The First Kingdom

by T. S. Valmond

  She recognized one boy who'd attacked them earlier. Somehow, they’d found them again and brought more of their friends. One with an arrow in his leg and six more besides the two she’d followed. Nine, total. No, ten, she adjusted her count as another boy emerge from the trees on the opposite side of the camp. He was taller than all the others and looked to be a few years older. His white skin and pale hair lit up when the fire touched it. The others ranged in color from dark to light, boys with long and short hair in the same array of colors. There were two Kamirians, a boy from Tero, and another from Joro, among others. A boy with skin so dark, he looked like the color of the ground. There were rumors among her people of others on land with that coloring but only off the southern coast. She’d never seen one.

  They'd left Poge tied up with her hands and feet bound and a rag between her teeth. She could only squirm as they poked at her and tossed her hat to one side. Adera could just make out from her hiding place that they’d gathered all of her and Poge’s things. Some boys draped her things over their shoulders. They'd already dug into Poge’s prepared meat.

  “You two, stay here and wait for the other to return.” The older boy said as he took another bite of meat and spoke with his wide mouth open.

  “What if she doesn’t?”

  “She will. Just listen for the sounds of a girl running from a beast. Stay hidden. Let the fire grow higher so she’ll think the camp has been abandoned.” He added a small log to the fire.

  The two nodded before stepping into the trees and hiding, one on each side of the fire. Both of them equal distance from her and the camp. She’d have to risk taking the longer way around to follow them as they entered the woods as a group. Poge was on her own with the bandits. Adera only hoped she’d be able to help her friend before it was too late.

  14

  SANEE CREPT UP TO THE fire and found a boy sleeping, though several feet into the bushes. He hadn’t heard Sanee until it was too late. Sanee hit the boy with the blunt end of his bow, knocking the boy unconscious. The other boy was dragged, still awake but begging for his life to the fire by the twins.

  “Where are the others?” Sanee asked.

  Neke gave the boy a small kick to the leg when the boy tightened his lips.

  “You know what I can do to you, little one. You can see it in my eyes. Tell me what I want to know and you won’t get hurt.”

  “There are no others.” He spat at the ground. “Only us.”

  “Why are you lying so far from the fire?”

  The boy’s brown curls whipped around when he heard the sound of his companion waking up.

  “Answer me,” Sanee said. He used his elbow to knock the other out again in a swift move.

  When the boy realized he was alone for the moment, he let his shoulders fall and hung his head.

  “If I tell you, the others will string me to the nearest tree and let an obulong take me.”

  At the mention of the obulong, Neke and Jiden both looked over their shoulders. Sanee never took his eyes off of the boy as his eyes shifted to one side.

  “Why are you watching this fire from the bushes?”

  “I’m waiting for the other girl to return.”

  At the mention of a girl, the twins both perked up and looked at Sanee for confirmation of what they’d heard. Sanee didn’t look up.

  “What girl?”

  “There were two girls here, one green and one blue. The blue one ran off into the woods. We’re supposed to wait here until she returns.”

  “How long have you been here?”

  “I don’t know, a few hours.”

  Sanee finally took a step back and scanned the woods as if he could see through them.

  “Is it her?” Asked Jiden.

  Sanee nodded.

  “Do you think she’s still in the woods?” Neke asked.

  Sanee shrugged.

  “The other one, the green one, where is she?”

  The boy tightened his lips again as the other boy stirred.

  “She’s not coming back,” he said with a smirk.

  * * *

  “Tie these two up and we’ll search the surrounding trees. If she’s not in the area, we’ll go after the green one. Maybe Adera did the same,” Sanee said.

  The twins did as they were told and Sanee searched the woods around the campfire. They searched as far as the fire light reached before giving up. She wasn’t there. If she was, she’d have seen them by now and made herself known or they’d have tripped over a group of obulongs feeding on her dead carcass. The latter made Sanee sick to think about, but he was glad when he didn’t see that either. No body was a good sign she’d followed the others to stay near to her friend.

  Adera was loyal. She’d never leave a friend behind. It was her way.

  The three young men agreed to stay at the campfire until light, then follow the two boys to their hideaway to get the other girl.

  * * *

  The place where they’d taken Poge was a larger encampment. There were a few tents, small shanties built with gathered wood. Some of the boys slept in the trees. Their beds swung to and fro, their bellies full as they’d eaten all of Poge’s kill. They’d tied her to a tree near the center of the group and poked fun at her during the night until they grew tired of throwing dirt and calling her names.

  “We’ll deal with her in the morning, when we’ve captured her friend,” Their pale leader announced. “Get some rest. We have a long day tomorrow. This meat won’t keep us fed forever.” He carried his stick of meat to the only actual building: a small habitat built for one. He shut the door, settling in for the night and the others did the same, curling up on the ground and in the trees.

  Adera counted close to a dozen of them and no girls of any kind. Since she’d managed to keep her own hat secure on her head, she pulled it down over her ears and watched the encampment go to sleep.

  Two boys who stayed awake and took turns walking around the edges of the camp. They used hand signals to communicate—a language so similar to her own, she could make out the meaning. They must have learned it from the mermen, but how?

