Little Cherine Book 06 - BPost018
“What is she like, does she teach you everything you have to know? Does she love you?”“I have a nanny.”
“She told me that love is not allowed in the palace, that the guards have orders to keep love outside.”
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“Surely that was said in jest?”
“She told me that the one I decide to love will be the one sent to betray me. She taught me that there are many who would like to see me die so that they can become heir to the king.”
“Do you love anyone?” Her eyes went to me so he added, “At home I meant, at the palace.”
“Sometimes I do for a while, but then nanny finds out.”
“Have you told your mother?” I asked.
“Yes. I really liked one of my cousins and nanny made her stop coming to play with me. I told the queen, but she got angry with me. She said only nanny can know who to trust, that she had already saved me three times from people who wanted to kill me. She said I am not allowed to complain about nanny.”
“That makes sense.” Erin muttered, drawing a few scowls.
I pointed. “The five are not subject to the same laws we are, so what they do does not count in the same way Princess, but for us it is illegal, tell me, what did you think about us touching you? Does it upset you?”
Shyly she said, “I like it.”
“Why.”
“You don’t hurt me when you touch me.”
Domarque’s voice was rough when he asked. “Hurt you! Who would dare hurt you!”
“Nanny.”
The whole story came out in bits and pieces. Nanny had been with her since she was born so she thought what she did to her was natural. She’d also been taught by her nanny that whatever nanny does is right and she is not allowed to complain. She spoke of the beatings, the pinching and then as we gently led her, she spoke of how nanny washed her and what else happened at such times. She had not been taught about modesty and mentioned things no other child her age would have to a group of men. When she spoke of how nanny said she had to be cleaned internally and of the pain it caused, the room was full of men who would have killed the nanny in a rage if she had been present.
I heard Alki moan, ‘No Meli, why this, what for!” and Rose cried, ‘My Robert, my poor Robert.’ I was too sickened by the full disclosure of how Thina had been mistreated to react to what they said.
It became too much for Thina, our reaction adding to her own memories of pain and she cried out ‘Sam, Sam!” so I held out my arms to her and she ran to me, throwing herself against me. Gently I stroked her back and hair, struggling to control my own trembling so that I would not alarm her further. Gradually her sobbing subsided but, though her face was buried against my chest, they all heard her muffled voice. “I love you Sam.”
I pulled her away from me and she looked up at my face. “I love you too my sweet princess. Turn around and look at them, see how many love you too.”
She looked and her little face was filled with wonder. I set her on her feet and she went to each of them and gave them a hug. Long before she got to Captain Erin he stood up and walked out. She returned to me, her face burning as if she had caught a fever. “They all love me Sam!”
Since the five had also hugged her it seems she had forgotten or not seen Erin leave. The love she felt and saw frightened her and she buried herself against me again. I only saw tenderness in the faces surrounding us, so I now allowed myself to show my love openly.
Before she left, her sacred 42 were now forty one. We needed Erin, we count as zero if we do not become forty two. One word in the wrong ears and we would no longer be alive to guard her. When she left with the five, Captain Erin walked back in.
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“There has been no arrest of anyone as far as I’m concerned. You have all given your oath to the princess. I cannot, my oath is to the king. However, I give you my word that I will not speak of this. Though I may not join you, I hope you find ways to protect her once we are back home. I only demand that you do not use your oath to her as an excuse to betray the king to his enemies, for then I will be forced to betray you.”
“Captain, if the king loves his daughter, surely our oath to her would please him? Has he not shown he wants her to be protected? Why only here and not back home?” He did not answer me.
It was not only us men who had to adjust, Princess Thina was more often confused than not. The slightest or overt sign of disapproval would convince her again that she is not loved. If someone is talking and she has to wait for him to finish what he is saying, she feels unloved. We gave her a few days of nothing but love, and then I decided she has to re-learn her manners. It was not long before she would go to others to sit on their lap, while sending me sulky looks.
She was not the only one. The men were now coming to me for orders, even though I encouraged them to go to their Captain. I sought him out. He spoke first.
“After the next oasis it will be time for us to begin the return journey. Do you think the Lady will allow us to return?”
