by John Booth
Daniel spent the night only a few feet away from Jalia’s prison. He used the ring to make sure nothing dangerous entered her cage. He wanted to teach her a lesson, but not to kill her. He stayed awake through the night, ready to free her if she gave him any reason to believe she couldn’t stand her imprisonment any longer.
Next morning, he moved quietly away from her stone cage and then strolled noisily back into the camp.
“Are you ready to apologize?” he asked.
“Yes, thank you, Daniel,” Jalia said contritely.
If Daniel had grown up with Jalia, he would have been worried by her tone of voice. Her father would have known her anger was about to break like a thunderstorm and nowhere would be safe when it did.
Daniel ordered the magic ring to move one of the stones away and Jalia crawled to freedom. He handed her a water skin, which she poured over herself washing the grime away before putting on her clothes.
When she was dressed, Daniel handed back her magic ring, which she put on her finger silently. She did not thank him or look him in the face.
She walked out of the camp with Daniel watching her. As she reached the top of the rise, she spoke, “Magic Ring, break his legs.”
She ran from the camp without once looking back.
Jalia sobbed as she ran. When she finally was out of breath, she sat on a rock and cried for half an hour until all the anger and frustration was out of her system.
“That should have punished the bastard enough. Now to go back and heal him,” she told the mountains around her.
She stood, wiped her face and headed back to the giants camp. Halfway back, she began to run. It occurred to her she might have done Daniel a lot of damage. Sometimes broken bones cut arteries and he might be badly hurt. Jalia knew her anger had got the better of her when she ordered the ring to do such a terrible thing to him, but it was part of who she was.
The camp was as silent as a graveyard. Where Daniel had been standing there was a large congealing pool of blood. It looked like more blood than one person could possibly lose and still be alive. As well as the pool, there were sprays of blood stretching six or seven feet across the rocky ground. Jalia felt panic take hold within her. She hadn’t wanted to kill Daniel, just to make him suffer.
There was no sign of him. Jalia screamed his name, but there was no response.
As night fell, she started back down the mountain in the direction she had first come. She found her horse grazing contentedly, saddled and safe. Unable to find Daniel, there seemed nothing else to do, but to head back to the trade road and hope that by some miracle, Daniel still lived.
Return to the Road
Daniel handed Jalia her magic ring and watched her walk away from the camp and wondered if she would ever speak to him again. He had just saved her life, but he was certain that wasn’t the way she saw it. Perhaps leaving her in the cage to teach her a lesson was a mistake, but then, he had been so angry with her.
Daniel was so lost in thought that he wasn’t paying attention when Jalia said something quietly at the top of the rise. ‘Something, something, legs’, he thought she might have said. Then his thoughts were swept away by agony as his legs broke in two. Femurs cut through his flesh and severed arteries on their way.
Horrendous pain pulsed through him. The shock made him dizzy and he saw arterial blood squirting across the ground, splashing as it hit the rocky ground. Daniel knew he only had only seconds to staunch the flow before unconsciousness overtook him and death would follow.
He tried using his fingers to staunch the flow, sticking them deep into the torn flesh. That reduced the outward stream of blood by a small amount. However, Daniel had already lost far too much blood and his strength failed him. He gasped for breath, already deep in shock and his world spinning.
As everything became dark, he heard the voice of the Fairie Clea as if from a great distance. She started speaking from far away and it seemed she was moving closer. Her voice made him smile. It was a warm voice to hear when passing from a world.
He felt his body lift into the air. His legs straightening as he rose, broken bones sliding back between torn flesh and connecting to each other in what might be described as a graceful floating dance.
“Daniel, this message was put into our magic so you will know what is happening to you. I am not with you. This gift was something we bestowed on you in reward for giving us the Black Pyramid.”
“We owe you so much for allowing us to destroy that jewel. In recompense, we gave you the greatest gift we could. We imbued you with protection magic. Should major injury take you, the magic will trigger and attempt to make you whole.”
“This is a special gift, because healing is something no mere magical trinket can do. Only magic wielded by living beings can be used to heal.”
“We did not tell you of this, as knowing might make you rash in your actions. Those you met comprise the most powerful of the Fairie. We are Princes and Princesses among our people and it took all out power to grant you this gift.”
“Beware. Even we do not know how often this magic will work for you. Perhaps only this single time. The healing process will age you, perhaps a year or two. Take greater care in the future.”
Daniel floated over the top of ridge to the place where he had left his donkeys. His body settled down to the earth beside them. He was sticky with drying blood and he felt he had aged a century. His face felt different to him as though stretched tight and his clothes felt short on him. He wondered if the healing process had made him taller.
Daniel didn’t know whether the healing process was over minutes or hours. He found it difficult to remember anything. He vaguely remembered freeing Jalia and that she left him.
‘It’s time I was gone too,’ he thought and started to get the donkeys ready. He was in a daze and didn’t think about what he was doing.
His routine for getting ready to travel was deeply ingrained in his mind and he could have done it in his sleep. In a surprisingly short time, he led his laden donkeys down the trail. He believed Jalia must be ahead, but he felt so tired that he didn’t really care. All that mattered was leaving this place and getting far away.
