K'rar had been with Hleb's family for four months now. All of them had grown to love him so much, each one having a unique reason to be fond of him. The twins loved him because he not only played with them, but also made for them tools to play with from wood, including a wooden vehicle with four wheels on which the kids would sit and roll down the side of a hill or a knoll. Many other kids in Namsang came to know him for this. Rubin was just happy to have him in his compound because he improved the mood by just being around. He had even improved old Hleb so that the man became livelier. Phylla had not only found in him someone in her own age bracket, but also a lad who improved her life. Once, he had found her grinding millet against a threshing stone and criticized it as tiresome and timewasting. He had then made a more mechanized device with which she could have a larger output, by using her hands to rotate blades to cut nuts into pieces. As for Chio, he didn't realize that he was almost a follower. K'rar had improved Chio's relations with his crush, by giving him tips that he, as the older of the two, should be giving.
That's why Chio wanted to know how K'rar knew about these things when the two boys, followed by Ziha and two others, were in the market at Iscalan Township, after their schooling session. Today, Chio had on the agenda another visit to Jen, his romantic interest. He was at the market to get her something that her rich family would not normally purchase, something unique to her. This had been K'rar's idea. And, it had worked so far. Not because Jen had shown signs of this, but because his rival, Governor Onder's son, was noticing it, and he had tried more than once to confront Chio over it. He was glad to point this out to K'rar as he looked through a section of trinkets.
'I have to say, K'rar, since I started using your tricks, Jen no longer gives me the heebie-jeebies,' he said to him. They were alone by the small shop, while the other boys were roaming about the market to find snacks to eat, 'how can you be so good at it at your age? Did you have a relationship?'
K'rar laughed,
'How could I? Even if I did, I wouldn't be in position to give advice. It's not like a relationship I had was like a marriage between adults.'
'But still it worked. So tell me anyway.'
'Ah, there was a girl. We were close. No, she was too close that it almost seemed unnatural, as she was way older than me. I knew she concealed it, but she did have…ah…she had feelings.'
'Oh man. You know what you sound like?'
'Just go up and see her. I'll stick around here.'
'No. I am going with you this time. You've grown quite popular, and she's been dying to see you.' K'rar had indeed grown popular across all of Iscalan. Only his looks were enough for this situation. While he had explained to more than a few ears as to his origin, no one took it as truth, so no one mentioned Korazin or Moab. Instead, K'rar was known as the kid who came in from the cold, born of the sea. Some people, including some religious monks in this area's synagogue, were attributing his appearance to Ihanga.
Ziha had just appeared and yanked on his shoulder and made him turn around. Ziha was pointing to the end of a row of stalls, where none other than Tuncay, the Governor's son, was skulking with his cousin Luuk, with two guards either side of them.
'He's looking for a fight, obviously,' Ziha said.
'Who's that?' K'rar asked, 'is it your opposite number?'
'Tuncay. His name is Tuncay, and that's his cousin Luuk. Luuk obviously just came to visit. He lives in Morito, many miles away.'
The young men were causing a spectacle in the market, what with the guards following them in silver armor. The Governor's son did not customarily move around with guards, so K'rar knew that it was the cousin who had put Tuncay up to this sorry show of force. Also, Tuncay would have already picked a fight in the last months, when Chio was very busy in his tricks to buy Miss Jen's heart. This fight Ziha was expecting was also Luuk's doing.
'We gotta go,' said K'rar.
'Where? He's already seen me.'
'This will most likely turn into a fight. As the Governor's son he will do as he pleases and get away with it. You, however, have already won the girl's heart, so you don't have to prove it.'
But K'rar's admonition was too late because Tuncay was now slouching a few feet away, and K'rar knew that if this did turn into an altercation, he would have to intervene, revealing another side of him that he hadn't for all his time here.
'It's been long, my friend,' said Tuncay. They were locked at a dead end, because they couldn't jump over vendors' sacks of fruit and supplies surrounding them, 'remember my cousin, Luuk?'
Chio remembered quite well, because Luuk had once beat him to pulp near the synagogue some years back, for the same issue that had him at the market. Luuk was taller and stronger than Tuncay, so Chio had no chance against him even as an eighteen year-old fellow, older than him by many months. He had been mortified right before Jen's eyes, so he vividly recalled it.
'Why are you here, Tuncay?' Chio asked.
'Hey, I'm just visiting the market. Am I not allowed? I want to buy a silk shawl for someone.'
A silk shawl was the last thing Chio had bought in the market for Jen. He had obviously seen it. He could visit Jen as many times as he wished, because her father would not waste such a glorious opportunity for her daughter to acquaint herself with the governor's son. Chio, on the other hand, dwelt on Jen's own sneak tactics to see her. She had to create an excuse to leave the house and meet him. She was not a student of the scribes anymore, so her little trysts with Chio had reduced. There was no doubt that the girl preferred Chio every day of the week, and Chio knew this, but he couldn't hold in the rage inside him whenever he saw Tuncay.
