by J. Naomi Ay
“Perhaps you saw what you wanted to see,” I said and led Sehron to the bucket of fresh water so I could clean his wounds.
“Thank you” I whispered as I gently dabbed at them. “Thank you for saving that boy.”
He shrugged and winced at the sting.
A curious thing happened the next day. Pedah had presented Padim with the twenty bear claws the previous night. In the morning as we were all still tucked in our blankets, Padim arose and came to kneel before the MaKennah.
“MaKennah?” Padim whispered.
Sehron turned his head and silver light shone in the younger boy’s face.
“These are for you. You were the one who killed the bear.” Padim laid the claws on the ground.
“Thanks,” Sehron replied softly. “Why don't you give them to the other boys? There is enough to give one to each of them.”
“Ok!” Padim agreed heartily. “We could put them on a strap and wear them around our necks like a clan. Would you wear one too?”
“I guess I could.”
Padim laughed. “That would be great! You have a funny accent, you know.”
“Aye, I know this. I have a funny accent when I speak Mishnese too.”
“What's it like in Mishnah?”
“Very different from here.”
The boys were all awake now and listening. Some moved closer and were sitting with Padim.
“Are there bears there too?”
“Aye, in the forest but, not in the cities.”
“Do you need to have a gun in the cities?” Limon asked. “I would like a gun much better than a sword. I would like to shoot. I heard the cities aren't safe for walking around. Could you walk around them, MaKennah?”
“Some parts aren't safe,” Sehron replied. “But I didn't need a gun.”
“Oh,” Limon replied a little disappointed.
“I only needed a blade,” Sehron smiled, and Limon smiled back.
“Cool.”
“Yeah cool,” the other boys echoed.
“Did you ever kill any Mishaks with it?” Ferren asked.
Sehron hesitated for a moment. “Aye,” he said.
“How many did you kill?” Ferren begged. “More than one?”
“Aye,” Sehron replied and pulled his blanket over his head. “More than one. Can't you guys let me sleep a little longer?”
“Come on guys,” Padim said now with authority. “The MaKennah wants to sleep some more so we will prepare his breakfast while he does.”
The younger boys jumped up and ran about to heat water and cook. Pori watched all of this with increasing unease.
“I fear his term as leader is about to end,” Pedah whispered, indicating the older boy.
“Aye,” I replied, mocking Sehron's street Mishnese accent. “It tis at that.”
As the day went on, nearly all of the boys came to congregate around the MaKennah. As we rode the last few miles in Shrotru, Sehron's position on the outskirts had become the front as the boys jostled to stay near or behind him. Only Pori and his friend Karim remained ahead and Karim kept turning his head back to see what was happening. After breakfast, the boys had punched holes in their bear claws and affixed them to a leather strap. Only Pori did not wear one around his neck now.
We were greeted well in Shrotru. All the village has come to see us and the MaKennah. They stood in the streets and cheered as if we had just returned victorious from a great battle. Some ran forward with hands outstretched to touch the MaKennah. Both he and his crazy horse didn’t like this and the horse reared upon his hind legs and bared his teeth although the MaKennah held on fast. Pedah and I instructed the boys to form a circle around him until we arrived.
The Chief held a great feast for us, and we presented him with both stag and bear. Then the Shrotru people brought us gifts of furs and food. Pedah and I accepted them on behalf of our father the King of all Karupatani. The Chief of Shrotru was last to present a gift. He knelt before the MaKennah as he would our father and presented him with an earring. On it dangled a Firestone. Firestones were extremely rare both in our continents and in Mishnah. The kings of both countries wore one on their finger, and it is these rings that showed they were kings. A fire burned in these stones which looked like diamonds.
The MaKennah accepted the gift and thanked the Chief. I would pierce his ear that night so he may wear it. Then the chief presented another gift. He called upon his two daughters who were both older than Sehron but not yet women. They made obeisance before the boy.
