Chapter 11
The Foundation of Empire
Purple and white flowers lay on the field. Nancy came out and yawned like a bear, tapping her belly. She burped. She is eating better than when she was in Cassandra, those refugees sure could hunt. The greasy food however didn’t go along with her digestive system as she didn’t eat lot of meat back in the days. Nancy scratched her hair and the huge yellow gluey pimple popped. She felt a weird satisfaction; she took her finger right in front of her and started sniffing it.
Diana was still sleeping; she is sleeping really well these days, as the police stopped bothering her for Alvin’s mess. Her body was sore due to all the walking and traveling but she felt energized.
When Tasha ‘almost’ shot Evan, townspeople came and interrogated Tasha about what was going on. She merely told them that he was sexually harassing her. Tasha told them so convincingly that they ended up punishing Evan.
Gilbert made a proposal to Poe that Tasha and Jake should bear arms and do the guard duty. Only then they will let Tasha keep her pistol. Catherine grudgingly protested. But as they will be short on guards after they send scouts to the creeks, she ended up saying yes.
Diana, on the other hand, didn’t want Tasha blazing the gun around like Alvin. So Diana and Tasha end up having a teenage war. The problem was that Diana wasn’t mature enough. She never nurtured Tasha and they were not much difference in age.
Jake merely watched them fight, yawning, as they always had the same pattern. Diana hides the pistol, Tasha seeks it out, and Diana hides it back. Then Tasha will wail and bellow at Diana. “Give me back my stuff, give it back!” And Diana will shout, “Leave me alone! Leave me alone!”
Diana couldn’t handle it very well and was subject to frequent explosions. Nancy ended up acting as a mediator. Diana wanted Tasha to act with manners, as all her manners were taught in the orphanage by peers and corrupted workers. Tasha was always the source of trouble whenever they were invited to the dinner from neighbors due to frank comments and crude remarks. Jake was doing alright, although he was too shy to say anything. He still had that obsessive desire to play the game. Tasha was slowly learning from him on how to do it.
Jake said he is worried about the military group arriving in the island and talked to Tasha about how to deal with them.
“What do you mean by conquering?” said Tasha. “We are just kids. They won’t give any authority just because we do the guard duty and surely do you want to start a war?”
“Yeah, since we have got out from that horrible place, we need to protect ourselves from the enemy. If we let it alone, they will devour us,” said Jake.
“I can protect you!” said Tasha.
“No, there are too many,” said Jake.
“That’s why we do it, what’s the fun if it is easy?” said Tasha.
“We can’t just sit here. We need to find someone who is with us!” shouted Jake.
“Can’t we wait until Alvin comes?” said Tasha.
“No… because otherwise she will hit us first,” said Jake. “We have to make people realize that we need Nina’s army.”
“Who’s she?” frowned Tasha.
“Catherine,” said Jake. “She is not fond of Alvin.”
“I know that, she’s afraid that Poe might lose power because of Nina Polchinski. But exactly how is she going to pull this out, if she wants to… well, perhaps assassinate Alvin?” said Tasha. “Do you really think some amateur can kill Alvin and Nina?”
“If Alvin is sticking his neck out to seek us, then, yes,” said Jake.
“I disagree,” said Tasha. “But I can see how she can distract the scouts to not to seek them out in the first place.”
“...” said Jake.
“But if we try to scandalize Catherine, we will have a conflict from inside. You should do this peacefully,” said Tasha.
“Peacefully?” said Jake, amazed. “Really, is that what you think?”
“I’m not the person to conquer, contrarily to what you think,” said Tasha. “By the way if you are out there to invade the enemies, then you are no different than the one in Cassandra, plus you won’t be able to play the game.”
“…”
“What, you want to give up? Protecting the faith and preserving the good, isn’t that what you believed? Do you really want to give that to corruption?”
“No, but still…”
“Jake, why did you want to get out from Cassandra?” said Tasha. “Who do you love baby? Who do you really love, my baby?”
Jake didn’t reply; he closed his eyes. Searing pain arose inside his heart.
“We cry and wail, baby, finally we have our own dice and chips,” said Tasha, grinning. “So, what we have to do is making a fool out of Catherine.”
“The only way is then making others invade us, but that’s too dangerous,” said Jake. “Or somehow… somehow we have to make them come to their senses that we are not safe out here.”
“Uh huh,” said Tasha. “I’m curious. How do you play the game?”
