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 24
Friends - Allies

"I go myself. I want to deliver the circumstances of the death of Tadla her lovely daughter to Tirizi myself. That's my task." Then Anir hesitated, "Do you know if Tadla's parents are still here with Tirizi? I don't know how I could comfort them!" This is what the prosecutor had explained to the city captain after they had finished the preliminary investigation into the governor's murder and his nefarious doings around noon.

During the investigation, they had found more evidence that the governor himself had carried out the bestial mass murders, or at least that they had been carried out in his torture chamber. In the chests in an alcove of the torture chamber they found more dresses, headdresses and bracelets like young girl love, and shirts and pants typical of boys from the Border-Land and the No-One's-Land. Even all kinds of items little boys like to carry around in their pockets. Actually, these objects and the servants' testimonies were enough to prove the governor's guilt. The two decided to seek the Emperor's permission for further investigation. On the one hand as this crime was beyond any scope known and on the other as it involved the Emperor's highest representative in the city. Therefore, the city captain therefore ordered up a security guard and entrusted the men the strictest guarding of both the governor's mansion and the underground rooms where the crimes had been committed.

Uneasy Prosecutor Anir stood in front of the inn to the Thirsty Camel and hesitated to enter the caravanserai. His uneasiness had several reasons. Once he had not been honest with the city captain why he was visiting the Tirizi’s establishment. He had claimed that he did not suspect anyone. Off course, this was not true. He was convinced the Amestan had killed the governor. In Anir's opinion, KeYnNamM had every reason for such a dead. However, as a prosecutor, he was convinced that no one was allowed to take justice into his own hands. He therefore tried to justified his actions by recalling the reasons that might have led the Amestan to commit this act. There was the fact that KeYnNamM as an outcast hardly had the possibility to accuse the highest representative of the empire in Tinghir. Then there were the reasons for which KeYnNamM fought the Empire, such as the raids of the Emperor's henchmen in the Draa Valley disguised as tribute like the abduction of women, girls and boys into slavery. In addition, there was the threat under which KeYnNamM had to live permanently of the protector of the people of the Draa, their Amestan. Finally, the governor had put money on his head. The bounty was high and had been and tripled after the escape of the convicts from the penal camp near the crystal mine. The reason for the increase in the bounty was threefold. The governor had blamed him both for the prisoner’s liberation, for the raid on the crystal transport, and not at least for the defeat of the punitive expedition against the Desert Sons.

Indicating to the guilt of KeYnNamM were statements of Lalla and Kella, the governor’s old servants.  They had spoken of three intruders, of three great spirits and of a tall Jinn and two smaller ones. When he asked, they had conceded that it could also have been a man and two boys. Has it been Ikken and Tanan? But why should KeYnNamM take the two with him.

In the case of Ikken, the reasons were obvious. The boy hated Governor Gwasila. After all, the monster had murdered his father and later his auntie who had raised him and Aylal. Now, after the discovery of the governor's crimes, Anir was sure that the rumor was true and that Ikken's father had been executed only so that the governor could appropriate the merchant's garden. And his auntie? He had murdered her because she could not tell him where the Ikken and Aylal had gone.

But wait Suddenly another idea took possession of Anir. There was a rumor. A rumor only, one that did not die down. A rumor that sounded unbelievable to man from the capital of the empire. Tinghir and all the people living around the town, the educated as well as the common people, whispered Ikken, the boy Ikken, was the successor of King Gaya. The mighty King Gaya, the one who united all the clans of the wide dessert, the first Amenokal, of the nation of the dessert sons. This prophecy was common knowledge! King Gaya would be reborn as a boy and that this boy would bring peace between the desert sons, the people of No-One's Land and those of the Empire. All the people believed this prophecy! They believed the Wise Women who had sworn a solemn oath the reborn king would be none other than that Ikken, the boy from the souk of Tinghir. Immediately it became clear to Anir Ikken was in danger, in the greatest danger imaginable.  At the same moment it became clear to him KeYnNamM, the Amestan, knew the best way to avoid this danger and that was to get ahead of it.

