Spell of the Crystal Chair (4 page)

Now Fairmina stared at the boy. Wash, the smallest of the Sleepers, was indeed most unimpressive.

Wash smiled at her. But he said, “I know you’re a princess, and I’m pretty young. But I’ve found out that if you trust in Goél—no matter who you are—that makes you strong where you need to be strong.”

“That’s right,” Josh said. “Wash saved us all from a monster under the sea. He’s got more courage than anybody I ever saw.”

“Courage is necessary,” the girl agreed. “But it takes a strong arm to pull a good bow or to handle a sword, and there are so few, Goél!”

“Strength lies not always in numbers,” Goél said almost sternly. “That is another lesson you must learn. The weapons of the spirit—they are what is important.”

Fairmina bowed her head, and Josh could see that she was disappointed. She murmured, “As you say, sire. I have obeyed my father.”

“You are not convinced, my daughter, but I know that in the days to come you will learn many truths.” He put his hands on her shoulders, and she looked up, startled. He said nothing.

The Sleepers watched, holding their breath.

In the silence, Goél seemed to be telling Fairmina something, not with words but with some communication directly to her heart. Finally, he dropped his hands and turned again to the Sleepers. “It is good to see you again, my young friends. I have missed you. Now, we will sit and talk and you will tell me what is in your hearts.”

“Goél is gone!”

Josh burst into the hut. He had gone looking for Goél while the others were finishing breakfast. He’d returned almost immediately. “He’s not here at all! I thought he’d say good-bye, at least!”

“That’s the way he is.” Sarah sighed. “He comes and goes without warning.” She looked over at Fairmina, who was sitting on a bench staring out the window. “Did you talk to him before he left?”

“Yes. You were all asleep.” This seemed to imply some criticism.

“You sound like it’s a crime to go to sleep!” Jake cried. “Well, I’m here to tell you we’re just humans, Princess. We have to sleep once in a while. Perhaps you royal folks don’t, but we common people do.”

Fairmina gaped at the redheaded boy and then smiled. “You have spirit, Jake. I like that. You are small, but Goél said some fine things about you. You seem to be one of his favorites.”

Jake flushed to the roots of his hair. “Aw … well … I’m not much,” he said. “I’m not as strong as Dave here, and I can’t lasso with a rope like Reb.”

“Goél talked about all of you after you went to sleep. Now I understand a little more about his confidence in you.”

Sarah looked pleased. “He always knows how to make a person feel better.”

Fairmina’s face suddenly grew sad. “While he was speaking, I was encouraged. But now, in the cold light of day, I truly do not see how a small number such as this can help. I expected to lead a troop of a thousand back to Whiteland to fight our enemies. Hundreds, at least.”

Mat had been watching the girl’s face. “That’s just what I say. How can a little bunch like us do anything?”

“Will you be quiet, Mat!” Tam told him. “Goél’s never sent us in the wrong direction yet!”

Josh was studying Fairmina. “I know you’re not convinced yet, but I hope that you’ll think better of us after a while.”

“What orders did Goél leave, Fairmina?” Sarah asked.

“He orders that you follow me.”

“Then you’ll be our leader,” Josh said, feeling some relief.

“Yes, I’ll lead you to Whiteland. But once we are there, Goél said you would have to do what seems right to you.” Heavily, she added, “I do not think we will succeed, but I must go back and give my life for my people.”

“Just tell us what to do,” Dave said.

Reb nodded. “We’ll do our best.”

“First of all, how do we get to Whiteland?” Josh asked. “It’s a long way, isn’t it?”

“Many, many long miles. But we will not walk all the way.” Fairmina reached into an inner pocket and
pulled out a soft leather bag. When she slapped it into her other hand, it made a pleasant clinking sound. “Goél has given me gold to buy horses and pack animals. We will ride as far as we can.”

“That’s a relief!” Jake said. “I’m not much of a horseman, but I’d rather ride than walk. My legs aren’t as long as Reb’s here.”

