Without Joy

by Calista Brace

  I shook my head and pushed it back towards the animal that had saved my life. It was forbidden to eat an animal in our land because it kills bonds.

  The strange animal looked at me in a motherly way.

  I saw a bit of land in the distance, I gasped in surprise then started trying to paddle with my hands, It stung painfully.

  The white fox huffed then jumped in the water, unbalancing the driftwood a little, I looked around in the water for it, but then I felt something pushing the raft.

  I let out a small laugh. I saw the white fox paddle itself towards the land. It looked almost like a ghost in the water. That's what I would call it, Spirit, the friendly white fox that saved my life.

  It was bright outside because of the light that touched the horizon. When I got off the driftwood, I walked on the strange pure white sand with bare feet.

  I looked down realizing that my clothes were torn and I was missing something to hold my long hair up, that was surprisingly not burnt.

  My leg still hurt but It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. My lungs still were sore but not bad enough where I couldn't speak.

  I had always been one to heal quickly.

  I stumbled into the desert. Spirit followed me; He licked me with his poisonous tongue numbing the pain. I smiled down at him.

  “Thanks, Spirit,” I said, He small and fluffy and he looked like he belonged someplace cold with how much hair he had. He seemed like a drowned cat though because of his wet hair flattened down.

  He was cute but deadliest animal ever, why did he like me so much?

  I looked down at him until he started to prance the opposite direction I had begun to go.

  I turned around and started to follow him, he led me to a jungle.

  “Jangers Jungle” I whispered. The Fox was smarter than I thought. I smiled at the jungle and started wandering through it, following the little foxes trail.

  I knew it would be a five-day journey. There was little fruit to collect that was edible, but I managed.

  I grabbed a thin vine and used it to braid up my hair, Spirit looked impatient with the stop.

  He chased strange animals and killed toxic plants with his poison; he was an expert with the land. I still wondered how he found me.

  Soon my legs felt like they were carrying bricks by every step and my eyes were on the verge of closing.

  I sat down and leaned on a tree. Spirit sat down next to me, His hair looked soft in the fading light of day, I pulled my hand out and reached out to him.

  He watched my hand as it slowly came closer to his head. He tucked his ears snarling at me when my hand was only inches away from the top of his skull.

  I pulled my hand back as quick as I could.

  “Guess you don't like being touched,” I said. I curled up into a small ball as the wind rushed around me. It was cold, and it was the best I could do to hide away from the chill of the breeze.

  Spirit growled at every little thing, and it was hard to sleep knowing the most dangerous animal in the world was lying next to me. It made me anxious.

  Finally, Sleep came to me, but it was only because my exhaustion was wearing on.

  . . . . .

  I was 5 years old. My sister Maggie, short for Magnolia, sat in my room with a chunk of wood in her hand and a knife in the other.

  My eyes were wide, why did my sister have a knife, we weren't allowed to have weapons.

  “Pay attention Amary!” Maggie said. I giggled realizing I hadn't listened to a thing she said. She was only a year older than me.

  I stared at her hands with the most concentration a 5-year-old had. She explained how knives were dangerous and that not to tell mommy or daddy, I nodded like I had just learned that. But really I already knew that.

  She started scraping at the wood with the knife, and it looked like a weird shape.

  After a while, I saw an interesting sculpture start to form.

  My sister said she wasn't that good at it yet, but she was getting better.

  She had carved a little box, but with no lid, she said she hadn't learned that part yet.

  “Maid Pamela is teaching me,” she said after she finished her box. “She was teaching her daughter, but someone stole her, she was my age,” Maggie said looking at the wooden box. Magie picked up the knife and carried it like it was a small puppy that would pee on her. When she tucked it away in the floorboards, her eyes widened.

  “I remember that maid Pamela's daughters name started with a J, I had seen her around. She has a big family. Maid Pamela cried when she talked about her.” Maggie said. I nodded, I had played with Maid Pamela's daughter before, and she was friendly and always happy.

  She was always outside, though, she didn't like being inside.

  I handed my sister her box. She shook her head, “you keep it, maybe you will learn how to carve soon, Maid Pamela is an excellent teacher.” She said with a big smile. I smiled back. She opened the window out of my room and crawled back across the roof to her room. She always snuck in here at night. It was a habit.

  I crawled into my big bed holding the little box in my hand. I kept it close; maybe later she would make me a lid.

  . . . . .

  I awoke when the night sky was bright with stars. Crickets chirped in the distance and a lone owl hooted. Creatures slithered on the jungle floor, but the one thing that caught my attention was that Spirit was not there.

  I jumped up, I didn't know where to go or what direction was the way I came from. I started walking towards the way I thought was right but then turned a different way contradicting myself. After twisting and turning a few more times in the unfamiliar jungle, I realized I was lost.

  I sat down in the jungle. I was afraid, there was hardly any food and if I went the wrong way I would either end up in White Fox desert or the ocean or worst comes to worst The forbidden land of the Whispering Willow. There was only one way that led to someplace safe. Maybe Spirit would come back and find me. Maybe I would be saved.