“I don’t think she will unless this test she is conducting has ended. Erin, I don’t know what the test is. At first I thought she wanted us to learn to empathise, as do those of her continent. Now I’m not so certain. She will not oppose our trying to get home, she does not have to, how can we find a ship in the middle of a desert? We need her help, and that is what she will withhold until she is ready.”
“I sensed that from when you met her and her power was demonstrated you turned away from our God.” he said bitterly.
“Captain, may I offer you a cup of sand to drink? Perhaps when we cook our supper you will not mind picking up the pots off the flames with your bare hands? It is just as foolish to ignore the powers she has. What is a god? To my mind, a god is a force of nature. She most definitely is a force of nature.
Who taught me about our God? Priests from our church. Have they seen our God, do they even practice what they preach? Are they not just another faction vying against the king and government for power and wealth? Why should I blindly believe them instead of my own eyes? I will tell you one more thing. Whether she is goddess or not does not matter, I prefer being her disciple and follower for she fills a need in me and all my questions are answered by what she asks of us. Harm no other, love and empathise with all. Difficult and not practical, but a goal worth striving for.”
“Our God asks the same.”
“His representatives have corrupted his Word. Anyway, think on this; if the Lady truly created this world, is it not likely she is the God we believe in? I suspect that the priests had to change her to suit their own ambitions. How can you have a church and ambitious priests if your god proclaims herself not a god? How can you create wealth and power for yourself if she is not a god? I think they gave up on her in disgust and created a God to suit themselves.”
“Heresy!”
“Any time a man tries to think for himself instead of blindly accepting the words of others, he is proclaimed a heretic or traitor. I was born to be both, you were not and that is the reason you have to fight yourself. Don’t worry, even if I have to help you, you will learn how to free yourself.”
“I should have killed you at the start of this, now it is too late.”
“I would have gladly obliged you then. As you say, it is too late, now I have a reason to live for.”
At the time of departure the three came to us carrying hand woven strips of cloth.
“Wear these around your necks. Later on you will need them to cover your faces.” It felt stupid having to wear scarves in this heat, but we obeyed. For our princess they had taken precautions also. She wore long trousers of a thick material, like a little farmer’s son, and the bottoms were tucked into boots. She wore a long sleeved shirt and over her clothes a robe with a hood. It was an ugly orange colour and she protested.
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“It is only for the trip Thina. If you get parted from us, this colour will stick out from a distance and help us find you.”
Nicko said, “Alki, one of the men is missing a sleeve.”
“Get my spare shirt for him.”
While Nicko went back to their tent, I asked Alki, “What is the danger?”
“Wind and sand. At high speed the sand will strip your flesh off you if you are not correctly protected.”
Sarcastically I answered, “Thank you for warning us. Were you planning to let us find out the hard way if I had not asked?”
“You would have had plenty of warning.”
I nodded at Erin. “Captain, we are in your hands.”
“I have not had experience with sand storms, but I’ve been through a blizzard. Our commander had us walk in groups of five. One man would be surrounded by four men, helping to keep the man warm. The person in the centre would move out and another would take his place so that each of them had a short time of warmth to keep him alive. Would the same trick work in a sand storm?”
Wilfred replied, “I don’t think so, but try it. If it is pointless then you can abandon the idea.”
A picture formed in my mind. “Captain, we should form a double circle around the princess. Our bodies will cut the keen edge of the wind, though we cannot stop the sand from making difficulties for her.”
Wilfred added, “Do not smother her, she will be over heated as it is.”
Alki took the lead and we fell in behind him. At first the princess walked, but after nearly an hour of struggling on the soft sand I picked her up without her protesting. She was hot and sweating, wanting to remove the robe.
“Leave it on my princess. It helps to keep your body from dehydrating too fast. I know being sweaty is uncomfortable, but if your sweat dries too fast, you will dry into a tiny brown prune.”
Alki had brought salt with and he insisted she lick some off her palm when she drank water. He then trickled some into our hands also. Luckily we were travelling North and did not have the sun in our eyes during the morning, but soon the sun was overhead and there was no relief for our heads and shoulders. I draped the scarf over my head and one shoulder so that the head of my princess was not directly under the sun.