Pedah cleared his throat and announced to the chief that we cannot accept the girls. Our father has not yet decided who the MaKennah would betroth.
The Chief argued it was not necessary to betroth the girls. He may keep them as concubines.
He was too young to desire such, Pedah replied dismissively. He was not yet fourteen years.
The Chief asked the MaKennah to speak for himself whether he would have the girls. “Look how beautiful and supple their bodies are. You will take great pleasure in them. Their mother has given me many children and so shall they give you.”
The MaKennah’s eyes flashed although he looked as if he would laugh rather than anger. “Great Chief,” he said carefully and slowly pronouncing our words. “I thank you for this gift of your two beautiful daughters. However, I must decline. I have no need of concubine nor wife at this time. I ask you let them be free to select husbands of their own choosing who they might live happily with.”
“They would live happily with you!” the Chief insisted.
“I ask you let them choose for themselves,” Sehron repeated in a commanding voice. “And I am not to be that choice.”
The Chief stared for a moment at this boy who would order him as if he were already king. Then he bowed his head and retreated from our presence.
The next morning we departed Shrotru and journeyed back toward our own village. Pori and Karim were very animated. They rode at the front and were laughing and pushing each other on their horses.
“Thanks for refusing the Chief's daughters, MaKennah,” Pori turned around and nudged Karim. There was a mockery in his voice. “Too bad you are still too young. We enjoyed them very much.”
Sehron did not respond. His mind was elsewhere this morning. Padim and Limon were on either side of him, but he was oblivious to their chatter.
“I would like to ride in a speeder,” Padim said.
“Me too,” Limon agreed. “That would be so cool. I would like a gun and a speeder.”
“I bet you could go really fast. It would be so cool to fly above the ground and look down on everybody.”
“I bet you can’t even see anybody down here when you are way up there.”
“I bet we could be in Shrotru in five minutes instead of five days.”
“Aye.”
“Aye.”
“Aye?” Pedah asked, laughing. “I don’t recall you boys ever spending any time in Old Mishnah. Are you going to start speaking Street Mishnese too now?”
“Aye,” Limon giggled.
“Hey Pedah,” Padim called. “How come we don't have speeders in Karupatani? How come only the Mishaks get speeders?”
“We don't need them here,” Pedah replied. “We have fast, strong horses. Mishaks don't have such beautiful horses.”
“How come Prince Sorkan gets to have a speeder then?”
Sehron turned abruptly on Limon.
“Because he lives in Mishnah,” Pedah replied noting the MaKennah's rapt attention with a wink at me. “He cannot cross the ocean on a horse, and he has not the patience to take a boat.”
“Prince Sorkan is your father isn't he, MaKennah?” Padim asked.
“Aye,” Sehron replied.
“How come he hasn't come to visit you here?” Limon said.
Sehron shrugged and then urged his crazy horse forward to get away from the boys and their questions.
“Why hasn't he come?” Pedah pondered aloud with a wry smile on his face.
“I don't kn
ow brother,” I replied. “Perhaps, it is because he is always too drunk.”
“You think so? Has he ever met his son?”
I shook my head.
“Fortunately, his son has us,” my brother declared.
“We are better than our brother anyway,” I agreed.
“We are indeed,” my brother nodded. “And we are almost never drunk.”
The next two days were uneventful. The boys were tired from their journey and anxious to return home to share their stories with their families. The weather was good to us, and it even warmed enough so that the snow and ice had melted. During the course of our journey, the boys obtained a certain camaraderie and surprisingly, little Padim became the de facto leader of the bear claw clan if only because he ordered everyone to serve the MaKennah. If they were lucky, the MaKennah would reward them by answering some of their incessant questions that ranged from what sort of food was eaten in Mishnah to why running water was necessary in Mishnese homes.
Only Pori and Karim remained estranged from the bear claw clan. Pori was envious of his younger brother's new status while still professing a strong dislike of the MaKennah. There was an undercurrent of anger in him in all things now.
