Alicia smiled. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“Once we forgot one of these lizards in my mother’s room and she found it on her pillow at night. Her screams brought the entire contingent of guards into the castle. My father thought she was being murdered.” Kayleb laughed at the memory. His mother had been furious, and he was banned from playing with his friends for a week. Memories of her, as usual, caused a pang in his heart. He had lost her ten years ago, but the loss was still fresh in his mind.
Alicia shifted slightly. “What was she like?”
Kayleb looked away. “She was funny, kind, gentle and yet stern. She smacked me whenever she found me doing things she thought didn’t befit my royal status. I was the heir; I couldn’t run around like the children of lords and ladies, creating havoc in the castle.”
“You miss her?”
“More than I can tell,” he said. Kayleb turned his head away, realizing he had said far more than he intended.
“I lost my mother seven years ago. She fell down the castle stairs after tripping on her own gown. I can still recall the scent of her favorite perfume. She used to braid my hair every morning, and I would talk to her incessantly. Finally, she would tell me to shush, to give my siblings a chance to talk.”
Despite being determined to stay aloof, Kayleb found himself getting interested in her life. “What are your brother and sister like?”
“Seve is older. He is fierce, determined and brilliant. My sister Zo and I are twins. When we were younger, no one could tell us apart. Now, she wears her hair short and runs the training camp back at Iram with a fierce scowl on her face. All young mages are scared of her.”
“What is she doing? Why didn’t she come with you?”
Alicia finished her cake. “I wanted to come alone. Vindha is after my family. I didn’t want to give him the chance of finding two of us together on the mainland. Also, Zo has other work to do. She is recruiting help from the resistance army.”
Kayleb laughed. “The resistance army? I have heard of them. They are a bunch of mages and ordinary people hiding in the forest. They won’t come to help anyone.”
“According to Zo, they are determined to fight Vindha, and there numbers have grown. At the last count, there were a thousand of them in the forest.”
“I fought with the same number by my side, and everyone, except for me, was annihilated.” Bitterness coated his words. “Maybe if they joined us…? Where were they when we were battling for our lives?”
Another squirrel came out of its hiding place, and peered at them with beady, bright eyes. Alicia sighed. “I am sorry for your loss, but this war is no one else’s fault but Vindha’s.”
Resentment pooled in his heart. “He is impossible to defeat. Those demon mages of his…” He shuddered. “They are monsters, capable of delivering death to hundreds of people. No one can fight them and live to tell the tale.”
“My sister Zo did. She couldn’t kill it, but she managed to imprison it long enough to escape with her companions,” said Alicia. She told him about Zo’s journey into the mainland after their brother Seve was poisoned, her battle with the demon mage, the women warriors’ akachimas who helped her and their subsequent boat ride back to Iram with the boy prophet Leo.
Kayleb listened intently. After she finished her tale, he sat, rubbing his chin in a thoughtful gesture. “So the akachimas warriors have these chains that they can use to immobilize a mage?” he said. “Doesn’t that remind you…” he halted.
“Of the chain around your neck when I found you?” Pulling her pack closer, she took out a tarnished, silver chain. It was a foot long, barely enough to fit around someone’s neck, and the two ends were soldered together. She had removed it from around Kayleb’s neck soon after she realized it was binding his power in the succubi cave. “I examined it closely, and I am convinced that it is the same type of chain that the akachimas use to fight mages. Vindha has his own supply, or maybe he stole some from the akachimas. Their chains are longer, nearly five feet in length so he probably cut pieces out of it and uses them on the mages’ he wishes to subdue. “
An image of him, bound by the chain’s magic, flashed through Kayleb’s mind. He shuddered. “It’s an evil invention.”
“It’s not something he created. He is merely using a tool that the akachimas have been employing for decades. The akachimas claim they were given the knowledge of it by fairy creatures. The good thing is that the magic of these chains doesn’t last,” Alicia mused out loud as she fingered the chain. “The akachimas told me that it only binds a mage’s power for a short amount of time.”
