by Scott Toney
Souls’ Introducing Waltz
Early morning sunlight rippled through an ornate window and flowed along Lilya’s hands as she sat on a plain wooden chair beside Thomas’s sick bed. He had arrived just before sunset the night before and had been rushed to one of Westwood Castle’s finest rooms to be looked after.
She was both relieved and worried. Her father’s words about how she should do anything to secure Thomas’s hand and her seat next to him on his throne had stricken her with fear. How could her father ransom her out like a harlot just because their marriage could secure him a large dowry? Thomas’s illness gave her time to think and she hoped that because of his condition he wouldn’t have the strength to force himself upon her.
She was worried for him though. She may not know the young king, but he did journey all the way from Havilah to meet her and consider her to be his queen. He looked frail there, lying in the bed as she sat beside him. His skin was ghastly pale and there were scratches of dried blood across his face.
He is truly a boy, Lilya thought.
One of the boy king’s guards, Cypress she had heard him called, stood sternly silent against the room’s door. He was nearly twice her height and had not spoken more than a few words since she had come to the room shortly after his arrival.
Hours before Thomas had come; Lilya had been primped and pampered by her maids. A tight corset hugged her waist and overtop of it she wore a flowing dress of violet and emerald green. As they were coloring her cheeks with soft dyes made from rose petals a messenger had burst into her room with word that Havilah’s king had arrived and was injured. Her father insisted she come immediately to be by Thomas’s side.
Here, in this room by the moonlight, she had prayed over this boy she did not yet even know. She stayed by his side all night without sleep. She had watched as his breath had been hoarse and as he sweated through a horrible fever. His hands had even curled and he cried out in agony. The tears streaming down his dreaming face had pulled so greatly at her heart.
Lilya did not know Thomas, but she did know his pain. She was just thankful now that he seemed to be at peace. And she was nervous because she didn’t know what she would do once he awoke.
“What is he like?” Lilya lifted her head and asked the stiff guard standing motionless by the door.
For a few moments there was silence, and then Cypress grinned. “He has a kind heart. He cares for everything and everyone and looks for the good in all that he sees. He is a king who does not behave like one.”
Lilya thought for a second. “Would he hurt me?”
Cypress was clearly taken aback by the question. “No! No… he has the gentlest heart. Why do you ask, princess?”
At this moment Thomas moaned. He shivered in his bed, his head rolled back and forth and his eyes quivered behind their lids.
“I think he’s waking,” Lilya spoke, surprised. “Where are the nursemaids?”
“They’re having breakfast in the dining hall!” Cypress was already out the door and running full tilt on his way to get them when he called again. “Take care of my king!”
Thomas’s body calmed and he let out a peaceful waking moan.
As Lilya moved nearer she reached out her hand to touch Thomas’s own in an effort to calm him. Then, just as her fingers almost touched his, his eyes opened wide. He looked almost inhuman for a moment, as if the eyes looking at her were not that of a man but were instead some immortal thing peering through her soul.
She stepped back, quickly removing her hand from beside his, and as she did so his eyelids shut a little and his eyes calmed.
“Who…?” he asked in a young voice. “Where am I?”
“You’ll be alright,” Lilya said. “One of your guards is getting your nursemaids. I’m Lilya.”
She could see he was still exhausted and weak but Thomas managed a small smile. “You are so beautiful,” he said.
Flattery… It is what men do to get what they want, Lilya thought. What does this man want? “What happened to you?” she asked.
Thomas looked as if he could barely keep his eyes open. “I… I don’t know. I remember running through the woods and dancing to a song our guide was singing. Someone was calling my name… and I don’t know what happened after that.” He struggled to sit up on the bed. His body shook as he slowly sat upright and his elbows almost buckled beneath his weight. “And now I’m here.”
Wearily he looked down, then up at her again. “This is a horrible way to meet. Look at me. I am sick, filthy and exhausted. Surely you must think so little of me.”
This struck Lilya. How can a king think someone would think little of him? she thought. Why would he even care if they did? Could this boy actually be different than other men? “It will come back to you in time,” she said. “And if it doesn’t, you are here and safe and that is all that matters.” She picked up a crystal pitcher from a table close by and poured the crisp water into a crystal glass next to where the pitcher had been. She lifted the glass as she poured.
As the water filled the glass she felt it, cool, on her palm. She needed this to calm her nerves. Surely this injured boy king was harmless. She should give him a chance.
“Drink this.” Lilya handed the glass to Thomas. With a gentle touch she brought his hand to the glass. “You need your nourishment. Once the nursemaids have arrived we’ll gather you something to eat too.”
She watched as Thomas stared down into the crystal glass. Its fluid swayed back and forth as he braced it, lifted it to his mouth and drank. He didn’t stop until he drained the crystal glass dry.
