I looked back to see that Keturah hadn’t followed us.
“Aren’t you coming?” I asked curiously.
She shook her head no as she quickly untied the mooring ropes and let the catamaran drift off from the dock a ways before she threw an anchor overboard. That certainly was odd behavior.
I didn’t have time to dwell on it though as a spokesperson for the interested crowd had emerged.
It was an older woman whose auburn hair had begun to gray in places. She was as white as white can be and yet she looked at me in the eye without any condescension of any kind.
“Welcome to our colony of survivors brave strangers! You are from the surface aren’t you?” She asked inquisitively.
“Yes, we are.” I said speaking up.
“Why, if I may ask, have you come so far to our inner world?” She asked.
I decided to be unflinchingly honest with her, “At first we were in pursuit of the treasure we expected to find in the sunken fleet of the convoy of ships that brought you to this inner world. We didn’t know this place existed, until we basically fell into it. We had decided not to come, because the spiritual cost would of been too great, but then a way was set up for us through the supernatural and we came through to your world under the influence of God. I’m not sure how, but I’ve been led to believe in a vision that somehow my little crew is to be used instrumentally in a great plan of the Creator’s orchestration to bring freedom to all the peoples of this inner land.”
The woman smiled and a murmur of excited anticipation broke out and swept through the gathered crowd. The woman touched her heart with a hand as she said with reverence, “You don’t know how long we have held out for such a hopeful day and now that it has, what is there to be said but welcome!”
I held up my hands in a gesture meant to forestall the growing jubilation of the crowd at large, “Wait there is more to be said. I do not know how, but a device of dark knowledge made its way back into the inner world when we came to it.”
There was a collective gasp from the crowd and the woman moaned out in question, “The Orlanis Star?”
I nodded.
“We thought we had freed ourselves from the curse our ancestors had enacted upon themselves to reach this hidden world!” The woman said on a hopeless note of anguish.
I felt like some cheering up was in order as the group before me that had been all smiles had suddenly turned as somber as death.
“Your ancestors may well have welcomed a curse upon their heads, but I believe having been sent here by God that He is desirous of us delivering you from the curses and mistakes of the past. Why else would we have been sent here? I can testify to you beyond a shadow of a doubt that we would not be standing here before you if it had not been for the hand of God preserving us through trial and close calls one after another!”
The woman wiped the tears that had fallen off her face and straightened her shoulders with resolution as many within the crowd did as a little hoped flowed back in.
“Tell me what have they done with that wretched evil device?” She asked.
I told it to her straight, “They used it to unlock some dark Atlantean knowledge that enabled them to complete a satanic ritual wherein they welcomed demon possession and put on the manifestation of the giants of old.”
If it was possible her already white skin paled even further. She asked, “What is to be done?”
She’d spoken softly, but her voice sounded out loud in the hush that had befallen the crowd, who looked among themselves in fear.
I looked around at the crowd at large, “We’re all going to have to fight if we are to survive this ancient scourge, but more importantly than fighting we are going to need to trust God to win this one for us, because without His help we don’t stand a chance.”
The Whale People took the news we carried hard, but they showed resolve for the coming struggle. They were brave people to survive as they had and they weren’t backing down from the fight that had been a long time in coming.
They agreed to help rescue the other slaves. It stood to reason that in the coming fight it would be good to have greater numbers on our side. I just hoped that there were still slaves alive yet to rescue.
There was no telling what had been transpiring on the mainland since our absence from it. I had to believe though that there were still slaves alive as I had been cast to free them like some sort of a proverbial Moses.
The symbolism of that last thought hit me abruptly and I groaned aloud. I had been tasked with the leadership oriented task to lead people out of the bondage of dark self-imposed generational curses and the bondage that drew blood at the bite of the whip. It was alarmingly parallel with the task appointed to Moses and his second wife had been named Keturah. She’d been black too.
Some might say that the coincidence stopped there because Moses was brown and I was black, but they would be wrong. My great ancestors from Africa hadn’t been taken captive and turned into slaves in West Africa like most in the American South and the Caribbean had been.
Instead they had been captured and enslaved along the east coast of Africa just off the shore of Ethiopia. My ancestors had been partly Jewish by heritage. One from the tribe of Naphtali and the other from the tribe of Levi.
On the voyage over to America they bore a son who they named Levi after the father’s Jewish ancestry in an attempt to hold onto their heritage and they had. My father had died five years ago, but he had ever been the historian. So much so that to reaffirm history he had named me, his only son, Levi, after the boy who had been born into captivity on the journey to America, in his attempt to assert that the captivity of the past was over.
I went by Eli, because I’d been embarrassed by my real name. I’d never wanted to be seen as someone special or unique because of my Jewish ancestry that could trace its lineage back to the likes of Moses’ own tribe of Levi.
Moses had been on the back side of the desert in the land of Midian for forty years without a true purpose in life before he’d been called and pressed into duty by God. I’d been lost in a desert at sea for seven years, which was the number of completion.
