KeYnNamM 

The Man-with-No-Name,

the King of No-One’s-Land

By: Ruwen Rouhs
(© 2022 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

RRouhs@tickiestories.us

Chapter 22
Sorrow and Happiness

Not till the first stars were already shimmering in the sky did Tirizi and her girls come through the gate. They were all wrapped in long bluish cloaks, had their hair covered with lace scarves, and the sound of their heavy silver necklaces rang out with each step. Tirizi, leading the group, stopped in the middle of the courtyard, "Guests! Today is a sad day. We have laid to rest a rosebud, Tadla, my youngest daughter. She was not even fourteen! She has withered and will never blossom! To you, my friends, and to you, strangers," she looked over at KeYnNamM, "I invite you to commemorate our rosebud with a small feast." With that, she opened the inn and invited everyone to enter.

If Tanan had thought that his mother would immediately recognize him and embrace him, he was wrong. First, Tirizi and the girls made themselves at home with the other guests. In honor of Tadla's death they loaded tables with food and drink to treat each guest like a king.

When Tirizi noticed the stranger and his two young companions sitting at a table in the semi-darkness of the very corner, she approached them, "Stranger, surely you and your splendid sons have heard of the misfortune that has befallen our rosebud. Be welcome, your death must not keep us from living." she was silent for a moment, then bowed her head briefly, "My name is Tirizi, "Bright as the moon," and what is your name sir, a gentleman you must be, though you disguise yourself as a peasant!" KeYnNamM looked up at her, "I have no name and so the people call me "KeYnNamM", he who is without a name, but the two have a name. This is Ikken, the son of King Gaya the ancestor of all the sons of the desert." Then he asked Tanan to rise with a gesture. "You should know him, Tirizi!" as she hesitated and looked at Tanan in wonder, "He is called Tanan. Do you remember? Tanan? Do you remember a Tanan? It is your son Tanan. He has been waiting for you to embrace him for more than 13 years!" When Tirizi looked at Tanan from head to toe with wide eyes, he added, "Don't you recognize your son? Your Tanan!

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Suddenly, a stream of tears poured from Tirizi's eyes. She spread her arms and fell around Tanan's neck. She was really small, smaller than Tanan, and there the big boy stood, holding his mother in his arms, not knowing what to do next, laugh with joy, cry with emotion. Tanan decided for the former. He beamed all over his face, lifted his mother up, twirled her in a circle and when he felt dizzy, sat down still holding his mother in his arms.

Tirizi quickly caught herself. Kissed Tanan on the forehead, then went to KeYnNamM, "Did you ask him to come, to finally visit me?” She bowed her head in shame, “I hadn't taken care of him for so long. I was afraid he would never want to see me again. But it was not that alone. I was afraid that he would reject me because of the way I run a house, because I have this past."

"Tanan is a great boy, ask Ikken my son, it only took them one day to become good friends. Ask the people in your village at the Draa, they all think highly of Tanan."

She took Ikken's hand. "Are you friends?" she didn't wait for his answer, "You are friends! You complement each other like sun and moon, like summer and winter, I can see that. I thank you."

Now Tirizi climbed on a table, clapping her hands to make herself understood "Guests! Today is a sad day. We have buried a rosebud. It has withered and will never bloom!" she repeated her words from earlier, "But today is also a joyful day, the most joyful of my life. Here!" pointing to Tanan and inviting him, "Stand on the table, next to your mother." Tirizi beamed as only a mother could, "Here, this is Tanan my son, whom I have missed for so long!" She looked up at him, "Here, you see the most beautiful and best son a mother could have! He was looking for me and found me. It wasn't me who was looking for him, it was him! He loves me, he really loves me!" She beamed once again to the crowd, "Celebrate friends, be my guests today! Celebrate with me! Celebrate, for such a day does not return so often!"

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The celebration was over, Tanan and Ikken had retired and were already asleep when KeYnNamM asked the critical question, "Tirizi, why did you give Tanan away as a toddler? You loved him, didn't you!"

 "Back then!" she sighed, "Back then, I couldn't help it. If I hadn't hidden him with my parents, he would have been killed. His death sentence was already set and henchmen were waiting at the door!"

"Who could be so cruel as to want to murder a child?.... Who?" he inquired when she remained silent.

"Who, who has the power in this city? Who has the power to kill people unpunished? Who killed rosebud? Whoever connects the word murder in connection to Tadla death puts himself in danger! I am silent!" Then after a moment of thought, "It is better you take Tanan back to the Draa. Do I know if the verdict from that time still stands?"

