The old man was not the same after that day. He never forgave himself for being too weak and powerless to save his student from this terrible choice that he had to make. All the strength from his body and from his soul was gone. The old man passed away two months after that faithful day.
Now the fat man has gone too far. He has threatened all the people of Ayutthaya. He wanted to become kind no matter the cost. Tuk now found a new ally in the letter that little mouse brought to him, and the letter gave him resolve to do all he can to stop the evil lord.
The letter was from the Queen and it only said: ‘Anantachai needs to be stopped. We know of his plans. I need your help.’
The response flashed in his mind immediately. “I agree and I’ll help.”
Chapter 15
All of Ayutthaya was on the city streets celebrating for 5 days straight. Colorful lanterns hung everywhere, music and singing coming from all sides, dancers enticing young men fueling up their imagination. And all of the children running around the streets with big plates, they are filling them with water from the fountains and canals and splashing everybody that they could. It felt like Songkran had come twice this year.
The whole city celebrates the happy return of the princess and her good fortune, but she can’t bring herself to leave her mother’s bed chambers. Phing had spent the previous five days there with her mother as her only comfort.
The grief was too great. She had asked herself many times over in the past days. ‘How can this be possible? Why do I feel like this?’ She wasn’t some stupid young girl to get easily infatuated with a man. She’s not a child, she is twenty seven years old. And she had always been a calm person, always rational, never foolish like this. What magic had possessed her? How could this man have such a strong effect on her?
Could this be what love really feels like?
Since childhood she had always been very shy. She was never like any of the girls at her age. When other girls shamelessly flirted with boys and dreamed of getting married with a good man, her interests were different. She would spend her times reading about beautiful places and interesting people. And she enjoyed hearing stories from her mother’s childhood. She was always dreaming of adventures.
Over the years many young noble men came to King with offers of marriage. Out of obligation to her parents she had met them over a tea ceremony, not a single one could hold her attention. They were all stupid boys with nothing to say apart from how much gold their father has or how many elephants, how big was his palace. They were all so ordinary and boring, once she had even fallen asleep listening to a boy talk about what the gold embroidering on his shirt meant.
She should have been married many years as was the custom, but her parents had respected her wishes and didn’t pressure her into something that she didn’t want. They never even told her that Lord Anantachai has been asking her hand for four years now. She only found that out five days ago.
And when little mouse returned with the answer from Miki, she got her spirit back. Her smile returned after these hard days that felt like months to her, ever since they dragged him away from her.
“He feels it too. I have not gone crazy. This is real.” She had told her mother. Her voice still sore from all the crying but she sounded happy.
Kanda had listened to her daughter carefully and with love. She came to understand that her feelings are true and pure. She couldn’t help but be reminded of the time when she first met Rama she had felt that way too. Love is something that we can’t control and maybe that this is the true destiny that she has been praying for. The universe had listened to her and had provided.
“My sweet sweet Phing, I will help. You will see him again. We will do everything that we can. Lord Anantachai has not paid off and threatened everyone. We still have friends that support us and will fight for the kingdom. I have sent word to your grandfather and your uncle Oun is on his way as we speak“.
“Mother can you get him out of the cage? Can you set him free?”
“Be patient my child, we will get him out, I have a plan.”
A guard comes to the door. “Your royal highness a man is asking for you at the back gate of the palace. He says you sent for him.”
“And that, my lovely Phing, is the man that is going to help us save your farang.”
Chapter 16
It felt strangely calm in this prison. It wasn’t a place like the prisons back home in Spain. There were no tall stone build drafty towers or damp dungeons where they would torture you. This was a simple row of bamboo cages that lay behind the longhouses where the soldiers slept. They had treated him fairly, no doubt following the King’s orders, and the food wasn’t that bad, not that he was feeling hungry anyway, he didn’t spend any energy just sitting in his small cage. He had even been given preferential treatment, while the other cages sat in direct sunlight his cage was under two big trees, they had placed it there before locking him in. He felt bad for the other few prisoners the sun was really putting out the heat.
But it was lonely in his prison. Even most of the soldiers had gone to the celebrations, with only two unlucky ones left to stand guard. Most of the time Miguel spent thinking about her, the strange girl that had completely captured his heart.
He had reread her words so many times that he now knew them by heart. He didn’t need the paper anymore he kept that under his shirt close to his heart. He would recite her sweet word in his mind over and over and that still brings a happy smile to his lips. He had loved a woman before, or at least he had thought that he loved them. It is strange how when you look back on some things after something had profoundly changed you, your once happy memories begin to feel like silly crushes, or just like something to pass the time and cure the loneliness.
