Island of a Thousand Springs

by Sarah Lark

  “There you go,” Akwasi said to his wife. “She wants Tally. Or would Robby be better?”

  Another, somewhat shorter man that was also one of Princess’s night escorts stepped forward and licked his lips.

  “I want Christian,” Princess insisted, confused. “One of two Christian?”

  The people in the village square laughed. Many of the original Spanish slaves prayed to the Holy Trinity, but it was always alongside the other Obeah gods and spirits. No one would have identified as Christian.

  “She can wait until Nanny returns!” Máanu insisted. “And Tally and Robby can build huts in the meantime. Then she can take the one that has the nicest hut!” That was also seemed to be a selection criterion in certain African tribes.

  “I want Christian!” Princess repeated. “But where to sleep if no house?”

  Nora furrowed her brow. She didn’t quite know what to make of the girl. Princess had probably been a house slave — even if she only had a master and didn’t live in a household with a wife and children. She also couldn’t have come from a plantation — no one from a plantation would have been afraid to spend a few nights outdoors. Well, she said she was from Kingston … Nora would have liked to meet the new reverend who was baptizing the slaves. But now she first had to look after this girl who was completely helpless. And hope that Máanu would support her.

  “You can stay with me,” she said softly. “Until Nanny is back.”

  Princess beamed — and something like joyous recognition came over her face. It surprised Nora, as freed slaves were usually wary of the white woman.

  “Your husband not mind?” she asked.

  Nora gazed over at Akwasi. “My husband is in charge of the queen’s affairs.” She spat the words out.

  “But you Christian?” Princess made sure.

  Nora nodded, even though she had recently been having her doubts. Neither God nor his son had been listening to her prayers.

  “I am baptised,” she said.

  Princess smiled happily. “Then I go with Missis!” she alerted Akwasi and the suitors for her hand.

  Tally and Robby immediately began to try to persuade Akwasi. The rest of the unmarried men present, however, realised they had a chance and smiled at Princess eagerly, as she followed Nora through the dispersing crowd. But the girl had no interest in them.

  “I also news for Missis!” she whispered to Nora, who was not listening closely, since she was looking around for her daughter. “So is good that I go with you. God does everything for a reason, say reverend.”

  Nora sighed. “Then let’s hope he’s right,” she said to the woman and smiled when she found her daughter. The little girl had been playing with war paint with Jefe and was covered in chalk and red mud. “Dede, there you are! I can hardly recognize you. Come now, we have to go. We have a visitor, Dede, and her name is Princess! Isn’t that a beautiful name?” She picked up the little girl and Princess looked stunned to see her bright-green eyes after her mother pushed her hair from her face. “Princess, this is my daughter, Deirdre!”

  She did not understand why Princess crossed herself again.

  Akwasi didn’t make an appearance during the night, but Nora hadn’t expected him. Princess was completely exhausted and fell asleep on the floor of her hut, while she was still at the stream with Dede, cleaning off the war paint. Nora let her sleep and waited until she awoke the next morning to the smells of breakfast. She decided to prepare her new friend a “white breakfast.” She didn’t have any dried cod, but she could fry some okra — she still preferred the traditional breakfast of the whites in Jamaica to the beloved legumes of the Africans. She also hoarded a bit of coffee. She cultivated coffee beans on her piece of land and roasted them herself.

  As expected, the smell drew Princess out of the hut. She sleepily stumbled out and crouched down beside Nora at the fire. Sitting on the floor seemed foreign to her and it was clear that she didn’t come from Africa. She had probably been born as a slave. While she sipped her coffee, Máanu suddenly arrived. This came as a surprise to Nora, as Máanu rarely graced her with a visit and never so early in the morning. Nora stayed alert — while Princess marveled at the young woman. Máanu looked impressive and exotic. She wore a colorful caftan; someone had made several braids in her hair and tied them into a tight braid at the top of her head. This emphasised the aristocratic shape of her skull and her face — Nora thought of the legendary Queen Cleopatra once again. However, Máanu seemed anything but happy, and wasn’t holding herself as proudly and confidently upright as usual.

