Falling The Wrong Way
Chapter Four
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Author Updates: Thanks for the, er, ONE review for chapter three. Come on people! Anyway, this is the chapter a lot of you have been begging for, when the mysterious beauty Ayanna tells of her past...and you will be shocked! Read at your own risk, and BEG for more! {meaning: REVIEW, PEOPLE!}
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Kevin felt the plunge as the canoe nose-dived downward, smacking the water hard and nearly dislodging him from his seat. Ayanna's paddle was already fast at work, dodging them around the jutting outcrops that were rocks and other debris caught and buried, forcing their way against the current. Also, the shore loomed nearer, and unlike the smoother slope that they had navigated down, the rest of the terrain to either side jutted out with rocky ledges and lethal sandbars. To work around these obsticals, it took all of Kevin and Ayanna's stregnth.
They had been outside of the cave for half an hour, having to stop once or twice to bail, and the rest was just pure battle against the current. Now, as they past under the shadow of the gaping black mouth of the cave, Kevin felt the first stirrings of excitement that had crossed his mind since he left. A prince, fancy that. "Tell me something, anything about Tortall." Kevin said. Now that the water was easier going, the banks further out and little debris to catch the craft, they could afford to talk.
Ayanna's back straightened from her momentary rest, oar on her lap. Now it dug into the water, churning thoughtfully as Ayanna chose where to speak first. "It's not like here. Not a democracy. Yes, a King and Queen rule. But...they do care for the people. When they change laws, it's a painfully slow process. They love the people, and most of the people love them."
"Most?" Kevin asked slightly nervously.
Ayanna shrugged, digging her paddle into the water again. "You always have those unsatisfied with the ruling of the Monarchy. Always some one conspirating against you. It is what your guards and spies are for." On the word spies, Ayanna seemed to struggle, as if something was not right. Kevin wondered briefly. "To the North, Scanra. Rugged, mountain turrain. Lots of problems with bandits from that area. To the nor'east, Galla. To the east, Tusaine, and beyond that, Maren. To the sou'east, you have Tyra. The south of tortall is water, The Great Inland Sea, and beyond that Carthak."
She paused, and Kevin took the advantage to say "So, when we exit the cave, where will we end up?"
"Further from the capital, Corus, then I'd of liked. We will actually end up in the city of Tyra, in Tyra. There we will travel the coast with an armed escort untill we reach Port Legann. There, Duke Ellington, who lives there, will house us. We will stay for a few days, recuperate our energy, and then take the Port Way to Persopollis. Once there, we will again rest, and then continue to travel northward up The Great Road South, to travel for a few miles on The Great Road East, and end up in Corus, where the castle is. And your real parents."
Kevin's head was spinning. The coast. Great Roads. Some how he figured this was definantly more than a few cheap miles spent around the block. "How...long will this take?" He asked breathily.
"Oh, a few weeks at best, because you aren't accustomed to long hours in the saddle. And a full guard doesn't travel far." She hid a smile, as if she had had to put up with their slow moving armies before. "The Queen's Riders are so much better." She informed him, and launched into a descriptive detail about the army and queen's riders, about the different types of peole and attacks, and finally about many different wars, from Tusaine to the Immortals, to the Scanra, to the new aged ones, the end of the K'miri wars, and a war with Galla that lasted only a year. Other than that they had been relatively peacefull.
A few hours later, Kevin's energy was flagging. His muscles were sore, the wet was starting to seep through his clothes, and if he had to sit for another minute he'd scream. When he was about to work up the courage to ask Ayanna to stop, Ayanna suddenly pulled over to the right bank. "We're done now, Kevin." She said softly, before jumping knee deep into the water to pull the craft ashore.
Kevin got out slowly, streaching the kinked muscles that had too long been dormant. Ayanna was busy at work unloading the boat. She started a small fire with the wood that somehow remained dry, and placed the damp logs next to it to dry them. She took out a clay pot and filled it with river water, setting on a raised platform atop the fire to boil. Kevin, feeling helpless, sauntered over to their rolled up mats and sleeping bags, setting them up next to eachother. It was then that he realized Ayanna had stopped working. And she was blushing.