“But my power was still bound when you found me,” he countered.
“I don’t think your power was bound in the caves. You were in too much pain to use it. After the succubi touched you, did you ever try to use your gift?”
Kayleb stared into the distance, a hard look on his face. “I am not sure. That time…is a blur. I can’t recall much.”
“I will give it the head librarian in the castle so she can study it better,” said Alicia. “Zo experienced something like this in the chasm in Jiambra when the ancient creatures, ekeme, bound her power,” she said, and packed the chain back in the bag. She told him the story of what had happened to her twin two months ago. “Maybe this is the same kind of magic?”
Kayleb shrugged. He didn’t care what it was. All he wanted was to never experience the same helplessness ever again. His magic was an intrinsic part of him, losing it broke something inside him. Just like something was damaged deep down inside him when the succubi violated his body against his will. Even as the thought emerged, he pushed it deep inside him, not wishing to deal with what he had gone through in the hands of those terrible creatures.
Almost as if she sensed the directions of his thoughts, Alicia looked at him with compassion in her eyes. “If you want to talk about…”
“I don’t. Not now. Not ever,” he said.
Turning his back to her, he stretched himself on the ground. He heard her sigh, almost as if she wanted to say something. He closed his eyes. She didn’t say anything. And yet, Kayleb couldn’t relax knowing she was sitting there and watching him.
For a long moment, all was silent in the woods.
He sat abruptly, and turned to face her. “You were there. You saw everything. How can I forget that? It was…”
“It was a rape. And you were its victim,” she said. “Denying it will not change anything.”
Her words were a blow to his heart. His time in succubi caves was something he longed to forget, but knew he never could. There was a strange roaring in his ears. He felt dizzy, as if everything around him was slowly revolving. Kayleb felt Alicia’s cool hands on his forehead. She pushed a pellet in his mouth, and as the sweet pill melted, he felt the dizzying spell wear off. Slowly, everything became normal.
“What happened?” he breathed out the words.
She handed him the water skin and helped him take a big gulp. “It was your body’s reaction to something you have long been denying. It’s only when we accept our injury, physical or emotional, that we can move past it.”
He pushed away the water skin. “Move past it? Have you ever been raped?”
She sat back, the water skin in her hands. “No.”
Kayleb shook his head. “I’m sorry. That was rude.”
“It’s alright. I have heard worse.”
He attempted a smile. “People tend to take out their frustration on the healer.”
“Something like that,” she said. “I’ve attended men and women who are at death’s door. I have cleaned and cared for children who have been brutally beaten by their own parents. I have catered to the needs of the elderly who can’t walk, talk, or eat. At times, I have been called to care for girls who were brutalized by members of their own family, or by random strangers. You think you’ve suffered a lot. I’ve seen suffering that still haunts me at night.”
Anger simmered in his heart. What the hell did
she know? “So you’re saying I should just forget what happened to me in those caves?”
“No. You must learn to separate what happened to you from who you are. You were a victim in those caves. Now you are not. But if you cling to those memories, you would remain a victim forever. You must make a choice to free yourself, or else the anger will take over and make you lose your purpose in life.”
Despite his desire to not share anymore with her, Kayleb found himself saying more. “I’ve lost everything; my home, my kingdom, my honor, my self-respect…what else is left to lose?”
She put the water skin down, and opened her blanket. Standing, she spread it on the floor. “You have everything. Your life, your freedom, your will to live and to survive beyond the pain.” Her skin shone luminously in the light of the wane moon. She had never looked more beautiful before. “The choice is yours to make. You can live like a victim, or a hero. It’s your journey, and only you can choose the end.”
As he watched her stretch out on the blanket, pulling the cloak tightly about her, Kayleb pondered over her words. He allowed himself to think about those days in the caves. Could he do as she said? Could he be free from those awful memories; from the constant shame and guilt of not only being a victim to the succubi, but also failing his oath to his people, of letting his subjects die at the hands of Vindha’s army?
