by R J Kaldanis
“Isn’t it lucky that she is protected on all sides?” The prisoner continued. A vision flashed before Chastion’s eyes, a young girl with long curly red hair running, chased by a group of similarly aged children, every one of them white haired and blue eyed - blessed of water. They teased her, taunted her, and threw balls of water, hard and freezing right at her face. She stepped backwards, facing her attackers but not diverting her eyes for a second. The bullies stopped, as if willed to do so from the look of hatred glaring down them from the little girls’ eyes. Then a taller white-haired boy raced in, grabbed the girl and began yelling at the other kids, whipping them with a rope of water - they ran and left the two children, the girl crying into her brother’s chest.
“Isn’t it lucky, she was so far away from The Crystal Capital, protected from any prying eyes growing suspicious of what was growing inside her.”
Chastion’s eyes began watering, but he remained frozen, as another vision appeared in his mind. It was of his mother, she looked far younger and happier than he had ever seen. He realised she was in The Sea of Souls, just off Veros. Beside her sat a little red-haired girl, four, maybe five years old and a bottle of expensive Verosian wine. The little girl was scared, shivering almost naked in the cool breeze of the night. Stella now spoke,
“You want to be like your big brother don’t you? You want to be a princess don’t you?” She taunted the child, who sheepishly nodded her head.
“Well, this is the only way to do it. We can beg for Undina to make you water blessed.” With those final words Stella grabbed Aardriyah and forced her head under the salt water. The little girl’s body was writhing as she tried to break free. Finally, after what seemed like minutes, her body stopped moving. Stella brought her daughter out of the water, her face was blue and body limp and lifeless. Chastion could see the regret in his mother’s eyes, as she suddenly realised what she had done. She placed the little girl’s body on the sand and started weaving her water blessing to withdraw the water that had filled her daughter’s lungs. Finally, Aardriyah coughed and spluttered before she asked,
“Mummy, did it work?”
“Isn’t it so damn lucky, he didn’t kill her at birth like he was ordered and instead, watched over her, keeping her safe from any magical torment.” The prisoner spat the words, each one enunciated so strongly it made a harsh rhythm; a song of hate.
Chastion was breathing furiously, the veins in his necking throbbing as he tried his hardest to break from the stare of the prisoner, to escape from the magical entrapment he found himself in. Without so much as moving his body an inch, the next vision appeared before his eyes.
It was Stella, giving birth, bleeding profusely in the house Aardriyah had grown up in. Pateras cried, while willing his wife on, willing her to give one more push. Stella swore and cursed and with one final push, an elderly man with fuzzy grey hair, lifted the babe and announced it was a girl. He took the child away, under the pretence he had to wash her of the blood and internal fluids sticking to her skin. The babes mother collapsed, blood still pouring from her as she turned ghastly white.
The elderly man, Old Man Teme, Chastion realised, took a small purple velvet pouch out and uncovered three items, a small vial with a translucent liquid, a small knife made from what appeared to be bone, and a purple, eye shaped amulet. He picked up the vial first, pressing it to the babe’s eyes and collected a couple of tears. Next, he picked up the amulet and held it above the babe, watching as it shone a magnificent purple and lit up the entire room. Lastly, he picked up the knife and whispered a few words before placing it above the baby’s chest. Just one simple push and this child’s life would be gone before it even began. The voice of Pateras rung out down the hall, begging Old Man Teme to return to his wife, pleading for him to save her as she lay bleeding out on the straw and fur covered floor. Old Man Teme hesitated, looking at the babe and grabbed it in his arms before racing back to the room Stella had just given birth. He pulled out the small vial of translucent liquid and poured one drop carefully into Stella’s mouth.
The blood stopped leaking from between her legs and colour returned to her face. Her eyes fluttered open, taking in the room around her and trying to understand what had just happened, she looked to her husband cradling and crying tears of unadulterated happiness and she screamed. She pointed at the baby, as she backed away and screamed that it had tried to kill her, that it was cursed and that it needed to die.
