This is the most frightening thing for Avikas and Mal-seeing the movement, the couple covered their linen white strips completely. They recited the ancient Egyptian prayer to me. As far as I know, it was a prayer for travel safety that I searched for from years of reading. I think it made them feel uncomfortable, but the holy couple is what I want to note.
When I was about to wrap Akasha’s eyes, she closed them, and it was the same when she arrived in Enkir. What a strange and short-lived conscious hint! I slipped through a chill, but I continued my work as if I were an ancient Egyptian wrapped in the temple of death.
Finally, Mal and Avikas accompanied me to ostia, the port where we were about to sail. We boarded the ship and put the holy parents on the deck.
I bought slaves in Avicas and Mal, and I found that they impressed me deeply. All of them were carefully selected and excellent. Even the slaves in the ship’s kitchen knew that they were working for the freedom and generous remuneration of the East in the future.
A group of strong soldiers sailed with us, each of whom was well-equipped and well-trained and believed in the same goal, and I was particularly impressed by the captain. His name was Clement, a Roman Christian, and he kept others believing in the final reward during the long journey.
The ship is the largest ship I have ever seen. It has very good colorful sails and is spacious and solid. There are three exquisite copper and iron growth boxes in the cabin. Mal, Ivekas and I sleep during the day. These three boxes are like sarcophagus. It is impossible for human beings to fight if they don’t take extreme measures. Even a group of people can’t lift them.
At last, everything is ready to prevent piracy. We are armed with auxiliary weapons. When we set sail at night and leave the coast quickly, our supernatural eyes identify the reef ship and navigate.
To some extent, this frightened our crew and soldiers. It is conceivable that the ship could not sail until almost daytime at that time, otherwise it would be too dangerous for them, because they could not see the coast clearly or might encounter rocky islands, even if they had good maps and well-trained pilots, there was still a danger of fatal accidents in the dark.
We have subverted the old idea that we should dock during the day so that those of us can enjoy all the things in the local town, which makes our slaves and soldiers very happy and keen on it, but the captain strictly controls it, allowing some people to land at a time and insisting that others stay on duty or sleep.
When we wake up and appear in the cabin, we always find our servants in high spirits, musicians and soldiers playing music, and captain Clemente is happy to get drunk. They doubt us except that we three are extremely weird rich people, and sometimes I eavesdrop on them and speculate on us-we three kings are just like babies, offering gifts to the three doctors of the Far East, which makes me feel the most interesting.
The only thing we have a problem with is ridiculous. We have to ask someone to bring us food and then pour it directly into the sea through the cabin window.
This made us burst into laughter, although I didn’t think it was solemn.
We regularly land at night, so we can go foraging. In this respect, we have spent years making us understand this. Although we can resist hunger throughout the journey, we decided not to do so this time.
Friendship interests me most when we are on board.
I am closer to humans than before, and I can talk to captains and soldiers for hours, and I feel very happy and relieved. Although my skin is too pale, I am still relaxed to talk to them.
I found myself fascinated by Captain Clemente. I like the story of merchant ships crossing the Mediterranean when he was young. His description of the ports he visited also made me happy. Some places I knew hundreds of years ago, while others were completely unfamiliar.
When listening to Clemente, my sadness rose again. I saw the world through his eyes and I knew that he hoped that I would look forward to a relaxing place in Constantinople so that he could visit me like a friend.
Another great change has taken place, and I now suspect that it is a close companion of Avicas and Mal.
Many nights we spent together in the cabin with a glass full of wine in front of us, talking about everything that happened in Italy or other things.
Avicas is as enthusiastic as I always imagined. He is eager to learn and read. In the past few centuries, he has taught himself Latin and Greek, but there are still many things in my world and ancient piety that he doesn’t understand.
He took the history written by Tacitus and Levi’s and the true story of Lucian, which was written by Plutarch in Greek, but he didn’t miss it.
When he followed me, I spent a lot of time happily reading to him and explaining to him, such as translating the text. I saw that he absorbed the information smoothly and he wanted to know the world.
Mal doesn’t have this enthusiasm, but he doesn’t dislike it as much as he did a long time ago. He may learn something from all our discussions. For me, the two of them-Avikas and Mal-are born on each other, but Mal doesn’t treat me with awe anymore.
For me, I like the role of teacher very much, which gives me new fun to debate with Plutarch, as if he were in the same room with me, and I also comment on Tacitus as if he were here.
Both Avikas and Mal are getting paler and stronger with time, and he admits that both of them will feel the threat of despair at some point.
"It’s like sleeping in your temple," Mal said without hostility. "Let me go to some underground room and listen to myself fall into the same sleep. I feel that I will never wake up, and Avikas, my companion, won’t allow me to do this."
And when Avicas got tired of the world law and persisted, it was Maljean who stayed away from sleep.
The two of them have endured more extreme pain than I have, and for decades I have been lying down and pleading with them. They are afraid that their distinguished parents will not dare to put flowers in front of them to light incense or look after the temple.
"We are afraid that they will attack us," Avikas said. "Even looking at their faces will fill us with fear."
I nodded to show my understanding of all this.
"Holy parents," I said, "I never said I needed those things. It was my wishful thinking. Maybe darkness can please them as much as lighting a lamp. Look at them now, wrapped in packages and sleeping in coffins, both lying on the deck."
This sight can give me courage. I have to say this, although I have never seen this or claimed to have drunk holy blood.
A terrible shadow hangs over us all the time during the voyage-that is, our ship may be attacked day and night, and our holy parents may sink into the sea. This is too terrible for us, and maybe that’s why we are safe. Whenever I think back, I think we should choose safer land.