When the time came, it was decided that Rani and Belle would stay with the cart while Sashar and I went back to Sarton’s shop to meet Alexia and Aeyli.
Chapter 29
Shall We Hunt Demons?
At the shop, we were greeted warmly and Sarton showed us the final products. They were sized and polished perfectly. Alexia, Aeyli, Sashar and I fastened ours to our belts and took the two for Rani and Belle, plus the originals that Aeyli and I had made. Sarton had shaped and polished our originals for a finer finish for us as well.
He said, “I would suggest one more thing. A good knife is essential. Mark, yours has no equal in this part of the world, but the ones that the girls carry are not the finest. I don’t want to make a profit by saying this, but you really should consider something better. Here, look at these.”
He showed us a set of five good quality knives, ranging from 8 to 14 inches long, that he had chosen from his stock.
I said, “Sarton, my friend, let me buy these at full price. In addition to the swords that you have made for us. You have workers to feed and I appreciate fine craftsmanship.”
I didn’t want to go through a lot of discussion about anyone wanting to give us gifts or anything like that this morning. Sarton understood my meaning exactly and didn’t try to talk me out of it, not because he wasn’t generous, but because it was clear that this was what I wanted to do.
What I wanted right now was to get on the road. Well, on the moss, anyway. We said our goodbyes and wished each other the best until we met again, and left the shop.
Outside I asked, “Well, are we ready? Is there anything else that we need to do? Can we leave right now?”
Aeyli said, “I think we’re ready. Are you eager to get going?”
I said, “I am. When the decision to do something has been made, I want to get it done. My heart is outside the gate and it calls for me to catch up.”
We laughed and said, “Well, let’s go catch up!”
Alexia said with a smile, “We should hurry!”
We did hurry. When we got to the gate, I didn’t even stop. I said to the Calot, “Come on,” and just kept walking. Rani and Belle jumped up from where they had been leaning against the cart as the big beast rushed to follow me. We passed through the gate of Tranna and into the vast wilderness of Barsoom.
It felt good. Aeyli walked on my left and Alexia walked on my right. Sashar walked beside Aeyli, and Rani and Belle walked just behind us with the cart.
We left the gate about four hours after sun up. It was still early in the morning and we had plenty of time… and then it occurred to me to wonder where we were going.
I said, “Um, so, where are we going?”
Alexia said, “Into the wilderness. There’s no need to hurry.”
I reached behind her and squeezed her butt playfully.
Aeyli said, “I don’t know. We need to walk straight ahead until we’re quite a way out from the village. I guess we don’t really have to. It’s what we have always done. The only reason that we leave the village is to go to the shrine. The location was always kept secret, so we always left in a different direction instead of heading straight for it.”
I said, “So, where should we go? Is one direction as good as another?”
Aeyli thought for a moment and then said, “We should go where we’ll find food and water. You know the spring that we went to where you wanted to build a castle in the sky? There’s a place like it with a ruins nearby it, at the edge of the village itself.”
Alexia said, “Aeyli, no! We don’t have to go there. Pick somewhere else.”
Aeyli said, “Alexia, it might be good.”
The tall girl said, “But there are demons there! Do you really want to go there?”
Aeyli said, “Do you? Tell me how you feel.”
Alexia said, “I worry about how you will feel. It has been a long time, but pain is pain. If we need to go there, I will go. I think that I’ll be OK, but, you had the greater loss.”
Aeyli said, “Mark, when I was young, when Alexia and I were children, our families traveled from Tranna to a village a few days away. We stayed there for a few weeks. Alexia and I became really good friends. It was a fun place. When we headed back to Tranna, a Great White Ape tracked us. When it caught us, 5 of the 21 people with us were killed. My parents and Alexia’s father were some of those it took before it was killed itself. I have never been back there. And Alexia has never left the village until today.”
I said, “Oh, I’m sorry. So, the demons there are the memories and pain of losing your family?”
Alexia said, “Yes.”
Aeyli said, “But, Alexia, tell me, how do you feel about going there? To Nobrus?”
Alexia said, “Aeyli, if it were just Mark and I, I would go there gladly. I feel like if I am leaving Tranna for the first time in 60 years, I should go back to Nobrus and start over. But like I said, you had a greater loss even than I did. And I hid myself away; you didn’t. So, I feel like I want to go to Nobrus and release demons… and I feel like I never want you to remember the place!”
Aeyli said, “I like the idea. That’s why I thought of it. Let’s take our weapons and our new lives and go to Nobrus and slay demons! I know that the spot on the road where the attack took place, where our parents’ blood fed the ground, will be a difficult memory, but I think that I have a plan for that in mind. Maybe we can replace that memory with another, better one. Mark, what do you think?”
I said, “If you say that you’re troubled by demons, I say point me in the direction of Nobrus and stay here while I go and kill them for you! But of course, I can’t do that. We each have to fight our demons for ourselves. But we can have help to do it. If you want to go to Nobrus, then let’s go to Nobrus. If not, let’s go somewhere else and maybe go to Nobrus at some other time.”
Rani and Belle and Sashar were all gathered around at this point. They all knew the implications of going where we discussed.
Sashar said, “Girls, I’ll go with you and be with you the whole time if that’s where you want to go.”
Aeyli said, “I want to go to Nobrus! Mark, this time, if a White Ape hunts us, it’s because he has chosen to have us end his life.”
We walked on in silence for a few minutes.
I said, “What do you know about the state of Nobrus now? Are there people there? It has been 60 years. What do you think that we’ll find?”
Aeyli smiled and said, “We’ll find a deserted ruin at the edge of a wood. It was being abandoned as we left 60 years ago. We’ll find a village with no people. The buildings will be in the same shape they were the last time I saw them. It will be a nice village full of ghosts. Of course, the vegetation will have taken over some of it and animals will have taken over what they can as well.”
Belle asked, “What about White Apes? Or Banth? Or wild Calots?”
Aeyli said, “I don’t think so. There are few of the apes left now. At least not in this part of the world. Banth are more likely in more densely wooded areas, not out here on the open plains. The same for Calots and other large beasts. We’ll see. I think that it will be good for Mark to teach all of you the ‘bokken’ as he calls it, before we get there though.”
When we were about a mile from the gates, Aeyli turned us to the right and we walked on.
Chapter 30
First Day of Training
We walked for perhaps another mile and then turned about 30 degrees off to our right again.