  “I wanted to ask how things are here,” she addressed Nora, and gestured to Princess after having greeted them.

  Nora shrugged. “Ask her, she can speak for herself,” she said. “Whereas I’m still a weak mind-reader. But you know that.” she filled another cup of coffee for Máanu.

  Máanu didn’t deign to look at Princess. Her concern was clearly directed at Nora. “You … you won’t tell the queen, will you?” she asked, quietly.

  Nora furrowed her brow. “What?” she asked. “That Akwasi attempted to hand over a new citizen of Nanny Town as a trophy to an outstanding warrior? The queen should know that. But as you also know, I am not one of her closest confidants.”

  Máanu played with her bracelet. She wore colorful jewelry that a few of the women from made in their spare time.

  “He … he’s not so …” she mumbled, vaguely. “He’s just—”

  Nora looked at her. “Máanu, you don’t need to defend him. I know exactly how he is. Our shared husband is overflowing with self-pity because someone once treated him unfairly as a ten-year-old. And he’s been lashing out for years to get revenge, even though there is really no reason for it. He is highly respected, he gets everything he wants — but no, he still has to put on airs—”

  “He wants to know these men are behind him,” Máanu explained. “They should feel indebted to him if something is … if something is …”

  “If something is what?” Nora asked. “Is he planning a rebellion against Granny Nanny? Or is he afraid that the governor will still send troops and that he has to flee and start another city elsewhere? Or does he just want to buy friends because he doesn’t have any otherwise?”

  Máanu buried her face in her hands. “He’s afraid that they will send you back,” she choked out. “If the contract is signed. Then he can no longer keep you hidden, and if the governor finds out that you’re here he could reclaim you.”

  Nora put down her coffee cup. She stared at Máanu in disbelief.

  “Akwasi would risk an uprising against Nanny to be able to keep me?” she asked, stunned. “But that … my God, Máanu, I simply can’t be that important to him! That’s impossible, he—”

  “He loves you,” Máanu said bluntly. “I have no idea how you did it …” She sighed and then looked blankly from Nora to Princess. “What does a Christian girl do when she wants a man more than anything else?” she asked wearily. “What kind of magic do you have that I do not?”

  Nora suddenly felt sorry for her. But Máanu was not permitted to run with an idea that could ultimately lead to accusations of witchcraft.

  “The only thing that I could do for the man I wanted more than anything else,” Nora said sternly, “was pray. But that was of no use. He died anyway. And I’m sorry, Máanu, but I haven’t really bothered with flirting much more since then. Of course, previously there were a few things that I tried. The way I could let my skirt bob up and down when I walked so that the young men could see a flash of my legs. How I could let the lace slip into my cleavage to give them a look at my bosom … But it has nothing at all to do with magic.”

  “Christians not do magic!” Princess categorically exclaimed.

  Nora shrugged. “I wouldn’t say that. I can still remember the stories of the French court. The mistresses of Louis XIV were accused of more than witchcraft. They were also convicted — wasn’t there something with Madame de Montespan? Or that Madame de Maintenon from Martinique? A
nyway, they were dealing with ugly things, blood sacrifices, murdered children …”

  Princess crossed herself again, while Máanu continued to stare off into space. “I stole a chicken,” she admitted. “For the Obeah man. He promised me an enchantment in exchange. But you got him!” She looked at Nora with that old hate in her eyes. Nora bit her lip. She understood. Now, she finally understood.

  “You sacrificed a chicken to get Akwasi?” she asked. “And instead he — you saw us, didn’t? And you think that your Duppy or his Duppy or—” she broke off. She still couldn’t quite fully understand the thing. “But Máanu, I didn’t do any magic!” she then exclaimed. “I had just had too much to drink and I was lonely and confused … That’s why I didn’t fight him off. I was in love, but certainly not with Akwasi.”

  Princess did not stop making the sign of the cross.

  “Akwasi had also stolen a chicken,” Máanu said suddenly, with an almost inaudible voice. And then got up without going into it any further.

  “Please don’t tell the queen. He’ll have to see one day—” She didn’t say any more.