Two days later the party started out at dawn, all mounted on sturdy horses. They had purchased food, and that, along with equipment such as their swords, shields, and armor, was carried by three sturdy pack animals. The horses were small, like mountain ponies, but Reb knew horseflesh and had helped with the purchase.

He said, “These are tough animals. I wish they were Texas mustangs, but they’re the closest thing to it. They’ll be plodding on when some long-legged thoroughbred would give up and quit.”

Tam and Mat rode a single horse. Mat sat behind, clinging to Tam’s waist. No horse was big enough for Volka, but his strides were so long that he had no trouble keeping up with the horses. “Ho,” he boomed, “I will have to be careful not to walk off and leave your little toy horses.”

Princess Fairmina led the way, and all morning long they moved along the trail northward. It was pleasant going. When the sun was directly overhead, they stopped to eat. But after only a quick break, they proceeded again.

By the time they stopped for the night, Mat was groaning. “Get me off this horse!”

Fairmina looked at him with a frown. “A ride like
this, and you’re ready to give up? I thought Gemini dwarfs were tougher.”

Her remark squelched what spirit Mat had, and he complained even more vehemently.

The Sleepers fell into their regular routines. The boys went out to gather wood and made a fire while the girls broke out the cookware and began to put a meal together. They had fresh meat, and for once Mat did not complain but ate hungrily.

“What do you think this is?” Abbey asked. “It doesn’t taste like any meat I’ve ever had.”

Reb, who loved to tease, said, “Maybe horsemeat. Tastes kind of like it.”

Abbey stared at the meat and said, “Ugh!” She was about to put it aside when Dave laughed. “Don’t believe him. It’s good Nuworld beef. You’d better enjoy it, for we may really be eating horsemeat before we get to where we’re going.”

After eating, Princess Fairmina sat off by herself. And long after the others had rolled into their blankets, she stared into the fire.

Finally she gave a sigh and pulled up her own blanket. Her last waking thought was,
I don’t see what good these children are. My father and mother will be so disappointed. They think I’m bringing back an army—and I’m bringing back a nursery
.

From far away a voice came to Sarah, and then a hand shook her roughly. “Wake up. It’s time to get started.”

“But I just went to bed.” Sarah clutched her blanket and blinked against the sun, which was barely risen in the sky.

Princess Fairmina was standing over her, an unhappy look on her face. “Are you going to sleep all day?”

“No. I’m awake. I’m getting up.”

Somewhat embarrassed, Sarah jumped out of her blanket. She washed her face in the stream they had camped beside and then began frying bacon and heating bread over the campfire.

The Sleepers and their companions ate quickly and were in the saddle by seven o’clock.

The day was a repeat of the first with one exception. The Sleepers, unused to ten-hour rides, were all sore. Sarah found that the inside of her legs were chafed almost raw. Abbey had the same problem, and the two girls tried to comfort each other. “We’ll toughen up,” Sarah said with a confidence she did not feel.

“No, we won’t. We’ll probably die before we get there.”

They rode hard for the next three days, and by that time all of them had gotten somewhat used to being on horseback for long stretches. Volka, of course, was as tough as an oak tree. With one smashing blow of the club he always carried, he managed to kill a huge wild hog that weighed several hundred pounds. That night they had a feast and slept better than usual.

The next day, Princess Fairmina stopped her little army while the sun was still high in the sky—which surprised everybody.

“We can go farther, Fairmina,” Josh said.

“This is enough for today. There is something we have to do.”

The something that Fairmina had in mind was to check out their skill with weapons.

She quickly discovered that Mat and Tam, for all their short heights, were expert swordsmen. The others
seemed to have varying skills with the sword. Dave was the best. He was the strongest and had the longest reach. Fairmina nodded grudgingly after she had gone victoriously through a bout with him. “You do very well, Dave.”

Dave shook his head. “I never thought I’d be bested by a woman.”