'Go on then,' Chio said, 'buy that person an emerald if you like, and watch her tuck it away in her junk box.' Chio knew that Tuncay's status was what built his false confidence, but that also that he knew that Jen had no interest in him.
'How dare you speak to me like that? I can have you punished.'
'My apologies, then. I'd like to go now.' Chio started walking toward them, but he knew that Luuk would try something, and he sure did, by standing in his way to block it.
'Leave Jen alone,' Luuk breathed down Chio's neck, 'we know you've been paying her secret visits. We've spoken to her father, and he's not happy with it. So if you know what's best for…'
'Bullshit.' Chio said. Ziha walked in to prevent what was coming next, but he became a victim himself. K'rar had stayed put, watching closely. The bullies had ignored him, not recognizing him as Chio's companion. Three months ago they would have seen him, when the market was still viewing K'rar as an attraction and asking him lots of questions.
'Ask politely, man,' Luuk was saying to Chio, and Ziha had been hurled away from the scene to the back by one of the guards. Luuk was holding Chio by the scruff of the neck, and he pushed at him. K'rar growled at himself with gritted teeth. He would intervene.
'Who do you think you are, the two of you?' he said.
The vendor in the shop behind him shook his head too when he said this. He was alright, the whole market was, with two adolescent youths taking it out, and was especially neutral when it was Tuncay the governor's son. He was untouchable. But no one was okay with a kid getting beat up for trying to be a hero. Not that he was so much smaller than the bullies, but he was smaller nonetheless. Luuk and Tuncay were laughing disdainfully, and so were their guards, at K'rar.
'What, are you his guard, kid?'
'You cannot seriously think beating him up will make the girl like you better. You think she's an animal, that you can just inherit her because you've beat your rival?'
This remark made those close by laugh, even hysterically.
'What the fuck? Do you not know who I am?' Tuncay played his status card. It shut up the laughers, and it moved Chio to tug at K'rar's hand to discourage him from antagonizing the governor's son. K'rar snatched his hand away, and issued a stern warning.
'If you don't step aside now, I'll make sure Jen knows you're actually a weakling.' Some women were shouting whispers to K'rar to desist from doing this. Tuncay drew closer, and craned to stick his face in front of K'rar's.
'What will you do?' he had barely added a word when K'rar smacked him across the face, sending him sprawling to his left. A crowd immediately began to converge, and Luuk and his guards immediately moved to counter, but Tuncay yelled,
'Leave him! I can teach a kid a lesson by myself.'
K'rar said to Chio softly, 'Run,' and then addressed Tuncay, who was about to issue another threat, 'I'm glad to hear that.' Tuncay was just a couple of feet taller than K'rar, who had fought taller adults. The bully was respectful of himself enough that he kept his weapon in its sheath.
'You're going to regret this, kid!' Tuncay yelled, and lunged forward to throw a punch. He missed, but K'rar did not miss his foot. With a simple evasive move, he moved into positon to kick Tuncay's feet from underneath him, and the bully fell face first. Now the crowd, made of other kids in the market and the vendors closest to the flash point, was getting excited. K'rar didn't allow him to recover from the fall, so he kept him down by either kicking his back or his hands when he tried to help himself up.
'Stay down, or I'll draw blood!' K'rar was yelling at him. Luuk, who couldn't stand it anymore, made a move, which K'rar had anticipated very early. For this bully he took Tuncay's sword from him, and pointed it at Luuk.
'I don't care if you two are the governor's narcissistic sons, man. Stay back, if you know what's good for you.'
'My lord,' the guards asked permission from Tuncay, who was submissively on the ground, for permission to intervene. Luuk yelled at them,
'Take him away!'
K'rar bent down on Tuncay and twisted an arm around his back, causing him to yell in agony.
'Tell them to leave,' he yelled at Tuncay, 'tell them!' Tuncay obliged, and the guards and Luuk retreated several paces away, giving K'rar the needed space to bolt. Chio and his friends were a safe distance away, and when they saw him, they, too, exited the place.
The whole market was dumbstruck. Not only had K'rar committed a serious offence, but he had done so against the governor's son. There was a constant murmur in the market, and Tuncay was so mortified he had to force his way through the back door of a shop to avoid using the same way he came.