A cold drop of water hit Chastion’s forehead bringing him back from the vision and into the dark chamber. Tears had furiously poured out of his eyes during the last vision as his heart ached for the memories he couldn’t change, the events that had caused his family to be so fractured and broken. He finally found the strength to put together his lips and with all the determination he could muster, he willed out the words,
“Lucky …. I’ll….. Always…. Love her…..”
With that the prisoner began to laugh, but was halted by a sudden pain vibrating through his body. He looked down at his palms, clutched his heart and in doing so, gave Chastion the ability to break free of the entrapment. Prince Chastion began to rise slowly on his knees. As he glared down the prisoner, a wicked joy filled the prince, begging him to do it, to end the life of such a wretched being.
The prisoner’s eyes widened, as his skin began to sallow, all the water being drawn from within him. Chastion pulled the water, felt it running through the murky body it inhabited; it felt as putrid and tainted as the stench of the corpses rotting in the chamber. With a final and quick pull, every last drop of water that was within the prisoner’s body suddenly exited like a million pieces of sand slipping through a hand. The husk that remained collapsed, deep purple velvet robe covering the body, life completely bereft.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
mizuan folk-tales
The morning of Sunsday greeted those remaining in the Royal Fleet with cool breezes and light showers of rain. Rachida had packed all her belongings along with Riyah’s, hopeful that her friend would have awoken overnight and would be ready for the adventure on land. Hope was the one thing she wouldn’t let be taken from her; she was sure of that. As she stepped over the few bodies of those sharing her room, she tried to grab the three books the princess had lent Riyah without waking anyone else. First light had only just dawned, and it began filling the room with a golden brilliance. As she wrapped the books with ribbon, she realised she had one last book to grab; Riyah’s dream journal. She scanned the room, trying to figure where she would have put it. She looked towards the bed Riyah once slept in, the very same bed that Rachida had since refused to let anyone else sleep in. She noticed a corner of the leather-bound journal sticking out from the base of it and she smiled before grabbing it. Satisfied she had everything in the two canvas bags, she quietly opened the door and made her way down the corridor to the healer’s bay.
The bay was now almost empty. Master Keelie’s relentless push to get the staff and servants on their feet, seemed to have scared most of them into health. At the table at the end of the room sat a Sekher.
“Oh wise master Sekher.” Rachida said in a mocking voice as she bowed low. Sekher rolled his deep green eyes, looking up from the book only slightly, he responded,
“Chidi, blessed day.” He continued writing notes in a book with blackened page edges.
“What’s that?” Rachida motioned towards the book, curiosity getting the better of her.
“It’s the Book of the Dead, I’m transcribing the lists I’ve been given so we can pass on to the Crystal Capital Court the records of those departed from this life.”
“Wow - what fun at this time of the morning.” Rachida moved to Aardriyah, who had now been moved into one of the spare beds. Kit lazily opened an eye, stretched across the bed, yawning all the while, before shaking his body furiously. A groggy voice came from behind the canine,
“Kit, I’m trying to sleep.” Then the dog was kicked off the bed as the occupant turned on her
side and pulled the feathered pillow further under her head. Rachida squealed, jumped on the bed and kissed Aardriyah on both sides of the cheek.
“RIYAH - You’re awake! You’re alive! Oh, my Lugh, thank you god of fire, thank you for giving her life again!” A few tears streamed down Rachida’s cheeks. Aardriyah tried to turn but was pinned in place by the pint-sized fire blessed woman.
“You’re squishing me!” Aardriyah moaned. Rachida jumped off, crossed her arms and stared down at her friend.
“Seriously? That’s all you’ve got to say? I’ve been so darn worried about you woman, every day and night coming to check on you, feeding your glutton of a dog, I even packed your gods darned bag and all you can say is ‘you’re squishing me’?” Rachida stamped her foot for emphasis.
