The Beast Inside

by M E Wolf

  The Sevlin women showed their age in similar ways, but at about five to ten years after the men. A fifty year old Sevlin male or fifty five to sixty year old Sevlin female would begin to experience arthritis in their joints. It was different for males and females because their occupations and what they did on a daily basis was different. Arthritis would show up in knees, hips, ankles and elbows of the males, but in the fingers, wrists, shoulders and ankles of the females.

  Severe and debilitating old age would set in at eighty and above for both Sevlin men and women. Boltchovik and Katherin were the exception and lived twenty years after Alexandra’s hatching, but most Sevlin did not really live that long and were fortunate to live passed sixty five. Many generations passed away and were born of Boltchovik and Katherin while Alexandra stayed in the village of Bannian. The village contained more than double its citizens than when Alexandra had hatched from her egg at two hundred thousand people within its borders and was more like a city, although it still had that village feel.

  Alexandra now owned the house that she had found herself in and she had added extensions over the years that included a library containing over seventy five thousand titles of various subjects. She also added a tower that served as guest quarters for scholars that came from all over Sevle to study in her library. It housed more than two thousand scholars with all the comforts and amenities possible all over Sevle, which extended itself far up into the clouds.

  Yes in emergencies the entire town of Bannian could fit in the tower and when scholars were in residence the town of Bannian could swell to over four hundred thousand people. On the top of the tower was an observatory with a telescope that showed even the farthest star in the sky and the closest stars and planets could be seen as though one stood on a platform three meters from the surface looking down at it.

  Currently the descendant of Boltchovik and Katherin was a young man named Kevlin, whom happened to be the mayor of Bannian. As mayor of Bannian he visited Alexandra often as any man would pay attention to a young twenty year old woman, even if Alexandra really was more than three hundred years old with the knowledge of someone far older and wiser. Kevlin was beyond middle age, but that did not bother him and did not seem to bother Alexandra. Alexandra liked the company of Kevlin, but was not interested in a physical relationship she had lots of time later for that even though Kevlin did not really have that much time.

  It did not matter to Alexandra, after all why would she want offspring from a race so frail and soon to pass away leaving her nothing in return. The idea of family to her was to at least be able to see the children after they had hatched from their eggs and for a father to die of old age before the child hatched would be devastating. A Dochani mother was different in that she could pass information onto her child without being around due to the birdlike aspects of the Dochani race, but a father was needed because his knowledge could not be passed on without instruction.

  Shortly after Kevlin’s fiftieth birthday and Alexandra’s three hundred and fiftieth or so since her hatching from the egg, Archamid, the king of Shizamid, met Kevlin. Archamid was very pleased with his skill in the craft of carpentry and the advancements that he had added to the city of Bannian with the assistance of Alexandra. About a week after the king’s visit he received a letter via a messenger pigeon of the king.

  That letter read something like this, “Kevlin, I, king Archamid of Shizamid, enjoyed meeting with you and learning of your great skill in carpentry and that of city management just a week ago. A carpenter and mayor like you are as rare as a green ruby from granite falls. That is the very reason I sent this letter to you. The palace and the buildings around the palace are in need of repair and a new mayor is needed for the capital city of my realm, which house's my palace,” The letter continued,

  “Population of the city has risen to well over ten million citizens and swells to over fifty million in the summer during the opening of the grand bazaar from June to August. We have all of the carpenters and masons that we could ever need, but they are so unorganized especially during our grand bazaar.

  “This is where you come in and the main reason for this letter. I want you to become the director of building my buildings in my kingdom as well as the mayor of the city Shizimad. I will pay you five times a master’s salary every year plus a mayor’s salary with all bonuses entitled to the elite.”

  Kevlin was happier than he had ever been in all of the time that he was a mayor of Bannian. He accepted the offer and him and his family were due to leave one week after receiving the letter. Alexandra spent a lot of time with him and because she did not want to have a family with him, he had decided to marry and have a family with someone else. She was still his friend so decided to go on the trip to the kingdom of Shizamid with him after getting one of the scholars in her tower to take care of her home and library.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  It was a warm sunny morning of mid-May. The lull of the seagulls could be heard far ahead towards the sea as Kevlin, his wife Siren, their daughter Kalima, and friend Alexandra made their way towards the docks with a small portion of their belongings and three mule driven carts heavily loaded with various supplies.

  The salt could be smelt and felt thicker the closer they got to the docks. Kalima was sad because she would be leaving all of her friends, and most of her belongings behind. She would miss her long walks in the park every evening where she would peer into the night sky bathing in the light of the stars, and feeling the cool breeze running its fingers through her hair.

  “Kalima, are you coming with us or staying here?” Her father Kevlin called out to her.

  He was far ahead of her helping their servants load the small bit of their possessions that they were taking with them onto a ship called Sea Serpent. Kalima did not like the name because it frightened her. All things that referenced monsters put a dreadful fear into her. She just did not like having the hair stand up at the nape of her neck.

