by Zamil Akhtar
I’m not your slave. Go to hell, you and all those who worship this ocean.
“I’m going, I’m going now,” Kahr said. “I won’t leave again. I understand everything you’re saying, sir. Just let me get back to work.”
The director was quiet. Had Kahr’s plea worked?
“Did you see that?” The director’s nose reached the middle of his eyes — the ugliest expression of bewilderment ever.
“See what?”
“I saw it, just now, something black! It fell from the sky into the Deep Blue. Like a meteor or a comet or something!”
But in the distance, there was nothing but clear water and sky.
“No, boss...it looks good to me. Maybe you need a—”
There was a strange whine.
It sounded like a levship engine, getting louder and louder. A shadow overcame the world; something monstrous tore through the heavens. A black mountain. It crashed and shattered the ocean.
Waves erupted, rose to the clouds, whirled toward the beach.
The director fell to the floor on his knees. “Oh no...the drills and today’s haul! This can’t be happening!”
“Boss, we have to go!” He wouldn’t budge.
So Kahr ran and barely saved himself. The waves washed away the drills and sent the day’s stockpile of twicrys to the depths. As for his boss, he drowned.
The next day, Kahr visited the “bank.” He told them he couldn’t make the loan payment this week because his place of work, as well as the entire shoreline, was destroyed by a tidal wave. They refused to give him an extension. Distressed, he spent the day looking for other work. He went to the factories, but they were laying off workers. He went to every shop in the city center, but sudden price jumps dried up the hires. Due to the tidal wave, all the docks on the Keldanese Deep Blue rim were declared closed, so there was no work there.
Upon returning to the four walls he called home, Kahr paused at the door to reflect on the day’s problem.
What the hell am I going to tell her? She’s gonna flip. A girl like her won’t accept that her man couldn’t get a job.
“I know you’re outside.”
Dammit.
“Come inside already! It’s raining and I need help with all the leaks!”
Raining? I hadn’t noticed...
Once inside, Kahr realized how drenched he was. But it didn’t faze him. She was wearing that blue bandana he bought, her hair in a knotted wrap. It made him appreciate how pretty she was with her hair down.
“You’re a mess!” she said. “Change out of that or you’ll get sick!”
“Aww, so you do care about me.”
“Well, yeah, is that a joke? Seriously, put something else on!”
Kahr threw off his shirt; she stared at him.
“You going to watch me change?” he said.
“While you’re at it, plaster the wall up here.”
“Should I do that naked or with clothes on?”
She shoved the box of plaster into his abdomen. “I tried, but it keeps falling and running down the wall. I already messed up the paint.”
“Stupid girl, you can’t use plaster without glue. And the plaster can’t be this damp for the glue to work.”
“No one ever taught me any of this! By the way, where were you all day?”
Here it comes...
Kahr bent over to get some glue from the broken cupboard. “Well...you know. With what happened yesterday, and so, I told you it would be easy for me to get another job, but...”
“’But what? Just say it.”
He conducted heat onto the base of the plaster container. The burnout ached his wrist; the swelling had yellowed.
“It didn’t go as expected.” He didn’t want to see her upset with him rather than just disappointed.
She deserves better.
Her plaster-ridden hands caressed his bare waste. “Kahr, someone strong like you will always be able to get by.” She rubbed her nose on his back. “Tomorrow, you’ll have better luck. I know it.”
The plaster was mushy enough. He applied the glue and sealed the hole in the wall. “The plaster and glue are the neighbor’s, so make sure to return it.”
She nodded in her jittery way. “Oh yeah, someone from the bank came by today. He said your loan extension had been reconsidered.”
The leak stopped; the plaster had done its job.
“You see how it’s done? Dry the area, apply the glue, and then apply the plaster. I hope you’ve been taking notes!”
There was something else drip-drip-dripping on the floor.
“Hey! You’re bleeding!” she said. “Let me see!”
