ROAD TO CORDIA (15 page)

     “Oooh, thank ya, my Lady. I’ll just go and do that.” Mar’Taia departed hastily, leaving behind the broken crockery and the ruffled dragon.

     The Lady ignored the broken plates and saucers and focused instead on the baby dragon. “That was very naughty of you.” The little dragon hung its head. “Truly, BlueBuya, you are old enough to know better. It is not amusing to make people drop things.” The little dragon squeaked something. The Lady seemed to understand the words but was in obvious disagreement with the sentiment. “Burning people is very dangerous. Burns can kill. Did you want to kill her?”

     No answer.

     “You do understand that your father and I are working very hard to reach an agreement, don’t you?”

     The dragon squeaked something else.

     “Thank you, but I’m not the one you should apologize to…on second thought, perhaps it would be better if you just stayed away from Mar’Taia. Have we a deal?”

     The dragon squeaked something else and darted away, half flying, half running.

     “That’s the Lady of the Keep?” asked Ja'Nil.

     “Yep.”

     “Is she…is she alright?”

     “What do you mean?” asked Sa’Ari.

     “She’s talking to dragons.”

     “Don’t you like dragons?” asked Jari.

     “Ahhh. That’s not the point.”

     Just then, the Lady spied the three children. “Sa’Ari,” she called in a soft pleasant voice. “Come here children; let me give you a hug.” Sa’Ari ran towards her followed by Jari. Little Piet, suddenly shy, stuck his thumb in his mouth and clutched Ja'Nil’s hand.

     She looked down at him. “Don’t you want to say hello to the Lady?” He nodded his head, affirmatively but kept a firm hold onto Ja’Nil’s hand.

     “Is that Little Piet?” asked the Lady.

     “Come here, Little Piet,” called Sa’Ari. “Come and bow to the Lady.”

     Little Piet clutched Ja'Nil’s hand harder and shook his head, no.

     Smiling, the Lady came towards them. She was the most beautiful Earth Person Ja'Nil had ever seen. She was as tall as Ja’Nil and very slender. But where Ja’Nil was skinny and all elbows and knees, the Lady was willowy and graceful, her complexion was a beautiful creamy-tan, eyebrows neat and straight above large forest green eyes. Her pointed ears clung close to the perfect oval of her face. But it was her aura that captivated Ja’Nil. Serenity seemed to surround the Lady like still blue water on a golden day.

     When she was a few lengths from them, she stopped and smiled at Little Piet.

     “You’ve grown so big that I hardly recognized you,” she said. “You must be -- oh at least five. Are you five, Little Piet?”    

     Little Piet shook his head, no and held up four fingers.

     “Only four! Well, I’m sure that when you’re five you’ll have learned how to greet a Lady. Because when you’re five you’ll be quite a big boy, won’t you?”

     Abruptly, Little Piet dropped Ja'Nil’s hand, took a step forward and executed a perfect four-year-old bow. In return, the Lady inclined her head slightly, and then winked at the child. He gave her a dazzlingly smile in return. The Lady then turned her gaze on Ja'Nil.

     Oh-oh. How was she supposed to greet a Lady? Should she bow like Little Piet or should she press her palms together over her chest (as the Fisherfolk greeted each other on formal occasions)? Sa’Ari intervened. “That’s Ja'Nil. She’s not a Mummer.”

     The Lady raised an elegant eyebrow.

     “She’s Fisherfolk.”

     The Lady smiled at Ja'Nil and pressed her palms together over her chest.

     Charmed by the Lady’s courtesy, Ja'Nil did likewise, adding a slight inclination of her head.

     “Welcome to Redbird Keep, Ja'Nil. I am Lady Fayre.”

     “Thank you, my Lady.”

     “Where is your grandfather, Sa’Ari? I was told he would be bringing you.”

     “Dead,” announced Little Piet.

     The Lady stiffened. “How did he die?”

     “He just went to sleep and never woke up,” said Sa’Ari, and suddenly burst into tears. “Oh Lady, it was so awful. He wouldn’t wake up.” The other two children immediately started crying along with her.

     The children were enfolded in warm hugs, ordered to blow their noses, and offered hot chocee and butter cakes. Inquisitive baby dragons hovered around making little distressed sounds of sympathy. Nursery maids were summoned and the children were taken off for ‘a good wash and a proper dinner,’ leaving Ja'Nil alone with the Lady.

     Ja'Nil didn’t need the hugs but she wouldn’t have minded some hot chocee and butter cakes herself, not to mention dinner and a good wash.