Kevin looked up, then down at the bags, then realized what Ayanna was thinking. Two bags. Next to eachother. Fine for a campout with a bunch of his guy friends, but she was a girl. And there were no...adults within any range. Grinning sheepishly, he picked up one of the rolls and matts and placed it opposite the fire. Ayanna just shook her head without saying a word and got back to making the soup, which involved throwing a pack of dried noodles and spices into the boiling water, then pouring the water into two bowls made of clay and accompanied by clay spoons. "Silver along this trip would only cause trouble." Ayanna said plainly, stirring her soup in it's bowl. "Theives could attack before we came to the army, a good day's walk horseless from the cave."
Kevin nodded his understanding and delicately sipped at the broth, surprisingly rich and tasty for a bit of noodles, plants and boiled river water. He ate with an appetite then, one his mother-- no, his aunt, would call a male's starvation trick.
Ayanna finished her bowl but did not take any more. When Kevin eyed the last remaining soup, Ayanna inclined her head to let him take it. It was not untill he finished it that she did more work than he, and may have been hungrier. Instead of letting that thought linger, he brought forth in his mind something that had interested him from the beginning. "Ayanna, what is your history?"
Ayanna looked up surprised and flustered, a slight blush rising on her cheeks. "E-excuse me, Kevin?" She asked humbly, smoothing down her shirt front with trembling hands.
"You seem to know everything there is about me. You could probably name the guys on my third grade basketball team --"
"The Rockets. Corey, Jonas, Steve, You, David-"
At Kevin's glare Ayanna meekly subsided, her eyes downcast modestly. Kevin went on, staring hard at Ayanna as if willing her to look up. "Yeah, see? But I don't know the first thing about you. So. I want to know. And I won't let you or I move from this spot untill you tell me." He said smugly, crossing his legs for the affect. "Please?" He added softly, and finally Ayanna lifted her face. The look in her eyes...Kevin was thrown by it. There were tears and anger and sadness and hapiness. Her entire history.
Ayanna sighed, then nodded. "Alright. I guess...I do owe you. But Kevin, it's not what you think. Not at all. You...won't believe it. No, you won't, don't stare at me like that! I don't even believe it sometimes, but I know...I know. Oh, god, when I wake up in the middle of the night, screaming, begging for mercy those bastards never gave me, I know...it's not any horrible fantasy. It's so, so real." There were tears coursing down her cheeks, and her eyes were half shuttered.
Kevin felt a pang deep within his heart. Whatever had happened to poor Ayanna, it had to have been terrible. Slowly he stood up, not knowing what made him do it. But he walked over and sat behind his newfound friend, legs streched out in front of him. His arms encircled her small body. "You need to eat more." He murmered, and it was true. Ayanna was not gaunt, but she teetered dangerously between healthy and too thin. His fingers danced up her arms to play with her hair, which at some point during their crazy ride and the setting up had sprung loose of it's informal pony tail to drape like a midnight curtain around her soft features.
Ayanna knew she should run. Heck, deep down, she wanted to run. She wanted to get up, brush herself off, babble some story about it being late and crawl into bed. And she wanted to wake up, shove Kevin into the arms of the nearest traveling merchant and book it as far away from the handsome and interesting young prince as possible. But...she knew. First, she loved being held by him, for some odd reason. Never, never before had she let anyone touch her like this. Not even her sisters. But when he did, it made her feel safe, protected. Loved. Those thoughts alone stopped her dead in her tracks...she had never felt that before. Ever in her young sixteen years. Young? Hah.
"It begins...well, it begins truly in 1609, in a port that would one day become Boston's own, and on a ship filled with some of the first pilgrims. They were anxious to be off the ship, but the harbor where the captain planned to dock was covered in snow and ice, and it was so cold the harbor around 100 feet out was frozen. Upon the ship, there were the interests of our story...Hope McDuffy. She was fifteen, with black hair, a pert face, and eyes that changed constantly from brown to green." Ayanna paused to collect her thoughts, and thats when Kevin noticed her own eyes flick to a brilliant green.
