Kadian

The Great Altercation

Daewon swiftly motioned towards a small waterbuck grazing fifteen feet from the bush he hid behind.  “That’s you,” he mouthed to Mohassen.  Daewon didn’t dare use his spear from such a distance unless it was deemed absolutely necessary, and it wasn’t, seeing that Mohassen had brought along his bow.

Mohassen slowly reached for his quiver as Daewon gave him a disapproving look for not having an arrow ready.  He selected a dull arrow, loaded his bow, and aimed towards the oblivious animal.  It missed, and hit a tree trunk instead.  The waterbuck lifted his head before running off into the trees.

“Mo!”  Daewon threw his hands up in the air.  “What the hell was that man?”

Mohassen threw his bow down and grabbed a handful of his own hair. “I don’t know!  This is not a good day for hunting, I already told you that!”

Daewon shook his head.  “You were the one who said it was a good day to hunt!  Don’t get mad at me cause this is your third miss.”

Mohassen closed his eyes and sighed.  “I know.  I know.”  

“Did something happen?”

“What do you mean?”  Mohassen asked.

“I mean what I said.  Did something happen with you and Kadian?”

Mohassen’s eyes flew open.  “Why would you assume that?”

Daewon frowned.  “So it is her.”  

“I never said that.”

Daewon grinned and repeated himself.  “So it is her.”

Mohassen brought his arms down, folded them, and took a deep breath. “Daewon...have you ever witnessed something you did not want to see?”

“I think we all have.”

“But has it ever stuck with you afterwards?”

Daewon’s face softened.  “It’s about one of them isn’t it?  You can talk to me about any of them, bro.  You know that”  

Mohassen’s eyes widened as he shook his head.  “No!  It isn't about them this time. You already said the right name earlier.”

Daewon replayed the conversation in his mind.  “Ah,” he exclaimed. “Her.”

Mohassen frowned.  “Why did you say it that way?”

“What way?”

“Her,” Mohassen mimicked.  

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Mohassen laughed.  “Nevermind Dae.”  He grew serious, and lowered his voice.  “But you have to promise me that you will never tell a single soul what I am about to tell you.”  

“Promise.”

“No no,” Mohassen’s voice grew even lower.  “A serious promise.  Look me in the eye and promise me that I will not walk by and hear anyone talking about this tomorrow.”

“I, Daewon, promise that the nosy ass village will not be talking about whatever you’re about to tell me.  Now tell me.”

Daewon’s eyes grew as Mohassen spoke, but he did not interrupt Mohassen’s story.  When he finished, Daewon immediately said, “Ugh!”

Mohassen clenched his jaw.  “‘Ugh’?”

Daewon laughed.  “Don’t nobody want to see that shit!  Of all the girls...I don’t even wanna imagine it...ugh!” He twisted his face.  “I feel for you Mo. That must’ve been disgusting.”

“That was not the point of the story, and she was not disgusting!”

Daewon narrowed his eyes.  “Mo…”

“I was not disgusted.”

Daewon gave him an incredulous look.  “What the hell?” His voice was almost a whisper.

Mohassen couldn’t hold back any longer.  “No, what the hell is with you?!  Why do you act like she’s some beast?”

“I thought you didn’t like her either!”

“I don’t, but I am not delusional!  She’s not bad to look at, and you know it.”

Daewon shook his head violently.  He couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of Mohassen’s mouth.  “Nah, man.  I guess I wanna be delusional then, cause that’s some bull.”

“No Daewon, you’re on some bull!”

“No, you are! You’ve been on some bullshit ever since the day she walked down Shango!  How the fuck do you hate her, but she’s the only one you got time for?  How the fuck do you not want to train her, but you always come back talking about how good it's going?  What kind of sense does that make?!”

Mohassen realized that he hadn’t spent a lot of time with Daewon ever since Kadian’s return from Shango.  As he thought about it, he realized that he never asked Kadian about what she experienced on that dreadful day.  Then he remembered that he was supposed to be feeling sorry for Daewon, and realized that was part of his problem.

“Calm down Daewon.  Things are serious right now, but I will make it up to you. I promise.”  He offered a small smile.

“You need to make it up to those wives too…”  Daewon muttered as he looked down and poked the soil with his spear.

“What the fuck did you just say?!” Mohassen snapped.

“You heard me.  You need to make it up to your wives too.  When Mimosa died you acted like a human being, I’ll give you that- you cried and shit.  Alaba die and you hardly talk about her, you barely said shit to me about Alaba!  And now you don’t even talk about either of them, you just running around with your new girl.  Nah, not even your new girl, your new bitch!”

Mohassen could barely register what had happened as he watched Daewon lying on the ground, holding his bloody mouth.  He spit a tooth out, and Mohassen looked at the knuckles of his right hand.  They were slightly swollen.  He didn’t know what to say- he wasn’t sorry, after all.

Mohassen was surprised when Daewon spoke.  “You just mad that someone was honest with you,” he mumbled before spitting out blood. “Honesty, something that friends have.  Your bitch wouldn’t know anything about that.”

Mohassen clenched his fists.  “She is not my bitch.”

“Well if she’s not your girl or bitch or your friend then what is she?”

“She’s my trainee, and The Savior, are you forgetting that?  You are willing to forget that the spirits walked down and commanded me to train her?”

“Whatever man, you willing to forget that the spirits didn’t tell you to be a creep?”

Mohassen dropped down and beat on Daewon until his own knuckles began to bleed.  Finally, he stood and wiped his hands.  “You were attacked by...jackals,” Mohassen muttered to Daewon as he headed towards the village.