Book I of III: The Swords of the Sultan (26 page)

While Baltor stood in front of the mirror
admiring his new clothes, which seemed to fit over his regular
clothes for the most part, Jimnee visually scrutinized, saying
something to Salami.

Salami interpreted right away, “Jimnee said
she needs to make a few alterations still with your clothes. As for
your camel, she will use the scarain’s fur to make him a nice
covering, which will be complete by the time you leave after
breakfast.”

Baltor looked right into Jimnee’s eyes for a
moment, and said, “Gemne mao, Jimnee.”

“Baltor, mao sahu vladim, tai jaosaim,”
Jimnee replied happily.

He had no doubt she was saying, “You are
welcome, my friend!”

Before they knew it, the night grew
incredibly late, so Salami left—Yaush fell asleep in one bed, while
Baltor slept in the other. Jimnee continued to cut or sew…

At the crack of dawn, the three ate a warm,
hearty, porridge breakfast that Yaush had whipped up in the
cauldron—he smiled in between slurping down his porridge but said
not a word to anyone.

Jimnee totally exhausted from not getting any
sleep whatsoever, as well from all the cutting and sewing, now
appeared tired and haggard. She mindlessly stared at her bowl of
food the whole time, while consuming hers slowly.

Baltor, on the other hand, hadn’t slept this
great in many, many months, thanks to the soft, giant bed, and
breakfast was delicious. Because of the language barrier, all he
could do was smile back.

Once breakfast was over, perhaps three
minutes after it had begun, Yaush was the one to lead the pack on
out to the barn.

And once inside, he began to pack two large
bags full of hay for the camel to eat later. Jimnee, yawning all
the while, lay the scarain fur over and around the humps of
Valuspo’s back. A perfect fit as it turned out, a minute or so
later.

Already had Baltor made his way for the
corner of the stall, where sat his gear. He then picked up his
saber, sheathed it onto the ring on his belt, knelt down on a knee,
opened the bag, and confirmed that nothing in the bag had been
tampered with.

After making sure he wasn’t being watched by
either of his friends at that moment, which he still wasn’t, he
quickly tucked the map inside his shirt, picked up the bag, and
spun around.

By then, Yaush had just finished packing the
two bags, so he tied each bag up at the top with rope, and then
used that same rope to tie the two bags together.

Once done, five seconds later, “a look of
remembrance” unexpectedly crossed his face, and after snapping his
fingers once and pointing his index finger up into the air, he
stomped out of the stall—Baltor understood he was to wait a
minute.

Therefore he cast his eyes over at Jimnee,
noting that she had just begun petting and cooing at Valuspo. His
camel, he noted, looked and sounded quite thrilled at all this
attention from a female.

Of course, only seconds later, Baltor had
heard the giant stomp back into the stall. But as he looked over
upon Yaush’s arrival, he saw with surprise that the giant now
carried on his right shoulder an extra-large leather saddle with
very thick furry pillows sewn onto it.

Hanging on his left shoulder were a bunch of
thick leather ropes attached to a steel mouth-piece, appearing to
be a new set of bridle and reins. And in his left hand he carried
the very same longbow they had both used the day before, as well a
wood quiver filled with dozens of arrows.

Without a single word spoken throughout,
other than a chipper tune he began to whistle, Yaush first set the
bow and quiver onto the ground, and then he began the process of
strapping the saddle in between the camel’s humps and the bottom of
his belly.

Because of the weapon, Baltor wondered if the
giant had plans to go hunting wild game later that day, after of
course Baltor had left the village. Of course, he didn’t know their
language good enough to ask.

Once Yaush had secured the saddle, he next
took the bridle and reins that had been resting on his other
shoulder, and secured them around the camel’s mouth, which took a
minute or so … all the while whistling. It was then that Baltor
walked over and attached his bag to the saddle, which took but a
few seconds.

As for Yaush, he picked up the quiver of
arrows, easily stuffing it into an equally sized pocket specially
sewn into the side of the saddle. Not only did the right-side-up
quiver fit perfectly, yet Baltor doubted that a single arrow would
ever fall out, even if Valuspo and he were at a full gallop.