It was our last afternoon on our journey, and we were camped near a pool and waterfall just above our village. Beside us was a meadow that Pedah determined would work well for practicing warrior skills. When the boys had made the encampment and settled in, Pedah rounded them up again and bid them bring spears into the meadow. First the boys must find suitable wood for the shafts and then attach their own spear points which they had all made before from ores or metals. While the boys were searching for wooden shafts, Pedah created a series of targets at various places around the meadow.
When the boys returned, there was a competition to strike the most targets and Pedah, and I watched with amusement. Some spears went wildly off target, others were very nearly accurate. The boys had great fun though and I complimented Pedah on his cleverness for thinking of this exercise. Sehron sat down next to us as we watched the games.
“Why do you not participate?” Pedah demanded. “Are you already too perfect in this sport, as well?”
Sehron lit a Mishnese cigarette and shrugged. I watched carefully as he did this. He flicked his fingers, and a flame appeared from nowhere.
“How do you do that?” I asked. “Where do you get that from?”
He shrugged again. If he knew, he wouldn’t say. Maybe he didn’t know how he did all these things.
“I know,” he replied though I never voiced the question. “But you will not understand if I try to explain.”
“You use Quantum Physics or something, and you think we are nothing but uneducated savages who will not understand these concepts?” Pedah mocked. “But you, a not quite fourteen year old does.” Pedah had a doctorate in Mathematics from his time at the University.
“Something like that,” the MaKennah replied and took a long drag on a cigarette.
“You did not answer me. Why do you not participate?” Pedah continued.
“I don't have a stick?”
“I'll get you one,” I offered.
“I can't see?”
“That's not an acceptable excuse from you,” Pedah replied. There was irritation in his voice. “Get up and hit those targets, now.”
Padim raced over and offered the MaKennah his spear.
Sehron sighed heavily.
“'tis a bad idea, Chester,” he said in Street Mishnese.
“Why?” I asked. “Chester?”
“Just do it,” Pedah demanded.
Sehron pulled himself to his feet, tossing his still burning cigarette into the air where it disappeared.
He approached the first target and took up a position 50 feet away. Then, he threw the spear, and it struck and held exactly center of the target. The boys cheered and clapped. Pori smirked and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Sehron went to the second target at a distance of 100 feet. He struck that one dead center too. “Shall I continue?” he called to Pedah. “Chester?”
“Yes,” Pedah demanded. “Chester.”
The next target was 200 feet and that he hit dead on, as well. The boys went crazy except for Pori whose face had turned bright red.
Sehron waited.
“Keep going,” Pedah called and then whispered to me. “I'm sure glad he's on our side. A few more years and Prince Akan won't be able to sleep at night.”
Sehron lined up to take a shot at the next target which was 300 feet. He was about to launch the spear when another spear came flying through the air straight at him.
“MaKennah!” Padim screamed, and Sehron turned just in time for the spear to pass him and hit the boy who was standing off to his side, Karim.
“Ay yah!” Pori screamed. “Karim!”
Karim was shrieking wildly and pulling at the spear which was lodged in his shoulder just left of his heart. His tunic had stained bright red and blood was running down his hands as he fell to his knees.
Pori was at his side even faster than Pedah and I.
“I'm sorry, I'm so sorry,” he cried and pulled at the spear which was tightly wedged in Karim’s chest.
“Stop it,” Pedah ordered. “Calm down, everyone. Karim, let me see.” But Pori was frantic and pulled until the shaft broke off in his hand. There was only about 3 inches of wood remaining while the spearhead was lodged deep inside Karim.
Pori wailed and held out the broken stick for all to see.
“Shut the fuck up,” Sehron said and knocked Pori aside. He moved in beside Pedah. “Don't pull it!” Pedah has already tried, and the remaining wood has come away in his hand. Karim now wailed and thrashed beneath him.
“We need to get back to the village right now,” Pedah ordered trying to stay calm although I could see the fear in his eyes.