What he is feeling now is something so much more. Now he can finally understand why the poets write sonnets, and why the writers feel the need to create elaborate romances. His mind is constantly imagining different things that he can do with Phing. The simplest of things, walking in the park holding hands, laying on the warm grass watching the sunset, or just sitting by the river telling her funny stories just to hear her sweet enchanting laugh while their feet are splashing in the cool water.
This is why it feels special and right, the simple thing. Those simple things that most people take for granted are what make life wonderful and true happiness is made of. When just by being near you someone can make you feel special, and by just looking in to your eyes can wake up the butterflies in your stomach and make your heart warm; and when just the anticipation of a kiss sends your heartbeat in to a galloping race.
It is not that his desires are not of a carnal nature. His smile turns very naughty when he thinks about the bewitching curves of her small body and her skin soft like silk under his touch. He pictures them together on the beach of his adopted Thai parents, where they are sitting under the big palm trees and he’s kissing her neck gently enjoying the smell of her long black hair.
He wants to give himself completely to her. From now on everything he does is for her, to keep her safe, to make her laugh, to make her happy. He had found his true mission in life. To always make her happy.
Little mouse came back a few times a day to see Miguel after he had brought the letter. The boy felt curious about the strange white man and wanted to hear stories about this strange and wonderful country with the funny name, Spain. Miguel told him many stories about the mountains and about winter, and little mouse listened with his eyes wide open with wonder. But he always kept these stories short and then he would say: ‘alright now it’s your turn, tell me a story about Phing, and another and another.’
Little mouse told him about the way that the royal family always teases her that she eats too much and that she loves to eat bread, but she never gets fat. Or how happy she is when she is playing with him and with her brother in the garden of the palace with all the small animals there. She was like a happy child when she was playing with the small monkeys and
the baby elephants. How she is kind and takes care of her dog, when she had found the little white puppy Jawwaw she had nursed her back to health and had become like her mother.
Hearing these sweet stories brought great pleasure to his heart.
They would always end their story time with the words.
‘You are crazy Miki.’
‘Yes I am. I am crazy about Phing.’
Little mouse always left laughing, and Miguel would go back to imagining his everyday life with his love, all the simple pleasures that make life worth living. All the small things that most people just take for granted but it is the small things that true love is made of. For him that is the future he wants with her, true love and happiness.
Chapter 17
Tuk removed the large hood that he used to cover his head, when he was brought to see the Queen. But he removed it only after the guard had left. He wore the large cloak with a hood to be able to move unnoticed, and to make sure that he is not spotted by the many spies on Anantachay’s payroll.
After the customary deep bow he proceeded to tell the Queen all that he had been told of the conspiracy at hand, and added the last remaining details that he had just learned earlier this evening.
“A Chinese force of two hundred of their best trained and most capable soldiers will arrive close to the city in two days. The Lord has chosen a path for their travel along routes controlled by men under his control and of which he is absolutely certain will not betray him. They intend to use the celebrations to storm the city with great speed and take the palace and capture your family. He has already provided free food and rice wine for your soldiers and intends to keep them distracted in his establishments.”
“Kanda listened carefully, and then she shared her part of the plan.
“My father has sent five hundred of his troops commanded by my brother. They left Luang Prabang two days ago and will arrive close to the city tomorrow evening.”
Kanda allowed the young man a few moments to contemplate the new information.
“And what role has Anantachai chosen for you to play Tuk?”
“He told me that I am to go and meet the Chinese at the arranged location the day after tomorrow when the sun is at its highest. Ghao will already be there commanding this force and I am supposed to bring them into the city.”
Kanda was right when she reached out to this young man. Little mouse was right when he told her that he is a good man trapped in a bad position.
“You are an honorable man Tuk. When little mouse told me of the way you reacted after talking to Ananchatai I knew that we can come together to rid ourselves of the terrible fat pig once and for all.”
She took his hands in hers and smiled with affection.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am glad that you are on our side.” And she kissed him in the forehead.
“Here is what you will do. You will leave earlier tomorrow evening and go meet my brother and his troops. You will give this to Oun and he will know exactly what to do and you will follow his commands.”
She take the piece of paper where she wrote a short letter while speaking just now, she put it in a Chinese puzzle box and handed it to him.
“But before you leave tomorrow, I need you to do one more thing.”
Chapter 18
Ghao went to find the fat man in his pleasure palace. He always avoided this disgusting place that was nothing more than prison for young girls. It wasn’t hard to find the fat man he just followed the screams of a girl. He found Anantachai standing over a young Bamar girl, kicking her in the stomach.
Pulling him back and throwing him to the ground, Ghao kicked him in the stomach for good measure.
“That doesn’t feel good now does it?”
