Thoughts on a Deserted Coast Pt. 01

"Chira sleeps now, I think. I have a wish to hear such a story," he said.

Marishe nodded, "I ... I never knew my mother. I was given to an orphanage in another city on the coast, before it was ruined in the war. "I don't know what happened. Maybe she died, or maybe she was too poor to be able to keep both of us alive.

I'll never know the truth of how it went. Maybe she didn't love me. Once I was older, I thought that maybe I might have done something ... with magic and it frightened her.

The people who ran the orphanage were cruel. They'd beat you for asking a question or looking at them the wrong way - and there wasn't a right way.

They told me that my mother was a whore who hadn't wanted me. I was little then and I didn't know what that meant, but it hurt me a lot. Sometimes, when I was upset, things ... just happened, like I'd move things without meaning to, not touching them from across the room.

They told me that I was evil. They were very religious when it suited them to be. Anyway, one day I did something that I can't even remember now, and they told me that they were going to sell me to be a whore. I was eleven years old.

I'd only just found out what it meant and I was terrified. I ran away and they chased me.

I was running down an alley and I came to the end with nowhere to go. I knew that I didn't have enough time to go back and run another way. I was scared and crying, but then I saw a man lying dead against a wall. I was going to try to hide by lying against him, but when I tried, I felt something and I found a long knife in his jacket.

I took the knife and then the man and the woman were there in front of me, yelling that they were going to kill me.

I ... I don't really know what happened then. I held the knife and I said some words that I heard in my head and there were many knives in the air at once, all flying toward those two people.

They fell to the ground dead and while I stood leaning against the wall, all of the knives disappeared! The only one left was the one still in my hand."

She reached to her belt and drew it out, a gleaming thing with a cruel edge and a long wooden handle, "I've still got it.

I became quite the little she-rogue living in the shit at the bottom of the city. There was nothing that I wouldn't do to survive, not one thing. I found that I could make a lot of money by stealing things for an agreed-upon price.

I hated everyone and everything and I trusted no one. I often thought that for a girl whose own mother didn't love her, I made out alright.

But you can't live like that forever. No matter how you play it, you'll make enemies somewhere on that dark road and I made mine. I knew that I'd gone too far when the same people who often hired me were providing the killers to hunt me for somebody else - people that I'd double and triple-crossed. I played all ends against the middle and they all came together in one huge knife fight.

I was a little cut-up, but I was the only one who walked out of that alley.

But it told me something. There was going to be another night just like that one someday, and another one after that, if I survived it, and another and another. Nobody can live like that and I knew that I'd about used up all of my luck as it was.

When dawn came, all dark and bloody red, I walked out on one of the few piers there that was still standing. I didn't know what to do and for the first time since that day in the alley, I was afraid.

I was eighteen years old and I knew that my life was almost over. There was no way that I'd live to see nineteen. I just stood on the end of the pier crying and looking at the water.

I felt footsteps on the pier after a while. Since I was standing at the very end, I knew that they had to be coming from behind me. I told myself that this was it - that I was going to die there.

I spun around and saw one person, hooded and masked and the only things that I could see were her eyes. I threw a blade with each hand just to start things and see where this would go. I think now that I was just curious about how it was that I'd die. I had no doubt, really.

My blades were already in the air between us. I knew that she had to move and then send me something in return."

She looked at Cynn. "There wasn't enough time for anything else to happen.

But she changed time itself.

She reached back and came up with a bow. She took an arrow from a quiver. She nocked that arrow and drew the bow. It was crazy. It shouldn't have been able to happen like that. She released and her arrow became two arrows and they hit my blades.

I threw two more and then two after that as fast as I could.

She hit every one.

All that I had left was this knife and it's not made for throwing, but if you know how, it can be a pike. I pulled it and was about to slam the end down to make it grow out, but she told me to stop if I wanted to walk away from there breathing.

I didn't know what to do. I just stared at her for the longest time. I'd already seen the crazy way that she could beat me, no matter how fast I tried to move.

