Chp.7: Learning about different cultures
Darbi suddenly shuddered. He didn't know why, but for no apparent reason he felt a shiver run up his spine. It was almost as if his instincts were warning him that someone, somewhere in the world, was very angry with him. He hoped it was just a hunch, or at least that the person who was mad at him wasn't too dangerous… or that it wasn't someone in his family, which is quite possible.
"Hey, dude! Are you okay?" Gord asked, seeing him suddenly tense.
Darbi let out a snort. "I just had a cold shiver... forget it, it's nothing important". The lizardman didn't seem very convinced (also because after months spent together he knew very well that dragons, due to their thick scales, couldn't feel cold, at least not like the newcomers) but after a moment of uncertainty he decided not to go into the matter further and went back to lean on the balustrade and observe the nearby shore, where there were hundreds of people.
After the mission was successfully completed, Darbi and his men took all the freed lizardmen to a hidden spot on the Kotenka River, where they then stopped and waited for the other two teams to arrive. After about a week, Gord had reached them bringing thousands of tigermen prisoners with him, and consequently he too had stopped there waiting for their last companion, Brenno, who, barring a hitch, would arrive the following week bringing with him all the lionmen prisoners. . Once the fleet was fully rebuilt, they would all weigh anchor and continue on to the Skai River and then on to the rendezvous point with Haku and the others.
Darbi and Gord had used the time they had to wait to good effect. Both had organized scout parties to keep an eye on the surrounding area and had taken steps to hunt some fish to increase food supplies, if only slightly. With the help of the ex-slaves they had cured most of the prisoners; since the potions of regeneration and healing were limited, priority had obviously been given to those who were in the worst shape, while the others had to settle for remedies based on medicinal herbs collected in the vicinity of the river. Fortunately, this situation would have been temporary: using the body of an amphitrite, in fact, Darbi's siblings periodically sent him new potions that Maldor created, and even if they were few, they were always welcome. They most likely couldn't truly cure everyone even before they were reunited with Haku, but as long as everyone was alive, there was hope; this was Darbi's idea and it was shared by many people, who in fact, despite the pains, didn't complain and tried to resist.
People were easy to handle if they were desperate. Darbi had expected there would be more rioting on the ships following the huge increase in passengers, but this hadn't happened. It hadn't been hard to understand why: those people had spent so much time in extremely difficult conditions that they were now willing to accept anything to continue to be free. Darbi and Gord and Brenno and all their men had been beacons of hope to them, and suddenly their words had become their guide, and as they invited them to be still and help each other, they followed that precept. Also, most charismatic or even problematic people had long since been eliminated by Carrion's henchmen, so there were few who could cause trouble. It was unlikely that this situation would last forever, but as long as it did, they were a good thing.
Well, actually Darbi wasn't exactly part of that beacon of hope, at least not like Gord or the other beastmen. He had clearly noticed it: no one had said it to his face, obviously, and many had come to express their gratitude, but in any case they always looked at him with great suspicion. Darbi had tried to ignore the stares, but sadly he wasn't completely blind. He knew what was on the minds of the ex-prisoners: he could almost hear the question 'what is the dragon planning?' in their minds. Darbi was fully aware that newcomers saw dragons as dangerous predatory murderers and deceivers, but he wished they tried to disguise it a bit more.
In an effort to gain more trust (and also because he planned to anyway) Darbi had agreed to allow the lizardmen to conduct funerals. This unfortunately hadn't changed people's perception of him much, but at least it had distracted them a little from his presence. Every day a few boats were lowered into the water and went to the river bank, and there the lizardmen conducted their funeral rites. Darbi had discovered that funerals for lizardmen varied according to age: if the deceased was a child, then the body was wrapped in a beautiful white cloth and raised to the sky several times by a priest, while the other lizardmen wept and gathered their tears in small jars which they then threw on the child's body, and only after almost half an hour was he buried. If the deceased was an adult, the lizardmen would place him on a stone slab and place a spade in his right hand and a flower in his left, and then the priest said a few words and the guests wept, collecting their tears again. but instead of throwing them on the deceased they were then mixed with standing water and poured by the priest over the head of the deceased, at which point he was buried. Finally, if the deceased was an elderly person, he was placed directly on the ground wrapped in sumptuous clothes, his hands were placed on his chest and a sheet of papyrus was placed in them containing the most important sentences he said in life; in this case, no one wept during the priest's speech and the latter only poured standing water on the head of the dead, who was then buried. In reality these funerals took place only in half: since the lizardmen did not want to bury their loved ones in those lands that after their long imprisonment they had learned to hate, the bodies instead of being buried were simply placed in a dimensional bag where they would be were kept until they reached the Thul Oasis, where they would then be buried for real.