Was it possible for him to ever become whole again?
As he stared at the stars, Kayleb prayed to the goddess. He prayed to be freed from the misery of his memories, from the shame of his failures, and most of all, he prayed to get his honor back. Finally, sleep claimed him.
The sun broke over the horizon in a kaleidoscope of orange and yellow hues. The air was still, not a leaf moved on the nearby trees. The heat was oppressive and the air humid. Kayleb sat, yawned, and rubbed his eyes.
“It’s going to rain today,” predicted Alicia as she emerged from behind the tree. She’d taken a bath in the stream, and her hair hung down her back, water dripping from the wet tresses. Drops of water clung to her skin, shining like tiny diamonds under the first light of the sun.
For a moment, all he could do was stare at her. He’d met hundreds of women before, many of them lovely beyond measure. But there was something special about Alicia. Perhaps, it was because her beauty was magnified due to her simplicity, the compassion in her heart, the generosity of her spirit, and the obstinacy of her purpose.
Unable to understand the directions of his thought, he turned away and resumed grooming her horse.
“I will do that,” she said as she grabbed her pack and tied it to the horse’s saddle.
“It’s alright,” he said, a little more gruffly than he intended. They were both a little on the edge since last night’s conversation. “You can make breakfast. We should leave soon.”
After breakfast, they prepared to leave and then mounted their horses. Familiar with the terrain, Kayleb led her past the spice bushes, and through the forest of banyan trees that spread for leagues. On two occasions they passed people hurrying through the wilderness with a lifetime of belongings tied in bundles and carried in hands. The appearance of riders appeared to terrorize them, but Kayleb didn’t stop to talk to anyone.
These were not his people anymore. The law of his ancestors stated that a king who deserts his people in a time of need forsakes his land forever. Alicia might tell him that he hadn’t chosen to leave his people to their fate, but in his mind, he failed as their leader and didn’t hold any rights over this kingdom or its subjects anymore.
From afar they saw a village, the burned out cottages, and huts a reminder that this land was devastated by a terrible war not so long ago. Everywhere there were remnants of a life that had once been beautiful; a broken wagon, animals that were left behind, toys of children discarded along with other nonessentials by families on the run.
After a hard day’s ride, they finally reached a clearing in the midst of the forest. A cabin, made of wooden logs, stood in the middle. A patch of vegetable garden was planted alongside the cabin, with a fence erected around it to keep the garden safe from wild animals. A mango tree provided shade to the cabin.
“My old teacher lives here. He used to teach us magic,” said Kayleb as he came to a halt. “Seven years ago he retired and moved here. We can stop here for a meal, and maybe some supplies.”
Kayleb came off his horse and led the animal to the tree. He tied the reins to the tree and helped Alicia dismount. He tied her horse also.
An old man emerged from the cabin. Well past the age of seventy, he was thin and stooped. His head was completely bald. “Who’s there?” he said, in a surprisingly strong voice.
“It’s I, Kayleb, Aka.”
Tears shone in his eyes. “King Kayleb? You are alive. Praise the Goddess, I never thought I would see you again.”
Walking up to the old man, Kayleb hugged him. “I am king no more, Aka.”
Aka held him around his shoulders. “You will always be my king. Come inside.” He peered at Alicia. The whites around his eyes were tinged with spots. “Who is this?”
“She is my friend, Aka. We are traveling together.”
He ushered them inside, beaming with happiness. “Come inside. It’s good to see you again. I heard the news of the battle and thought…”
“I was taken prisoner, but Alicia rescued me.”
Aka held Alicia’s hand. He raised it to his lips. “Thank you, young lady. We owe you a debt, it seems.”
Alicia smiled. “Saving a life is payment enough for me.”
Aka smiled. Deep wrinkles crinkled at the corner of his eyes. “You sit down. Make yourself at home. I will prepare a meal fit for a king.”