She walked toward me then and she pulled down her mask. She said that she'd been hired to kill me, but really, she'd just signed on so that she'd get the information about me so that she could find me more easily.

She wanted to teach me. She asked me if I wanted to learn from her.

She'd heard of me and she knew the road that I was on because she'd been there herself.

She took me to her home and she fed me and bought me clothes. She talked to me and she made love to me.

I fought her at first, doing anything and everything to prove that she was wrong, that there was no way to bend time or shoot a bow the way that she did.

She laughed at me very softly and took me to her bed again and again until I had no arguments left.

When I was ready to believe her, she took me to a place that had once been a huge place with plants. She taught me how then.

We stayed together for three years and together, we removed everyone who wanted a piece of either one of us to hang on their wall.

She told me that I'd have to leave one day soon, and when I asked why, she said that there was a war coming and that where we were would most certainly be destroyed. She told me who was coming and that they'd ruin the whole world before they were done.

The last thing that she said to me was that I should always hold myself to the honor that she'd always known was in me - just as she'd known that I was the only one that she'd ever be able to teach these things.

As I was about to walk away into the dustlands, she told me that she hoped we'd meet again in the middle of the coast, once there was no more war."

Marishe nodded slowly, not wishing to disturb Chira, "That was a long time ago now. I found my way to Beach Colony and I've heard of nothing but the destruction of other colonies.

There is no middle to meet her in other that right here. I doubt that she's even still alive anymore. But I'm still here and my heart is still empty."

He nodded, "So I take it that you like only other females?"

She shook her head, "Not at all. That was then.

I suppose that I was a little idealistic about it back then, you know, declaring it and ruling out the possibility of there being any other way to go.

I'm not one of those 'This way or nothing' girls, though. Probably because there was a long time when all I had was a lot of nothing."

She smiled a little then, "I doubt that it will change anything for me, but you have at least one friend here - besides me, Cynn.

Miyarra-Loukh was the one who sent me to meet you and bring you here. Since she told me about the satchel, I'd say that she knows about your fears for Chira.

I'd say that you're probably important to her and I have hopes that she can help you. I've only just met the two of you, but I think that I'd give a fair bit to know that my little sweetheart here is going to be alright. But right here, she's got the best chance on this side of the world in Miyarra-Loukh."

She smiled, "We used to be lovers once, you know.

I think that it was more mutual admiration than real love, but it's true. She was the one who showed me what I love most of all in bed - and it's not her, by the way. We just bump into each other socially now and then and it's always nice if there's a bed handy after we've shared a few drinks."

He seemed to find that a little funny and he laughed, "When I knew her, she was only called Yarra. They hadn't given her the 'Mi' appellation yet. She was working as a priestess and had been sent to Stone Mountain in error. The old priestess had died and my brother had arranged that a replacement be sent for our temple.

He was a fool of course, and never had the thought to specify that the new priestess be a Bishran. It led to some hilarity when she arrived. My brother immediately tried to seduce Yarra. The more that she spurned him, the more public he became in his attempts.

I found it very gratifying to watch his final humiliation at the end when Yarra revealed that she couldn't possibly find the time to endure his boorish and pathetic attempts - because while it had been going on, she'd been successful at seducing me in a matter of minutes."

He sighed, "It was the best summer of my youth."

He seemed to remember something, but while he looked curious, he would have said nothing.

Marishe caught his expression, "I'd say that you're now dying a little to know just what it is that I like the most."

He laughed softly for a moment, "I can admit to wondering what it is that might stir the heart of one who can fascinate me as you seem to be able to do so easily."

She laughed a little, "Charmer.

Mostly, I live with another woman these days. We love to laugh at everything. I'm not really what she'd want for her heart and she's not completely what I'd ache for always, but it's what we have and se care for each other.

My real desire would be for somebody like you, Cynn. A good Bishran male would be my heart's desire for the long go. But other than meeting a few at parties and like that, I've never met any where there's ever been anything mutual to it.

