Part 17 (1/2)
”My father fought bravely-so bravely a chill still climbs my spine when I think about it. I remember being surprised that this was the same man who had beaten me so, protecting his son and his hearth with such feverish intensity.
”And I?” Morath grunted bitterly. ”I ran away and hid in the woods, afraid to fight at my father's sidecaught in the grip of wild, unreasoning terror. In the end, the reavers proved too much for Ondagh, son of Bogra. They killed him and took everything we had of value.
”Only when they were gone did I come out of hiding and see what they had done to my father. I knew that I should have fallen at his side, but I had not-and nothing could ever change that. Unable to bear my burden, I tried to run away again-this time, from my father's ghost.
”For a long time, I wandered the wide world, looking for a way to rid myself of my guilt. One day, after many years had pa.s.sed, I came upon a still, serene lake and bent to drink from it.
”Then I recoiled-for it was my father's reflection I saw in the tranquil waters. And I realized I had been given a second chance. I would be Ondagh-not as he was, but as he could have been. I would brook no deceit, neither from man nor G.o.d. And I would never run away from anything again.”
Having said his piece, Morath unrolled his own mat and laid down on it. In a moment or two he was asleep.
Kahless looked at his friend for a long time, beginning to understand why Morath did the things he did. Then, at last, he too fell asleep.
Kahless and Morath came in sight of Vathraq's keep twelve days after their departure. To the outlaw's surprise, his men were still waiting for him, still eyeing the horizon.
By then, of course, they had burned all the corpses, as much to deny the krawzamey a meal as to discourage the spread of disease. Unfortunately, that made it worse for Kahless. The mangled shapes of death held less terror for him than their empty aftermath.
The outlaw himself said nothing about the time he was gone. Morath didn't say much either. But he did mention how sore he was from wrestling with Kahless, and pretty soon the others picked up on it.
Before long, the story became amplified. The outlaw and his friend had wrestled in the hills for twelve days and twelve nights, it was said, through heat and storm and all manner of hards.h.i.+p. Of course, no one could figure out why they would want to do that.
Nor did Morath disabuse them of the notion. Even for him, apparently, it was close enough to the truth.
The Modern Age Picard breathed in the cold air and observed the contingent of Klingons on the next plateau, perhaps a hundred meters below him and his companions.
Their dark hair was drawn back and tied into ponytails, in the manner of Worf's. In the flat, gray light of predawn, their white mokbara garb looked strangely serene against the coa.r.s.e, black rock and the omnipresent tufts of hardy, red enchula gra.s.s.
Of course, the Klingons themselves were anything but serene. Focused, yes. Entranced, perhaps. But serene?
Even in the practice of so demanding a discipline, Klingon serenity was a contradiction in terms.
Anyone who doubted that had only to witness what the captain was witnessing-the ferocity with which these pract.i.tioners a.s.sailed one another, launching kick after deadly kick and blow after crus.h.i.+ng blow, and following each with a guttural shout of exultation. Fortunately for them, none of these a.s.saults found their targets-for as skilled as they were at attacks, they were just as skilled at avoiding them.
It was a mesmerizing spectacle, the captain mused.
Like a spider of many parts weaving a continuous, flas.h.i.+ng web. Or a particularly vicious species of bird writhing in a torturous form of flight, the reasons for which were lost in its genetic past.
Picard had seen Worf teach the mokbara exercises to a dedicated few on the Enterprise, Beverly and Deanna among them. However, those maneuvers were to these as a jog in the woods was to the Academy marathon. Neither Beverly nor Deanna would have lasted more than a few brief seconds in so violent and rigorous a ritual.
”I am amused,” Kahless hissed.
He was careful not to speak so loudly that he'd draw the attention of the martial artists below-though with all the bellowing going on down there, such care seemed rather unnecessary.
”In my day, there was no such thing as this.... He turned to Worf. ”What did you call it?”
The lieutenant scowled. ”Mokbara, was he replied.
”This Mokbaaara, was Kahless finished, butchering the word as if on purpose. He shook his head. ”In my era, life itself contained all the exercise one would ever need. And if one still craved action at the end of the day, there was always the requisite afterdinner brawl.”
Worf harrumphed. Clearly, thought Picard, his officer didn't appreciate the clone's disparagements.
”The ritual provides more than exercise,” the lieutenant explained. ”It helps one to set aside distractions-to concentrate on the advancement of one's spirit.”
Kahless clapped him affectionately on the back. ”I don't mean to offend anyone, Worf-and certainly not my closest companions. If you want to perform pantomimes in your night clothes, I have no objections.”
Kurn looked at the clone. ”With all due respect, Kahless, I can see why you were never revered as a diplomat.”
”To Gre'thor with diplomats,” Kahless spat-Grethor being the Klingon equivalent of h.e.l.l.
After some of his experiences with diplomatic envoys, the captain was inclined to agree. But, not for the first time since he'd embarked on this mission, he held his tongue.
Abruptly, he noticed the first brazen rays of the sun sneaking over the cliffs to his right. He turned to Worf, who'd mentioned earlier that the ritual would end when dawn touched the p ateau.
”Lieutenant?” said Picard, by way of a reminder.
Worf glanced at the cliffs and nodded. ”We should start down now.”
Without further ceremony, he retreated from the edge of their rocky plateau and made his way across it toward a steep, winding path. By following this path, the captain knew, they would end up exactly where they wanted to be-and with any luck, see just whom they wished to see.
Their descent took them around a natural column of crags and boulders, one of many that seemed to punctuate the landscape. Though Picard's interests leaned more toward archaeology than geology, he resolved to learn someday what sort of forces created these structures.
As the sky continued to lighten above them, they came to the end of the path and gathered in a hollow. By peering through a cleft in the rocks, they could see the slope just below the mokbara pract.i.tioners” plateau. To be sure, it was a gentler way down than the one they'd just taken-but more importantly, it narrowed to a point right near the cleft.
They'd barely arrived when the martial artists began to descend. It was remarkable how calm they seemed, after the effort they'd put into their ritual just a few moments earlier.
The Klingons were conversing quietly, nodding, even smiling at one another. It seemed to the captain they'd come from a sewing bee instead of a potentially lethal combat.
”Which one is G.o.dar?” Kahless asked softly.
”He is the last of them,” Kurn replied. ”As always. You see him? The tall, wizened-looking one with the simple chinbeard?”
”,Ah, that one,” said Kahless, craning his head to get a better angle. ”And you believe he can be trusted?”
Worf s brother grunted. ”I believe so, yes.”
”You seem to trust a great many people,” the clone commented.
”Like you,” Kurn told him, ”I have no choice.”
In moments, most of the mokbara pract.i.tioners had pa.s.sed the cleft on their way down from the plateau.
None of them seemed to notice Picard and his companions. But after what had happened in Tolar'tu, that was little a.s.surance in the captain's eyes.
As Kurn had indicated, G.o.dar was the last of them. He too appeared unaware of the quartet that had traveled so far to speak with him. That is, until Kurn croaked his name.
At first, the man seemed confused as to who might have called him. Then he happened to glance in the direction of their hiding place.
Under similar circ.u.mstances, Picard thought, he himself might have cried out in surprise-or bolted, fearing an ambush. But G.o.dar did neither of these things. Still invigorated by his exercises, he simply altered his stance a bit, ready to take on whatever awaited him.
”Who is it?” he rasped, darting a sideways look at his fellow pract.i.tioners, who seemed not to have missed him-at least not yet. ”Speak quickly-and give me a reason not to warn the others.”