  Nora nodded to her. “She won’t hear anything from me. But you have to also promise me something. You have taken revenge on me long enough. If Nanny wants to send me back at some point — don’t talk her out of it!”

  Princess moved closer to Nora when Máanu was gone. “You don’t have to wait until Nanny sends you back,” she whispered, conspiratorially. “I not here because I run away. Too much afraid to run away, Backras cut off foot, you know.” She shuddered. “And reverend say good Christians are good servants.”

  Nora was only half-listening. She was still too agitated by what Máanu had told her. So, she had known all along about Nora’s very short affair with Akwasi, and had felt cheated out of her enchantment. It was no surprise that she had been furious. She had risked her life to steal a chicken.

  “I here because Backra Fortnam buy me,” Princess went on and with that, she abruptly got Nora’s full attention.

  “He send me to tell white Missis that he wait. At spring two miles from here. You go to him, white Missis, if you still want him! He bring you home! Here is proof!”

  The pendant from Simon’s old signet ring fell into Nora’s hands.

  Nora looked at it in disbelief. And then she burst into tears.

  CHAPTER 7

  Nora’s heart was racing as she followed the path along the river. She was counting on Akwasi not visiting her that night and went in the cover of dusk. However, no one would stop her. Tolo’s hut was in the clearing along the water. The guards wouldn’t prevent any woman from going there. But Doug could hardly stay hidden at the spring without being discovered by the old baarm madda. Thus, there were three possibilities: Princess was mistaken and she would never find Doug; he had seen Tolo’s hut in time and fled before possibly being discovered — and then it would be just as hopeless; or, Tolo was hiding him.

  The last thought made Nora’s heart beat even faster. Tolo had always been on her side. Perhaps she would even help her escape. She had to know every path around her hut — surely there were ways to get around Nanny Town from above the settlement and then find a way to the northeast coast. There were small towns like Port Antonio and Port Maria where they could find accommodations. Nora didn’t think it would be possible to escape on the direct path to Kingston. The woods there were full of warriors keeping watch as a means of avoiding having to weave or make pottery. There was no way a man, woman, and child would get through unnoticed.

  But would Doug even take her with Dede?

  Nora tried desperately not to get her hopes up. Maybe he had gone straight back when he’d heard that she had long been Akwasi’s wife.

  Doug Fortnam watched the clearing from one of the caves that were above Tolo’s hut. The old woman — and previously Leisure — had not over sold the location. The area was full of ideal hiding places. With a bit of climbing, there were even caves that could serve as a lookout. Doug had been camped out in one for two days — and grew more and more impatient by the hour. Surely it couldn’t be all that difficult for Nora to orchestrate a visit to Tolo. So what was she waiting for? Had Princess not reached her yet? Was she being held captive? Or did she just not want to see him again? The matter of her child made him uneasy. Nora would have to decide if she brought her along or left her in Nanny Town. And no matter what Tolo claimed; perhaps she had long since learned to love Akwasi.

  But then a woman came into the clearing and looked around. She had come from Nanny Town, but did not head purposefully towards Tolo’s hut like the other visitors Doug had seen. And she was smaller than most of the black women. Petite in fact …

  Doug’s heart began to race. He squinted desperately into the twilight. The woman bent down to the pond below the spring. She drank. Doug saw as she took off the shawl that she had wrapped around her head like all of the other women and a full head of curls cascaded down her back. Doug couldn’t quite make out the color, but her hair was lighter than that of the blacks — her skin was also lighter.

  “Nora!”

  Doug managed to suppress a cry, but her name softly escaped his lips. The woman lifted her head as if she’d heard him. Doug stood up and bumped into the top of the cave that was half his height. Then he started climbing down the rocks until he decided it was taking too long. He couldn’t risk her turning back!

  Doug took a deep breath, pushed himself off the side, and dropped into the pond where Nora had been drinking.

  When he came up spluttering, he was looking right into her stunned — and then beaming face.