“What do you mean, every day and night?” Aardriyah started to sit up on her bed, taking in the room around her.
“How did I get here? What happened?” Panic overtaking every other sensation. Sekher moved towards his newly awakened patient and handed her a tankard of water.
“Well my love, that’s what we’d like to know.”
Aardriyah grabbed the tankard, the water tasted like the sweetest nectar she had ever drunk and she skulled it quickly, unaware of the dribble wetting her cotton white gown.
“I told you to go downstairs because it was the safest place. Then when everything is done and the beast is down, we found you here. You were bruised and bleeding but otherwise seemed fine, but you didn’t wake to any of the smelling salts or leaves, you were just … asleep. Oh, and there was some weird… person… in here too, a stowaway they think. Anyway, they’re locked up now, awaiting trial in the capital. We thought maybe they had poisoned you or whatever, but they refuse to speak so we were hoping you might remember what happened and then we can make sense of all of this!” Rachida finally stopped, Sekher and Aardriyah shared a glance before they broke into laughter.
“Well that settles it. I am definitely alive or perhaps in The Nether, come to think of it?” Aardriyah responded.
“What? The Nether? Why would you say -”
“Because you never stop talking, Chidi. It’s enough to torture anyone, let alone someone who has just awoken from the world’s longest sleep, my love.” Sekher filled in the blanks that Rachida had been oblivious to. In response, she punched his shoulder, puffing up her cheeks and squinting her golden eyes at him in defiance.
“What? What? It is just the truth love, just the truth.”
She punched him again, this time putting a little warmth in her fist.
“Ooooh, how did you know I like it hot?” Sekher continued to laugh in jest at how worked up Rachida was getting. Aardriyah smiled, glad that two of the only people she had ever considered friends were here, safe and unharmed.
The rest of the morning, as the sun rose to peak, was spent discussing the battle against the beast, the week that had passed and what the plans were moving forward. Aardriyah couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming guilt at having missed the majority of the difficulties that had followed the attack. She hadn’t a chance to help in the clean up or recovery efforts, nor an opportunity to bid goodbye to those who had since departed this realm to the afterlife. A sadness was tugging at her, but she tried to stay optimistic; after all she had much to be grateful for.
“Oh and one more thing Riyah, are you sure you’re not the other woman?” Rachida teased as Aardriyah blushed, Sekher looked on confused, having not been privy to the former conspiracy Rachida had posed to Aardriyah the morning of the attack.
“It’s just that Prince Chastion visited you every single day too, sometimes more than once.”
Sekher rolled his eyes and said,
“Riyah, what Chidi means is The Prince made an effort to visit both healers' bays every day and visited all the sick and injured within, thanking them for their bravery and checking on their spirits. Why didn’t you mention Master Keelie? He also checked on Riyah every day - is he in love with her also?”
Aardriyah made a loud noise of revulsion, before all three of them broke into a fit of laughter.
“I’m sure Prince Chastion was just being his usual, heroic self. He has an image of the caring, supportive, brave and vigilant Prince that he must uphold. If that means visiting the sick and dying, then you bet your last naughts and crosses he’ll do it.”
“Talking of naughts and crosses, did you have any with you? You’d better ask Princess Kibo to give you the allowance you require for the next month on foot. Assuming you’re coming on foot, that is.” Rachida chimed in.
Thinking about her employment pay was not something Aardriyah had done. She was paid so poorly on Veros, one bronze naught for every week she worked, that it had mattered so little to her what she earned as the princesses personal animal handler. Aardriyah grabbed the chain hanging around her neck and pulled it above the blankets and out of her cotton gown. Upon it were one bronze cross, and four silver naughts. It was all the money she managed to save and Pateras had insisted she take with her.