The day we’d come through the hole in the ocean had been the seventh year anniversary of my families passing, which had been partly to blame for my supremely bad mood leading up to that event. My mood always took a nose dive southward that time of the year.
There were just too many coincidences to be ignored. God had been setting this one up in symbology for a long time and I felt humbled to know that I was part of an overall process that went well beyond the years of my life and experiences.
“What are you thinking about?” Matt asked as he nudged me in the side with an elbow.
I looked up from my mostly uneaten food at his verbal prompting and shrugged off having to answer his question. I felt too raw inside to talk about what I was going through.
The Whale People had thrown quite a feast in our honor, but my mind had been quite absent from it. I wanted to know something about my whale girl sitting all by herself out on a worn pile of boards and threadbare netting.
I got up leaving my food behind and looked around for the head lady. I found her standing off to the side of where many had begun to dance in an upbeat spirit. I wasn’t sure what they were upbeat about, but they were.
I came up alongside of the woman whose name was Elizabeth. She turned to me and stepped away from the merriment of those behind her and asked, “How can I be of help to you Eli?” She inquired softly.
I looked around to see if anybody was listening, but they weren’t as they were too focused on having a good time. “What can you tell me about Keturah?”
The old woman’s eyes crinkled knowingly and I felt myself blush slightly.
“What would you like to know Eli?”
“Everything”, I responded and it was the truth.
“Well I’ll tell you what I know and it’s not much. Hers is a sad story. She was born on the mainland to the tribal clan that n
ow has the Orlanis Star. The ones you say have now become giants.”
She paused and I said, “Go on.”
“Well she saw a lot of terrible things and when she was four she was offered up as a sacrifice to the water spirits that the tribe worshiped.”
“How did she escape?” I asked breaking in.
“She didn’t. They tied her to little more than a wooden board and sent her out to sea on the evening tide. Two years later she came to us.”
“What?” I exclaimed.
Elizabeth nodded and held up a hand, “I don’t know how she managed to survive for two years out on the open water and she’s never told anyone.”
“How did she find you?”
Elizabeth shook her head in dumbfounded awe and I could see that she was reliving imagery from the past as she said, “The whales have always been friends to us and we to them. It was the whales that led us to the haven of this lagoon and its islands that supply our needs. No whale has so befriended one of us though as that big oaf of a one that she named Dimbo has her. He came riding high in the water right down the channel with his snout tipped back and her sitting on the base of this tusk. The two of them have been inseparable ever since. He very much is her guardian and her outlet for communication.”
“Why does she stay on that raft?”
Elizabeth sighed sadly, “There is a man that resides on this very platform village. He has not left his room in twenty-five years. He is scared to the point of death to even attempt leaving his room. Keturah is the same way. She walks the nets of her boat. She’ll ride Dimbo and swim in the water, but she won’t step foot on dry land or the relative stableness of this village platform. It’s very sad how she spends her life at sea alone. Some have said things about her being……”
“Crazy.” I filled in for her and Elizabeth nodded sadly before commenting, “There’s nothing crazy about her other than she can be a bit impulsive at times. The bad thing is that I think she’s starting to listen to what’s being said by the small minded among us. I’ve done what I can to stop the talk, but the rumor continues on. She is a very sweet and passionate young woman. She would make any man a worthy wife, but of course such a man would have to have a penchant for spending most of his time at sea and have a tolerating patience from time to time.”
Elizabeth was looking at me and the message of her words was resoundingly clear as to who she thought that man was. I turned away to go.
“She likes fruit. Doesn’t matter what kind it is she loves it.” Elizabeth called out softly.
I started to move forward again, but stopped as a sudden commotion erupted within the village. I made my way through the crowd to see what had caused the stir.
Another boat was coming in and was just now docking up as we had earlier in the day. The boat had an exotic passenger to these parts on it.
Christina took off screaming for the boat, “Serena! Serena!”
Christina practically knocked a laughing Serena off of her feet when she slammed into her with exuberance. The two hugged and cried and laughed all at the same time it seemed.
Flynn came to a stop beside me and glancing at him I thought his eyes unusually moist.
He quickly blinked rapidly before saying, “Looks like we got the crew back together Captain.”
“Looks that way.” I said affirming his positive statement, but my attention was elsewhere. I was looking at Big Jim standing off a ways with Matt.
The big man was twisting his hands together as his facial muscles twitched repeatedly in a nod to a private war going on inside of him. I made my way through the crowd and grasped him by the shoulders.
He tore his eyes off of Serena to look at me. I felt overcome by emotion all of a sudden and I couldn’t help the few tears that fell as I said, “Second chances to be with the one you love don’t come by often. Take it from me that you would be a fool to let this opportunity slip you by.”
Jim nodded slowly and moved past me toward Serena. The big man had more courage than two men put together, but in this moment you would’ve thought he was a coward.
He came to a stop at a respectful distance from the hugging Aunt and Niece. Christina drew back slightly as she looked from one to the other.
