Water Blessed

by Stone, Leia

  I looked at Lake. Byron put a hand on her thigh and squeezed, then looked at me and glared.

  The crowd had settled down.

  "And finally, because you will bring liquid life unto our realm, the Jewel King is prepared to dig your village a well of their own and you may visit your family every summer solstice."

  My people jumped up then and screamed, stomped, and cheered. The other representatives glared at him.

  “You already have a Water Blessed!” The Coal Mountain man sneered.

  The Jewel Mountain man glared at him. “Our dear Maggie is aging and will meet death soon.”

  As far as I knew, there were two Water Blessed alive. Well, three including me. One in Jewel Mountain and one in Wheat Valley.

  My stepfather stood. "To dig a well you would need heavy equipment, piping, hand crank drills. Your King has all of that?" Well, it looked like my stepfather had chosen his favorite deal.

  "We do and I have brought it all with me," the handsome man stated.

  I looked at the Wheat Valley woman. She looked nice and her offer was good. It would put Byron out of business which would bring me great joy. But if Byron didn't release Lake to me, than I needed his business to thrive so he could take care of my best friend. I looked at the silk man. His offer was good too, but I could not resist a well. Water wives would no longer be needed. Women could marry for love. The thought shocked me. Life in my village would change overnight.

  The coal representative stepped forward. "I am prepared to sweeten my offer. 100 wheeled wagons. Marriage for love and apprenticeships in coal mining," he said, desperately.

  "I've made my choice,” I told them.

  The villagers quieted, and my stepfather and Byron shot me glares. Lake looked at me like a lost puppy. My mother offered me strength with her gaze. I exhaled.

  "I will be the Water Blessed for the Jewel Mountain Kingdom!" I roared and my people jumped up cheering. The jewel representative bowed to me deeply and approached the stage. We locked eyes and for a second, it was like time stopped. He seemed transfixed by my glowing blue eyes and nearly tripped over the edge of the stage. He regained his balance and extended his hand. He looked about twenty winters old.

  "I’m Seth, head of your new personal guard," he stated.

  I wasn't sure what to do with his hand, so I extended mine in the same way. Each kingdom had a different greeting. Our hands were inches from each other and he smiled taking mine in his and lifting it up and down.

  "Like this," he told me. His hand was warm and strong, but he was gentle with mine.

  I pulled mine away first. "Ocean."

  "What?" he asked.

  "You're Seth. I'm Ocean."

  He looked at my lips and then again at my eyes. "Ocean, we are well met," he said.

  Heat flushed my face and my stepfather stomped over and asked him for payment.

  After the other representatives stormed out, and Seth paid the village, he approached me. The sword on his hip and insignia on his chest told me he must be someone important in his kingdom. "Have you chosen who you want to take as your maiden?" he asked.

  "I have. But there's a problem." I nervously twisted the ends of my raven black hair. What if Byron didn’t let Lake leave? Seth was staring at the jagged hairline scar on my arm. He followed it all the way up to my neck. I felt exposed. I caught him looking and he quickly looked away.

  "Well, I'm good with solutions. Tell me your problem and I will solve it," he declared.

  I smiled. "Well, up until I got kissed with sky fire and was given the water power, I was sold to an old drunk farmer to become his water wife."

  Seth's nostrils flared, and I could hear his teeth gritting.

  I continued. "My best friend, Lake, has been his wife for almost a month. I want to take her. He has been–unkind to her."

  Seth gave me a menacing grin. "That's not a problem."

  Hope burst inside of me. "It’s not?"

  "Everyone can be bought," he assured me. "Lead the way."

  Lake

  I stood before Byron and it took every ounce of my willpower not to kill him. Lake sat without her shawl and I could see the full view of her beaten face. If Byron wasn’t such a rich bastard, he never would have gotten away with how he treated his water wives.

  “I am prepared to offer you two Kings Coins for your water wife, Lake, to be released from marriage and come to Jewel Mountain.” Seth got right to the point.