Yaush still wasn’t done, with his tune or his
task, as he secured the center of the longbow into a steel clamp
that was clamped into the side of the saddle, which demonstration
took only a second.

That is when he stopped whistling, looked
over at Baltor, pointed at a little latch to the side of the clamp,
made a low-to-high pitched whistling sound, and flipped the
latch.

Instantly the clamp opened, and the bow
dropped into the giant’s ready hands—only a second later, he raised
the bow back into the clamp, and without having to flip that little
lever, the clamp secured the bow with a click, and Yaush released
his grip.

Needful to say, Baltor was astounded by this
high-tech mechanism: He had no doubt that Yaush was “a genius
amongst geniuses!”

Only a second later, Yaush looked directly
over at his new friend, smiled, and bowed his head for a second.
The smile was still there when he looked up.

Baltor immediately smiled back in great
appreciation for all the absolutely wonderful and useful gifts, so
he cupped his hands together, bowed his head for a second, and then
looked back up at this friend while declaring, “Gemne mao, Yaush,
tai jaosaim!”

“Mao sahu vlaidim, Baltor, tai jaosaim!” the
giant boomed back with equal appreciation. The two briskly shook
hands. Yaush’s were definitely twice the size as Baltor’s!

Once the handshake was released, Baltor
picked up the bags of hay, threw them right behind the saddle and
right before his camel’s final hump, which balanced out the weight
of both bags so that he could have his hands completely free while
riding.

No longer in the slightest suspicion of his
trustworthy friends,

Baltor pulled out the map from inside his
shirt, held it right out in plain view, and cleared his throat
several times loudly.

Yaush glanced at it for about twenty seconds.
On the twenty-first second he pointed his finger at a spot in the
middle of the Bospa Mountains, again saying the name of his town:
“Valakan.”

Baltor also noticed that the mountain pass
from east-to-west was shortest at this town’s latitude, as was
Pavelus, due straight west—far more desert and jungle. However,
there were no dots at all anywhere around here, which indicated
that the mapmaker didn’t know about Valakan, if it even existed a
millennium ago.

“Gemne mao, Yaush,” Baltor simply stated with
a smile, before tucking the map into one of the large pockets in
the saddle, mounting his camel and grabbing the reins.

Yaush snapped his fingers yet again and
pointed his index finger up into the air—Baltor understood that he
should wait yet another minute, for some strange reason, so he
nodded affirmatively once.

Yaush ran out of the stall.

Seconds later he came back in, now carrying
two water canteens made of steel, as well a full, leather bag that
was the size of a watermelon. After shaking the canteens at the
same to show that they were empty, he set them into another of the
saddle’s pockets. He next opened the bag at the end, showed the
jerky to Baltor, sealed the bag, and put it in the same pouch.

Still holding the reins in his left hand,
Baltor extended his hand out to Yaush, saying, “Gemne mao, Yaush.
Taumaploth, Jaosaim!”

“Mao saaaaahuuuu vlaidim, Baltor.
Taumaploth!” Yaush sang happily, while shaking hands again with his
friend.

Once the handshake was released, Baltor
looked at Jimnee one final time, saying, “Jimnee. Gemne mao,
Jaosaim. Taumaploth.”

She remained silent, except for throwing a
cock of her head and a warm smile.

Baltor lightly snapped the reins, just before
riding out of the stall, the barn, and finally the town of
Valakan.

During this first morning of travel, which
was spent in a hundred percent comfort and warmth for both he and
Valuspo—thanks to the new fur clothes—he recalled all the
hospitalities and wonders of these wonderful people, and promised
that he would come back and visit, maybe even on his way back from
the tower.

At noon, they ran across a small frozen
lagoon. There, Baltor broke through the thin ice with his saber
before filling up his canteens. While drinking a half canteen down,
he led his camel to drink from the lagoon, but Valuspo refused. He
next offered some hay, but as it was also declined, he climbed
backed into the saddle, and they continued on.