Quietly I prayed out under my breath, “Come on spit it out!” Even from here I could see Jim’s jaw muscles ticking a million flicks a minute.
Jim’s mouth opened, “I…….”
Literally that was all he had managed to say before Serena burst out with, “I thought you’d never ask!”
She vaulted forward as if she had springs in her feet. Her legs curled around Jim’s waist and crossed over at the ankles behind his back even as she seized his face with both hands and began to kiss him with a wild abandon of pent-up passion that would not be denied any longer.
Her actions mirrored that of a lover without inhibition, who wanted to express how deep her love was unmindful of what others around may think. Jim responded in kind by gripping onto her and kissing her back with all the hidden passion he’d built up for her through the years they had crewed together.
The crowd of surrounding onlookers in general were a mixture of open smiles and envious looks. Christina laughed nervously, her face completely flushed as she happily glanced from one to the other of the two people she loved and respected most in life.
Figuratively speaking she was theirs to finish raising and while their openly displayed passion for each other was embarrassing it was also a source of relaxation and instruction for her. It was relaxing because the passion of the kiss and embrace reaffirmed the strength of the bond between her guardians. It was instructional because it showed her what true passionate devotion looks like and how it was reciprocated in kind, which would go far in keeping her from wasting a kiss or much less the use of her body on a boy that she could never exhibit the same amount of passion for.
Sometimes it took years of waiting before one found the right one, but from Christina’s perspective as she watched the two of them together it was clearly worth the wait.
I turned away from the very happily entranced couple and made my way out of the crowd to a quiet spot by the railing of the platform village. The imagery of the two together had brought back a lot of memories. Good memories. Memories that I would always have and cherish.
“Your advice to Jim was good, but I can’t help but think that you would be best served if you took a little of it for yourself. Second chances may be rare, but new beginnings are perhaps rarer still.”
I glanced toward Matt, but he was already walking away. I turned back to the bubbly waters of the lagoon. Idly I wondered what mysteries the waters may hold within their depths.
This new land had been a constant revealing of mysteries with new ones around every corner to be discovered. I wanted to discover more of them, but I had to start out right.
I slipped my wedding ring off and holding it up to my lips I kissed it, “Goodbye Laura.”
I held the ring for a moment longer before I let it slip from my fingers to watch it disappear into the crystal waters of the lagoon.
Chapter Fourteen
Innocence Preserved
I eased the ketch in alongside of the catamaran’s left pontoon and tied it off. I looped the sack over my shoulder and climbed up onto the netted deck, which swayed beneath my weight.
I caught sight of Keturah sitting with her knees drawn up on the forward part of the catamaran as she watched the party on the platform unfold from a distance. I don’t think she’d heard me and there was a good reason for that.
She was crying. A better way of putting it was that she was sobbing her heart out.
I stepped closer to her across the netting and gently said, “They tell me that you like fruit so I brought a selection of it along with me.”
Startled she jerked up to her feet and almost tripped on the netting and fell overboard. Her eyes were puffy and awash with tears and her nose was running. I’d been the one to completely startle her this time.
&
nbsp; I stepped closer and set the sack of fruit down. She seemed to be in shock, which abruptly seemed to coalesce into the need to escape from the embarrassment of being caught unawares during an emotional moment.
She started to turn away from me, but I gripped a hold of her upper arm and held her still. I brought a rag up and wiped at her cheeks and then her nose.
Holding the rag to her nose I said, “Blow.”
She looked supremely embarrassed but she obeyed. I tossed the rag overboard, as I eased my grip on her upper arm to a caress of her soft skin.
“You didn’t think I was coming back did you?” I asked already knowing the answer.
“I…… I……” She stuttered to speak and I kissed her cutting off further effort to pronounce anything other than to conform her lips to the heated pressure of mine.
I drew back after a moment to see that her look of shock had only increased at the suddenness of events. Her mouth had fallen open and it was a real temptation not to kiss her again. The kiss despite her shock of it had been sweet. In a way everything about her was sweet.
I pulled a fruit from my pocket that resembled a plum, but tasted much differently and placed it against her open lips. Reflexively her teeth closed down and broke the surface of the sweet fruit. I smiled and let go of her arm and moved away to sit on the netting and then lay back with my hands behind my head.
I stared upwards at the canopy of shifting clouds for a moment as I heard Keturah come closer and sit down beside me as she continued to eat the fruit that I had given her.
Not looking at her I said, “I miss the stars in the night sky, especially out over the ocean where there is no competing light to take away from the effect of their brightness.”
Keturah lay down beside me and I glanced over at her to see her gazing up at the clouds overhead with real fascination.
“What’s it like up there?” She asked softly.
“I’ll tell you.” I then started to explain all the created cosmos above the limits of her sight. I explained about the sun and the moon. The planets in orbit and the stars further out. I talked about a lot of things as I sought to fill the curiosity she had as one who had never seen the common things that I had so often just taken for granted.
Journey into the Deep Page 13