Servants and Followers (The Legends of Arria, Volume 2) (44 page)

“
That does explain a
lot.” Oaka muttered, a little disappointed now that the falcon was
still following after them. He perked up slightly. “Fato, now that
you know that we--or Basha and Monika especially--are potential
Knights of Arria--” He started to say.

“
Potential Knights of
Arria?” Basha asked.

“
It’s safer and
easier this way, saves us from correcting or speculating about
ourselves.” Oaka said to Basha before he continued, “--and that we
might be expecting many more Servants and Followers of Doomba to be
coming after us in the days ahead--” He smiled at Fato.

“
No, there’s no way
I’ll be dissuaded into leaving! I’m staying with you three--sorry,
four--” Fato said, indicating Gnat, “Until we reach the end of this
quest, whenever and wherever that may be.” He muttered. “Whenever,
wherever.”

“
Okay, I suppose I
should be staying with you three people and falcon as well,” Oaka
said, smiling at everybody now. “Even though I feel like leaving
with Fato still around. Can’t let the bird upstage me.” He remarked
as cheerily as he could when Fato tried to peck at him.

Oaka also could not stop worrying about
those Followers and Servants of Doomba following after them as
well, a persistent agony in his opinion when the Servants and
Followers would not go away or stop bothering them if they were
Knights. He was still not fully able or willing to trust Monika and
Fato when it came to protecting Basha from the Followers and
Servants of Doomba, even though they were his friends and allies,
and Gnat certainly couldn’t do the job as well. They were too
trusting in his opinion, and too brave, taking risks and
encouraging Basha to do the same. Basha had to be more careful in
the future, especially the closer they got to the Wastelands, about
trusting people they didn’t know. Not everybody would be their
friends and allies if they were Knights.

“
And I’ll be staying
with this quest as well,” Monika said, nodding to Basha as she
patted the hilt of the Blue Sword attached to her belt. “If you
need me.” She remarked.

“
Of course we need
you!” Fato cried, and Basha couldn’t help agreeing with him as
well.

Basha realized now that everyone was
pledging their support to his quest, for no particular reason other
than the suggestion that they might desert it, especially when Gnat
said, “I’m staying, too, or coming along, whatever the case may be,
Basha.” Gnat stood up and remarked, “I’ve got nowhere else to go at
this point.”

“
Okay, okay, we have
to keep moving,” Basha said, stunned enough by their reactions that
he didn’t really know what else to say. “Much as I
appreciate
…
thank you very much, everyone,”
He added, picking up his pack and his wallet, putting the wallet
inside of the pack.

“
You’re welcome. What
else are we supposed to do at this point?” Oaka asked with a shrug.
Monika lightly punched him in the arm as Fato laughed.

“
There’s no way we’re
going back now, I agree,” Basha said, “Not with the force of Goga
and his men probably chasing after us.
”

“
We could…” Gnat said, and then
hesitated, not certain if she should say it.

“
What, Gnat?” Basha asked, turning
around to face her.

“
I don’t know how exactly, and I
probably would not be able to help you then, but could it be
possible that the two Swords, and Oaka’s fire power, could be used
to fight back against Goga and his men?” Gnat asked.

“
Oh, I
agree with you there,” Oaka said, nodding. “I might be able to
manage something massive and forceful
against Goga and his men with a little more
practice.”

The
others glanced around at each other
, hesitant to say anything as well, but finally Basha
managed to say, “I’m sorry, Gnat, Oaka, we’re not ready to face
such a fight, yet. I know that we might be able to combine our
Swords and powers together and use our abilities to fight like the
original Knights of Arria did, but we don’t know anything, or
hardly anything, about our powers and about the Swords of
Arria.”

“
He’s
right there, Gnat.” Oaka said, nodding again, though he sighed to
himself. He wished that they could do something against
Goga.

“
We need
more time, or more training, or more knowledge, but we’re not going
to get that now, not with Goga and his men chasing after us, and
who knows when they might catch up with us?” Basha asked. “We might
even be surprised or ambushed by them before we know it! Maybe if
we were better prepared, we could stand up against him and all of
his men by ourselves, maybe, but it’s just not possible right now.
Right now, we’ve got to keep going.”

“
That’s
all right. I understand.” Gnat sighed
as well. “Part of me hoped that we wouldn’t have to
run.” She said.

“
I know,
Gnat.
It’s either forward
now
, or
nowhere, and I’m done with nowhere. Nowhere is where we have been
before.”
Basha
muttered the last.

“
I hear that.” Monika
said to herself.

“
Where are we going
next?” Gnat asked him, as the others started to pick up their
packs.

“
To Coe Kiki.” Basha
said, nodding. “That has always been our intent, based on Sir
Nickleby’s original plan. We have to stop there. It’s important
now, especially when Fato has to deliver Janus’s message to King
Sonnagh.” He said. “I imagine it’s the safest place in the world at
this point.”

“
We’re not stopping
anywhere else along the way?” Gnat asked, concerned.

“
Well...” Basha
sighed as the others paused to glance at them. “It’s true that we
only have as much food and supplies as we came to Coe Aela with,”
Basha said, “What we have in our packs right now. And you don’t
have a pack, Gnat, so you have to rely on us for your food and
supplies. And that’s not enough to keep us going, not all the way
through the Popo Hills.” Basha said, tilting his head
back.

“
What about foraging
and hunting?” Monika asked.

“
We could try
foraging and hunting the rest of the way after we run out of food,
but that’s the bare minimum. Foraging may be difficult when the
hills are not like the forest after all, we don’t know what we may
find out there, and hunting
…
we have a limited supply of
arrows. Fato can capture small prey, but that’s really only enough
to sustain him. I don’t know if we can sustain ourselves through
the Popo Hills.”