  Byron looked drunk as usual. “Hmm.” He thought it over. “What else?” He gazed at my body and I wanted to stick him the stomach with my blade.

  “I will fill twenty water pots for you before I leave. That should last you until the well can be drilled,” I told him curtly.

  “And an extra Kings Coin,” Seth added.

  He nodded. “All right, deal. But I want one more thing. Something that was going to be mine but was taken from me,” he told Seth.

  Seth glared at him. “And that is?”

  “A kiss. From Ocean,” he stated.

  Seth’s teeth grit. “Absolutely not. She is property of the King of Jewel Mountain. Her modesty is under my protection.”

  My modesty. Hah! I considered Byron’s offer. It’s just one kiss, for my friend’s freedom. Lake pleaded at me with her eyes. Seth saw me considering it.

  Byron licked his lips and stepped forward. Seth drew his blade and pointed it at Byron’s chest. “By order of the king, you will not touch the Water Blessed.” Seth’s voice oozed power. The veins in his neck stuck out and his gaze looked murderous.

  Seth opened his satchel and produced a red ruby. He threw it at Byron’s feet. “I trust this will tame your lust, old man.”

  Byron’s greedy gaze fell on the ruby.

  “I release thee, I release thee, I release thee,” he stated unceremoniously, three times and it was done. That’s all it took in our village. And we had witnesses. After all Lake had been through with him. He dis-guarded her in such a casual manner. It made rage burn inside my heart.

  Lake ran the length of the room and we embraced, laughing. I turned to leave when a big, strong hand squeezed my buttocks. Byron. I reached inside my wrap and unsheathed my knife. I turned swiftly and my blade was at Byron’s groin before he could back up.

  “One snick of my blade and your manhood falls to the floor,” I threatened him.

  He froze, not moving.

  “I will pray every night to the Fates that the heat death takes you,” I told him with disdain. I released him and looked to Seth who appraised me with pride.

  After leaving Byron's hut, I saw that my mother and the village elders had gathered to see us off. Large horses were waiting in a line, they pulled wagons branded with the Jewel Kingdom insignia, a red ruby. I had never seen a horse except in etchings. Lake and I shared a look of excitement.

  My mother approached me.

  I gave her a long hug. "Are you sure you will be okay?" I asked her.

  She smiled and tucked my hair behind my ear. "A water well! Yes, I will be fine." She laughed. "Send word if you can."

  "I will, Mama. See you next summer solstice," I promised.

  She smiled. "See you then." Her kiss on my cheek was light.

  The elders sent me off with a smoking sweet grass bundle and applied a red clay dot to my chest to be kept in favor of the Fates. I bowed and walked away from them without words. I was one day away from being sold as a water wife to a forty-five-winters-old drunk. I would not be thanking them for anything.

  Seth ushered me to a small horse-drawn carriage. He stopped Lake from going inside. "You will ride with the head palace maiden. It’s a two-day journey and she can use the time to train you."

  Lake looked upset at not being able to sit with me, but she nodded and followed him to a larger carriage with a short, stocky woman who had a kind smile. Her brown hair was pulled into a tight knot.

  After Seth had spoken to the guards that would ride horses that flanked our party, he entered the carriage. It was small, only
big enough for two.

  Seth sat across from me and pulled the small carriage window open for a breeze of fresh air. It was dark out and the night air, although warm and muggy, wasn't nearly as scorching as the midday sun. I was nervous for our journey and for my new life as a Water Blessed. It had been hours and I had no need to drink water which unnerved me. I leaned over and peeked out the carriage window and took one last look at my small, dusty village. And with that, Lake and I embarked on our new life as I tried to hold in a wind storm of emotions.

  Seth leaned out the window and shouted to the men leading the wagon line. "Let's ride!"

  The horse took off and I was unprepared for the jerk. I flew forward into Seth's arms. He caught me before my head knocked into his. My face was inches from his. He smelled of salt and something sweet I couldn't place.

  "You okay?" he asked, staring at my lips.

