Princess Electra Book 4 School of Medicine

by Dory Lee Maske

  Chapter 45

  Manoa

  Serafina took a seat for breakfast at her usual table in the dining room of the inn. The innkeeper came by with a cup of jasmine tea for her.

  "We still have some of the cod you brought in yesterday if you would like that for breakfast," he said in a cheerful voice.

  "That would be fine," Serafina replied. "I would like to borrow your wheelbarrow this morning."

  "My wheelbarrow?" The innkeeper let out a hearty laugh. "Just how big a fish are you planning to catch today?"

  Serafina joined in the laughter with an old woman's cackle. "Not that big." She wiped imaginary happy tears from her eyes. "I plan to buy some flowers in the marketplace."

  "Flowers?"

  "I want to help out a friend who sells flowers. I plan to buy all she has."

  "You are a kind and generous lady. I'll send a boy along with you to help bring them up the hill."

  "Send him along later. I'll leave the wheelbarrow by the flower stall. You can use the flowers to brighten things up a bit here."

  "Kind and generous to a fault," the innkeeper said. "I've never known such an unselfish person." The innkeeper walked away shaking his head in disbelief.

  After breakfast Serafina pushed the innkeeper's wheelbarrow down the hill to Rose's flower stall. Today was Friday, the day Henry, the elderly servant at White Cliffs Island, rowed to Manoa for his week's supply of groceries and his weekly visit to the tavern for a pint of ale. For her plan to work, Serafina needed to reach White Cliffs Island before Henry set out for Manoa.

  Rose heard the wheelbarrow heading in her direction and looked up with a curious expression.

  "Good morning," Serafina said.

  "Serafina, is that you with a wheelbarrow?" Rose asked, listening intently.

  "It is," Serafina said, chuckling. "Are you sure you are blind? How did you know I had a wheelbarrow with me?"

  "You always make me laugh," Rose said. "I would have to be deaf as well as blind not to know." She tilted her head, thinking. "I give up. Why are you pushing a wheelbarrow?"

  "I have come to buy all the flowers in your shop." She placed a gold coin in Rose's palm.

  "Surely you jest." She ran her finger over the surface of the coin. "Why would you need so many flowers?"

  "I am doing a favor for the innkeeper. He is having a big celebration of some sort today at the inn."

  "How kind of you," Rose said. "But all my flowers? This has never happened before. I do not know what I will do for the remainder of the day."

  "I thought you might say that," Serafina said as she loaded the flowers into the wheelbarrow. "As it happens I have a surprise for you."

  Serafina took Rose's hand and led her away from the stall.

  "But the flowers," Rose exclaimed.

  "The innkeeper's boy will be down to wheel them back," Serafina said in a soothing voice.

  Rose walked along with Serafina, excited but also a little apprehensive.

  "We are heading toward the dock?"

  "Yes. Very good. How are you able to tell?" Serafina's voice was full of wonder.

  Rose smiled and relaxed a little. "The salt smell, the feel of the boards under my feet. The cries of the gulls."

  "Wonderful. And now?" Serfina asked.

  "I feel the damp of the sea and hear the waves lapping against the pilings."

  "Extraordinary. And now we are here at your surprise. Step carefully."

  Rose put one tentative foot forward and felt the boat slide away in the water. "A boat? We are getting on a boat?"

  "Yes. A sailboat. I am taking you fishing with me."

  Rose drew her foot back onto the dock. "I don't know. I have never fished before."

  Serafina took her hand. "You do not need to fish. You can just enjoy the bobbing of the waves and the smell of the sea. If you change your mind and wish to try your hand at fishing, you can have a turn with my fishing pole."

  Rose took a deep breath of the moist air. Her face showed her excitement as her reservations faded away. "I will, then. This is quite an adventure for me."

  Serafina anchored at her usual spot just off White Cliffs Island and threw out her line.

  "Do you enjoy the taste of fish?" she asked Rose.

  Rose trailed her finger in the water, captivated by the rolling motion of the boat. "I do occasionally, but you must keep any fish you catch. I am content to enjoy the day."

  Serafina caught a fish but quietly removed the hook and set it free when she saw the elderly servant, Henry, walking toward the dock on White Cliffs Island.

  He glanced at the two women in the anchored boat. He was used to seeing the sailboat anchored off shore by now and gave only a slight nod in their direction as he pushed his boat into the water.

  Serafina threw her empty hook back into the water, relaxing against the side of the boat as she quietly lifted an oar from the bottom of the boat.

  As soon as Henry passed the sailboat a loud bumping noise followed closely by a scream brought him to a stop. He quickly turned his craft around to see what had happened.

  The sailboat lay on its side in the water and the two women were thrown overboard, hanging on to the mast.

  "Help, please," Serafina called out. "We've been rammed by something big."

  Henry rowed toward them as fast as he was able.

  Serafina pushed Rose up and over the low rail of the rowboat with a little help from Henry.

  "Be careful. She is blind. Help her to find a place to sit," Serafina said.

  The row boat was barely big enough for two, let alone three.

  "I'll just hold on to the side of the boat until we get to shore," Serafina said.

  Henry looked back toward the shore where the two guards were already running toward the beach. It was unclear whether they were there to help or to keep them off the island.

  As Henry rowed slowly to shore, the two guards waded out to meet him.

  "You know we cannot allow them ashore," one of the guards shouted in a gruff voice.

  "For Mercy's sake," Henry replied. "One is blind and the other an old woman."

  The two guards looked unsure. "Wait here. We will ask Tristan," the second guard yelled as he ran toward the house.

  A few minutes later, a young man ran out from the big plantation house further up the beach. The young man was a handsome, fit man with one obvious aberration. Most of his face was covered with a dark reddish purple color—a port wine stain that he had likely had from birth. The stain began half way across his forehead, continued down across his nose and took in most of his mouth and chin. It looked like a lopsided mask, but one that could not be removed when the masquerade ended.

  "Henry, Ladies, I apologize for my guards' behavior." He turned back to his guards. "Quickly now. Help me pull the boat ashore." He offered Rose his hand to climb from the boat and looked more closely at her face when she failed to take his hand.

  Rose was crying. "We are the ones who must apologize to you. We never meant to trespass." She put out her hands to feel her way out of the boat.

  "You are blind?" Tristan asked, watching as she searched the side of the boat with her hands.

  "From birth," Rose replied. "I believe this will be both my first and last adventure at sea."

  "Nonsense. These things happen. Here, let me help you." He did not wait for her to take his hand this time, but grabbed her waist with both hands and lifted her from the boat.

  "You see how it is," Henry whispered to Serafina who was wading to shore on her own. "He does not want anyone to see his face. Other than that he is not such a bad sort."

  "I do see," Serafina said. "I will not mention his defect, nor do I see it as such. He seems a gentleman."

  Henry watched Tristan and Rose walk hand in hand up to the house and turned to Serafina with an astonished expression. "I don't believe I have ever seen him so happy."