before she vanished.
He stopped and gasped. His mother was his lover? That was crazy. Oaka cried, “Basha, you stole my heart right out from under me!” He wept. “You took my heart away,” He said, his heart beating right out there in front of him. “I can’t reach, I can’t…stand.” He said, trying to grab his heart and stick it back inside of him before he died. “Basha!” He cried. “How can…you can take care of yourself, can’t you? You don’t need me anymore? You don’t want me? You don’t care for me?” Oaka said, burning up. “Then why should I have to care?” He said, as the forest caught fire all around him.
Oaka rolled around in his blankets, mumbling to himself in his sleep. “Why...should I...”
“Why do I have to take care of you? Do I feel guilty for what I have done? Do I feel guilty for what you have lost or never had?” He asked.
Servants and Followers (The Legends of Arria, Volume 2) Page 11
