Humility and Pride
The day was warm and vibrant as Lilya walked behind Thomas and his guards down the gangplank with her maids. The clear Pishon River stretched out to her sides as far as she could see and before her the kingdom of Havilah displayed its beautiful city and landscape, sunlight shimmering off of the gems in Castle Ah’s spires. Crowds of people thronged the streets with colorful streamers and beautiful flowers of all shapes and sizes.
“Princess Lilya!” the crowd sang in overlapping calls over and over again.
Thomas had sent three of his ships ahead the night before to tell the people they were coming and that their new queen would be with him.
She joined Thomas’s side as they crossed the boardwalk and met the crowds. Pink and white rose petals were thrown in the air above them. “Wow,” Lilya said to herself.
“They are good people,” Thomas told her as they walked. “We all have our faults of course, but I admire them and the love they have in their hearts. I do what I can to help them when they are in need and they give so much to me in return. I try to be the best king that I can be for them.”
As they walked in a lane that the crowds left open for them, Lilya took in the scents of delicious baked goods and fruits the vendors had brought into the streets to sell to the masses. I can’t wait to go out on my own and discover Havilah for myself. I wonder what foods and customs they have here that we don’t have back in Cush.
She was amazed at how close Castle Ah was to the Pishon River bank. She stared up at its reflective, gemmed spires as she walked toward the main doors.
A small girl burst through the crowd and tugged on Lilya’s dress as she held a daisy in her other hand. Her young eyes looked up adorably. “For you, Pincess Wilya, I picked it wif my fwiends.”
“You are so sweet,” Lilya said as she kneeled and took the daisy from the little girl. “Thank you, and tell your friends I said to thank them, too.” She smiled as she saw a boy even smaller than the youth in front of her holding tight to a man’s leg close by. She turned back to the girl. “Can you do me a favor, little one?”
The child smiled, shook her head and blushed.
“I’ll be walking through your city soon and getting to know your people. If you see me, please come and say hello.”
“Alwight,” the little girl said. “Bye!” And with that she ran off giggling into the crowd, grabbing the little boy’s arm and dragging him by her side as she went.
Pine and Cypress opened the massive oak doors to Castle Ah’s main keep as they approached. Lilya was struck by the beauty of their inner ruby floors. Daylight rippled across them and they shone majestically, catching the light and reflecting its beams along the room’s walls. As she entered the crowd’s calls behind her faded into the background.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” She walked to and admired the well in the center of the room. Down in its births she watched water rippling from a spring.
“It is a bit gaudy,” Thomas said as he followed her. “My ancestors, many years ago, had this castle built with their riches. My father gave much back to the people and I try to follow his path. Sometimes I wish I lived in a place that was a little more modest than this.”
Lilya looked in his eyes and saw he was sincere. “Seeing how much your people adore you shows me that you have been good to them. I would love to walk in the streets and see Havilah up close. Would you escort me sometime soon?”
“It would be my pleasure,” Thomas said. “I would love to introduce you to our world.” She could see the affection he had for her in his eyes. “Would you like to see your quarters now and the quarters where your maids will live?”
That would be wonderful, Lilya thought. She was exhausted from everything that had been going on in the last few days. All she wanted to do was lie down on a bed and rest. “I’d like that,” she said.
“Could you show the young lady to her rooms?” Thomas asked Juniper.
“Follow me, milady.” The strong guard smiled and motioned for her to come with him. As he walked through a doorway leading toward her chambers his head barely missed the top of the frame.
As Lilya and her maids followed Juniper into an ivory walled hall, she turned back to look at the young king. “Thank you for all of your kindness, Thomas,” she said.
Thomas bowed. “It is my pleasure. I will send Juniper to you when lunch is being prepared.”
Excitement filled her as she weaved through the white halls with ruby floors, looking out the windows as she passed to the beautiful city beyond Ah.
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As Lilya left the keep, Thomas stood for another moment at the well, looking down at the deep waters. Were they changing from blue to black? He looked up into the room and then down again and the waters flowed a cool blue.
Suddenly a pain struck his legs and he crumbled to the floor, his arms barely saving his head from a bash with the stone of the well. “Ah…” he moaned. “Pine, help…” Thomas’s arm stretched out to his guard as his legs stung with fire. “My legs feel like they’re being ripped from my body.”
Pine and Cypress both hurried to his side. “Could you take me to the throne?” he asked. The guards put their arms beneath Thomas’s shoulders and hoisted him in the air. Soon he was on the soft cushion of his throne. His legs just seemed to burn more.