K'rar did not run back to Namsang immediately. He knew that the bully would not tell anyone how he was beat up by a boy nearly 5 years his junior. And K'rar had made friends with more than a few older men and women in Iscalan whom he would meet while Chio went to meet Jen. K'rar did not like his younger friends knowing that he would spend time in the company of adults a lot. And K'rar had chosen against joining the school sessions at the synagogue, choosing to spend time in schooling himself by reading books in his interests, including the history of Xaxanika and its prominent men and women, books about the conflicts of old, and about Xaxanika's culture. One of his older friends was Old Sahar, the apothecary who owned the inn where he had nursed his injuries months prior. He also had an inn here in the township, which was his main establishment, but K'rar had to go around the buildings and sneak from the back to avoid being seen by the crowd of the market although it was some paces away from Sahar's infirmary. The old man was always mixing up potions or cutting up leaves whenever K'rar came into his lobby. The sickrooms were in the back of the building with attendants taking care of the sick until Sahar himself was needed. From Sahar, K'rar would obtain knowledge about plants and animals. Old Sahar was more than glad to teach him about medicinal plants, and rant on and on about the anatomy of some important insects and animals. K'rar would listen to these lectures and watch the demonstrations, but he was more interested in the old apothecary's books. The apothecary was also a man passionate about traveling all over the Xaxanikan promontory to collect samples of experiments. K'rar would write down all the information he liked. He had written down the most potent of poisons and venoms learned from these visits, and today, when the old man spoke of a plant called claviceps, he noticed K'rar quickly scribbling it down next to a group with deadly nightshade, oleander and ricin.
'Son, why are you writing these down?'
'I'm just learning. It's good to know what plants can kill you, as it is for animals. Now, did you not say you're going to travel to the north soon?'
'Yeah. I will be going there next month.'
'I want to come with.'
The old man stopped hat he was doing.
'Nobody likes roaming about. Why would you…'
'Relax, old man. What I actually don't like is sitting around the same place doing nothing. I really want to come with.'
'Well, you can't just pack up the bags and leave home. You're still just a boy.'
'Is that a yes?'
'If you can endure cold weather, I don't see why you can't come.'
'Awesome!' K'rar was genuinely excited about this, 'see you later old man!' and he raced out of the building, leaving the old man shaking his head and smiling. Old Sahar had grown fond of the young man. He was the only person who even gave a damn about his lectures and his plants and his brews.
K'rar also had another friend of his, a man in the employ of the prefect of Iscalan. Prefects ranked under the governor, and ran his errands around their provinces. Most prefects were also the Gendarium Chiefs, heads of law enforcement, in their provinces. Gendarmes were the equivalent of constables in Korazin. K'rar wanted to visit his friend Magritte, who was the Iscalan prefect's deputy. Two months ago, K'rar had helped greatly in catching a group of black bears that had been terrorizing the denizens of upper Iscalan, and in doing so he had been confronted, and almost imprisoned, by Magritte, but by then he had already found the bear's nest by himself, and filled it with fresh leaves of racusp, a plant he knew would sedate the bears and put them in a temporary hibernation. Magritte had trusted the kid to complete the mission by setting the leaves on fire to create smoke, a task which Magritte's own men executed while K'rar was locked up. It had worked, and K'rar had gained instant popularity among the gendarmes of the post, and released. K'rar had asked them not to report that he had done it, so it remained a Gendarium secret, with just the Prefect Daghan being appraised of it. Since then, K'rar and Magritte had become buddies. The gendarmes at the outpost also knew that K'rar was a gifted swordsman. He hadn't resisted the opportunity to turn the men into reminders of his old senior officers, with whom he used to spend lots of time learning. Each one of Ashdud, Mongoose, Pliny, Ossus and Kanga had taught him something that K'rar remembered. K'rar never forgot those men. He sometimes felt so downcast that he betrayed them, and left them in the hands of Garrera to play with them as toys. But he was now living a simple life in a faraway land unknown to anyone in Moab, so he figured it was just as well, since Garrera had wanted to lock him up on an island for the rest of his life.
K'rar visited the station, which sat between the settlements and the town near the hill that led to the wharf of the township in its valley, where the Bovidian Sea ate into the land and made a small bay. It is where old Hleb worked. The station was one of the highest buildings in this little town, with the structure of a mini-fort. A domed gate, a high perimeter wall and an outlook of a very old building. The men at the gate knew him, and rather than ask him questions, just let him into the compound with a wave of their hands. This time, though, Magritte was away on an errand, and it was his boss who was present instead. He found Daghan, a jolly good fellow, enjoying his lunch with some of his men on the first landing up the first steps, and once he was seen, Daghan said,
'Look who's here! The kid who came in from the cold! We were just talking about you.'
'I am a subject of discussion?' K'rar said.
'Come on, kid. Join us. Magritte is absent, but we also want to know what you did to the governor's son.'
'The governor's son?' K'rar said.
