Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [124]
So people from Wataru’s world were like omens of good luck. That made sense, considering Travelers could come only once every ten years. Meeting one would be a rare thing indeed.
Kee Keema helped Wataru scramble up into the darbaba carriage. He sat by the waterkin’s side. The bench had been fashioned from a single plank of hard wood, and couldn’t exactly be called comfortable. But compared to walking across the endless grasslands, it felt like a seat in paradise.
“Now you’ll want to tie your waist to the baggage cart with that leather strap there,” Kee Keema cautioned. “I’m used to it so I’m fine, but when Turbo really gets going, the carriage, she rocks a bit.”
Then with a loud and crisp hyah! and a quick snap of Kee Keema’s whip, they were off. Turbo gave a low bellow and steam arose from his nostrils, reminding Wataru of his mother’s favorite pressure cooker.
“That’s right, Turbo’s feeling it now!”
Half of Kee Keema’s words fell short of Wataru’s ears as Turbo launched into motion and the hard seat below Wataru’s rear suddenly transformed into a trampoline. If he hadn’t been holding on so tightly, he would have been bumped up and out and deposited on the ground right then.
“Hang on!” Kee Keema shouted, grabbing Wataru by the collar and pulling him back to the seat. “Don’t be jumping around like that. Stick out your legs, put little a strength in yer gut.”
“I’m tr-trying,” Wataru stuttered, barely able to catch his breath for all the jostling. He was being tossed about like a lottery ping-pong ball, afraid to talk for fear he would bite off his tongue. Every time he tried to grab something to hold on to he clutched empty air. It wasn’t just bouncing up and down either. They lurched to the right, then the left, and sometimes curved through the high grasses at an angle so steep Wataru feared they might tip.
“Can’t you slow down a little?”
Suddenly, Wataru found himself in the air, his arms and legs flailing uselessly. Then he was landing on Kee Keema’s shoulders, until he was riding the lizard-man piggyback.
“Ha ha!” Kee Keema laughed with his mouth wide open. “You’re welcome to sit up there if you like, Traveler Wataru!”
“N-n-no I c-couldn’t! R-really, I-I’ll get off. I’m t-too heavy…”
“Nonsense! Yer light as a feather.”
“But, but, but…” But he couldn’t get off even if he wanted to. The waterkin’s skin looked just like a lizard’s, but it wasn’t slippery at all. Rather it was a dry and sturdy, and his neck was just the right size for grasping onto for dear life.
Wataru found himself wondering how many years it had been since he last rode on his father’s shoulders. His father wasn’t a big sturdy man like Kee Keema, but riding up there, Wataru always felt secure. He would bounce and his father would get angry at him, saying he was too heavy—but Wataru knew he didn’t really mean it. Or did he? Was I too heavy all those years?
Wataru looked up. Now that he didn’t have to be so worried about falling off at any moment, he could enjoy the scenery a little. As far as he could see everything was grass, glowing like a green saucer catching the sun’s light. The thing like a road Wataru had seen in the distance now seemed to be more of the path worn by the passing of darbaba carriages. It narrowed and widened, at times twisting like a snake, at times lying straight like a white line across the grass, shooting toward the horizon.
The air was a little gritty, but the feel of the wind on his face and in his hair was exhilarating. Wataru breathed deep and felt like shouting at the top of his lungs for no reason at all.
“Fast, isn’t he?” Kee Keema shouted, turning his head so his voice wouldn’t be entirely lost in the wind.
“Amazing!”
“Raised this one from a baby, I did. Best runner in Nacht, or me name’s not Kee Keema!”
Are we in Nacht