  She looked at the boys more closely. Perhaps there was a merman among them. In the night, it was impossible to tell.

  Adera fell asleep and woke with a jolt. She’d been watching the camp for hours. Now that the guard had fallen asleep themselves, she crept into the camp to where they held Poge.

  The boys slept where they fell and most in no particular pattern. The fires were burning low and it looked like it would be morning soon. Poge had taught her to use whatever she could find as a weapon, but warned her against rocks. She’d scoured the brush but only managed to find rocks, so she put two in her pockets and held one in each hand. If nothing else, she’d discovered her aim and strength were weak. She’d need two if she hoped to do any damage.

  Poge had fallen asleep against the tree. Adera touched Poge on the shoulder and a hand flew to her throat making her gasp aloud.

  Somehow, Poge had managed to get one hand free of the tree and had been working on the other the entire time. Poge held up a finger to her lips and Adera bit back the squeal that was on the heels of her gasp.

  Adera helped Poge get her other hand and her feet free of the tree. Then Adera crept behind Poge out of the encampment.

  When a hand clamped down on her shoulder, Adera let her elbow fly, hitting a small blue boy in the nose.

  As the little boy held his nose and howled. He woke the camp with his cries. Poge dragged Adera away by the hand and through the trees. The others were already in motion and calling the alarm. Poge and Adera raced into the woods, running until they were out of breath.

  “You can let go now,” Poge said between breaths.

  Adera looked down. Only then did she feel the ache of clutching Poge’s hand and let go.

  15

  SANEE AND THE TWINS FOLLOWED the gagged and bound boys to their camp. They walked two feet in front of them and stumbled often. When they reached the edge of the camp,
the twins took to the trees and Sanee walked their two captives in alone. He didn’t want to be ambushed.

  The alarm was sounding before they reached the encampment of tents and sleeping areas. Boys scattered in all directions. Sanee almost went unnoticed. A thin boy a head shorter than Sanee with yellow hair stopped dead in front of him and screamed for help. His voice fell in the annoying place between boy and man.

  A taller boy with white hair and pale skin stepped out of a small building and looked around at the commotion. He pulled a kind of wooden whistle out of his pocket and blew into it. The boys dropped what they were doing and ran back to the center, all standing between the taller boy and Sanee. Using his knee, he helped both of the boys in front of him to their knees. Still gagged, the boys struggled to speak.

  The pale boy with the white hair held up a hand and all of their exclamations and excited chatter ceased.

  “Red-man. Why have you captured my people?”

  “They were guarding a campsite we came across last night.”

  The boy’s face cracked into a smile.

  “You are Karmirian. There is a Karmirian among us. You are welcome, friend.” He gestured to the young Karmirian boy who stepped forward and Sanee tried to remember if he knew him. The boy looked back at him with confusion. It seemed he was trying to place Sanee as well.

  “The girls, do you have them?” Sanee asked, sparing the Karmirian a glance before looking back at the pale boy.

  “Girls? What girls?”

  “A green girl you captured from her camp last night and another, she is blue.” Sanee gave only the details that the boys he’d captured gave. He didn’t want to tell these bandits they’d let a mermaid escape. The fascination with Majiwa went beyond just infatuation for some.

  “Where are the girls you captured?” Sanee repeated, his black eyes staring down the leader.

  The pale boy’s expression changed. The smile on his face didn’t reach his eyes as he spoke.

  “There are no girls here. Are they special to you? Perhaps we can help you find them.”

  Sanee scanned the camp and looked at the faces of the boys. Some of whom woke up with adrenaline and now stood swaying with lack of sleep. He saw the bindings, long white strips of material were still at the base of the tree in the center of their camp. The green girl had gotten away, most like with Adera’s help. They weren’t here. The one wouldn't leave without the other. Which meant they were gone, heading north, as her note said.

  “That won’t be necessary. Your people are free to go.” Sanee lifted one boy at a time and pushed them into the others. Their friends unbound them and both boys glared at him.

  “Is that all?” The pale boy asked, moving to look over each boy. He noted the injuries and then turned to Sanee.

  “He’s not alone,” the boy said as he looked around as if the twins would jump out at him.

  It was Sanee’s turn to smile.

  “You have your people back. I have somewhere else to be. I hope I don’t have to remind you that if you happen to come across one or both of the girls again, I’ll be back for a visit and things won’t be so friendly.”

  The young Karmirian spoke up before Sanee turned away.

  “He’s the prince of Karmir.” The declaration forced him to turn back to the young Karmirian and look him in the eye. The young man still didn’t look familiar. The question now was what would they do with that information?

  “Where are you headed, prince? Shouldn’t you be home getting ready to become the chieftain?” The pale boy asked, taking a menacing step forward.

  This was what Sanee had wanted to avoid, being far from home. With the recognition would come the demands. They could demand his father pay them for his safe return as a hostage. The leader might demand something from him to avoid being turned in to his father. Or he could do both.