"You?" He said tentatively, already knowing the answer. 1609. If it was now 2004, that means that Ayanna was over 400 years old. Well, she didn't belong in Midlan High School, that was a fact.
Ayanna paused, then leaned back against his chest. Kevin's arms tightened around her tiny frame, giving her the stregnth to continue. "Yes. She was alone, her parents dead, her only hope to find a husband who would accomodate her three younger siblings. And a new life...a place to start over, would have been wonderfull." She smiled weakly. "I was such a fool. The next youngest was thirteen year old Repentance, then ten year old Benjamin, then five year old Elizabeth." She stopped to draw a shuddering breath. "That winter, many of us were starving, and sick, and dead. Out of the three hundred people that were on the ship, when I left one hundred and fifty were still remaining. Because we could not house the dead, so many for so long, we would give them a sailor's funeral and throw them overboard. It got to the point that a few loved ones would come, and then we'd all resume our work...death was a constant companion, and if we couldn't get used to it's ever present shadow, then we ourselves would perish from the anguish."
Kevin's head was reeling. It couldn't be true. It had to be. It couldn't. He rested his lips in Ayanna's hair, and he felt her momentarily stiffen. But something had changed between them, as she was telling him her darkest secret. Now, all of the sudden, she was some one different, some one Kevin was fairly sure he...well, he loved. And that was a scary thought for him. Really scary.
"Anyway, Hope -- me, well, was the beauty of the ship." A slight smile played upon her lips. "All the boys, even the men, followed me with their eyes. And I was a flirt, loving the attention. It would be easy to find myself a husband. There was one man, William Duvalt, who hated me, though. He came as one of the preachers, to bring to us god. He called me a Harlot, a whore. Though only 20, William acted as though he was an old man, hating the young lover's game. He said if they got rid of me, all our problems would be solved. He spat hellfire. I could not understand his hate for me, and stopped coming to mass on Sundays." She bit her deep red lips, and closed her eyes. Her hands clentched and unclentched, and she went on.
"Finally, the people were so driven by hunger, they agreed to get rid of me. One night, the coldest of the cold, dawning early Janurary, they came in. They gaged me and tied me with rough sailor's rope, called me a trollop and a witch, seducing their sons and husbands for the devil. It was the worst day of my life...and my poor, beautifull siblings...they would be taken in by that horrible William himself. I could have killed them all that night."
Kevin was angry now. His poor Ayanna! The treatment she must have gone through...but he knew the worst was coming by far.
"They threw me overdeck. The water was freezing cold...it felt like it shattered my bones. I cried for mercy, begged for them to release me, in the end, begged for death to take me. I blacked out as the cold invaded my veins, and I thought surely it was to be my death."
"I woke up a week later, wrapped in dearskins and shivering from fever. I was next to a fire, hot bricks were around me. I recognized a tee-pee for the stories given to us by merchant sailors, but I was not afriad for my life. In fact, the Indians treated me better than my own people had. I never found out why or how they saved me, I only know that I became one of them. I spoke their language, I learned their religion and their song. I was called Girl-Who-Lives-In-Ice, though I cannot remember my name in their tounge." She gave a wry smile at the name she had been given.
"I lived with them for a year, on the crest of my sixteenth birthday...I was out picking berries, it was the top of the berry season. My best friend, She-Who-Runs-With-Deer, was back at the village with her mother. I was going to hurry and then come back to the village to help prepare a feast for our Hunters, who would go out the next day. But, as I was picking berries, I came upon a very odd creature. It was a squirrel, yes, but plump and with a flat tail. It's front teeth were flat, it was larger than a squirrel. It was a beaver, but I had never seen them. Delighted, I tried to catch it, to hold it. The beaver ran, and ran. It ran to the edge of a large outcropping of land and jumped, smacking the water and hurrying under. I could swim very well, so without looking down to see the current or anything, I jumped right in."
