That night Drake fell asleep sooner than the usual. It was most likely a result of an exhausting day, both physically and emotionally. Trying to please his parents was hard work indeed, but no matter how hard he tried, they just never seemed to be happy with him. And Drake didn’t know what else he could do to make them like him more.
When sunshine fell on his little face, heralding the dawn of the new day, Drake opened his very expressive brown eyes and saw something he did not expect. He was not in his small bed, in the single room he shared with Bessie, who always slept on the floor beside him. Instead, he was lying on a great king sized bed, with fine satin sheets that smelled of flowers. The old and gloomy paper-clad walls that greeted him every morning had disappeared, and as he looked around him, he saw that he was now in a huge room, with a high ceiling, and tall gold dressed columns aside every wall. A huge open window to his left overlooked a magnificent garden outside. Beyond the garden he saw wide fields with people already up and working on them. A number of small hills enriched the landscape before him with more green, and then the sea, a giant piece of blue kissing the clear sky in the far horizon ahead.
Drake blinked several times, not sure he was really awake.
‘Bessie?’ he called, half afraid she would not answer. What had happened while he slept? Had they moved to a new house during the night? Had mama and papa finally bought the house they so desperately wanted? If so, he really like it.
The big double doors at the end of the room opened and Bessie’s familiar face showed up.
‘You called, little lord?’ she bowed her head slightly as she spoke. She was the same Bessie he knew and loved, only she was dressed very differently. She looked just like one of the women from the stories she told him every night, a Greek goddess or a queen. This was all very strange.
‘Bessie, where are we? What is this place? And why are you dressed like that?’
‘Like what, little lord?’ the faithful servant referred to his last question. ‘This is how all the servants dress in your father’s palace. And you are in your room, where you’ve been sleeping ever since you were born. Now, what’s with all these strange questions? Did you fall off the bed again and hit your head somewhere, perhaps?’
Drake wasn’t sure what to think. His father’s palace? This must be a joke of some kind. His parents always talked about buying a new house, but a palace? With servants? How was this possible?
Bessie came over to his bed and pulled away the sheets.
‘Time to get up now, little lord. Your father has arranged for your first horse-riding lesson today and it won’t do to be late. Now let’s get you all washed and dressed up, before you can have your breakfast.’
Drake did as he was told, biting back all his other questions. Inside his young mind he seemed to understand that this might all be a dream, and a good one at that. So he decided to play along and see just how it would go.
He had the morning bath and was then dressed in fine clothes, which again looked nothing like what he usually wore. For starters, there was no shirt and vest, nor trousers like the ones he had to put on every morning. Instead, a single tunic, long enough to look like a dress, yet simple enough to be mistaken for a sheet, was thrown over his head, rested on his shoulders and was finally fastened around his waist with a belt. The tunic was adorned with golden thread embellishments all around and it made him look like a real prince. Drake recalled having seen something like this on several old statues and paintings in some of the places his parents had taken him to steal.
To finish off his attire, a pair of sandals were placed on both his feet, instead of the usual boring and heavy shoes he had to wear every day. All in all, not a bad look, if this was how rich people dressed; though he’d seen plenty of them before, and no one looked even remotely similar to the way he did right now. He just hoped they would give him something else to wear for when it rained, as he was sure it was bound to happen eventually.
Next, they served him breakfast on a big table in a bigger kitchen, where there seemed to be over twenty cooks and servants, all buzzing about. He was given some kind of weird but very tasty flat bread to have with milk and honey, as well as a lot of different fruits, too many to choose from. Drake had never eaten like that, but would not mind doing so again.
While he was eating, his parents both walked in to greet him good morning. They also wore beautiful clothes and golden crowns on their heads, as if they were royalty. The look of their bright faces was a far cry from the one Drake had grown to see recently. He stood up as soon as they entered and waited to greet them without speaking, the way he used to do every morning. Instead, he was completely taken aback when they both picked him up in their arms and doted after him like he was the most precious thing there ever was.
Little Drake was confused, happy but confused. This was the most wonderful dream he’d ever had; it was everything he had ever wanted from life. But why did it feel so real? His family was apparently rich and owned a lot of land and servants, his parents were happy and they loved him; life could not get any better than this. Why couldn’t real life be like this too?
Once he was done with breakfast and his parents left to go and look after their royal affairs, he was led towards the small arena behind the palace for his first horse-riding lesson. The horse-master, bowing to him like a dutiful servant, started him off with a pony, small enough for his size and age. Drake thoroughly enjoyed riding and wished so much he could have one of these ponies in the real world. He promised to himself right then and there that he would work twice as hard as he had until now and help his parents so that they could buy the new house they wanted. Surely, if they got that, they would be a lot happier and like him more. Mama would perhaps smile at him then and even play with him, and maybe papa would buy for him a pony to ride on. Yes, he was certain they would.
Following the horse-riding lesson, he was introduced to the sword-master, who was instructed to train him in the use of several weapons like the sword, the knife, the spear and the bow and arrow. Drake spent the best part of the remainder of the day with the sword-master, going from one lesson to another with little break.
When he was finally done for the day, Bessie took charge of him again. She had him fed and cleaned once again and eventually back to bed.
This time, however, there were no stories told, but Drake did not mind. By the time he got to bed, he felt so tired, that he knew he would fall asleep right away. And so he did, with the biggest smile he’d ever had on his little face.
When next he opened his eyes, he found himself back in his little room, with Bessie calling for him to wake up.
‘Time to get up, little one. Mr. Bagley will want to take you with him again.’
‘Oh, Bessie, I had the most wonderful dream,’ he chimed with the most excited little voice. ‘We were living in a beautiful palace, and you were wearing strange clothes, and I had a little pony, and I was learning how to fight with a sword and everything.’
‘Why, that sounds just lovely, little one, but you best hurry up and get ready. You don’t want Mr. Bagley to be getting angry again, do you?’ She hated to squash the little boy’s enthusiasm, but she knew her master had a short temper and the boy was already late waking up this morning.
Drake begrudgingly stopped talking, but proceeded with the daily routine with actually more enthusiasm than he’d had up until last night. He had promised himself that he would work harder, and work harder he would. If money was all it took to live in a palace and have lots of servants, great food to eat and a pony to ride on, then he would get it. If he could have that in a dream, he could have it in real life. He only wondered if he would ever get to see that place again.
Chapter 4
Old Friends and New