There was just a small oil lamp lighting the tent that the women were in. There were just the three of us. I was on one of the rugs, but didn’t have even a fur or a blanket over me. It was cold. I know I had been crying, but it had been calmer than before. I had done stupid things and I was paying for it. I had an hour or so to shiver in that round tent, to cry and come to terms with things.
I decided that trying to sleep was doing no good. I sat up and started to go through a few meditation things one of the teachers at the dojo had taught me.
I heard one of the women turn on her cot. It took me a moment to open my eyes, but when I did, she was looking at me.
“Are you sad?” It was almost strange being able to see most of her face. Her blanket covered her, but she did not have her head covering on.
I think I smiled. One of those smiles that would be called wistful. “I have been sad for longer than this.” I thought of the last few months and felt another tear fall. It had been hard, and good at times, but with the fighting between my Mom and dad, I hadn’t realized how alone I really had felt. I had just kept busy to not let myself know how I was feeling.
She got up and pulled a piece of clothing from behind her cot. She came to me and handed me the dark fabric. “Here. It is better than nothing.”
I pulled on the tunic, feeling the warmth almost immediately. It was big and only came down to my knees, but it was enough to let me warm and relax just a little.
I looked at the woman. She could not have been more than twenty five. She had a little grey in her hair and a scar under one eye. I think it was the woman who had been wearing the green and silver head dress.
“Thank you.” She seemed to be waiting for something and started to get back up when I said, “Why do you let them do this to you?”
The other woman turned on her cot and said in a quiet but annoyed tone, “Will you two be quiet? I’m trying to sleep.”
The woman near me looked over at the other woman and said in a low tone, “How often do we see women from outside this clan? I want to talk to her.”
“But if the watch hears you...”
The women shrugged. “We will talk.” The one on the cot looked at the door, and turned so her back was to us.
“You are the only women in camp?” I was tucking the edges of the tunic down around my legs as I sat there.
She nodded and looked at the other woman before looking back at me. “We are sisters from another clan. We married together...”
“Where is the leader’s daughter? He was saying I was to take her place.”
She looked back at her sister who made a grumbling noise and shook her head, even though she was ignoring us. “He doesn’t have one. He probably never will. He has his son, but the King sent a messenger saying that every clan, every village, had to send one woman to be married to the Prince, or else.”
The order struck me as odd, then I figured it out. At least some. “The else being...?”
She looked frightened. “Or else the King would wipe us out.”
It came out of my mouth before I could stop it, my ears hearing me say, “Arbitrary son of a bitch,” before I could get my brain to stop it. I put my hand over my mouth, but I saw the woman nodding.
The one on the cot was muffled, but I could hear her say, “There was another option of a ‘donation’ of more goods than we have in a season.”
“True, but the leader would never do that. You saved us.” Her hand touched mine and went from tentative to gripping.
It hadn’t occurred to me that he was not just being a misogynistic ass. “Without me going to the capitol city, you guys could-”
“Die.” She went to her knees, my hand in hers and her eyes darting around the tent. She focused on her sister and I saw a small smile, followed by a face that told me she was close to crying.
“Well... Crom. I guess I have to do it.” My hand went to the torque and I felt it comforting that I had a meaning or purpose, even if It was nothing like what I ever thought I would do. “I don’t think I will ever be able to get back home, anyway.”
The woman pulled a fur from her cot and gave it to me. “Sleep, you need to be able to travel tomorrow.”
I bundled myself under the fur and found that, with my mind thinking of why the leader was a bastard, but well meaning for protecting his clan, I felt lighter and less scared. I slept.
****
I have been told that it was one of those David Copperfield or Sigfreid and Roy disappearing acts for the ages. They pounded on the door, dad made the cops break into my room, and I was gone. They saw the sheet rope out the window, my room in a mess... Well, I am a teenager. I am not a neat freak. The room looked disturbed.
The most important thing was that I was not there.
There was a rush to go outside. They didn’t see any foot prints outside and the people who had gathered had not seen anyone leave. It was a mystery.
I have been told that Mom and dad screamed at each other for hours, the cops and lawyer there to watch and keep them from getting physical. They could not settle anything, so Mom had the cops throw dad and his lawyer out.
Mom went through every number she had for my friends, and then my teachers. Nathan came over and slept on the couch for a few days. Heather moved into my room, waiting by my home phone to see if I would call.
Nathan was... clueless. It took Heather waking up to a scene on the table showing a city under water for him to figure out that the text had not been just auto-correct garbage.
The computer still had my videos about the table and I had notes in one of my school notebooks. He is clueless, but not stupid.
****
The night we got to the capitol city, I saw my first real clouds in the sky. It had been dry and clear before then. The lights from the city, even though it was fire and not electric, bounced off the underside of the clouds and glowed. I could see that it must have been one of their bigger cities, small buildings around a larger castle or palace.