But Tanan? What did Tanan have to do with it? Why had he been part of the plot. This doesn’t make sense. Was it because Tirizi had to give away her son as an infant? Did the do it for revenge? Anir believed he understood Tanan, a boy who had been deprived of his mother by the Empire for more than ten years. As much as Anir condemned the murder, he realized that without the Amestan's deed, the governor's secret would never have come to light. 

But then there was something else, something that should never happen to a prosecutor. He, Anir, the prosecutor and accuser of the Emperor, had grown fond of KeYnNamM in the course of the ignominious trial after his victory on the ladder to heaven.  He was fond of him as to no one ever before. Had he, Anir, fallen in love with KeYnNamM? This can’t be true, his head said, and his heart answered yes, I love him! Since the day of the mock trial, he had longed to be KeYnNamM’s friend. To have him as a KeYnNamM as his friend as well as his sons and his sons, Ikken and Tanan, what could be better.

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Anir met Tirizi in the living room behind the restaurant. She was in tears, her eyes were red, her makeup streaked with traces of tears. "Tadla is dead!" he greeted her, "But the town captain and I are sure who the brutal murderer was. We are sure! None other than the governor committed this murder himself. He committed this murder and committed all the other unsolved murders. Governor Gwasila was a mass murderer and serial killer. However, please don't tell anyone jet, dear Tirizi not at this time because it is not official yet. But believe me, we will prove it!" when Tirizi did not answer and tears welled up from her eyes again, he added, "I know that is no consolation. But if no more murders happen in the future, we will have Tadla to thank for it!" When the innkeeper again only began to weep uncotontrolably, Anir stepped behind her, put his arms around her, "How can I comfort you? Where is KeYnNamM, Tanan and Ikken to comfort and cheer you up? Are they not here?"

Anir felt Tirizi tense up, "This morning all three of them were gone. Their things are still there, including the horses. They must have gone into town very early. They had probably heard about the governor's death and are now among the gawkers outside the courthouse."

"Really?" he replied skeptically, "But we are looking for three, an adult and two youngsters, about 15 or so. They have something to do with the governor's death!" As Tirizi turned pale and didn't answer, he smiled at her, "I'd like to talk to the Amestan, really. He can choose the place where we meet! Tell him that! There is no danger, neither for him nor for the two boys. I myself will also send out messengers and spread the information."

₪₪₪

Ikken saw the hut first. Actually, it was only a roof of reeds on four posts, under which he hardly could stand upright. He had run ahead to be the first to arrive at the rivulet that passed the stony trail they had taken to the Wadi Draa. As quick as possible he wanted to wash off the sweat that had dried on his skin during long trek from Tinghir to the border of No-One's-Land.

Early that morning, when they had been sure news of the governor's death hadn’t made its way out of the Tinghir, they had visited the farmer’s market in a remote village to stock up on flatbreads and dates. "This will be all our privisions for the next three days, unless we run across a chicken or a sheep." KeYnNamM had emphasized before they taken up the hidden trail through the Border-Land again. KeYnNamM had been right. All day they had encountered not a single soul in the dry scrubland, not even a chicken or a sheep. The second day of the escape was just as uneventful as the first.

"Here, here! Come here, behind the briars is a hut. We can spend the night there!" Ikken had hurried ahead of KeYnNamM and Tanan to the valley. However there was no water in the dried up rivulet, not even a water puddle. Looking ahead, he did at least the path the shelter.

They decided to spend the night under the reed roof. All three were exhausted and sweaty, thirsty and hungry, especially Tanan. After he had stuffed himself with an entire flatbread and had drank the last drop of his water, he literally fell over and was asleep before Ikken had even eaten half of his flatbread.

"What's the next step? I think of Tanan! He had nothing to do with our problem with the governor, and yet you took him along." When KeYnNamM did not answer immediately, Ikken continued "Tanan was present while you killed the governor and everyone will think he is an accomplice. He did nothing but hold the governor down when he kicked. I, on the other hand, would have cut his throat if you hadn't done it." "I believe you. I know you wished him dead as much as I did. But believe me, it was better for you not to do it. So far you have never cut a man's throat. You just have shot to death an enemy with an arrow. Believe me, it is much harder to cut someone's throat!" "Then why did you take Tanan with you? Now he is endangered!" "Tanan was before! You don't know the back story, not even Tirizi knows exactly why she had to give him away!" "Why did she have to? That was cruel. It was just as cruel that she was never allowed to connect with him!" "I can't tell you today. Only this much, he was in mortal danger as long as the governor was still alive. He had orders to kill him immediately if Tanan showed up in Tinghir!"