“Get the nursemaids!” Cypress yelled frantically to some of the men who had returned with them from the ship and who were looking startled at Thomas. Two of them hurried through an adjoining passageway.
A moment later a woman came from where the men had run. “Sire,” the hunched over woman said, her deformed body lumbering his way. “Perhaps I could help.”
“Dora…” Thomas half moaned in pain.
She made her way slowly to his side and he could see out of his cringing eyes that she had a leather bag clasped tight in one of her twisted, bony hands. A pained sweat dripped from his head. His thoughts drifted in and out of confusion.
“Remember the figs, sire,” her crackled voice spoke to him. “I have spoken to Hebrews who say these could be the fruit of Eden.” Her hands shook as she reached inside the leather hide, drawing from it one of the figs he had brought back from the unknown land. Her arm pulsed and filled with youthful life. “They have not aged one day.”
Thomas moaned and held his head in his hands. “I do not want magic.” Moments passed. “I want health.”
“This is not magic, sire.” Dora’s twisted hand came to his. “This is religion.”
“I…” A pain seared through his legs and up his side. “I… if what you say is true… these should be for the people.” He braced his legs with his hands and held back tears.
“Surely your people would wish health for their king.” She slid the fig from her youthful looking hand back into the hide sack and her hand shriveled and was once more deformed. “Besides,” Pan Dora smiled a crooked grin, “I could just skin one fruit and give that skin for you to eat. Surely if the stories are true then even that small amount will quicken your healing.”
It couldn’t hurt to try, Thomas thought through the pain. Something was happening. His eyes were searing now. “Yes,” he said. “Please… anything to relieve this pain.”
Dora’s hand slipped beneath her cloak and a second later came back with a carved bone knife in its clasp. Her other hand retrieved the fig from her leather pouch and her arm came alive with pulsing youth once more. With a caress she sliced the blade into the fruit’s skin, shedding it from its meat, causing the fruit’s dark red juice to ooze down her hand. Where it hit the floor the ruby stone turned black, sizzling with steam. “Eat and you will be healed.”
The Pan curled the fig’s fleshy skin and brought it to Thomas’s lips and he could feel the fruit’s life pulsing against them.
“Open your mouth and eat,” she spoke, the blood of the fruit still dripping to the floor.
His body seared with pain as he opened his lips and accepted the fi
g skin from Dora’s hand. He chewed it. It tore, and as he swallowed it down his mouth pulsed, bursting with energy. Within seconds the searing pain was gone and in its place was a feeling of euphoria. “That’s amazing!” he said as he sat upright in his throne. “I am the most fantastic king in the world for finding this fruit for my people.” His legs and arms felt stronger than they had ever felt before. “Surely I deserve to at least eat one whole fig before sharing them with our people.”
Dora grinned a crooked smile. “Yes, sire. You deserve them all if you wish.”
She handed him the rest of the bloody fig and his arm filled with vigor. He lifted the fruit to his mouth and bit through its chewy flesh, its seeds vibrating as he crunched them and they passed across his tongue. The fruit’s luxurious sweet juices trickled down his throat. He consumed every last piece of the fig’s flesh and when he was finished he found he was craving more.
҉
Lilya stood on the marble balcony outside of her royal chamber, the cool morning breeze kissing her face, as she watched the day’s pastel pink sunrise greeting the horizon. She hadn’t seen the young king since their arrival. She had only seen the maids who had brought her food, and she was beginning to wonder why. “Why hasn’t he come?” she spoke to herself. She decided she would go looking for him if she didn’t hear from him before mid-day.
As she stood in the morning air, sunlight caressing her skin and her gown, she thought she saw Alexander’s shadow slice through the distant sun. Was it him? She held her hand above her eyes and squinted to see. Again the shadow dove across the brilliant orb.
I cannot come to you now, Alexander’s deep voice resonated in her head and she shook with a quick startle.
“Alexander?” she asked the open world before her. He was gone from her vision now. “How are you speaking to me?”
I am sorry to startle you, Lilya heard his voice again. I cannot hear your thoughts but I can speak to you in your mind. I wanted to come to you and see how you’ve been doing but I don’t want to startle the people of Havilah before Thomas has the chance to properly tell them about me.
“When can I see you?” she asked. A wind gusted through the balcony, rustling the leaves of trees beyond.
When you go for your walk with Thomas, walk beyond the main city’s streets and listen for my voice, Alexander’s deep voice spoke in her mind. I will meet you there.
His voice did not come back to her, and for long moments she remained on the balcony, taking in the sounds of birds and of the people in the city beginning to stir in the streets.
