Web of Deceit (3 page)

“So you ran away,” surmised Brontos. “Can’t say as I blame you, although you have set out on a rough course to steer.”

“I would rather be dead than to suffer in her house,” stated Mistake defiantly.

“But you have nowhere to go,” interjected Rejji. “What will you do?”

“I have a plan,” smiled Mistake. “What will you do Rejji? You are in the same boat now. You make fun of my name but how much better is Rejji? It is just a bunch of letters thrown together without meaning. At least my name is a constant reminder that I am someone other than her daughter.”

Rejji looked shocked as her words hit him. He was as lost and abandoned as she was.

“Actually,” smiled Brontos, “The name Rejji does have meaning. It translates from the old language to ‘Son of the Moon’. Tell me Mistake, what is your plan?”

“I plan to find the Sage of the Mountain,” she proclaimed. “It is said that he knows everything.”

“I believe that is just an old myth,” stated Brontos. “I have traveled most of this land and while I hear him mentioned often, I have never talked with anyone who has ever seen or talked to him. Not even anyone who knows anyone who has. What would you ask him if he did exist?”

“Who my real family is,” declared Mistake.

Brontos pulled the wagon into a spot near the river where a ring of stones testified to prior encampments. The old merchant moved slowly from the seat of the wagon and started to unhitch the horses.

“Can you cook, Mistake?” he asked as he locked eyes with the short thief.

“Of course,” frowned Mistake. “Why didn’t you ask Rejji though? I am not a housemaid you know.”

“Because I have eaten in his village before,” laughed Brontos. “I was hoping you might have more knowledge of spices. Besides, I am trying to discern your other talents. I probably should take you back to Khadora with me.”

“What is it like?” Rejji inquired. “Khadora, I mean.”

“Just inside the back flap is a tin with provisions, Mistake,” Brontos said. “Choose something that you can add flavor to. Fakaran food is the most bland food I have ever tasted.”

The merchant led the horses to the stream and Rejji followed him. Brontos looked at Rejji and sighed.

“It is much different than here,” the merchant finally said. “It is a well developed country with law and order. Bandits don’t survive very well there. Fakara is more like a wasteland than a country. There is no government, no laws.”

“Would you really take us with you?” questioned Rejji.

Brontos hesitated a moment as his eyes sought out Mistake at the rear of the wagon. She looked up to see Brontos watching her and scowled at him. The merchant shook his head and handed the reins to Rejji.

“When they are finished drinking,” the old man instructed, “tie them to that tree and get their feed buckets from the wagon. No more than a third of a bucket for each though.”

Brontos strode back to the wagon as Mistake closed the rear flap and carried the tin towards the fire ring. She glanced quickly at the old man and started preparing a fire.

“I don’t steal from friends you know,” she scowled.

“Well,” chuckled the merchant, “I would like very much to be your friend then. Let me help you with the fire.”

Brontos gathered the deadwood he could find easily and returned to the ring where Mistake was pawing through the tin and examining the small pouches of spices.

As Rejji returned from feeding the horses, Brontos lit the fire and sat on one of the larger rocks surrounding the ring. He pulled a pipe out of a pocket and filled it from a small pouch hanging from his belt. Rejji handed him a burning stick and sat on another of the large rocks.

“You never said if you would take us with you to Khadora,” reminded Rejji.

Brontos merely nodded and looked over at Mistake who was working some spices into the dried meat with her dagger.

“I don’t know what is best for you two,” the merchant conceded. “Khadora is a much safer place to live, but there are some things about it that you will not like.”

“Like what?” prompted Rejji. “What could be so bad in a civilized country compared to staying here?”

“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.”

“Perhaps the Giaming Mountains is where I should look for the Sage of the Mountain then,” smiled Mistake.

“There is life left in you after all,” grinned Brontos. “It has been many years though and you will not find a trace of his parents. Be cautious of raising false hopes within him. If they were alive today I am sure they would have come back.”

“Understood,” agreed the girl, “but we really have nowhere to go anyway. At least it is a goal we can achieve and it will keep his thoughts off of the Jiadin.”

“Make him understand that to seek revenge is to join his ancestors,” warned Brontos. “The Jiadin have long been a ruthless tribe, but the last few years have been worse. The other tribes that used to vie with them for power now run from the Jiadin. There is much talk of evil spirits and death magic. It is not healthy to get close to such forces.”

“We will be fine, old man,” Mistake stated. “There is something about Rejji that tempers my hurt. Perhaps it is his innocence.”

“Perhaps it is your longing to shed your lifestyle for one of honor,” smiled the merchant. “I have watched you move and have no doubt that you are good at thieving, but I find it hard to believe that you wish to do so all your life. With the gold I am giving Rejji you will have a chance at a new life. Try it before you decide to discard it.”

Mistake stared at her feet for a long while, mulling the words of the merchant. He had recognized her for what she was as soon as he laid eyes on her. If he could do so, then others could too.

“I will try it,” she declared. “I will hang up my ways and deal with my past honestly now. When the sun shows itself in the morning, a new Mistake will dawn.”

“Good,” smiled Brontos. “You will want to head north from here. The land between here and the Meliban River is parched and desolate, so I will give you what food and water I can spare before you leave. Ration it. You will see the trees along the Meliban long before you reach it. Once you are into the trees, be wary. Everything in this part of the country needs water, so everyone visits the river, including bandit tribes. Follow the river upstream and it will bring you to the Giaming Mountains. It will be a long and arduous journey, but there should be enough villages along the way for you to buy food. Do not cheat the villagers, but pay them a fair price for the food. You may pass that way again and need their help.”

Mistake nodded and looked up to see Rejji returning to the campsite. Brontos followed her gaze and stood up. He walked over to the wagon and grabbed an empty pouch and proceeded to fill it with gold coins from his own pouch. He walked over to Rejji and handed it to him.