  “I am coming, daddy.” Her daddy and mommy always moved too fast.

  They made her wear the dresses that restricted her running and wondered why she lagged behind them. Kalima’s running pace was about half the speed of her parents’ brisk walk. Just before reaching the dock she stepped on the edge of her dress and tripped landing in the sea soaked gravel. She tried to get up, but her left knee hurt.

  Kalima began to cry, her tears went down her face and the saltiness was tasted on her tongue. Her dress' hem was ruined and it made her cry more for it than her scraped knee. It throbbed and made her lip quiver. Her daddy briskly ran to the edge of the dock, and cradled her in his arms. He comforted her and soothed her with his words. Kevlin carried his daughter to the ship.

  She was placed in one of the many rooms on the ship. Kalima was drifting in and out of sleep while the water forced the ship to rock from side to side. Her eyes were open as she was afraid to let her father completely go. The last thing she heard before falling asleep was the loud bark of the Captain’s voice yelling,

  “Raise the sails, hoist the anchor . . .”

  Kalima restlessly rolled on her bed trying many different positions in order to get comfortable enough to have a good sleep. She rolled all over the lumpy cot and settled for being sideways across the cot. After a long while she was content on sleeping on her left side. She always slept in whatever she was wearing when she fell asleep, or whatever her parents changed her to.

  “She has been sleeping for over ten hours. I don’t think that it is good, I am worried about her.” Siren said concerned for her daughter’s well being.

  “Kalima is only three years old and that is to be expected of her. Besides she has not been sleeping well for the last few days. I agree that she should have something to eat soon.” Kalima’s father stated even though he knew that his wife knew very well the state of their daughter’s well being.

  Their daughter spent most of her time with him and he knew that they had to understand that they really could not force their daughter to do anythi
ng. They just hoped that she would accept their guidance. Kalima could hear all of what they were saying about her. She did not feel tired at all, but was very hungry. Opening her eyes she could see her parents and sat up.

  “Mommy, I want to eat.”

  “Okay dear.” Siren picked up her daughter and carried her to the kitchen cradling her in one arm while smoothing out stray strands of her hair with the other.

  “What can I do for you two?” The cook asked as they walked into the kitchen.

  “I want chicken,” Blurted Kalima.

  The cook prepared a succulent roast chicken, carrots, peas and broccoli. Chicken was brushed with a honey-lemon marinade and allowed to cook to a golden brown. After the chicken and vegetables were placed on a white porcelain plate with buttered potatoes and rice that plate was then set in front of Kalima on the smaller of the two tables in the room with a tall glass of orange juice.

  Kalima took a sip of her orange juice and set her glass back down on the table. Her mother cut up the chicken. Picking up her fork she speared a piece of chicken with her fork. After devouring the chicken she mixed the vegetables with the rice and continued to eat it one forkful at a time stopping every few minutes to take a sip from her glass of orange juice. The cook topped off her glass with some more orange juice as she was finishing up her potatoes.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “Let’s go get your clothes changed.” Kalima’s mother said considerately as she reached for her hand, and led her to the room that they had just come from.

  Her mommy pulled a white dress with pink flowers that seemed to dance around the puffy short sleeves and bodice on it, on her. She placed a pink bow in her hair and a red ribbon around her waist, white stockings and red shoes on her feet.

  “I am almost done. Hold still it is a little chilly above deck sweetie,” Kalima’s mommy lovingly commanded.

  “Mommy can I go up on deck now,” Kalima asked her mother.

  As Kalima’s mother finished dressing her she spoke, “Okay, but make sure that you stay away from the edge of the ship. Your father and I would not want you falling overboard.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Kalima climbed up the stairs that lead to the deck above. Once on deck she could hear the crackle of thunder and see the lightening striking the surface of the waters. She had a hard time standing as the wind and rain pressed against the ship continuously. Rain storms like these always frightened her, but this was different.

  This was even more frightening than watching a storm from the window of her house. She did not like the storm and so decided to go back below deck, unfortunately her path was blocked by a large wave splashing on and washing over the deck taking everything in its path and sending it into the sea.

  To her the waves appeared to have hands, feet and a body or what might have been the shadows and strobe lights of the lightening. It was like a bunch of monsters were climbing up, and over the sides of the ship. They would take form and begin to walk upon the deck. Kalima looked around her and could only see water monsters approaching from all sides as if they were coming out from the deepest depths of her worst nightmare.

  The lightening lit up the sky and the flashes cascaded across the water of the sea and the water sparkled like a million diamonds in the sun. One of the water monsters grabbed her foot and made her fall flat on her back and something else grabbed her hand. It felt like a tug of war between the water monsters and something else, a hand. The waves of the sea were forcing the ship to rock violently from side to side. A huge wave picked up the ship and tossed it into the air or at least she felt like that had happened.