“Pedah,” Sehron said steadily, his silver eyes shining in Pedah's face. “We cannot move him. If the spearhead slips, it will sever an artery, and he will bleed out. Go to the camp and find a needle and thread. Also some clean cloth. Yes? Can you do this?”
Pedah looked stunned but slowly he rose.
“Pori,” Sehron said in this strange calm voice. “Go with Pedah and get two buckets of boiling water. Can you be quick about it?”
Pori looked at Pedah and then nodded. The two of them ran back to our encampment.
“Padim,” Sehron continued. “Take some boys and see if you can find some Echinacea and some Bayberry root bark. Do you know what they look like? Bring them back and using a heavy stone, crush them into a powder. After that we will add some hot water from Pori’s bucket and make a paste. You understand, yes?”
“Yes, yes,” Padim cried emphatically and grabbing two more boys, they ran off into the forest.
Sehron held a blade in his left hand and placed his right palm upon Karim’s forehead.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
Karim whimpered and shook, the color drained from his face.
“Karim,” the MaKennah said. “You're going to go to sleep now. You'll feel better when you wake up.”
Karim nodded, and his eyes closed, his head dropping to the side just as Pori returned with two buckets of sloshing water.
“What's wrong with him?” he cried. “Is he dead?”
“No, he's sleeping,” Sehron snapped. “You bleeding idiot.” He dipped his knife and his hands in one bucket.
“The water's boiling,” I said as the MaKennah pulled his bright red hands back out. He took the blade and made four cuts emanating from the hole the spearhead has entered.
“I'm going to pull the skin back,” he instructed. “Tuman, sterilize your blade as I just did, and we will use both to hold the skin away from the muscle.” I did as he said, and we all watched in amazement as he folded the skin away. Then he gently moved the thick muscle about, finding the path of the spearhead and easing the bit of metal out of the tissue. Blood spurted from the hole.
“He's still bleeding!�
�� Pori screamed.
Sehron stuck his finger back in the hole.
“What are you doing?” I said.
“Cauterizing it.” There was a wisp of smoke and smell of burnt flesh. “Helps to have fire in your fingers,” he smiled slightly. He pulled the torn pieces of muscle against each other and sewed them back together with the needle and thread that Pedah had brought. He made tiny neat little stitches as if he had done this a thousand times before.
“Not in this time,” he remarked, diligently tying off the stitches.
“What does that mean?” I asked. Sehron folded the cut skin back on itself and then proceeded to stitch that up, as well.
“Professor Pedah, you know of time waves and portals, do you not?” Sehron said as he worked.
“I do,” Pedah was pale and acted stunned as if he were in shock. He focused his eyes on Sehron's stitching.
“So if I went through a portal to another time where I was quite adept at surgery and returned to this time and remembered my skill from the future time, have I done it yet or not?” Sehron wiped at the wound with sterilized water from the second bucket.
Padim has brought Echinacea and Bayberry root. Sehron added the boiling water and made a paste and then applied it to the wound.
“Bayberry is an astringent and will slow the bleeding. Echinacea is an antibiotic which will act as an antiseptic for us,” Sehron instructed us. “They will keep away infection, and the wound will heal well.”
Then he took some of the clean cloth that Pedah had brought and covered the wound. Using a larger piece, he wrapped a bandage around Karim's entire chest and left arm. Satisfied with his work, the MaKennah stepped back and rinsed his hands in the bucket.
“Have I done it yet or not?” he smiled at Pedah.
Pedah shook his head. “I don't know.”
Sehron shrugged. “I don't know either but then, I'm not quite fourteen.”
Pedah and I and two more boys crafted a sling for Karim and carried him back to camp where he slept the rest of the day. The other boys swam in the frigid waters of the mountain pool and then came to warm themselves by the fire.
Sehron was sitting in front of the fire when Pori joined him, sitting down by his side.
“You have a scar in the same place,” he said. “I saw it when you were swimming.”