They had trusted me with my own horse. I think that Ilsin had something to do with it. Yes, I finally found out his name. There is something in their culture about keeping their names to themselves to keep the mischievous gods from stealing them, or something. He was good at telling stories when we were traveling. He was also good at telling stories that put me to sleep, his body at my back, his arm around me.
Now, I have had thoughts of having a boyfriend and doing things with him. But I had never had the right person, or the opportunity. This man was taking me to be wife to a Prince, which didn’t sound too bad to me. He was keeping me at a distance, but I could tell that it was hurting him.
It started to hurt me, too.
One morning when I had to go pee early, I dug out my phone and took a picture of him as he slept. He was so peaceful, and he looked good in the picture. I turned my phone back off, knowing that I would only be able to do that sort of thing a few times.
We stopped outside of the city and he looked around. “It has been years since I have been here.” I could see wonder and a little fright in him. “It has grown.”
I looked, seeing buildings that would have made any movie set designer proud. “Impressive.” I had to put my hand over my nose, though. That was one thing that most movies and books just don’t seem to be able to convey. He smiled at me as I said, “I could say something about the smell, though.”
He nodded and said, “I don’t like being in the cities. Too closed in. No wind. And no grass.”
I looked around at the wall that enclosed most of the buildings. “I’ve seen larger cities.”
He chuckled. “Now you are just bragging.”
There was a dull bell sound. He prodded his horse forward and I followed.
“What was that?”
He motioned with one hand as he directed his horse with the other. “The gate bell. If we don’t get there before it closes for the night, we will have to camp outside the walls tonight.” I heard tiredness and sadness in his voice.
I almost said that would not be a bad thing, but I couldn’t. Somehow, I had been put onto an adventure where I was now saving a small nomadic clan from destruction. I had started to really like Ilsin. He had kicked my butt, and had protected me as best he could. The stories he told were of his hunts, and the deities his clan worshiped, making me think of the gods that Conan ignored, like Crom. He was doing his duty for his clan by being my escort. But there was something that had grown between us. There is something I have heard of called the Stockholm Syndrome. Starting to follow your kidnappers willingly, sometimes falling in love with them. I didn’t think that was it exactly. But my heart was heavy when I thought about not being next to him.
We went into the city and it was like I had ridden into the set of Xena or Conan or Lord of the Rings. Maybe all of them mixed together. The streets were narrow off the main road. The houses were almost literally built on top of each other. There did not seem to be any sort of way between the buildings except the crampt alleyways and a few archways that were guarded. There were lots of colorful banners and signs along the main street. I could make out Festival or Celebration on the ones I could concentrate on. Otherwise, they were bright against the whitewashed buildings.
Almost every window I saw had candles or lanterns in them. It was the only real light on the street. Every once in a while, there would be a torch on the front of a building or a big lantern on a pole, but they always seemed to be part of a bar or inn or whatever those places would be called here. Some people had lanterns on sticks or candles in boxes as they walked through the streets.
I was looking at the people as we rode through. It was like I was at the renaissance faire again. There seemed to be a mix of medieval clothing, but no real fancy stuff. Unlike the ren-faire, there weren’t any Elves or barbarian chain-mail wearing chicks. I grimaced at that thought. I had been one of them last year. That was why I bought the pirate shirt. I started to sunburn really bad and spent the thirty dollars on the shirt that I had been hoping to spend on another knife. That is the way of things. Now I didn’t have that shirt, but the short dress thing that she gave me worked, though I refused to cover my head with anything but my bandanna.
I saw a few people look up at us as we rode by, but they were all celebrating something, drunk and wanting to party. We rode further into the city, closer to the palace. The clothes people were wearing were getting more colorful as we came to larger groups of people. The people also seemed to be cleaner.
We had to dismount when the press was too great. I followed Ilsin. He seemed to know where we were going. A few children with ribbons in their hair rushed by me, squealing and laughing. They ran towards a place where there were musicians playing. All I could really hear were deep, heavy drums. Everything else was crowd.
I was almost separated from him several times. A really drunk guy bumped into me and offered me his tankard. I smiled but shook my head. Ilsin saw and came to take my reins. He motioned in front of him, keeping one hand free to be able to reach the long knife on his belt. I pushed through the crowd, heading for the large building in the middle of the city, since that was where he seemed to be leading us. I saw an odd look on the face of one man before he stepped out of the way.
I think I saw some of the people stop and watch us pass, shaking their heads before going back to their partying.
It was not hard to get into the palace. The guards at the front looked at me and the reaction I saw was pity. The same pity I had seen from my friends when they saw me after my breakdown. Ilsin was in front of me as we were lead through stone and stucco hallways. I had my backpack with me on my back and my bamboo staff. I really missed my sword and my other socks. It is stupid things like that that kept me from taking things too seriously, in a way. The purely physical misery I had for wearing the same socks for almost five days. But I was also strangely enjoying it. Though, I was scared, too.
