*
Chandra hopped along the sea bottom in her diving suit. The sunlight could hardly penetrate the water’s depths so all she could see was a dull blue glow through the little window of her diving helmet. Still she swam on, hopping once and groping her way through the water before she came back down onto the sea floor and had to jump along again. Fish swam near to her then fled away in bunches. She only saw them as flashes in the distance ahead of her like twinkling stars guiding her way. Finally she came to a bed of clams with their mouths flung open and big round pearls resting on their tongues. Chandra pushed her diving suit along to try and reach for the pearls but the fingers of her gloves were big and clumsy and she could hardly close them around the pearls. After accidentally batting one pearl away and then tickling another clam so that it swallowed its own pearl in its fits of laughter Chandra finally managed to wrap her rubber palm around one of the treasures. She reached her other hand over her head and tugged once on the air hose that connected her helmet to the world above the water. After a moment the hose snapped tight and began to pull her helmet lifting Chandra and pearl and all up towards the surface.
The sunlight grew bright and near, filling the water with its glow. Just before Chandra broke through the surface a hand reached into the water towards her. She took it and with a single tug it pulled her up and out of the sea onto the shore. A lanky woman with hair made of rusty-red yarn crouched over the shoreline with the salt water touching the very edge of her toes. She had one green eye and one red so that each side of her face seemed to reflect a different mood, one side soft and casual and the other side fiery and perhaps just a little bit dangerous. Her shirt had no sleeves and revealed long arms traced with tight muscle lines. Standing over Chandra the woman gripped the diving helmet on either side and lifted it free of Chandra’s shoulders.
“So, what did you find?” Asked the woman as she peeled the diving gear off of Chandra and set it aside.
“Oh! More pearls! See, look!” Chandra held both her hands out with three pearls rolling around between her fingers. “There were more down there but I didn’t want to take all the pearls. Then the clams would be poor.”
“Well that was very kind of you.”
“Yes, I know.” Chandra replied offhandedly as she sat down in the sand and gripped one boot with both hands. She wiggled and tugged and grunted until finally the boot gave her up and let go of her foot. Her foot popped out with such force that she nearly rolled backward into the ocean again. “Did anything fun happen while I was swimming Beruka?”
“Fun?”
“Did you have any adventures? Did you meet a dragon who told you a riddle or did you see something that was magic?”
“Well I’m not very good with riddles so I’m happy to say I didn’t see any dragons like that.”
“Did… Did you see my mother? Did she come to see me?”
“Hmm.” Beruka’s turned halfway away from the child so Chandra could not see her face darken at the question. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
“You shouldn’t be mad still Beruka. She didn’t mean it. She is just… She is just very sad I think. And afraid too. But we’re not afraid of anything! So we should try and be nice to her because that is what brave people are supposed to do.”
“Of course you are right Chandra.”
“Yes, of course I am. Now let’s go back home so I can put these pearls in my jewelry box. I don’t want them to be stolen.” Turning away from the sea Chandra stepped into the forest again with Beruka at her side.
In the forest along that long familiar path home the two of them talked together. Most of their conversation would have been incomprehensible to anyone who had not shared intimately with their adventures. And yet it was cheery talk, the two of them comparing happy memories of riddles solved, kingdoms set right, and wicked spells coming all unraveled. But a breeze carried a sweet scent across their path interrupting Chandra in the middle of a thought. She sniffed up that succulent scent so hard she nearly lifted herself off the ground. Her mouth watered in an instant and she darted off after the scent without so much as a glance at her companion. Beruka shrugged to herself and grinned halfway before turning to lope after the child. Chandra sprinted through the forest, dodging around trees and leaping over tangles of roots in what she thought was quite an acrobatic display. Still Beruka kept up with her easily enough, her long legs carrying her the way of Chandra’s quick feet.
It did not take long for Chandra to catch up with the source of the scent. She ran up to a tree, skidding into it and pushing herself back off the bark with both hands. Peeking shyly around the waist of the tree Chandra looked into a little clearing swept clean of all forest debris. Only a few branches remained tied up together to form a tripod frame. At the apex of the branches three ruby-red berries were hung to warm over a fire. Each berry sweated little drops of juice almost as red as the berry skins they slid down. A candy shop cooking all of its sugars at once could not have made a sweeter smell.
