Background
Dinary and Celio find love and trouble upon the high seas.
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Chapter Five
Stowaway Princess
"How does it look, Kofius?" Captain Dordrecht asked his Sail Master.
"The wind is not blowing abaft the beam, sir. We have to tack our sails on an eighty-degree angle to the wind."
"Won't that slow us down?"
"Aye captain, about two knots, sir. But we'll make up that time once the wind is more favorable."
"Good. I'll be on lower deck two if you need me," Dordrecht said.
"Aye, Captain."
As the captain left Kofius to his duties and descended the stairs, he noticed Judian, the Quarter Master, patting his foot to the sounds of the Cornamuse, crumhorns, and lute that rose from lower deck one. Judian was second in command of the ship. He was a bright young man in his thirties who had left home at fourteen to find adventure upon the seas. When he returned to his little village five years later, he found that most of his childhood friends, their relatives, and his entire family were dead from the plague. Judian listened to the steady beat of the tabor drum that nearly matched the rhythm of his heart. The melodic vibrations lifted his spirit.
The festive music was a delightful resonance to the captain's ears. As he entered the gathering, he looked over the crowd and spotted Gangus in the middle of the floor with Dinary, Celio, and several other men dancing to a hundred-year-old tribal dance of their Volarian ancestors. Brehira led the women in circling the men and clapping in time. The men had wide smiles as they high stepped and kicked to the rhythm of the lute.
While Dordrecht stood mesmerized by the music and dancing, a magician in a multi-colored costume stepped up to him. He playfully removed the captain's hat--tapped it three times with a wand, and a dozen birds flew up into the ceiling then disappeared. The captain laughed as the magician returned his hat and skipped away. When Dordrecht placed his hat back upon his head, he made a face as if his hat didn't quite fit. When he pulled it off again, the entertainers pointed and laughed as Dordrecht reached up and discovered a bird's egg on his head.
Another magician danced up and took the egg out of the captain's hand, placed the egg in his own mouth, then pulled his own earlobe and the egg appeared to fall out of his ear. The magician laughed and danced away. Every entertainer wore bright multi-colored costumes with funny hats to match. There were also jugglers, singers, dancers, and strong men; the women blushed as they squeezed the iron muscles in the strongmen's arms.
Dordrecht remained standing a ways off from most of the activities until one of the men grabbed him, pulled him into the circle of dancing men, where the Captain lost his inhibitions and commenced to high step and kicked with the best of them.
As Dinary kicked and turned, a young maiden caught his eye. He was staring so hard that he accidentally kicked Celio in the seat of his pants.
Celio turned. "Hey, what was that for!" he snapped loudly.
Dinary apologized but couldn't take his eyes off the beauty. She had dark brown hair, smooth pink and white skin--plus the bluest eyes he'd ever seen. She was dressed the way most maidens dressed for special engagements, a white, long sleeve tunic with an emerald-colored and gold overdress. He watched her body appear to float out on deck like an angel.
"You're going to stand there with your thumb up your nose? Go talk to her," Celio shouted over the music.
Dinary was embarrassed that his actions were so obvious. He looked around to see if anyone else had noticed. Then he slowly squeezed past the dancers and musicians--careful not to bring too much attention to himself as he followed the maiden. When he reached the deck, he found her looking up at the stars. Dinary stood a distance from her pretending to enjoy the night air but admiring her from the corner of his eye. She turned to him suddenly with a smile that made his chest swell.
"Your father steps well for a man of his age," she said.
"Every male of my tribe is taught that dance at the age of four."
"Then that accounts for the perfection."
"What about your father? I bet he dances well," Dinary said. He hoped this small talk would lead to getting to know her better.
But she looked away from him as if he'd insulted her.
"I'm, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry," he said appearing awkward. "My name is Dinary."
"I know. I am Myrah."
"That's a beautiful name."
"Thank you."
"Well. I'll leave you alone." He turned to leave.
"No! Please, you did not offend me. My parents are dead."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Was it recent? Or perhaps you don't want to talk about it."
"It wasn't recent and I'm fine. My mother died when I was born and my father from the plague a few years ago." Then Myrah perked up. "But let's not speak of unpleasant things," she said with a smile that warmed Dinary's heart.
"All right," Dinary said.
They stood talking, laughing, and watching the stars until bedtime. After that night, they became great friends and met frequently for a bite to eat or an evening stroll on deck.