The hallways changed, getting bigger and with swaths of red fabric hanging on the walls, torches with iron and brass cup things lighting the way. If this had been a house or even a museum, you would have expected mirrors or pictures on the walls. Everywhere I thought there should have been a picture, there was one of these huge gold medallions.
It struck me that the guards were wearing the same color red as was on the walls. Tunics of red under gleaming chain and polished leather. They all had swords, but they also all had staves. Probably not bamboo like mine but hardwood that would be great for knocking people out with.
The guards stopped and opened a door. They motioned me in and I started towards the door. Ilsin grabbed my shoulder and stopped me. I turned and looked at him, seeing red in his eyes. One of the guards put his staff between us, stepping menacingly towards Ilsin.
“Hands off the Prince’s bride, nomad.”
He let me go. I could see his jaw clench for a second. “I just wanted to say farewell to her.”
The guard nodded and pulled back the staff. He motioned to the other guard and stepped away, looking down the hall away from us.
I was so scared. These sayings and bits of information kept popping in my brain while I was traveling, and now all I could think of was, “Go with the lesser of two evils.” I did not know what was going to happen, but at least I had seen the clan of nomads.
“Thank you for... I liked traveling... I hope that your people are well after this.”
He looked at his feet and would not look at me as he said, “There’s something you should know. Our leader doesn’t have-”
“A daughter.” He looked up with a pain on his face. “Only you.”
“You knew?” I saw a tremble in his chin and the red in his eyes was getting watery.
I nodded. “I know more than you may want to think about. I couldn’t let...” I stopped not being able to finish.
He held out his hand. “I shall miss you, Feisty. Warrior Woman Tam.”
I hesitated, looking at the backs of the guards, but took his hand. “Shield Companion Ilsin.”
One of the guards turned and saw us holding hands. He pushed his way between us and made it obvious we were not supposed to be doing that. “She goes in there. You, out.”
I was pushed into the room, the door closed and bolted from the outside.
****
I did not know that I had been recording just the right stuff. I had edited it together, showing the different pictures that the table thing showed. Nathan dragged Steve and a few other people who were tech savvy into figuring out the table. Mom did not mind having people with her since the police would come by randomly looking for me and dad or his lawyer, a new one after that night, would call or stop by. She needed the support, and my friends took up the project of, “Get Back Tammi.”
I had not noticed a few things when I had been taping the nightly scenes. A few times, some of my stuff had fallen through. I didn’t notice and had just thought I had lost the book I had been reading. There was also the bug that had flown out of the table. I don’t remember seeing it at all.
Nathan did. He started to research and experiment with the table. He thought he knew what it was, and he finally was able to get it to do things for him. Expected and wanted things. He is going to be an excellent scientist some day.
****
The room was small. It had a bed, a small table and a candlestick with a candle. It really reminded me of my room at home, just really bare and with stone walls and a slit of a window. I sat on the wooden floor for much of the time I was in there. I kept the wall at my back and the door in front of me. I took the blanket and pillow from the bed when I needed warmth, and when I needed sleep. I had found several more of the energy bars, one of them a little mooshed, and had eaten them while I was waiting. I had been able to fill my little disposable water bottle at a stream before we came to the city, but that was gone.
I found a bowl thing under the cot and remembered my Mom’s Mom, GrandMa, talking about chamber pots and outhouses. It seemed... Rustic then. When I had to use it, I felt exposed and unclean. I used the last of my tissues while I was locked up. And soaked my tunic with tears and snot when it was gone.
I could tell it was day when I heard people coming to the door for the first time since I had been dumped there. The slit of a window let in some light, but only enough to make the gloom change to less gloomy or more gloomy. I am happy I had my lighter or else I would not have been able to light the candle when it was getting too dark for me.
I went to the door and listened. The door started to open and I stepped back at the glimpse of a guard. Two women came in, both wearing very plain clothing with bright red sashes. The sashes were not around their waists but over their shoulders. Like a baldric a beauty pageant winner would have. Just without the screen printing and big hair.
The door was closed and bolted behind them. They seemed to ignore me as they brought out somethings from baskets they were carrying. They started to pull on my clothing and I think I growled. I know I slapped one of their hands away when she reached for my necklaces.
“Lady, if we are to dress you for the feast tonight, you need to leave all of your old life behind.” She reached again and I shook my head.
I knew they would not be able to take the torque off. I did not want to loose more of what I was by letting them take the necklaces and rings. I shook my head.
The other one went to take the bandanna off my head and paused, looking at the bruises I had on my jaw, and on the back of my neck. “She’s bad luck. Look at that bruise.”
