Book I of III: The Swords of the Sultan (24 page)

Of course, Baltor followed, and upon the two
reaching the backyard, he saw a huge barn and more clusters of pine
trees here and there—the giant had already reached the door to the
barn and waited in silence for Baltor to near. And once this was so
about thirty seconds later, he opened the main door to the
barn.

After Baltor had entered, the giant closed
the door.

Baltor saw six stalls, three on the left and
three on the right. The first two stalls on the left had a horse
sticking its head out, though the far stall looked empty, as well
all the ones on the right.

Yaush saw Baltor turn his head toward him in
confusion, and so he pointed with his index finger over to the last
stall on the left.

As Baltor neared, he saw that these stalls
were actually quite long, and that hidden in the last stall on the
left—lo and behold there was his camel eating away on some hay!

Valuspo appeared to be just as joyous to see
Baltor. For when Baltor leaned over the stall, the camel marched
right on up and slurped a big fat juicy kiss on his smiling
face.

As Baltor spit out a few pieces of hay in his
mouth, Yaush suddenly burst out into booming laughter—a few seconds
later, Baltor joined him in the laughter, even though he had to
spit a couple more times in between to get the taste of hay
out.

Once the air had turned serious, nearly a
minute later, Yaush again slapped himself in the chest, and again
said his name, “Yaush.”

He then pointed at his own eyes with both of
his index fingers, and added, “kahusho.” Finally, he pointed at
Baltor and then said, “Baltor.” (12)

Baltor nodded in understanding that “Yaush”
had “seen” “Baltor.”

A few seconds later, Yaush continued, “Yaush
kahusho scarain—scarain.” (13) He next physically demonstrated what
“scarain” meant by baring his teeth, making a growling noise, and
clenching his hands open and shut. Once done with his
demonstration, he again said, “scarain.”

Baltor again nodded in understanding that
Yaush had also seen the giant white cat—scarain.

Yaush next said, “Yaush mansuon scarain.”
(14) He demonstrated what “mansuon” meant by fisting both of his
hands right out in front of his chest, side to side. While keeping
his left fist in place, he drew back the rear fist—once it had
evened out with his chest, he opened that fist by spreading all his
fingers outward and making a “zinging sound” with his mouth.

Instantly, Baltor nodded in understanding
that Yaush had shot an arrow into the beast, and judging from the
colossal size of this giant, most likely killed it in one shot.

Yaush confirmed Baltor’s suspicion by
pointing his index finger to his temple, and rolling his eyes into
the back of his head for just a moment before saying, “Yaush banari
scarain.” (15)

Even though Baltor was only ninety-nine
percent sure that Yaush had just said he killed the scarain—he was
a hundred percent sure and equally grateful, that the giant had
saved his life.

Because Baltor didn’t know how to say “thank
you” in Yaush’s language, he instead cupped his hands together in
front of him at abdominal level and threw his head into a bow, in
order to express his “sincerest appreciation.”

A few seconds later, Yaush clamped his
gigantic right hand around Baltor’s left shoulder, and said, “Gemne
mao.” (16)

Although Baltor didn’t understand what Yaush
had last said, he threw his gaze back from his shoulder and up,
observing that Yaush was looking down and smiling—Baltor smiled
back.

After letting go of Baltor’s shoulder, Yaush
first cupped both of his hands out in front of him, bowed for a
second, and said, “Gemne mao, Yaush.” When he said his name, he
recommenced to smile.

Baltor now understood how to say “thank you,”
and so he confirmed, “Gemne mao, Yaush.”

After nodding his head affirmatively twice,
Yaush pointed his index finger at Baltor, and said, “Mao sahu
vlaidim, Baltor.” (17)

Baltor assumed that this meant, “You are
welcome.”

If he was right, besides the very few phrases
he had learned, he had just figured out two important keywords:
“mao” meant “you,” and “tao” meant “me.”

Additionally, nodding your head means, “yes,”
and so he nodded his head a few times. He wondered if shaking the
head meant “no”?

Nearly ten seconds of nodding and smiling
occurred between the two men before Baltor strangely began to feel
a little uncomfortable from Yaush’s deep staring, and so Baltor
cast his eyes back into his camel’s stall, spotting two familiar
objects sitting in the right corner on the ground—1) his saber. 2)
his unopened bag.