After carrying her for half an hour Ian offered to carry her. I refused. “According to rank. Captain, it is your turn to carry our princess.” Her eyes showed she was hurt by my passing her on to him, so I bent my head and gave her a wink. She gave me a weak smile and moved to his arms without protesting.
At the point where the sun was at its hottest we felt a soft breeze. We climbed a row of sand dunes (as in the picture, though it was not taken on Meli’s world) and saw we stood at the edge of a down slope, the oasis not visible before us. Below us was a wide valley and it was hazy with dust. The sand in the air was not uniformly thick, so it made shapes that revealed to us the strength of the winds.
“Captain,” Alki called, “if we go down about ten metres we will have a steady breeze to cool us down. Before we walk into that storm I suggest we rest awhile.”
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Dispirited the men looked down at the storm raging fiercely. Though shorter than most of us (Shida is smaller and lighter than all of us) Alki is built like a bear and is easily the strongest of us all. The princess showed her instinct for survival by going to him when it was time for us to resume our downward climb. He handed her over to Wilfred.
“I’ll take her when we enter that.” Wilfred looked very happy to be carrying her, so we did not interfere. For the first quarter of an hour she kept her eyes above his shoulder, staring back at me. Soon as the wind grew strong enough to sting us with the sand we stopped and covered our faces. When I looked again she had hidden her face below his shoulder. I went as close to Wilfred as I could, walking just behind him, hopefully in position to catch them if he should stumble.
We could not walk with our eyes unprotected and lifted our hands to form a shield for our eyes. Alki called out to those closest to him and they passed the message on. We all turned back and climbed until we were out of the winds.
“My apologies, I had not thought it through. If we had gone any lower the sand would have ripped the skin off our hands.”
“We cannot leave our eyes exposed.”
“Please wait for me here.” He suddenly disappeared. He must have been gone for nearly two hours and when he reappeared he had Daniel and two other men with him. The two men were carrying baskets filled with fruit and Alki with Daniel carried new scarves. He told us to cut the scarves we had in two and wrap the pieces around our hands. The new scarves they handed out were wider and longer.
He held up one of them to show us. “Wrap the scarves around your head and throat but make certain this part of the scarf is over your eyes. The weave is looser and you will be able to see through it while most of the sand is kept out of your eyes. That is the best we could do on such short notice.”
Erin called out, “I thought the Lady expected us to solve the problems on our own.”
“The Lady does not ask the impossible Captain.”
“Impossible? Not quite Alki.” He held up small strips of canvas our food had been in. “I had prepared these for the men, but had not expected the winds to be so strong so soon.”
The princess was sitting on the sand. I crouched before her, happily my back to the men and taking her pretty slim fingers in my hand I kissed them lightly. “We don’t want these lovely hands getting scratched, let me wrap them for you.” She did not answer, only leaving her hands in mine, but her eyes spoke eloquently for her. I wrapped her hands well past her wrists and then pulling open the sleeves of her robe I made her put her hands into the sleeves. I cut two thin strips off my scarf and used them to tie the sleeves shut so that no sand could be whipped into them. I then slowly wrapped her head and as I was about to cover her eyes I whispered, “Courage my dear princess.” She blinked in reply.
Daniel and his men came with us, saying they want to experience for themselves what we will have to endure. Within a hundred metres the winds were so strong we had to hold on to each other. A strong gust hit us suddenly and many of us were knocked sideways. Harvey grabbed hold of Shida as he nearly went flying. Grimly and in silence, with a complaint in our hearts against the Lady, we struggled against the winds that seemed to be trying to force us away from the oasis. We no longer knew where the oasis was or whether we were travelling in the right direction. Alki walked with Wilfred, Nicko, Chant, Jan and the Captain in a tight group to keep the worst of the stinging sand away from their tiny but so precious burden. We kept our faith in him, trusting that Alki has powers we do not know of and is leading us in the right direction.
Our bodies ached and our skin stung as if it had been scraped raw despite our protective clothing. Our muscles had to constantly adjust as the winds whipped about, changing their direction unexpectedly. Sometimes one step forward would become almost a run of two three steps and other times a step or two backwards.