He walked along the trail in a daze, not thinking as it widened in front of him. It made little difference that the path was no longer steep or treacherous. He continued plodding steadily along, staring down at his feet.
Jalia was a long way behind Daniel when she set off toward the trade road. However, she was on horseback and traveled much faster than him. The sun was setting when Jalia spotted Daniel. His train of donkeys became visible in the distance after she cleared a foothill.
Daniel stumbled along. He knew he should stop and eat, feed his donkeys and change the clothes he wore. The blood had dried on him and his clothes stuck as he walked. Flies darted across his face, feeding on the blood. For some reason he didn’t feel able to stop, he wanted to carry on walking forever.
Jalia urged her horse to a gallop to catch him up. As she got closer, she reassured herself that it really was him and not a stranger.
She yelled with joy at seeing him alive and wanted to rush up and hug him. She jumped from her horse a few yards from him and ran towards him calling out his name. He ignored her.
Jalia caught up with him and pulled at his shirt. As he turned, she saw the stains were dried blood. There was more than enough blood to suggest he should be dead.
“Are you hurt?” Jalia screamed, almost fainting from the thought that Daniel was mortally wounded. He stared at her, not at first understanding what she had said, As understanding came he slowly shook his head
Words tumbled from Jalia’s mouth as she rushed to explain.
“I was coming back. I would never have left you. I had the magic ring to heal you.”
She felt like shouting, ‘I love you,’ but the words wouldn’t come. She had lived her life without needing or wanting anyone that deeply. It had been her way since the day she was told that her mother was dead.
&nbs
p; “Magic trinkets can’t be used for healing.” Daniel said slowly, repeating the words Clea had spoken. “You killed me today. My time was up. The fairies saved me with their magic. I gave them the black pyramid you stole. The pyramid corrupted their children and turned them evil.”
Jalia found her voice failed her. Daniel sounded distant and old. As she looked at him closely, she saw he’d grown taller than her and his face looked more mature. The boy had become a man. She wanted to scream her anger. She wanted to scream at herself for bringing him to this.
All of a sudden, she wanted him to punish her. Punish her until she stopped feeling this terrible hurt.
“Beat me,” Jalia yelled. “Punish me, I deserve it. You know I deserve it. Make me feel your righteous rage. I won’t fight, I’ll welcome every blow.”
Daniel ignored her and stepped to one side so he could carry on walking. His donkeys nudged her out of the way as they went passed. Daniel knew he had to get to Delbon, the city of his birth, the place where his brother Yousef waited for him to return. Nothing else mattered.
He quickened his pace while Jalia retrieved her horse from the side of the trail. She dragged it away from where it had been munching happily on juicy grass. Jalia found herself getting angry with Daniel again. ‘How dare he refuse to whip me? He enjoyed it before, and I will make him do it again. I don’t remember giving him a choice.’
She mounted her horse and sent it chasing after the train of donkeys, swearing she would make Daniel punish her if it was the last thing she ever did.
The Traveling Show
Jalia walked her horse alongside Daniel as he led his donkeys down the trail. She tried to get him to talk, but he ignored her. Jalia thought he must be suffering from shock, which given his blood soaked clothes was no great surprise. However, the blood had dried on him and he didn’t appear to be in pain.
When the sun sank behind the mountains Daniel led the donkeys off the trail towards a winding stream with banks lined with trees and bushes. Jalia didn’t remember seeing this place on the way up the trail but then she’d been riding her horse at a much faster pace than a donkey can travel. It looked like a good place to spend the night.
Daniel unloaded the donkeys and led them down to the stream. It was much cooler in the shade provided by the trees. He saw to Jalia’s horse, ignoring her protests. It was as if he was in a dream state, doing everything automatically.
Then to Jalia’s great relief, he removed his blood stained clothes and went down to the stream to wash blood off his body. Jalia’s curiosity overwhelmed her and she picked up his clothes to examine them.
Examining Daniel’s trousers, she felt a wave of horror run through her. Bits of dried flesh still clung to the ragged edges of the large holes in each leg. It was clear his upper legs had been snapped in two and that the broken ends of the bones had ripped through the cloth.
‘He should be dead’, was Jalia’s first thought. No one could survive such injuries. He should be dead. What he had told her about the fairies must be true. There was no way he could have used his magic dagger to heal his wounds and only the fairies had magic in them.
Jalia dropped Daniel’s trousers hastily as she heard him returning to camp. Daniel ignored her and dried his body with a cloth. To Jalia’s surprise, he took out a set of clothing from one of the packs. They looked similar to the clothes he usually wore, but bigger. Jalia thought it was typical of Daniel to carry a complete set of spare clothes, something most travelers didn’t bother with.
Jalia looked him over as he dressed. The only scars on his body were new ones on his legs, but he was taller and thinner. His face was leaner and he looked a couple of years older. All traces of the smiling boy she first met had vanished and he looked like a man. Jalia found herself thinking back nostalgically to the boy she encountered on the road all those months ago. That boy appeared to have disappeared in the healing magic and Jalia wasn’t sure she approved of the change.
