To Stand Beside Her

by B. Kristin McMichael

  “I am not running off anywhere today,” Leila tried to reassure them, but neither of them seemed completely convinced. Leila walked closer to the first booth. Around her were people trying to sell every type of item imaginable from fresh vegetables to a cloth that could supposedly clean anything. The bright colors of the nearest fruit stand caught Leila’s attention, so she stopped and let go of the men’s arms. Macarius moved to the edge of the stand to keep watch while Theo followed closely behind Leila. She wandered through the rows of fruit. She was amazed to see fruit that was not in season at home.

  “Whatever you would like, I will pay for,” Theo offered as he saw Leila looking at the berries.

  “Have you ever had these before?” she asked Theo.

  “No, miss,” Theo looked at the strange blue colored berries.

  “They grow them back where I am from,” Leila explained as the stand owner came up behind them.

  “My husband and I grow those,” the lady explained. The woman curiously looked Leila over. “It began as a hobby, but now it is full time job. My husband helps with the harvest, but he has his own tent over there,” the lady pointed across the market.

  Leila continued walking from one booth to the next. At each stop she found something that reminded her of her home and the owner there to explain everything to her. One stand had a necklace made from the blue stones found in the mountains near Leila’s home and at another were the style of baskets that her mother had tried in vain to teach her how to weave. Leila was comforted to know that even though she was far from home, there were still reminders right here at the market. And she was surrounded by good, nice people, unlike the nobles who already dismissed her.

  “Want to show your alliance to a certain noble family?” the next tent owner asked.

  “Too late,” Leila commented under her breath. “I am not from around here,” she responded loud enough to be heard.

  “In that case, would you sit a bit and keep an old man company? Maybe a pretty girl like you would bring me more business,” the man asked.

  “Anything to help,” she replied sitting beside him. It was nice to finally get back to the people of Lior. She always felt more comfortable around the normal working people than the nobles of any country.

  “Business has been slow the last two trips into town. I guess I shouldn’t complain. My son is apprenticing here. Less work for me means more work for him.” Leila remembered back to the other night. After staring at the man a bit more she could see the resemblance between the man and the apprentice that did the lines on her arm and back. “Why are you here now? If you are looking for a husband, I would not mind introducing you to my son.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you, but I have already agreed to marry someone,” Leila replied.

  “That’s too bad, my son could use a nice, pretty wife like you,” the man smiled. “I think your escorts are getting impatient.” Leila looked to the two men and stood to join them.

  “Would you like anything to drink or eat?” offered Theo as they began walking again. Leila nodded and they ushered her to a nearby table.

  “So tell me,” she started looking at Macarius, “why do you dislike me so much.”

  “Um...,” Macarius stalled as he tried to think of how to respond. “I don’t dislike you,” he tried to lie.

  Macarius’ face turned bright red. “Don’t worry. I do not actually care if you like me or not, I am just curious as to why you would dislike me because as far as I know I have not done anything yet to earn your dislike,” Leila explained. Macarius tried to think of an answer but could not.

  “I don’t know,” he responded honestly as Theo approached with drinks for everyone and they were then silent.

  Normal people, Leila thought watching people move from tent to tent. A young boy dragged his father to a tent where they were selling toys while the mother stopped at the nearest tent selling clothing. Over in the other direction Leila watched as a young man tried his best to catch the attention of a girl nearby.

  This is where I belong, not in a palace, she told herself. Can I really be happy being locked away from all this? Leila smiled at the chaos of people around her. She quietly sat and enjoyed her surroundings. Behind Leila music begin to play. She turned to watch as the court yard began to fill with people dancing. Young and old, the people happily dance around. Leila turned to the men with her.

  “Anyone up for a dance?” Leila asked. Near them a young boy overheard and readily came up to Leila.

  Bowing deeply, he asked, “My Lady, may I have this dance?”

  The young boy was no more than twelve-years-old, but was trying his best to act older. He was tall for his age, but his youth was shown in his face. His dark hair barely covered his twinkling eyes as he waited for her response. He held out his hand for her.

  “I would love to,” Leila replied taking his arm as he led them to the dance floor. The music changed and Leila turned to the boy. “I am not from around here, so you will have to teach me this one.”

  The boy smiled and said, “No problem, even my little sister can dance to this one.” He waved at an even younger light brown haired smiling boy and beautiful little girl sitting next to one of the tents.

  The song ended and the two children ran into the crowded dance area.

  “’Lip ‘Lip,” the little girl called to him as her short light brown curls bounced as she ran. The younger boy was close behind.

  “This is my sister Ruth and my brother Tim. I’m Phillip,” he said extending his hand to shake Leila’s hand with a formal introduction, “and now we must be on our way.” He disappeared with his siblings into the crowd.

  Knowing that the men escorting her were getting hungry, Leila made her way back to the south side of the market. Leila wandered into a book tent as Theo stopped by the fruit tent from earlier. She stopped near the wanted posters. Leila picked up the pile and paged through them. She had seen most of the sheets before. It was always best to know what everyone else already knew about you. Behind Leila a man approached her quietly. Leila did not turn around as she addressed him.