  I cleared my throat and sat back in my seat.

  "Yes, I'm sorry. I’ve never ridden in a carriage,” I told him honestly.

  "I figured. Have you ever ridden a horse?" he pondered aloud.

  I shook my head. “I’ve never even seen a horse.”

  His mouth opened slightly but he recovered quickly. "Maybe we should take this time for me to teach you about life in the realm, so that you’re prepared."

  I wiped my palms nervously on my wrap dress and nodded.

  "You know about the great water war, right?" he asked and ran his fingers through is wild brown hair.

  I rolled my eyes. "I'm from a small village, not the moon. Of course I know," I reprimanded him.

  He put his hands up apologetically. "Right, so when the earth became too hot, the pools of life began to dry up. Water was scarce and the great water war began."

  I nodded. "The village elders say it never ended, that we're still at war over water."

  He shrugged. "I guess in a sense that's true, but when the realm divided into the four kingdoms, a peace treaty was signed. Every man for himself."

  I shivered. “That doesn't sound so great.”

  He shrugged. "The peace has held for over a hundred years. You know the pools of life that are now the dead pools?”

  I lied and nodded. I didn’t know about them nor had I seen them.

  “My great-great-great grandmother told my father that water once poured down Jewel Mountain and into what is now the dry gorge. It was called a waterfall."

  I had never heard of a waterfall. I would have to tell mother. The women in the village could name their daughters after it. "Was the dry gorge a lake before?"

  He nodded his head. "Yes, and it flowed into the salt flats."

  Now that I had heard of. No one had ever crossed the salt flats and lived to tell about it. It was bigger than anything ever seen, and your eye couldn’t reach the end. Flat dirt with white crusty salt forever and ever

  “Well, if the dry gorge was a lake, what was the salt desert?” I asked.

  He smiled. “You tell me?”

  It took me a second, then I smiled. "The ocean."

  He nodded. "I’ve always been taken with the idea of the ocean. Guess I finally get to see it." He winked, looking at me.

  I returned his smile. Seth was handsome, wealthy, and had a prominent job. He didn't marry village girls like me. He just took us to bed for the night. I sighed and stared out the window. He was only favoring me because I was the Water Blessed.

  "Thugs!" someone shouted outside the caravan.

  Seth had me pinned to the floor with his blade unsheathed before I could even reach for mine. He was fast.

  "Stay down!" he hissed at me and jumped out of the moving caravan. I heard him hit the ground hard.

  Like hell! I wasn't sitting there while the thugs killed off my new future, or worse, Lake. The carriage skidded to a stop and I heard the clanging of swords. I quickly tied my dress into shorts that reached mid-thigh. Thugs didn't play nice; they had mead fire bombs, poisoned blades, and an appetite for young girls. I peeled back the curtain and saw Seth engaged with Marques. Of all the people to see me off, it had to be him. He still haunted my nightmares. With one jab, Seth skewered him in the gut. Red blood bubbled out of him like water from a brook. I had seen someone killed once before, but this was different, Marques was someone I hated. I felt no sadness for him.

  Lake screamed, breaking my stare. I leapt out of the carriage in one stride and raced to her. A thug was pulling her out of her carriage by her hair.

  I knelt on one knee and pulled my arm back, throwing my blade quick and far. It spun in a high arc and sank into the thug’s neck. He dropped Lake, and Seth ran past me to finish him off as I ran to her and checked her over.

  "I'm fine," she said.

  "Where's your dagger?" I saw that her thigh holster was bare. A water wife never goes about without protection.

  Her lip quivered. "Byron took all of my possessions. I have nothing."

  Seth appeared from behind and handed her a golden-hilted, sparkling jeweled dagger. "You may have mine," he told her.

  Her mouth dropped open. “I can’t. It's worth more than my life!”

  Seth smiled. "I insist." Then he led me away. He cleaned my knife on his pants and handed it back to me.

  "That was nice of you to give your dagger to Lake. Thank you," I told him. He was a decent man. More than decent.