Many weeks passed and Celio noticed something more brewing between them. One morning, looking for Dinary, Celio walked up on them passionately kissing in a far corner of the hallway; they broke apart when Celio deliberately cleared his throat. Dinary had forgotten he was to help Celio with the inventory.
"Oh, thank you, Celio, for introducing me to the woman of my dreams," Celio teased.
"Thank you for what? I introduced myself. You had nothing to do with it."
"Like the gods I didn't. If it weren't for me, you'd be still standing in the middle of the dance floor staring at her with your mouth gaped open and your thumb up your nose."
Myrah blushed and cleared her throat to muffle a chuckle.
"Why do you keep saying thumb up my nose?"
"Because you were looking like a mindless little boy."
"I was not. Don't pay any attention to him, Myrah. I'll see you a little later," Dinary said softly. He held her hands and kissed them.
Myrah pressed her lips together to hide a smile.
"Yeah, thumb up your nose," Celio teased, grinning.
"Oh, shut up and come on," Dinary snapped.
The two continued to bicker at one another all the way down the long hall and into the supply room.
It was obvious to everyone how Dinary felt about Myrah. Gangus adored her, and Brehira was already planning the perfect wedding in her head, though Dinary had not voiced his desire to ask Myrah for her hand.
And after all of his teasing and meddling into Dinary's love life, Celio found his own lady among the musicians. Her name was Detria, and she was a young widow of twenty-two with no children. She told Celio her father was a drunkard who beat her mother then abandoned the family. Her mother fell on hard times and had to send Detria away with distant relatives when she was only ten, just so her mother could feed her younger siblings.
After being mistreated, Detria ran away and joined a traveling entertainment group. There, she had met her husband who taught her to sing and play the lute. They married, but a year later, he was killed by robbers.
Celio felt sad for Detria and saw her as a delicate bird needing protection. He continued to see her and she welcomed his advances with sheer glee.
*****
After many peaceful weeks at sea, Captain Dordrecht was alerted by the stress signal that came directly to his cabin. This was done so no one would hear news before the captain heard it. It kept the rest of the crew from panicking. "Great Zeus, let it be a false alarm," he said to himself as he raced to the upper deck. The crew members frowned and mumbled among themselves when they saw the captain running. "How does it look, Kofius?" Dordrecht asked.
"It may not be anything, Captain. But I've been watching that ship," Kofius said, nodding at a ship that trailed behind, "and it's been tailing us for quite a while."
Dordrecht put the optic to his eye. "Did you do the test?"
"Aye, Captain. Every time I sped up, it sped up. When I pretended to get off course, it went off course."
"Good, Kofius," the captain said, still watching the ship through the optic. "Sound the alarm," he said, taking the optic down from his eye.
"Aye, Captain."
Gangus, who was dressing and readying himself for the morning, heard the alarm then feet thundering overhead like a herd of horses. "Merciful gods," he said out loud. The captain sent word informing Gangus so he could prepare his men. After hearing what the messenger had said, Brehira rushed to Gangus' side. He hurried her out to join the other women in an appointed place and ordered soldiers to guard them. Then he joined with Dinary, Celio, and the rest of the men on the deck to get instructions from the captain. But, in the midst of the instructions, a crew member came with a message that the ship in question was a royal vessel sent by King Zular. And that no one was in danger; they just needed to speak to the captain.
"Who is this King Zular?" Dinary asked the captain.
"I've heard of him. But what could he possibly want with me?" He brushed past the men and sprinted for the stairs.
"What do you want us to do, Captain?" Celio called.
"Do nothing until you hear the alarm. Then come running with everything you've got."
Captain Dordrecht reached the upper deck where Judian introduced him to General Brutus.
"General Brutus, you need to speak to me?"
"Yes. I am here in the name of King Zular. His Majesty's daughter, Princess Netrekka, has been kidnapped. She's been missing for over a year. We thought her dead. Then Shanghai of the king's daughter reached him by a messenger. And we have orders from the king to stop any vessel in these waters and search it." The general handed Dordrecht a scroll of his authority to search.
"There is no one on this ship by that name. And your king has no jurisdiction in these waters.
"If you would open the scroll," the general said nodding towards it, "you'll see the names of every king in this area lending their command in helping to find King Zular's daughter."
Captain Dordrecht unfolded the scroll and, sure enough, there were the royal seals of the twelve kings. He sighed. "He's right."
"This is absurd," Judian scolded. "We are not pirates. For you to think we would be involved in doing such a thing is not just absurd but an insult."
"It's all right, Judian. I'm sure the general means nothing personal. He's just following orders. Besides, the quicker they search, the quicker we can be on our way."
