Kanaye began to cry.
Kino rose from her seat at the table and bowed slightly. "Thank you for your story, Kanaye. I understood it very well. Too well," she added under her breath.
Kanaye continued to sob, head in his hands.
Kino gave him a parting glance. "Come on, Hermes."
Kanaye raised his head, tears standing in his eyes. "I'm the only person left in this city. It's so lonely. I can almost understand why my friend, Toshiro, wanted to leave."
"Yes, but..." Kino considered her words, then said, "But it was your choice, after all – to be alone."
He nodded. "Doing the right thing often means paying a high price. This kingdom must somehow overcome its current difficulties." A light came into Kanaye's eyes. He wiped away his tears with the back of his hand and looked hopefully at Kino and Hermes. "You two! You could become citizens. That's the perfect solution. Together, we can restore this city, make it great and happy again Won't you join me? Everyone here is equal."
Kino's subdued, "No, thank you," was nearly drowned by Hermes' emphatic, "No way!"
Kanaye looked surprised, then crestfallen. "I see. Well, no, actually, I don'! see. But if you don't wish to stay, then there's nothing I can do."
Taking these as his parting words, Kino took a step toward Hermes.
Kanaye spoke from behind her. "I must insist that you stay for another year. Will you?"
"No, Kanaye. I will not." She grasped the handlebars, her mind on the revolver rubbing against her right thigh.
"I'm with Kino," Hermes said. "C'mon, Kino, let's go."
Kanaye stood, his face tight, his eyes desperate. "Then stay for another week – just a week. Do whatever you like with our resources."
"Can't," Hermes said quickly.
"We don't need anything," Kino added.
"Then, just another three days, dining on the most exquisite delicacies?" He rubbed his hands together, looking like a waiter who'd just announced the dish of the day.
Kino kicked away Hermes' stand.
"We're leaving before K.ino gives in," the bike said.
Kanaye stepped toward them, hands outstretched. "If you stay, I will be your personal slave!"
"Thanks, but no." Kino threw her leg over Hermes' seat. Her face impassive, she tapped Hermes' gas tank and waved at the king of the realm. "We're leaving now, Your Majesty. None of your offers is the least bit tempting. But I do thank you for the conversation." She bowed her head once.
"What did you call me?"
Kino shook her head. "Not important. Goodbye, Kanaye."
He was still not ready to gve up. "Just one more day! If you stay another day, I'm sure I can make you understand how wonderful this place is! Please!"
"I can't. I've already been here three days." And with that, Kino turned her face toward the gate.
"I don't really get it," Hermes told Kanaye, "but for some reason that's as long as we ever stay. Sorry!"
Kanaye stood, his arms hanging limply at his sides, looking as if he was about to cry again. He tried to say something else, but no words came to his lips. His mouth opened and closed in silence. Then, he thrust his hand beneath his dusty jacket, and pulled out a handgun. It was a blunt-nosed revolver.
Kino recognized the weapon's make – it was capable of firing twelve rounds. She froze, her right hand resting on the butt of her own revolver.
But Kanaye did not point the gun at Kino's back; he didn't even touch the heavy trigger.
Kino turned her head slightly toward him. "Do you plan to threaten us now?" Her voice was calm and cool.
For a long while, Kanaye stared down at his weapon, now wrapped in both hands. He shook his head repeatedly, as if struggling to clear it.
In a moment, his lips began to move. At first Kino couldn't make out what he was saying, but his voice gained in volume with each line of his litany. "No, it's not right; it's not right; IT'S NOT RIGHT! My God, are you right about me? 'Your Majesty,' indeed. If I use this..." The gun shook in his hands and Kino tensed. "You will be only too right and I'll become just like that foolish king. It is wrong to use violence to force your thinking on others. It's wrong! It's a fool's solution."
He looked up at Kino then, his eyes red with weeping. "We must choose the path the majority of people desire. A vote of equals tells us what that desire is, so that we may live peacefully, by consensus. This is the way people should live! This is the only way we can avoid the mistakes of the past! Right?"