She caressed the source of it — his aperture. The swelling had burst and popped a vein. They had nothing in their bare four walls to cover the wound. She reached for the blue bandana knotting her hair.
Kahr grabbed her hand. “Just leave it, it’ll heal on its own, or we can ask the neighbor for—”
She kissed his bloody arm, licked the trickle of blood off his wrist.
“Hey...”
She kissed the wound, kept her lips there.
“Stop it...that’s unhealthy.”
She wouldn’t let go. Kahr hugged her to get her off his arm. She buried her head in his chest, tied her arms around him. “Do you know how worried I was? When I heard there was a tidal wave, and that all the shore camps had been destroyed, and that people had died?”
“Sorry.”
“So don’t ask, ever again, don’t say it ever again, that...that I don’t care about you. Don’t ever imply it, even jokingly, okay?”
“I won’t say it ever again, just stop. Please Hena, stop crying.”
At the “bank,” there was the usual fat man with a book.
“I was told that my request for an extension is gonna be looked at again.”
“Who’re you?”
“My name is Kahran. You don’t remember? I was here yesterday.”
“Oh, well, you’ll have to talk to the boss.” The fat man smiled. “He’s busy at the moment, but he’ll be available soon. Why don’t ya have a seat?”
Kahr twiddled his thumbs for a few minutes. Then “the boss” walked down the stairs, topless. From the left shoulder down, the boss had a metallic arm.
At first, he scowled at Kahr. He quickly put his shirt on, then smiled at Kahr. “Kahran! Come on back and we’ll talk.”
Please Nur, help me with this one...
Kahr followed him and took a seat in the back office. The boss sat behind a desk amid a sprawling Keldanese flag on the wall: the old flag, ocean blue, four suns in each corner. And one sun in the center — seventeen in total.
“So, I heard about all the trouble at the docks, and of course this tidal wave business. I can’t imagine what a man who makes his living off fish must be going through, and you know, it’s really affected us as well. I can understand your request completely.”
A man who makes his living off fish. I’ve never caught a fish in my life.
“It’s been hard, they won’t even let me step on my boat,” Kahr said. “Us children of Keldan have it hard. I’m really thankful that in my time of need you’re helping me.”
The boss reclined in his chair. “Of course, anything for a brother. You know, I heard a rumor that what crashed in the sea was that Haemian ship, same one which ravaged that Almarian city few days back.”
“Really?”
“Really. But my point is, we gotta bond together. Against the Shirmas, against the Haemians. Us Keldanese are one people.”
What was his name? Maz...Mezzer...Merrin...
“Mezzin, I really appreciate this.”
The boss took a gulp of the drink in his mug. “Kahran, we respect each other. We’re brothers. I’m not much older than you, we’re both young. Keldan has a lot of young blood.”
What’s he on about?
“But brother, look,” Mezzin continued, “the price jumps have really crapped up the books. Two-hundred percent inflation in
a month. I’m willing to give you an extension, but your payments will have to be adjusted at projected inflation levels.”
Two-hundred percent? More like twenty percent. What the hell’s in his mug?
As if on cue, two men with swords entered the room and surrounded Kahr.
“And those adjustments will be what...brother?”
“You can do the math. Two-hundred percent for this month, plus another four-hundred percent for next month, that’s...10,430 emrils you owe me for the last month, and 26,800 for the coming month. And then, you’re a free man!”
“But I only borrowed 15,000 from you to begin with! I’ve paid you back 10,000 and my wages aren’t going up. I don’t even have a job. How can you do that? Honestly, how can you do that to me?”
I need to get out of here.
Kahr made for the door. The two armed men grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him into his seat.
“Kahran, don’t go. I know, I know. It’s really...I know how you feel. Honestly, I don’t want to do this. I feel like a Shirmian, as if I’m oppressing my own brother. Please, let me cut you an unbeatable once in a life time deal.”
“A deal?”