"It ended up being the entrance to the cave. With the current, of course, I was swept away. However, it was stronger back then, and bore me all the way past here. I saw another mouth opening, where the water looked calmer. I battled the current and moved into the opening. But the current was strong and swift, and dragged me under. Once again, I blacked out thanks to the damn water."
Her face paled now, as if this was the hardest part. Her hands flitted over her face, her hair, reaching up to brush his cheeks, running her fingers over his five o' clock shadow before snatching them back, blushing slightly. "When I woke...again...I was on a shore. I didn't know where, but it wasn't my world. These were tall trees, older than ours. They were shrouded in mist, fine as a spiders web. It clung to a body, engulfed it, owned it. This was the home of Druids, of magic makers. Once again I was given a name other than Hope, for like my name I had seemed to loose all of it. Hope. I was named after my animal, I was named Fish. Charming, huh? But they found me in the water, guided by a school of fish to their shore."
"At first, I had no problem. The Druids treated me kindly, showed me their religion, taught me their words. They were wonderful, magic makers and spell binders. Scary, yes. They worshiped the greatest animals, the predators. They sacrificed their own to the predators, sacrificed their grains to the herbavores. Thank god I was never chosen..." She cleared her throat and closed her eyes, then went on. "But happiness, even in such a...terrible form as the Druids, was never long for me. I do not know who, but men came. In armor. They slaughtered our people, destroyed them. I managed to escape, with a young man of about eighteen years. His name was Tiger, and he was the finest of the hunt. But he was weak and would not die for the honor of his tribe. Tiger, when we were alone..." She swallowed, ducking her head aside in shame. "Tried many things. I screamed and beat on him...and finally, took a dagger to his heart. His dying words were `Fish, I gave you a chance...but you will not repay my love, so you will never find it. Sixteen years now, and sixteen years hence, untill another man doth take my place at your side.' And he was dead."
Kevin was starting to realize the turn of events here, but said nothing, only held her safe within the circle of his arms, as if to protect her from her hurt. Ayanna blinked a few times, took a shuddery breath, and went on. "I truly don't remember how I ended up in Tortall, but I do know I was there. Suddenly, I was before the king, and a man, maybe in his thirtees, was saying `see, I was right Jon! She is a time traveler, but from where, and how?' And he babbled on untill a young woman with a babe at her side quieted him. `Look Numaire, see how frightened she is? Her clothes are in tatters, and she hasn't eaten right in a while it seems. Let us clean her up, and then we can deal with the matters of where she came from.' There is not much to say after that. I helped with time traveling. I saw men die and babies born and grow. And never did I age a day past sixteen. At first, I could not understand it. Why, at thirty, no small wrinkles were beginning to show. Why, at fourty, I had no grey in my hair. Why at fifty I did not have to dye my hair and powder my face to look young. Why at sixty I could jump on a horse and ride miles. Why at seventy I was not hobbling. Why at eighty I was not confined to my chambers. Why at ninty I felt no signs of death. Why at one hundred I was not dead. And then I remembered."
"I will not be able to age untill I find true love. I tried, so hard, thinking that this man was the one, this one was the one. But no, none broke this curse layed upon me. None could wash Tiger's blood from my hands, cleanse my soul. Untill I find my one true love, I will remain locked in the body of a sixteen year old, and forever growing older and wasting away inside."
And that was it. Kevin's arms drew her tightly into a circle as her tears came, and he realized just how much of a curse she had. Too be that old and not be in eternal rest. To not have a family, to enjoy a husband...because to everyone around her she was forever sixteen.
"And so, to hide the fact I did not age, the royal family did something that I am greatfull for. They made me their spy. I cannot be killed, my wounds heal. I am forever changing appearances, though you happen to see me in my real form. But as a spy, no one knows I am a four hundred and some odd year old freak."
She turned around then, her eyes wide, a light green. Kevin shakily brushed away her tears, then slowly, like an actor in some odd movie, bent down and lightly brushed her lips with his own.
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Phew! I'm beat. This is the seventh page and it's nearly ten, so I'm going to upload and hit the bed. Please R&R, before I have to beat it out of you!