As if he had overheard that they talked about him, Tanan began moaning, tossing and turning, and finally sat up with his eyes closed. "Where am I? I don't want to be alone! I...!" Then he opened his eyes and blinked, "Ikken is that you? Please come here, sleep with me." When Ikken lay down next to him and hugged him, Tanan immediately fell asleep again.

₪₪₪

Ikken was awakened by the soft chimes of small bells. When he stepped out of the shelter, yawning, the other two were still asleep. Curious, he walked down a bit to the path and suddenly stood in the middle of a herd of goats. The curious animals immediately began to lick his bare legs, for goats love salt and the dried sweat contained enough of it. While he was stroking the animals, he heard a brittle voice, "Hey boy!" as he turned around, "Hey, you there! Where did you come from? I've never seen you here before and I know everyone far and wide!" An old man made his way through the herd, eyed him with myopic eyes and stated, "You're not from around here! Are you from the city? From Tinghir?" Ikken was still considering the appropriate response when the old man surprised him by asking, "Is it true that the governor is dead? Three Evil Spirits are said to have made him a head shorter! Is that true?" then he muttered, barely intelligible, into his thick beard, "Has Kel Essuf finally sent his Jinns after him? He deserves it."

Ikken eyed the old man more closely. Despite the heat to be expected at noon, he had put on at least three layers of clothes and covered his head with a turban. It left only his eyes and beard uncovered. "Are you coming alone to this remote area?" When Ikken still did not answer, he poked him with his stick "Are you deaf and dumb or a Jinn?" "Yes sir, I come from the Tinghir, but I don't know anything about the governor. We left two days ago very early in the morning!"

Meanwhile, KeYnNamM and Tanan had arrived at the edge of the herd, being worked by the goats just as Ikken had been earlier. Tanan was in his element. He stroked one goat, tickled another's beard, defended himself against the billy-goat. The old man had spotted Tanan immediately and called out to him, "Come here! I could use you. You love goats! Will you stay with me?"

KeYnNamM took it upon himself to question the old man, "Who told you that about the governor? What is supposed to have happened to him? Murdered, you said, by Jinns?" he pushed his way through the animals, "I always thought Jinns worked with magic. Since when do they cut off heads?"

"This we were told by the messenger from Tinghir who stopped at the village last night. Three Jinns intruded the governor’s bedroom, one tall like the Shaitan himself and two small ones, his children." With that he pointed at Ikken and Tanan, chuckled a bit and poked Ikken again with the stick, "If you were the little Jinn, then I wouldn't have to be afraid of you. Wouldn't I?" He turned to KeYnNamM again, "But maybe I do have a message for you three! The prosecutor wants to speak to the big Jinn, was the message!" As KeYnNamM raised his brows questioningly, "Yes, the Amestan is to report to Prosecutor Anir. The great Jinn wants Anir to speak to him, under any circumstances, in any place he chooses, at any time of day or night!" as KeYnNamM eyed him in amazement, "That's what the messenger said! Not just to me. He proclaimed it at the well. Anyone who meets the Amestan should tell him!" then he cradled his head, "I wouldn't trust a messenger from the city either, but believe me sir, I've seen enough in my life and he spoke the truth!" Tanan, who had joined the three by now, cleared his throat. "May I milk a goat, I haven't had goat's milk in days and days. Please!"

After Tanan’s stomach was overflowing by the goat’s milk, KeYnNamM and the boys set out to continue their track. Turning around the old man called out, "Something I didn't understand, something the messenger said. The Amestan should send the Prince, he has nothing to fear in Tinghir, Prince Gaya has no one to fear in Tinghir. Prince Gaya is untouchable."

Was the old shepherd himself the messenger? Was he a psychic? Was he a medium? They deliberated, if the message was true. Then KeYnNamM had to fathom why the accuser wished to speak to him. If the accuser wanted to trap him, he would not have let him choose the place, the time, and the circumstances. That spoke to the credibility of the offer. What spoke against it was that Ikken should make the connection between them. Questions, questions, questions! Ikken resolutely solved the problem, "I'm going! He called me Prince Gaya. I have nothing to fear!" "I'll go with you, where you go, I go!" decided Tanan.

