He said, I am proud.
But you used the wrong side. You led with the right.
She gasped and
wrenched her arm back, rubbing her deltoid.
He asked, what did you
do differently that time?
She said, I used the
chant for 8999 as I said.
He said, but 9003 is
the correct count. It is always two more than your name. That is the law of
nature and Healers.
She said, there are
too many threes in 9003.
She held up her
fingers. 9 is three threes. Three imbalanced threes. Or a trinity of _mazdas_.
He said, Ahura Mazda
is sacred. Except, it seems undeniable.
She continued, and
there is an extra 3. Four threes or imbalance and death. It is incorrect.
Her father stared at
her.
She said, so I use
8999.
Her father used the
word for “impossible” which also sounds like a curse.
She cried, I almost
got you with it!
He said, I agree. But
you didn’t get me. A friendly brush on the cheek is not going to do any damage
to an enemy who will gladly kill you. You must strike quickly and without
hesitation. You do not strike to wound or play with an enemy. If you are going
to hit, make sure you kill.
She said, I
understand. Like you tried to kill me.
He snapped, I should
have. You do not take your training seriously.
He sat down on his
mat, and patted the space next to him.
He said, now we
meditate to train the mind in stillness.
Chapter Four
Several days later,
they began the process of breaking down the yurt to make way towards the edge
of the city where 2711’s brother lived. They made the long trek across the long
edges of the sloping valley. The main road was an hour’s walk from the edge of
the forest near the base of the higher end of the valley they lived in. It
sloped westwards down towards the lowest ridges of the chain behind them. They
followed the surprisingly well-developed road for a long way with their two
camels carrying everything they owned.
The river valley
narrowed and widened over the course of several days’ travel. At times, the
mountains on either side seemed to meet a few metres apart. At other times,
they would pass into wide valleys, kilometres wide. The summer heat ranged from
bearable to stifling. Swathes of green grass and farmlands hugged the river as
it snaked between the straddle of the brown mountains. Outside of the bands of
green, everything was brown dust and rock. Behind them, as they moved mostly
downhill following the river, the mountains seemed to climb higher and higher,
like pigs climbing over each other to react their mothers’ teats. The white
caps at the tops of the highest peaks continued the analogy.
They stopped every day
well before noon, and camped for a nap under a tree or high rocks. Sometimes
they draped a part of the yurt covering over a camel and slept beneath it for
the afternoon. Then they began again after the heat of the day had settled and
they could walk. Water and game were plentiful along the way, including
supplies that could be bartered from traders headed north and east.
Where are they going,
she had asked.
They were going
towards the Silk Road from Kabul, he had taught her. The silk road was north
about a month’s walk. It crossed at a major trading post called Kashgar.
Kashgar was the last place of habitable earth and it lay at the western edge of
the largest desert in the world. The only way to cross it wss with skilled
tradesmen and their camels following the Silk Road east to the Middle Kingdom.
Farther past the Middle Kingdom was the ocean, an impassable desert itself. As
an example of scale, he had described that Kabul was almost a week’s travel
away. Kashgar was a month. From Kashgar to the Middle Kingdom, it would take at
least a year.
The river ranged from
a creek several metres across to wider sections a few metres deep. Despite the
heat, the water was always cold and clear and the camels drank it in huge
gulps.
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