Darbi had tried to understand the meaning of those funeral rites, but had not succeeded. He hadn't had the audacity to ask those directly involved, so in the end he had asked for explanations from one of his men who was also a lizardman. The latter had carefully explained to him the symbolism of these funerals, which was deeply linked to the marshes since this environment had been their home for generations. In the case of the child, he had been deprived of his chance at life, before he could actually splash in the marshy water, and therefore could receive nothing but tears from his family members; according to the legends of the lizardmen, the tears with which the child was sprinkled would have created a channel to the realm of their god Crotokor, so the child on his way to the afterlife would have learned to swim and could have presented himself before the god like a complete lizardman. The priest also lifted the child's body to make it easier for him to walk towards heaven, since it was still small and unable to walk on his own legs, and furthermore this gesture was identical to what the lizardmen parents performed when they immersed their children in the water to teach him to swim; also according to the lizardmen legends, the higher a child was lifted, the sooner he would learn to swim and thus reach the realm of their god. The white cloth represented a marsh animal, such as a heron or a stork, since they in the culture of the lizardmen were the representation of innocence, just like children.
In the case of adults, on the other hand, they were bathed both by tears and by stagnant water because, unlike children, they had already learned to swim and therefore they could receive the water they were used to wallowing in and with which they were therefore familiar; it would have created a simpler path for them to follow, but still incomplete and therefore still in need of help from the tears of family members. The objects placed in his hands symbolized his life: the spade was the symbol of his work, given that living in a swamp the main task of a lizardman was to shovel mud, while the flower was instead a representation of the family he had built; Darbi hadn't noticed it, but the number of flower petals reflected the number of spouses, children, and grandchildren. Similarly, small marks were engraved on the handle of the spade, symbolizing the number of years he had worked.
Finally, the elders did not need tears, because they had accumulated enough experience and had become so accustomed to their water that they needed nothing else to reach the kingdom of their god; also, an elder had been able to live his life fully, so there was no reason to mourn him. The sheet that was placed in his hands represented his wisdom and the fact that it was placed directly on the ground was due to the fact that he had become totally familiar with the mortal world and therefore had to embrace it one last time before ascending completely. In a way, those strange funeral rites for Darbi had a strange logic behind them. They were the representation of the culture of that people, their beliefs and their traditions, which blended together in an extraordinarily harmonious way.
By the time Gord had reached Darbi, the tigermen had also begun their funerals. Darbi had discovered that they were profoundly different from those of the lizardmen: instead of burying their dead, the tigermen burned them on a pyre surrounded by the possessions of the deceased. According to their belief, in fact, once a person's soul had gone to the realm of their god (who was apparently called Tharon), there was no longer any reason to leave the body intact; on the contrary, it was reduced to ashes and then they had to be scattered in the wind, so that they spread everywhere and became part of the world again. As the body burned, the tigermen formed a circle around the pyre and sang songs that well reflected their warrior nature. Darbi had been fascinated by those two peoples who were so similar but at the same time so different, who for the same purpose had created two almost opposite rituals, even though they didn't live so far apart and weren't even of too different races. He wondered how much diversity he might find in other peoples… the world really was a place full of variety, and that was what, at least from his point of view, made it so beautiful.
Gord's voice shook Darbi out of her thoughts: "They're coming. They're on that boat right now"
Darbi looked towards the shore and saw some tigermen who were returning to the ship using a small boat. Even if all the tigermen were particularly powerful physically, these were even more so, and the scars on their bodies testified to their warrior nature.
Gord obviously hadn't invited Darbi on his ship just for a reunion among friends: he had done it because the tigermen, who were much more irritable and agitated than the lizardmen, had begun to gather in small groups headed by one person, usually one of the few warriors remained, and that these people now wanted to meet the person in charge of that rescue operation, at least to give him their thanks and above all to know what the plans were for the future. Even though Gord had tried to explain everything to them, in the eyes of the tigermen he was only a captain, while Darbi was the real commander, so he was the one they wanted to talk to.
To avoid unrest, Darbi had agreed to Gord's request. However, the lizardman had confided in him that the tigermen leaders hadn't been too happy when he revealed that he was a dragon. Darbi had expected it, so he had prepared accordingly. Unfortunately he wasn't Haku and he didn't know how to control people properly... but he was sure he could at least convince them to continue together and not create unnecessary problems.
The tigermen quickly reached the ship and climbed aboard, and as soon as they saw the dragon their bodies became rigid and their gaze very sharp. It was immediately clear to Darbi that they didn't like him at all. One of them stepped forward. "You must be the dragon that commands this fleet" he said, chewing on the word 'dragon' as if he were eating something extremely sour.
Darbi sighed internally. It will be a long talk.