The Wanderers of the Water-Realm (30 page)

“How long will it take for the supplies to arrive and be stored aboard our craft?

The young wisewoman asked anxiously.

“An hour from now and no more” The merchant replied, and Myra sighed with relief for it appeared that nothing could prevent their departure, once the leaking outrigger had been repaired.

The crewmembers sat upon the quay and consumed an impromptu meal of roast ginna tubers purchased from the handcart of a passing food vendor and waited impatiently for the boat repairer to complete his work. Unfortunately, they had barely finished their repast, when the boat-repairer reappeared and declared that the damage to the outrigger was much worse than had previously been suspected, and the craft could not possibly be made river-worthy until the following morning, even if work continued throughout the hours of darkness.

Darryl received the news and was reluctantly persuaded to make the best of a bad situation, but Myra clenched her fists and it was obvious that she was extremely frustrated by this further delay. However, some of the hired crewmembers, including Dromon the boat hand, were far from put out by the news and made no secret of their wish to attend the festival of ‘Persephone.’ The young wisewoman noted this fact, and taking her brother by the hand, she led him into the privacy of the narrowboat’s cabin.

She turned and faced him, brushing back her long red hair as she did so.

“Darryl.” She said. “My intuition tells me that you are about to grant the hands leave to visit the festival, aye, and perhaps go yourself. My advice is that you should confine the men on-board, then keep a good watch on deck and be ready to repel any danger that may threaten us. Finally, we should push off into the river and get away from this place, the very second that yonder boat-repairer has made our craft watertight.”

Darryl did not answer his sister immediately, but paused to wipe the sweat from his brow with a coloured handkerchief.

“Myra, lass,” he said quietly, “you know, well enough, that I value your advice and that I put great store upon your gift of second-sight. But I command this vessel and must give due consideration to everything that concerns both our craft and its crew. If danger does exist, then it cannot be as serious as that ambush on the Exit River.” The boatmaster paused, and took a deep breath.

“I must confess that I find this ‘Island’more peaceable and far less threatening than almost any place we have visited since arriving in the Water-Realm.

No sister, I feel that I cannot risk harming the morale of the crewmembers by confining them aboard this craft, on the unlikely off-chance that some danger might arise before we leave. Therefore, my decision is to allow most of the boat’s company, including George and myself, leave to visit the Festival of ‘Persephone,’ until the second hour after dawn, tomorrow morning and then we shall all depart for Holy Ptah aboard our newly repaired vessel!”

Anger blazed from the wisewoman’s eyes, but she suppressed her rage and gently placed her right hand upon her brother’s chest.

“Strange are the ways of providence.” She said quietly. “You have a gift enabling you to be a leader of men. But you will not follow the advice of one who would shield you from harm!”

“Go to the Festival!” Myra continued. “I will cast a luck-spell to help protect you and I shall remain here with Wilakin to watch over the boat. Yet be sure that you all carry arms and wear full battle garb when you go ashore and, for your lives, do not become separated for a single moment.”

The young witch kissed her brother on the lids of both eyes, and then departed from the cabin without uttering another word.

Darryl watched his sister leave, then he donned his iron studded protective tunic and trousers and buckled on the sword ‘Kingslayer.’ He then strode out into the cockpit of the boat and proceeded to name the members of the crew who were to be allowed ashore. The boatmaster ordered the men to arm themselves, as Myra had suggested; as an afterthought, he revisited the cabin and added a tight fitting iron skull-cap to his military equipment, together with the spiked shield ‘Gutripper.’

George also joined the shore party on the dockside, wearing a protective tunic and trousers and a close fitting helmet. His massive long handled axe rested upon his right shoulder and the murderous butcher’s cleaver hung menacingly from his belt. The other leave-taking crewmembers were also gathered upon the dockside wearing protective clothing. A heavy gill swung from Dromon’s waist, whilst the two young blood-cousins, Tess and Tom-Tess, carried the short boarding pikes that were their favourite close-range weapons. The boatmaster finished by giving firm instructions for the shore party to remain within close proximity to each other at all times. Led by the knowledgeable Dromon, they moved inland towards the scene of the revelry.

The party stepped out briskly, and quickly cleared the dockland area fringing the river. Soon, they began making their way through a district of small cottage type dwellings, each fronted by an ample patch of garden that invariably contained a pen of domesticated do-fowl and a nut laden Thoa tree.

“The homes of common day-labourers,” Dromon explained causally. “Not royal palaces by any means, but far better than anything that land-less river-folk can normally aspire to own!”

The boat hand had hardly finished speaking when a procession of revellers, about five hundred strong suddenly appeared from a side-road and the boat’s company was soon engulfed in a flood of humanity. Fortunately, the crowd were in no way threatening and the travellers where soon at ease in their midst. Even so, the newcomers were amazed by the appearance of many of the individuals who surrounded them.

The procession was made up of members of both sexes, and they ranged in age from adolescents who were undergoing the effects of puberty, to elder citizens with deeply lined faces. But young adults in the fertile years of early maturity were present in overwhelming numbers. All were in various stages of semi-nakedness and their bodies were adorned with freshly cut fronds of crimson vegetation; this scant covering was certainly not intended to ensure the privacy of individual revellers, for the breasts of most of the females were prominently displayed and decorated with brightly painted symbols, as were the lower organs of both sexes.

Dromon noticed the look of surprise upon the boatmaster’s face and burst out laughing.

