Princess Electra Book 3 Gypsy Music

by Dory Lee Maske

  Chapter 5

  King's Lake

  Take the Thief stood on the shore of King's Lake looking out at the Traveler caravan on the opposite shore. The painted wooden wagons and dark-haired people dressed in bright clothes brought back a memory of his mother. He wondered briefly if they might have known his mother. She told him she had been a Traveler girl. Then she had taken a job in a rich man's house and began to live 'permanent.'

  Take rolled up his pant legs and removed his shoes. This beach was the site he had chosen for his theater and he was disappointed to see no signs of work on the project. As long as he was here he wanted to test the depth of the water just offshore.

  He stuck his bare foot in the water and had second thoughts. It was very cold. Pulling his coat tighter around his shoulders, he took another step. Still cold. he waded in up to his knees and turned around. He was about ten feet from shore. This was enough. It seemed feasible to build a submerged platform just off shore. This would have the effect of walking on water if the actors wore shoes with thick wooden soles. He pulled his pant legs higher and took a few more steps into the lake.

  "Hello," someone called from shore. "Take, is that you?"

  Take turned abruptly and almost lost his footing. He shielded his eyes, looking into the setting sun.

  "Electra? Avor? Are you out for a stroll?"

  Electra said something but he couldn't hear her words. "What's that?"

  "We're on our way to the Traveler's camp for dinner," Avor shouted. His voice had recently turned deeper and the sound carried easily across the water.

  Take walked back closer to shore. He was surprised to hear that the King's children were going to visit a Traveler's camp. "You are? Does your father know about this?"

  Avor straightened his shoulders and lifted his chin. "Does the King know that you are about to end it all in his lake?"

  Take could see that Avor had begun to take on a cavalier attitude. Probably from working alongside the men from Taz.

  "I am not here to commit suicide. Sorry to disappoint you. I'm thinking of building a submerged platform."

  "Oh?" Avor seemed at once interested in the prospect.

  "This is to be the site of our theater," Take continued.

  Electra looked back at the gently rising bank and smiled. "This is a likely spot. Perfect, in fact. I can see it take shape in my mind."

  "I'm afraid in your mind is the only place it is taking shape thus far." Take joined them on shore, shaking the water from his feet. "I thought if our troupe were to put on a show for the workers, it might encourage them to make a start on our theater."

  Avor put on a more earnest face, making him seem more the fifteen year old he was. "I don't believe the theater has a high priority. In fact I've never heard Haddad speak of it."

  Take frowned. "Not what I hoped to hear." He looked around then. "Have you no guard with you? It will be dark by the time you return from the Traveler's camp."

  "I've brought a lantern." Electra held up a canvas bag.

  Take continued to frown at the two teenagers. "Your father doesn't know you are going there, does he?" Then his face brightened a little. "My mother was a Traveler. I wouldn't be surprised if someone there knew of her. I think I might just stroll over there myself and ask around as long as I'm in the area."

  Avor and Electra looked at one another. "You could come along with us if you like," Electra said.

  "I suppose I might. Could be I'll finally find out who my Dad was."

  "You never knew your Dad?" Electra could certainly understand Take's wish to find out who his father was. She had wondered who her own father was for the first sixteen years of her life.

  Take put on his shoes and rolled down his pant legs. "Never did. My mother refused to speak of him. We lived in Fernland and every month a courier rode in from the north. Gave my mother a little money. I always wondered if the money came from my father."

  "How sad for you," Electra said. "I always wondered who my father was as well."

  Take laughed. "A nice surprise to find he was a king, I'll bet."

  "Yes and no," Electra said.

  Avor raised his eyebrows, but said nothing.

  "Where is your mother now?" Electra asked.

  "She died quite young, poor thing. I was only twelve or thirteen myself. Right after she died the courier came. I told him my Ma was dead. He looked confused, said he was sorry to hear it, and left. So I left as well. On my own, then, I was."

  "And you never found out who had been sending the money?"

  "Never supposed anyone would tell me if I did ask. I'm not thinking I'll find out anything tonight either, but you never can tell."

  The three walked on in silence for a while. As dusk fell, they stopped to light their lantern. They could hear the sound of a flute and a fiddle drifting across the water of the lake. The music grew louder as they neared the lights of the camp. Take held his hands high over his head, snapping his fingers in time to the music. Laughing, he did a little circle dance in time to the music.

  "Ah..., my mother's people." His face shone with pride and mischief.

  Juanita and Esmeralda saw the three approach and ran out to pull Avor into the circle of light from their campfire.

  "You came," they shouted as they danced around him. They seemed less enthusiastic about seeing Electra and Take, but welcomed them as well, saying, "We will have fun tonight. Just wait and see."