     “Ja'Nil of the Fisherfolk,” said the Lady thoughtfully. “What village?”

      Ja'Nil told her.

     The Lady nodded. “You are a long way from home. Why?”

     It was too long a story. Ja'Nil couldn’t face telling it all, so she settled for simply saying, “We need a healer.”

     The Lady’s gazed at Ja'Nil’s arm. “You certainly do. Whatever happened to you?”

     Ja'Nil also did not intend to tell the Lady she was an escaped prisoner. For all she knew, the Lady might immediately have her shipped back to Lord No’Sila and his gruesome guards.

     “Dog bite,” she said, in the understatement of the year.

     The next thing she knew, she was sitting on a stool while a business-like, middle-aged woman, wearing a spotless white robe with the Healing Hands insignia of the Healer, was attending to her bruised, swollen and very painful arm. The treatment made it hurt even more.

     “Ow! Ow!”

     “Don’t be such a baby,” said the Healer, as she briskly applied a hot poultice, then wrapped it so tight Ja'Nil feared for her blood flow. Lastly, the Healer ran an orange and red stone along the arm, waved her arm in the air a few times, and sang a few high-pitched notes. The old Healer in the village had never done anything like that. This woman was obviously trained in all the newer techniques. Ja'Nil was suitably impressed. To top it off, she was given a nicely warmed, lovely smelling liquid that tasted Ugh! like dog piss. Not that Ja'Nil really knew what dog piss tasted like, but it couldn’t be worse than this.

     “Now get some sleep,” ordered the Healer, guiding her to a pallet in a warm corner. “Should be better when you wake.”

     Well, of course Ja'Nil wouldn’t be able to sleep with that horrible taste in her mouth and her arm aching like a -- she was asleep. There were no nightmares.

CHAPTER 17

     It was the noise the servants made setting up the tables and the delicious odors of the food being carried to those tables, it was the laughter of Yonny--No, not Yonny…of Little Piet and his dragon playmates that woke Ja'Nil.

     She sat up and looked around in confusion. Bright sunlight streamed through the open doors. High up on the walls, shutters were pulled from the windows with a noisy shriek of hinges, letting in more light.

     Ja'Nil put her hand down to help her rise from her pallet and realized there was only a slight twinge from her wounded arm.

     “You’re awake. Good. Come here. I have a lot to do today,” said the Healer. As soon as Ja'Nil stood up, the Healer shoved her back down onto a stool and rapidly unwrapped the bandage she had applied yesterday. Ja'Nil looked at her arm in amazement. All signs of infection had disappeared and even the tears from the dog’s teeth were closed, showing only a slight redness that seemed to fade as she watched.

     Once again, the Healer ran her orange and red stone over Ja'Nil’s arm, muttering something that Ja'Nil couldn’t make out. “What did you say?”

     “It’s Healer code, very powerful,” said the Healer. She briskly disposed of the used bandage and put away her medicine stone. “Should be fine now. I don’t anticipate any problems, but if it becomes painful or you notice any changes in appearance consult with your Healer.”

     “We don’t have a Healer,” said Ja'Nil. “Is it a prayer you say to heal people?”

     “Prayer?” The Healer looked offended. “Of course not. It’s the Gift.”

     “Healers have a special gift?”

     “Of course, how do you think we become Healers?”

     “Study? Go to classes, have teachers?”

     “Yes, yes, we do all that. But first, we have the Healing Gift, without that the classes would be useless.” She stood up to go about her other business. Ja'Nil reached out and caught her sleeve.

     “My village doesn’t have a Healer. Tell me how to get one.”

     The Healer looked down at Ja'Nil’s hand in surprise. “One will be assigned,” said the Healer.

     “But one hasn’t been.”

     “How long?” asked the Healer.

     “It’s been over two years.”

     “Your Aristos should contact the Queens’s minister.”

     “We don’t have Aristos. We have village elders. They’ve sent messages to the Queen, but still no Healer comes.”

     “Interesting,” said a pleasant feminine voice.

     “My Lady,” said Ja'Nil getting to her feet and saluting the Lady with her hands pressed together over her chest.

     The Lady returned the greeting. The Healer also stood and bowed her head to the Lady.

     “Good morrow, Healer D’Rain. I’m afraid Bluebuya has need of your services. A nicked wing.”

     “Again? That child is the clumsiest dragon I’ve ever met.” She nodded briskly to the Lady, ignored Ja'Nil completely, picked up her Healer’s satchel, and went in search of a nicked dragon.