"Thank you for your understanding and cooperation, Captain."
The General signaled with a hand gesture for his men to come aboard and search the ship. He led several dozen well-armed soldiers to every part of the ship, starting at the top. Judian and Dordrecht accompanied the general on every detail. When General Brutus reached the main birth, Gangus, Dinary, Celio, and Gangus' soldiers stood with hands inches above their loaded sheaths and a stern look on their faces.
When the general saw their body language, he gestured to his men to halt. "Your captain can vouch for us. We mean you no harm. We have orders to search this entire ship! We are looking for Princess Netrekka."
"The king's daughter was kidnapped and dragged onto a ship," Dordrecht said. "They have the authority and my permission to search."
After listening to the captain, General Brutus again signaled his men to advance but was startled to hear metal slide against metal; Abram and his men had half drawn their swords when Brutus and his men took a step forward.
General Brutus frowned. "But didn't you hear what your captain said?" Dordrecht stood frozen.
"No disrespect to our captain," Dinary said, with his hand on the handle of his sword, "but our women are back there, and no one is going near them."
"There's no woman by that name on this ship, anyway," Celio said.
Brutus raised his voice. "We have our orders!" He took a step, and Dinary drew his sword as did his men, and General Brutus drew his sword as did his men.
Suddenly, Captain Dordrecht jumped forward. "No, No. Wait! Please." He looked pleadingly at Gangus. "Just bring the women out and let them see she's not among them and they will go. Please, Gangus, Dinary, please. Think of the safety of all on the ship."
Gangus gazed, sweeping his eyes from Dordrecht to Brutus; he thought momentarily and then ordered Celio to bring the women out.
"But, Father!" Dinary snapped.
"Let them see she's not here, son so they can leave."
Celio walked down to the end of the hall into a large room they used for celebrations. He came out ahead of the women and kept them several feet away from Brutus and his men.
Brutus strained his eyes. "I can't see from here. And some of their heads are too covered."
Celio spoke loudly, "This is as close as you're going to get."
Brutus called out to the princess, but none of the women answered him.
"This is ridiculous," said one of Brutus' captains. And he made a motion, but Brutus threw his arm in front of him.
"I'm tired of this game," Brutus said. "I'm going to count to three, and if your men don't stand down, blood will flow. One...two..."
"Don't!" a woman yelled. She kept her head and face covered, then moved towards Brutus and his men. "I am Princess Netrekka," and she removed the covering from her head and face.
When Brutus and the king's soldiers saw the princess, they immediately bowed before her.
Dinary's eyes grew wide. "Myrah?"
"I hope you realize this means death to everyone on this godforsaken ship,"' Brutus said extending his sword.
"But, we didn't know who she was. She lied to us!" Judian shouted.
"How could you deceive my son and put this whole ship in danger?" Gangus scolded.
"Take her!" Judian bellowed.
"Wait!" Dordrecht shouted. "Let's hear what she has to say for herself."
The princess took a short breath. "Lord and Lady Abram, Dinary. Please, I can explain."
"I think you'd better," Dinary said, glaring at her.
Princes Netrekka walked forward and stood directly in front of General Brutus and his soldiers.
"No one kidnapped me. I, with the help of some very kind people, put that story out so my father would think me dead and stop looking for me."
"But why, Your Highness?" Brutus asked.
"You know why. My father is not a good king. He sends his soldiers to conquer, pillage, and enslave poor innocent people, raping and stealing their lands. He's overtaxed our people until they are nearly starving to death."
"But, Your Highness, once you're queen, you can make right the things you think are wrong."
"No. It's too late. The people hate my father and my family. And I don't blame them. By the time I'm queen, there will be no country worth governing. I'm not going back with you."
"Then, blood will flow, Princess. I know how you feel. But my loyalty is to His Majesty the king."
"Then let the blood flow," Dinary said with his sword in a striking position. "You heard her explanation. She doesn't want to go with you, and you're not taking her."
Princess Netrekka's face brightened, and she looked over at Dinary and smiled.
The men on both sides stood in a fighting stance with swords drawn. Suddenly, Brehira very calmly asked General Brutus to talk with her privately. He told her there was nothing to talk about--and that nothing she could say would make any difference--and if she wanted to help, she should try to talk some sense into her husband and his men. But Brehira was insistent--so insistent that General Brutus gave in and walked with her into her cabin. Gangus and Dinary were opposed. But Brehira waved them away and gave her husband that look of certainty that calmed him.