The winds died down for a moment and through stinging eyes we saw the oasis off to one side. Alki changed direction, aiming for it quickly while he could still see it. I decided that perhaps he had not been leading us through any special powers, but only thanks to a good sense of direction. Once we were close to the oasis, as if conceding victory to us, the wind died and we managed to walk the last hundred metres without fighting our way through stinging sand.
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The tents looked different. These were designed to withstand the strong winds by not resisting them, only guiding the winds up and over or around them. We did not all have space to stand straight inside, but we were more eager to collapse on the ground for rest. Our limbs were trembling with exhaustion as we unravelled the scarves.
“Alki, do you know where we will find water?”
“There should be a spring outside. It has probably been buried by sand.”
I wound my scarf back around my head again and wearily got to my feet, another half a dozen men emulating me. Without a word we walked back out and began our search. We split the area within the oasis and prodded the sand looking for signs of dampness. We could not find anything and when the wind grew stronger again, pelting us with grit, we returned to the tents.
Inside the tents, the howling winds snapped the canvas so that it sounded like claps of thunder. The wind must have decided to make one final effort to get at us, but the Lady had chosen well and the tents did not rip open or try to fly away. As we lay on the ground I saw movement, what looked like a small bundle of coloured rags, and then the princess crawled into my arms. I held her to me, my heart hammering louder than the canvas could.
When silence came it took us a couple of minutes to realise we had not gone deaf, the wind had died.
“The Lady told me that the wind settles at sundown and dawn, staying gentle for a few hours. We better look for water while we can.”
With nearly forty men searching, we knew it is only a matter of time before we find the spring. As always, a few stayed behind to watch our princess. Free of the wrappings I walked about, amazed at how clear the air was and how sharp and beautiful everything seemed. I would dig my toes in every step, hoping to sense dampness. I took a step, dug in, felt the usual dryness and took another step and another before I realised I was sinking. Startled I called out.
The closest to me was Harvey and he rushed to me. Before he knew what was happening he too was sinking. He had tried to approach me from across the sinking sand and was in it deeper than I was. By the time others came close he was in to his chest and still sinking. Shida threw himself onto the sand, stretching his hands out. They gripped hands, but Shida was not powerful enough to pull Harvey out and by trying to, he was sinking head first. Harvey soon realised what was happening and tried to let go his hands, calling to him to save himself. Shida clung to his hands and called for others to pull him by his feet. By the time they got to his feet the upper part of his body was under the sand and Harvey had sunk to his neck. Solaz and Ash threw themselves to the ground as Shida had done and each grabbed a hand of Harvey’s while Agga and Claude pulled at Shida’s legs. Others quickly grabbed the legs of Agga and Claude and slowly they succeeded in pulling them to firm ground.
I had, after my first startled shout, kept silent, not wanting to distract them from saving Harvey. I felt a hand grab mine and I called out in dismay. My princess had run onto the quicksand thinking to help me. I saw the panic in her eyes when she felt herself sinking. I pulled at her, lifted her in my arms and threw as hard as I could. I saw her land on firm sand as my actions thrust me deeper and the sand edged over my face. For some reason I heard my voice telling Melios I would be giving my life for my princess and his answer, demanding I live to be there for her. Something crashed into my face, digging into my eye and I thought it was some giant worm or serpent. Strange how even at such a moment when I could not take a breath and knew I was dying, I still reacted in panic to the imagined threat.
My head was gripped, then other hands found my shoulders and I was pulled out to gasp for air.
“Stop moving Sam! It makes you sink faster.”
A rope was thrown around me and hands searched under my arms. The end of the rope was passed back to others and tugging at it they pulled me out.
“You have a gift for getting into trouble.” Red said with a frown.
“The princess! Is she well?” Before they could reply she had flung herself at me sobbing. Captain Erin gave her a moment and then took her away from me.
“Do not reward him for being careless with his life princess. You should be angry with him.” He scowled at me. “When I saw the top of your head sink under I thought I would no longer have to see that ugly face of yours. You really tax my patience, you just refuse to stay down.”
I gripped his wiry body and yanked him to me for a hug, laughing hysterically. Princess Thina stood to the side, utterly confused by her best friend and enemy.
