“They were in front of the blacksmith shop, near the stables.” Fato had remarked.
“That was around the time that I was in the stables, and you…” Basha said, indicating Gnat as he nodded. “That explains it. They must have been watching out for us, Gnat. Janus was following you, and Nisa was following me, and they both collided when Nisa may have thought that Janus was a threat to me.” Basha said.
“That does not explain it. That’s absurd.” Gnat said, shaking her head. “Janus would not have been following me. He doesn’t do menial things like that. He was probably too busy with important matters to deal with me, and why would Janus want to follow me?” Gnat asked, turning to Basha. “There is no reason why he would. Not like your Nisa does.” She muttered.
“Why does…” Basha groaned. His Nisa. Gnat was getting on his nerves a little bit. Why had he bothered asking her to come along with them? He did not really think that, Gnat was a good friend to have, and he did want her to come after all. But it was just the thought of Gnat poking holes at his shell and theories, exposing what he might feel underneath about Nisa, or about any of the girls in his life for that matter, that upset him. The idea that he had been followed around by both the Old Man and Nisa all of his life unnerved him, and it was indeed a violation of his trust and privacy for this to have happened when he was unaware of it, but it comforted him as well--in an odd, perverse way--to have these people with him.
What if Nisa had been following him when he ran off into the woods as a child, upset and angry to find out he had been adopted by Geda and Habala? What if she had saved him when these giant rats started chasing him through the woods, and she killed the rats? She had been with him all of this time, he just had not realized it. She had said she wasn’t his mother when he was young, but she had been watching over him all of this time--even more than a mother would. Would she be there to protect him, no matter what? Possibly not, but still, she would be there, no matter what, even in his darkest hour. He would never be truly alone.
He thought that somehow, she was probably the closest thing he had to a true companion, someone who knew him intimately from all of the time she had spent watching him. She probably knew all of the secrets he couldn’t share with others, and even understood him better than he could.
Even though she, and the Old Man, couldn’t possibly read his mind, they might know his actions and reactions from afar, and what he meant by them, how he might react in a certain situaton, and what he would say next. It was something a normal person would never know or fully understand about a person sitting next to them, even if that person was their best friend, sibling, cousin, or whatever, but he believed it was possible for the Old Man and Nisa to understand him in such a way from the time and attention they had devoted to watching out for him. Could they tell him fully why they had watched him, and what they had known about him, someday? He hoped so, very much.
“Well, I don’t know what else Janus could have been doing, spying on me?” Basha asked, overlooking Gnat’s remark. “He is a spy, after all, he has to be doing some spying at least!” He said. “It’s part of his job description!”
“That may explain it,” Oaka said, nodding. “You do look suspicious, Basha.” He winked at his brother. “Probably didn’t want you spoiling what was going on at Coe Aela.” Basha groaned and rolled his eyes as Oaka continued, “Okay, Fato,” turning to look up into the tree with a smile. “Much as I love to see you squirm with confessing deep, dark secrets that you have been keeping from us, you still have one more thing to confess, don’t you?” Oaka asked.
“The Black Wolves were chasing you and Basha!” Fato cried. “Not me!”
“What? In the forest?” Basha asked, stunned.
“In the forest, on the way to Coe Baba with Major Lupo’s message, I came across some Black Wolves sleeping when they were awakened by an alert of some kind, and then they went off to start chasing you and Oaka, Basha.” Fato said, nodding. “That’s how it happened. One of the Black Wolves did snap at me when he spotted me, but it wasn’t his intent to chase me. He didn’t know that I was a royal messenger bird, that I had messages of any kind. I followed after the pack to see what happened, and then I went after you and Oaka to see if you two were okay. I was curious to find out why the pack had been chasing you two, and then I heard that you had both lost Sir Nickleby, and here I am today!” Fato cried, lifting his wings. “Still following after you two!” He exclaimed.
“That does explain a lot.” Oaka muttered, a little disappointed now that the falcon was still following after them. He perked up slightly. “Fato, now that you know that we--or Basha and Monika especially--are potential Knights of Arria--” He started to say.