“June sweet-berries.” Chandra mumbled into the back of the tree, her tongue darting along the edges of her lips hoping to taste the sweet smell of the air. Her vision tightened to those single three red points and she walked out after them trance-like with slow stumbling steps. She snatched them from their place above the fire and pushed them into her mouth, stopping even to suck the little spots of juice from the end of each finger and the tip of each crispy wooden stem. The flavor overwhelmed her so that she sat down beside the fire and laid back onto the ground still chewing and smiling to herself.
“Haha! So we have caught you!” A gruff and gravelly voice called out surprising Chandra so that she swallowed the berries all at once, seeds and all, coughing out a spatter of sticky juices. Sitting bolt upright Chandra looked around the edge of the clearing she had blundered into. Surrounding her on nearly every side were men dressed in long shirts and hats and scarves wrapped over their faces.
“Who are you?” She slid her bottom closer to the fire, turning to look one way and the other. But there were men everywhere so that she must have stood right next to one without even realizing it when she first spotted the berries from behind that tree. They had stood quietly watching her feast. They had been waiting for her.
“We are the bandits of the Sorceress Queen! She wants us to steal your pearls and send you home to your mother where you belong!” Said one of the men who was particularly fat and lumpy though his fingers were as thin as dried up bush branches. He shook when he spoke and his body made the sound of leaves scratching against each other.
“Why does she want my pearls? They’re not very good pearls.” Chandra clutched at the pocket of her dress, pressing her fingers against the three little lumps she felt there.
“She will use your pearls to cast magic spells, or maybe she will make necklace.” Another bandit replied, shivering as he spoke just like the first. Otherwise each bandit stood stone-still, not even shuffling their feet or twiddling their fingers.
“But they’re mine! I found them!” Chandra wailed.
One of the bandits stepped out into the clearing. He wore a scarf around his face like the others and a big hat that fell down over his face so that his eyes were hidden.
“Give them to me!” Hissed this bandit as he reached out towards the girl. “Give them here!”
“No! Never!” On hands and knees Chandra crawled around so the fire was between her and the bandit still creeping closer. She hugged her legs up close against her chest feeling very afraid and wondering to herself how she could ever deal with so many bandits who had surprised her so unfairly. Something swayed above Chandra’s head and the motion of it caught the eyes of the girl. Swinging by a rope, with a scarf tied tightly over her mouth, was Beruka. She looked down pleadingly onto the child and began to struggle again in her bonds so that she swung back and forth like a slow pendulum.
Jumping to her feet Chandra sprang to the tree that Beruka was hung from. Wrapping her arms and legs around the trunk she began t
o climb her way up using fingers and toes to cling to the bark. Beneath her the bandit howled.
“What are you doing!? Get back here little girl and give me those pearls! Come down here this instant before you fall on your head!” The voice sounded almost familiar but Chandra knew it to be only a trick of the evil Sorceress Queen to distract her on her mission.
Chandra reached the higher branches and climbed out to the spot where Beruka was tethered. The knot was a simple bow and the child had untied enough shoes in her life to know how to go about untangling it. With one quick pull Beruka was free and falling to the ground. The bonds on Beruka’s wrists loosened as well so that she fell into a crouch. With one hand she whipped the scarf off her face and with the other she drew her sword. The blade was so long that while Chandra watched it seemed a whole minute went by as Beruka pulled it from its scabbard. As soon as it was out in her hand Beruka rushed forward to slash at the bandits. She split one in half and cut another at the knees. Cutting the arms off one she jumped up to kick him over and somersaulted backwards, past the fire, to swing her blade at another. As each bandit was cut down they seemed to explode in a shower of leaves and branches rather than blood and guts as was usual for such a fearsome battle.
“Come on then!” Shouted Beruka as she finished with the last of the Bandits. “Come down! We have to get out of here before more of them show up!”
Chandra scrambled down the tree trunk to the ground. As soon as she felt the shock of her feet hitting the solid ground she leapt into the denser woods and began running. Beruka was at her side, her sword replaced and her face covered with leaves that stuck to her perspiration.
“What happened to you?” Chandra huffed as the two of them ran.
“They must have gotten me by surprise. I was right behind you and then I found myself up a tree.” Beruka ran but did not seem winded at all by it or by her recent fight.
“They were all made of leaves and branches! They must have been magic bandits made by the Sorceress Queen!” Chandra risked a glance over her shoulder but she could only see the forest behind her.
“Yes. I think so too.”
“Why is she trying to take my stuff!? I found them fair and square!”
“Maybe she got tired of you always turning the prince back into a boy again.”
“Well I can’t help that! I’m a hero and that’s what heroes do!”
“Yes, well, it still must be frustrating for her.”
“Who cares! She’s evil!”