Chapter 3
3
Kaley was sitting on a rock. To be fair, the rock seemed to have been cut off at the top to make it into seating. In front of her were plants. Sort of tropical, sort of like a big-leaf forest. She didn’t know which. But then she was so disoriented she might be asleep and dreaming. She felt dizzy and empty-headed. The light seemed to indicate it was late afternoon, but she wasn’t sure who she was, much less where she was, and certainly not when .
A man came to stand in front of her. He wore a blue shirt and darker blue trousers. She had no idea who he was—or if he was real.
But then hands reached out to her and she managed a little smile. She’d know those hands anywhere. Jobi. They were the hands that held out dumbbells, strapped her into boxing gloves, readjusted a rifle to her shoulder and showed her how to pull back a bowstring.
In spite of the familiarity, she didn’t look up.
“Feeling weak?” He sounded amused.
She gave a tiny nod.
“You slept through the whole flight so it’s no wonder you’re groggy. Here, let me help you.” He took her left hand, turned it over, and as he did before, he put the blue light of the little tube against the scar on her arm.
Kaley felt a bit of an electrical charge, and with it, life seemed to be coming back into her. She blinked rapidly as the fog in her mind began to clear and she could remember more. “What is this thing you keep putting on my arm?” Her voice was hoarse, as though she hadn’t used it in a long time.
“Magic,” Jobi said. “Straight out of one of your fairy tales.”
“I don’t remember that being in any of them. Dad said aliens from another planet gave me that scar. We have a running joke about it.”
“How clever of him.” Jobi didn’t sound pleased.
Her head came up. “Dad! I saw him as we were about to take off.”
Jobi picked up a box from the ground and handed it to her. On the side in big letters was the word Kansas .
“I think you saw the name and thought it was him. It’s a gift he had delivered to you.”
She started to say that seeing a word on a package and seeing a person were two different things, but she didn’t. She took the package Jobi was holding out.
“Mind if I take care of the baggage? Will you be all right here?”
With every second, Kaley was feeling better, but she wasn’t ready to get up and go exploring. “I’ll be fine.”
After Jobi left, she sat still, feeling life come back to her. She had no memories since they got on the plane in Key West. She thought she’d seen her father, but then Jobi put his little light on her arm, and... That was it.
The box from her father was on her lap. Her hands were shaking as she opened it. Inside was a Leica camera, a little point-and-shoot with a retractable lens. She didn’t know much about cameras but it didn’t look too difficult. Besides, it was very cute. It was easy to slip in a battery and she was glad to see that her father had charged it. In the bottom of the box was a sprig of dried rosemary. She and her father loved the smell and they grew a lot of it around the farm. For a moment, she felt a wave of homesickness, but she recovered. She’d be home soon enough.
She closed the box, then looked around. In front of her was a wide dirt path that curved, with foliage hiding both ends. As a farm girl, she thought how one good rain would turn that path to mud.
With effort, she managed to stand up. She put the camera on the stone and started doing stretches that Jobi had taught her. How long was that flight? she wondered. Her body felt odd, as though she’d just recovered from a long illness.
She had her face against her knees when Jobi returned.
“Good girl. Now push that rock down the path.”
“Ah. The nonexistent humor of a personal trainer. So how is everything?” She started to go the way he’d come, but he caught her arm.
“The bags will be taken care of.” He slipped her arm into his. “Shall we go meet the king?”
“Not like this!” She had on cotton pants, a T-shirt and a denim jacket. “I’ll put on a dress.”
“And a tiara?”
“Of course. The emerald one should do it.”
“Or the diamonds and pearls. Either one.”
They laughed together as they walked.
“Really,” she said, “I would like a shower. I feel like I have moss growing on my skin. How long were we on that plane?”
“Too long,” he said. Before she could ask more, he said, “How about we meet the king tomorrow? Today you can explore and...” He hesitated. “You can meet Tanek.”
“That sounds ominous. Is he a Gandalf?”
Jobi knew who she meant as they’d watched Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit together. “Tanek isn’t an old wizard who makes fireworks.” He still seemed to be laughing at her. “Tanek is—No. I think I’ll let you make your own decisions about him. Now, about the bathing facilities. We have a volcanic pool of perpetually warm water. However, you’ll have to share it with the villagers. We pay no attention to nudity here on Bellis.”