“Well, I’ve been informed that you were recently married. So, congratulations from me.”
“Okay.”
“And that you’re wife is just stunning, the talk of the slums.”
“What’s it to you?”
“And you know, I love beautiful Keldanese women. I treat them royally. So how about it? One night with me, that’s all I ask, and you’re debt is erased. You must be ready to pounce on this deal!”
Kahr gave it a thought.
“This is what I think of that.” He smacked the mug off Mezzin’s desk. Red syrup splattered on the blue flag.
One of Mezzin’s thugs locked Kahr’s neck, the other restrained his arms. Kahr butted his head backwards. Teeth cracked. A fist bashed his eye. A knife whizzed through the air, toward his chest.
“Stop!” Mezzin rose from his chair. “Let him go, don’t do this, not here.”
They released him. One of the thugs bent down to look for his teeth, holding the blood in his mouth.
“Listen, don’t be like that,” Mezzin said. “I know you’ll see the wisdom in this. I’m giving you three days to think it over, and when the time’s up, we’ll come to you, so you just sit tight.”
Kahr rubbed his bruised eye. “Let me make this very clear. Whoever you send to my house will return in a burial shroud.”
“Hmm, well, take the time to think.”
Kahr left. He thought about it on the way home. She’s gonna flip when she sees this eye.
And she did. “Of all the things. You’re such a child!”
He sat on the bed against the wall. She knelt over him.
“You should see what happened to the other fool. He won’t be eating meat for a while.”
“Who was it?”
Who was it...who was it...
“Some punks from the Settlement, coming down here to make trouble.”
“Shirmians? Kahr! You serious?”
Bad choice for a lie...
“Don’t worry about it. They have no idea who I am, and well, they would be embarrassed to show their faces—”
A knock at the door shook all four walls.
Hena’s pupils grew into diamonds. “Do you think that’s them?”
Kahr grabbed the cutting knife from under the stove. “Take this. If they come inside, if they threaten you, then you have to use it. Okay?”
“Can’t you just apologize?”
Kahr came close, put the knife in her hands, and made her grip it. “Take it, Hena.”
She clenched the knife awkwardly with both hands. Another knock sounded, even stronger.
“Who’s there!?” Kahr said.
“Who do ya think? I want some help putting my teeth back.”
Lying piece of... “Mezzin said three days.”
“Three days? Enough time for you to pack up and run? Hey, maybe that pretty thing in there can relieve all this pain I feel in my mouth.”
No way out of these four walls except through that door. Kahr did the only thing he could. “Can anyone hear me!? We need help! Please, someone help!”
“Shut up! You don’t want others to get hurt, do you?”
Hena trembled against him. Eyes moist, face ruddy.
I’ll cut to pieces the hand that touches her.
“Kick it down.”
They did. The hinges of the tin door tore, and the two thugs from earlier entered Kahr’s home. Hena hid behind his back.
The thug with two holes in his teeth laughed. “This your house? What’d you do with all that money if you live in a crap hole like this?”
“If you don’t like it, get out!”
“No boy, I won’t do that.” The thug licked his lips. “Oh, there she is! Hot! I like women with knives.” He waved his blade, the type worn by the TEX soldiers from the Settlement.
“You look at her again, I’ll put that knife through your forehead.”
“Empty threats. You’re like a tiger without fangs, trying to protect his little domain. Now get out of the way and we’ll take her, and you can get back to your life.”
The thug with holes in his teeth sliced at Kahr’s neck. Kahr ducked, pulled the carpet from beneath their feet, crashing them to the floor. He grabbed his wife and ran for the door.
But she slipped, and the other thug grabbed her foot. Kahr tried stomping on the thug’s arm, but the one with teeth holes kicked his shin, and he banged against the floor face first. Then the thug climbed on top of him and cuckolded his neck. He couldn’t move. Hena screamed. Leave her! Kahr’s thigh flared as a blade cut his flesh. Hena continued to cry.
