Nevertheless

by Ailisa Madrone

  It was frighteningly high.

  Navi was not looking at Mabel, he was sitting with his arms on his knees and his hands dropped between his legs, looking at the place where they had strayed from their path.

  "We have to go." This time Navi was talking specifically to Mabel. He did not shout anymore. "It's getting dark. We need to find somewhere to spend the night."

  Mabel was not hopeful. Unless they would find a cave, how would they get a safe and dry place in the middle of nowhere?

  "You should not have done this. You should not have jumped after me." She said, her voice severe and husky.

  Navi's head was down when he said: ''Is that all you can say?''

  "If anything had happened to you... if you had died, they would have executed me for putting your life at risk."

  He smiled in a nervous way, as no one in that situation would actually find anything funny. "If anything had happened to me…" He pointed out, his voice was low and unconcerned. "They couldn't have killed you twice, could they?"

  "I bet the king could." She said very calmly. "The next time you decide to venture out there, make sure you leave an heir first. At least you would leave the consolation as an inheritance to your father."

  Navi raised his head and looked in her direction, his eyes into her eyes.

  Her soul as way. Could he see it?

  "Do not worry." His stern face was back. "I'm making sure of that."

  Mabel went back on looking at the unstoppable river from which they fell. They remained there for some time, with a curtain of rain falling on their heads.

  Navi chased the path through the trees as if he'd been here before, and Mabel wanted to ask if he knew exactly where they were going.

  Far away, they saw a beam of light in the darkness, and they saw others, showing them the glazed windows of a hovel, the only house lost in those woods in between the fields and not far from that dark and evil river.

  Someone was home. Maybe a lonely lumberjack or an entire family, dining together at the table. Navi was aware that two people knocking at their door at those late hours might not seem safe. They could go all the way to the house and have to go back helpless, or they could get lucky and get a place to stay; he would never know if he did not try. If he were alone, he would continue to walk home, even raining. He would not care about finding shelter.

  Navi knocked on the door. Mabel shivered as they waited for someone to open it, hugging herself to contain the cold. She seemed to moan, but she did not notice it.

  A man opened the door.

  "We need a place to sleep." Navi told him. "Some food and dry clothes for me and my friend. Our things were lost when we fell into the river, and this was the nearest place we could find."

  The man hesitated for too long.

  "He'll pay." Mabel interfered, clenching her teeth, when she realized that the lumberjack did not look convinced. "And we're not bad guys, I swear."

  The man looked at her, as if had only noticed her. "Dolores!" He shouted, not taking his suspicious eyes off Mabel. "Take the girl inside and give her some dry clothes."

  The woman showed up and encouraged Mabel to get in. But before anything, she looked at Navi even though she knew they would meet again inside, somehow thanking him. If she had been alone she would never have found this place. Actually, if he was not here she would have been dead.

  Mabel did not find it weird to change the pants and armor for a dress. It was the kind of dress she was used to wearing: simple and peasant style. The storm roared and twisted the trees, and every time the thunder echoed and frightened her, Mabel would be thankful for not being outside.

  The residents of the modest hut had eaten their dinner earlier, so at the table it was only Mabel and Navi. He wore clothes borrowed from the lumberjack, while his clothes dried, in this fictitious world where the two seemed to belong to the same world.

  "We're going to have to stay in the same room." Navi said, looking at Mabel. "They conceded us only one bedroom."

  She nodded as he got up from the table.

  "Maybe you shouldn't eat too much." He said, sounding attentive and concerned, unlike what it seemed to Mabel. "You could wake up feeling sick for eating this much food."

  She would have said that she was used to eating that amount of food, but before she could say anything, Navi had already walked away, passing through the hallway, headed to the bedroom.

  As Mabel and Navi noticed, the house was humble and the family was large. They were lucky to still have a place for them. In fact, there was not any left. The lumberjack went into his youngest son's room and threw him out. No matter how much the boy had protested, the owner of the house was looking for a reward, especially now. It was not so long ago that some thieves invaded his property and robbed what they had left.

  Mabel blew out the candles, leaving one candle lit, to light her way to the bedroom.

  She knocked on the door before opening it so as not to catch Navi off guard. He was a man, she a woman; unpredictable things could happen. Navi lifted his head and saw her. The room was partly dark, but Mabel could see his shadow sitting on the edge of the bed, facing the door.

  She put her eyes down and every step she took, she wished that please, please, please, they would keep things that way. That please, please, please, they wouldn't think of looking anywhere making things embarrassing.

  With her eyes, Mabel furtively looked for a place to sleep, but there was nothing but the bed, and Navi was on it now.

  "We'll share the same bed as well." Navi said, looking embarrassed for so many awkward incidents for the night. His voice was deep, filling up the room.

  Mabel wanted to be modest and say she wouldn't mind sleeping somewhere else, but she knew it would be a little uncomfortable to lie on the floor like a hunting dog. So, she just nodded to herself in the dark.

  There was little space in the room, and she was alarmed at the thought their bodies could touch at any moment in that narrow place.