“Thank you.” Thomas set the empty glass beside him on the bed. “Here.” He held out his thin arms slowly. “Could you help me up? I need to be alive. I need to move.”
Lilya held out her hands and clasped them around his warm wrists, bracing him as he pulled himself around so he could slide his legs off the side of the bed. She continued to brace Thomas as he attempted to stand. But he could not rise. His legs quivered beneath him as he tried to place weight on them.
“You should rest,” Lilya said, hoping he would listen to her.
“No. I’ll be alright. I just need… another minute,” his voice quivered as his legs quaked and his torso curled over.
He’s in so much pain, Lilya thought.
“Aaa…” Thomas moaned. He sat with his head in his hands as footsteps came nearer and nearer to them up the adjoining hall.
“Thomas!” Juniper burst into the room, closely followed by three scurrying nursemaids and his other two guards. “You’re awake, sire! We were so worried for you.”
Thomas lifted his head from his shivering hands as the nursemaids began taking his pulse, checking his eyes and examining in other ways to make sure he was alright.
Lilya stepped back from the bed so as not to get in their way.
“What’s happened to me?” he asked.
“It’s hard to say for sure sire.” Pine responded while walking over into his king’s view. “We were on our way to Westwood Castle. You were running through the woods as we were all listening to the song of the man we met along the shore. And as he sang and we traveled I watched you running and dancing farther and farther away. We became worried because you had gone so far away so Juniper called out, asking if you would come back closer to us.
“For a moment you stopped and looked to us and then you disappeared from our sight and down to the forest foliage below. Mere seconds passed and then we heard you screaming for help so myself, Juniper, Cypress and a few others came rushing in your direction. But when we reached you your body was stiff as a board and you were unresponsive. That’s why we lifted you and brought you here as quickly as we could. Do you remember any of this?”
Thomas stared toward the room’s sun glistened window. “I remember nothing. The last thing I remember is standing on Anemon’s deck with Juniper as we watched a boy swinging from a vine out over the river water. How long has it been since that time?”
“Only a mere
day, sire.” Juniper responded with a voice that spoke with a soft hint of awe. “But so much has happened since then.”
“And do you know what has done this to me or if it will affect me again?” the young king asked the question in a broad way to all of his three massive guards. “Have you any ideas to share? Surely you saw or deduced something.”
“The only clues of what has happened to you are two scabbed over circle wounds along your spine,” Pine answered. “Perhaps you were bitten by something with the ability to paralyze. Some of our company has said they noticed a snake following us and that after you were injured they saw it no more. But this is only speculation. We can’t know for sure.”
He looks so frail and wounded there, sitting on the bed and not knowing at all what has happened to him, Lilya thought. She sipped cool water from her own glass. Surely there is some way to make him feel better.
The room was silent.
“It is in the past,” Lilya spoke. “What has happened is what has happened, but surely there is nothing to be gained by being upset about it if there is no way of knowing what has occurred.”
Thomas looked up and smiled an interested smile at her. She wasn’t so sure what to make of it. “This beautiful lady is right. I need fresh air. Is there a place close by outside where we can take a stroll, if she’ll have me for a stroll that is?”
“Some fresh air sounds good.” Lilya was happy she was able to change the mood of this young king. “My own personal garden is not too far from here.”
“No, sire, you are still too weak.” Cypress approached Thomas. “You must stay and rest. You should have something to eat and replenish your body, and leave tomorrow for exploring Westwood Castle and its gardens.”
“I am perfectly fine, trust me, Cypress. I know myself, and if I were not able I would not press myself to do anything but rest.” Thomas met Lilya’s eyes. “And besides, I am anxious to learn more about this beautiful girl. Now help me to my feet please. Lilya, could I meet you in this garden? I need to make myself look more suitable for you.”
Lilya came to him and, taking the empty water glass from his hand, set it on the table. “Looks don’t matter to me, Thomas, only who you are in your soul, but I will leave you to get ready and be waiting for you in my garden.” As she left the room, out of the corner of her eye she saw the massive guards trying to help the young king to his feet with his legs shaking violently beneath him.
҉
In ponderous thought Lilya sat, on a stone bench in her personal garden which was positioned just down the hall from her own royal chambers. The garden had been planted in soil that had been hauled up the castle stairs and laid out on part of the castle’s roof. She ran her soft fingers over the divots in the stone bench while breathing in a deep breath of air. She admired the way the sun’s light illuminated the rainbow of flowers all about her and the bright green leaves of the shrubs that marked a path down the garden’s center.