Chapter Four
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Author Updates: Thanks for the, er, ONE review for chapter three. Come on people! Anyway, this is the chapter a lot of you have been begging for, when the mysterious beauty Ayanna tells of her past...and you will be shocked! Read at your own risk, and BEG for more! {meaning: REVIEW, PEOPLE!}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kevin felt the plunge as the canoe nose-dived downward, smacking the water hard and nearly dislodging him from his seat. Ayanna's paddle was already fast at work, dodging them around the jutting outcrops that were rocks and other debris caught and buried, forcing their way against the current. Also, the shore loomed nearer, and unlike the smoother slope that they had navigated down, the rest of the terrain to either side jutted out with rocky ledges and lethal sandbars. To work around these obsticals, it took all of Kevin and Ayanna's stregnth.
They had been outside of the cave for half an hour, having to stop once or twice to bail, and the rest was just pure battle against the current. Now, as they past under the shadow of the gaping black mouth of the cave, Kevin felt the first stirrings of excitement that had crossed his mind since he left. A prince, fancy that. "Tell me something, anything about Tortall." Kevin said. Now that the water was easier going, the banks further out and little debris to catch the craft, they could afford to talk.
Ayanna's back straightened from her momentary rest, oar on her lap. Now it dug into the water, churning thoughtfully as Ayanna chose where to speak first. "It's not like here. Not a democracy. Yes, a King and Queen rule. But...they do care for the people. When they change laws, it's a painfully slow process. They love the people, and most of the people love them."
"Most?" Kevin asked slightly nervously.
Ayanna shrugged, digging her paddle into the water again. "You always have those unsatisfied with the ruling of the Monarchy. Always some one conspirating against you. It is what your guards and spies are for." On the word spies, Ayanna seemed to struggle, as if something was not right. Kevin wondered briefly. "To the North, Scanra. Rugged, mountain turrain. Lots of problems with bandits from that area. To the nor'east, Galla. To the east, Tusaine, and beyond that, Maren. To the sou'east, you have Tyra. The south of tortall is water, The Great Inland Sea, and beyond that Carthak."
She paused, and Kevin took the advantage to say "So, when we exit the cave, where will we end up?"
"Further from the capital, Corus, then I'd of liked. We will actually end up in the city of Tyra, in Tyra. There we will travel the coast with an armed escort untill we reach Port Legann. There, Duke Ellington, who lives there, will house us. We will stay for a few days, recuperate our energy, and then take the Port Way to Persopollis. Once there, we will again rest, and then continue to travel northward up The Great Road South, to travel for a few miles on The Great Road East, and end up in Corus, where the castle is. And your real parents."
Kevin's head was spinning. The coast. Great Roads. Some how he figured this was definantly more than a few cheap miles spent around the block. "How...long will this take?" He asked breathily.
"Oh, a few weeks at best, because you aren't accustomed to long hours in the saddle. And a full guard doesn't travel far." She hid a smile, as if she had had to put up with their slow moving armies before. "The Queen's Riders are so much better." She informed him, and launched into a descriptive detail about the army and queen's riders, about the different types of peole and attacks, and finally about many different wars, from Tusaine to the Immortals, to the Scanra, to the new aged ones, the end of the K'miri wars, and a war with Galla that lasted only a year. Other than that they had been relatively peacefull.
A few hours later, Kevin's energy was flagging. His muscles were sore, the wet was starting to seep through his clothes, and if he had to sit for another minute he'd scream. When he was about to work up the courage to ask Ayanna to stop, Ayanna suddenly pulled over to the right bank. "We're done now, Kevin." She said softly, before jumping knee deep into the water to pull the craft ashore.
Kevin got out slowly, streaching the kinked muscles that had too long been dormant. Ayanna was busy at work unloading the boat. She started a small fire with the wood that somehow remained dry, and placed the damp logs next to it to dry them. She took out a clay pot and filled it with river water, setting on a raised platform atop the fire to boil. Kevin, feeling helpless, sauntered over to their rolled up mats and sleeping bags, setting them up next to eachother. It was then that he realized Ayanna had stopped working. And she was blushing.