  “Done watching?” Leila asked Nalick. She had noticed him earlier when she was dancing with the young boy. Nalick was also wearing gloves and normal clothing to blend in. No one except her had any idea who he was.

  “You left me no choice but to watch,” he argued. “You didn’t even invite me to come with,” he teased.

  “I didn’t think mixing with common people was on your list of things to do for the day,” Leila responded smiling at the bookseller as he returned.

  “Interested in Mele? Here you go,” the bookseller said handing Leila one book he had been searching for. “You can learn both Mele and Comamele from the same book. They are very similar.”

  “So you are not leaving us so soon?” Nalick wondered with her new interest in their religious and noble languages.

  “Not until you mess up your end of the deal,” Leila replied nodding thanks to the man as Theo appeared beside her and paid for the book.

  “We were just going to head back,” Leila explained as Theo and Macarius appeared surprised to see who was with Leila.

  “Let’s just make one stop first,” Nalick suggested as he offered Leila his arm. She cautiously took his arm as he led her through the crowd of people. Nalick seemed more relaxed and happier than normal. The person Leila was now walking with was not the king she imagined. Nalick wanted to be free from the palace as much as she did. Nalick led them away from the market and down several streets to an inn. Theo ran ahead and opened the door to the restaurant in front of the inn. At the back of the restaurant was a bar that ran the length of the room. Nalick and Leila followed behind Theo leading the way upstairs.

  Inside was a modestly furnished family room with a window that over looked the street below. Near the window sat Theo’s son, Dimas, playing by himself. Through the doorway to the left was a kitchen with a large table. An older woman was busy cooking while Theo’s wife Micaela was setting the tab
le.

  “Oh my, what a sight. The three of you made your way here.” Theo’s mother beamed at Theo, Macarius, and Nalick. “And you must be the captive I have heard so much about.” She took Leila by both hands and led her to a chair in the kitchen. “Please sit down and relax dear.” She then turned to Nalick. “Taking a pretty child captive is not a nice thing to do,” she scolded him. Leila watched as the old woman gave each boy a hug. “Better set the table for four more,” she said to Micaela.

  “It has been quite a while since you boys have all been over here,” a large man with an older face of Theo commented as he opened the back door. He started to continue talking, but stopped when he saw Leila. “My, you are more beautiful than they said you were.” Theo’s mother turned around and nodded in agreement. “Now where did Nalick find such a girl as you?”

  “Sitting outside the palace walls trying to get back in,” Nalick replied. Theo’s father laughed pulling up a chair beside Leila.

  “Any good stories about these boys?” she asked trying to get dirt on Nalick.

  “Many. Let’s start with when we first met the future king. He was only about eight-years-old when Theo met him at the market,” Theo’s father started telling stories over lunch. “I guess Nalick had been mad at his father and told him he was going to run away. So he packed a bag and left.” Nalick shook his head in agreement, but Leila could also see a bit of embarrassment. “Once he got to the market he didn’t know what to do. The poor child had never been outside the palace before without an escort to show him home. Little did he know, he did have an escort. Macarius there had seen Nalick leave and followed after him. Between the two of them, they didn’t know how to find their way home and each was too afraid to tell anyone who Nalick really was.”

  “That’s how I found them,” Theo explained interrupting him. “They were standing in front of tent arguing.” Theo took a large bite of his stew.

  “We were hungry,” Macarius defended arguing with Nalick.

  “Yeah, they were hungry and had no money,” Theo corrected patting Macarius on the back.

  “Well, I really didn’t plan that far ahead,” Nalick inserted into the story.

  “I thought we should just tell a food shop owner who Nalick was and then they would feed us, but Nalick didn’t want to tell anyone because he said they would make us go home,” Macarius laughed. “The thing was I wasn’t running away. Nalick was the only cousin I had that way nice to me, so when he left I kind a just followed. I didn’t want to run away.”

  “Either way,” Theo’s father continued. “Theo brought home you two with him that he said were hungry. I knew right away who Nalick was, so I sent word to the palace he was at my inn and safe. I didn’t tell the boys though.” Both Nalick and Macarius shook their heads no. “I offered them a room in exchange for helping with chores. After less than twenty-four hours of doing chores, they decided they didn’t exactly like life outside the palace,” he patted Nalick on the back which caused the king to crack a smile, “so they came to me to tell me who they were and that they wanted to go home. I pretended to be surprised and took them home myself. After that, though, every time the palace life made Nalick upset, he would be on our doorstep asking to stay in return for doing chores.”

  Nalick smiled, “And every time I would realize I had to go home and face whatever problem I was running away from. I wished I could just stay here and pretend I didn’t have another life. Here we could be kids and run around the inn and to the market on market days.”

  “Oh, they use to terrorize the market,” Theo’s mom said with a smile. “They had some game that would always end with the biggest meanest tent owner dragging the three boys here and scolding me to keep better track of them.”