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The spring was found where we should have expected it, right in the center of the oasis. The sand had to be dug away, we had to wait for a pool to seep up and then water was carefully transferred by mugs into basins, pots and pans. The water was then allowed to rest until the silt had sunk to the bottom of the containers and then it was slowly poured into our flasks.
“We will have to be very careful of the water.”
Daniel and his men shared supper with us, sat for a while to talk and then wished us well and departed . Captain Erin stared at them as they disappeared. “It is just as well they are not warlike. How do you fight an enemy who can disappear at will?”
I had a suspicion Alki had read my mind when his eyes turned to me before I spoke. “Perhaps we should try to provoke them into a war with us. If they conquer us, they could help bring the changes we need.”
Not only Erin, all the men were shocked, my sweet princess too, until they saw I’d spoken in jest.
Latras spoke, his voice filled with longing. “Do you know what I would love to do right now? I wish I could stand under a brisk cold waterfall until the water has soaked through my skin.” He was playfully slapped on his arms as everyone told him to shut up. He was painting pictures in our minds that only made it more difficult to bear the feeling of sand and grit in our clothes.
Latras spoke again. “I think this is the most beautiful oasis we have been to up to now. Did you notice how all the palm trees grow out sideways, not even one stands up straight. They create amazing shapes between them.” He was told in no uncertain terms what he could do with his shapes and ideas of what constituted beauty. Even Princess Thina was laughing.
We did not have to sleep in the main tent. The smaller tents around it were directly connected to it so that we would not have to struggle through storms. The small candy striped tent was in the centre and it was decided the princess will sleep there. None of us felt comfortable at the idea of letting her sleep in there with the main tent empty around her, so we brought in our mattresses again. She was dirty, streaked with sweaty dust, she also smelt of sweat and yet each of us happily opened our arms to her when she went around giving us a goodnight kiss. This time the Captain sat still and accepted her kiss. With her sleeping amid us we too had to have an early night.
We woke up before dawn to collect as much water as possible and eat our food before it becomes gritty, take care of our physical needs and shut ourselves in. An interesting idea, similar to homes up in the mountains where it snows and winds blow fiercely, but never seen by us in tents before. The entrance has two flaps with space between them. If the wind is blowing, we will only open one at a time, thus keeping out most of the ill temper of the winds.
“This oasis would be boring, but not as dangerous as we’d thought, if we did not have to search out the next oasis. How are we going to search in this wind?”
I stretched out languorously, as if I did not have a care in the world and drawled, “Not a problem, we have a princess with us, we can send her out in the morning to find the oasis.” There were a few nervous chuckles and then silence. I looked at my princess and jumped to my feet. Quickly I knelt before her. “Forgive me Princess Thina, I thought to tease you, I was not serious.” I thought her eyes were filling with tears and I abjectly pleaded, “Please forgive me.”
“Will you go instead of me?”
“Yes.”
She giggled. She looked around at everyone and soon they were all laughing while I stayed on my knees, my face a furious red now. “You tried to tease me, but I teased you.” she crowed, delighted at having bested me.
“Your majesty,” I began and she stopped laughing. “We will hold a coronation tomorrow and crown you queen…of the teasers.”
After some tomfoolery we made up and as she hugged my neck she whispered, “You beat me.”
I sat back. “Princess, where did you get your sense of humour? With a nanny like yours I would not have expected it.”
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“When I was alone and played with my dolls they would say funny things about her.”
“I think I would like to meet your dolls, I like dolls with a sense of humour. Maybe I’ll even marry one of them.” That got a few chuckles from the men.
She giggled. “I’ll choose which one you can marry, the funniest one.”
“That sounds good.”
She pouted, as if deep in thought. “Of course she only has one leg and some of her stuffing is falling out.”
Cassin called out without thinking first, but luckily she did not catch the meaning. “Don’t worry princess, Sam is good at stuffing dolls.”
Everyone tried to hide their amusement, including Alki and Nicko, but I was surprised to see Wilfred frown for a moment before smiling.
“Captain, as you heard, I’ve volunteered to do first search.”
“I think not Sam. None of the men would go with you. They know you’ll start thinking and get them lost or drop them over a cliff. I think we better let the practical men search.”
