local settlement date 35,989
The chance of anything such as this is nearly impossible.
King Namor Zujahrah
09 fish patents
There was a small crowd of dusty Draves moving and piling piece of rock around a small hole in the wall on the way to where Zauqir was taking Barbaralba to meet a friend.
"The Drave King the people are talking about, digging to a Lost Library."
Barbaralba stopped to watch at the small dark hole. Drave after Drave and among them the odd King came out of the dusty hole with tools and broken rocks.
"I think he's found it."
The Draves stood back as Namor climbed out of the hole. The first thing he focused on in the light was Barbaralba. Without dusting himself off, without thinking, he walked up to her holding books to his chest.
"It's vast. Countless books."
"Does your library have no door."
"No. Not yet. Soon though."
Namor tore at a thin covering on one of the books.
"I guess, for their protection until someone finds it. Please, take one and bring it back when we have a door."
Namor noticed Zauqir before turning around to instruct his workers. He looked up the street to see the Drave woman with his book look back at him before going into Castle City. The Drave she was with also looked at him. He did not go in.
Namor knew where he was going. He wanted to be in the village when he read his books. Since the start of the dig, he had lived with the tax collector who had been their guide the first day. He found his way back to the old man's soup kitchen.
"The Book King has returned. Have you come for a brew."
"Yes. I want to rent a room from you and read a couple books. There are countless. Impossible to read them all. I will pay a fair price for a room, my food and brew."
"My rooms are modest. You know already."
"My needs are modest. I need light to read."
"What have you found for books."
"I don't know. I haven't opened one yet. This one is Fish Patents. Royal Family Fish Patents."
Namor was not certain what a patent was. He had never heard the word before.
"I need to sit. I have been pounding at stone far too long. The ringing in my ears is ringing outside of my head."
"Please sit and enjoy our relative quiet."
Namor set two books on the bar for the Old Man to look through. Namor was curious about fish.
The book started at S. There was a name, a picture, a cross section drawing, many strange words and codes and a patent number for every fish. Their average size. And date issued.
The old man came with Namor's brew.
"Old Man, will you tell me your Name."
"Old Man."
"They all call you Old Man."
"Yes."
"Not since you were a child."
"No. But since I've lived in this village. I like it. In the Castle I was never called a man, though I've been one most of my life."
"I have a friend called Old King, he also uses no other name. He tells me he has been old most of his life."
The old man laughed.
"I am Namor. In the castle they call me King Namor. The Draves call me the Drave King. I am really just a bastard child and will answer to almost anything I am called."
"Bastard child, Drave King. Where have you found such a word. There is no such thing. A child is a child."
"I am proof. Look at my face. This is not the face of the royal family."
"Oh my dear king. In all your books have you not learned that all Draves are proof. There is no meaning to the word. We are all bastards outside the castle."
"What."
"Do you know what a Drave is."
"A child of a Drave. You are one. I am one. Or half of one. I am certain that my father was a Drave."
"Well isn't that a grand coincident. You should know that tax collectors are the fathers and grandfathers of the Draves. That is the business in which they take most pride and joy."
Namor had to think about that. Thinking made him think of the Drave he had last talked to. Gave a book to. Had felt longing for. Her mother raped by a royal family tax collector. He had to think of his conversation with the Old King. Mad creatures. Playing at forms of various civilized life style. Namor found himself staring at a spider stranded in a short suspended animation with its legs folded in on its body. Looking not at all like a spider until it opened its legs and started moving down toward his book. Namor reached out to take the invisible thread and land the spider on the wall beside him.
"We went wrong somewhere."
"Perhaps. But then again, we may not be finished yet."
The Old Man smiled at Namor.
"Yes, that is a good way to see it, Old Man. You know what is possible."
"Most anything. I'd guess. Especially after what I have seen in the last few days."
"Something very different is more real about us than here where we are. Like you said. Perhaps we are not to where we are going. We have been caught up in a sleepy day dream. What is a patent. Do you know."
"I don't know. I have never heard of such a beast."