When they walked into her cabin, Brehira offered him wine, which he refused. He voiced his annoyance when she kept insisting that he lie to the King about the whereabouts of the Princess. General Brutus became very irritated at her insistence and turned to leave.
"General." He turned back and stared coldly at her. "It's considered rude among my people not to accept the hospitality of wine even in disagreements."
Considering the strict code of hospitality, that when broken had a few times resulted in war, the general sighed then picked up the cup. He drank until one of three large gems Brehira had placed in the goblet slipped into his mouth. He gasped and spit out a ruby. "What is this?" he insisted, plopping the ruby back in the wine goblet.
"There's more," she said. Brehira pulled the red covering from a small decorated box. She eased open the lid and exposed three necklaces and two bracelets. The general's eyes beamed as he looked upon the brilliant red fire emulating from the rubies embedded in the sun blaze of the gold.
"You can build yourself a castle, have hundreds of servants to attend you, and have the pick of women from the finest families, no more killing--no more taking orders from kings or anyone else, ever," she said.
"You really believe I'd betray my king for jewels? You don't know me. I'd never do that."
"Don't be a fool, man. I'm offering you wealth, status...something other than a king's henchman... and a horrid king at that."
General Brutus stood stone-faced--his loyalty appearing unshakeable.
Brehira sighed as she closed the box. "I was afraid you weren't the type to accept this kind of an offer. So, here's another--less expensive, actually. I'm simply going to tear my clothes and scream. Now I know most of your men will leave here alive and some of ours may die. But once that door opens, fifty men are going to rush in and cut you to pieces before your soldiers can get to you. What I'm saying, General, is, whatever happens, you're not leaving this room alive. Now, is that worth attempting to take a woman back to where she doesn't want to be...only to have her run away again? If she did it once, she'll do it again."
"You don't understand; I have my orders."
"You don't understand. Unless you leave without the princess, parts of you are going to be scattered all over this floor. Who do you think my husband is going to believe?"
Brutus stared at her without blinking. He looked at the door then back at her. He stood there motionless contemplating several moves that if Lady Abrams was right he would surely lose his life and many of his men. Not only that but the truth about the princess was sure to reach the king's ear. If and when it did, the General knew his life wouldn't be worth a spit in the wind. He would probably need these jewels to make a sudden exit. He knew the king too well. He had been in His Majesty's service for ten years. The king, if betrayed was like the very devil himself. Still, the General considered himself an honorable man and put the safety of his men above all else.
He scooped out the gems from the cup. "There's nothing I despise more than a conniving woman," he snapped. The General snatched the box placing both it and the gems under the bulk of his garment and left the room. He walked briskly past the Abram clan and told his men they were leaving.
"But, what about the princess?" one of Brutus' soldiers asked.
"She's an imposter! Let's go," Brutus commanded.
"But...general..."
"Go, I said!" The General and his men marched up the stairs followed by Judian and the captain.
When it was certain that the royal ship had gone, all focused their attention on Brehira who stood in the doorway of her cabin.
"Honey, how by the gods did you convince him she was an imposter?"
Brehira thought for a moment and then said. "Perhaps it was something in the wine. After all, the blend has been in your family for generations. She turned and closed the door behind her.
Gangus looked at Dinary and Celio dumbfounded. "Did she say the wine?"
Image: by Dantegrafice from Pixabay
Main Characters
Lord Gangus Abram Leader of his clan
Lady Brehira (Bree he ra) His wife
Dinary (Di nary) Youngest Son
Celio (Seal le o) Soldier and close friend
Princess Netrekka (Neh trek kah) Dinary's Lover/wife
Minor Characters
Khimah (Kee ma) Eldest Son
Captain Dulcy P Dordrecht (Door check) Captain of the Cristofur
Judian (Jew-dee-in) Second in Command of the Christofur
Kofius (Ko fee us) The Sail Master
Author Notes
When Lord Gangus Abram is awakened by a mysterious voice in the night and told to seek out the Oracle Naman, he must make a journey across the Endless Ocean to destroy the Nordoxz, an undefeated race of humanoids that are controlled by powerful forces of evil.
Lord Abrams plunges into a perilous trek to obey the gods and settle in Bethica, a land of dragons, cannibals, Fallen Angels, Amazonians, and Dark Lords. He is joined by his wife, Brehira, youngest son Dinary, comrade and friend, Celio, Shapeshifter and Beast Master, Olutunji, and 750 people willing to risk their lives for land and freedom.
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