As KeYnNamM walked into the room where Ikken and Tanan slept pressed close together, he knew the governor must die, the sooner the better!

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At dawn of the next morning, a persistent banging at the gate of the Thirsty Camel Inn scare off everyone from sleep Tirizi, as well as her girls, her servant, and the guests. Before the servant was even at the gate, Tirizi was already peering out through a secret peephole. She was worried. In her dream she had seen Tanan in the governor's house. Her son was standing in front of him, holding something flashing in his right hand. She believed in premonitions. What was Tanan doing in the governor's house?

Through the peephole, she saw two policemen and was startled. Were they coming to pick up Tanan? Had word of his arrival already spread to the governor? But then she calmed down. The two of them were not members of the governor's harassment squad, but were city policemen according to their uniform. In their midst stood a young man. He had never visited her hostel, but she recognized him. It was the young prosecutor of the city, the prosecutor Anir. She had heard only good things about him. If he was at the gate she concluded, it was probably about the murder of Tadla, the rosebud, and not about her son.

The servant opened the gate. Tirizi went into the courtyard, welcomed the early guests and asked them into the guest room. While the policemen were lining up at the entrance to the guest parlor, the accuser came in with her. Since the spacious room was still untidy from yesterday’s celebration, she asked him into her own little sitting room.

"To what do I owe the honor, Mr. Prosecutor? So early? We took leave of rosebud last night. So young and already torn from life! She was my dearest daughter!"

"Yes, the policemen knew her. They swore that Tadla was really as young and beautiful as you say, well-bred, shy and reliable. They say she only worked here to support her old parents in the Border-Land!" Tirizi's heart was lifted. It was not about Tanan, but really about Rosebud.  As she heaved a sigh of relief, Anir continued, "I can't imagine such a well-bred girl putting herself in danger that ends in her death without need. I need to know the antecedents so that I can conduct the investigation with a chance of success.

KeYnNamM had been listening to the conversation from the next room. He entered the living room, bowed slightly to the early guest and sat down opposite him next to Tirizi as if he were family. This astonished Anir, since the well-informed policemen had assured him that the hostel mother lived alone. Interested, he began to study KeYnNamM's face.

He was struck by the man's alert eyes. They scrutinized his face as intently and tensely as he scrutinized that of his counterpart. Do I know him, the prosecutor thought?  Have I dealt with this man before?  When Tirizi called his name "KeYnNamM" he instantly remembered. The not so strange stranger was KeYnNamM, the Amestan, the king of the No-One’s-Land! However, the one sitting across from him was not the one the governor wanted assassinated! No, not at all! He looked as if he had risen from the fountain of youth. His was face smooth, beardless and clean, hair neatly cut, just frizzy from sleep. However, his posture was exactly as it had been in front of the mock jury. Only now did Anir notice that his counterpart had also recognized him. He was sure, he could detect no fear in his eyes, only alertness.

Anir had been so lost in thought that he had not followed the course of the conversation. "What did you just say Tirizi? Tadla just want to go to the souk and buy beads for a necklace? There are many merchants there selling glass beads. Do you know which one she went to?"

"Yes. When she was not back by nightfall, I sent the servant to the souk. Tadla bought beads from one stall and thread from another. Both merchants then saw her leave the souk and head for home. We searched all the way back and asked the residents if they had seen Tadla. They had been seen by those in the first houses, but not by those in the houses between here and the steeply rising path that leads to the plateau behind the governor's mansion."  "Have you searched the path to the plateau?"

Before Tirizi could answer, the door to the living room opened again. Two boys stood in the doorway one behind. The one in front, a sturdy adolescent with dark curls, smiled at him unabashedly with his coal-black eyes; the one behind, taller and with almost blond hair, fixed his gray-blue eyes on him critically. Anir estimated them to be fourteen or fifteen.

Were they brothers? At first glance, he would not think they were siblings. Therefore, he was surprised when KeYnNamM introduced them with "My sons!" without mentioning their names. The two sat down at the table, the dark-haired one next to Tirizi, the light-haired one next to the Amestan. This fits better, thought the prosecutor, because the dark-haired one resembled the hostel mother and the light-haired one resembled the Amestan. The sight of the two, was the bright spot for him in the early morning, despite the sad task ahead of him.