  “I have often prayed to the gods for your arrival,” Nora remarked, quite calmly. “You took a long time. But the fact that they then let you fall right from the heavens—”

  Doug climbed out of the water and pulled her into his arms. “Heaven is where you are!” he whispered. “Oh God, Nora, how I have longed for you! I thought you were dead—”

  He kissed her and Nora kissed him back as if the last time she had held him were just days before. She had an incredible sense of wholeness and relief. He was there, finally there. A human being. Not a spirit, not a dream, not a figment of her desire. She was finally looking at him, and what she saw was a face that was older and more slender. His smile lines had given way to the ones of worry and strain. But perhaps that was also because of the journey through the wilderness and the anxious waiting. In any case, his hair was as full and bright as before. It was long and curly, hanging down to his shoulders. His smile brought out his dimples that she had so dearly missed. Just like back then, Nora simply had to smile back.

  Doug looked affectionately into her fine, miraculous face, now deeply tanned. And those bright green eyes that he had seen every night in his dreams. Nora was thinner than before, but her body had grown lean and womanly, and Doug could feel her small, firm breasts under her simple blouse. She wore what all common women and slaves wore in Jamaica: a worn-out skirt and blouse. Akwasi didn’t seem to have spoiled his “wife.”

  “You came! But do you also want to leave with me?” Doug asked breathlessly after they had kissed again.

  Nora nodded. “If you take me with you I won’t be coming alone, Doug. Tolo will have told you: I have a child.”

  Doug would have taken Nora with three children. He had never felt as happy and fulfilled as he did on that night in the clearing. He had expected that Tolo would show up to greet her friend, but the old woman did nothing to disturb Doug and Nora’s reunion. It ended up longer and more intimate than Doug ever would have expected. Nora followed him up the rock face to his hiding place almost as a matter of course — she climbed extremely skillfully with bare feet like a native. It would not be easy for her to get used to life as a white missis again — even just the powder that she would need to cover the tan …

  Doug smiled at the thought, but then didn’t think anymore. Instead, he just felt. He was consumed by her love, taking his time to explore and arouse her body again. This time, he had to
be much more careful than on their first night together on Cascarilla Gardens. Nora recoiled when he moved to touch her, to lie with her. Doug spent hours trying to caress and kiss her before she could finally trustingly open up to him again.

  “I should kill Akwasi for what he did to you,” he whispered.

  Nora snuggled up to him. “You might have to,” she said in the soft hair on his chest.

  And then she told him the story of Akwasi and Máanu.

  “He will never let me go voluntarily,” she concluded.

  Doug nodded. He was ready to fight.

  It was morning before the two broke away from each other. Doug watched, as Nora pulled on her skirt and blouse in the first sunlight.

  “Where is the pendant?” he asked dreamily. “The girl did give it to you, didn’t she?”

  Nora nodded. “I was infinitely happy. But … it shouldn’t stand between us.”

  Doug furrowed his brow.

  Nora smiled. “I told you,” she said softly, “about Simon …”

  “And?” Doug asked.

  Nora pulled the pendant from her bag. Of course, she had it with her; she had resolved to never be separated from it again.

  “Don’t you see that it’s a seal?” she asked, softly.

  “You mean what the G stands for?”

  Nora didn’t understand why Doug burst out into loud laughter after a moment’s thought.

  “Oh, Nora!” He could hardly contain himself and playfully pulled her towards him again. “Nora, dearest, I spent five years summoning the wrong spirit!”

  When Nora finally made her way back to the settlement, she was dancing with joy. Everything was going to be fine! Doug was happy to take Deirdre to freedom and Tolo had confirmed Nora’s suspicion: it would not be easy, but there were paths with which they could get past the settlement from above. Of course, they would have to be careful not to run into the arms of Cudjoe or Accompong’s scouts on their way to the northeast coast, but Nanny wasn’t expecting any attack from behind. Above the settlement there were no or very few guards. The only thing that troubled Nora was the hasty departure. Considering Doug’s experiences following Princess and Tolo’s explanation, he had decided to take on the escape on the next day. As long as Nanny and Quao were on the road, the guards were not at their best. Nora suspected that the cunning rebel leaders conducted regular checks, which Akwasi failed to do.