I'm bigger than a lot of them and they don't like that. I'm also known to get murderous in my job every once in a while and the males around here don't seem to be able to handle a strong female. I've met a few on the road in my travels and even pulled some out of a nasty scrape now and then.

She smirked, "It's a little amazing to me how those ones look away faster than anything if they see me on the street.

Me, I'm nobody. I'm just a guard and a hunter. I'm not even worth giving a last name to.

She smiled then, "I'd tell you that I can fight, but not after I watched you. I'm still good with a dagger or a fast blade and I'm just a witch with a bow," she chuckled.

"I guess I'm ok with a sword. It was something of an honor to have watched a master work as you did. It was so good to see, though I'd have preferred it in a less life threatening situation for you two."

He stopped and she looked at him.

"You are a fighter," he said, "A beautiful one who does not carry a bow and three swords at once on only the chance that a lost traveler from somewhere far away might come over the hill and need to borrow one.

I have met only one Sangan in my life before, but I knew you as one. I only did not know that I would meet one who can almost make me fall to my knees with her loveliness."

She smiled, "You almost fell to your knees because your leg is hurt, but thank you."

Chira stirred then and lifted her head. "My little friend is awake," Marishe smiled.

Chira nuzzled her face against Marishe's jaw and asked a question.

Cynn told her and she tried it, but the nearest that she could come was "Ma-eesh" and Marishe didn't mind.

"I do not know what will happen to Chira and I in the next while," Cynn said, "but I would want very much to see you again, Marishe."

The guard nodded, "I'd like that very much, Cynn.

But I know the way that things go in my life, most times. I know enough about myself to know that fortune is something that I own only when I'm holding a bow. The rest of the time ..."

She shook her head, "No, I just haven't got it.

Look um, I'll try to tell you how I think this will go here. I'm going to assume that Miyarra-Loukh will have my little dancer here all fixed up in no time. But after that and even before then, Cynn - you're somebody important, I'd guess to the sorceress and others.

You were a prince, but really, the truth is that you're a king and I'm holding the smallest, sweetest little princess that I can imagine. I just hope that I get my heart back from her at some point.

So you guys will be well taken care of.

I'm a guard.

I doubt that we'll ever see each other again, but I am glad that I met you today and I'm so happy that I met Chira and was able to help.

There's the gates up ahead. Come on, I want to see your lives improve really quickly before I step out of them.

She took him through the gate and asked her partner to finish the watch, saying that she'd try to arrange things so that their replacements could come a little early this one time. The other one nodded and bowed to her.

"You are not only a guard here, are you, Marishe?" he asked quietly as she helped him along afterward.

"No," she said.

"Only no?" he asked, "Please, you have saved my life, not that I have anything anymore. By the change in your voice and by what I see in your face, I feel that I must have offended you somehow with my prying questions. I must now know why so that I can make my apologies properly. I had no wish to offend."

She was uncomfortable then and she shook her head, "You haven't said or done anything wrong, Cynn. I like you and I have since before we even spoke to each other. I just ... "

She sighed. "I just know that you're important somehow and I'm a guard. Only important people have last names around here. I'm just Marishe. It ought to tell you where I stand in the scale of things here."

He stopped again and she groaned, "Look, could we please just keep going? We've still got a long way to go to where they'll fix your leg up for you.

I want to go home now. It's not a castle or a palace. It's an old cave that is about to collapse, probably when I'm asleep and kill me. They'll have to get themselves a new guard when that happens."

He nodded, "I see that you do not like me and I am sorry that I trouble you this way. Please lead me to where you say that I must go."

He drew his hand back, "I can manage the walk myself if we go a little slowly. We do not have to waste more time and I will ask nothing more of you. Please give my daughter back to me."

She was angry with herself then.

She'd been angry with herself even before, telling herself that the one time that she'd ever met a prince in her life, he was like someone out of a dream to her.