Anir was proud that he had developed the ability to quickly assess the character of people, and in the four sitting opposite him, he found no falseness. Consequently, he was about to ask the Amestan, "Are they both really your sons or not just the blond one?" when the door from the inn to the living room flew open and one of the policemen burst in. "The governor has sent a messenger. It's urgent! Prosecutor! He ask you to come to the court immediately. An important case is waiting there. The death of the young hooker is of no interest to him!"

Tirizi protested vehemently, "Tadla was not a pleasure girl, she was a dancer, one who delighted everyone with her performances." Then she turned to Anir. "Prosecutor, the bestial murder of this innocent girl must be avenged! There is nothing that is more important. Because if one of the flowers of the land is slaughtered without being avenged, then no flower in our land will be safe!" She took a deep breath, "Prosecutor, Prosecutor Anir! Find the murderer! Too many roses have been beheaded in this city without their killer was apprehended!"

KeYnNamM also stared angrily at the prosecutor and then groaned, "Say Prosecutor, ask the representative of the Emperor, ask him! Is he covering up for the murderer, or did the girls themselves slaughter them and throw them over the city wall to the wild animals? His fondness for innocent girls and little boys is known all over the city. The rumors of violated girls and slaughtered boys should not have escaped your notice by now!"

"What are you insinuating, Amestan! What are you insinuating about the governor? Why did you come to Tinghir in the first place? You know I could have you arrested right now, because you are still wanted. As for the governor, you lack evidence! Without evidence, no one can be accused and convicted!"

"With these words you yourself admit that you harbor similar suspicions!" When Anir remained silent, the Amestan continued, "You need not answer. I know you will do your best. You will convict the murderer of Tadla! You will find the murderer of all the girls and boys who were found violated and dead at the foot of the city wall. Have you considered why the bodies have always  been thrown over the city wall in a place that can be reached unseen from the governor's mansion."

Tirizi added, "In case you don't know Prosecutor, Tadla's body was not the first one found there. Ask your policemen, ask the Town Captain! Already ten or twelve disgraced blossoms of our country have been found there."

When the policeman stuck his head through the crack of the door for the second time, Anir, the Prosecutor, took his leave, saying, "We'll meet again!" He then turned to the two boys, making a worried face, "Be careful, you both have your lives ahead of you!"

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All day, rumors about Tadla's murder were buzzing around Tinghir. Everyone wondered, "Why was she murdered?" Bigoted churchwomen asked, "Was it her lifestyle? She was a dancing girl! Why did she excite the men?" Well-meaning people or those who knew Tadla well asked, "Was it her beauty? Was it her kindness? Her accommodating nature? Her naiveté?" Others again, "Was she a random victim?" But all, malevolent, well-meaning, complete strangers, agreed that a beast must have committed the murder, a beast in human form and not an evil spirit. Those who could remember, and there were quite a few, asked, "Is there a serial killer on the loose in town?"

KeYnNamM tried to learn as much as he could about the murders. First, he turned to Tirizi. The innkeeper called her house servant and all of her longtime daughters into the living room, one after the other. They reported what they could remember about Tadla and all the other murders and Tirizi tried to complete the picture. Soon the Amestan was able to form a fairly accurate picture of the various murders. The majority of the unsolved murders clearly showed similarities to the murder of Tadla.

Their injuries, the time at which the body was discovered, the place where the body was found at the foot of the city wall, which could not be identical to the place of the murder, all spoke for a serial murder. The Tadla must have been murdered in the city, probably in a building, then taken to the city wall and thrown down.

A number of bodies had been found near where Tadla's body was found in the last ten years. At least ten, maybe twelve, Tirizi disagreed with the others on the nmber. Only the City Captain and the Governor would know exact number, because they kept records.

But not only that spoke for a serial killer. All the murdered were very, very young girls or boys. All of the murdered were not children of citizens of the town, but had been born outside and had lived only briefly in Tinghir. Most of them were from either the Border-Lands or the No-One's-Land, as was evident at first glance from their light hair.

Beyond that, what else spoke of a serial killer? All of them had been bestially martyred and mutilated in similar ways before their deaths. At first, neither Tirizi nor the others wanted to talk about the mutilations, but then it burst out of them. "As with Tadla, the murderer had cut off his victims' breasts and slit their bellies from the vagina to the navel, so that the intestines oozed out. All of them he had cut their throats." As Tirizi reported this sobbing, tears ran down her cheeks and she moaned, "I pray to God that the sadist has cut their throats first and afterwards mutilated the poor."

