AKAYA: Kingdom Come (Untold Stories 3)

01

There are doors that we cannot open, nor were destined for us to walk through.

I always kept my thoughts inside my head. No other exits were for them to be delivered. As I was raised by my father's brother, I could not know nor determine my place in the hut they call home. 

Of course, I should be thankful. They feed me cheese and greens, they give me a place to sleep and a shelter for the night. Why would I even have this feeling of doubt about gratitude? Well, one wouldn't know why.

Every morning, before the sun shines full, I would go to the well behind our house. The wooden bucket would always be the one my strength greets on. I swing the rope to its handle before letting it go down the dark pit of water.

One full order and the water goes to the horses, another for the goat. After taking care of the animals, I'd light the fire and begin heating the water for our tea. I always liked tea, not because of its smell or taste. Its bitter impression got me to hook myself to it.

The smell of tea from the cup awakes my Aunt. She pushes the curtains that cover their room to the side and scratch her cheeks with her fingers. Nothing's more dominant here than the cold. We live between the South and North Border. Not exactly in between but somewhere between those lines. 

We're called Tarachies, which means that we are unsettled residents of the country. We don't live in the South or the North. We don't fit in their societies, nor belong there. We're poor and we own no property.

Upon saying poor, it's somehow different from the vocabulary from other places. We settle in an unmanned land and so we don't call this land ours as well. People living inside the borders are considered well-off. 

Here, we raise pigs and such. Even though they look at us like dust underneath rugs, they still don't fail to negotiate with us especially when it comes to illegal trading. They are not allowed to come in business or connection with us.

However, some speak for their own. My uncle has just returned on his horse after trading half a dozen swords in exchange for three whole chickens which can be our meal for a week. We don't make the best weapons here but there inside the borders, weapons are sold for a high price.

In that case, foul-minded people would buy our weapon and sell it for the same price as theirs. As if it was made by experts and well-off insiders. 

My uncle goes directly to the kitchen and cleans the chicken that he brought. I walked near the windows and pulled them closed as I saw my Aunt hugging her knees from the cold. Cold mornings always make us run out of tea and so they both hate it.

The couple I am living with only has one child. A she, just like me. When my uncle walks out of the kitchen, his eyes immediately met mine, and with the surprise of him holding a knife, my eyes open wide.

His hand elevates as he suddenly throws me a knife. My aunt couldn't contain her reaction and resulted to shout before covering her mouth with her palm. I maintained composure and immediately moved away by tilting my elbow backward and stepping one foot to the side.