“
I could probably
manage it.” Monika muttered.

“
So could I.” Fato
volunteered.

“
For all
of us?” Basha asked, staring at Monika and Fato. “I’m not sure
Gnat, Oaka, and I are capable of getting through such a rough
scenario to support ourselves even,
” Basha
said
,
“
No offense to either
you, Gnat, or Oaka, and it would put a strain on both of you,
Monika and Fato, to help support us, with a dwindling supply of
arrows and our reserve food on hand. We might very well starve, or
lose all of our strength and energy, trying to run and feed
ourselves at the same time. Goga would surely catch us
then.”

“
Well, when he puts it that way,
it is a grim situation indeed.” Fato remarked. “I’ve seen the way
Oaka eats. He will starve us all.”

“
Sir Nickleby had
planned that we would ask for more food and supplies in Coe Aela,
to make it through the wilderness, but that failed
miserably.
”
Basha said
as reached
back for his
wallet
and pulled out the
map. “
Now
,
perhaps we should
consider...”
He checked the
name.
“Coe Wina.” He
read to himself.

“
Coe Wina? Where is
it, and what is it?” Oaka asked, coming back towards Basha with
Fato
, Gnat,
and Monika following after him.

Basha showed them its location on the
map. “Coe Wina is there, west and south, on the other side of the
boundary between Mila Forest and Popo Hills. It appears to be close
to the ocean, perhaps as close as Coe Anji was. And it’s not a
town, it’s a castle,” Basha said, staring at the facade that had
been drawn on the map. “A castle, a fortress, on a hill.” He
said.

“
We have to go
there?” Monika asked, staring down at the ground.

“
I hate castles.”
Oaka muttered.

“
The nearest town is
Coe Jawa, and that’s further away from Coe Wina, possibly by about
two or three days,” Basha said, studying the map. “Riding, not
walking, walking might be further than three days.” Basha said,
correcting himself. “I don’t think we can go further than Coe Wina
without starving to death.”

“
The hill is a motte,
I believe,” Gnat said, looking over their shoulders. “Unless it is
a real hill.” She said as they turned towards her.

“
What do you know of
Coe Wina?” Basha asked Gnat, staring at her.

Gnat shrugged. “I know that the lord of
the castle is one Duke of Coe Wina, Lord Lagotaq, and that there is
a deadly feud between him and Lord Fobata.” She grinned.

“
Deadly feud? That
sounds promising. He might help us!” Fato said.

“
Lord
Lagotaq
,
he’s not a Follower of Doomba, is he?” Basha asked,
desperate.

“
I don’t know for
sure. I imagine that not every lord is a Follower of Doomba,
Basha,” Gnat said, studying the map. “But I believe that Lagotaq’s
not. I’m pretty sure that’s why he hates Lord Fobata, because he
does not trust Followers. I’ve heard that Lord Lagotaq is pretty
strict about the boundary lines between the districts,” She said,
tracing the line across the page. “Lord Lagotaq insists that Lord
Fobata sticks to his land and boundary, and he will stick to his
own. If Lord Fobata or any of his men crossed the boundary line
without Lagotaq’s permission, armed like they would attack Coe
Wina, and without any good reason why, Lord Lagotaq would hang
them, I bet.”

“
So Coe Wina is
safe?” Basha asked.

“
For now, it’s the
safest place in the world, Basha,” Gnat said, nodding. “Safer even
than Coe Kiki, for how close it is. We might find shelter there, I
bet, and maybe they can provide us with some food and clothing if
they like us well enough. I’ve heard it’s well protected, near
impregnable, even more so than Coe Aela is. It’s at least better
than going across open terrain.” She said, nodding towards the
south, “Where Goga and his men could catch us.”

“
Coe Wina it is
then,” Basha said, folding up the map and stuffing it back into his
wallet, which he then put into his pack that swung onto his
back

As they all set off together, Fato
smirked and started laughing. “What is it?” Basha asked the
bird.

“
Potential Knights of
Arria
. O
h, gods, to think that Sir Pacaben might be one of you bunch,
if holding a Sword of Arria in his hand qualifies
him
…
now that is disturbing.” Fato said, sobering up. “He hasn’t
got the potential, he’s worse than you lot. He hasn’t got the
humility or the decency or the courage or the
fortitude
.
H
e’s skilled in other ways, but he’s
definitely not a knight of the realm. More like a knight of the
harem.” Fato laughed again.

The trees were thinning as Mila Forest
faded behind them. In the distance they could see the slopes of
mountains, the start of the Popo Hills, and some of its peaks as
well, although others were mired in frost and cloud. It had to be
two days ahead of them at least to reach the base of those
mountains.

Basha felt like he was coming upon the
edge of his world. He had never known much of a life that was not
surrounded by forest. He felt somehow safer underneath those
branches that had shaded him from the brightness of the sun and the
cruelty of night, safer than he was now. Even though dangers had
lurked there as well in the forest, dangers he had not known about,
or were not fully aware of, at least he could have guessed at these
dangers, at least he could have known that they were concealed and
would not come out of hiding unless provoked. He could have stayed
inside his hovel, his burrow known as Coe Baba, and not come out as
well, and he would have been safe, or at least as safe as he could
have been when Servants of Doomba were after him.

Now he was going to a
part of the world that rose and fell, land that changed elevation,
never remaining completely steady or level even though it was
preserved in its undulation. He did not know what to expect out
there, especially when he did not know where he was going next,
where his foot might lead him
,
down or up. He would be exposed
on the heights, even in the valleys, because there would be no
branches to hide his face or form
;
he would die out there if he was
noticed.

Basha looked up at the mountains before
them. “Fato!” He cried.

The falcon flew back to him. “What is
it, Basha?”