They looked at each other before the first one said, in clear, slow words, “Please. We need to get you ready.”
I relaxed and nodded. They took off my bandanna and my halter. They went for my boots and one stopped and looked frightened at the other.
“Is that what I think it is?”
The other one looked and reached for the knife I had been allowed to keep that I had stuffed into my riding boots. I know I growled then. She stopped and looked up at me. “You should not be in the palace with a weapon.”
I did not know I could stare down anyone. She looked at me, but was the first to turn away.
The other one sighed and said, “Let her be. We have others to attend to after this.”
I took my boots off, putting the knife onto the table. They could not figure out my jeans, which I think is the only reason I still had them from the nomad’s camp, by the way. I took them off and they started to clean me.
They were efficient. I was washed and brushed and with my hair in some sort of intricate affair in just a few minutes. They dressed me in this thing that really reminded me of the torture dress. Tight in places, low cut in others. The jewelry I had on from home was mostly cheap gold and some silver. It really did clash with the real gold that was in the trim on the yellow dress I had been stuffed into.
At least my big feet were worth something. They had these little yellow slippers I was to wear that barely fit my big toe. I was able to wear my boots again, with new silky socks. The knife went back in to the top of the boot when the servant women were doing something with picking out make up for me.
I almost had them give me the powder so I could do the design I had for the nomad leader, but my self-preservation kicked in and I let them put stuff on my eyes and cheeks. It felt like I had a few jewels tacked onto the outside of my eyes and a very sticky yellowish gold color on my lips. They did not have mirrors, so I did not know what I looked like.
They were done with me and knocked on the door. The guard looked in and nodded at me, leaving the door open when he turned down the hall. The servants curtsied to me and left. To me. That is just so strange, being given a reverence like that.
They left me in the room. The door was open, I could have tried to leave. I stood in the doorway for a few seconds, thinking of just that. I then looked at the thing that they had dressed me in and, except for the boots, none of it was decent enough to make a run for it.
It wasn’t that it was indecent. I had a swim suit back home that had far less in it, including the wrap that I bought with it. It just wasn’t... To be able to blend in, this was not the outfit I needed.
Two men started to come towards me. One was wearing some really outrageous clothing. He had a hat with four different colors of feathers coming out of it. His tunic was velvet, I think, of a dark red being held up with a belt with a really big gold buckle. He had black lace, yards of the stuff. Everywhere. Even the poofy pants he was wearing had lines of black lace going up and down the dark brown fabric.
The other man was one of the servants, plain brown tunic and pants with the red sash over his shoulder. He seemed nervous and looked at me.
“We should find somewhere else to talk. She could understand us.”
The fancy man looked at me and I smiled, curtsying to him. “This is the section where the lesser tribes are being kept.” He came to me and smiled, pointing at my hair. “Girl, your head is full of goat turds.” He would have sounded like he was complimenting me, if I didn’t know his real words.
I paused, covering my flash of anger with a confused look and then smiled at him. I patted my hair and said, “O.m.g., lol.” I figured that the translation thing would work both ways, so I used something that even my Mom sometimes doesn’t understand. Text Speak.
He smiled and turned to the man. I went inside the room and sat on the bed. I felt trapped, but curious, too.
“See, she doesn’t understand. I’ll just close the door if you like.” I saw a nod and the door was closed on my little room. I went and listened to the door.
“That does make me feel some better.”
“I assume you are working the feast tonight?” I could hear the car salesman in the fancy dressed man. There was a pause and he said, “Good. We need to do this before the entire assembly. With the Prince dead, this so called King will have to bow to our wishes. No heir, no Kingdom.”
I heard a small laugh. “Leave it to me. I will do my duty for Jejune.”
I heard them move down the hall. I cracked the door open and watched them. The servant bowed to the fancy man and they went their own ways. I had stumbled upon a plot. That plot could help me get out of the palace and back into the plains. Maybe back with Ilsin.
I still wanted to just bolt. I had my stuff, and could have wrapped the rough blanket from the cot around me. But I felt that I had to stay. For the clan of Ilsin. I had given my word, and I did not know anything else to do. With the assassination plot laid out for me... I didn’t know who the fancy man was. The other, obviously a servant. And someone who seemed to be comfortable in the palace. I sat in the small room, wishing that I could have a do-over for my adventure.
A contingent of guards started down the hall towards me. One stopped at my door and knocked. I opened the door and he said, “I am here to take you to the feast.”
I nodded my head and took a deep breath before I left the room. Several other of the brides were there behind the guards. We were all wearing the same yellow almost-dress, and made up almost the same. I think I was a little taller than most of them, and the only one wearing boots.
We gathered many more of the brides along the way and I was just one of a group being escorted through the palace.
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