Neither Kino nor Hermes spoke. Kino's hand did not move from her weapon.
Listlessly, Kanaye lowered his gun. He broke it open. The chamber was empty.
Kino turned toward him, smiling slightly.
"Do you really want us to stay?"she asked. "What if we did? What if a week from now Hermes and I said, 'You are wrong, Kanaye. You are mistaken.' What then?"
The gun slipped from Kanaye's fingers and hit the cobblestones. His face was as white as the walls surrounding his precious city, as white as the sliver of moon that peeked over those walls hanging in an azure sky. He shook so hard that his teeth rattled.
When Kino feared he would have a seizure, his mouth opened and he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Leave! Both of you! Leave now! Be gone! Get out of this city and never come back!"
"We won't," Kino promised fervently.
"You have my word on it," Hermes added.
Kino kick-started the bike, filling the air with the powerful thrum of the engine.
As they left, Hermes murmured, "Goodbye, Your Highness." But His Majesty Kanaye, Lord of the Realm, didn't hear him.
✦ ✦ ✦
Watching Hermes and Kino ride away, Kanaye reached into an inside pocket of his jacket and took out a handful of bullets. He did not take his eyes from them as he loaded the gun. He flipped the chamber shut, jumping slightly as it clicked into place. His grip on it tightened; his finger found the trigger, ready to fire.
Hermes had carried Kino to the gate. In another second, they would be through it. Kanaye screamed after them – screamed with every ounce of strength and zeal he possessed, "IF YOU EVEN THINK OF COMING BACK HERE, I'LL SHOOT YOU! I'LL KILL YOU!"
The travelers vanished through the gate. They did not come back.
They had come to a fork in the road. An unexpected fork.
Kino took off her goggles, got out her compass, got off the bike and stepped away from it, orienting herself toward north. One road ran east-southeast, and the other ran east-northeast. The great grassy field stretched to the horizon in all directions, dotted here and there with small groves of trees.
"Which way?" asked Hermes.
Kino squinted at a map she'd hand-drawn. "There should only be one road."
"Who told you that?"
"That merchant from a while back. You remember, the one with the panda and the kangaroo?"
"How could I ever forget? Boy, he sure fooled you." Hermes chuckled. "Kino's a sucker," he added in a singsong voice.
She ignored the taunt. "No, his directions have been accurate up until now. Heading east from the last city, we should see a lake with purple water, and then we should reach a very large city-state." She folded the map and returned it to her inside pocket. "One of these roads must be right."
"Well... yeah."
"The right road is wider," said Kino, after a moment of thought.
"The dirt on the left is harder," said Hermes.
She turned to look at him.
"Meaning it's more heavily traveled," he explained.
They fell silent for a time, then Kino said, "Okay, we'll go left."
"Really?"
"Why are you so surprised?"
"You never decide which way so easily! You dither about until you get hungry. Have you turned over a new petal?"
She glanced down at the bike."You mean a new leaf?"
"Oh... right... leaf. So, have you?"
"Not at all. I just know that if I dither, I'll end up eating delicious, nutritious Protein Power Bars. If I take a chance on a road, I've got a fifty-fifty shot at real food. Besides, it's a hot day. You'd rather be moving than sitting still, wouldn't you?"
"Sure, but what if you're wrong?"
Kino gazed into the distance. "Well, if we don't see the lake, or the road turns in the wrong direction, we can always come back here. If we're lucky enough to meet someone on the way, we can ask for better directions."
"Won over by logic. Sure. Let's go."
Nodding, Kino put away the compass, climbed aboard Hermes, and put her goggles back on. She started Hermes off down the right-hand road.
"Hey! Wait just a darn minute, Kino! You tricked me!" cried Hermes.
"I did not. At least, I didn't mean to. I just thought, if we're trying one out, it doesn't really matter which one we start with. Right?"
"Cheating! That doesn't mean we ought to go your way!"
"It's not my way. It's just one way."
Kino opened the accelerator all the way, and they sped off down the road less traveled.