“Potential Knights of Arria?” Basha asked.
“It’s safer and easier this way, saves us from correcting or speculating about ourselves.” Oaka said to Basha before he continued, “--and that we might be expecting many more Servants and Followers of Doomba to be coming after us in the days ahead--” He smiled at Fato.
“No, there’s no way I’ll be dissuaded into leaving! I’m staying with you three--sorry, four--” Fato said, indicating Gnat, “Until we reach the end of this quest, whenever and wherever that may be.” He muttered. “Whenever, wherever.”
“Okay, I suppose I should be staying with you three people and falcon as well,” Oaka said, smiling at everybody now. “Even though I feel like leaving with Fato still around. Can’t let the bird upstage me.” He remarked as cheerily as he could when Fato tried to peck at him.
Oaka also could not stop worrying about those Followers and Servants of Doomba following after them as well, a persistent agony in his opinion when the Servants and Followers would not go away or stop bothering them if they were Knights. He was still not fully able or willing to trust Monika and Fato when it came to protecting Basha from the Followers and Servants of Doomba, even though they were his friends and allies, and Gnat certainly couldn’t do the job as well. They were too trusting in his opinion, and too brave, taking risks and encouraging Basha to do the same. Basha had to be more careful in the future, especially the closer they got to the Wastelands, about trusting people they didn’t know. Not everybody would be their friends and allies if they were Knights.
“And I’ll be staying with this quest as well,” Monika said, nodding to Basha as she patted the hilt of the Blue Sword attached to her belt. “If you need me.” She remarked.
“Of course we need you!” Fato cried, and Basha couldn’t help agreeing with him as well.
Basha realized now that everyone was pledging their support to his quest, for no particular reason other than the suggestion that they might desert it, especially when Gnat said, “I’m staying, too, or coming along, whatever the case may be, Basha.” Gnat stood up and remarked, “I’ve got nowhere else to go at this point.”
“Okay, okay, we have to keep moving,” Basha said, stunned enough by their reactions that he didn’t really know what else to say. “Much as I appreciate…thank you very much, everyone,” He added, picking up his pack and his wallet, putting the wallet inside of the pack.
“You’re welcome. What else are we supposed to do at this point?” Oaka asked with a shrug. Monika lightly punched him in the arm as Fato laughed.
“There’s no way we’re going back now, I agree,” Basha said, “Not with the force of Goga and his men probably chasing after us.”
“We could…” Gnat said, and then hesitated, not certain if she should say it.
“What, Gnat?” Basha asked, turning around to face her.
“I don’t know how exactly, and I probably would not be able to help you then, but could it be possible that the two Swords, and Oaka’s fire power, could be used to fight back against Goga and his men?” Gnat asked.
“Oh, I agree with you there,” Oaka said, nodding. “I might be able to manage something massive and forceful against Goga and his men with a little more practice.”
The others glanced around at each other, hesitan
t to say anything as well, but finally Basha managed to say, “I’m sorry, Gnat, Oaka, we’re not ready to face such a fight, yet. I know that we might be able to combine our Swords and powers together and use our abilities to fight like the original Knights of Arria did, but we don’t know anything, or hardly anything, about our powers and about the Swords of Arria.”
“He’s right there, Gnat.” Oaka said, nodding again, though he sighed to himself. He wished that they could do something against Goga.
“We need more time, or more training, or more knowledge, but we’re not going to get that now, not with Goga and his men chasing after us, and who knows when they might catch up with us?” Basha asked. “We might even be surprised or ambushed by them before we know it! Maybe if we were better prepared, we could stand up against him and all of his men by ourselves, maybe, but it’s just not possible right now. Right now, we’ve got to keep going.”
“That’s all right. I understand.” Gnat sighed as well. “Part of me hoped that we wouldn’t have to run.” She said.
“I know, Gnat. It’s either forward now, or nowhere, and I’m done with nowhere. Nowhere is where we have been before.” Basha muttered the last.