“Well, I was wondering…” everyone burst out laughing, “why does the wind blow here and nowhere else.”
Nicko asked. “And have you worked it out?”
“I think so. This has been set up for us and it is the Lady who keeps it blowing.”
“Actually Sam, you are wrong. She does not interfere in important ways with the planet. Try and imagine what a complicated process it would be. To make it blow here just for you, she would have to divert the wind from elsewhere which means she would be changing the climate there. After the wind has been here it has to go somewhere so another climate gets changed. Each local climate that gets changed affects the surrounding areas and their climates change.”
I could picture what he was saying even though I was not used to thinking on such a large scale.
“If she is not, it still smacks of the too convenient. She wants to test us and just in the right places are the difficulties; one oasis too close to another, but divided by a dangerous slope; a snake in an area where no life exists. This place with winds that strip your skin if you are careless. I wonder what next?”
Melios grinned. “She did warn us about the dangers of being distracted. Maybe the next oasis the palms have taps for ale to flow from and there are women as beautiful as they only are in our dreams.”
“Keep dreaming dreamboy.” Lucky called out laughing.
While they joked I moved over to the Captain. “Would you mind a suggestion or two?”
“Any idea would be welcomed Sam. I am convinced this is the oasis where the prophesied deaths will occur.”
“Not prophesied Erin. She said there may be deaths, she did not speak of them being fated. I think it depends on us. If we stay alert and think ahead, we may all come out of this alive.”
“What are you suggestions?”
“Let us examine what we do know. As dawn approaches the winds gentle until they stop. Calm lasts between two to three hours. When they start up again they do not come suddenly, giving another twenty minutes leeway before they are dangerous. So, let us work on having three hours. The same applies to sundown. That makes six hours. If we had a compass we could extend the hours but it seems to me we are limited to a search of six to six and a half hours.”
“What of the day between!”
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“I’m getting to that. I would suggest you take as many men as possible in one group. Let us say that means thirty six men. Dividing that by two makes eighteen. When they leave the oasis they walk for twenty minutes. Then you leave two men with water and food for two days. Twenty minutes later you leave two men again. You do that until the winds are too strong for you to see where you are going. You all hunker down and wait for the afternoon calm. You continue again, leaving two men behind you every twenty minutes. It will be night, dark, when only two men are left and you have reached the edge of your search. You will have to wait for dawn to see if there is an oasis. Then you walk back, your men should be within sight and you collect them in turn as you return. You spend the day waiting again and return either that night or, as I think it will work out, the next morning.”
“Jumping billygoats!! Two days for each search!!”
“I don’t see any other alternative.”
“If the land is flat, we could make the intervals thirty minutes.”
“Why add to the risk? It won’t make any difference to the distance you can cover. If the first trip is unsuccessful, on the second one, you drop two men in reverse order, those who walked the least last time now walk the furthest and vice versa.”
By next morning no other workable plan had been presented so they used my suggestion. I stressed the one point that was extremely important. “Do not leave the spot you were left at, not for any reason - unless the wind is building a dune over you. This is critical to the safety of those who have gone beyond you.”
The only change they made, not that I saw it making any difference, was that they decided the oasis stood far higher than a man does so they would drop off the first two about an hours distance from us. They were all ready to leave two hours before dawn and as the wind was not strong and did not carry sand with it, they immediately left.
Golden, Shida and Cord were left with the princess, the three and me. Cord and I prepared the food while Golden and the three collected water. Princess Thina flitted to and fro until everyone came in and the flaps were sealed for the day. Knowing that our friends and companions are out there in the storm dampened our mood and I did not particularly wish to think much, as my imagination would carry me out into the desert. Princess Thina also seemed listless so when she curled up in my lap and fell asleep, I nodded off also.
As I found out later, Princess Thina did not fancy using the pan we’d left for her and seeing from the canvas that we were in a lull she opened the flap. Being conscientious she shut it behind her, opened the outer one and squatted. A sharp, fierce gust chose that moment to hit out at her and her tiny body was flung up into the air. None of us heard her scream, but Wilfred sensed something is wrong and woke up. He heard the outer flap sharply slapping about so he looked for the missing person. With a cry he disappeared.
