The Journal of Dreams (The Tales of Tahana - Book One)

Epilogue: The Giant Ships

1-3-2-4012 DM, Arang, Telama, Hilaraya

The sounds and the smell of frying filled Asha's kitchen. She continuously stirred the four pieces of dried fish in a pan with her long wooden spoon to keep them from burning. She lifted the pan and shook it a bit. With a pair of wooden tongs, she carefully placed the cooked fish on a plate. She turned to her left and lifted the cover of the clay pot where the rice was cooking. Steam issued from the pot together with the fragrant aroma of its contents as she lifted the cover. She poked the riced a few times with her wooden spoon and decided that the rice was ready. She took two small rags from the counter beside her and, using them as a makeshift holder, she carefully lifted the pot off the clay stove and placed it on a stand on the counter. She wiped the beads of sweat on her brow with the back of her hands and looked behind her towards the open window of the dining room.

The sun had just come up and Asha would see her beloved husband come home from the port very soon. She smiled, imagining her husband embracing her from behind as she prepared the table. Whenever she was in the arms of Rami, she always felt safe, loved, and at peace even now when she had been worrying about Dari. A few days ago, she wrote a letter and sent it by falcon to the Perangar Eranga but she had not received any response from Dari yet. How many days did falcons take to travel to that place? Had Dari received her letter? How was he? Her precious lakanidu... She missed holding her son in her arms, hearing his voice, joining him in his laughter.

Asha thought that she would feel alright when her husband came back from Kanay, and she was for a time. It was her decision to send her son away for training and she didn't regret it even if it broke her heart to see him leave. During the first few days, Rami's presence was enough to comfort her, until she started having dreams about her son. Mostly, they were good dreams but there were some nights when she dreamt of horrible things. Things that made her want to pack her things and leave for Eranga at once. The worst was the dream she had the other night on Midsummer's Eve.

She saw Dari being chased by lakani who wore black masks that covered their faces. She saw how her son fought to keep himself away from the lakani but there were too many of them. One of the lakani was about to grab him, but she woke up, soaked in sweat and crying. She wasn't able to do anything for her husband that day. Rami, bless his loving heart, consoled her and took care of her for a couple of days until she felt better.

Asha shook her head to rid herself of the terrible memory of that dream and grabbed a couple of wooden plates from the rack. She was about to cross the threshold to the dining room when she heard the door open and close quite loudly, followed by hurried footsteps.

"Asha!" Rami shouted as he came inside the dining room.

Asha smiled at the sight of her husband but when she saw his face, she paused. Rami had a worried, no, fearful expression on his face and he was gasping for breath. It was as if he ran from the port to their house.

"What's the matter, my dear?"

Rami gulped hard and took a deep breath. "Ships... Many of them. They arrived just before sunrise."

"Ships? What are you talking about?"

"Ships, Asha! Huge ships."

"Oh, by Suraya, why don't you sit down first," Asha said and ran towards the kitchen to get a pitcher of water and a cup. A few seconds later, she was back in the dining room and handed Rami a cup of water.

"Here, drink some. And please, sit down. You're making me nervous."

Rami accepted the offered cup and sat down. He finished the cup in a single gulp.

"Better?"

"Yes, I think so."

"So, tell me what happened?"

"I'm not exactly sure to be honest. A few hours before sunrise, we saw some ships from the east. We didn't pay much attention to them because we thought they were machayari or cargo vessels from Kanay. We found it very odd because their arrival was unexpected and there were too many of them."

"How many?"

"About ten or so. Maybe more. I wasn't able to count exactly because I didn't really pay attention to them. When we arrived at the port, we were surprised to see five of the ships docked there. They were massive, about twice the size of our machayari."

Asha's jaw dropped. Twice the size? The only ships bigger than the machayari that she knew of were the cargo ships that transported goods by sea to different coastal cities, but those were nowhere twice the size of a machayanu.

"When we disembarked, I saw the crew aboard one of the ships. They were tall lakani, or at least taller than most Hilari, and they all wore purple garments and long braided hair with beads at the end. They looked like the ones we saw in Kanay when I was there with Dari. What made me nervous was that there must have been about a hundred of them in each ship! Possibly more!"

"Did you find out what they were doing here?"

"That's the reason why I ran home as fast as I could."

"What?" Asha asked as she felt a cold sensation run down her spine. "What do they want?"

"When I reached the beach, I saw several of them assembled there. One lakadu, who appeared to be their leader, was speaking to one of the Janani, Jana Mari I thought it was. When I got closer, I caught the words 'take over' and 'do not resist'."

"And that made you run home?"

"Let me finish, Asha, please."

"I'm sorry. Go on."

"The Jana must have said something disagreeable because the leader of the outlanders slapped him hard in the face. When I saw this, I started to walk fast towards the cover of the stalls and houses and ran for it."

"So, what do they want, Rami?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, my heart... But I think they've come to invade Arang."

Asha was stunned. Invade Arang? Why?

"Who are these lakani and from where did they come?"

"I... I don't know, Asha. I..." Rami paused and moved towards the windows, closing them quickly. He looked very worried and this made Asha very uncomfortable. "I think we need to pack some of our stuff. We may need to leave soon."

"You're scaring me, Rami."

"I know, my heart, and I'm sorry. I think we must be prepared in case we needed to leave. Please, let's go and pack now. Never mind the food."

"But—"

"Please Asha. Just do as I say."

Asha didn't know how to respond. She felt very nervous about how her husband was reacting to what he saw. Rami was one of the bravest lakadu she ever knew and it would take a lot to scare him. If he truly believed that they were in danger, she had to do as he said. She was about to say something in response to her husband when she heard a loud banging by their front door.

"In the name of the Kamahariraya of Chayamar, open this door!"

It was a lakadu's voice with an accent that Asha didn't recognise. She didn't answer but looked at Rami, who, gestured for her to keep quiet and pointed to the direction of the backdoor.