But he wasn't a prince anymore, not that it mattered to her. No doubt he was important to somebody here and so she hadn't wanted to get into anything, even a conversation which might remind her too much of her life - which had already happened, thank you very much.

But she hadn't meant to cause him to feel the way that she obviously had.

She stopped and he groaned, not having been prepared for it. She apologized and tried to explain until he understood that talking about her life - which from her point of view had been a wasted one - had affected her mood. They ended up sitting on some rocks in the cavern. He listened as she tried to explain and she still apologized.

"Look, Cynn, I'm very sorry," she said, meaning it, "I'm not one of those really moody girls. I'm a girl who thinks those ones need a good swift boot up their asses so that they remember what they have. I just know the way that my life goes, that's all, and the realization of that right now wasn't something that I wanted to think about."

She felt Chira playing with her hair, so she leaned her head into her's and kissed her without thinking about it or really meaning to. It had just been automatic in her.

Chira chittered happily and snuggled against Marishe as much as she could and the guard felt a little worse inside for it and the way that she saw that Cynn had noticed it. She set Chira down after another minute.

"The best that I'm gonna get out of this - and I mean at most - is that sometime not too long from now, I'll bump into somebody while I'm just doing my very boring job. They'll mention in an offhand way while they gossip that the prince from another land is doing well and his little girl is all better.

That's it. Even though I'd be very happy to hear it because I do like you both very much."

"So," he said, trying to work it out, "You like me and I like you. You are not rich and covered in jewels, or from a high family."

She blinked and then nodded, "That's about right."

"I have never liked those ones where I am from," he said, looking around at the inside of the cavern, "They are much too important.

It is not true, but it is to them. And also, they are dead now. I am not important either. In fact, as I am now, sitting here with you, I am closer to being nothing than you, Marishe."

"But you're a prince," she objected and he laughed.

"No longer true," he smiled, "Even when I was ... well, the first prince gets the crown when the king dies, yes?"

Marishe nodded carefully.

"I am not the first prince," he said.

"The second prince gets the land, a lot of it, anyway, and from that, he gets a lot of gold. I am not the second prince.

The third prince is given a position among the priests, who chant a lot and wave smoking pots around to impress the people who have a lot of faith in the gods. He gets power and gold and probably as many of the acolytes in his bed as he might want."

"But you're not the third price?" she asked and he shook his head. "No and I have always been a little sad over the acolyte part. My brother was an idiot and didn't deserve them."

"So which prince are you?" she asked.

He shrugged, "I am the seventh prince. And I am the son of a seventh prince, though he got the crown in his time."

She looked over, "How?"

Cynn shrugged, "With a lot of quiet murder, how else?"

They laughed over it and she found that she felt a little better for it.

"So what did you get?"

He smiled that brilliant smile of his and he held up his fist, closed upwards. He flicked open his fingers and there was a ball of brilliant blue flame there burning very slowly.

"Well," he sighed, "I am the one the legends spoke of long ago in my land. I am the seventh son of a seventh son. I have some power."

He looked down, "But I did not have enough to keep all of those things off my neck while I ran."

Marishe suddenly had a thought and she looked over at him, "I wanted to ask before. How many of them were chasing you exactly?"

He looked thoughtful, "Exactly? I cannot say.

But I found the last of the army which ruined my lands and killed all of my kind."

He looked down, "Sadly, I was too late to save more than one of the people. It is something that I will never be able to forget."

He smiled and laid his hand on his daughter's shoulder, "But the one that I had the greatest fortune to find is enough for me now."

He looked around, "I am glad that we are here now. I was not sure that I was going in the right way anymore."

She smiled a little, "You didn't know where you were going?"

He shook his head, "Not with an army after me and after two hundred and thirty-four days, no. I thought that I might be getting near to the coast."

"Well," Marishe smiled, "This is Beach Colony - it's all that's left of a large coastal city."

He stared at her, "Really?"

She nodded smiling a little, "You should try to get out more - I mean, not with an army after your bottom. What I mean is, just to look around and travel. That's what I do, when I get time away from being a guard."