Then a gentle knock came on the door across her chamber’s main room. She quickly went to it. “Who’s there?”
“It’s Juniper. The king was wondering if he might partake of a walk with you through the city’s thoroughfares as you had requested.”
She smiled. Had she become fond of him? She wondered. It was nice to see that he had not forgotten about her.
҉
The sun rose high in the sky as Lilya and Thomas, followed by Pine, Cypress and Juniper, walked down Havilah’s main road, the stones beneath their feet shimmering in the sunlight.
What an amazing place, Lilya thought as she watched a man to her left take a long flaming sword and lower it slowly into his mouth from above. Other, smaller men juggled flaming batons and rings around him and nearby a young boy strummed on an intricately designed mandolin. “They are so fantastic,” she said in awe.
“Here in Havilah, you will find we have the best of everything,” Thomas said as he walked over to a fruit vendor and purchased a few apples from the boy tending the stand. “Here are a few extra coins for your pocket,” he told the lad as glimmering golden coins fell from Thomas’s hand and into the vendor’s own. “Have one.” He handed her a luscious red fruit as he returned, gave apples to the guards, and crunched into his own.
She took it and bit in, not realizing how truly hungry she was until she tasted its sweet goodness. “Mmmm. It’s wonderful,” she said before eating the rest.
As they walked through the city, Lilya marveled at the tall buildings laced in gems and the vendors merrily doing business in the streets, selling all kinds of things from wooden toys and shimmering jewelry to fresh fish, fishing nets, ripe fruit and vegetables. “Your people are so happy,” she said to Thomas as she admired a man with a jolly belly laughing at a joke with a thin man peddling grapes close by.
“That is because they live in the most prosperous kingdom on earth.” The king grinned at her. “Because of how great we are, they are able to be happy.”
This comment took Lilya a little aback, and she walked with some distance between her and Thomas after he said it. He does not seem like the same boy that came to me in Cush. He speaks with a pompous air. She hoped that this Thomas and the way he was speaking would return to the one she knew, but she made a mental note to herself to not let down her guard. If he was capable of changing his personality so quickly then there was no telling what other ways he could surprise her.
They walked through the city, through an open field of swaying grass and onto a wooden bridge over a calmly flowing stream.
Here Thomas took a few balls of red gel candy that he had purchased in the city and held them in the air in his palm. He then pursed his lips and made buzzing and chirping noises.
There was a moment of silence. Then from the foliage of a bush on the edge of the stream three small, green, crimson-necked birds like Lilya had never seen before came and hovered before them in the air, their wings beating so fast that she could barely see them, a faint humming sound vibrating from their wings. They hovered up, down and eventually came close to Thomas’s hand. As they hovered there Thomas smiled and spoke to them. “Come,” he said in a calm voice. “It’s alright. I won’t harm you.”
One bird flew forward, buzzed in, and tapped at one of the candies with its beak before flying around the young king’s head and then perching on the hand’s edge. It looked to Thomas. “Go ahead,” he told it, and the bird quickly poked its long, thin beak into red gel sphere.
The candy deflated as Lilya watched and soon the humming bird had popped its beak out and into another in Thomas’s palm. The other two birds buzzed in, quickly perching on the far edges of his hand and joining their friend. Lilya watched in wonder as they devoured the treats. “It’s amazing that they’ll perch on your hand like that,” she said. “They have such trust in you.”
Thomas looked to her as the birds continued their feast. “They come to me because I am the king,” he said proudly. “That is what makes them know they are safe in my hands.”
After he spoke the birds quickly left their treats and flew away into the foliage they had come from.
Lilya could feel herself filling with frustration. “You are so arrogant today.” She tried to keep herself calm. “Where is the boy that asked me to come with him to Havilah, a place he said was made wonderful not by the way he ruled there but by the people themselves? Where is the boy who said he did not think himself a great king, but he said he did what he could do?”
Thomas came toward her, a hand outstretched toward her own. “I’m here. I’m the same man.”
“Not today.” Lilya backed away, a chilling gust of wind passing between them. “Something is different today. I’m going on, on my own.”
“You can’t,” Thomas said. His procession toward her had stopped now. “You don’t know your way around the land.”
“Excuse me?” She shot him a look. “I am my own person and I will do what I want to do.”
“I didn’t mean that you shouldn’t do what you want. I was just worrying about you because you don’t know Havilah well yet.”
He looked forlorn and worried. Lilya could see it in his eyes. She breathed a sigh. “I know. I’m sorry if I was harsh. I just need some time on my own to think and Alexander is watching out for me.” She looked to the sky. “He will see that I come to no harm.”