I’ve learnt that if I anticipate the worst first, at least half the times I am right. Since Princess Thina was not in my arms as she should have been, I sensed she is in trouble. Golden grabbed hold of me, not allowing me to go outside unless I put on protective clothing. Since everyone else was putting on their own as fast as they could I decided it makes more sense to do the same, rather than hit Golden to run out as I was.
Struggling against the winds we searched, Alki nearly stepping into the quicksand. Through the swirling sand we saw a figure and the way he was hunched over had us running to him. Wilfred held the body of our princess. Blocking the wind we escorted them into the tent. All my strength left me as I saw her torn and bleeding body. Alki put his fingers to her throat, tried to take her, but Wilfred would not let go. He shouted, “Wilfred, to Daniel, now!” I reached out, not really wanting to stop them, but unable to bear watching my princess disappear. I stumbled, the bright light hurting my eyes. I was in a clearing within a jungle.
Alki and Wilfred ran up some wooden steps with the princess and Nicko grabbed me as I went to follow them. “Sam, do you want to continue being Samuel? Do you want Thina to stay as Thina?” I was too confused to understand him, but I nodded my agreement. “Then you must stay here, do not go to her. They will fix her, I promise you.”
I sat on the step and sobbed. He sat next to me, not saying a word, just letting me feel he was with me and that I was not alone in my grief.
“I failed her. I slept while a child walked out to her death.”
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“We all failed her Sam. You are to blame to a lesser degree than us, we saw you’d fallen asleep with her and should have stayed awake.”
I resented his words, as if he were trying to take away my responsibility, as if my oath were something less than I’d meant it to be. I knew I was being foolish, but could not help myself.
I was not able to judge the time; it felt as an eternity and yet, as soon as I heard her voice it felt as if a miracle had happened within a second. I looked up and saw her. She looked at me and she looked guilty and afraid. My heart was bursting and I wanted to shrivel into the ground and bury myself beneath the twisted, gnarled roots of the giant trees. Yet I knew that right now she needed reassurance.
I tried to make my voice sound teasing, “If you wanted to fly in the wind you should have let me tie a string to you, then I could have played with you like you were a kite. I haven’t flown a kite since I was about your age.”
“I’m sorry Sam.”
“I thought princesses never say sorry. You must be a special kind of princess. No wonder the fairies came to you the first day we arrived here.”
She ran down the steps and launched herself at me, nearly knocking me over. I laughed and swung her around, then crushed her to me. I put her back on her feet and then spoke my nonsense, knowing these people will not judge me as my companions would. “Thina, there is no way I could love you so much, it is impossible. Do you know what I think? In a previous life I spent a whole lifetime loving you and that is how it became possible for me to love you so much within such a short time. Do you like the idea of me having loved you in another life?”
She toyed with the idea in her mind and as children sometimes do began to dramatise it. “I think it might be true, but maybe you did not love me enough and I died so you had to come back and really love me.”
“Maybe. But then, maybe I loved you too much and my heart popped so you had to come back for me to learn to love you less.” She shook her head, not liking this version.
Wilfred was laughing as he said, “While the two of you get your story right, why don’t we go upstairs and have something to eat and drink.”
When we got back to the tent, Princess Thina was bubbling with details to regale our companions. They told me Nicko had jumped back to let them know we are both well, and then they ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’ over all she had to tell them. Despite their oohing’ and ‘aahing’ I did see them give me an envious look when she told them about my downing two large mugs of ale.
I reported to the Captain what had happened during their absence. He looked at me sternly. “I accept full responsibility. I knew that whoever you are with will suffer and should have taken you with me. I seem to be the only one you do no harm to.”
Alex spoke in a serious voice, “Are you certain? What about the loss of our ship Captain? You were on board.”
“Now that you mention it Alex. Hmm. Now I understand why the king sent us on this foolish trip. He could have appointed us as her guards within the palace, but he had to get Samuel out of the country to save our people.”
“I know why the king sent me away with all of you.” Erin tilted his head as he looked at her cheeky face. “He wanted me to have lots of people to love me.”