She tried to get Daniel to talk to her that night. He cooked them a meal, accepting the rabbit that Jalia killed without a word. He didn’t respond to her questions, but stared at the fire.
It was the same the next morning. Daniel packed the donkeys for travel and prepared Jalia’s horse without saying a word. She decided the best thing to do was to let him get on with it and not try and force him to talk to her. He was bound to come out of this strange state of mind sometime and they had days together before they reached the road to Delbon.
He was still ignoring her all those days later when they reached the trade route and turned towards Delbon. Daniel should have been back in Delbon many months ago. Jalia knew his brother Yousef was dependent on him and she wondered how he had survived when his money ran out. The only option for a cripple was to beg and from what Daniel had told her, Yousef was a proud man.
On their second evening along the trade road they encountered a traveling show coming from the other direction. The show people traveled with three brightly colored covered wagons pulled by oxen.
It was the usual practice on encountering travelers to make camp together to pass on news and gossip. There was also safety in numbers. The road was far from safe. There were raiders out to steal your goods or money, and worse, there were slavers who saw money in selling you to the highest bidder.
There was always a tricky moment in such encounters as both sides tried to judge whether the other was trustworthy. As they got closer to each other, a man on horseback left the safety of his wagons and rode towards them. He was a fat man with a jolly face and wore colorful unsuitable clothes for journeying on the road.
“Ahoy, the donkey train,” he shouted when he was fifty feet or so away, “My name is Damil Trechan. May I approach?”
Daniel shouted back a formal invitation and Damil rode to within a few feet of Jalia.
“Well met, young sir and beauteous lady. It is not often we see a sight as attractive as your woman on the road,” Jalia nodded her head slightly in acknowledgement of the compliment. However, her hand also strayed towards the knife on her belt. She stepped her horse back from Damil as he moved closer towards her.
“Perhaps we can camp together for the night? As you can see we are a traveling show and would be happy to put on a performance for you, for almost no coins at all.”
“If you wish us to join us for the evening you are most welcome.” Daniel replied in the same formal tone, “And during the evening you may watch the two of us eat for your entertainment at a cost of almost no coins to speak of.”
Damil laughed, he was a big man and his voice had a rumble to it. “I can see you are nobody’s fool, young sir. Very well, we shall entertain each other for free and perhaps in our gossip we might end up discussing things of mutual value.”
He turned towards the wagons and shouted. “Erik, Tregar, Loni! Pull the wagons off to the right and make camp. We shall have guests tonight.”
Hard faced men drove the first two wagons. A woman, who Jalia judged to have the hardest face of the three of them, drove the rear one. Daniel pulled his donkeys over to the side of the road and brought them to a stop a little way from the wagons. Jalia rode her horse between the two groups and dismounted.
Full introductions were made. A man called Erik drove the lead wagon. He was tall and thin and had a long knife scar running diagonally across his right cheek. Sat on his shoulder was a small creature in human clothes that screeched at them as the introductions were made. Apparently, this creature was a monkey and answered to the name of Siki. Jalia was fascinated by the animal, as she had never seen an animal that looked and moved so much like a human before. Siki shrieked in warning when she tried to get closer to it and she decided it was wiser to leave it alone.
The other man was introduced as Tregar. He drove the second wagon. He was taller than Erik and Jalia estimated he must stand close to seven feet tall.
He smiled at Jalia and kissed her hand as if he was a nobleman and she a lady. This seemed to annoy the driver of the third wagon, a wo
man called Loni. Loni might have been attractive was it not for the sour scowl covering her face. She certainly had large breasts. Jalia felt slightly intimidated by women with big bosoms as she considered her own to be too small. She wondered if Loni’s breasts were real or whether her clothing pushed them out.
To Jalia’s great annoyance, Daniel spent far too much time looking at Loni’s breasts. She came close to stamping her foot in irritation as Daniel almost drooled over the fat breasted whore.
Daniel, as always, took care of his animals first. Only when the donkeys and horse were watered down and fed did he look to start a fire. By that time, Erik had built one more than big enough for all of them.
While Daniel sorted out the livestock, Jalia examined the travelers’ covered wagons with some interest. The first two had open doors at the back. Looking through the doors Jalia saw bunk beds along with the typical paraphernalia associated with traveling.
It soon became obvious that Tregar and Loni were a couple. As soon as she saw Jalia, Loni moved closer to her man and held onto his arm. That Tregar found Loni’s sudden closeness irritating was equally obvious.
Damil and Tregar shared a wagon, though they made it clear when they laid out their bed roles they planned to spend the night on the ground.
The third wagon was a mystery. There was a door at the back, but it had a lock on it, an unusual thing for a wagon to possess. Jalia could see two little chimneys on its roof, a ventilation system of a type Jalia had seen before, though only on houses. She was eaten up with curiosity, but as she moved closer to the wagon, Erik stepped in front of her and escorted her back to the fire.
Daniel was worried about the show folk, especially Damil, who was too hearty and smiled far too much. It was an act and Daniel didn’t trust people who felt they had to act when they were with others.