₪₪₪ 

KeYnNamM accompanied Ikken and Tanan to the last stop before Tinghir, where they arrived at dawn of the next morning. Neither Tirizi nor Hiyya would have recognized them today. On the way, they had bought new clothes from a rag merchant. Now cloth, no way! They looked like beggars with their tattered shirts, frayed pants and worn sandals. When the first farmers came by with their donkey carts to go to the market, they begged until a grumpy old man offered them a ride to town. "One of you can always sit with me on the car and the other must lead the donkey by the reins, for he is more stubborn today than my wife!" The donkey was stubborn! The stubborn animal stopped every few steps and refused to pull the load. When the heavily loaded cart was finally at the gate, Ikken was just leading the animal. Being inexperienced in handling stubborn donkeys, it looked like he would pull the donkey and the cart at the same time. Under the taunts of the guards, they entered the city and the souk unchecked. While the old man was still unloading, they had already disappeared, Tanan towards the Thirsty Camel Inn and Ikken towards the house of the prosecutor.

Anir had bought a house on the city hill on the opposite side of the governor's mansion, a small, old house with only two floors and a garden behind it. He lived alone. In the morning, however, at the crack of dawn, a neighbor came to keep house and cook for him. As Ikken nervously stepped from one foot to the other in front of the door, the smell of freshly baked pita bread suddenly permeated the cracks of the door. The scent and his growling stomach tipped the scales. He knocked again and when nothing moved, he pounded on the door. At last the old woman wrenched the door open. When Ikken practically fell into her arms, she began to scold loudly. "Beggars! Beggars already in the early morning! Don't you know whose house this is? Do you want to be locked up? You know the governor has banned begging! Get out of here and don't bother my master, Prosecutor Anir!"

Anir had heard the hammering and suddenly stood behind his housekeeper. "The governor is no more, and therefore the law is no more! But there are always hungry boys!" Suddenly his eyes lit up, "I was waiting for you Prince. Great, one of my messengers has found you, KeYnNamM, you and Tanan!" Then he pushed the old woman aside, "Come, you must be hungry!" The housekeeper reluctantly made way and grumbled as she went into the house, "I don't know of a change in the law and calling a beggar a prince?" she snorted, "But everything changes, no sooner is the governor is dead the mice are dancing in the kitchen!"

Anir was happy. He pulled Ikken into the kitchen and wanted to force him to eat, which he would certainly have done if the stench of Ikken's dirty clothes had not spoiled his appetite. "Come!" he ordered, pulling him out into the garden, "Take that stuff off!" When Ikken stood naked before him, he poured a bucket of water over his head. Clad only in a much too large shirt, he was allowed to sit at the table and eat breakfast with the prosecutor.

When Ikken spoke highly of her baking skills, the housekeeper was immediately conciliated, saying "While I don't think you're a prince, you're a handsome young man with good manners." Anir shook his head at her comment and shortly after, as Ikken's eyes fell shut and he laid his head on the table, the housekeeper ordered the accuser, "Why don't you put your prince to bed?" when he looked at her in amazement, "In your Prosecutor's or does anyone else in this house have a bed besides you?" Then her face turned red with embarrassment and she tried to deflect, "He can stay here while I'm at the market. You must go, the Town Captain is probably waiting for you. He's always up early."