That uneventful day turned into an uneventful
week, and he observed that the mountains and the valleys
continuously descended lower and lower at a rather steep
incline—sometimes too steep, in which case they had to double back
and find an alternate route. Until finally he and his camel reached
the base of the mountains, which heavily intermixed with the dense
and lush jungle that lay just beyond.

Frequently were heard the sounds of exotic
birds singing somewhere up in the luscious trees, though rare was
the time he actually saw them.

As soon as the weather had become “hot,
humid, and sticky,” he took off all of the furs and stuffed them,
and the map, into the bags that had once stored the hay, as grass
was once again plentiful—it all barely fit.

Even though he continued to sweat profusely
without the fur on, he didn’t complain. Nor did Valuspo make any
complaints any longer.

That afternoon, they came across a pack of
monkeys—some swung from tree to tree, while others played, while
still others ate bugs off each other, or bananas. He had seen
monkeys in Pavelus before, but they were almost always in cages. He
watched them in silent amusement for about five minutes before he
and his camel continued on their path.

Not even another hour had passed before they
came upon a wide river, perhaps an eighth-of-a-mile thick.
Fortunately it didn’t appear to be deep anywhere, no more than
waist height at certain places. Just to be on the safe side, Baltor
hopped to the ground, kept a firm hold of the reins, and entered
the river first—Valuspo followed.

Only seconds after having begun wading
through the river, Baltor dunked himself completely underwater for
a few seconds in order to cool himself off, before standing back to
his feet—it felt great.

About five minutes later, they safely exited
the other side of the river. Once on dry land, he quickly refilled
the water canteens, and gave an opportunity for Valuspo to drink—he
didn’t.

As his hands were completely dry, he next
pulled out the map from the bag, glancing at it for a minute.

According to the map, this jungle was even
larger than the area of the mountains, and the tower appeared to
lie somewhere in the smack center. Baltor said, “Indeed, it may
take many years to find this blasted tower, if ever.”

A second later, Valuspo turned his head back
and snorted for about five seconds.

Baltor laughed at his friend’s response,
patted him on the back, and after stuffing the map back into the
bag, he climbed into the saddle. Together they headed toward what
he guessed was the jungle’s center.

After they had stopped for the night, an hour
or so before sunset, and he had been in the process of compiling a
bunch of dead branches for the campfire, he once again became very
lucky—a tail from a giant green snake suddenly lashed down from the
trees, in order to try and ensnare its prey.

In the nick of time, Baltor instinctively
rolled out of harm’s way before the tail could get its death grip.
Only upon being back on his feet did he see that the very long tail
was already halfway up and quickly rising back into those
trees.

Because he didn’t want to take a chance at
throwing and losing his saber in the brush, he ran to retrieve his
bow-and-arrows from his camel, about ten feet away. But by the time
he had the arrow notched in his bow, the tail was already hidden
away.

He said to Valuspo, “It appears that we are
going to have to be extremely careful, my friend! Who knows what
else lies around here?”

This time, his camel didn’t make a sound.

Once he had finished setting up camp, about
twenty minutes later, he rested only eight feet away from the
campfire with the sword and the bow and quivers at his side and ate
his dried rations. Valuspo chewed on some grass nearby.

Just before sunset, he began to hear some
unusual screeching sounds, though he could not tell what was making
all the annoying noises; just in case, he had an arrow notched into
his longbow and ready to shoot.

Over the trees, they flew—hundreds—no
thousands of them, and the screeching grew irritatingly loud—small
bats. Fortunately, none flew near.

By the time that the last one had passed,
many minutes later, stars now twinkled in the darkening sky. The
nearer of the moons was in the waxing position, though the other
wasn’t in sight.

With a yawn, he once again relaxed, sat back,
and finished his dinner. Soon after, he fell asleep.

The next morning, he awoke, repacked the
gear, and they continued their journey east. By noon, Baltor
observed that the foliage was beginning to get too thick to ride
through.

Inevitably, he had to walk ahead of Valuspo
while slicing through the dense foliage with his saber, in order to
pass. By sunset, the foliage had only gotten progressively worse.
From all the hacking and slashing, he found that even his strong
arms were getting seriously fatigued.