Anantachai just lay there on the filthy floorboards, paralyzed from shock.
Ghao has always hated this disgusting pig, but always restricted himself to insulting him. This was the first time he used physical force and it felt good. Seeing this very young beautiful girl from his homeland enraged him and he had to react.
The many years that he had spent in this country had almost made him forget all about his home. As soon as he saw the girl’s features he knew where she was from, and all the memories from long ago came rushing back.
They had forced him to flee. His family had sent him away. Not really sent him away, it was more like they went on the hunt to kill him and take his head. He had been too ambitions and had tried to take over as the head of his clan. To be in power was something that he had always craved. Even as a small child, dominating his piers gave him great pleasure and as he grew up he needed that more and more. But the plan had failed. After his father’s death he had tried to kill his older brother and become the head of the clan. His brother had survived the attack and he had to flee far away, returning home was not possible ever gain.
Many years he had passed in Ayutthaya, so many that no one even knew that he came from the land of their enemies. He had waited patiently and has been increasing his power. It was him that brought the Chinese and the fat man together. He is the mastermind. And when the fat man sits on the throne he will control him. He will be the puppet master operating from the shadows, just the way he wanted. The shadows were always his domain. He had learned to dominate in the shadows and that’s where he felt most at home.
Ghao leaned over to the young girl and she just tried to go backwards hitting the wall. He looked in the eyes and they were empty, all life had been drained from them. So young and so beautiful and this fat pig had destroyed her will to live. He passed a blanket to her. “Sorry that I can’t do more to help.”
Turning towards the fat man that was still lying motionless on the floor, he says. “Go clean yourself up. We need to talk before I head out to meet our friends.”
******
Oun had been traveling through the thick jungle for two days straight along with five hundred of his best men. They had to make the hard trek through the jungle so they won’t be seen by anybody. If they had taken the easier route through the valley and the rice fields a force that large would have surely been met with resistance or at least had been spotted by the spies of Anantachai.
Traveling long distances like this was not an easy feet. The heat and the moisture in the air were unbearable, and there was also the possibility of encountering a wild animal. The jungle was home to many snakes that could kill a man if startled. There were crocodiles in the water and tigers lurking on the tree tops above them, and there is always the possibility that an elephant will get scared and charge at his men in panic. They had good luck that he had only lost three men to cobra bites.
But all the danger and the heat were of no importance. When Kanda called for help there was no way that he can deny her. They had grown up together, always been the perfect partners in crime, exploring the caves together, jumping from the top of the waterfall, they had always done everything together, and they will do this together again as well.
******
“Maybe I overreacted back there, but you had gone too far with that poor girl.” said Ghao, entering Anantachai’s reception room.
“What do you need to tell me then? Be quick.” The fat man tried to contain his anger.
“I am heading out to meet the Chinese later tonight. They should already be at the agreed location. You need to make sure that the soldiers that will be keeping guard on the North side of the city are men that you trust and that will not alert the royal guard. Because it is of the utmost importance we take them by surprise when we enter the city.”
“That is already done. Those men are loyal and are very well paid. And most of the troops loyal to Rama have not left my establishments for two days, I keep them well fed and well drunk.”
“Next time we see each other we will storm the palace together.”
“And we will kill that weak benevolent fool, and I will take my rightful place on the throne. Don’t forget to tell the Chinese that Sasithorn is not
to be harmed in any way, we still need her to become my Queen.”
Anantachai forgot all about his anger from before. His eyes are now glistening with the image of him sitting down in the throne, wearing the golden royal robes.
Chapter 19
“Wake up crazy man.” Said little mouse as he hit Miguel’s cage.
He turns around to see that the boy is not alone. There is another man with him. This new young men opens the cage.
“My name is Tuk, the Queen sent me to get you out. You had enough fun lying in the shade and doing nothing, it is time to go and save the kingdom.”
Miguel gets out and stretches his arms and legs. “I’m ready like never before.”
“I think you will need this.” Tuk throws him his long sword. “I found this just lying around in the fat man’s house. I am sure you will make better use of it.”
It feels good to have his old companion back in his arms.
“Quickly we mustn’t let anyone see you. The guard can be trusted, but we don’t want someone else to see us by chance. Come I have a carriage waiting.”
It feels good to be out of the cage. The air tastes better on this side of the bars. His strength has returned. And the best thing about being out is that he will be able to see her again. He can again see the beautiful face that came to his mind whenever he closed his eyes in the past seven days. His arms now felt even hungrier for her embrace, he will hold her again. He had never felt better and his heart is already racing at the mere thought of the chance to look into her mesmerizing eyes again and the chance to taste her sweet lips.