"What about this here. Do you know what LSD and EDAD are."
The old man looked blank.
"What is a registry. Where is the story. All the entries are the same with varying codes and numbers. Beautiful fish. But it makes no sense. What is a patent fish for gods' sake."
"I've seen many fish. I could not tell you if any were patent fish. But by the look of your book, maybe they are all patent fish. How that influences the fish, you would have to ask a fish. Or a fisher."
"I'd like to see some of these fish. And these are only the ones after S. A shark eats almost any fish. A shark can be a very big fish. Look at this one. It is simply beautiful. Perhaps frightening for smaller fish but it is a form of perfection. I would like to know what a patent is."
"Such a shark would be a feast for a village. I have been to such a feast as a little boy. Before I was called Old Man. Everyone in the village at from that one shark."
"I've never eaten a fresh ocean fish."
"I have only salted fish here. But I make a very good fish treat from it. I soak them in clean water then put them in vinegar and spices. Not the same a fresh fish. You should eat at least one fresh before you die."
"I want to. But first allow me to try your fish."
"I'll bring some."
The Old Man brought his fish specialty and some warm rice. Namor tentatively picked up a piece of fish and after examining it, put it in his mouth and sank his teeth into it. He could feel the bones but they were soft enough to chew and added nicely to the texture. He ate a slightly bigger piece before smiling at the Old Man.
"I like that. How can I get to the ocean."
"You could ride with you tax collectors."
"I don't think I can. Now that I know what a Drave is, I couldn't ride with them."
"Then you would have to travel with Draves or organize a caravan of Kings and Queens."
"Draves. I don't think the time is right for a caravan of kings and queens."
"You are a good man, King Namor. My friend Zauqir is a tradesman. He always goes back and forth between my soup kitchen and the ocean. I think he will take a liking to you. He may be happy to have you accompany him on his journey."
"Then I will ask him. The tradesman."
"I will introduce him to you when he comes in. You need not wait long when he is staying in the village."
"Is he now."
"He is. He was here today. He will be again before the sun goes down. You can count on it."
"Old Man, I would like to clean up and rest so that I can present myself to Zauqir the Tradesman."
"I'll show you to your room. The one with the most light. And it is across the road from the tradesman."
Namor's room was quite except for his head. His head always had a gentle roar with a high-pitched scream. The scream made it hard for him to relax his mind. He had to reason or calculate as a distraction from his distraction.
"I'm a backwards Drave."
The ceiling gave no answer. He closed his eyes for a rest and thought about the Drave who took his book.
He wanted to see her again.
He got up to look out his window. At his world. It was not his world. He was simply in it. Namor could picture the brutality of the tax collectors. He had heard enough stories from the tax collectors. He had it pointed out to him by the Old Man from a backwards perspective. The Draves had been raped generations long. Or put in games of death. There were many ways to abuse and kill them. It was not a good tradition.
Namor took sword in hand.
"What do we do now, Drave King. Now that you are awake and the reality of your world is quite different from the royal family dream."
He was good with a sword. It was a royal family sport. No one died. Perhaps a cut on occasion when someone was not paying close enough attention. No King was without a few little scars. It showed character.
In the Drave games there was no time for sport. Swords were used to kill. Hesitate and die.
Namor swung his sword around until his arms were sore.
Namor threw his sword on the table and picked up his Fish Patent book. He looked through it. He tried to understand how they were Royal Family Fish Patents. The Royal Family lived in a castle far from the fish. But somehow, they seemed to be associated in some way to his mad family.
"Are you our fish. Sardine type G8. Royal Family Patent number 1.8_4B3_2C1_FSx. Patent registry EDAD 2066. Date OFEP_LSD 5999 EDAD 32964."
He read several more fish aloud. They were Royal Family fish. The more he read the more he understood that much. How he was to make sense of it was too much before having another brew and some fish soup.
Namor put his sword in its sheath. Looked around his new dwelling. Smiled as he pulled open his one door. Walked down three flights of stairs. And went back to the Old Man's soup kitchen. Stood at the bar and awaited his brew.