Kevin looked up, then down at the bags, then realized what Ayanna was thinking. Two bags. Next to eachother. Fine for a campout with a bunch of his guy friends, but she was a girl. And there were no...adults within any range. Grinning sheepishly, he picked up one of the rolls and matts and placed it opposite the fire. Ayanna just shook her head without saying a word and got back to making the soup, which involved throwing a pack of dried noodles and spices into the boiling water, then pouring the water into two bowls made of clay and accompanied by clay spoons. "Silver along this trip would only cause trouble." Ayanna said plainly, stirring her soup in it's bowl. "Theives could attack before we came to the army, a good day's walk horseless from the cave."
Kevin nodded his understanding and delicately sipped at the broth, surprisingly rich and tasty for a bit of noodles, plants and boiled river water. He ate with an appetite then, one his mother-- no, his aunt, would call a male's starvation trick.
Ayanna finished her bowl but did not take any more. When Kevin eyed the last remaining soup, Ayanna inclined her head to let him take it. It was not untill he finished it that she did more work than he, and may have been hungrier. Instead of letting that thought linger, he brought forth in his mind something that had interested him from the beginning. "Ayanna, what is your history?"
Ayanna looked up surprised and flustered, a slight blush rising on her cheeks. "E-excuse me, Kevin?" She asked humbly, smoothing down her shirt front with trembling hands.
"You seem to know everything there is about me. You could probably name the guys on my third grade basketball team --"
"The Rockets. Corey, Jonas, Steve, You, David-"
At Kevin's glare Ayanna meekly subsided, her eyes downcast modestly. Kevin went on, staring hard at Ayanna as if willing her to look up. "Yeah, see? But I don't know the first thing about you. So. I want to know. And I won't let you or I move from this spot untill you tell me." He said smugly, crossing his legs for the affect. "Please?" He added softly, and finally Ayanna lifted her face. The look in her eyes...Kevin was thrown by it. There were tears and anger and sadness and hapiness. Her entire history.
Ayanna sighed, then nodded. "Alright. I guess...I do owe you. But Kevin, it's not what you think. Not at all. You...won't believe it. No, you won't, don't stare at me like that! I don't even believe it sometimes, but I know...I know. Oh, god, when I wake up in the middle of the night, screaming, begging for mercy those bastards never gave me, I know...it's not any horrible fantasy. It's so, so real." There were tears coursing down her cheeks, and her eyes were half shuttered.
Kevin felt a pang deep within his heart. Whatever had happened to poor Ayanna, it had to have been terrible. Slowly he stood up, not knowing what made him do it. But he walked over and sat behind his newfound friend, legs streched out in front of him. His arms encircled her small body. "You need to eat more." He murmered, and it was true. Ayanna was not gaunt, but she teetered dangerously between healthy and too thin. His fingers danced up her arms to play with her hair, which at some point during their crazy ride and the setting up had sprung loose of it's informal pony tail to drape like a midnight curtain around her soft features.
Ayanna knew she should run. Heck, deep down, she wanted to run. She wanted to get up, brush herself off, babble some story about it being late and crawl into bed. And she wanted to wake up, shove Kevin into the arms of the nearest traveling merchant and book it as far away from the handsome and interesting young prince as possible. But...she knew. First, she loved being held by him, for some odd reason. Never, never before had she let anyone touch her like this. Not even her sisters. But when he did, it made her feel safe, protected. Loved. Those thoughts alone stopped her dead in her tracks...she had never felt that before. Ever in her young sixteen years. Young? Hah.
"It begins...well, it begins truly in 1609, in a port that would one day become Boston's own, and on a ship filled with some of the first pilgrims. They were anxious to be off the ship, but the harbor where the captain planned to dock was covered in snow and ice, and it was so cold the harbor around 100 feet out was frozen. Upon the ship, there were the interests of our story...Hope McDuffy. She was fifteen, with black hair, a pert face, and eyes that changed constantly from brown to green." Ayanna paused to collect her thoughts, and thats when Kevin noticed her own eyes flick to a brilliant green.
