Leon and the Magical Bird

Chapter 4. Ahoy Matey!

With a heavy heart, I watched my house fade from view as the carriage trundled along the old road. The carriage was a large and spacious box of heavy timber, drawn by two heavily muscled black stallions; the size of which I had never seen before. I deduced that the horses must have been bred for the cavalry. With its ornate polished timber, glittering steel reinforcements and round brass-lined windows, the carriage drew stares from all of the villagers as it moved through the village. As my house disappeared into the distance, I turned my face away from the window, the villagers in the periphery of my vision staring and pointing in awe.

The carriage was meticulously designed for comfort, with plush cushioned benches as big as a bed, and oil lamps in each corner which provided heat and light. I stretched back on the bench, determined to get some sleep. Tossing from side to side, sleep evaded me as anxiety gnawed at my stomach; grinding my insides with worry. It was not the journey ahead of me that caused me to become anxious, but the father I'd left behind. My thoughts raced as I tried to reassure myself that Agapetos and his troupe of soldiers and servants would look after my father well, and keep him in the best possible condition until I returned. I feared that –in his state of depreciating health- he might pass away, with nothing but strangers to keep him company.

After five hours in the carriage, the road opened up to scenic green mountains, which jutted out of the ground in seemingly random shapes; some round and bulbous, other, steep and slender, with unscalable cliffs. I watched the sun as is burned a deep orange, sinking behind the mountains in the west and casting looming shadows across the land. The road through the mountains was smooth but winding, with many turns and the occasional dip or slight incline.

Night fell as the carriage passed a forest, dense with low hanging Carob trees; at once I realised that I was further away from home than I'd ever been before. From the window of the carriage, I looked at the heavy mist which had descended upon the forest and wondered what creatures inhabited it. From the mist, one solitary bat soared out from the forest, looping around and dipping back in amongst the tree tops.

"Skorda," I muttered under my breath, wishing away bad omens.

I'd never been a particularly superstitious man, but with my father's illness and Agapetos' insistence that I pay tribute to the gods, I'd come to cling to some of the old traditions for comfort. I'd even taken an old blue-eye charm my mother had given me as a child, and hung it around my neck for protection from the Evil eye.

I looked away from the forest; reassuring myself that I'd seen bats many times before whilst hunting in the woods, and their presence had never impeded my hunting abilities. I was just suffering from a bout of nerves, and the creeping hand of anxiety had taken hold of my stomach. What I knew I ought to worry about were the bandits who might have taken refuge amongst the Carob trees. Despite the fact that both myself and the carriage driver were armed, and we were being escorted by a heavily armoured javelin man for protection, I still feared that a timber carriage such as this one might draw the attention of bandits, who might be able to ambush us on mass; surrounding us like hungry wolves.

"Skorda." I muttered again.

I awoke to the sunrise pouring in through the window. Despite the relatively flat roads after passing through the mountains, I'd struggled to fall asleep; dreams recurred in my head of bats swooping down at the roof of the carriage, clawing their way through the heavy timber and flooding into the carriage, their fangs sinking into my skin like a thousand needles. I'd then wake suddenly to the scraping sound of a low hanging branch scraping across the top of the carriage, and reassure myself that I was safe.

With the rising sun, hot air filled the carriage, flooding it with the smell of brine, and that slightly metallic, slightly sweet smell of the ocean air. The driver opened the hatch.