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Ikken sensed in his sleep that someone was looking at him, studying him closely from head to toe. With a jerk, he sat up and looked around. He did not know the large room. It seemed to take up the entire upper floor of the narrow house. Against the wall, facing the wide bed, stood a long narrow table, on which shocks of paper and thick folios were piled up. In front of it stood a chair and several three-legged stools on which papers were also piled. Where are colorful carpets hung in homes of the wealthy, here were large linen sheets littered with colorful lines and small boxes. Each of these boxes looked like a small painting. As he later learned, these were maps of the empire. On either side of the entrance to the room were chests and low tables. Also at the wall above the bed sheets covered by signs and small pictures were suspended. Only when he turned his head to the side of the room with the exit to the garden did he see the silhouette of a man whose slender figure almost blocked the light streaming in. Ikken was startled when the figure approached him and sat down at the edge of the bed. "Slept late Prince Gaya? You must have been very tired. The sun has already passed its zenith." As Ikken moved away from him and pressed himself close to the wall, the man smirked, "Scared?" Now recognizing the Prosecutor, he shook his head. But the man continued, "If I were you, I'd be on my guard too, in a strange bed, in a strange room, in a strange house!" As Ikken did not answer, "I was very surprised this morning that you really believed the messenger. You are brave!"  "The Amestan was suspicious at first, but then he decided to trust your message. Tanan and I also trust you. Therefore, I decided to give you the message." "Do you think you know me so well? We've hardly before." "I know who I can trust, Prosecutor. But now I must go. I will get KeYnNamM's horse and mine later and wait for you outside the gate at dusk today. I will take you to the Amestan! You may only come alone, though." "I promise, but now get out. I think you're half-starved, otherwise you wouldn't have eaten almost all my flatbreads in the morning."

Ikken folded his arms bashfully across his chest as he stood in the middle of the room in the accuser's too-large outer garment. The hem of the thinly washed old shirt reached below his knees and his hands disappeared into the sleeves. Anir saw his embarrassment and thereupon lifted a pile of clothes from the stool, "My housekeeper gives them to you! They are from her sons! They've outgrown them and don't need them anymore."

As he changed clothes, the prosecutor could only marvel at how spindly Ikken was, and when he turned to him, freshly dressed, he had to agree with his housekeeper. In front of him stood a handsome, a really handsome young man in a light-colored outer dress with colorful trim and dark trousers.

"Now let's go eat! You need more fat on your ribs." Ikken nodded delightedly. When Anir added, "We're going to Tirizi's, Tanan has already been spotted in the Thirsty Camel too!" he beamed even more.

Tirizi was amazed! Anir and Ikken! Ikken sat behind Anir on the big steed, his arms wrapped tightly around the Prosecutor's waist. Worries had plagued Tirizi all morning, although she would have loved to leap for joy at Tanan's unexpected return. She had sent her most experienced servant out on a mission. He had been all over the place, in front of the prosecutor's house, when the prosecutor's housekeeper was going to market. He waited in front of the city commander's office, where he saw the commander and Anir engaged in conversation. He was at the governor's office and at the courthouse with the holding cells. There he asked one of the guards if a young man had been brought in today, a strange, blond-haired one. No one had seen him. Nor did the guard indicate that one had been arrested. None of the observation indicated that Ikken had been detained. He had simply disappeared from the scene. After his return, Tirizi was still as worried as before.

Tirizi let the kitchen the best food available, crispy flatbreads, millet porridge, juicy roast, grapes, dates, figs, and also lime water. She asked Anir to sit at one of the narrow sides of the table opposite her, while Ikken and Tanan were to sit opposite each other at the long sides. She had made the table arrangement without her son. Tanan stood up, grabbed Ikken by the hand and pulled him to his side. There they now sat shoulder to shoulder, Tanan on the left, Ikken on the right. While Tanan was eating with his right hand, Ikken was eating with his left. What they did with the other hand under the table was not to be seen. But both giggled like little girls, which made Tirizi and Anir beam. After dinner they disappeared into Tanan's room, closed the door and their giggling and funny shrieking could be heard in the dining room for a long time until it finally died down. When Tirizi and Anir poked their heads through a crack in the door, they saw two boys snoring close together like young dogs. Long after the prosecutor had taken his leave, the two emerged. They stalked stiff-legged through the house as if they had a sore rear end.

As the shadows lengthened in the Thirsty Camel's courtyard, Ikken saddled his and KeYnNamM's horse and set off to the city gate. Tanan wanted to accompany him, which Ikken refused, "I agreed with Anir to come alone, to lead him to the Amestan, if he also comes alone. And he agreed!"

₪₪₪

Anir had had trouble arriving in time at the city gate. The death of the governor had completely upset the normal schedule of the days following this event. The city commander had sent a detailed message to the Empire's capital the very day they discovered the governor's body and subsequently his secrets. The young Emperor had reacted immediately and appointed a provisional governor. He had arrived two days later and had been welcomed at the gate by the city commander, the prosecutor and important personalities of the city.