The cabin was no more than a room; one corner contained a stove and shelves that housed pots and pans. On the window ledge were seven tiny clay pots with herbs growing in each. In another corner was a pallet of straw, and a rectangular, plaited reed mat covered the rest of the floor.
Alicia put her pack in one corner. “I will help you with the food.”
He shuffled to the kitchen corner. “No. You’re my guest. You sit down. Tell me about your journey, Kayleb.”
Kayleb told the story, skimming over his imprisonment in the succubi cave. Instead he talked about his conversation with Vindha, Alicia’s heroic rescue, their battle with the mages, and their encounter with the tribal people.
Aka picked a straw basket, and motioned for Alicia to come and take it. “It’s so sad. That man Vindha needs to be roasted over a slow fire. Dear, why don’t you go and pick some fresh vegetables from my garden?”
Alicia went out, the basket hanging over her arm.
Aka peered at Kayleb. “That’s a special girl,” he said.
Kayleb shrugged. “She is on a mission, Aka. We need to find the temple where Vindha is making the demon mages. Unless we destroy the temple, he will keep on creating those horrible monsters.”
“The world is never going to be the same again,” said Aka. “Didn’t I warn you three years ago that Vindha was up to something. No one listened to me at that time.”
Kayleb sighed. Aka had indeed come to him with strange tales of Vindha delving into dark magic. At that time, Kayleb dismissed the rumors, not sure if it was true or even if it was something he needed to worry over.
“I should’ve listened to you at that time.”
Aka put a pot of water on the stove to boil. “It’s not your fault. We didn’t know enough to make the right choice. It was meant to be. Now go outside to the back of the cabin, and check my traps. I set them yesterday. If we are in luck, maybe we can eat rabbit today.”
Kayleb went out. At the back of the cabin were six traps, all stealthily hidden inside bushes. He found three rabbits. As he came back towards the front of the cottage, he found Alicia standing by the vegetable garden, staring out into the woods, a basket full of fresh vegetables in her hands.
“What happened?”
She smiled wistfully. “I was just thinking how nice it wou
ld be to live here and do ordinary things each day. Plant a garden, harvest, and cook. It’s such a normal life.”
“A princess can’t hide in woods,” he said, understanding her desire to be free of all duties that came with being born in a royal family.
“Duty comes first,” she repeated the words he’d heard since childhood.
“Yes,” he said. They both laughed, sharing a moment of perfect understanding that only those born in a royal household could relate to. He took the basket from her. “Here, let me carry this.”
They walked inside and handed over the goods to Aka. At Alicia’s insistence, he allowed her to wash, peel and cut the vegetables. After butchering the rabbits, Aka began a stew, and soon the cabin was engulfed in the spicy aroma of rabbit stew.
They sat on the mat. Aka poured the stew into three wooden bowls, and accompanied it with salted bread and globs of goat cheese.
Alicia spooned some stew with bread and took a bite. She closed her eyes, savoring the taste. “This is the best meal I’ve ever had,” she said.
Kayleb laughed. “I forgot to tell you that Aka is the best cook in the kingdom. Whenever he would get time off from his duties in the castle, he used to go to the kitchen and hound the cooks in making a decent meal. People still remember his roast lamb and bread pudding. I saw a grown man once cry when he tasted Aka’s beef and tongue stew.”
Aka’s face split in a wide grin. “It’s good to cook for someone else beside me. Haven’t had a visitor in days. Tomorrow, I shall make my famous bread pudding.”
Alicia put her hand on his arm. “I’m sorry. We have to leave first thing tomorrow morning.”
He looked disappointed. “Oh, well. Some other day then.”
Kayleb felt bad for the old man. He appeared starved for companionship, but they had no choice. If they meant to reach the mountains before the rains began, they would have to hurry. They ate the rest of the meal, and Aka told them stories about his days at the mages’ training camps. He told some tales of Kayleb when he was a young boy and made silly little mistakes.
The Warrior Mage Page 12