She tossed a handful of seeds, from a box that lay on the ground beside the bench, to a cardinal hopping around on the path before her. “You know, little birdie, this is all pointless. I won’t marry any man, even if he does seem nicer than the ones around here.”
The cute little bird chirped and hopped over toward a seed, which it quickly picked up in its beak.
“What I need is a place to hide away from them all, and to escape my father, his guards and every other man that is.” She held out a hand with a few seeds in it and the cardinal slowly hopped over toward it and snatched the morsels from her palm.
“But what am I to do… I’ve thought about running off with the dragon. Perhaps I should run off and make myself a home in The Canyon of Eyes. Surely no-one would come looking for me there.”
“Lilya.” Thomas entered through the castle’s large stone entrance way, but was not walking, as she had expected him to be. Instead he was in a wooden wheelchair and was being pushed in by one of his guards. “I apologize for how long it took for me to arrive. I would have been here sooner but,” he looked down to his legs, “it appears that my legs are still not quite so willing to listen to what my mind tells them to do.”
Lilya breathed in the warm crisp air of the garden and could smell a slight hint of honeysuckle in the breeze. As the guard, who introduced himself as Pine, wheeled Thomas over she stood. “How are you feeling otherwise?”
“A little achy, but I will be alright. I’m sure your company will make me feel even better.” Thomas looked up at Pine. “You can leave us now. I’ll send for you when I come inside.”
“But sire…” Pine protested.
“I’ll be alright. I promise that if I start feeling ill then Lilya and I will send someone to come get you right away.”
Pine placed his firm hand on the young man’s shoulder. “If you insist then I will go, but please be careful, Thomas. I could not forgive myself if something would happen to you.” He turned to Lilya. “Make sure he is alright, princess.” Soon he was walking out of the garden through the tall, ornate stone doorway and had disappeared into the castle’s inner halls, leaving the royal pair alone in the luscious green garden.
The songs of birds could be heard singing their own melody about them and a single dove flew by above.
“So what do we talk about?” Thomas broke the silence between them.
“Don’t ask me.” Lilya looked up at the dove as it passed. “You’re the one who traveled all this way to meet me.”
“Hmmm…” Thomas placed his hands on the wooden wheels of his chair and began to slowly move them. “What do you like?”
The question took Lilya aback. What did she like? Wasn’t that the same question Alexander had asked her? How bizarre that they both would ask her the same thing. “Do you mean in general or about something specific?”
“In general.” He plucked a baby leaf from one of the bushes beside him on the path as he passed it. “I like being here with you. You have a calming yet energy-filling presence. Does that make any sense?”
Lilya walked beside him as he wheeled up the path in his chair, always keeping an arm’s distance from him, careful not to get too close or to make him think she was showing him affection. “I guess,” she said. “What do I like?” She thought back to her answer to Alexander. She had had such a magical time with him. “I like running in the rain and feeling it gently patter down.”
Thomas curled the little leaf he was holding in his fingers and folded it in half. “Have you ever heard the sound of rain pattering on a tin roof? It sounds so beautiful. Sometimes when it rains I leave my castle with the guards and go out on a small tin roofed boat I keep docked in the Pishon’s waters. I lie back on the floor of the boat in a small room and listen to the raindrops echoing off of the tin roof above. I love simple things like that.”
“I’ve never had the pleasure of experiencing that. It sounds so beautiful.” They were nearing the edge of her garden now. They looked out over the garden wall, which looked out over the castle’s side. Over the ledge the castle wall dropped down three stories. From here they had a view straight over the treetops of the entire forest surrounding the castle and all the way out to the river beyond. The sun was cresting just over the treetops and its bright orb glow beamed magnificently. “Isn’t it amazing up here? There is no view like it in all of Cush.”
There was silence as they both looked on in awe. “Wow.” Thomas exhaled. “It is so beautiful.”
Birds tweeted in the trees below as Lilya motioned for Thomas to follow her over toward a bench close to the edge of the garden. A small green vine was twisted around its side. “Here we can sit and talk as we watch the sun rise in to the sky to greet the day.”
And there they sat through the day, Lilya on the ornate stone bench and Thomas in his wooden wheel chair beside her, talking about their lives, their thoughts and their dreams. Lilya spoke of her paintings and of how she longed to escape the confines of the castle to someplace where she was free to be herself. She did not tell Thomas though of her fath
er’s use of her as a betting tool. She was ashamed, for herself and her life, and did not know what he would think or say.
She did tell him of Alexander and of what an amazing feeling it was to soar high in the sky in his embrace. She described being washed by the cool wind whipping about her as the clouds rolled by. She told Thomas she had only seen the dragon once but that she thought he could be a great friend.
He was nervous to hear of the dragon, taken aback for a moment, but told her that he trusted what she said of the creature.
