MINDAZA

4. THE JOURNEY

"Where are we now?" Mindaza asked.

"This cave spans from a hillside to a sea outlet at the western Cliffs," Khallel said.

Rolling back what Mindaza had assumed to the wall of the cave.

"Now, stand still and don't get in the way." Mindaza didn't move because she was shocked, as if there was magic, but in reality it is just a leather screen.

Though Mindaza's island had received the occasional visit from storm-battered fishing boats, the vessel Khallel unveiled was unlike anything she had seen. The ship's narrow hull was built from shaped, overlapping wooden planks in clinker fashion. Both the bow and stern angled sharply upwards, and amidships was space to fit a mast. Lining each side were six oar holes, while at the prow, an eagle's head was carved screaming defiantly forward.

"Mindaza, what do you think?" Khallel stepped back.

"It's enormous!" Mindaza exclaimed, her amazement clear. "Where did it come from?"

"We placed it here the day before you were born," Khallel explained as she slapped the boat's hull.

"The day before I was born?" Mindaza asked herself again, wondering what other matters her mother was hiding from her.

"I wanted to raise you on this island, so I named it in remembrance of giving birth to my precious daughter," Sulaya, her mother, told her. "But this time, you must leave Sulaya Island to meet the king."

Khallel asked, "Do you enjoy living here?"

"Yes, of course!" Mindaza responded.

"Will the king truly meet with us?" Sulaya asked Khallel. That is precisely what she must be aware of. Her eyes were level and serene as she glanced at Mindaza.

"Yes, we are going to meet the king."

''But why this time?" Mindaza asked, as she heard his confirmation. She was in deep thought now about why the king wanted to meet them. Khallel told them in gentle voices, "We'll see what happens after that,"

Mindaza shrugged at the information Khallel had given her. Noticing her silence, Khallel added, "The king will let you know if he wants you to have more details. Or if anything changes with our situation, you'll be notified."

"We should go meet with the King," Sulaya suggested.

As the three prepared to leave, Mindaza surprisingly saw gleams of light reflecting off the sea, signaling they were not alone. Glancing back, she realized most of the islanders from Sulaya Island had followed them into the Forbidden Cave, their torchlight illuminating familiar faces - cheekbones and dark eye sockets weathered from sun, resolute chins. Some carried packages and barrels deposited on the rocky ledge beside the waiting boat.

Despite log rollers between the skiff and cavern wall, maneuvering the Wave Skimmer into the water took an hour, the boat proving heavier than Mindaza expected. An urge surged within to board the boat and set sail, though she knew not where. Only that a voice deep inside beckoned her onward.

Khallel tied the stern line to a stone bollard on the rocky shelf, his graying beard and bald pink scalp gleaming as he worked. Atop the figurehead of the wooden wave skimmer perched an eagle sculpture, wings spread regally.

Sulaya stepped and sat in the bow.
"Are we all present?" Her voice could be heard all the way back in the cave.

Everyone looks at each other and someone says "Yes, we are all present."

"Before we start the journey, just remember who we are!" This time, Sulaya yelled, and the response came in a resounding roar that left Mindaza wondering about whether these people, whom she had known her entire life, could create such a racket. She took in her surroundings, taking in her friends and neighbors, the farmers, the gruff potters, the peat cutters, ditch diggers and the fishermen. She recognized them all, yet they were all strangers in this place?

"Yes! The Spiral hunter, are the legends that never die!" All the men and women shouted those words that echoed around the cave again.

"Then, let them know that the Spiral hunter is coming!" Sulaya yelled, and the islanders gave a treble cheer that made Mindaza's hair stand on end. Despite having no understanding what or why she was cheering, she joined the crowd by pumping her fist in the air and stomping her feet on the floor. Only the surge and sucking of the waves and the slightly labored breathing of the islanders remained as the cacophony diminished to a whisper and went away.

"The Spiral Hunter!" Mindaza repeated to say the words.

"That means the people of Sulaya, are the Spiral hunters, not just normal people", Sulaya told her daughter Mindaza, who was standing beside her.

"It would be best if you kept your tongue under control, watched and listened" Sulaya told her daughter again.

"I see you brought supplies. How much is it?" Sulaya asked.

"Enough for six days of a trip," a woman in charge of supplies answered at once.

"Thank you for all of your effort, now we have to go, it's time to become ourselves again" Sulaya said quietly.

The islanders spread out inside the boat, each sitting on one of the wooden thwarts that ran from starboard to larboard, with Sulaya retaining her place in the bow and sitting at the long steering oar in the stern.
There was silence, as if everybody was waiting for a signal. Sulaya gave it. "It's time to get prepared."

The islanders each took a present out of chests that were unlocked beneath the wooden thwarts. It took them a whole fifteen minutes to undergo the metamorphosis from peaceful islanders who looked after their animals and farmed barley to a boatload of warriors wearing chain mail.

Mindaza regarded the individuals she had grown up with but barely knew.

One man, standing in the stern, wore a chain-mail shirt that was stretched over his stomach and held an iron helmet close to his head.

Another man, who had made a living by chopping and storing peat, was standing close to the bow and grinning as he ran his rough hands down the length of his oar. But compared to her mother Sulaya, who had a helmet adorned with two golden wings and a chain shirt that reached her calves, their appearance seemed insignificant.

Sulaya scanned the whole ship. "Weapons," she said, while her team prowled among the chests or prodded the boat's bottom. When they came out, they had a variety of swords and spears that they placed next to them on the rowing seats.

Mindaza could only watch helplessly as her mother gripped a sword with a silver handle and raised it threateningly. "Spiral hunters, are you ready for this?"

Mindaza could hear the shake in her voice. She didn't expect these unexceptional things that she had never imagined before, and  the whole group immediately said, "We are ready!"

"Hold, one, two,  Pushed!" Sulaya's voice echoed around her.

"Mother?" Mindaza calls out.

Sulaya turns immediately when she hears her daughter's voice, seeing the mix of strength and amusement in Mindaza's eyes. Sulaya knows the things that make her daughter tremble as she faces this new world where power, compassion, and authority hold sway.

The islanders ease their boat sideways as the rowers closest to the shelf push themselves into the water. They glide toward the faint half-circle of light marking the outer world. After one short stroke, the rowers follow with two, then more. 

"To the oars!"