  He nodded. "Next time I say to stay in the carriage, please stay."

  I met his eyes. They were stern but also pleading. "If my best friend screams, I'm always going to come to her aid."

  He sighed. "You let me worry about that."

  “If someone attacked her and me, which one are you ordered to save?” I prodded.

  He threw up his hands in defeat. “You, obviously.”

  I gave him a serious look. “Then I will worry about her. You don’t know what we’ve been through together.”

  His eyes bore into mine and he leaned close to me. For the strangest moment, I thought he meant to kiss me.

  “Captain, all of the thugs are dead or have run off. Death valley will finish them for us,” a guard told him. Seth shook his head to clear his thoughts and had a word with his men.

  I stopped before our caravan and stared at Marques' dead face and then to the scar on his arm.

  "Did you know him?" Seth asked me, studying my expression.

  Flashes of Marques thrusting on top of me and stealing my innocence skated through my mind.

  "Yes, may the Fates bury him in hell for eternity." I entered the carriage.

  We rode for a while in silence and I pulled out my paints and a piece of cloth I had started painting on before we left. I had two colors, yellow and red; turmeric and beet root. Seth watched me curiously. I had made a homemade brush with a chunk of my hair that I had stuck to the end of a stick. The lantern that hung from the carriage wall, cast eerie shadows on the cloth.

  “You paint?” he asked and looked at the desert landscape I had been working on.

  I nodded. “Just to pass the time.”

  He nodded. “Will you paint something for me?”

  I shrugged and licked the end of the brush and dipped it in the yellow. I turned over the cloth to the back and began to paint Seth’s eyes. Every time I looked up at him, he was watching me. When I had finished, I handed it to him.

  “I wish I had green for your eyes,” I told him.

  He looked at the painting and appraised me with pride. “It’s good, you could paint portraits for the king.”

  I shook my head. “Not that good.”

  I was starting to get sleepy. I pulled out my satchel and grabbed a fresh cloth wrap. I laid my head against the carriage wall and used the wrap as a pillow.

  “Do you mind if I sleep?” I asked him. I wasn’t sure what the protocol was, but I was exhausted.

  He was sitting stiffly, one hand on his thigh, the other on his hilt. “Please do, I’ll watch over you.” He blew out the candle that lit the lantern.

  The thought made me nervous. What if I snore? What if
I drool? “It’s bright in here,” I exclaimed, as the sleepiness started to take me.

  Seth laughed and it was full of rumble and mirth. “It’s your eyes. They’re like stars.”

  And with that final proclamation, I fell asleep.

  Death Valley

  I awoke to a sweltering heat. I was sticky and overheated. I groaned and opened my eyes. Seth had removed his chain mail and tunic. He sat before me in a thin undergarment t-shirt and breeches. His arms were littered with scars. He took a long drink from his travel canteen.

  I sat up quickly and realized that I haven’t had a drink of water in days.

  “Seth?” I said with worry.

  “Good morning.”

  “Yeah, Good morning. Why aren’t I thirsty? It’s really starting to freak me out,” I confessed.

  His face looked sympathetic. “Oh, Maggie, our older Water Blessed, she doesn’t get thirsty unless she has been using her water power often, to fill a tank or a well. It must be an odd sensation.”

  The idea of it completely unnerved me. I had lived my entire life with one goal in mind. Water. Every day, all day, get to water, fetch water, drink water. I grabbed his canteen with a shaking hand and took a swig just to feel normal. But it was nearly empty. I made a fist with my left hand and held it over the opening, water poured out and filled the canteen.

  He smiled. “Thank you.”

  A tap came to the side of the carriage. It was in a specific pattern to signal Seth that it was one of his own men. He pulled the curtain back. His man was galloping along on his horse.

  “Coal Mountain’s caravan is stopped up ahead. It appears they have hit a rock and their water storage caravan tipped over. There is mud everywhere.”

  I could see Seth calculating something in his mind. “It could be a trap,” he exclaimed.