by J. Naomi Ay
Our father decided that the MaKennah would be marked on his fourteenth birthday.
“You will be recognized officially as the Crown Prince of Karupatani when this happens,” I said. “Chiefs from all over our country are coming to watch. It is a great honor for you.”
“Is it?”
Rekah was sitting on the MaKennah’s shoulders and pulling at his hair, giggling wildly as he did so.
“Go Senya, go!” Rekah cried. “Fast!”
I did not know how Rekah came to call him Senya. Rekah was also wearing three long black eagle feathers in his hair. I had never seen feathers like these before. They were long flight feathers with a white and grey eye design on their tips. They were beautiful feathers and would be worth much in trading. My son was rich already.
“It will hurt some,” I continued, referring back to the marking ceremony. “But it will be permanent.”
“Great.” Sehron bounced Rekah up and down. “Not to worry. We're just going to cut off your arm so you'll remember who's really in charge here.”
“We're not going to cut it off,” I said. “We're just going to cut a…well a symbol into it.”
“Ay yah. That's all I need, more piercings, cuttings, bleedings, burnings and tattoos. Rekah?”
“Ya, Senya?”
“You just treat me like a normal person, alright, yes?”
“Senya is my horsie!”
“Ah, that's right. I'm Rekah's horsie. That's why I'm getting branded. Silly me. The last bunch of blokes thought I was a dog and chipped me. The next bunch will think I'm a rat and put me in a cage and only give me scraps to eat.” His eyes flashed brightly, and he swayed on his feet.
“Whoa,” I said and grabbed my son off the MaKennah’s shoulders before they both toppled. Sehron hunched down on the floor and put his hands over his eyes.
“What is it?” I asked.
All color drained from his face. He mumbled something in what sounded like Mishnese and then fell over on the floor and began to whimper.
“Sehron, what is it? What do you see?” I put Rekah down and knelt by Sehron's side.
Rekah knelt too and pounded Sehron’s arm. “Senya! Senya! Wake up!” Rekah called and then burst into tears.
“Hush, Rekah,” I snapped.
“Tuman, help me,” Sehron gasped.
“How? What can I do?”
“Tuman?” His voice changed. He was back in the present.
“What did you see?”
He sat up unsteadily for a moment and rubbed his temples. “I'm sorry, Tuman. Please, just know I'm really sorry. Please come back. I want you to come back.”
“Come back where?”
“Here. Rehnor.”
“I'm going to leave Rehnor? How will I do that? Where will I go? What about my family?”
He shook his head and then clambering to his feet, he walked out the front door and disappeared.
“Interesting,” my father said. “You will leave Rehnor. And of Pedah?”
“He didn't say anything more,” I replied. I was irritated that my father accepted this with such nonchalance.
“You cannot change the future, my son,” he said. “Because Sehron sees it does not mean he chooses this path for you.”
“Yet he will do something for which he will beg my forgiveness and force me to leave my family and my home.”
My father shrugged. “You may choose to be angry with him now for this crime of the future, or you may choose to accept what God has destined for all of you. Sehron does not act in a rash manner. Perhaps in the future he will have no alternative but to act in this matter that will anger you. Perhaps in the future beyond that time, you will understand the rationale behind his actions and you will forgive him.”
I was angry already for something I knew nothing about.
We held the marking ceremony, and the symbol of the Great Black Eagle was branded on Sehron’s left upper arm from shoulder to elbow. I was still angry and had no sympathy for him even though I was certain it was very painful. The skin was red and swollen for many days.
He left my house at night and went I knew not where and did I knew not what. I didn’t care. I was angry.
“Get over it,” Pedah said.
“You would be angry too if he said he would beg your forgiveness in the future.”
“He doesn't speak of me in the future at all,” Pedah replied. “He doesn't like me as much as he likes you.”
“Maybe you're dead,” I retorted. “Maybe he kills you because you always yell at him and argue.”
“Thanks a lot,” Pedah replied and now he was angry with me. He followed me home anyway. “What are you eating for dinner?”
“You don’t like my wife’s cooking,” I reminded him.
“I don’t care,” Pedah said. “I am too tired and hungry to cook for myself today. Even your wife’s cooking sounds appetizing.”
Sehron and Rekah were sitting on the porch. Rekah was chattering away while sitting upon Sehron's lap. There was a group of young girls across the street watching them and giggling behind their hands. As we got closer we could hear Rekah's high sweet voice.
“I think that one is pretty, Senya,” Rekah said pointing at one of the girls. “What is she thinking?”
Sehron whispered something in Rekah's ear, and he howled with laughter. “Why would she want to put your pee pee in her mouth?”
“Sehron!” I snapped even as my brother chortled with laughter. Sehron turned bright red.
“Senya's telling me what all the girls are thinking,” Rekah cheerfully reported. “Those girls are silly.”
“Rekah, go in the house,” I ordered.
“No!” Rekah replied throwing his arms around Sehron's neck.
“Rekah!” I grew stern even as my brother was laughing so hard, he was buckled over at the waist, and tears were falling down his cheeks. “Do as I say.”
“No!” Rekah screamed back. “Senya is Crown Prince, and you are plain Prince, so I don't have to listen to you. Senya says I can stay.”
“No, I didn't,” Sehron replied, unwrapping Rekah's fat little arms. “Do as your papa says.”