"You?" He said tentatively, already knowing the answer. 1609. If it was now 2004, that means that Ayanna was over 400 years old. Well, she didn't belong in Midlan High School, that was a fact.
Ayanna paused, then leaned back against his chest. Kevin's arms tightened around her tiny frame, giving her the stregnth to continue. "Yes. She was alone, her parents dead, her only hope to find a husband who would accomodate her three younger siblings. And a new life...a place to start over, would have been wonderfull." She smiled weakly. "I was such a fool. The next youngest was thirteen year old Repentance, then ten year old Benjamin, then five year old Elizabeth." She stopped to draw a shuddering breath. "That winter, many of us were starving, and sick, and dead. Out of the three hundred people that were on the ship, when I left one hundred and fifty were still remaining. Because we could not house the dead, so many for so long, we would give them a sailor's funeral and throw them overboard. It got to the point that a few loved ones would come, and then we'd all resume our work...death was a constant companion, and if we couldn't get used to it's ever present shadow, then we ourselves would perish from the anguish."
Kevin's head was reeling. It couldn't be true. It had to be. It couldn't. He rested his lips in Ayanna's hair, and he felt her momentarily stiffen. But something had changed between them, as she was telling him her darkest secret. Now, all of the sudden, she was some one different, some one Kevin was fairly sure he...well, he loved. And that was a scary thought for him. Really scary.
"Anyway, Hope -- me, well, was the beauty of the ship." A slight smile played upon her lips. "All the boys, even the men, followed me with their eyes. And I was a flirt, loving the attention. It would be easy to find myself a husband. There was one man, William Duvalt, who hated me, though. He came as one of the preachers, to bring to us god. He called me a Harlot, a whore. Though only 20, William acted as though he was an old man, hating the young lover's game. He said if they got rid of me, all our problems would be solved. He spat hellfire. I could not understand his hate for me, and stopped coming to mass on Sundays." She bit her deep red lips, and closed her eyes. Her hands clentched and unclentched, and she went on.
"Finally, the people were so driven by hunger, they agreed to get rid of me. One night, the coldest of the cold, dawning early Janurary, they came in. They gaged me and tied me with rough sailor's rope, called me a trollop and a witch, seducing their sons and husbands for the devil. It was the worst day of my life...and my poor, beautifull siblings...they would be taken in by that horrible William himself. I could have killed them all that night."
Kevin was angry now. His poor Ayanna! The treatment she must have gone through...but he knew the worst was coming by far.
"They threw me overdeck. The water was freezing cold...it felt like it shattered my bones. I cried for mercy, begged for them to release me, in the end, begged for death to take me. I blacked out as the cold invaded my veins, and I thought surely it was to be my death."
"I woke up a week later, wrapped in dearskins and shivering from fever. I was next to a fire, hot bricks were around me. I recognized a tee-pee for the stories given to us by merchant sailors, but I was not afriad for my life. In fact, the Indians treated me better than my own people had. I never found out why or how they saved me, I only know that I became one of them. I spoke their language, I learned their religion and their song. I was called Girl-Who-Lives-In-Ice, though I cannot remember my name in their tounge." She gave a wry smile at the name she had been given.
"I lived with them for a year, on the crest of my sixteenth birthday...I was out picking berries, it was the top of the berry season. My best friend, She-Who-Runs-With-Deer, was back at the village with her mother. I was going to hurry and then come back to the village to help prepare a feast for our Hunters, who would go out the next day. But, as I was picking berries, I came upon a very odd creature. It was a squirrel, yes, but plump and with a flat tail. It's front teeth were flat, it was larger than a squirrel. It was a beaver, but I had never seen them. Delighted, I tried to catch it, to hold it. The beaver ran, and ran. It ran to the edge of a large outcropping of land and jumped, smacking the water and hurrying under. I could swim very well, so without looking down to see the current or anything, I jumped right in."