Jake silenced. He grabbed the pebble from the ground and threw it to the air; it scorched to the sky and fell among the forest.
“In every human relation, including the most civilized society to the tyrannical nation, it is possible to dominate one another. Because it is not the rule that matters, it is not the odds that matters. People are restricted by their own ability. If we view this as the matter of the strict capability, the move we can make is quite limited. It is safe to say that we don’t really have a choice. Therefore, out of the tears and dusts, bullets and lusts, it is possible to be free from anything. And of course,” Jake glimpsed at Tasha. “It is possible to do anything we desire.”
Tasha smiled at Jake, ruffling his head, laughing.
“Who said we are kids?” said Tasha.
Diana got some soup from the kitchen for Nancy and children. As she walked next to the tent, she heard the ladies talking, along with the sound of boiling vegetables and meat.
“Oh hush, they are only kids. But I do worry about their father, Alvin Caravel,” said one of the ladies in the kitchen, with a high pitched voice. Others held breath; only the chopping sound of vegetables filled the air.
“Is he dangerous?” asked the other.
“Dangerous indeed! He is the best friend with Gilbert, that rogue!” screeched the lady.
“Gilbert! Oh that scoundrel! You see, if it wasn’t for our generosity, he would be begging in a street I’d say!” shouted the lady. There was a sound of a crunch snap of an apple.
“Ha! I don’t think I’ll let my boy play with such horrible kids! Look at that girl! She is acting like a killer now, like her own father,” said other woman. The chopping sound against the cutting board became more intense.
One lady cracked open, letting out her shrieking laugh. “I bet their murderer father looked at his servant girl and just took her as his wife without much of a thought! Oh those wretches don’t care about what is good in inside!” shouted her.
“Oh you have such a beautiful heart! I’m sure your husband loves you very much!” bellowed the woman.
“Oh thank you! Such a blessing to be loved by my love!” said the lady.
Diana had enough, she shook her head and went back to the camp and saw Tasha. She was ruining Diana’s flowers in the vase. Diana sighed and put down the soup on the table.
“Oh Tasha, are you too young to be in love?” said Diana, her hand on her hips.
“Yep,” muttered Tasha. “You forgot my age again.”
“You are twelve,” said Diana.
“No I’m not,” replied Tasha.
“Yes you are,” Diana argued.
“No I’m fourteen,” said Tasha.
“When is your birthday?” Diana frowned.
“You don’t know how to raise children,” said Tasha.
“Of course I do,” objected Diana.
“No you’re not,” said Tasha, shaking her head.
“Really?” Dian
a went up to her and hugged Tasha. Tasha, surprised, struggled to get out. Diana held her for a while, Tasha stopped resisting.
“Believe me I know,” said Diana. She kissed Tasha, on her cheek and let her go.
Diana cleared the torn flower, and threw it outside the tent. Tasha looked at her and felt really bad. Suddenly, Jake entered the tent. Tasha glimpsed at him.
“I’ll be back soon mum,” said Tasha, grabbing Jake’s arm, and went out with Jake.
They walked across the camp; few people were walking around. The delicious smell of soup travelled through the wind. They’ve now made fences around the camp.
“Did you do your homework?” said Tasha, frowning. “We need to take care of those gangs first. I’ve seen them looking at us, their eyes are bad. Soon they will come for us.”
“Well… I’m guessing they act based on the sense of superiority, isn’t it?” said Jake. Tasha nodded.
“Just like in orphanage,” said Tasha, bitterly.
“They will then try to look for the scapegoat. They are going to find someone to blame and the obvious target is us,” said Jake.
“Isn’t Alvin going to get us though?” said Tasha.
“Duh… Eventually,” muttered Jake. “But I don’t want to whine about this petty matter.”
“Oh really? What should we do about it then?” said Tasha, sardonically. “I think you have dealt it well in the past.”
“Very funny,” said Jake.
“Thank you,” said Tasha.
“Those workers in the orphanage always used money to spend it on maintaining their underlings, to use it on prostitutes, or to bribe their position. We have to find out where their wealth lies,” said Jake, bitterly.
“I bet they are poor themselves Jake,” said Tasha.
“Then we’ll have to find out where they spend most of the time, or whom they trust,” said Jake.
“I know that, they spend time bitching and trusting their high ego,” said Tasha.
“… Who is their favorite person?” asked Jake.
“Adults?” said Tasha.
“Yeah, like a hero or wannabe,” said Jake.
