Chapter 4.10
Katashi opened his eyes, staring up at the stars. There was the faintest hint of light from the East. A sand or more to sunrise. Time to get started. I wonder though. How good is this Jaala? With the blade I am unequalled but in stealth I was still near the top of my class.
Katashi noiselessly rose from his blankets and moved towards Jaala, eyes averted and mind blank.
“Very good, Katashi,” said Jaala, on his back, eyes closed. “With a little training we can make you almost my equal.”
Katashi looked at the pot-bellied once-monk and pondered his options. This man’s ability far surpasses my own. I am sure he could kill me in a matter of moments if we crossed blades. I am more than capable but there is something about this man… if he is a man. But what do I do now? What if he insists on coming with me to track the Shikoba?
“You are very confident in your abilities. You are contemplating whether you should kill me now, no doubt.” Jaala interrupted his thoughts.
“No my friend. Just the opposite. I have no doubt that you could defeat me swiftly in a contest of arms, probably even bare-handed against my blade.”
Jaala opened his eyes wide in surprise. “You mean that sincerely? This is none of your false humility Zealot drivel is it?”
“I am sincere, as is my faith, which if you insist on continuing to make light of I will have to defend in spite of it being my end.”
“Calm yourself young one. I apologize. I am just shocked that I may have found the One.”
Katashi felt this man could very well be half mad and figured directness was the best way to handle this. “I am not sure to what you refer. I am breaking camp and saying my morning prayers. Then I following the Shikoba or rather the Highlanders in hopes of finding them both. I would like to travel alone.”
“I am not leaving you now that I have found you. Besides you don’t know how many are left from each group. You are of exceptional skill but realistically it will take the both of us to survive.”
“I seek no encounter, simply information.”
“The encounter may seek you.”
Reluctantly Katashi nodded his assent and then packed up his things. Retreating to the ledge again he entered a deep state of meditative prayer. He repeated the obligatory prayer three times and then said two more, not wanting to leave until he was centered. As he exhaled the last of this world from his mind, he opened his eyes and saw it there on the ground. A half crushed portion of clove covered in dirt. Picking it up he walked back to Jaala.
“Look at this.”
“It could mean anything. Maybe they traded for it. Maybe it was there from before the ambush.”
“Maybe there is an Asherah with them.”
“Perhaps. There doesn’t have to be an Asherah at the center of every contorted situation though. We musn’t assume anything.”
Katashi then realized what should have been obvious from the first. While his features were predominantly Bishamon, Jaala definitely had the hooked nose of an Asherah. And his name, which Katashi had just assumed was as strange as the man himself, was also an Asherah name. The man was a half-breed or more likely a quarter-breed. Knowledge to keep to myself–I need every advantage possible when dealing with this one.
“That is true. Come it is light enough for us to follow the tracks. Let’s go.”
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