Richard Tuttle - Web of Deceit

“Khadora is clan based,” Brontos stated. “Everyone belongs to one clan or another. You two do not belong to any clan. That makes you fair game for enslavement. Any clan could claim you and you would spend the rest of your days as a slave. Here it is more dangerous, but you can choose the path of your life as you will.”

“I will not be anyone’s slave,” Mistake hissed. “I can take care of myself just fine.”

Brontos looked at the girl and nodded sadly. “How long have you been on your own, Mistake?”

“A few years,” Mistake stated smugly. “I don’t need or want anyone looking after me. I am just fine the way I am. Besides, I am on a mission to find the Sage of the Mountain. I doubt he exists in fancy Khadora.”

“No, I am sure he doesn’t,” admitted Brontos. “I truly doubt he exists anywhere at all, but the decision is yours to make. You are not mine to care for, although if I were younger I might try to salvage you from your path to destruction. Thieves have very short live spans in any culture, Mistake. Think about what you really want to do with your life.”

Mistake huffed and returned to cooking the thin slabs of meat. “Your food supplies sure don’t offer much,” she complained. “There is only stale bread to go with the meat.”

“I am at the end of my tour,” sighed Brontos. “I usually eat in the villages I stop at, but this trip there were far too few of them left. What of you Rejji? What is your decision?”

Rejji looked at both of them for a long moment before answering. “I would like to see Khadora,” he answered, “but not as a slave. Besides, Mistake will need someone to keep her out of trouble. Maybe this Sage can tell me how to avenge my village.”

Mistake scowled as the merchant stiffened and stared at Rejji. “Do not be a fool boy,” he warned. “The Jiadin are not a tribe to be toyed with. They will cut you up in little pieces and feed you to their dogs. Travel with the girl if you will, but never even think of revenge for your village. There are forces that you have no knowledge of and those forces are stronger than anything you can ever imagine.”

Silence fell over the encampment as Mistake passed out pieces of meat and small slabs of stale bread. The trio ate in silence with the exception of Brontos who occasionally nodded and smiled as he ate. When the meal was over, Brontos picked up his pipe and relit it.

“Where did you learn about spices?” he asked. “That clova was very good.”

“I didn’t,” admitted Mistake. “I just tasted each spice to see what would taste better with the meat.”

“Well you did very well in any event,” the merchant smiled. “Rejji how many of those teeth do you have for me?”

“Do you still wish to buy them?” inquired the boy. “I have no need now for the parts I was going to order.”

“I not only want them,” smiled Brontos, “but I will pay you double for them. I think I have finally made my mind up that this will be my last trip to Fakara. It is a troubled land and getting worse. As nobody else will ever have a supply of the teeth again, I suppose I can name my own price for them back in Khadora. I will pay you in gold. Hopefully that will allow you to eat and not get Mistake killed while she tries to get food.”

“I have close to four hundred of them,” grinned the village boy. “That is very kind of you Brontos. Thank you.”

“You are one of the kindest boys I have met in this troubled land,” smiled Brontos. “While others run off to join the bandits, you looked after your entire village generously. Your father would have been proud of you.”

Sadness dampened Rejji’s smile as he asked, “Did you know my father?”

“Of course,” nodded Brontos. “I have been going to your village for over thirty years now. You grandfather and I had a very good relationship. Stopping in your village was like meeting with old friends.”

“What was he like?” Rejji inquired.

Brontos scratched his head and stared into the fire. “He was a quiet man. Quiet but strong. He wasn’t accepted well when he first arrived. The other villagers considered him an outsider, but your grandfather stood by him always. Over the years, I saw the changes in the villagers towards him. He was always the first to help a neighbor or to entice the village into trying something new. Purchasing different seed types was his idea, something that you continued to do by gathering the teeth. He would have approved of your boat plan very much.”

“It sounds like you liked him,” smiled Rejji. “Why did he decide to leave? Did the villagers chase him away?”

“No, no, no,” insisted Brontos. “He became very respected in the village. Nobody would have asked him to leave. The village came to depend on him. No, he left for your mother’s sake.”

“My mother?” quizzed Rejji. “I don’t understand. Whenever I asked grandfather about it, he just said they would be back soon and then wouldn’t talk about it again. They never returned though. I don’t think they ever planned to return.”

“There you are wrong, lad,” Brontos declared. “I was there when they left. In fact, I offered my wagon to transport your mother, but your father refused. It was the only time your grandfather argued with your father. Your grandfather didn’t want his daughter to leave, and if she had to, then he wanted her to ride in the wagon, but your father said it would only slow them down when they had to cross the mountains. They left the following morning on one of my horses. I had a devil of a time returning to Khadora with only one horse.”

“What was wrong with my mother that she needed to leave?” Rejji persisted. “Was she hurt? Why didn’t they take me with them?”

“You were just learning to walk at the time,” the merchant explained. “They did not plan to be gone long and your grandfather was willing to look after you while they were gone. Your mother was pregnant, lad, and it wasn’t going well for her at all. You father tried all sorts of concoctions to ease her pain, but none of them worked. Finally, he decided to take her to his own people, who had more experience with the problems she was facing. I’m afraid I don’t know much about these things, but your father was adamant that his people could help. Nobody knows why they didn’t return. It would not have been for lack of will though. They both loved you dearly and your grandfather too. Some ill must have befallen them.”

Tears started to form in Rejji’s eyes and Mistake rose and began packing the spices into the tin. There was an awkward silence broken only by the sound of Mistake’s packing and Rejji got up and walked down to the water’s edge.

“It might have been better for him not to know,” Mistake stated coolly.

“Perhaps that is why his grandfather said nothing,” agreed Brontos. “Still, I am the only person left alive that can tell him. A man should know who and what he is, and if that means he experiences some hurt along the way, then that will only make him stronger. I know you make light of the time you have spent on your own, lass, but I am not a fool. This is a dangerous world and deceiving oneself is not the way to survive in it. He will need your help as much as you need his. Be true to each other, for you are all each other has now.”

The merchant expected some bravado out of the young thief, but she merely nodded and gazed down towards the water’s edge. After a while she came over and sat next to Brontos.

“Who were his father’s people?” she asked.

“I have no idea,” admitted the merchant. “He was unlike any other villager I have ever met, but where he went I know little of. I know he was heading east and talked about crossing the mountains, so that must mean he was from the other side of the Giaming Mountains. I have only taken a trip or two that far into Fakara.”