“Catherine,” answered Tasha, amused.
“Catherine?” said Jake, raising his eyebrows.
“Yeah, Poe’s wife,” said Tasha, crossing her arms.
“…”
“No hope of winning eh?” said Tasha, giggling. “If they cry off to that bitch, she’ll execute us.”
“So, are you saying that we are just going to sit here and let them throw shit at us?” said Jake.
“Pretty much,” said Tasha, smiling. “We are the sheep for the slaughter.”
“Well, I’m not going to let them touch a hair on you or Diana!” shouted Jake.
“Yes, next time, try to carry that out in action,” said Tasha, sarcastically, implying his run while Tasha was getting her gun in Gilbert’s tent. Jake’s ear became red. “Humiliating but, the only thing we can do is doing something useful for them.”
“Why?” asked Jake.
“Because they won’t hurt the source of money,” answered Tasha. “It is good for extracting information.”
“If they do, aren’t they going to betray us later?” said Jake.
“If it comes to that, I will use my gun,” grinned Tasha. Jake grunted, shaking his head.
“They are discomforted about the fact that you are Alvin’s daughter, possibly because they are afraid of losing power upon his arrival. It seems it is likely that Evan will act like a tyrant against the foreigners like us,” said Jake.
“We are not related,” snapped Tasha.
“Not according to them,” sighed Jake.
“So even if we are beneficial to them, they will not listen?” said Tasha.
“Yep,” said Jake.
“I’ll need your help then,” said Tasha.
“What are you talking about?” frowned Jake.
“Game,” whispered Tasha, charmingly. “Can you game them?”
“Who am I? Nina? I’m not that good,” said Jake, scowling.
Nancy came back to the tent, with the basket full of berries. She hummed and entered the tent.
“Look what I brought,” said Nancy. She looked at Diana who was crying silently. She startled as she saw Nancy came in, the tear dropped on the soil. She quickly wiped her tears and hid the picture she was holding. Nancy looked at her pitifully, putting the berry basket on the table next to the soup Diana brought earlier. Nancy approached her and put her arm around her shoulder.
“I married a rogue!” Diana muttered in anger. “That irresponsible scoundrel! He made a widow out of me!”
“Hush Diana, you know he’ll come back,” said Nancy, putting berries into Diana’s mouth. She blushed, and melted it inside her mouth.
“Now that he is out, I’m going to teach my children about something good! I want them to behave like ladies and gentleman.” said Diana, swallowing the berry. “They are only children. What was he thinking? Teaching them how to scheme?”
“You know it is different in Cassandra, all you can think of is a place to breathe,” said Nancy.
“Still, I’m not going to teach my children about selfishness before I can teach them about love and devotion!” shouted Diana. Nancy blinked and her face eased. She looked at Diana and hugged her, patting her back.
“I thought you would never learn,” said Nancy, her hand trembling a little.
“Mum,” said Diana.
About an hour later, Diana marched toward to camp to find Tasha and Jake, holding pen and paper. Tasha glimpsed at Diana walking toward them. Sensing danger, she poked Jake to alert his senses.
“Children, it is time to learn. I’m going to teach you how to read and write,” said Diana.
“I know how to read! Piece of cake!” shouted Tasha.
“No you’re not,” said Diana.
“But we might get invaded,” said Jake. Tasha nodded with him.
“We’ve got a plenty of guards here, those men will protect you. Time to learn kids, you will regret it when you get married,” said Diana.
“I dun wanna get married. I don’t think I can raise Tasha,” laughed Jake. Tasha leered at him and he stopped.
“Well, I think we are ought to be brave,” suggested Tasha.
“Yes I do admire your sense of noble passion. Otherwise this guy here,” Diana glanced at Jake. “Wouldn’t be alive in the first place.”
Jake blushed, his face looked like a carrot.
“But in a mean time, I have to teach you a lot of things, it is harsh world and we have to stick together as a family. I’ll teach you about literature, with a touch of romance,” said Diana, with a daydreaming look.
“If this isn’t about math, I’m all in. But I’d have to say it’s more fun if someone’s head blows up right in front…” said Tasha.
“Now that’s enough violence,” snapped Diana. “Alvin writes screen plays for the school too.”
“All of them are tragedies…” said Tasha. Diana ignored her.
“Well then, I’m guessing it is settled. Come along kids,” said Diana. Tasha and Jake looked at each other and tagged along with her.