local settlement date 35,979
The wise things we think to record as a warning for those who follow have already been ignored in the forgotten past.
King Namor Zujahrah
01 mortus’ last seed
"Mortus. It is time to go."
Mortus came out of his contemplation to remember where he was. He saw the loaded caravan. It waited for him. They had finished with the last village in their land run. Mortus dreaded going back to Castle City. He hated the city. He hated the smells, the sounds and all the tedious methods of business.
Since he was a boy, Mortus had been a tax collector. Everyone born under the tax collectors were tax collectors.
"We are given no choice."
"We can do as we please."
"As tax collectors."
"Was there a question in there."
"What if I didn't want to be a tax collector."
"You are free to be a Drave."
Mortus smiled at the irony. He had a Drave girlfriend in village 36. Mortus lived with her when he was waiting for his next land run. He spent very little time in his home TC 36 B3 sector. His home sector enjoyed many more comforts and was much safer for a tax collector. It was too much inside. Like a cage. Safe from the world and the elements.
Mortus preferred a little danger and the somewhat more dirty entertainment of the Drave village.
"You know what I like the best."
"Tell me, Mortus, my unhappy friend."
"I like the ocean, Lanash. I'm going to bring my girlfriend here."
"Your mean that Drave you see 3 or 4 days every 3 or 4 moons."
"I want to be by the ocean."
Lanash laughed though he could see his friend was having a serious personal crisis.
Mortus turned his eyes from the ocean to look at the waiting caravan. They could wait all day for him to make up his mind. They likely would not. Mortus would have to decide to move. Or not move.
He had never thought of living differently than he did. His life never seemed to demand his attention before. He was a good tax collector. He loved the land runs.
Day after day of drinking, feasting, collecting and planting seed. No question. It was a good life.
He smiled at the thought of having so many Drave children.
"How many have you done this run."
"You ask me like you know my thoughts."
"I do know some of them. Some are the same as mine. Same as all tax collectors. Because that is what we are and how we are, my friend."
Mortus walked to the caravan with Lanash but did not get on a wagon with him. He looked at some of the Draves. They were all quiet with their fear. Fear is what Mortus and his company gave the Draves. The frightened children dared not look him in the eyes.
The men were singing:
'We like to go a plundering along the island shore
And when we are a drinking, we plunder all the more
Rape a boy, rape a girl, eat some fish and rape some more
Rape a boy, rape a girl, we're rich on all the spoils.
"Get on Mortus."
"No, my friend. I'm tired. I will wait for the next caravan. I will burn the bodies and live here the next few days. Maybe a few moons. I have to think and I don't remember ever doing it before."
"You are a good thinker, Mortus. One of the best thinkers I know."
"No. I don't thinks so. I think I have been asleep. In a dream."
"Shall I wait with you."
"No, my friend. We'll see each other back at TC36. Or your next land run at the latest. I need a little time on my own."
Mortus watched his friend and the rest of the caravan leave. The wagons were full with various grains, smoked or salted ocean creatures. There were countless barrels of many kinds of intoxicating drink. The Draves were so many that most of them would have to walk the trail back to Castle City. Mortus knew many would not make it.
Mortus stood looking at the ocean. Wondering what he would do first. He noticed a little fishing boat bobbing gently in the shallow water. If he decided to go out in it, he would have to drag it to deeper water.
He would. That was his first concrete decision.
"I've never been in a boat."
He said that to himself. The caravan was already fading into the horizon and the Draves in the house were dead. It had been an unusually hard night. The Draves had not been hospitable and many ended up dead or on the caravan.
Mortus thought about the Drave he and Lanash had nailed to the wall. He had been very disrespectful. From the time the caravan arrived, he had contradicted everything Mortus told him.
Even when the man was nailed to the wall, he continued to torment Mortus. He cursed Lanash for seeding his woman. He promised to kill Mortus when Mortus seeded the little boy.
Mortus lost his patience and sliced the boy's throat and threw him to the feet of the Drave father.
"Royal murderer."
"Drave."
Lanash could not stop Mortus from killing the woman as well but he held onto the little girl to protect her.
"Let me cut her throat."
"Mortus, relax. This one goes to Castle City."
"He should watch her die."
"He's almost dead. You are just wasting Draves."
After waking from his drunken sleep, Mortus knew he had been careless. He seldom killed Draves that did not really ask to be killed. It was bad business.
Mortus decided to see if the Drave on the wall was dead. Or alive.
"Hey. Drave."
The Drave did not answer. He seemed to look straight through Mortus. Mortus put his sword to the Drave's chest.
"Speak Drave."
The Drave just stared through Mortus as Mortus slowly pushed his sword through to the wall. The only one not dead in the little house was Mortus.
He left the house and went down to the ocean and untied the boat. A Drave fishing boat was small and light. Mortus dragged the boat out into deeper water and climbed in, stepping on a Drave.
"Oh look. A little Drave."
Mortus wondered about the young Drave hiding under the fishnets. A gift from the gods. The Drave smelled of fear. Mortus was aroused by the sent.
"Have you ever been seeded, Little Drave."
The little Drave did not answer. She shared the look of her father. Not something Mortus had noticed before in a fisher Drave.
Mortus slapped her repeatedly to see if he could improve her disposition.
"Stop looking at me like that, little Drave. Tell me you want my seed."
Mortus ripped the clothes off the little Drave and licked some of the sweat of fear from her breasts. His hunger awoke.
"Don't worry little Drave. I won't kill you. Maybe you and I can live here. You can teach me to fish. We can stay here together. Just you and me."
The little Drave did not seem to like his offer. Mortus had to be very violent to get his seed into her.
"Next time will be better. You can be happy little Drave. You are very lucky. I will take care of you. My little Drave. The first time always hurts."
Mortus did not know what else to tell her. He was so tired. He had drank so much on the land run. He had not been happy. After seeding the little Drave the second time, Mortus fell asleep with the smell of the Drave in his nose.
Mortus did not know, or did not take time to notice, that fishing Draves carried knives on their legs.
The little Drave took her knife out of its sheath and cut through the tax collector's throat. She was strong enough. She cut sea creatures apart most days.
Mortus tried to wake up. He knew something had gone wrong. He could see the little Drave covered in blood. He could remember he was on a boat. In a boat.
He thought he should hit the little Drave some more. But he was so tired and could not remember how to make his arms move.
They were too heavy. He was too tired.
It was time to sleep.
chapter 02
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