Servants and Followers (The Legends of Arria, Volume 2) (47 page)

The gods and animals
were the only living beings in existence, and the gods only had to
depend upon each other for company, minus Menthar who was in exile
from their company
,
a
nd oftentimes Loqwa, who was busy with
his duties even at the start of the earth. Finally, Tau could not
stand the boredom.

“
This is our world to
mold and shape,” Tau said, turning to the other gods, “Yet it is
too quiet, too peaceful, too serene.” He paced back and forth. “We
need something to stir up this world and reshape it like us, but in
a different way. Something not as perfect as us, but something not
as crude as animals.” He frowned to himself. “Something simpler
than gods, but more complex than animals. Something that needs our
attention and devotion when we can determine their lives.” He
thrust his hand up into the air. “Something that can attend to, or
devote to us as well. Something that can drive us and make us
greater than we are!” He cried. “Something that can amuse us or
divert us--”

“
What is it?” Quela
asked, impatiently, “What are you talking about?”

“
Another being,” Tau
said, taking the Cup from his table, and diving down to earth with
it. Tau’s Cup, was the most precious thing seen on Earth yet, a
beautiful gold goblet encrusted with black jewels and diamonds
along its rim, touched by the Cloud Ruler Tau himself with his mark
still upon it. Tau landed in the desert, and looked upon
Menthar.

“
So you are Tau.”
Menthar said, staring upon his son.

“
And you are one of
my fathers.” Tau grimaced.

“
Why are you here?”
Menthar asked.

“
I want to create a
new being that is not a god and not an animal.”

“
A little bit of both
perhaps?” Menthar asked.

“
Perhaps. Menthar,
you created the first animals when you boiled the water hot enough
to stir life. And you were closest to Loqwa when he dug into the
ocean floor. You must have glimpsed some of what was revealed or
released during this digging. You know more than some of your
fellow gods.”

“
Why do you say
that?” Menthar asked.

“
Menthar, I want to
know how to create such a being as I described, and you are my best
bet. You know what it takes to give life. You even know what it
takes to take it away.”

Menthar grimaced. “I hate being
reminded of this, of being punished for what happened to Mila. What
can I say or do to end my punishment forever? What can I do to
apologize?”

“
Apologize? You
cannot
!
” Tau paused a moment. “I will speak with Mila and Popo.” Tau
said. “Perhaps enough time has passed that you can be forgiven.
Perhaps not. I will do my best if you help me.”

“
Take the sand from
the desert.” Menthar said. “It has been cooked by the sun, and by
my hatred, anger, and envy as I paced across it. You need such
coarse sand for what you are about to create. It must have drive
and passion, anger and envy, and the evil that comes from it, for
that is life.” Menthar said.

Tau scooped up the sand with his Cup,
for that was all he had, and drained the desert. He asked Menthar,
“What next?”

“
Ask your wife and
mother.” Menthar said. “Tell your mother what you have bargained
for.” Menthar said. Tau grimaced and sighed, leaving
Menthar.

Tau
went back to the Cloud Rulers,
and asked Quela what she would put in the Cup. “Water,” Quela said,
nodding. “Water is necessary to sustain life. Life cannot exist
without water.” Quela retrieved some water for him as she said,
“Water is everything and nothing, much like life. Water is
filling
. J
ust a sip and you are satisfied. Yet it leaves you empty and
you want more.” She said, turning to Tau with her bowl of water,
“Water is endless
.
I
t covers the Earth, yet it is precious as
well. Water is where life came from. Land rose from the water,
animals were borne from it, and our parents were dropped from the
sky into water. Water may lead to our demise as well, when we fight
over water and drown in it, ingesting too much.” She told him, as
he took her bowl, “Water is pure and simple, complex and
destructive
.
W
ater is
love, intelligence, and so much more.”

“
Thank you, Quela.
Water balances out the sand,” Tau remarked, pouring the water from
the bowl into the Cup until the bowl was empty. “But it’s still not
enough.” He said when there wasn’t a reaction to create a being.
“Something must tip the scale towards life.”

