A Path Toward Home (The Annals of Avonea) (16 page)

“I didn’t mean it that way. Sword fighting is something ladies don’t in Avonea.”

“And why not?” Constance asked, crossing her arms while lifting one eye brow.

Look Constance, do you really want to get into an argument before you leave?

“Drinian, you do remember that you said that my wish was your command. Are you going to back down from your promise?”

Drinian rolled his eyes. “Alright I'll teach you after supper, but I have no idea why you are so determined.”

“It will be something I can do that other girls can’t!

“I see. But wait, we have another problem. We only have one sword, and you must have two swords to duel.”

“Well, I’ve already arranged to borrow Woodphere's sword for the evening.”

Drinian shook his head, while thinking
somehow she always gets her way as t
hey made their way down the hill. He retrieved the hamper and spread a red cotton blanket on the ground. “So what did the cooks prepare for this special occasion?” Constance asked, as she sat down.

“Well, we begin with an appetizer of bacon wrapped around a piece of brie cheese. The main course is fried chicken, and for desert apple cobbler. We have ice spiced apple tea to drink. I hope you like it.”

“It sounds delicious, thank you.”

After Drinian said a brief heartfelt prayer, Constance hastily took a large bite of chicken, expecting it to be salty and warm. She spluttered and her face started to turn red.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you that I like my chicken heavily seasoned with hot peppers and red pepper marinade,” Drinian said apologetically.

Constance tried to smile, but her mouth felt as if it were on fire!

Could you please pour me some tea?

“Here's your drink. I do hope that you enjoy the meal since the head chef prepared it.”

Constance seized the drink from Drinian and drank it in three gulps as Drinian looked at her strangely.

“That tea is really good, could I have some more please.”

Drinian took her cup again, and refilled the glass. While Drinian was looking away, Constance quickly tossed the remainder of her chicken into the brush.

“My, you must be hungry,” Drinian said, noticing that Constance’s plate was completely empty, without even a chicken bone.

“You know I've never seen a person eating their chicken along with the bones,” Drinian commented smiling.

Constance couldn’t hide the guilty look that crept across her face.

“Maybe you'll like the bacon wrapped cheese better,” Drinian replied.

Constance took a bite of the bacon wrapped cheese.

“Well..?”

“Perfect,” She replied, tasting the salty bacon and melted cheese together with a tasty marinade.

“I'm glad you at least enjoyed something.”

“So what awaits you back in Canada, besides your family?”

“Not much, I only have my aunt and uncle. I may go to a university to study someday. First though, I'll have to find work and save enough money to pay for it.”

“Do you need money?” Drinian asked.

“I'll figure out something when I get back,” Constance replied, as she fingered a button thoughtlessly.

“Here Constance, take this,” Drinian said, handing her a pouch of money.

Constance eyes grew wide. “Drinian I can't accept this; you already gave me your mother’s necklace.”

“Do you wish to hurt my feelings? If you don't take it, I'll have to order you to.”

“And if you order me to have it, I would give it to someone else.”

Drinian sighed, and looking very depressed.

“Drinian, you sure know how to make a girl feel bad. Alright, I'll take it then.”

Constance opened the pouch to find Avonean currency.

“Drinian, thank you, but I won't be able to spend it in Canada. The money is different there.”

“You won't have to worry about that. When you arrive in Canada, the money will instantly turn into your type of money.”

“How do you know that?”

“Woodphere told me. How he found that out, I don't know.”

“Hmm .., well anyway come on let’s start my lessons before it starts to get dark,” Constance said, standing up and running to get Woodphere's sword from Dutch.

“What do I do first?” Constance asked, as she returned to Drinian.

“First you have to know how to hold a sword. Please remember I cannot possibly teach you all the tricks of sword fighting in one day, so you will have to be content with the basics.”

“That's fine with me.”

Drinian tenderly helped direct Constance’s hands in position on the sword.

“Alright, now lift up your sword and slowly swing it in the air, and try not to kill yourself,” Drinian instructed smiling.

“Thanks for having such confidence in me,” Constance remarked as she swung the weapon in the air.