“Ah. Right,” Kaley said hesitantly. “Shaking hands and hugging while starkers? That sounds like fun.”
Jobi squeezed her hand. “How about a tub hand-hewn out of stone? Or a hot shower like a waterfall? In privacy, of course.”
“I do believe I’d like that better. Not to disparage local habits, but still...”
When they rounded the curve in the path, they saw a house—if it could be called that. It was one story and it extended—or rather rambled—so far along that neither end could be seen. There were turrets and sections that went up high, and long, low causeways with glass walls. Windows were everywhere: tall, short, wide, narrow. Some were made of stained glass depicting a menagerie of animals and especially birds.
The low sunlight glinted off the colors of glass. Highly polished metal on the doors gleamed. The never-ending roof was made of red tiles, but not like any she’d ever seen. These had hints of colors that sparkled.
Kaley’s eyes were wide. “Is the old palace bigger than this?”
“Yes. This is barely the guesthouse.” Jobi kept her arm in his and they went forward.
She was glad when they didn’t enter through the main doors. They looked to be twenty feet tall and made of metal. Plus, there were two big, burly men standing in front of them. The men had on dark gray uniforms with brown vests that sparkled. Kaley nodded toward them. “Armed?”
“Oh yes. And very well trained.”
In the next moment, three huge wagons went by. They were pulled by heavy horses, the kind used to advertise beer.
They stood still as the last wagon lumbered by. “That will be our transportation?”
“A smaller version, but yes.” He was watching her reaction.
“Seems like fun.” Her eyes widened. On the far side of the road was a little girl—and she was wearing a red cape with a hood. “Look at that! Is that normal dress for here?”
“I think it’s personal taste.” Jobi sounded cautious.
“I feel like I should warn her that her grandmother is actually a wolf.”
“I thought you wanted new stories.”
The little girl disappeared at the edge of the woods. “It’s habit to see fairy tales everywhere,” she said.
When Jobi put his hand on a door, it beeped and opened. “You’ve been given a private entrance to the king’s little house.”
“It’s good to at last get some respect,” she said, laughing. As they stepped inside, she halted. The outside had been impressive but the inside was breathtaking. The walls of the room they entered were done in enamel, with brilliant colors and designs. “It looks like ancient Persia.”
“Some design ideas may have been borrowed, but I’m not saying who was first or who took from whom.”
The next room was mostly marble in soft shades. The furnishings were covered in silk brocade.
Kaley stopped walking. “Jobi, I’ve seen little of your island but this is magnificent. Why isn’t the whole world clamoring to see this?”
“We’re private people,” he said hastily. “Let’s go to your room. We can—” He stopped and seemed to be listening. She hadn’t noticed the tiny plug in his ear until that moment. “I have to go. The king calls.” They were in a hallway with soft lights and walls a pale ocher color. “Your room is the second one on the right.” He pointed to the end of the hall. “But through there you can go outside. I believe Tanek is out there. If you don’t meet him now, you might not see him until you leave.”
“I take it that’s a hint for me to go.”
Jobi took a step backward. “Up to you.”
“All right. I’ll meet him first, then I’ll hit the shower. Satisfied?”
“Never, but closer. Follow that path. It leads to a lake and he’s there. I’d go with you, but...” Jobi gave a shrug in the direction of the door.
“Royal commands and all that. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Jobi turned and flat out ran down the hall.
“If the king calls, one obeys,” she murmured as she went to the hall door. Her room could wait. It was a heavy door, with a window showing the greenery outside. The door opened easily and she went out.
The air smelled good, clean and fresh. There was a path that gently curved around pretty plants, none of which she recognized. She stepped past a bush with pink flowers and saw a man standing at the edge of a body of water. She assumed he was the guide Jobi had spoken of. He was about Jobi’s age, with sparse gray hair, and he wore a dark jumpsuit with silver snaps. He didn’t appear to be in good physical condition. What if one of those heavy wagons broke down? Could he help repair a wheel?
Kaley covered her concern with a smile and went to him. “Hi. I’m Kaley Arens. You’re going to be my guide?”
For a moment he stared at her blankly, then seemed to understand. “I think you’re looking for Tanek.”
“Yes. Jobi told me he was here.”