“You are shocked master.” He said. “But please remember that you are witnessing a celebration of the reproductive powers of nature and the open nakedness, that you see before you is but a visible manifestation of these people’s devout faith.”

The crowd advanced in an easterly direction and Dromon suggested that it would be best if they accompanied the throng, for he understood that the shrine of Persephone was situated a little way inland and was a place where much interesting ritual activity could be observed.

Darryl took the boathands’ advice and the company marched eastwards amidst the crowd of revellers. At first, he wondered if the military appearance of his group would arouse the animosity of the islanders, but the only attention they received from the semi-naked populace was a few ribald comments, such as. “Hey, you white skinned Northlander’s, are you looking for a fuck or a fight?” Or. “Get rid of your axes and spears newcomers, and start waving your baby-makers around instead!”

In general, however, the revellers were friendly towards their uninvited guests and offered them draughts of Thoa-nut beer from the skin flasks that many of them carried, a kindness much appreciated by the newcomers, for the day was warm and the protective clothing they wore was hot and made them sweat profusely.

The column, in which the newcomers marched, was eventually joined by multitudes of other worshippers and the entire mass of humanity flocked into a huge stadium, hewn out of the gently sloping hillside.

The sides of the stadium were terraced and covered with a soft purple moss, upon which the revellers reclined and waited for the ceremonies to begin; the uninvited group were also glad of the opportunity to rest and neglecting to bring their own refreshments proved to be of no concern, for a group of nearby worshippers handed them ample supplies of food and drink.

“Eat and drink your fill strangers.” They cried. “No worshiper must go hungry or thirsty, if ‘Persephone’ is to be properly venerated!”

Far below them, in the body of the stadium, was an open arena of considerable size that had been liberally strewn with fronds of the same purple creeper that adorned the bodies of the worshippers. Suddenly, a single booming drum-beat echoed across the entire stadium and the enormous gathering fell silent. From the mouth of a wide tunnel situated at one end of the arena, there appeared a tall woman dressed in a long deep purple robe that covered her from head to foot. She paused in the centre of the arena and clapped her hands. Immediately groups of musicians, situated in the farthest reaches of the stadium, obeyed her signal and struck up a strange rhythmic melody, throbbing and pulsing over the entire gathering.

Darryl eyed the scene with interest and saw that most of the worshippers had begun to sway the upper portions of their bodies in time to the music, whilst a few were seen leaping briefly to their feet and executing some impromptu dance-steps before subsiding, once again, onto the soft purple moss.

Again, the great drum sounded, but this time it echoed over the beat of the other instruments and from the tunnel there emerged a double line of figures, all dressed in a similar fashion to the priestess who was now standing motionless in the centre of the arena. The two lines of figures separated upon reaching the open air and each line began circling around the other from opposite directions. Gradually, the tempo of the music increased and the circling figures began executing the steps of a rhythmic processional dance as they moved. Faster and faster grew the tempo of the music and soon the two lines of figures were crossing at an ever increasing speed. As they moved, their robes flared open, and the newcomers noticed that one of the lines of dancing figures was made up entirely of handsome youths, whilst the other was comprised of beautiful young girls who were all in the first flush of early womanhood.

Darryl viewed the surrounding worshippers and he noted, with surprise, that many of them had paired off and where copulating vigorously upon the soft moss of the terraces.

Dromon burst out laughing. “The lovemaking surprises you master. Yet it is quite normal for the worshippers of ‘Persephone’ to pay homage to their Goddess in this fashion.

For during the festival, all vows of marriage and chastity are set aside and anyone can lie with whom they please. The children, who are conceived during these couplings, will be born during the next season of rains, and be collectively called ‘The Children of ‘Persephone,’ in honour of the deity.”

The great drum sounded for a third and final time; at that point the two lines of dancers merged together forming themselves into mixed couples, who proceeded to copulate frenziedly upon the floor of the arena.

The music throbbed for a further ten minutes, whilst the young couples honoured the Earth Goddess before the vast adulating throng. Then the officiating priestess, who had remained motionless throughout the entire proceedings, suddenly threw up her arms and the music ceased abruptly; the young couples in the arena sprang apart disappearing into the tunnel as quickly as they had appeared. The purple robed priestess followed, and the official ceremony came to an end the moment she disappeared from view.

The vast throng of worshippers, however, had obviously no intention of departing to their respective homes, for the feasting, drinking and lovemaking continued apace.

But the lure of the beer-flask appeared to be assuming precedence over all other activities, for white-robed slaves began circulating amongst the revellers with skins of the common Thoa-nut beverage hanging from their shoulders and they distributed measures of the brew to all who extended a drinking vessel in their direction.

Darkness fell with its usual swiftness, but the celebrations continued as before, with numerous lanterns and torches illuminating the proceedings. Singers and dancers, jugglers and clowns, performed to the delight of the crowd, yet Darryl gradually became tired of the scene and he began considering the wisdom of a return night-march back to the dock were the ‘Bonny Barbara’ lay under repair. Then a soft female hand began to gently stroking his cheek with the softest possible touch, and, turning his head, he beheld a young woman kneeling at his side. The woman was of statuesque build, with sharp dark nippled breasts that jutted out beyond the garlands of vegetation adorning the upper portions of her body. She was obviously a person of considerable wealth, for bracelets of burnished copper encircled her wrists, and a pin of the same material restrained her long dark hair.