With an elated expression, he looked back at
Yaush.

Yaush, after a chuckle, walked over to the
stall and unlatched the door, but only opened the door a sliver as
he assumed that the camel would probably try to run away. Baltor,
on the other hand, knew better.

He put out his hands in front of him, left
hand in front of the right, and he next began to wiggle his index
and middle fingers back and forth a dozen times, indicating a
moving animal.

Two seconds later, Baltor stopped wiggling
his fingers, clinched his fists, and shook his head negatively, in
order to indicate that his camel wouldn’t run away. Finally, he
pointed at Valuspo with his right index finger while introducing,
“Valuspo.”

Understanding, Yaush fully opened the door to
the stall, and tenderly he began petting the camel’s face while
cooing, “Visha blaka fe mao, Valuspo. Tai, mao sahu yuits e rescha
chirsa, po larse eithen po vixtes!” (18)

While Baltor’s mind assumed that Yaush’s
first statement was either “hello” or “good morning,” the only clue
that he had regarding the second statement was that it must have
been “some sort of compliment,” for Valuspo’s head reared back
quite proudly and happily, while his eyes equally reflected that
“pride and happiness.”

A few seconds later, the camel abruptly
slurped Yaush in the face, which caused Baltor to burst out
laughing; and a couple seconds later, Yaush joined in the
laughter.

A few moments later, Valuspo looked a bit
confused, and let out an excited “
Annhhhgggrrrrhh!
”

Valuspo’s highly unusual sound caused Baltor
and Yaush to burst out laughing heartily—meanwhile, the camel
continuously made those really strange sounds, which in turn caused
the two men to begin laughing so hard that tears were literally
pouring out of their eyes! It took a grand total of three or four
minutes before the out-of-control laughter finally subsided.

While still wiping the tears from his eyes
and chuckling, Baltor walked over to the saber and bag, kneeled
down with his back to Yaush, who was still petting and talking to
Valuspo. Baltor next picked up the saber, set it down next to the
bag, and opened it.

He was very relieved to discover that
everything was set up exactly the way he had left it, and after
sliding a bunch of items around in the bag, he was even more joyous
to notice that the map was still in its original place at the very
bottom.

He immediately slid the items back into their
original place and shut the bag, and after setting the saber back
down onto the bag, he stood back up onto his feet, and turned
around.

Yaush noticed the furtive movement, turned
his head to look at

Baltor, and after pointing outside the open
stall, he said, “Gaor tao, Baltor.” (19) He exited the stall,
walked to the outside of the stall door, and put his hand on the
latch on the door.

As soon as he had seen Baltor exit the stall,
which was only a second later, Yaush closed and secured the door
before making his way for the entrance to the barn. Baltor
followed.

By the time they were outside, a half minute
or so later, he could see that Yaush was leading them back to the
cabin.

Once they were standing on the front porch,
another minute later, Yaush began to stomp his feet in order to get
all the snow off, of which there was a lot. Baltor had barely any
snow on his boots, so he was done first.

Once Yaush was done, he opened the door,
entered the cabin, and gestured for Baltor to enter—after Baltor
did, he closed the door.

After transforming his thick eyebrows into
forty-five degree angles, Yaush said, “Baltor.”

Baltor turned around. Meanwhile, the woman
had just looked up from her task. Yaush pointed at his own nodding
head, and said, “Gav.”

As Baltor figured out that “gav” means “yes,”
he asked one question in all eight languages that he fluently spoke
and understood, “Can you speak this language?”

In the end, however, Yaush and the woman’s
confused faces and heads that shook “no” showed that neither
understood a single one of Baltor’s eight languages.

A few moments after Baltor had stopped
speaking, Yaush stopped shaking his head, and said, “Busk.”
(21)

Even though Baltor had just begun to look
frustrated, Yaush rubbed his stomach in tiny circles, while asking,
“Yar?” (22)

Baltor nodded his head in the affirmative
several times, as he understood that Yaush was asking him if he was
hungry.

Yaush nodded his own head, while confirming,
“Gav.” He then shook his head from side to side and said,
“Busk.”

“Gav,” Baltor replied.