“No,” Rekah started to whine. “Please Senya. Tell me more what the girls are thinking. What about that one there,” he pointed frantically.
“Rekah, go inside.”
Rekah melted into a toddler’s temper tantrum. I picked him up and placed him inside the door even though Garinka glared at me as I did so. She was nursing the baby and dinner was not even begun. I had to listen to her complain about how difficult her children were and how this was my fault. She wanted to go back to her mother's house in Shrotru. Right now I would be happy for her to do this but she must take the children with her. I would like the peace and quiet of my brother's house for my own.
When I returned to my porch, Sehron and my brother were arguing about a mathematical equation. I did not understand what they were saying or why it was important. They did not need me here on the porch. They would not miss me from this conversation. I thought my brother was wrong. Sehron favored him more than me.
A speeder came, a fancy one with the Duke of Segefor’s crest embossed on the side. It was our brother.
“Oh Father!” he called as he walked up the village streets in his fancy Mishnese clothes. He was drunk, and it was only morning. “Dear King Father! Where are you?”
Pedah and I and the boys were in the meadow practicing sword play. We turned to look when we heard his voice.
“Go back to your estate in Segefor,” my father said. “You're not wanted here.”
“Oh my father, how can you speak to me your eldest and beloved son in this manner?”
“Sorkan, when you are no longer drunk, I will speak to you civilly.”
“I have come to witness the marking ceremony,” Sorkan announced grandiosely and staggered a bit.
“You have missed it,” my father replied. “It was last week.�
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“It is on his fourteenth birthday.”
“That was last week on the first,” my father declared. “Go on, Sorkan, you tire me.” My father turned to go back in his house but noticed Sehron standing off to his side. Sorkan followed his gaze.
“Ah,” my brother cried. “This is him. Of course this is him. I have seen his likeness throughout Mishnah. That old toad Yokaa Kalila prints pin-ups of you by the millions. Even old ladies cream in their pants when they see you. My good looks and the Mishnah crown, the perfect combination.” My brother bowed as if expecting applause for this pronouncement.
“They used to dream of me, you know,” he continued, pulling a flask from his pocket and taking a long pull. “I used to be Crown Prince too. See, I was marked.” He pulled up his sleeve to show the horse head branded on his forearm. “Now I am nothing,” he declared with a chortle. “You're the pin up Crown Prince and I am nothing but the drunken one.”
“Sorkan!” my father snapped. “Enough of this.”
“Do you know wondrous, MaKennah,” Sorkan took a step closer to the boy and pointed a finger in his face. “Do you know what they did to me? For you? To protect you? To protect your precious throne? They bloody sterilized me! You great and wondrous future King of Rehnor cannot have any brothers who might claim your throne, so I am the one who is emasculated. That Mishak bitch had it right dying at your birth, else they would have sterilized her too.”
“Sorkan!” my father shouted again. “Go home.”
But before anyone could react, Sorkan reached out and whacked the boy on the side of his head. The boy fell to the ground. Our boys all ran to his side. They surrounded him and Pori shouted at Sorkan to back off. Karim and Terrin pulled Sehron to his feet. His cheek was bright red.
“Well,” Sorkan mumbled. “I see you've got your own army already.”
“You bet he does,” Padim declared and raised his sword. “You're not to hit him again!”
“Oh, I'm not allowed, am I?” Sorkan laughed and reached across the boys to grab Sehron's arm. He yanked Sehron from his army and dragged him across the street.
“Sorkan!” Pedah shouted. “This isn’t funny.”
The boy struggled against my brother but lost his footing and fell to his knees. Sorkan continued to drag him forward and down the street, laughing and drinking his booze as if this was some great game.
“Sorkan, what are you doing?” I yelled too.
“He's my son!” Sorkan called back. “And he's coming with me.”
“No, I'm not,” Sehron said and abruptly, Sorkan tripped and fell on his face. He tried to pull Sehron down with him but the boy twisted out of his grasp and before Sorkan could react, Sehron was sitting on his back, pulling his father's head back by the hair and holding a blade against Sorkan's throat.
“Ye gonna go 'ome now, Sorkan?” Sehron asked in Street Mishnese. “Or am I going to slice yer bloody throat?”
“You wouldn't!” Sorkan challenged.
“You don’t know me, do you, Sorkan?” Sehron replied. “Of course you don’t. You have no idea what I will or will not do.” Sehron drew his blade down from Sorkan’s ear to his Adam’s apple. A thin line turned red and started to weep.
“Sehron!” My father stood in front of them, fists planted at his waist. “Get off him and put that away!”
“No, Father.” Sorkan suddenly was weeping. “Let him do it. He started to kill me fourteen years ago. Let him finish the job now.”
“Oh shut it, Sorkan,” my father scorned and yanked the boy off of Sorkan’s back. “Get to your room,” he yelled at Sehron. “And you get out of here, Sorkan.” My father turned and walked back to his house slamming the door as he went in.
Sehron walked back to my house but didn’t go in. He disappeared around the side and was gone. The boys circled the house looking for him. Sorkan dragged himself to his feet and staggered back to his car and the driver who patiently stood waiting there for him. The black eagle with the white and grey eyes on his wingtips soared above us and then disappeared into the forest.
“Always interesting around here,” Pedah smirked, a long piece of straw lodged in his teeth.
“Ay yah,” I agreed. “Ay yah.”
Chapter 15
Berkan