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 And I would still be free to leave at any time, to run when the need overcame me?
Ehomba glanced over at his massive, clawed companion. They had been through much together.  I
would not ask of another that which I could never ask of myself.
The litah snorted. It was his way of saying little while saying much.
* * * *
There came a morning when Simna ibn Sind confronted the other companion of his journeys well to the
north of the last house. While admiring the supple play of cloth against the bodies of the young women
who came to draw water for the day s activities, the swordsman hesitated at first to speak his mind.
 Come, my friend, Ehomba told him.  Something is troubling you.
 Hoy, I don t want to insult you, bruther, or the hospitality of your friends, which has been all that a man
could ask for.
 And yet you are not content, Ehomba observed sagely.
 It s not that the food isn t good, or the accommodations unsuitable. The swordsman struggled to find
the right words, then finally decided to plunge ahead.  It s just that I ve spent my life trying to avoid
places like this, Etjole. He made a sweeping gesture.  Maybe this is enough to satisfy a cat, but I don t
belong here. He took a deep breath.  Also, there s the little matter of some treasure you ve kept
promising me. I knew when I first met you that you had access to some. I thought you were searching for
it yourself. Then I believed you when you told me that it could be found in Ehl-Larimar. The only reason
I m here now is because I ve kept on believing you. His tone and expression hardened.
 I ve put myself in death s way for you more times than I care to count, bruther. Now I expect some
reward.
Ehomba gestured at the sharp-edged mountains, the quiet village, the pristine air and peaceful
surroundings.  Is this not reward enough for you? Were not the adventures we had treasure enough?
The swordsman did not reply directly, but instead grinned while briskly rubbing the thumb and forefinger
of his right hand against one another. Ehomba sighed.  There is no treasure here, Simna. He squinted up
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at the cloudless, impossibly blue sky.  Would you not like to go for a walk on the beach instead?
 Listen to me, Etjole! You promised me that  The shorter man halted his nascent tirade. A wide, sly
grin spread across his weatherbeaten, sun-scoured face.  A walk on the beach? By Goulouris, long
bruther, I d be happy to take a walk on the beach. I d nearly forgotten about the beauty of the beaches
above your village.
There were children playing at the water s edge when they arrived. Ehomba s daughter was among
them, and he tried his best to explain to her the reason behind the comical antics of the funny man from
the far north who threw himself on the shore and rolled about wildly, laughing at the top of his lungs while
throwing fistfuls of pebbles up in the air and letting them land on his face and body. Eventually, the
teary-eyed swordsman rose and began to gather some of those pebbles. Laughing Naumkib children
helped him, delighting in his joy and praise when they handed him a particularly large or bright pebble.
Simna ibn Sind spent a pleasant and gratifying morning at the seashore, collecting pebbles until his
backpack was half full.
 I m not a greedy man, he told Ehomba when he was sated. He hefted his pack higher on his shoulders,
and the weight of diamonds within clinked as they shifted and settled.  This little is enough for me. I m
going to go home and buy myself a small kingdom.
Ehomba regarded his friend gravely.  Are you sure that is what you really want, Simna? To own a small
kingdom?
The swordsman hesitated, his smile fading. For a long moment he stood there, listening to the waves roll
in to rustle the beach of diamonds, to the music of children playing, the chatter of merapes on the rocks
offshore and the cries of seabirds and dragonets. Then he looked up at his tall friend and grinned anew.
 No, long bruther, I m not sure that s what I want but I am going to give it a try.
Ehomba nodded sadly.  Come into the village with me and we will arrange for the supplies you will
need. I can give you some directions, and an introduction to a certain helpful monkey you may meet.
Simna left the following morning, the herdsman escorting him as far as the fifth beach north of the village,
where the fog began.
 If you re ever in the far northeast, the swordsman told his friend,  seek out the khanate of
Mizar-lohne. That s my homeland, and I ll settle myself somewhere nearby. He grinned one more time.
 There are always kingdoms for sale thereabouts. He sighed ruefully.  Who knows? Perhaps I might
make another journey to find Damura-sese.
 You have been a good friend, Simna ibn Sind, and a boon companion. One last time, Ehomba put a
hand on his friend s shoulder.  Travel well, keep alert, and watch where you put your feet. Keep looking,
keep searching, and perhaps one day, with luck, fortune might smile upon you and you might find
Damura-sese.
The swordsman nodded, started to turn to go, and then paused. The sun was not yet high and it fell in his
eyes, making him squint.  One last thing, Etjole. One thing I must ask. He moved closer so he would not
have to squint as hard.  Are you, or are you not, a sorcerer?
Turning away, the herdsman gazed off into the distance and smiled: that same familiar, enigmatic smile
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Simna had come to know so infuriatingly and so well in the course of their long journeying together.
 I have told you and told you, Simna. I am only a student, an asker of questions, who knows barely
enough to make use of what the wise ones of the Naumkib provide me.
 By Gunkad, long bruther, answer the question! Not to be denied or put off any longer by clever
evasions, the swordsman fumed silently and stood his ground, both physical and forensic.
Ehomba looked down at him.  Simna, my friend, I swear to you by the blue of the sky and the green of
the sea that I am no more a  sorcerer than any man or woman of my village, be they herder of cattle,
hewer of wood, thresher of grain, or scraper of hides.
The swordsman met his gaze evenly and looked long and hard into the eyes of his friend. Then he
nodded.  What will you do now?
 Watch over the cattle and the sheep. Be with my wife and children. In the time I was gone, my son
reached the age when all Naumkib are initiated into the lore of adults. That is a task I must begin
tomorrow.
 Hoy, I wish I could stay, and I don t want to offend you, but I m really not interested in sitting through
some quaint ceremony where a boy learns how to castrate cattle or dock sheep or paint his face with
vegetable dyes. With a last regretful grin, he spun on his sandals and headed north, pausing once at the
top of a ridge to turn and wave. Then he vanished, welcomed and swallowed up by the sea fog that hung
perpetually over the coast north of the village, and Ehomba saw him no more.
* * * *
On the morning of the following day the herdsman took his son Daki out of the village, heading inland.
Mirhanja packed them a lunch and bade them good-bye, but not after extracting from her husband a
promise to be back well before nightfall.
The trail father and son trod was narrow and overgrown in many places with weeds and vines, so that it
was difficult to see. It wound its obscure way into the grassy hills behind the village until it terminated next
to a plain rock face at the end of a shallow canyon that looked exactly like a hundred other similar heavily [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]