"And the little boys?" wanted to know KeYnNamM. Full of disgust, the old servant groaned, "The boys? None of you were over ten, surely not! Innocent children!" he shook his head in disgust, "The monster had cut off their penises and testicles! Always the monster had rammed a pointed wooden stake into their anus," KeYnNamM looked at a shaken man, "and often their ears and nose were missing, too."

When KeYnNamM inquired who lived close to the city wall where the victims were thrown over the wall, Tirizi explained the location. "The place where the murdered people were thrown over the wall is opposite the well house. The town proper begins just below the well house, above there is just the town house situated. The town house serves also as the governor's official residence and the courthouse. There the path to the hill behind the town begins, which leads past three houses to the governor's mansion and on up."

"And did the police search those houses, including the governor's?" "There were never any traces in the three houses that could have come from the murders." "And the townhouse with the courthouse, its cells or the governor's mansion. Were those searched?"  "There was never any talk of those. I guess the police weren't allowed to!"

Now one of the girls who had been sitting there so silently spoke up, "I don't want to tell the world anything untrue, but the governor has strange preferences. Some of my sisters have already come back from a night with the governor and shown me their scratches and injuries. Instead of having their fun with him, they were tied up, choked, beaten. Those who had been invited to him once did not accept a second invitation. The governor is a sadist!"

In the course of the meeting, KeYnNamM learned from the two girls pretty much what it was like in the governor's mansion. Only the governor's old servants lived in the lower floor. The older one, Lalla, his former nurse, was almost deaf but sharp-eyed. Her younger sister, Kella, was half blind, but had hearing like a mouse. Both were sharp-tongued and mean. They bit out every other servant that Gouverneur tried to hire. They were fully devoted to him and protected him like hens protect their chicks. In return, the governor did not let anything come to them.

In the upper floor with the exit to the garden, lay to the front to the path. Beside some offices there was a representative hall, in which the governor held court and received guests. In the back half of the house, facing the mountain wall, there seemed to be only the governor's huge bedroom. This room was always cool and got its light through small hatches high up in the wall facing the garden. It was better equipped than even the emperor's bedroom, the girls reported.

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With this information in his mind, KeYnNamM thought about how he could approach the governor in order to render him harmless clandestinely. He could not enter through the front door, since the police patrolled in front of the house at irregular intervals or break in through a window in the ground floor, as this would surely be noticed by the two sisters, especially if he climbed the stairs to the upper floor. The only way left was through the garden. First, he would have to enter the garden unnoticed. Of course, he could not enter through the garden gate, but would have to climb over the wall from the back or the side. For this he would definitely need the help of Ikken, who knew the city like the back of his hand. Then he would have to enter the house from the garden, through the entrance, and make his way through the representative hall to the door of the governor's bedroom. Everything had to be done silently. And then what?

KeYnNamM's original plan had been to confront the governor in public, to accuse him of the violations and murders, to corner him so that he would have no choice but to admit his guilt. KeYnNamM knew that this was a beautiful dream. No, he had to kidnap the governor the governor or if that was not possible, kill or better execute him.

To KeYnNamM, to kidnap the governor and then put him on trial hardly seemed possible. He was therefore faced with the question, could he, KeYnNamM, justify the killing, the murder of Governor Gwasila before the public and above all could he reconcile it with his conscience?

For a long time KeYnNamM consulted his conscience. Then he came to a decision. He would not kidnap the governor, he would kill him. For to him the killing was not murder, it was an execution. Yes! Definitely yes! It was execution for the many, many crimes the governor had been guilty of over the years. KeYnNamM sums up: Governor Gwasila had forfeited his life because of the shameful murders of the innocent girls and boys; because of the execution of Ikken's and Aylal's father and many others whom he had murdered because they stood in the way of his plans; for the fights on the ladder to heaven, in which he set two men against each other just to satisfy the bloodlust of the townspeople; for the exploitation of the convicts in the crystal mine and, above all, for the raids, rapes and murders that his servants committed in the No-One's Land in his and the Emperor's name.

KeYnNamM was sure he had to kill the Governor quickly and unseen. He had to leave the exposure of the governor's crimes, including the murder of Tadla, to others, such as the Prosecutor. Yes, Anir the Prosecutor had to bring the nefarious man's bestialities to light and make them known to the public.

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To be continued...

Posted 09/30/2022