  “No, I’m no longer the prince. I renounced my inheritance. My younger brother has already taken my place,” Sanee said with more confidence than he felt.

  The young Karmirian didn’t contradict him, so he turned again to leave.

  “Wait.” The pale one stepped forward. “We could use someone like you.”

  “I’m sure you could,” Sanee said with a sneer on his lips.

  “No, I mean, we’re growing. Soon, we’ll need more leaders to take control as we expand beyond this wood. There are already others with groups as large as fifty.”

  “Of boys?”

  “Young men,” the pale one said. Then he threw an arm around Sanee’s neck as if they were old friends. “Listen, you might run into more trouble. But if you’re one of us, then you can renounce your role as prince for real and become a true leader.”

  In a swift move, Sanee grabbed the boy’s hand and twisted him until he held the arm straight and the other boy was on the ground in pain.

  “I won’t join you.”

  The other boys in the small pack raised their weapons only to have warning arrows shot in their path.

  “Stand back,” their leader said. They obeyed with some reluctance.

  “I won’t hurt him, but I am leaving. If any of you follow, you’ll get no more warning arrows,” Sanee said loud enough for the twins to hear from the trees. He released their leader and stepped away. Then he turned and walked back into the woods.

  He wasn’t followed.

  16

  AFTER MORE DAYS OF AVOIDING the warring tribes and factions, beasts of all sizes, boy bandits, and enduring the bitter cold, Poge and Adera reached the Northern territory. It stretched out in front of them, surrounded by a canopy of green trees. The large forest engulfed them. The greenery's scent was so fresh and so clean, like nothing else she’d ever experienced.

  Poge got them another beast to ride, so they rode in together.

  Adera had been dragging her feet for miles. She wondered if there would be a soft place to sleep tonight. She missed the steady rock of the ocean.

  It couldn’t have been more than an hour before the trees parted to a view of a small town nestled in the valley of the mountains. Here, the sun was brightest as it was the end of the day and just before it dipped into the northern horizon. The sound of music reached them.

  "Do you hear music?" Poge asked.

  "Sounds like a party,” Adera said. "Hope you like to dance.”

  Abandoned homes sat on deserted streets, the hedges and gardens untended and forgotten.

  "Where's the party?" Adera wondered aloud.

  "There's no one here but there is music coming from the center. Maybe they are all gathered there,” Poge said. She led them down the streets following the sound of the blaring music.

  In the center of town, thousands had gathered. They found streets filled with smiling, laughing people dancing to musical pipes and percussions. The music was live, but the sound was made louder by some kind of mechanical system that carried it beyond the edges of town.

  There were people of every race and land of Bolaji, just as they’d hoped. Green, white, black, red, and purple. People eating and drinking filled the streets as they danced to music that blended from one song to the next.

  Adera was already humming along.

  “I guess this is the place,” Poge said with a smirk.

  "I'm sorry, I know this. It's a song of my people."

  "It's fine. I wonder what they're celebrating,” she said, looking around for someone to ask.

  The two arriving together didn't have to wait long to get noticed. Adera stood out like an extra thumb. People in the streets had gathered flora and decorated themselves and the road with them. One by one, people brought her flowers in every color and variety. First, it was a stem here and there. Then more and more. All of them singing to her, welcoming her in her own Majiwan language.

  “Welcome here, Majiwan woman, stay around if you can.” Each person repeated and harmonized the phrase as they rode on.

  “What is this place?” Poge asked a man from Tero.

  “You are welcome here, sister. This is the
city center.” He swept a hand behind him.

  “What is this celebration we’ve interrupted?”

  “Celebration? Oh no, you misunderstand, this is a daily dance to show our thankfulness to the deities of all here for the blessings of unity we get to experience.” The Tero danced off, his arms reaching for the sky.

  “That’s probably the strangest thing I’ve ever seen,” Poge said.

  Adera warmed to the their welcome and sang along to the song herself. A young man with white skin and white hair approached Adera and lifted her off of the beast, twirling her around. She laughed and held on to his shoulders as he spun her.

  “She’s arrived. The mermaid has arrived!” He shouted. Several others came over and joined him in welcoming her. They pulled the hat from her head. Men and women surrounded her, touching her hair. The people surrounding her were all excited to see her, but why?

  A young woman removed her bright orange hat and placed it on Adera's head, covering her ears. Another man pulled brown hand coverings out of his pockets and placed them on her hands. Someone she didn't see draped a long brown cloak over her shoulders.

  “Like me, are there no others—mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers?” Adera sang.

  “None, like you fair and princess divine, but they will all be welcomed here and will be in due time.” The white haired one who had taken her spoke with a freedom and ease in her language that Sanee had struggled to attain.

  “There is another I’m longing to see. His skin is red. Where might he be?” Adera said to him.

  “There are many brown, green, and red here, follow me and I’ll show you, my dear.”

  “Adera, wait!” Poge cried out.

  Adera looked up in time to see the crowd between them had grown. The man with the white skin and hair was introducing her to the others. Like an ocean, the crowd moved in waves. She rode the familiar movement until she reached the center. Here, the music pumped so loud, her bones rattled.