“He is.” The man nodded toward the water. “He’s trying to catch those two.”
She turned to see two extraordinary birds silently float into view. They were very large swans, twice the size of any she’d ever seen. But even more remarkable was their plumage. Their bodies were covered with iridescent feathers. They were both silver but one had hints of green, while the other had gold that flickered in the light. They were magnificent creatures.
There was no one near them.
Kaley was looking at them in awe. “Does he ride in on them? A foot on each one, reins around their long necks?”
The man looked at her without understanding.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’ve read too many stories of magic. Where is this guy? Should I go back inside and wait for him?”
The man pointed at the swans. “He’s there.”
The water was glassy calm. She was about to turn away when a tiny ripple appeared just behind the big birds. Slowly, out of the water, a man emerged. His wet hair was very black and hung down almost to his shoulders, emphasizing his trimmed beard and thick, dark eyebrows. His movements stirred the water so little that the swans didn’t seem to be aware that he was there.
Kaley watched the man rising in the water. He didn’t appear to have on any clothes. Honey-colored skin that covered splendid muscles rose up, higher and higher. Only when the water reached inches below his waist did she see the line of what looked to be some kind of loincloth.
The man lifted his long, muscular arms out of the water and slid them over the bodies of the swans, pulling them close.
Kaley gasped. She knew that swans were notoriously bad-tempered and aggressive. If they attacked, the man could be seriously hurt.
To her surprise, the swans curved their long necks around him and snuggled against him in familiarity and love.
“Devils!” she heard him say. There was so much affection in his tone that she wouldn’t have been surprised to hear the swans giggle.
He came toward her, an arm clasped around each swan. As he got closer to shore and the water was more shallow, more of him was exposed. He was truly glorious. Nude except for the loincloth, his legs were heavily muscled. He came out of the water slowly.
He glanced at her with one of those man-appraising-a-woman looks.
Kaley sucked in her stomach and stood up straighter—and silently thanked Jobi for all the grueling workouts he’d put her through. She was glad she no longer had an “academic body.”
The man gave no indication of approval or not. His interest was in the swans. He led the huge creatures to the man in the jumpsuit, then slipped pretty leashes on their necks. To protect the older man? she wondered.
Once the birds were busy, he walked toward Kaley. He didn’t seem the least perturbed that he was 90 percent naked. He was tall, over six feet, and every square inch of him was wet and glistening. His eyes were the color of sapphires.
“You want to go to Selkan?”
Great voice , she thought. “Yes. Jobi said...” She trailed off because he’d flung his wet hair to the side and was twisting it into a knot at the back of his head. All she could do was stare.
He slipped on a loose white shirt. When one of the swans squawked, he quickly went to them.
Kaley watched as he calmed the silver swan. His hands on the bird were caressing, and he was talking in a low, gentle, soothing voice.
“I see you’ve met Tanek,” Jobi said from beside her.
From his tone, she knew he was teasing her. She probably looked like a preteen at a boy-band concert. She started to defend herself, but then gave a one-sided smile. “Can I keep him? I promise I’ll take care of him, and I’ll exercise him every day. Twice.”
Jobi gave a snort of laughter, then slipped his arm into hers. “Let him get dressed and we’ll meet at dinner.”
“You don’t think he’ll need any help getting ready, do you?”
Jobi shook his head as he smiled in what appeared to be satisfaction.
She halted and squinted her eyes. “You aren’t matchmaking, are you? Fixing me up with some island guy so I’ll stay here?”
“Why would I do that?” he asked innocently. “Why would I want my best friend to stay with me forever?” He didn’t wait for her answer. “Tomorrow, the king has a proposition for you.”
“To be his two hundredth concubine? Tell him stories every night so I’m not executed?”
Jobi laughed. “Not quite, but he does plan to foot the bill for your travel. You’ll have the best our country has to offer.”
“That sounds good. And it’s horses and wagons?”
“Yes. But the king’s carriage is shiny and cushioned. And you’ll have guards.”
“I’m not sure Swan Boy needs them. He looks like he can handle anything on his own.”
“I dare you to call him that to his face.”
“No, thanks. So lead me to the shower, please. I feel like I have years of grunge to wash off.”
“Three years’ worth,” Jobi said softly.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing. Let’s go to your room.”