Thomas spoke of the kind hearts of his people and of how one of his favorite things to do was to walk among them and do whatever he could to give of himself to them and help with whatever needs they had. “There is no better way to bring happiness to your own soul than to do things to help others,” he told her.
They talked and talked about anything and everything in their worlds, eating fruit and nuts from the garden’s small trees when they were hungry and drinking water from a clear spring that had somehow been directed up through the castle and into the garden, to quench their thirst.
The sun rose high in the sky, basking the world in its brilliant warmth, and then slowly made its way down toward the horizon.
In their interest in each other they had lost track of time and as the sun was setting and shimmering its crisp pink hue across the clouds above them they finally realized the hour it had gotten to be. “We should turn in for the night,” Lilya said as she watched the vibrant pink sky begin to fade. “Surely they’ll come looking for us soon if we don’t. How long will you be staying in Cush?” She looked toward Thomas and saw a pensive look. What was he thinking?
“I will leave mid-day tomorrow for Assyria, as I have promised to meet their king in two days’ time.” Thomas clasped the wooden wheels of his chair strongly and his body shook as he attempted to move.
“Are you alright?” Lilya reached for him.
“Yes.” Thomas grinned a pained grin. “Wait for a moment.” His body shook and quaked in on itself as he slowly pulled himself off of the chair and on the ground before her. He held one hand to the stone bench where she sat, supporting himself, and fished with his other hand in one of the deep pockets of his robe. Within moments he lifted a small ornate golden box from his endless pocket.
Lilya wanted to tell him to put it away. She wanted to stand and leave him. What was he doing? They had just met.
Thomas’s thin fingers shook as he moved them along where the box would split to open, and ‘snap’ it flipped wide revealing an intricately carved golden ring with beautiful diamonds laced around its carvings. “This was my grandmother’s.” His arm shook as he held it before her. “Since the moment we first met, even though it was only this morning, I have been in love with you. You are so caring, interesting, beautiful and full of life, and I know that I need not search farther for my future queen if you would have me. Lilya, would you be my queen?”
“I…” Lilya stood and began to walk backwards away from him. She would not marry any man, no matter how kind he seemed to be, especially not one she had only met this morning. She began to move quickly toward the castle’s entrance.
And then she heard his pained scream as his strength gave out and his body went crashing to the walk. She had to help. With quick strides she ran to his side and lifted him up and into his chair. He lifted his head as best he could.
“Thank you,” he said. And for moments there was silence between them. “Does this mean that the answer is no?”
“I…” Lilya stammered. She needed time to think. “I don’t know. Can I have some time?” She lifted the ornate box from where it had tumbled to the ground and placed the ring back inside before placing it back in Thomas’s hands. “There are things you don’t know about me. I’m not sure that I’ll ever marry any man.”
Thomas closed the golden box and slid it back into his robe pocket. “I realize we have just met. I would be willing to wait for you. You could even come to Havilah and get to know me better before saying yes.”
He looked to her with such love in his eyes. How could he have those feelings for her so soon?
Even if she told him about what she had endured at the hands of her father’s men she didn’t think he would understand. She could never be any man’s wife or queen. A thought came to her. Anything would be better than being in this place. Who knew what would happen to her here?
“Can I have some time to think?” Lilya looked to Thomas. Instantly she felt upset that she was getting his hopes up and unsure of why she had asked the words.
Thomas smiled. It was as if a great gift had been given to him, one greater than any he had had before. “Just the fact that you are considering being my queen fills me with so much joy.”
Lilya could see strength coming into his soul through his eyes as he looked at her. It frightened her, but she did not know why.
“I will go to Assyria with my men and tell their king I am not interested in his daughters and then go fishing in the Euphrates River in the waters beyond Vane for a few days before returning to Cush.” He reached out to put her hands in his but she pulled them away from him.
“I… I’m sorry,” she spoke.
“Don’t be sorry. I apologize if I overstepped my boundaries.” Thomas paused for a few moments again before looking up at the now starlit sky. “Look up there at the stars,” he said.
She did. They were so tiny and yet tranquil at the same time. Why couldn’t men be like that, beautiful and also staying their distances so that she would never have to worry about them being too close to her? “When will you be back?” she asked.
“Is five days enough time?”
Lilya watched as a star shot across the sky. She wondered if he had made a wish. “I will have an answer for you by then.”
They sat there for a while longer watching the stars above as darkness set in, barely speaking to each other, and after some time had passed they went back, side by side, through the darkness of the garden and into Westwood Castle once more.
From here they would retire to their own rooms, with Lilya’s insistence that he not escort her to hers. In the morning when Thomas would depart for Assyria Lilya would not see him away from port, not wanting to give him false hopes for his return.
8