“I hear that.” Monika said to herself.
“Where are we going next?” Gnat asked him, as the others started to pick up their packs.
“To Coe Kiki.” Basha said, nodding. “That has always been our intent, based on Sir Nickleby’s original plan. We have to stop there. It’s important now, especially when Fato has to deliver Janus’s message to King Sonnagh.” He said. “I imagine it’s the safest place in the world at this point.”
“We’re not stopping anywhere else along the way?” Gnat asked, concerned.
“Well...” Basha sighed as the others paused to glance at them. “It’s true that we only have as much food and supplies as we came to Coe Aela with,” Basha said, “What we have in our packs right now. And you don’t have a pack, Gnat, so you have to rely on us for your food and supplies. And that’s not enough to keep us going, not all the way through the Popo Hills.” Basha said, tilting his head back.
“What about foraging and hunting?” Monika asked.
“We could try foraging and hunting the rest of the way after we run out of food, but that’s the bare minimum. Foraging may be difficult when the hills are not like the forest after all, we don’t know what we may find out there, and hunting…we have a limited supply of arrows. Fato can capture small prey, but that’s really only enough to sustain him. I don’t know if we can sustain ourselves through the Popo Hills.”
“I could probably manage it.” Monika muttered.
“So could I.” Fato volunteered.
“For all of us?” Basha asked, staring at Monika and Fato. “I’m not sure Gnat, Oaka, and I are capable of getting through such a rough scenario to support ourselves even,” Basha said, “No offense to either you, Gnat, or Oaka, and it would put a strain on both of you, Monika and Fato, to help support us, with a dwindling supply of arrows and our reserve food on hand. We might very well starve, or lose all of our strength and energy, trying to run and feed ourselves at the same time. Goga would surely catch us then.”
“Well, when he puts it that way, it is a grim situation indeed.” Fato remarked. “I’ve seen the way Oaka eats. He will starve us all.”
“Sir Nickleby had planned that we would ask for more food and supplies in Coe Aela, to make it through the wilderness, but that failed miserably.” Basha said as reached back for his wallet and pulled out the map. “Now, perhaps we should consider...” He checked the name. “Coe Wina.” He read to himself.
“Coe Wina? Where is it, and what is it?” Oaka asked, coming back towards Basha with Fato, Gnat, and Monika following after him.
Basha showed them its location on the map. “Coe Wina is there, west and south, on the other side of the boundary between Mila Forest and Popo Hills. It appears to be close to the ocean, perhaps as close as Coe Anji was. And it’s not a town, it’s a castle,” Basha said, staring at the facade that had been drawn on the map. “A castle, a fortress, on a hill.” He said.
“We have to go there?” Monika asked, staring down at the ground.
“I hate castles.” Oaka muttered.
“The nearest town is Coe Jawa, and that’s further away from Coe Wina, possibly by about two or three days,” Basha said, studying the map. “Riding, not walking, walking might be further than three days.” Basha said, correcting himself. “I don’t think we can go further than Coe Wina without starving to death.”
“The hill is a motte, I believe,” Gnat said, looking over their shoulders. “Unless it is a real hill.” She said as they turned towards her.
“What do you know of Coe Wina?” Basha asked Gnat, staring at her.
Gnat shrugged. “I know that the lord of the castle is one Duke of Coe Wina, Lord Lagotaq, and that there is a deadly feud between him and Lord Fobata.” She grinned.
“Deadly feud? That sounds promising. He might help us!” Fato said.
“Lord Lagotaq, he’s not a Follower of Doomba, is he?” Basha asked, desperate.
“I don’t know for sure. I imagine that not every lord is a Follower of Doomba, Basha,” Gnat said, studying the map. “But I believe that Lagotaq’s not. I’m pretty sure that’s why he hates Lord Fobata, because he does not trust Followers. I’ve heard that Lord Lagotaq is pretty strict about the boundary lines between the districts,” She said, tracing the line across the page. “Lord Lagotaq insists that Lord Fobata sticks to his land and boundary, and he will stick to his own. If Lord Fobata or any of his men crossed the boundary line without Lagotaq’s permission, armed like they would attack Coe Wina, and without any good reason why, Lord Lagotaq would hang them, I bet.”