     The Lady smiled at Ja'Nil and said, “I would talk with you, Ja'Nil, come and break your fast with me.”

     “Yes, my Lady. Ah… perhaps, there’s someplace I can wash?

     “And relieve yourself?”

     Ja'Nil blushed.

     The Lady turned to her servant. “Mar’Taina, show Ja'Nil where the jinny is.”

     “This way,” grumbled the servant. “Supposes you don’t know how, do ya?

     Don’t know how?

     But the question made sense when she was shown into the jinny, a tiled room with the oddest chamber pot Ja'Nil had ever seen.

     “Ya don’t squat over a jinny, ya sits. Like a chair.” Mar’Taina proceeded to show just how it was used. Then she showed a blushing Ja'Nil how to open a little gate in a brightly colored tube, which allowed water to rush down from a large container so that Ja'Nil could wash her hands. Ja'Nil was enchanted. What luxury. There were even thick fluffy lengths of multi colored cloth with which to dry one’s hands.

     “Now don’t be wasting the water playin’ with it. Remember the Lady’s waitin’

on ya,” said Mar’Taina before marching out. Ja'Nil was relieved to see her go. Emptying one’s bladder was not a group activity among the Fisherfolk. Still, it must be wonderful to live with all these modern conveniences.

* * *

     The Lady was seated at the High Table waiting for her. Was Ja'Nil supposed to sit or stand? Would she be served food, or was she supposed to go to the kitchens and fetch her own? A sophisticated life, she was beginning to see, was just one complication after another even if you did get to use that beautiful jinny.

     The Lady solved the problem by pointing to the bench on the other side of the table and saying, “Sit there.” Ja'Nil sat.

     The Lady then ordered one of the hovering servants to bring our guest, “A hardy meal with which to break her fast.”

     Within moments, a large bowl of yellow mush with a small puddle of dark brown syrup nestling in its middle was placed in front of Ja’Nil. Also scrambled Gundi eggs, half a Red Melon and a mug of warm, creamy mare’s milk with nutmeg drops sprinkled on top.

     Ja'Nil dug in like a starving woman. When she came up for air, she found the Lady sipping something hot and fragrant while she eyed Ja'Nil over the edge of her ruby colored cup.

     Ja'Nil looked down at the table. She had eaten everything eatable. All that was left were dirty plates. What must the Lady think of her?

     “Little Piet seems very fond of you,” said the Lady. “He trusts you.”

     Ja'Nil nodded.

     “Jari also. Even Sa’Ari I believe. Do you know why they trust you?” she asked.

     Ja'Nil looked at her hostess in surprise. She had not expected to talk about the children. Actually, she had had no expectations at all. She was just grateful for the food and being given a place to sleep. And of course being able to see the Healer about her arm. She took a surreptitious glance at the arm again. Yes, it was completely healed. Maybe a Healer could have saved Cho, even as badly crushed as she had been. Meanwhile, the Lady had asked a question. Something about the children trusting her.

     “Ah, The children…”

     “They trust you because you delivered.”

     “Delivered?”  

     “You not only did what you promised, but also what you implied,” said the Lady, smiling her pretty cat-like smile. “Admirable.”

     How does one get to be so sleek and elegant, wondered Ja'Nil. What she wouldn’t give to be able, with a mere gesture of her hand or an upturning of her lips, to create such an atmosphere of both serenity and power. Unconsciously, she tried to imitate the Lady’s graceful hand gesture. Somehow, the mug out of which she had drunk the mare’s milk connected with her hand and was knocked on its side. Luckily, it was empty. Ja'Nil turned scarlet.

     “Will you be taking the children to Cordia?” asked the Lady.

     Ja'Nil looked up in horror. “To Cordia?”

     “That is where their father is.”

     “But isn’t he, that is, couldn’t he come here?”

     “Certainly. If he knew they were here. They have always been a very loving family.”

     “Ahh… couldn’t you…that is, couldn’t a message be sent telling their father they’re here?”

     “Excellent idea,” said the Lady with her gentle smile. “It will be no trouble at all keeping the children here while you go on to Cordia. You’ll be able to travel much more quickly on your own.”

     “On my own? Well, you see, my Lady, there’s a problem. I have no idea how to get to Cordia from here.” Ja'Nil’s voice was light with relief. She couldn’t possible go anywhere on her own. She was so turned around and lost in this great wide country. Why, before this, she had never been more than five miles from her home and frankly, if she ever managed to get back, she never again intended to go even three miles from the village.