“
Where did you go
when you were on the earth?” Quela asked him. “Where did you get
that sand?”

“
That reminds me,”
Tau said, turning to his mother Mila. “I bargained with Menthar to
help me
.
”

“
What?” Mila cried,
aghast at her son’s audacity as Popo frowned.

“
Mother, I have to
know how to create this being,” Tau said, leaning towards her. “I
have to know for it is my destiny. Menthar has the knowledge. He
told me to ask you and father Popo for forgiveness, for an end to
his punishment. He wants to apologize.”

“
Apologize?” Mila
gasped. “He cannot, never!” She cried, shaking her head. “No, I
will not accept it, whatever he has to say.”

“
Do not upset your
mother!” Popo told Tau.

“
I might accept for
you both. Now tell me what to put in this Cup.” Tau said, pointing
at it as he waited.

Mila frowned. “Pour
your blood into the Cup and breathe.” She said. “Your blood is
divine, it has the mix of all your parents in it. Though the sand
and water will dilute the power, immortality, and divinity of your
blood, it will grant whatever being you create the ability to rise
above animals, and to stretch towards the sky. A nobility, a
creative force, an identity, an inner drive and purpose, maybe
magic
,
all of this combined is in your blood, and will be granted to
this mortal being. Your breath is the final ingredient to grant
this being life. I hope you choke.” Mila told Tau, turning away
from him. “May you regret this action forever!” She called back to
him, leaving the assembly as Popo followed after her towards
earth.

“
Thank you, mother,”
Tau whispered before he grabbed the Cup, cut himself, and poured
his blood into the Cup, mixing it with the sand and water inside
before he breathed into the Cup. He poured the mixture onto the
ground, and created the first human beings, the man Za and the
woman Wan, who landed not in the forest, the hills, or even in the
fields, but in the desert Menthar had been exiled to. Tau had
placed them there until such time as he, Mila, and Popo could talk
about ending Menthar’s punishment without getting upset, and the
humans would only be a reminder of Tau’s betrayal in Mila’s
eyes.

“
Enough of this,”
Oaka muttered, shaking his head and standing up, interrupting
Basha’s story. “I can’t stand it, I can’t stand it,” He said,
stirring and disturbing the others in danger of dropping off into a
blissful, deadly languor.

“
What’s wrong, Oaka?”
Monika asked, opening her eyes.

“
I won’t die like
this.” Oaka said, reaching around to grab his pack and slip his
hand inside. “Not now, not ever.” Oaka said, taking out his letter
from Sisila and bending down towards the ground, falling into
silence for a moment as he concentrated on the letter and its
contents.

“
What are you doing?”
Basha asked, though he thought he knew.

“
Come on, girl,
release me.” Oaka whispered, holding out the letter in his hands.
“Help me please.” Suddenly the fire in his fingertips ignited the
letter in his hands, and it flared, giving off light, warmth, and
energy that the group so desperately needed. The rest of the group
huddled close together around Oaka to warm and dry themselves by
the perpetual fire that he had created and sustained throughout the
night, as Oaka concentrated on the flames long after the letter had
burnt up, smoldering into ashes. The light emanated from the cave
halfway up the mountain, a faint beacon out into the darkness and
the sleet to anyone who looked up towards it.

In the morning, the sleet had
dissipated with sunlight warming the mountainside, and the group
emerged from the cave to begin their descent. Oaka said nothing
about what he had done, though the others thanked him gratefully
and quietly in their own ways, understanding what he had
sacrificed. To him, though, it was just a piece of paper, as the
words he had memorized a long time ago, when the words were the
only ones he had left from Sisila, and he had read the letter more
times than he could count. The letter’s words would remain with him
long after the paper was gone.