  I didn't want to stay sitting, but I also didn't want to starve to death by not moving. I knew my only option was to get up and keep walking in one direction.

  Maybe if I climbed up a tree, then I could see better and see the best path to go. I walked up to a tree with lower branches so I could climb on it. I got on the first branch easily, but it was a struggle to reach the second one because it was so far away. I struggled but finally reached the second branch, when I let go of the first branch I was only dangling from the second one. I pulled myself up, My body ached from all the still healing wounds, but most didn't hurt because of Spirits poison.

  The higher I got the thinner the branches were. My cloak swayed behind me letting me blend into the thick green parts of the tree. Each step was farther and farther apart I finally reached the top.

  I could only see the tops of trees from miles on. That was pointless. I moved my foot to the next branch. As I put my pressure on it, I heard it bend. Before I could move, it snapped. Panic gripped me and my breath caught in my throat.

  I was falling, but only for a second. My leg caught in between two branches, and I was hanging upside down.

  I let out a sigh happy that I didn't plummet to my death.

  While trying to get out, I saw a faint light in the distance. “I can't stick around too long,” I said glaring at the branches of the trees. I grabbed a nearby branch with both hands and pulled my leg free, so I was dangling lower down and facing the right way. I maneuvered around until I finally was close enough to the ground to just let myself fall.

  I brushed myself off and headed to the very faint light. Maybe they would help me, Maybe it was the people from the ship. Maybe they were Natives.

  I walked quickly but gained my speed when I saw the light of whatever I saw start to disappear. Finally, I saw the source of the light.

  A small village was tucked away beneath the canopies of the jungles overhanging trees. I saw many children run around and chase each other. An old lady sat and watched from afa
r petting a Janger. A Janger was like a small type of a Jaguar but was not deadly and only lived in this territory. It was very unlikely to see such shy creatures unless you're in danger, then they would come to the rescue.

  Torches were lining the walls of all the buildings, filling the small village with an Iridescent light. I walked towards the village and raised my hand in a greeting. The children stopped playing. The woman lifted her head. She spoke to the Janger in a weird tongue I didn't recognize. The native animal ran back into the village.

  Soon a burly man came out with a sword in his hand. He walked over to me. “What do you want,” He said in the language of lasag.

  I was a princess, royalty spoke this tongue. I said back in lasag “I have traveled for very many miles to get here. I have important news for your rulers. But I have lost my way.”

  He nodded. “What news shall you pass on,” He asked in his accent with full thickness.

  “Important news, for your kingdom, is in great danger,” I said. “I need your help to lead me to the castle,” I said. He looked in thought for a moment before he gave a slight nod and turned around then walked me into the village.

  The children ditched their game entirely to watch a stranger walk into their village.

  “I will take you to the leader of the town” The children swarmed talking in a strange language that I know only came from this community.

  The village had art covered all over it. It showed that we were in the kingdom of Radian. Everyone did art here, it filled the community. In the middle of the village was a large sculpture of a man. Probably the one I would be meeting.

  We entered a small cabin. A man sat in a chair writing a letter on his desk. He looked up. “Who is this lovely woman,” He said speaking in an entirely reasonable voice. He was talking in English, a common language for leaders. It was one that most people knew.

  “I am here to ask you for your help,” I said.

  He nodded, “I suspected, this is not an easy place to just happen upon without looking.” He said. I didn't tell him that that was exactly what I did.

  “The right question is, what do you need help with?” He continued. He paced the room, and then looked over at the burly man standing next to me that lead me here, and said something to him in that strange language. The man exited the room leaving us alone.

  “So what do you need my help with, and why this village,” He said swiping his hand across gesturing to the village.

  “I have important news for your rulers. If I didn’t get them this message in time, the fate of the whole continent of Grarien would die.” I said with the most serious tone a young girl like me could muster.

  He nodded but a hint of doubt lined his brow. “I can have a carriage waiting for you by the break of dawn to take you to the Castle of Radian.” I thought about it for a second, then nodded.

  “If anything would be available sooner than that would be even better,” I said. The man had a look of frustration, but the man knew he had no right to argue so he said no more.

  “Yes of course, but while you're waiting why don't you occupy my cabin behind the door to the left, it has not been used before, and it looks like you are in need of some rest.

  He looked me up and down, and I could see his eyes take in all the injuries by my falling off bandages.

  He quickly walked out of the room to alert his men to get a carriage ready. I was restless and didn't trust the man in charge of the small native village.

  I didn't sleep because of this and the strange weary look in the man's eyes. The room had stars painted on the ceiling. It looked so real it was like there wasn't even a roof. It even showed our two moons.

  Instead, I wandered around the main room. The letter the man was writing to was for his son who was a traveler. I didn't mean to intrude on a personal message, but I still had the urge to snoop enough that I read enough to get the gist of the letter.

  The walls of the room were covered in such abstract paintings. The only light was several candles around the room that glimmered off the colorful paints on the walls.

  I had seen a lot of art around the village when I entered it but was too uptight to notice most of it.