'Don't worry,' said an officer, 'he's a pain in the neck. And he hasn't reported a thing. Of course he hasn't.'
K'rar dropped the act.
'I lost my cool. He fought with my brother from Namsang.' Someone gave him an entire roasted fish and guacamole, and K'rar sat down to munch with them. Daghan said,
'What did you want to tell Deputy Magritte?'
'Ah, he had some interesting records about The Thousand Nights that I wanted to complete,' said K'rar.
'Oh, I can give it to you.'
'That'd be great.'
'Why, though? Why didn't you get one at the synagogue library?'
'They have a diluted version.'
K'rar was not allowed to take the record out of the station, so he had to read as much as he could here. He sat in Daghan's office while doing this, and Daghan began talking about the pending arrival of the king.
'Hey, tell you what? Why don't you come with me and Magritte to the governor's residence?'
K'rar looked up from the book.
'I just beat up his son.'
'Oh he won't tell his father, and even if he does, in a week he will have forgotten.'
'What's at the governor's?'
'Why, King Sargios will be here. Royal visit. Did you not know?'
K'rar did know.
'That's next week?'
'That's right. He will be having a dinner with the governor and other selected guests, including the chief of the Gendarium and his deputy. You can join us. I'm sure someone might want to know about you.'
'Of course,' K'rar did not hesitate, 'but, you were invited, not me.'
'Psst,' hissed Daghan, 'you, son, are a unique kid. They'll want to see the black-haired boy who floated on a raft to the land.' Daghan, and Magritte, knew about K'rar's true origin, the only ones outside of his foster family. K'rar had told them in confidence, but he wasn't worried about them revealing it to someone, because most people would consider the story nothing more than a good imaginative composition. Of course, K'rar had left out the information which only he knew.
That day K'rar completed his Thousand Nights Tale. It was a detailed record by a legendary scribe about the origin of the Federation of the Ten Tribes of Xaxanika. The official records were entirely different and simply spoke of a noble man who had a vision to stop the constant squabbling and conflicts between the ten tribes, who had faced some stiff opposition and then achieved it. The book was like, and was regarded, as just a fairy tale version of the Thousand Nights. When K'rar had first seen it, he had immediately picked interest in the Nephilim, who according to the scribe were the cause of the revolution that created the Federation, then called the Union. The Nephilim had come and gone some five centuries ago. They were a race of giants, standing between eleven and fourteen feet, that had appeared from the cold tundra of the extreme Forkish north, said to have come from the Frozen Sea. Within a few years they had established a dynasty over the ten tribes by brute force and by secret schemes. Their appearance had been preceded by hundreds of reports of missing people and entire herds of domestic animals, all of them from Fimron. Then, just when men had decided to begin finding out what the hell was going on by searching the Red Mountain, hell had broken loose. They were a minority, but their number of just under 600,000 was enough to terrorize Xaxanika, thanks to their enormous size, and bend the humans to their will.
They had begun with Fimron, and forced them into hostile territory in Allon. The Allonites had of course immediately opened fire on Fimron, not buying their giants story, and many from Fimron had returned north and bent their knees to the Nephilim leader, Asthenes I. This trend had continued, and by the time Asthenes I came to Allon-var, thousands of men had given in and sided with him out of spite for Allonites, and these helped him take the rest of the territory of Xaxanika. But a warrior had arisen among men's ranks nearly 400 years ago, called Khalve the Liberator, from Syene. In the official record, he was the unification hero, but there was nothing about the Nephilim. He proclaimed the ideal of a united kingdom of Xaxanika, and denounced the hostilities between the tribes, as the root cause of the loss of their land to the Nephilim. It made sense to the multitudes of different tribesmen and women who had fled southward to flee from the unbreakable yoke of the Nephilim and their "collaborators", the humans who sided with them. Khalve's small group of warriors had then turned into a full-blown rebellion that lasted a thousand days and nights. Khalve had died with the revolution at Darkon in the north of Hannes, before he could cross into Allon-var, the Nephilim stronghold, and the revolution had stalled for several months in an impasse. But a root had grown from him in General Phinehas of Andria who regrouped the shattered militias by telling them that if they lay down their arms, Khalve the Liberator would have died in vain. The rebellion grew into a united front of all the tribes, and the Nephilim had been crushed and pushed back to the remotest parts of the north, with just about 200 of them, minus Asthenes I, who had been killed at Allon-var. Phinehas of Andria had then been made king by the leaders of the ten tribes, and had become Phinehas I of the United Kingdom of Xaxanika, another title for the Federation.
K'rar could not tell why he didn't regard this as a fictitious version of the Unification, but it was so. Something told him that this version could actually be the genuine version of things, but he couldn't tell what.