“Very good, now try a little harder.”

Constance obeyed, swinging the sword vigorously.

“Be careful, you almost beheaded me!”

“I'm sorry Drinian, are you alright?” Constance asked, slightly smiling.

“Well, if I wasn't I would certainly let you know you. Unless of course, my head was rolling on the ground.”

“Drinian, that’s disgusting! Come on, let’s try that again.”

“Maybe we should try a different lesson. I'll hold my sword while you try to strike it. I don’t think that will be quite as dangerous for either of us.

****************

The sun had gone down and Constance and Drinian could hardly see as they made their way back to the palace. It had been such a memorable time together, and the stars above their heads were very bright and beautiful in the night sky

“I wonder why your stars seem so close. The stars in my world only look like diamond dust,” Constance whispered, as she observed the wonder above her.

“Maybe your world is not as close to the stars as mine.”

“You may be right,” she replied.

They continued on in silence until they reached the palace.

“Thank you Drinian for such a good time,” Constance said, as she got off her horse.

“I had a grand time also. Thank you for coming with me,” Drinian replied, as he stepped down from his horse. “I'll take care of Dutch for you. You can go on inside and get some sleep.”

“Alright, see you in the morning,” Constance replied with a yawn.

The Circle of Return

The morning sun glistened brightly upon the frosted ground. Constance arose from her bed and peered out her large window at the sparkling blue ocean. What a gorgeous sight it was! She reluctantly put on her old clothes she was wearing when she first entered Avonea. They weren't nearly as pretty as the ones she had enjoyed here.

Constance walked down into the foyer where she met Woodphere.

“Good morning, Constance,” Woodphere greeted.

“Good morning, Woodphere. Where's Drinian?” Constance asked.

“I don't know. He should be coming any time though, but I'll go look for him.”

Woodphere left the room and Constance was left alone. While admiring the room one last time, she turned to see an odd looking vase sitting on the table behind her. It was green, and the strangest looking thing with holders for individual flowers.
It was more like an octopus than a vase
.

“Isn’t that an interesting vase?” came a voice from behind her.’

Constance, startled by the voice, turned and bumped the vase from the table. It fell to the floor and shattered into a hundred pieces!

“Well that was, a most interesting vase,” Drinian commented.

“I sure hope it wasn't expensive!”

“Do not worry about it; it was only worth two hundred shillings.”

“Two hundred shillings! I'm sorry for being so clumsy.”

“Like I said, do not worry about it. I didn’t really cared for it that much anyway.”

Constance showed a hint of a smile at Drinian's remark.

“We must now be off and get this young lady back to her uncle,” Woodphere said.

“Do you have the map?” Drinian asked, as he opened the palace door.

“Indeed I do Your Majesty. It would be very foolish to proceed otherwise.”

“Do we have to cross any more swamps, or dangerous woods?” Constance asked.

“No, we are past all of those. We will have to cross a gorge,” Woodphere replied.

“A gorge!" Constance exclaimed, for secretly she had a fear of heights.

“Woodphere, I thought you asked me to either pick the gorge or the swamp, not both?” Drinian asked as he rubbed his chin.

“Ah, this is not the same gorge. That gorge was two hundred feet deep, this one is only seventy feet down.”

“As if that makes a lot of difference to someone who's afraid of heights,” Constance muttered as she walked out the door.

****************

They had traveled less than an hour when they reached the swinging bridge. Constance got off her horse and looked down into the gorge. Below her ran a rushing river scattered with huge sharp boulders.

“How far is it to the bottom?” Constance asked.

“Do you really want to know?” Drinian asked as he tied the horses up to a nearby tree.

“No, not really.”

“I'll go first, then Constance, and then you Woodphere.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Remember whatever you do, do not look down,” Woodphere warned as Drinian gingerly stepped onto the bridge. Each board was loose and the bridge was slightly swaying in the breeze.

“Drinian, please be careful.”

“Do not worry, I will be fine.”

Drinian advanced steadily until one of the boards that he stepped on suddenly split and collapsed!