Anir was happily surprised by the emperor's choice. The new governor was his schoolmate Yattuy. He had had the nickname since his student days because he was unusually tall. He had now made it his name.

"Long, Long!" exclaimed Anir, "Yattuy, who would have thought it. You and I in the same nest. But here it is beautiful, and exciting!"

"Anir, my brother of heart, you haven't changed at all in these ten years. But I have! The spindly creature I once was is now a real man. But you are still slim! Doesn't your wife feed you enough?" "You know me, I don't believe in marriage, so I'm still alone." "You will regret that once you meet Thiyya, my beautiful Thiyya and my three sons. Merin, the eldest is now almost ten and a bright boy! And the others, one dearer than the other."

Anir was in high spirits because of this unexpected reunion. When he finally met Ikken in the evening, he spoke highly of the old times and looked forward to the meeting with KeYnNamM with confidence. Quite contrary to his usual manner, it just bubbled out of him.

At last Anir noticed that Ikken was busy thinking about something else, and as he slid restlessly back and forth on the saddle, he shouted at him, "Am I boring you? I'm telling you about times gone by, like a doddering old man!" When Ikken shook his head in the negative, "Well, no! But then! Why are you sliding your butt back and forth on the saddle like that? Are you in pain?"

Then Ikken grinned "Don't you know? Don't you ever have pain there after being with your boyfriend?" When Anir shook his head, Ikken blushed. "No? Really not?" Ikken now looked at Anir tensely, "You're also excitedly sliding back and forth in the saddle. Are you looking forward to tonight like that?" When Anir did not answer, "I can tell you something!" then Ikken grinned from ear to ear, "Tonight you will get to know my KeYnNamM-baba properly. He's been thinking about you since that day on the ladder to heaven!"

In the deepening twilight, the two trotted through the almost empty alleys of the market town to the east of Tinghir, passed a kasbah a little later, which also was visible because light fell from its window hatches. When it was already almost too dark to ride on, they turned into a dry valley, on whose slopes in the darkness seemed bare inhabited. Suddenly Ikken stopped his horse short and turned into an almost invisible path. Anir was startled out of his dreams. "Whoops, I almost fell off my horse! Is KeYnNamM hiding off the road in the nothing? How far do we have to ride? He won't see us in this darkness!" and then added, "Ride carefully Ikken or do you want to break your neck in the pitch dark?" "He'll see us. We agreed that we take this turn and ride on until the Amestan gives us a sign." "In the dark?" doubted Anir.

Shortly thereafter, the bright song of a desert lark rang out to the left of the trail. Ikken immediately stopped his horse and waited. In the darkness, a man approached Anir's horse and hissed "It is I you wish to speak to, Prosecutor!" He took Anir's horse by the reins and led it down a sandy path to an abandoned Ghorfas, a storage castle, perched on the next hill. Ikken followed them. In the courtyard of the storage castle coals smoldered. They flared up when KeYnNamM threw dry shavings into them and illuminated the empty cavities of the storage chambers of the tower.

Only when all three squatted around the fire did the Amestan break the silence. "Welcome to my lair, Prosecutor! You wanted to see me, so here I am. Unfortunately, I cannot be a good host. I can only offer you bread and water, for one who must remain invisible can only buy the bare necessities."

"I am glad Amestan to meet you again at last. I don't care much for good food, bread and water are enough, so the head remains clear and the thoughts are not hindered." then he bowed, "I thank you King of No-One's-Land, that I may meet you. But why do you make yourself invisible, no one is looking for you!"

"And the death of the governor? Don't I get credit for that?"

"The one who killed the governor deserves the thanks of the whole city, even of the whole empire. It was only his death that brought to light his sky-scraping crimes. He was the bestial murderer of all the innocent girls and boys who disappeared in the city during the last years. Besides that, he has broken law. Think of Ikken's father and his half-blind auntie, think of the children, maidens and mothers he had robbed as tribute in the Draa Valley and sent into slavery in the capital, think of all the petty criminals he condemned to forced labor in the crystal mine." Then he was silent for a moment, "The City Captain and I agree that it was three Jinns who transported him from life to death and we had that announced in the city. What then shall we look for murderers in human form if Kel Essuf and his Jinns have taken him? Go where you will, go where you must." He swallowed for a moment, "But I have a request, become my friend, because ............" suddenly he fell silent and looked into the flames. Ikken however continued the sentence as if he could read Anir's thoughts "....because I am love you and want to share your sons with you!" Anir was startled, but then he nodded embarrassed and continued to stare into the flames.