"It ended up being the entrance to the cave. With the current, of course, I was swept away. However, it was stronger back then, and bore me all the way past here. I saw another mouth opening, where the water looked calmer. I battled the current and moved into the opening. But the current was strong and swift, and dragged me under. Once again, I blacked out thanks to the damn water."
Her face paled now, as if this was the hardest part. Her hands flitted over her face, her hair, reaching up to brush his cheeks, running her fingers over his five o' clock shadow before snatching them back, blushing slightly. "When I woke...again...I was on a shore. I didn't know where, but it wasn't my world. These were tall trees, older than ours. They were shrouded in mist, fine as a spiders web. It clung to a body, engulfed it, owned it. This was the home of Druids, of magic makers. Once again I was given a name other than Hope, for like my name I had seemed to loose all of it. Hope. I was named after my animal, I was named Fish. Charming, huh? But they found me in the water, guided by a school of fish to their shore."
"At first, I had no problem. The Druids treated me kindly, showed me their religion, taught me their words. They were wonderful, magic makers and spell binders. Scary, yes. They worshiped the greatest animals, the predators. They sacrificed their own to the predators, sacrificed their grains to the herbavores. Thank god I was never chosen..." She cleared her throat and closed her eyes, then went on. "But happiness, even in such a...terrible form as the Druids, was never long for me. I do not know who, but men came. In armor. They slaughtered our people, destroyed them. I managed to escape, with a young man of about eighteen years. His name was Tiger, and he was the finest of the hunt. But he was weak and would not die for the honor of his tribe. Tiger, when we were alone..." She swallowed, ducking her head aside in shame. "Tried many things. I screamed and beat on him...and finally, took a dagger to his heart. His dying words were `Fish, I gave you a chance...but you will not repay my love, so you will never find it. Sixteen years now, and sixteen years hence, untill another man doth take my place at your side.' And he was dead."
Kevin was starting to realize the turn of events here, but said nothing, only held her safe within the circle of his arms, as if to protect her from her hurt. Ayanna blinked a few times, took a shuddery breath, and went on. "I truly don't remember how I ended up in Tortall, but I do know I was there. Suddenly, I was before the king, and a man, maybe in his thirtees, was saying `see, I was right Jon! She is a time traveler, but from where, and how?' And he babbled on untill a young woman with a babe at her side quieted him. `Look Numaire, see how frightened she is? Her clothes are in tatters, and she hasn't eaten right in a while it seems. Let us clean her up, and then we can deal with the matters of where she came from.' There is not much to say after that. I helped with time traveling. I saw men die and babies born and grow. And never did I age a day past sixteen. At first, I could not understand it. Why, at thirty, no small wrinkles were beginning to show. Why, at fourty, I had no grey in my hair. Why at fifty I did not have to dye my hair and powder my face to look young. Why at sixty I could jump on a horse and ride miles. Why at seventy I was not hobbling. Why at eighty I was not confined to my chambers. Why at ninty I felt no signs of death. Why at one hundred I was not dead. And then I remembered."
"I will not be able to age untill I find true love. I tried, so hard, thinking that this man was the one, this one was the one. But no, none broke this curse layed upon me. None could wash Tiger's blood from my hands, cleanse my soul. Untill I find my one true love, I will remain locked in the body of a sixteen year old, and forever growing older and wasting away inside."
And that was it. Kevin's arms drew her tightly into a circle as her tears came, and he realized just how much of a curse she had. Too be that old and not be in eternal rest. To not have a family, to enjoy a husband...because to everyone around her she was forever sixteen.
"And so, to hide the fact I did not age, the royal family did something that I am greatfull for. They made me their spy. I cannot be killed, my wounds heal. I am forever changing appearances, though you happen to see me in my real form. But as a spy, no one knows I am a four hundred and some odd year old freak."
She turned around then, her eyes wide, a light green. Kevin shakily brushed away her tears, then slowly, like an actor in some odd movie, bent down and lightly brushed her lips with his own.
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Phew! I'm beat. This is the seventh page and it's nearly ten, so I'm going to upload and hit the bed. Please R&R, before I have to beat it out of you!