5
Chapter One
Katrina
We're off on a ship to a new place. I am thoroughly enjoying this voyage, but my sister, Hannah, however is always complaining that sailing on a boat to this "new place" was too much for her beauty. This would be true if she had any beauty to start with. I know that I am different. I am more interested in sailing than the latest fashions. As a child, I always climbed trees with the neighbor's sons and got my gown dirty. But the thing that threw it all away, was when I wore Daddy's breaches. I smiled at Mum and foolishly said, "Look, Mummy, I'm a man!" She threw back her head and screamed. Hannah came into the room and laughed calling me "Man-girl" for the rest of the day. "Man-girl, would you please pass the butter?" or "Man-girl you should brush your hair again, it looks filthy." But that was back home in England. We're now going to a place named Egypt. Daddy says he will meet us at the port, and that no one else will be there to receive us.
"Not even the most handsome man, Hannah," said Daddy. I started to giggle, but Hannah looked away, smirking. We've been on this ship for about a week now. I am wondering if we will ever get there. Hannah has gotten sea sick nearly six times already -if not more. When finally, after two weeks of traveling, we saw a port in the distance. I leaned over the boats edge yelling to Hannah,
"There it is, Hannah! Look, there it is!"
"Oh, yes. What a happy time this is, indeed," she replied sourly. I ignored her comment, and let the breeze of the ocean overwhelm me. The wind blew in my face, and tearing my hair out of its ribbon. As we started to come into the river, people started to gather around as if they haven't had guests in a while. Noticing all of the people, Hannah started to brush her hair and press the wrinkles out of her dress. I started to remind Hannah of what Daddy said.
"Just because I can't leave with a handsome man," she replied, "doesn't mean that I can't impress one." I sighed. Hannah is always thinking about men and how much they love her when they can't stand to be near her. I turned my attention to some farmers in their fields as we were passing by in our ship. I got onto the railing and waved to them. They looked at me then upon seeing me; they shot their head in the opposite direction, looking away, as if pretending they never saw me. This hurt, but the feeling quickly passed me by. Once we got into the port, I started to walk off the boat only to be pushed down by Hannah. I fell onto the dirt road, looking up at my sister.
"Ladies first, Man-girl," she sneered. Then she went off, waving to the crowd. I groaned and got up, dusting the dirt off of my dress. When I looked back up, there was a girl there on her horse, about my age with a long piece of fabric draped across her face, hiding it.
"Come, stranger," she told me. "I will take you to my inn."
"Sorry," I said, "but I am supposed to be waiting for my Father here." She looked at me disappointingly. She started to turn away, mumbling,
"I guess there won't be enough for me and Father tonight." I sighed, my guilty conscience sinking in.
"Wait!" I shouted without thinking. "I would like to see your inn." She looked at me with her eyes shining.
How could this trip hurt? I'll be back before Hannah and Daddy know it. This is what I thought to myself as the girl and I rode to her inn. Once we got there, the girl got off her horse and instructed me to do the same. I tried to get off her horse as gracefully as she did, but the horse was tall, so when I jumped off, I fell on my face. The girl turned around, glaring at me.
"I see you are already tired," she sneered. "I'll be sure to get you something to eat and a room double-time." I got up off of the ground and followed the girl in a tall, old building. Some of the windows were boarded up, and the thatched roof seemed to be falling apart. As I got to the doorway, something flashed by me and separating me from the door. I whirled to my left spotting that the speeding blur was a large cheetah. Hoping not to run into another one, I ran inside, trying to catch up with the girl. When I found her, she was in the kitchen hacking furiously at a chunk of meat. She cut herself, not crying or showing any signs of pain. She cradled her hand for a while, then going back to cutting the meat again. It seemed that she never bled once the knife met her hand and that it healed instantly. I shook my head, trying to get the thought out of my head.
When it came to be dinner time, I was starting to get worried. The sun was setting and Daddy and Hannah don't know where I am. Daddy will be angered when he finds out that I went off with someone I wasn't supposed to. As the girl brought out dinner –meaty stew with some watermelon- I sat in my chair and started to eat. The girl watched me eat and I was feeling uncomfortable. I looked up at her and started to stare at her too, just to give her the feeling that I was getting. She finally broke contact with me as I finished my stew. She got up and walked her way to the door.
"Stop!" I yelled. The girl whirled around impatiently. I looked down at my feet. "Please, I… I would like to go back to meet my Father." She gave me an expression that even I couldn't describe.
"Come with me," she said. We got back onto her horse and rode off back toward the village. As we came up to a graveyard, we came to a stop. I was puzzled.
"Wait, my father is not dead. There must be some mistake. Is he meeting me here?" While I was piling the girl up with questions, she just walked on, ignoring me. As the girl stopped walking, she pointed to a small, little monument. I stared at it blankly, then I squinted my eyes, trying to read it. The carvings were very small. And to my disgrace, the name of my father was on there.
"What happened to him?" I asked pushing back tears. "What kind of person is so cruel to do this?" I started to cry uncontrollably. The girl flinched, seeing me crying like this.
"No.. no one knows. His body… was never found."
