The Village of Aksa - Chapter 5

The three boys walked out of Camili towards the end of the school boulevard and then were completely out of sight from Atipu. Janaka’s stomach was churning with butterflies out of fear and his skin became so sensitive that even the slightest wind made him crawl onto Sampa’s shoulders.

“Why are you so scared? Haven’t you been to this part of town before?” asked Klacken in a casual manner.

“No. We haven’t. Where are we exactly?” asked Janaka

“We are at the neighboring part of town called Bocham. This is where all the dead bodies of people from the neighboring villages have been buried for ages. Fifty feet from here, to your right, you will notice a huge cemetery containing bodies that are over 2000 years old. It takes about two days just to walk a full circle around the cemetery. I have only been there once with Mr. Khaus. People usually don’t find their way out if they are deep inside the cemetery as the large number of crisscrossing paths make it impossible to keep track of your way.”

They were walking past the cemetery while Klacken was explaining to them the details of some of the tombs that he had seen on his visit. Klacken mentioned that the bodies were kept for a reason for which he didn’t have the answer. Janaka couldn’t gauge an end to the cemetery across the path from where they were walking from. The entire scene was serene from the outside with hundreds of trees sheltering the entire stretch of the cemetery with a few birds chirping and squeaking occasionally. There was no sight of human existence in the vicinity.

The three boys walked tirelessly for nearly an hour before they could spot another person on the road. “Aha. I think we might be close to the town where Mr. Khaus resides. I am completely relying on my memory from the past experience. I just hope our efforts aren’t wasted after all that walking.” said Klacken.

“In that case we would have atleast seen the cemetery that no one has heard or speaks of.” said Sampa sarcastically.

Klacken or Janaka gave dirty looks at Sampa as they really didn’t appreciate humor at this point in time. They approached an alley way where Klacken led them through and then stopped in front of a door that had something written in a language that they had never seen. Klacken seemed to have recognized the spot and showed some familiarity.

“It says, Love be shown upon those who deserve it and especially to those who don’t. It’s an ancient script called Saamo primarily used by the inhabitants of this town about 1000 years ago. I don’t think there is anybody who spoke or understands this language anymore. I am merely conveying what I was told last time.” said Klacken.

Both Janaka and Sampa were awestruck by this afternoon’s events. Even though Sampa was known to be the braver of the two, he began to doubt his courage from the time he walked past the cemetery. Janaka, on the other hand, was sure he wetted his pants at some point when they walked past it. He had only heard of dead bodies being burnt, never buried. He always thought it to be sinful to bury dead bodies. The thought of the remains decayed matter of bones and skeletons beneath the ground freaked him out. The unfamiliarity of this very town that he was in didn’t really mitigate the overall existing fear in him. All the worst stories that he had ever heard of growing up about dead bodies and scary towns came into mind and he didn’t rule out the possibility of every one of the ghostly tales to be true.

Klacken knocked at the mysterious door a couple of times. There were no signs of anyone coming to get them. Part of Janaka was glad that they could go back to Atipu but part of him wanted to see Mr. Khaus just so he had some support as had a reputation of being extremely powerful in especially warding off evil beings. Just before the boys decided to head back to Atipu they could hear someone shouting from the inside, far from where they were standing. They decided to give another knock at the door and wait for the response.

“Coming. Coming.”

It was the voice that was unusually high pitched for a man. Klick. A man, with an unusually long grey beard and hair that came up to his shoulders, opened the door.

“Sorry, I was busy in the kitchen preparing dinner. So how can I help you boys today?” said the bearded man.

“Sir, we are looking for Mr. Khaus. We are students from Atipu. I am from Camili and they are from Ashra.” said Klacken.

“Ashra. Yes Ashra. I used to teach the science of miniscule creatures back in the days when I was much younger.” The bearded man went into his own space probably fantasizing his younger days but he was quick to come back to reality. “There are so many things in life that are not under one’s control. The constant struggle for justice and equality in the world is time and energy consuming, and sometimes we may never experience the positive results that we work for. Sometimes, that is what that keeps us going. In this age of hatred and violence amongst one another, the least we could do is listen and accept one another. Sorry, I am going on a tangent here. So who are you boys and what brings you all here from Atipu?” The bearded maintained a serene expression even though his thoughts conveyed a mixture of emotions about his past and the present.

“Well, sir. My name is Klacken. I have met Mr. Khaus previously and now I brought Janaka and Sampa here because they were told to meet him.” Klacken expressed no doubts about their dreams and was confident about Mr. Khaus’s intentions in the dream.

“Ok. Now may I ask how he told you?”

“Mr.Khaus came in my dream a couple of days ago and communicated it….sir.” said Janaka instantly as though he was the one who was supposed to answer that question.

The bearded seemed to have anticipated the arrival of the boys and didn’t hesitate to let them in.

“Mr. Khaus is in his room and wishes not to be disturbed for another day so why don’t you boys come in and I will show you your room so you can spend the night there. You may wish to move around town. There are plenty of things to do here, you can watch some of the street plays that happen every night at the central block, or you may wish to eat in the huts nearby to try out different kinds of foods that are available in this town that may not otherwise be available in Atipu. Or you may even go around the farm that we have in our back yard, it’s enormous and goes all the way up to the cemetery. I’m sure you will find things to do here for a day. If you need anything, I will be either in my room or the kitchen, so don’t hesitate to call me.”

Having given them a bunch of options the bearded man began to leave before he realized that he hadn’t introduced himself. Stopping for a moment and turning back he said “Oh, by the way, my name is Nahaari. I am Mr. Khaus’s assistant. Oh and let me show you your room.”

The three of them gave a huge sigh when they heard the name. They had come across several stories of the sage named Nahaari mentioned in their academic books. Most of the stories exemplified his bravery and courage in numerous wars that were fought in the town of Bocham.

Thee three boys were taken past a huge living room through several passages and were then shown the room. It was very spacious for the three of them with three beds and a window that opened out to the farm which they guessed was the backyard. Once he showed them the room, he left and the boys made themselves comfortable. The first thing that Janaka did was to close the blinds as he didn’t want to see the farm. The three of them were so tired that they hardly spoke to one another. They just lay there looking at the ceiling in the room and dozed off before they even realized it.