Nur...help...
Lightning exploded in the room. Blood poured over Kahr’s face, blinding his eyes. Death pangs and screams. Lightning exploded again, and the struggle ended.
“Hena? You okay?”
Heaven was the sound of her hurried breathing. She coughed his name. “Kahr.”
He wiped the blood from his eyes. Two dead bodies lay in his house, red splatters all over the walls and sheets. A masked man stood at the doorway, a silhouette in the sun, blade in hand.
“Dead,” the masked man said. “As dead as this sad city.”
“Who’re you?” Sharp pain stopped Kahr from moving his legs. Blood filled his pants. Hena lifted him against the wall and kissed his forehead.
“Someone who heard your cry and was...curious.”
Blood soaked into the sheets and carpet. The two dead thugs had fist-sized holes in their chests, smoke steaming off.
Hena looked for the wound on Kahr’s leg. She slid off his pants. The sword had pierced his left thigh.
“No-no-no, it’s looks really bad,” she said. “Oh Nur.”
“It only looks bad,” Kahr touched her shoulder. “Go ask the neighbor for some ethanol and cloth. And don’t tell him what happened.”
She nodded and rushed outside. The masked man carried the two bodies to the corner of the house, one by one.
“Thank you...for saving us, sir,” Kahr said.
A nod was all Kahr got in response, from a pristine mask — wooden, painted white. The man wore foreign clothing, fully covering his skin, with leather gloves and socks. He must be a leper.
“You from the Settlement?” Kahr asked.
The man shook his head. His mask sprawled across his face and neck, covering even his ears. The sun painted his shadow on the wall — a calming shade. “I’m from here.”
“In that case, I don’t know what words can express how grateful I am, uncle.”
“How long have you been married?”
“Only a few months—”
“You take it for granted. There’s no getting it back once it’s gone. And every second that passes, you move closer to the moment when the bond between you will shatter. You may not know when that moment is, but you’re always moving toward it. Death cut
s every bond.”
Kahr didn’t know what to say. Death cuts every bond...
Hena returned with a small bottle and some cloth. She glared at the wound; her arms twitched.
The masked leper bent down. “Give it to me.”
He wet the cloth with ethanol and pressed it on the wound. Kahr wailed; the burn sizzled his flesh to the bone. Now they needed some way to bandage it.
“Take this.” Hena untied the blue bandana that kept her hair hidden.
“No,” Kahr said. “I gave you that.”
Her hair fell, silky across her shoulders. Bluer than her blue bandana.
The masked man used the bandana to tie the cloth around Kahr’s leg, wrapping it tight. “A’abism,” he said. “Your blue hair, is it because of the pigment disease called A’abism?”
“Y-yes.” Hena nodded.
“Oh.” The masked man walked to the tin door, bent out of shape on the floor. “I can fix this for you.”
A panging pain throbbed on Kahr’s leg, dizzying his senses. Hena plunged her warm body against him and stroked his hair.
“Hey, uncle?” Kahr’s vision blurred. “What should we do...about...them?”
“I’ll take them with me when I leave.” The masked man lifted the door back into place.
Kahr tried to imagine how an old leper could carry two dead thugs across his shoulders, out their little door.
Now Kahr’s vision dizzied; the masked man looked like a ghost, a spirit vibrating through a formless world, with a mask that reflected every wave of light — a white face against a burning sun.
“Rest your head on me,” Hena said.
Kahr did, and like that, he fell asleep.
Kahr woke in the blueness of Hena’s hair, her drool on his shoulder. The sun beamed through the holes in their wall. The house didn’t smell of death, there were no bodies or blood except for a carpet stain, and the door was fixed in place better than ever.
But something was coming that he couldn’t escape.
Mezzin...I have to deal with Mezzin. He won’t leave me alone. I have to deal with him today, or we’ll never be free, and she’ll always be in danger.
Then he remembered the mask of that leper, white like the purest fire.