“So Coe Wina is safe?” Basha asked.
“For now, it’s the safest place in the world, Basha,” Gnat said, nodding. “Safer even than Coe Kiki, for how close it is. We might find shelter there, I bet, and maybe they can provide us with some food and clothing if they like us well enough. I’ve heard it’s well protected, near impregnable, even more so than Coe Aela is. It’s at least better than going across open terrain.” She said, nodding towards the south, “Where Goga and his men could catch us.”
“Coe Wina it is then,” Basha said, folding up the map and stuffing it back into his wallet, which he then put into his pack that swung onto his back
As they all set off together, Fato smirked and started laughing. “What is it?” Basha asked the bird.
“Potential Knights of Arria. Oh, gods, to think that Sir Pacaben might be one of you bunch, if holding a Sword of Arria in his hand qualifies him…now that is disturbing.” Fato said, sobering up. “He hasn’t got the potential, he’s worse than you lot. He hasn’t got the humility or the decency or the courage or the fortitude. He’s skilled in other ways, but he’s definitely not a knight of the realm. More like a knight of the harem.” Fato laughed again.
The trees were thinning as Mila Forest faded behind them. In the distance they could see the slopes of mountains, the start of the Popo Hills, and some of its peaks as well, although others were mired in frost and cloud. It had to be two days ahead of them at least to reach the base of those mountains.
Basha felt like he was coming upon the edge of his world. He had never known much of a life that was not surrounded by forest. He felt somehow safer underneath those branches that had shaded him from the brightness of the sun and the cruelty of night, safer than he was now. Even though dangers had lurked there as well in the forest, dangers he had not known about, or were not fully aware of, at least he could have guessed at these dangers, at least he could have known that they were concealed and would not come out of hiding unless provoked. He could have stayed inside his hovel, his burrow known as Coe Baba, and not come out as well, and he would have been safe, or at least as safe as he could have been when Servants of Doomba were after him.
Now he was going to a part of the world that rose and fell, land that change
d elevation, never remaining completely steady or level even though it was preserved in its undulation. He did not know what to expect out there, especially when he did not know where he was going next, where his foot might lead him, down or up. He would be exposed on the heights, even in the valleys, because there would be no branches to hide his face or form; he would die out there if he was noticed.
Basha looked up at the mountains before them. “Fato!” He cried.
The falcon flew back to him. “What is it, Basha?”
“We’re heading towards that mountain range, aren’t we?” Basha asked, pointing in the distance.
Fato glanced towards the direction he pointed. “Yes, I believe so, why?”
Basha inhaled. “I believe you should scout ahead,” He said, nodding to himself, “And see if there is a pass in that direction that we can walk upon. Over or through to the other side.”
“I will do that!” Fato said, flying off immediately on the errand.
“Basha,” Oaka said, coming back towards him as Monika and Gnat stopped to listen. “Shouldn’t we go around the mountains somehow?” Oaka asked.
“That is the easiest route,” Basha said, “But it is also the most obvious one. If Goga comes after us, if he suspects we might be going to Coe Wina, he will also search for a way around the mountains to find us. We must go up and over,” Basha said. “It may not be easy, but perhaps it is faster than trying to find a way around the mountains.”
“It looks cold up there, Basha,” Oaka said, staring up at the mountain heights. “I don’t think we can stand the cold right now.”
“Just the peaks,” Basha said, “The lower slopes, some of them, at least, appear not to be covered in snow,” He said. “If we can find a pass that cuts across the lower slopes, goes around them from one side to the next, then perhaps we might find the best route to avoid Goga.”
“There are a lot of ‘ifs’ in your statements, Basha, no certainty,” Oaka pointed out, “And if you are not certain, then we might die up there.” Oaka said.
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