The descent on the moutainside would
take two days, but the fortress of Coe Wina would be visible to
them throughout this time, as though it was miles away still on the
other side of the valley they would have to cross to reach it, Coe
Wina rose above the valley floor upon its motte, a combination of
natural hill and man-made bulwarks making up the base of its
plateau. Though it bristled with turrets, walls, a gatehouse, and
barricades upon its slope, Coe Wina impressed the group with its
sense of safety as they knew they would not have to fear Coe Aela
and Goga anymore, once they were safe behind those walls. This
sense of safety lifted their spirits, sped their steps, and made
them laugh again coming down the mountainside, counting upon the
proximity of the fortress to save their souls.

Basha even joked, “Oaka, if we ever go
on another trip like this again, you better remember to bring along
our family fiddle for your wise fool antics.”

“
That’s some nice
talk, brother,” Oaka scoffed, “If we ever go on another trip like
this again!” He gasped. “When we’re done with this trip, I’m never
going to set foot on another road again! For as long as I live!” He
cried. Gnat giggled.

“
Say, what are these
wise fool antics?” Monika asked.

“
Well, it’s based on
those old bard songs about the Wise Fool, I’m sure you must have
heard a few of them before.” Oaka said, before he sang, “‘The wise
fool, best among men,/He walked along the road and
sang,--”

“
Til-dee-um-bum!”
Basha echoed.

“
That’s the one,
Basha!” Oaka grinned. “The Wise Fool, I always wanted to be just
like him growing up. Taking advantage of those people stronger,
faster, richer and smarter than him, those people who had the
advantage all of their lives, until they were tricked by the one
fool they had underestimated, the wise fool. He was the greatest
man for that.” Oaka sighed. “I always hated it whenever he got
duped, for the sake of ‘doing good for goodness’s sake’, but he
always had the upper hand in any case. He was my hero, the wise
fool, not the Knights of Arria.” Oaka muttered.

“
So
w
hat are the wise fool antics again?”
Monika repeated
,
annoyed
.

“
Oh, all I do is
juggle and joke about life, nothing much, actually,” Oaka said,
“But we had a lot of fun doing it. Basha mostly played the fiddle,
unless he really wanted to show off his juggling skills to Jawen.”
Oaka grinned with Basha grimacing as they remembered the fight on
the night of the Courtship ritual.

“
Oh, now that is
really nothing much for a monkey like you!” Fato exclaimed. “All
you have to do is keep the balls up in the air and mention balnor
once or twice!” Oaka nearly chased Fato down the mountainside after
that remark, but Basha and Monika just let them go, with Gnat
laughing after them.

“
Look, Basha,” Monika
said, pointing down at the valley floor near the mountainside. “A
grove of trees. By tomorrow evening, we’ll be down
there.”

Basha nodded. “Good place to camp, I
suppose, at least it’s some shelter.” He remarked.

“
Or we could cross
the valley during the night,” She suggested, “And reach the castle
by dawn.” She seemed to lean towards that idea a little.

Basha hesitated. “While that does sound
like the best way to go, I suppose we’ll be too tired to make the
trip during the night. Plus, we do not know the terrain well, and
this valley does not appear to be completely flat.”

She nodded. “Dips and rises, I see what
you mean. We might trip or fall in the dark. I suppose you are
right, that the best thing we can do tomorrow night is to stop and
rest.” She said, continuing on.

However, that evening as they stopped
to rest on the mountainside, about a quarter of a way up its
height, Gnat scanned the horizon, marveling at how high up they
were, how far they could see, when she noticed something towards
the northeast, towards the edge of the mountainside in that
direction. “Is that smoke?” She asked.

By the dimming light of sunset, the
others turned their heads towards where she pointed, and spotted a
cloud, a wisp of smoke that seemed to hint of something in that
direction. “It seems to be, although we are so high up,” Oaka
started to say, “It could be just--”

“
Fato, I think you
should go check it out.” Monika said.

“
Right you are,” The
falcon said, and departed before anyone else could speak. They sat
there for a few minutes in silence until sunlight faded and
darkness took over, watching the smoke that continued to rise in
small puffs from far away and beneath them. The cloud remained
constant in its reformation, never vanishing away completely when
new strands would appear just as the old ones started to fade. They
could even smell soot on the breeze.