  I had seen people sculpt and paint and draw and do art out of just everyday objects. I heard the melodies of instruments and voices echo around the small village in a harmonious way.

  The man walked back into the hut and looked a little surprised and flustered that I wasn't asleep or in the other room yet.

  “Oh why hello…. How impolite of I, I haven't asked you for your name.” He said with a smile all too well full of frustration.

  “Who I am doesn't matter, but how little we stall is,” I said. I walked past the man and out of the stable to see three people setting up a carriage.

  “Almost ready?” I asked. The trio looked up. One smiled while the other two ignored me and got back to work with setting up the carriage.

  “Not really ma’am, The horses are resting until day breaks through the sky, that is only in an hour anyways.” The man said.

  I nodded, “Can you wake them up earlier, it's not like they would notice the difference.” I asked.

  The other men snorted while the one in front of me chuckled, “Yah sorry lady, doesn't quite work like that, it's obvious you haven't ridden a horse.” I frowned at his comment and walked away from the three men. I was thinking about Zinnia and how she woke up as early as she could every day.

  I sat by a building and watched a girl carve a sculpture slowly out of the soft clay of the jungle mud. She put her little creation in a furnace and watched it cook.

  After this process had been done, I realized the lights of day was coming up. I jumped up and strutted my way to the carriage. A man looked me up and down from my peeling bandages to my torn up burnt clothes and mud caked skin.

  “Why are we taking a mutt to the kingdom,” He asked a horse rider.

  The man looked back at me, “that mutt has some life changing news for the King she says.” The horseback riders said.

  The man chuckled. “Probably used that excuse on many people, Just a mutt trying to get a ride somewhere.” They didn't know I spoke the language of Raha too but I pretended I didn't anyways for their benefit. Only royalty and translators or travelers had the time to learn Raha. It was rarely used and completely unnecessary.

  I almost didn't learn it, but with so much time on my hands, I decided why not.

  It wasn't even all that grand. It sounded strange and had a weird tongue to it. I should have just learned German. That language was almost forgotten also. The only person I know who speaks it is Lady Pandie. Nobody teaches German anymore, it’s like the world wanted to forget it.

  I climbed into the carriage ready to start my journey.

  XIII When A Ghost Haunts

  Nate

  We trampled through the jungle, the horses being ridden by those who slept. We took turns like this through the hours so to get to the kingdom quickly.

  It had been two days through the jungle, but by the map, it said we have already cleared through 2/3rds of it without the stops to sleep.

  Zinnia, Amaryllis’ horse, wouldn't let anyone ride her. The captain's daughter offered to use the horse as food. Many of the other people gasped in shock and others stayed closer to the horse in protection.

  Because the daughter lived on the sea, it was not uncommon to eat fish. But for those of us who lived on land, eating animals was forbidden.

  We didn't eat them because of their pure souls. Only wild people ate the flesh of those who lived.

  Even the wild animals like lions and snakes learned to eat Rubin, a plant that was enough nutrients to feed them and grew everywhere.

  Lady Pandie stayed near me but never spoke to me, nobody talked to me. I could even feel the anger flow from me at Amaryllis’ death. I stood straight and felt threatened at every noise. My jaw was as straight as a line, and I clenched my teeth.

  When the third day of the trip came, I decided to forget
about her entirely. As I did, I relaxed back to my normal state. It wasn't much of a difference; I had always been cautious and dangerous.

  “Are you alright kind?” Lady Pandie asked when I started humming the tune that Joy had taught me when I was younger.

  I looked at her, “Why wouldn't I be” I asked.

  She opened her mouth as if to say something but then closed it just as quickly. Before she looked away, I saw a flash of emotion in her eyes. She turned away and walked over to the small children.

  Pain is what I saw. I didn't say anything about it to her, but I knew that is what I saw. The new shift of people sleeping happened, but I didn't go with them because I hadn't slept in the last few days and I never wanted to be caught not alert in a foreign place.

  I started seeing the thick trees lessen through the next hour. I heard many people sigh in relief as we saw Vapens Fields that stretched out across 2/3rd of the Kingdom of Radian. We saw random statues and podiums, colored and designed and beautiful sculptures left to be viewed by the people heading towards the castle. Many said people would come out here to sculpt and then end up leaving it here.

  Children laughed and played around as we walked towards a small village in view. I knew the children were orphans. I had heard Amary- wait, stop it, you don't know her anymore.

  The village that we walked to was bustling with people. You could see as they came and go, This was a traveler's community. You could tell because most of it was shops and small motels.

  A traveler's village was one where only shopkeepers lived there and were just for the benefit for those who were taking traveling stops and needed a spot for rest or more supplies. People left the village from all directions going the way they needed to head.

  The group of children with us ran around and looked at the wonders of the village but stayed close enough for they all knew about children being taken around all the kingdoms.

  Many said it was the Lumine who did it. While others said, it was the Lumine who protected our children from the child thieves.

  We passed through the shops, and some of our passengers decided to stay for a while. They would head on their way later on. The majority stayed with us as we left the little traveler's village. All the orphans remained with us.