Broken April

Gjorg travels for hours in light rain across the High Plateau toward the Kulla of Orosh. The road is mostly deserted. Gjorg starts thinking about the Kanun and how blood feuds are only a small part of the overall code, with most of the Kanun dealing with everyday life. Gjorg remembers his dead fiancée and thinks about how if he had gotten married, he would have thrown away his “trousseau bullet” (a gift from parents to a new husband, so that he can kill his wife if she leaves).

From his father, Gjorg heard the story of the bad blood between the Berisha family and the Kryeqyqe family. Forty-four people have died, half from each family. It all began one cold October night with a man knocking on Gjorg’s grandfather’s door, asking for shelter, and the grandfather gave it to him, as was the custom. Per the Kanun, Gjorg’s grandfather’s younger brother escorted the stranger to the village edges the next day. Suddenly, someone shot and killed the guest. A host must protect a guest and avenge him if he dies in the host’s care.

There was much debate in the village about whether the Berishas had the responsibility to avenge their guest (since Gjorg’s grandfather’s brother had already turned around to leave when the man died), but ultimately, a village committee decided that the Berishas needed to avenge him. Eventually, it came out that a Kryeqyqe had shot the man, due to an insult at a café earlier. That was the start of the feud between the Berishas and the Kryeqyqes. In the present, Gjorg thinks that if that stranger had just knocked on a different door, 44 people might not have been murdered.

Gjorg stops at an inn, where the skinny innkeeper offers him food for a good price. There seems to be a party of distinguished guests in a nearby room, including the well-known arbitrator Ali Binak. Gjorg listens to them all discuss a boundary dispute. The innkeeper gives Gjorg instructions about how to proceed, and Gjorg follows them, turning right at the landmark called the Graves of the Wedding Guests. As he walks, Gjorg remembers when someone broke bessa in his village. The murderer was executed by a firing squad, and one of the murderer’s relatives burned down his own house to atone for the violation.

Gjorg keeps walking and remembers the aftermath of Mehill’s death. His father tried to teach him to hate the Kryeqyqes, but Gjorg couldn’t do it, despite knowing that he was obligated to kill one of them. Gjorg resisted his duty for a long time, while his family kept reminding him of Mehill’s bloody shirt, before he finally agreed to kill a Kryeqyqe. Everyone in his house rejoiced.

One of Gjorg’s aunts, however, warned that Gjorg shouldn’t kill a Kryeqyqe, because Gjorg is the last young man in the family, and if he dies, so will the family line. His family agreed to seek a “blood settlement” with the Kryeqyqes instead of vengeance. A blood settlement involves a meal between the victim’s family and the murderer, then the murderer’s family paying money to the victim’s family. But when the Berishas initiated this process, the Kryeqyqes never paid the expected amount.

Once again, it became Gjorg’s responsibility to kill a Kryeqyqe. In the past October, he took a shot at Zef that wounded him but didn’t kill him. The Berishas paid the Kryeqyqes money for this, to settle the debt and avoid allowing the Kryeqyqes to wound one of the Berishas in revenge. Gjorg’s father blamed Gjorg for bringing financial ruin on his family with his missed shot. Zef’s wound got infected, and he stayed in bed a long time. Gjorg himself got sick when thinking of his responsibility, and when Zef recovered, he began to walk around freely, believing Gjorg was still bedridden.

Gjorg arrives at a church and asks about how to get to the Kulla of Orosh. He keeps going and imagines he sees the kulla several times. He finally arrives at a sparsely populated settlement and wonders if he took the wrong road. Finally, Gjorg sees a man who invites him in. The man says Gjorg just made mealtime—at the kulla, anyone who’s come to pay a blood tax gets food twice a day. The man warns Gjorg that there’s a line and it might be up to three days before Gjorg can actually pay his tax. Gjorg notices other men around the kulla and realizes they’ve all killed too.