"Then where could it be?" The girl shrugged casually.
"The desert, maybe. Like I said, no one knows." I continued to weep. I let the years of my happiness melt with the most horrible sorrow.
"Do you know where my sister is?" The girl sighed.
"If you didn't stop me when I was walking out, she'd be with you by now." I stared shyly at her.
"I'm sorry," I said jerking my head away. "I'm always interfering. I'm no help to anyone." I started to walk away from the small, wooden cross and back to the horse. I couldn't stand to be here any longer. I wish that I had never known the truth. The girl stayed behind. She started to follow, but turned over her shoulder to look at the cross once more. Once she got onto the stallion, we galloped away, tears still flowing from my eyes. Once we got back to the village, I saw Hannah, shivering on someone's doorstep. She looked up at us, furious.
"Well, it's about time you showed up, Katrina!" She got up and stomped towards the horse. I got up –landing on my feat this time- and walked to her about to apologize for leaving her.
"Hannah, I…"
"Save it," she said, cutting me off. "I would much rather hear you petty excuses some other time."
Even though her gown was torn, and her skin was patched with dirt, she still acted as if she was queen. What was I thinking, trying to apologize? Hannah would still be Hannah, torn gown and all. As she strutted to the horse the girl was acting strange toward Hannah. She was starting to twitch and her eyes were glowing a shade of violet. She then mumbled some strange Egyptian tongue. I only made out one part.
"She will come again from the imprisoned
she will choose a victim
the one who is the evil one herself."
I was terrified by this enchanting message. And I wanted her to stop. My head started to hurt and my hands felt cold. Hannah, however was ignorant of what was happening. When the horror deceased, I felt like a weight of a thousand burdens was lifted off of my body. The girl looked like she was about to faint right there on her horse. The door of the house that Hannah was sitting in front of opened revealing a middle aged man. He gasped at the sight that he had visitors and invited us to come in. Hannah and I walked in hesitantly, but decided that it was better than being alone with the girl after what just happened.
The man had made Hannah something to eat, and was not looking at us at the eyes. Not even a single glance. After Hannah's supper was in front of her, the man finally said something.
"What were you doing out there?" There was a worried tone in his voice.
"What do you mean?" I replied dumbly.
"You shouldn't be out here at night. This is her favorite time to take."
"Take what?" said Hannah, mouth full of bread. The man leaned over the table and looked at us sternly.
"You mean to tell me that you don't know the legend of Tia Tanne?" Hannah and I looked at each other and shrugged. The man scratched his head.
"Listen, but be warned, her story is an unpleasant one."
"Then I don't want to hear it," said Hannah with her nose in the air.
"I do," I said. "It sounds very interesting." The man looked at me with a watchful eye before easing again.
"She was a princess of the Ancient Times. She lived the life as a goddess. But many were jealous of her, for she was the only heir to the throne of Egypt." As the man went on, I listened attentively, while Hannah was still eating and savoring what was left of her supper. He was getting into the story deeply, using hand motions and projecting his voice so that it seemed louder than it really was. "And so she was left there, alone. And now, she seeks revenge for the one who killed her by kidnapping villagers and leaving them in the desert. Just as she had been." He finished his story, satisfied with himself, arms over his chest as he lay back in his chair. I was quiet, letting the words of his tale soak in. I was imagining life the way that this poor girl had to. I shivered at the thought.
"What terrible lies," said a woman's voice from the other room. "Why do you fill little children's heads with such nonsense, eh, Baruti?" The man whirled around glaring where the voice came from.
"It's not nonsense, Meskhenet, it is the truth." Baruti looked back at us. "Children," he said unenthusiastically, "this is my sister from Cairo, Meskhenet. City-folk usually think that we townspeople are crackpots, but we'll show them, eh?" Then he let out a huge, jolly laugh big enough to fill the room. Never before had I seen someone so happy at once.
"Never mind him," said Meskhenet, "Meskhenet always speaks the truth."
"I agree," replied Hannah. "I think that people here are crazy, and I want to leave. This place is terrible. I knew it even before we arrived here." She stopped to look at me. "And by the way, Katrina, where is Daddy? I refuse to go anywhere without Daddy." A few tears swelled up in my eye. I had forgotten all about what happened to Daddy.
"Hannah," I said trying to sound calm. "I need to speak with you outside." Try as I might to push back the swelling tears, they came out like a steady rainfall. As we walked outside of Baruti's house, I told her everything. About me going off with the strange girl and about Daddy's death. I told her that the girl was willing to take us back to her inn.
"No! No, no! I will not be seen with someone who hides her face, and eyes glow purple, or feeds us lamb stew. I will have nothing to do with this girl or her disgusting food." I sighed I knew that it wouldn't work, but at least I told her. She is being the regular Hannah that she is, but I know that she is hurt. Besides, without Daddy, we go anywhere out of this village.
"Well," I said trying to sound calm,"where would you like to go?" She looks at me with a sneering expression.
"Fine," she said, "we'll go to this girl and to her inn. You win this time, but don't let it go to your head." I sighed and walked along by Hannah, trying to remember the way to the inn.