It came directly.
"Brew for the Drave King."
"Thank you, Old Man."
"Any luck with your book."
"Maybe. But either I don't understand what a fish is, or I don't understand what the Royal Family is."
"I can tell you that a fish is a fish and spends its life under water. And Draves and Royal Family and tax collectors love to eat them."
"That is clear enough, if one knows a fish habitat and fish on a dish. But what is the Royal Family. Why do they have all the fish in a book."
"I think, my dear wise King, it is your job to answer that."
"I will need some time to work on it."
"Take all the time you need."
"Did you look at either of the books."
"I looked through them. Royal Family Grain Patents A to G. Grass Patents from S."
"Anything interesting."
"Interesting how many there are. I can't imagine where you would grow them all. I'd like to have some seeds."
"Some seeds."
"Each grain and grass has a seed. Some good to make bread, some good to make brew."
"Yes. I know."
"Do you know how to get the grain and grass seeds."
"Not by name and number but yes, we have many grains and gasses in and above Castle City. We can go in and gather some seeds."
"I would like that."
"We will make a journey up the mountain to the fields. I have heard there is all manner of grass and grain, birds and grazing animals."
"Look, the tradesman, Zauqir. Zauqir, this is King Namor. The Book King."
Namor and Zauqir looked at each other without speaking. Zauqir knew there were few like Namor. He knew Namor was his son. He also knew he was not really his son. His mother had left Zauqir when she had become visibly pregnant. She wanted her son to be a king.
Zauqir finally smiled.
"I remember you. You were with the Drave woman. The one I gave a book."
"Yes, you were covered in dust. I remember you. Tell me, King Namor. What brings you out of your Castle. It is not so common to have a royal family member in our village."
"Books. I came out of my castle to find the library. But I think what I really want to see is the ocean."
"You've read about the ocean."
"I have heard about the ocean. I have a fish patent book."
Namor suddenly realized something about the date. He knew what a date was. He was made king at his last birth date. The official date. 35,989. That was the LSD. He was certain of that. The patents were made before there was LSD.
Zauqir and the old man watched the puzzled look pass over Namor.
"What is it. King Namor."
"The royal family had fish before we had an official date. Before we started counting time. We have counted nearly 36,000 years."
Zauqir and the old man looked at him. Waiting for him to continue.
"The most amazing thing about these books is not what is in them. What is amazing is how old they are. What's in them might not make sense now. Because our world is thousands of years later. Thirty-six thousand years later."
Still Zauqir and the old man had no response. Namor took the grain book and looked through it for almost half a brew before he spoke again. He was being watched by more than a few pairs of eyes.
"I think, the Royal Family has been here, at this castle, maybe as long as 36 thousand years. LSD years. Which are more in EDAD years. No. Yes. An EDAD year is not as long as an LSD year. And that, my friends, it truly absurd."
"And what is an EDAD year and an LSD years."
"Exactly the question. And my question is what were we doing before we had LSD. For I am quite certain that before LSD years there was no castle."
"And what do we have, now that we know this."
Namor laughed.
"Obviously another brew."
Namor was pleased to see that Zauqir was friendly to him even if he seemed somewhat cautious.
"I think, what will appear obvious, is."
"What."
"That our preconceptions are clouds before our eyes."
"What are our preconceptions."
"Royal Family. Tax collectors. Draves. Fish and grain patents. I want to go to the ocean. Will you take me. I will pay."
"Let me think about it."
"We have fabricated the dream. Those before us. And what is most crazy is that I can only make sense out of such an action if we were to wake again. That the time to dream was not a mistake. Or that it was."
Namor smiled but not did not continue. It was enough of trying to learn the world for one day.
Zauqir found it astonishing that he was looking at his son, the Drave King. He knew it was not a dream. He could see that he was in it like everyone else was in it. He was the one talking to his son after so many years, drinking a brew with him and the old man. Filling a pipe. For the three of them to smoke. Like it was something he had done a hundred times.
And about them the dream of the royal family was starting to fall away to wakefulness.
chapter 10
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