  Macarius laughed, “Oh you mean tent dodging.” All three men laughed. Leila watched Nalick. He was carefree and laughing, something she never expected to see. He was actually starting to seem like a normal man.

  “We would make up routes to run through the market between the tents and see who could run it the fastest,” Theo explained to Leila, “Macarius always won because he was the shortest; Nalick and I would get caught easier.”

  “Hey, I won because I was the fastest,” Macarius sulked.

  “It is so nice to have you boys all here,” Theo’s mother changed the subject.

  “You should be thanking Leila,” Nalick said winking at Leila. He had already finished his food and was intently watching her.

  “Well, dear, hopefully you can bring him around more often. We do miss seeing them all together.” Theo’s mother stood to pick up the dirty dishes off the table. Leila offered to help, but Theo’s mother would not let her.

  Leila found the place all three men actually called home. Reluctantly, all four needed to return to the palace. After hugs and good-byes, they were on their way.

  “I remember reading you were quite young when you became king,” Leila tried to start a conversation with Nalick.

  “I was fourteen; the lowest legal age the council would let me take the throne at. From the very few civil conversations we had when I was growing up, my father told me everything here reminded him of my mom and he needed to get away from it. He was counting the days to my fourteenth birthday and I was counting the days until he would finally leave me,” Nalick explained.

  “Isn’t fourteen a little young to be ruling a country?”

  “I was eighteen when I first led an army into battle. Yes, fourteen is too young, but I didn’t have much of a choice.” Nalick smiled. Leila was actually talking to him and asking questions. Through their conversation, they had reached the palace gates. Nalick walked Leila to the stairway to the royal quarters.

  “I will have to leave you here. I need to finish preparations for tomorrow. We will be heading to Dria early tomorrow morning. My father has sent word asking to meet you, and it is customary to get his approval before we wed. Not that it matters to me.” Leila nodded and began walking up the stairs behind Theo and Macarius. She turned around and watched Nalick walk back the way they had come.

  Maybe this won’t be so bad after all, she thought.

  Chapter 7

  The next morning before the sun had risen, Nalick silently crept into Leila’s room. On the bed in the middle of the room, Leila was sound asleep and Nalick did not wish to wake her. Gently he scooped her up in his arms. She stirred a little and faintly opened her eyes, smiled at him, and then went back to sleep. Once on board, he laid her in the bed in the captain’s quarters and covered her with a light blanket. Gently he moved the locks of hair covering her face. She was completely defenseless and looked younger than he had ever seen her.

  It was early morning, after the sun had already rose, when Leila woke. She rubbed her eyes and looked around the room. Vaguely, Leila remembered being picked up by Nalick. Through the rose colored tint of light streaming through the window Leila could see in the corner sat Nalick quietly watching her. She was lying in a large, swaying bed in a room lavishly decorated. From the slight rocking of the room from side to side she could tell she was on a boat. It was the most well-furnished boat she had ever been on.

  “I didn’t want to wake you,” Nalick explained.

  “How late is it?” Leila asked rubbing her eyes again.

  “About mid-morning,” he replied. “We are about half way to Dria. Would you like some breakfast?” he asked; she nodded while yawning. Nalick left the room and within five minutes two women from the palace were entering with trays of food.

  Leila quickly ate and then moved to the right side window of the cabin. Outside she could see the shoreline of a city they were passing by. On the piers stood a large crowd of people cheering. Leila moved to the back window. Behind their boat were three more boats serving as escorts. Leila had traveled much with her job but most of the time she traveled with the lowest classes of people on horseback or by herself. It was much easier to fit in and go unnoticed if you traveled in a group of peasants, but it was not the most comfortable way to tra
vel.

  So this is what it is like to travel as royalty, she thought.

  Leila looked at the large container of water sitting in the corner that the servants had filled when they brought the food. It was just big enough to sit in. Leila had expected it to be cold, yet it was quite warm.

  What a change, she thought about her life. Leila wondered if she would ever get used to the luxury of being part of a royal family.

  After she was clean, she dried off and wrapped a robe around herself climbing back on the bed and lying down on the mountain of lush pillows. It was the first time in days that Leila had a moment to herself to reflect on everything. Am I making the right decision? Nothing will be easy, but am I ready to stay in one place?

  As the maids began to dress her, Leila could not believe the ornate decorations on the dress and the amount of bare skin the dress displayed. The dress exposed her shoulders and arm so that all could clearly see the markings. Leila shivered and blushed at the same time from being so exposed. One dress could feed a family in the North Country for a month.

  Leila stepped out of the cabin door into the sunlight. It warmed her exposed skin. She could feel the wind blow and was happy to finally feel a cool breeze. Across the deck at the front of the boat Leila could see Nalick leaning against the rail looking forward. She walked down the five stairs to the main deck and crossed over to where Nalick was. As Leila passed the crew, each man stopped and bowed to her. Leila walked over near Nalick and leaned backwards against the rail so that she could see his face.

  “You know, this bowing stuff really needs to stop,” Leila complained while smiling. “The people around her spend so much time bowing; you know, I bet if you add it all up it would amount to months of bowing that could be used more productively.”