The boy looked to her longingly but in the end resigned to let her
travel through the lands alone. “Just be careful,” he said to her. “And if you do not return to the castle tonight I will send all of my men in search of you.”
Lilya smiled to him. “Thank you for your concern, Thomas,” she said.
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It was in the fields of flowing grain beyond the bridge, after Thomas and his guards had returned to the city’s streets, that Lilya caught sight of Alexander, the muscles of his vibrant red wings rippling in the sunlight as he dove over an outcropping of trees in the far field.
Lilya, it is so good to see you again, he spoke through her mind, his voice deep and soothing. Quickly, he swept through the air to her side, grain bending to the wind from his wings as his claws clutched into the earth about their roots. “How have you been? How do you like Havilah?” He calmed his body and lay flat against the field’s floor.
“Alexander,” Lilya grinned, “it is so good to see you, too. Havilah is beautiful and the people here that I’ve seen are filled with such life and happiness.” She walked to his side and placed a hand on his scaled, warm neck. She could feel his heartbeat rippling through him. “And Thomas has treated me well.” There was a pause.
“I sense a ‘but’ in what you’ve said.” Alexander reached a paw out and rolled it over for her to lie in and she sat and rested in his embrace. “What is troubling you?”
She looked up to the sun, streaming its light through the sky and making a group of birds overhead appear as shadows swimming through the air. “It is Thomas,” she finally said. “He was such a sweet boy when I met him, innocent seeming in a way, with no sense of arrogance in him.”
“And he’s different now?” the dragon asked.
“He is not the same man. He still does the same things and is caring and giving to his people but something has changed that makes him seem completely different than before. He speaks as if he is the center of the world and everything he touches is blessed by the gods.” She lay back and relaxed more in his palm, watching as a grasshopper clutched to a sprig of wheat close by. She could feel a sense of contemplation in her friend.
“There is only one God,” Alexander said after a moment of silence. “I can’t explain how I know this but it is a truth I know through my soul. But it is interesting that Thomas has changed so in only a few days’ time. I wonder if it is something here that has done this to him.”
“I haven’t noticed anything.” Lilya sighed. “Hopefully he was just having an awkward day and he’ll be back to his normal self tomorrow. When I talked to him about it he seemed sorry for the way he was behaving.”
Alexander’s tail swayed gently in the wheat. “Hopefully that is true. No matter what happens remember that if you need me all you have to do is speak to me and I will come to your side.”
“Thank you for your friendship,” she told him. “I feel so safe with you.”
“It is my pleasure, milady. And now I have something I’d like to show you. Would you come with me?”
“Where are we going?” Lilya asked as she lay flat on his hand, bracing tight to it in anticipation of their takeoff.
Alexander stood strongly on his free legs. “To a place of beauty I’ve discovered nearby.” He thrust his massive wings and with a burst he was in the air, soaring above the fields and groves of trees into the high mountains nearby.
The cragged stone of the mountain face swept by below as Lilya looked on its rushing gray mass. Up, up, up they flew, and then from seemingly nowhere a vast crater in the mountain opened to her view and in its basin she saw a field of green. “What is it?” she asked as Alexander opened his wings to catch the wind and slowly glide down. Lilya’s hair was flowing in the winds about her.
“It’s called clover,” Alexander said as he landed gently in the crater’s center.
As Lilya stepped from the dragon’s hand and kneeled in the clover she ran her hand gently through its tips. She picked one and stood. “It’s beautiful,” she said as she looked out on the clover-covered basin. “It’s beautiful in its own way, not in vibrant colors but in the uniqueness of its shape, and what are the white dots speckling about us?”
“They look like the stars of the earth to me,” Alexander said with a smile. “That is what I thought when I first saw them from above, but with you amongst them they are made even more beautiful.”
“I am not that beautiful.” Lilya blushed. “But thank you for the compliment. Are they part of the clover itself?”
“They are the clover’s flowers. Their petals curl up like the shimmers of the stars in the sky.”
For hours the dragon and the princess lay in the field of clover talking, lost in interest in one another. Lilya reached into a bag she had been carrying and ate bread and dried meats that were packed for her by one of her maids for whenever she was hungry. As they talked, the vibrant colors of the sunset streamed across the sky and led the way into the darkness of night and the true starlight above.
As crickets chirped in the field about them Lilya climbed into Alexander’s paw and watched the clover’s flowers beneath her glowing in the moonlight as they lifted off into the sky toward home.
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