  As she watched the rainfall through the window, she unbuttoned her dress using the underside as a nightgown. The dress fell from her shoulders to the floor and she lifted her knee to take it off using her feet. She moved away from the window, putting part of the dress delicately on her bedside table.

  The bed sank as she sat down. Very quietly, Mabel slipped her feet into the blanket and covered herself to her shoulders, hiding anything that could be shown. She did not move at all.

  Navi remained motionless on the edge of the bed, and Mabel would have asked him if he would sit there all that night. Then he took his shirt off and pulled it over his head so quickly before Mabel could understand what was happening. There were few candles lighting the room, but she could see clearly. She averted her eyes from his bare back before he got up from the bed to put out the candles.

  They were completely in the dark.

  The bed moved when Navi lay down and when he made himself comfortable on it.

  There was some comfort when it rained, but only when the shelter was safe, so people wished for as much rain as possible, especially when they had someone to share the melancholy. When you were alone, it was unbearable.

  Mabel rolled over in the bed with insomnia, and when she thought she had found a good spot, she moved repeatedly.

  "Is there something wrong with your side of the bed, Mabel?" Navi's voice came out like low and gentle.

  "No, nothing wrong." She moved her shoulders on the pillow and put her head on it one last time to make it more comfortable. "It's just that I have trouble sleeping."

  Especially after she killed that soldier in Tenerife.

  "Just close your eyes and think of nothing." Navi murmured the following words: "Which I imagine it is very difficult for someone imperative like you."

  "It's not how it works."

  "And how does it work?"

  "It just doesn't." Mabel pulled the blanket with both hands and rested it on her chest. "They're being so kind, aren't they? Treating us with such hospitality."r />
  "They're being nice because I'm going to pay them."

  "But they could not have received us, we could be out there now, you have to agree. There is still kindness without reward. Did not you find anyone nice on your way when you were abroad?"

  "Are you indirectly trying to get me talking to distract you?"

  Mabel had a smile on her face. "Yes, I am.'' She admitted.

  "What do you want to know?"

  "Tell me about things I've never heard, things I'll never get to know."

  Navi turned around, just like Mabel, with their ears and heads in the same direction as lightning reflected on the bedroom wall.

  "I've been to a place across the ocean where the locals would say there was a pulp that could be completely disintegrated in the fingers of living beings. The herb could be found in a nest, inside a cave among the stones, and its pollen if place on the body could make man become invisible." Navi waited for Mabel to be amazed, but she did not seem to be, and said nothing. "And I've also been to a place where the night was warmer than a summer's day. And I chose a willow to settle on its highest branch and I stayed there, isolated between the sky and the earth, spending the hours with the warblers. It was the best landscape I've seen and the best place I've ever been."

  "That's probably the only true part of the story." She said, complaining. "That other thing is just a tale."

  "In an extraordinary world we live in, don't you believe in miracles? I wish I was around to see a person who doesn't believe in tales like yourself to experience one someday."

  "Is that why you left Navon?" She asked. "Because you love tales?"

  "I don't think I love fables, after all." He said, bitterly. "I have abandoned everything when I found out that Navon was being threatened to be invaded by Balthasar."

  "And why did you leave Navon in the first place?"

  "You cannot know your limits, and you do not even know how strong you are when you're in the comfort of your home, and I needed to test myself. I knew we could not live in peace forever, and I had to be capable enough to protect my people. The romantic things I told you were not everything I saw. I saw and did horrible things, Mabel, but nothing is more evil than Balthasar."

  She gulped, trying not to look hesitant. "Like what?"

  "He marched with his men, about five thousand men, to Andalusia, and conquered it without losing many of them. The king, Agustin, escaped and hid in the mountains before the royal city was burned, but not for more than one day. Balthasar's men pursued him and brought him to the king. Balthasar and no one else, cut off the fingers and his toes off, and made him get crumbs from his table. He has made him his slave, as well as all his people."

  She sighed. "How do you know about all these things?"

  "The people of the other lands told me. The news of Balthasar's cruelty came to them. And who can guarantee that after conquering all of us, he will not want to conquer them as well? His army is growing, day after day. And nobody does anything about it."

  "And in all those places where you've been, haven't you met any tribe who could grant us some men to help us?"

  "I've already tried everything. We are alone."

  But where Navi saw an end, Mabel saw a way. "Not everything. My father said that my brother could help Navon. If we find him, we will be saved." She turned her head to the side and looked hopeful at his shadow in the dark. "Are you looking for him as you promised?"

  "Yes."

  "Got anything so far?"

  Navi moved on the bed to turn his back to Mabel, his face glued to the pillow. "No." He said. His pupils showed a small tick of hesitation, which of course, he wouldn't allow to happen if she could look at him. He was hiding something bad enough to allow himself to show it.

  XXVII

  "I wish they would lend me a fast horse

  to take me home."