“You have not crossed blades before with any woman that has practiced every day of her life since she was six years old.”

She found some of them practically helpless with a sword. These included Wash and Abbey.

Finally she said, “We’ll test you out with a bow.”

All of them were armed with bows except for Volka, whose only weapon was his terrible club.

Finding an open place, Fairmina attached a target to a tree and then marched back some thirty paces. “Now, each one of you shoot at that mark.”

Josh’s heart sank. The target was a small card no bigger than a playing card. Nevertheless, he drew his bow and launched an arrow. It missed the whole tree, and Josh flushed. “I guess I’m out of practice.”

“I can see that,” the princess said. “Now, the rest of you.”

As with the sword, there were varying skills.

Sarah loosed one arrow that hit the edge of the card, and Fairmina exclaimed, “A good shot! You are a fine archer, Sarah!”

Reb Jackson grinned. “I’m not much with one of these things. I could do better with a .44.”

“What’s a .44? Never mind. We don’t have any here. Take your best shot, Reb.”

Reb managed to hit the tree, although his arrow was two feet lower than the card.

Fairmina was not happy. “I think most of you would starve in my country. Our lives depend upon our skills with a bow. Except for Sarah, all of you are in need of practice.”

The weapons session was a humiliation to the Sleepers. It was also humiliating that, except for the huge boar that Volka had killed, most of the game that they fed on was brought down by the princess. She would ride on ahead, and later they would find her with a bird or a squirrel or a rabbit.

Sarah, especially, felt humiliated. She said to Josh, “I’m going to help with the hunting.”

“I wish just one of us could do something right,” Josh said. “The princess doesn’t think much of us.”

That night, after they had eaten fried rabbit and the last of the bread they had brought with them, the boys withdrew to their section of the camp. By common consent, they gave the girls plenty of room.

Princess Fairmina sat watching Sarah and Abbey take turns brushing each other’s hair.

“You spend a lot of time making yourselves look nice,” she commented. She herself simply put her hair into braids and then coiled them in a crown around her head. “Why do you do it?”

“Why, I guess every girl wants to look as good as she can,” Abbey said with surprise.

“You don’t spend much time on your appearance, do you?” Sarah observed. “But I’ll bet you have lots of boyfriends.”

“What do you mean? I have friends who are boys and friends who are men and friends who are girls and friends who are women.”

“No. I meant—well, suitors. Young men that come
courting
you,” Sarah said.

Princess Fairmina threw a chunk of wood onto the fire and watched the sparks climb upward. There was something like sadness in her strange green eyes. “I have no time for such things,” she said simply.

“But surely you want to marry someday and have children—be a wife and mother.”

“I will be the chieftess of the Lowami. They will look to me to lead them forth in war. I will have no time for such things as suitors.”

“But don’t you want a sweetheart?” Abbey persisted. Puzzled, she studied Fairmina’s face. Apparently she could not understand this young woman at all.

The fire crackled and snapped, and the smell of smoke was rich and strong.

Princess Fairmina seemed to consider Abbey’s question. But then she shook her head and spread out her blanket. “I have no time for such foolishness!” she said firmly. She lay down and seemed to go to sleep instantly.

“I never saw a girl that didn’t want to get married,” Abbey whispered.

“I guess it’s hard trying to be a son instead of a daughter. I feel sorry for her.”

“Well, the way she’s driving us, I feel sorry for
us
. Good night, Sarah.”

“Good night, Abbey.”

T
he journey seemed to go on forever. It was true that the Sleepers had toughened and could now stand daylong rides in the saddle, but the terrain was hard going. The food that they had brought along was all gone. They lived on what they could bring down with their bows. From time to time, Volka would kill a beast with his club, but it was either feast or famine.

It also was cold.

“I’m freezing to death,” Abbey complained one day. They were riding along a rocky trail that led over a mountain pass. The trees were only a few scattered evergreens. It was a barren looking scene. Abbey looked around and shuddered. “I hate this country!”