The currency of the realm had been updated after the War of Elements and now consisted of simple naughts, cylindrical disks as thick as a toe, and crosses - both with holes in the centre making it easy to carry them around on chains and bracelets. All the money was created, pressed and distributed from the Crystal Capital Treasury in one of a kind forges. The gold, silver and bronze were mined and excavated from earth empires on the New Continent. Of course, it meant the wealthiest people in the realm seemed to be the earth blessed, yet very few of them flaunted their wealth and still seemed to be in touch with the joy that the simpler things of life brought them.
“You are going to get paid, right? You’re not just dog sitting for nothing?” Rachida asked, as Kit growled in response. Realising how suspicious it might be if Aardriyah let it slip that she had no idea how much she was getting paid or when she was getting paid, she simply nodded. Thankfully, the door to the healer’s bay opened and in strode just the person that Aardriyah hoped she wouldn’t have to see so soon from waking; Master Keelie.
“Well, nice of you to finally wake up, Princess Riyah.” He snarled, as his boots loudly plonked along the floor. “You know, it would be a punishable offence if I found out you were just pretending to be ill or injured this entire time. Just getting in a bit of extra rest to shirk your responsibilities.” He stood at the end of her bed, glaring down at her.
“So what was wrong, did you figure it out?” Keelie asked Sekher, who was seated at his desk, flipping through a book heavily illustrated and annotated. He passed the book to Master Keelie and said,
“Not entirely. I believe she must have hit her head quite hard, with the waves you see. There is proof there of the tests we administered to which she didn’t flinch or awaken at all; in case you were wondering if she was simply pretending.” He smiled at Aardriyah, giving her a slight wink. Master Keelie read over the notes and exhaled sharply, before passing the book back to Sekher with force.
“So, can she walk?” He asked.
“She can!” Aardriyah responded hastily, without actually thinking through her answer. She hadn’t moved her legs this entire time, hadn’t done more than sit up in her bed - what if she couldn’t walk? The thought suddenly hit her that perhaps she should have just kept her mouth shut and let the professional speak for her. Master Keelie glanced over her, lowered his eyes and said in a low tone,
“Good. Then since I have no discernible use for you on board and I could use some more room, you’ll be travelling by foot. We dock at The Dead Bay at peak sun.” Without a further word, Master Keelie thundered out of the room.
“Wow - you’re right, he really doesn’t like you! Not at all!” Said Rachida, causing Sekher to laugh under his breath as he put the book away in the desk again.
“Are you also coming on foot?” Aardriyah posed the question to Sekher.
“I must perform the departing ceremony for the earth blessed first, then I will discuss with
the other healers. Since my most important patient is better and awakened, I do not need to be stationed on this ship, my love.” Aardriyah blushed, she had never been thought of as the most important person in anyone’s life, not even Pateras’. As much as he loved her, he always said he loved her equally with his other children. Rachida slapped Aardriyah and said,
“He meant Princess Kibo, not you.”
“Why can I not mean both?” Sekher quickly attempted to lessen the hurt that Aardriyah felt, the shame and embarrassment spreading across her face. Trying to avoid the subject and looking for an excuse to test out her legs, to ensure they were in fact working, she rose from the bed.
“Would you mind, if I changed? I think I should check in on the Princess before we dock, and I think this is a little improper to be wearing in front of royalty.” She motioned to the cotton robe that fitted like a sack. Aardriyah tried not to blush, as she realised someone had to have changed her from the servant’s uniform into this simple gown and hoped that it wasn’t Sekher who had done so. Sekher nodded and showed her to the bathing chamber of the healers' bay, while Rachida passed her the canvas bag of belongings she had taken from the room.
Once changed into her usual uniform, she grabbed the canvas bag Rachida had packed for her and along with Kit made her way down the wooden corridor to Princess Kibo’s chambers. She promised to meet Riyah back on the top deck at peak sun, ready to disembark. There were three times as many guards standing outside the princesses chambers, and Aardriyah had to explain several times over who she was and why she needed to see the princess, before the doors opened and the princess welcomed her inside to a very flustered and apologetic set of guards.