  This ship had three masts, had a cargo of two tons and was a fair merchant ship that could hold about five tons of cargo. Far up on the highest point of the wave sat the ship as it was raised up high on the wave higher than most mountains and then dropped back into the sea on its side, snapping the center mast before it bounced back into an upright position again. At the same time Kalima was thrown heavily into the door of the cabin by whomever or whatever had won the tug of war against the sea.

  Kalima held fast to the railing next to the bottom of the stairs just before the cabin door, but could not hold onto the one who had saved her life as soft fingers of a woman slipped from her small hands. She did not know who had saved her life, but was thankful due to her not knowing how to swim. The ship’s deck was high above her head and out of her line of site and from her position huddled at the base of the stairs holding on for deer life, she did not know if there was anyone on deck or what had happened to her heroine because those soft hands could not have belonged to a man.

  She heard waves continue to walk upon the deck in an avalanche of water that sounded like the flow of rapids. A white and blue ball of lightening could be seen striking somewhere on the deck of the ship frightening Kalima with the sounds of wood being torn apart into tiny pieces. Some of them flew over her head, and struck somewhere above but behind her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  Siren was sprawled on a few boxes that were almost flattened. She had been going over their finances when the ship rocked violently and tossed her from her seat at her desk. Her papers were strewn all over the room that she was in.

  Wanting to go up on deck to get to her daughter, she attempted to stand. She screamed in pain as one of the bones in her left thigh broke the skin. A large reddish-brown stain began to grow on her light green skirt as she fell back down onto the boxes, losing consciousness.

  Kevlin was up in the crow’s nest just behind the prow looking aft. The wind was strong and he had to hold on tight. Preferring to be on the main mast, even though the third mast from the bow was just as good and allowed him just as good a view of the sea, because he figured it would be safer up here than down below on the deck with all those waves buffeting the sides of the ship sometimes venturing over the sides to roll up and over the top of the deck.

  He watched the deck, and the sea with equal fascination. It began to rain while he was watching. At first it was a light drizzle gradually falling heavier as time passed until every minute would soak him anew from head to toe. A dazzling display of lightening came shortly thereafter as the waves and water of the sea continually picked up the ship, then dropped it, then picked it up and dropped it again.

  The waves seemed to know what they were doing. It felt terrible up in the crow’s nest and Kevlin threw up many times from the constant bending of the mast causing the crow’s nest to swing back and forth. His head swooned and his eyes wanted to pop from his head due to the centripetal forces in play. The deck had seaweed scattered in many different places and to his horror he could see his daughter walking about the deck.

  Alexandra was also there, but it did not seem that she noticed too much considering she spent most of her time throwing up over the side of the ship due to her sea sickness. Kalima looked frightened as she slipped and fell many times as the sea seemed to grab and pull at her. He started to climb down from the crow’s nest when the ship was picked up by a large wave and tossed onto its side, which caused the main mast to snap.

  Kevlin was plunged into the depths of the sea as he hung on for his life to the rope netting attached to the crow’s nest. He swallowed a lot of salt water and felt sick to his stomach. Kevlin was forced to let go when the ship righted itself. Dazed and in pain from being bounced around by the sea he noticed that he could no longer see his daughter on the deck, Alexandra could not be seen at all. Spitting out salt water he assumed that Alexandra was somewhere in the sea, and thus he had a grim resolve that she must be dead.

  After this resolution he finally realized his pain was more for his twisted and broken left arm that had gotten caught in the netting attached to the crow’s nest. Kevlin could not see anyone on deck including the ship’s wheelman who had been at the wheel before the storm had begun. He climbed down from the crow’s nest after releasing his arm from the netting and went to check on his child, wife and the captain.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

&n
bsp; Alexandra woke up on the shore of some unknown island spitting out salt water. The storm was over, and she was now alone. So alone, and she had never been alone in her life. It was scary to be alone. She could not remember if the ship sunk or if it stayed afloat, and kept on its planned route towards Shizimad's harbour. It was the middle of the day, and her left leg was broken.

  A piece of the ship was sticking out of her thigh, and her blood was mixed in with the sea water. The salt water stung the wound, and she felt uncomfortable. Tearing a long piece of cloth from the bottom of her shirt she tied it around her thigh above the wound and then pulled the piece of wood from her thigh, blood still seeped out of the wound. Even though some of the blood flow was slowed by the tourniquet, she still lost a lot of blood.

  She was dizzy and a bit disoriented. A moment later, to her it was like a moment but the sun had gone down and then rose again while she was still passed out, she came to. It was the middle of the day, and her cuts and bruises were aching. Her left leg was throbbing. The sun’s heat made her situation unbearable, and it was so hot that her sweat dried before it could come out of her body.

  The sun was low in the sky and roasted her skin leaving sunburned patches through the rips in her clothing while she lay half in the sea, and half on the grey muddy clay. As she lay there she contemplated the day’s events while some of her blood added red hues to the water or maybe all of it as she was not sure how much blood she had lost. Looking out into the sea through tired eyes she could see a ship emerging from the mist.