KeYnNamM looked first at Ikken and then at Anir. For a long time, he said nothing, then stood up, strode around the fire to Anir, sat down beside him and put his arm over his shoulders. "Brother!" he said barely audibly, "Brother, what more can I add to these words. Ever since we first met, I've been thinking of you, even during the battle against the invaders, I couldn't get you out of my mind!"

₪₪₪

Half the night KeYnNamM and Anir sat close together by the fire and seemed to be dreaming. Not wanting to eat, Ikken soon wished them good night and sought a place to sleep in one of the empty storage chambers. The king of No-One's-Land and the Emperor's Prosecutor, however, began to exchange thoughts, telling each other their life stories, and dreams.

Anir and KeYnNamM were about the same age and size, even their life stories were similar. "I received my education far away from my mother and father." told KeYnNamM, "I grew up wild, unattached, and yet the marabout who taught me had no trouble imparting all his knowledge to me. That was a great time, with all the friends, boys and girls. It was suddenly over when the Emperor's servants poisoned my father. On the very night of his burial in Tamegroute, I became his successor, I became Amestan, the Man-Without-a-Name, the King of No-One's Land, the protector of the peoples on the Draa."

"Everyone knows you only by the name KeYnNamM, that is, man without a name. But all mothers call their children by name. Didn't your mother give you a name? Mine called me Anir, Angel, and I am proud of the name, even if the governor always called me angel of vengeance!"

"To you I will tell the secret. My mother named me Draa, after the river that comes out of the mountains, that seeps into the sand and reappears. All the kings of No-One's land have borne this name since time immemorial, sometimes as their first name, sometimes as their second, often as their third, but they bear it. You can call me that if you like! For it is my first name and you love me."

"Draa, like the river!" Anir slowly repeated the word, "Draa! Draa! Draa! What a beautiful name. I love DRAA!" He moved even closer to the Amestan. "My mother died too soon, she died in childbed. My father brought me up. From him I learned to read, write, calculate, because that's what you need most as a merchant, he always said. Then when I entered the business, at the age of fifteen, he made a purchase trip to north by sea. He never returned. Later I discovered his dagger at a brigand's belt. He swore that he had not killed my father or stolen his goods. Everyone believed him because he was a friend of the Emperor. But one did not believe him! Me! I wanted to convict him, so I sold my father's business, studied the laws with the most famous jurists and finally became the prosecutor. But the brigand died before I could accuse him."

At the end of the night, the two retreated to a storage chamber far from the one Ikken had chosen for the night and slouched under a blanket until they were woken up by Ikken.

Ikken was awakened by the cooing of pigeons nesting in the empty storage chambers. When he discovered neither KeYnNamM nor Anir beside him, he began to search for them. When he had searched almost all the granaries, he found them. KeYnNamM was lying on his back, snoring softly. Anir on his side and turned his back to him. Ikken picked up a straw that was on the ground and began tickling KeYnNamM's on the tip of his nose. On the third or fourth time, he woke up, grabbed behind him while still half asleep, caught Ikken's arm and pulled him to him. When he saw that Ikken was, he began to tickle him until he laughed out loud.

The sudden jerk and the giggles woke Anir up. He spun around and next moment Ikken was sandwiched between the two of them. He would have enjoyed this when he was five, but now? He was much too old, almost an adult, the games with Yufayyur and Tanan had taught him that. He was about to free himself from the position between the two and crawl out, when Anir began to tickle him as well. Soon Ikken almost couldn't hold his water from laughing. "Stop it, stop it, or I will wet pee my trousers. They let him scamper away and as he stood outside the entrance to the storage chamber, he lowered his pants, turned his butt to them and called over his shoulder, "Anir, will your butt itch today when you ride home, like mine did yesterday?" KeYnNamM understood the innuendo faster than Anir and threatened Ikken with his finger, "Watch out! Watch it, little guy, or you'll get your butt hurt from something else!"

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To be continued...

Posted 10/14/2022