“Drinian!”

Drinian caught himself and hung onto the rope tightly. Constance watched as he made his way onto the next board.

“And what were you saying about having everything being fine?” Constance asked.

“Would you like to be the one testing the bridge?”

“No.”

“Then don't criticize me.”

Drinian finally made it to the other side. Now it was Constance’s turn. Carefully she took a step onto the bridge as it made a creaking sound that sent a shiver down her spine. Each step forward the bridge sagged more, and began to swing violently. Constance kept worrying
that a board may break, or I might lose my balance and fall on the sharp boulders below
.

“Constance why are you slowing down! Keep on coming, you’re going to make it!” Drinian spoke encouragingly.

“I wish I had more confidence.”

Finally Constance made it across and gave a sigh of relief.

“Well congratulations, you have survived!”

“Now we have to pray that Woodphere crosses safely. I think I could feel the bridge starting to give way.”

Woodphere stepped onto the bridge and grabbed the railing to steady himself. As he moved ahead step by step Constance could hear the bridge creaking.

“Woodphere do be careful. I think the bridge is going to …..” Suddenly the bridge gave one last agonizing creak and collapsed into the gorge! Constance closed her eyes and screamed as she saw Woodphere go down with the bridge. Drinian shouted to Woodphere in dismay as he ran to the edge of the gorge, but there was no sign of him anywhere.

Drinian dropped to his knees as he sobbed uncontrollably. Constance wept silently as she walked over to Drinian and lay a hand on his shoulder.

“I... I shouldn’t have let him cross that bridge!”

“It wasn't your fault Drinian,” Constance cried as she quickly knelt down beside him, hugging him warmly.

“I can't bare it! He was a second father to me, and now he's gone so quickly.”

Constance and Drinian held each other and cried for several minutes until they heard a distant sound.

“Constance, do you hear that?” Drinian asked lifting his bloodshot eyes.

“Yes, Constance nodded, wiping away tears.

The sound became louder until they recognized it as Woodphere's voice.

“Help!”

Drinian and Constance quickly ran to the edge of the gorge. Below Woodphere was desperately clinging to a piece of railing. It was barely holding to the only support post remaining!

“Woodphere!” Drinian called, looking down at his friend.

“I'm alright, but hurry and help me up. I've been hanging here while you two were crying over me. I tried to yell but you couldn’t hear me.”

“I’m sorry, Woodphere. I'll get a rope immediately!”

“Please hurry. I can’t hang on much longer!”

“Oh, Woodphere! I'm so glad you’re still alive!” Constance exclaimed.

“Me too, I am hoping to live a few more years,” Woodphere replied looking up at Constance.

“Here, Woodphere. Can you reach this?” Drinian asked as he threw the rope down to him.

“Yes, I’ve got it.”

“Now, on the count of three Constance and I are going to pull you up.”

“Be careful and do not hurt yourselves. I'm heavier than you think.”

Drinian and Constance pulled with all their might. After several minutes of struggle, Woodphere, sore and bruised, was brought to safety.

“Woodphere are you alright?” Constance asked, running over to him and giving him a light hug.

“I'm fine now.”

“How did you ever survive?”

“When the bridge started to go, I secured myself and hung on for dear life to the rail. Fortunately, the bridge did not break on both ends.”

“It was truly a miracle.”

“Absolutely,” Woodphere nodded as he gingerly stood up.

*****************

As they continued on Constance decided to ask a question she had been pondering for the past week.

“Drinian, I hope this doesn’t sound as if I'm prying or being nosy, but what do you really believe about God?”

“That's not a nosy question at all; I was actually surprised that you have not spoken of it sooner.”

“I believe what the Bible says, that God sent his Son in the image of man to die on the cross in your world, and that he's takes all sins away,” Drinian replied.

“So you’re Christian?”

“If I wasn't a Christian, would I be praying over my food, or talking to God every day.”

“True. So may I ask how did the Bible get here?”

“Sergio Ploonou and his family were strong believers in Christ. They came here after Sergio discovered Avonea, because they felt that they would be free to worship here.”