Yaush turned to face the woman, who was still
looking at Baltor. He then asked, “Pia, prisha maotaos casaom leama
fe briska vas Baltor? Gaps yar, Jimnee.” (23)

While gesturing to the fur coat, the woman
replied, “Aprica busk, Ta’ve casaom optan suara vusko pren fretha
rastuten vas gop sen gep chirso.” (24)

After a short pause, she gestured outside
with her thumb, and seemed to suggest something by the tone of her
voice, “Yaush, nenso prisha’t mao marsa gop fe
Peov Baeus?
”
(25)

The woman’s gaze then fell back upon Baltor;
she pointed at herself and said, “Jimnee.”

With a hearty laugh, Yaush lightly slapped
himself in the head, and while rolling his eyes in head several
times, he said, “Baltor, Jimnee. Jimnee, Baltor!”

Baltor nodded and smiled at Jimnee, and then
walked over to her with hand extended—though she took his hand in
hers, she did not shake that hand first before releasing.

At that moment, he remembered how to say
“thank you” in their language, and so he said, “Gemne mao,
Jimnee.”

With a mild look of surprise, Jimnee promptly
responded, “Mao sahu vlaidim, Baltor.” (26)

He was sure she said, “You’re welcome,” so he
nodded his head while still bearing an appreciative smile.

Meanwhile, Yaush was already waiting at the
open door, and after another slap into his chest, which drew
Baltor’s attention back to the giant, he said, “Gaor tao, Baltor.”
(27)

Baltor followed him out the door, and the two
made their way down the hill, through the forest, and toward the
busy section of town, in which dozens of people walked here and
there. Other than the children, he inevitably discovered that all
the adult males were approximately six to nine feet tall, while the
females were all around five to six feet tall—most had pale skin
with blond hair, but a select few had red hair. In all of his days,
he had only seen one “blondie” before, and that was Lydia—and only
once had he seen a “carrot top,” Thesmul, and he had counted out
four so far.

Though many of the townsfolk threw
inquisitive looks at Baltor, none of them said anything directly
toward him. Instead, they simply threw friendly smiles, and
greeted, “Visha blaka fe mao.” (28)

Each time, Yaush would respond back
similarly.

Baltor’s assumption was that they were saying
“good morning” to each other. However, he didn’t want to mess up
and say the wrong thing, so he would simply throw friendly smiles
and/or nods into their direction—always were those smiles
returned.

Finally, they came across what appeared to be
a restaurant, as there was a sign above the door written in a
foreign language, and just above the writing, there was the etched
picture of a roaring bear. The only reason that Baltor knew that
this place was a restaurant wasn’t from the sign, but from the
smells of foods cooking and the chattering going on inside.

Yaush entered the restaurant with Baltor
right behind, and as soon as the patrons saw “the stranger”—the
chattering instantly died down and everyone stared in blank
silence.

Yaush stepped to the left by Baltor’s side,
proudly clapped him on the shoulder with one hand, and with the
other free hand, he extended it out amongst the patrons while his
voice boomed, “Partastucia, caloph hup tai laka jaosaim, Baltor!
Baltor, calophin sahu vusko tai visha jaosaims!” (29)

Even though Baltor didn’t understand what in
the world Yaush had just said, he did understand as the bulk of the
patrons greeted back, “Visha blaka fe mao, Baltor!” (30)

Baltor felt a bit sheepish from all the
attention, yet managed to respond, “Visha blaka ve mao.”

Several in the crowd laughed at Baltor’s
mispronunciation, but even they then went back to business, eating
and chatting happily amongst one another themselves.

Yaush gestured toward an empty table with
four chairs nearby and said, “Baltor, haso.” (31) He then walked
over and sat down—two seconds later Baltor sat down on the other
side of the table.

Within moments, this strawberry-blonde-haired
girl approached the table with a serving tray in hand. In Baltor’s
observation and opinion, she was so cute, innocent, and adorable,
all these wonderful qualities rolled into one, that his mouth
dropped open a couple of inches.

The girl’s gaze, however, was locked upon
Yaush, and with this wonderfully soft and tender voice that made
Baltor’s heart pump even faster and harder, he heard her sweetly
say, “Visha blaka fe mao, Yaush!” (32)