  The Ballad of Mulan

  ◊

  The sun was shining in every corner of the room when Mabel opened her eyes. She remembered that Navi was lying beside her, the first thing she thought, and turned to him, slowly in case he was awake.

  He was still asleep.

  He had freckles around his neck, the bones on his back reminding Mabel of the two mountains, one bigger than the other, behind the valleys of Navon. He looked like a child curled up on the bed like that. His hair, often so straightened, looked messed up, and she was tempted to raise her hand and straighten it. Then she would slide her finger down the middle of his forehead to the tip of his nose, and find out what his touch would feel like.

  Then, Navi opened up his eyes.

  It was so sudden that Mabel closed her eyes scared, being her first and useless impulse, wishing she was fast enough. But she knew she didn't really have time for that.

  When she opened her eyes again, Navi stared at her so deeply that he settled his head on the pillow, eyes so fixed on her she blushed as she wondered why he looked at her like that, analyzing her, inch by inch, that face that had never been explored by him before, as if it was the first time he'd allowed himself to actually pay attention to her.

  He was not smiling, but he was not bored either. "Did you have a good night's sleep?"

  "Surprisingly, the best ever." She replied with a smile. "How about you?"

  "Only after you fell asleep and stopped wriggling like a worm. Doesn't your body get sore in the morning?"

  Then there was a horrifying scream coming from outside the room that made Mabel scared. She did the same as Navi as he got out of bed, putting his shirt back while she would put her dress on, and followed him as he passed the door and got out of the room. They found the woman from the night before looking desperate into the house.

  It was all some sort of chaos.

  "What is going on?" Mabel approached her, agitated because the woman was desperate.

  "We're being robbed. You should find a place to hide, if you don't want to be robbed as well." She looked at them as if she remembered something. "But in that case it doesn't really matter to you, because you came in last night with nothing, so you're free to stay wherever you want. Excuse me, I'm going to hide."

  Navi looked out and started walking toward the door instead of hiding somewhere as the woman advised them.

  "What are you doing?!" Mabel asked, standing in front of him to try to stop him.

  The house of the man, whom they were so generously welcomed in Mabel's own words, was being attacked. What else could he be doing?

  Navi turned away, but Mabel blocked him again.

  "You can't do this without a gun."

  "I don't need a gun."

  "How are you going to fight without a gun?" She asked, worriedly.

  Navi gave her a smile. "You will see." And then, he ran outside.

  But Mabel did go after him and did not stand there doing nothing either. The king would kill her if Navi got to Navon dead. Nervous for abandoning him, she turned her back to the door and went looking for something that would serve as a weapon, a large, sharp knife. The lumberjack must have had an ax somewhere, but there was no time to look for tools now.

  Because Navi was outside.

  There were four men on four horses. Navi knocked the first one down to the ground, holding him there with his hand on his shirt, and then punched his face in a way he passed out. Then he got up to face the other thief coming at him with an ax, but he bent down, unafraid of being struck and cut in half, and turning with a whirl took him by the arm and pulled him over his shoulder to throw him down, and then he lifted his foot and pressed it against his belly.

  The other man tried to kick him, without any skills, just wanting to kick something, and Navi grabbed him by the foot and rolled with him through the air. As if it belonged in the sky. His feet touched the ground and he had to take flight again, his leg passing purposefully over the other man's head, playing with his prey, and when he stepped and made the turn again, his foot stopped in his face, throwing him behind.

  Maybe that's what Navi had learned when he was aw
ay.

  According to his math, there was one man left.

  Mabel showed up at the door the moment Navi turned to the last man, who did not look like he wanted to attack him. No one else did. Navi looked to his rear while those who were down got up and gathered next to the one who had been clever not to fight. Maybe he was the leader, too important to be on the front line.

  But Navi was a leader, and he was the one who was the first on the front line, even though he was irreplaceable.

  He took the ax from the ground and threw it at the criminals. Iron, heavy, valuable. However, they did not want to get it back. They were going away, leaving behind their trophy to the man who proved to be the winner.

  Mabel stopped behind Navi, looking dazzled at the men leaving in surrender. "What have you done?"

  His face looked disappointed. "You did not see it?"

  "No, I..." She said, alarmed. "I went to get the knife."

  The lumberjack's house was located in the middle of nowhere, and thieves thought they would come in, steal them, but they never imagined they would be punished.

  The villagers left the house from which they had been hiding all this time, one by one, little by little, to crowd around Navi and Mabel, amazed, no longer frightened, no longer helpless. Certainly, the thieves would not return, afraid of bumping into a resident like Navi.

  "Who are you?" The owner of the house asked. Mabel opened her mouth to answer who they were, but she felt Navi's hand squeeze her shoulder in order to silence her.

  The lumberjack's look was inquisitive. "Are you part of anything?" He asked, giving it another try.

  An army, he meant? Mabel thought.

  "Yes," She replied, excited. "We are, actually."

  But Navi was saying "no" with his head, and the woodcutter did not know who he should believe.

  Navi and Mabel returned their clothes and took theirs back. They looked better this way, she decided.