At her words he looked stricken. As if he were falling he went to one knee before her and gave her the oath we all had. Gleefully she kissed his cheek and cried out, “It happened! I have my sacred 42.”
Erin stood up and asked in a soft wonder-filled voice, “Did I really do that?”
3680
His good mood had not been because of their discovering the next oasis, but because the trip had worked out with no loss of life. He described how he spent his hours during the winds agonising over the men and how they will find their way back. The winds continually change the landscape, dunes disappear and new dunes appear, so that within hours they no longer know where they are, but since the men were set out almost within hailing distance of each other they had not had any problem finding us.
They found the next oasis on the second trip.
“It must be five times as large as this one but the area surrounding it is also different. We saw cactus and bushes. There are patches of dry grass which suggests it must rain there sometimes.”
“I wonder what our next challenge will be.” I asked.
Harvey laughed. “You are becoming cynical. Have you forgotten their women are joining us there?”
I frowned at him. “You are showing your naivety Harvey. The women did not come here because they feared being bored. If they are returning it is because they anticipate some excitement.”
The three laughed. “You better work on what you will say to pacify them when we tell them what you said, Sam.” Nicko taunted me.
When we found a moment by ourselves, I told Erin, “Captain, I am more than pleased that you joined us. From the start you were the one I wanted with me more than any other. Without your skills at organising us, we would have failed. She is captivating isn’t she?”
“No my friend, it was not her alone who made me change my mind. When we returned I saw your face as if I were seeing it for the first time since we left home. Samuel, you look as if you have aged ten years. I saw how her accident hurt you, but I also realised you did not give your oath lightly. You agonised over it and gave the oath because you saw a higher calling than that of a common soldier fighting on command. You were willing to fight a battle without orders for a purpose that could bring change and a better life for all. You always think far ahead of me, it took me some time to catch up, that’s all.”
I laughed. “With the two of us as a team, those soft fat-bellied men have no chance.”
“Be careful Sam. They may be soft, decadent and greedy, but they are ruthless and cunning.”
Did the Lady intercede on our behalf (despite what Nicko said about climates)? On the day we marched to the next oasis, the winds did not raise the sand and they seemed to mostly blow in the direction we were going, as if joyfully nudging us to leave their home.
The oasis looked as if it had dressed itself for a party. Trestle tables loaded with fruit, juices and kegs of ale. Less obvious, but catching my attention were a few smaller kegs of wine. Princess Thina immediately ran to the section laden with sweets and puddings. Some of the men wanted to redirect her to some wholesome food first, but I waved them away; let her gorge herself silly, she has endured with us and needs to be a child again.
There must have been nearly thirty Gillians there that day and we all noticed how they seemed to favour Melios and Gill (when they could not get at our princess). Music was heard for the first time and Wendor and Canlyn sang a couple of songs, between the songs a girl of theirs sang and danced to. We all were captivated by her exotic beauty and long black hair. She in turn teased us and flirted, but none of us could take her seriously because we sensed she was laughing inside herself, enjoying it all as some amusing game. Still, we felt sorry for Cord who fell in love with her and made no effort to hide it. When the girl, her name we learnt is Lua, realised how Cord feels, she fled, disappearing for a long time. She returned at the end of the party and drew Cord aside, talking earnestly. She was flustered and did not resist when he drew her to him and kissed her. She said something to him and disappeared again. I decided I do not want a girl who can keep disappearing, I’d rather settle for one who can be chased and caught.
I was arguing the morals of city folk versus rural, trying to explain why they should not be compared because the city, any city, makes different demands of us and has different dangers, so I was the last to notice everyone had stopped talking. As if the silence were an irritant, interrupting me as I developed my thoughts, I looked up to see what the problem was and saw everyone staring at the Lady, who in turn was watching me with a gentle dreamy smile. I quickly looked around for Melios, did not see him anywhere and as I stood up, her smile broadened.
“So, you do know when to hold your tongue master Samuel?”
I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love - and should some of it be true for our reality, I hope you will love our Cherine.
Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου
(Alexander Zenon Eustace)11th December, 2019
- posted: 11th December, 2019
If you wish to read from an earlier book, from Book 01 to Book 05, use this link button to open the LC Book Index:
