Elementary Virtue: The Prophecy (3 page)

Ourday's eyes darted around frantically. His two sisters were nowhere in sight. The sky was dark, and the rain pelted down on him. The storm subsided slowly, but the waves still rocked him slightly back and forth. The ship hadn't made it through the storm, the only thing visible of the giant vessel was its stern like a huge monster rising from the ocean in front of him. People screamed splashing around him in the water, trying to get to the coast on the horizon not that far away. Many of them couldn't swim, and their desperate cries for help echoed through the moonlit night. Frantic his eyes searched the water around him. His sisters would not drown because all Onendas learned how to swim in their early childhood. He used his wet hand to slick back his long black hair, which clung like a curtain to his face blocking the view. He still looked out for his sisters, but it was impossible to make out someone in the dark water, with all the confusion.

He swam around the ship, but when he felt his jaw chattering he realized that he had to get out of the water if he didn't want to die from exposure. He felt the cold spreading slowly within and he already felt numb. He could not stay in the water much longer, and decided to swim to the shore. After gathering all of his remaining strength, the coast was clearly visible on the horizon. He should be able to make it his arms and legs moved in powerful strokes through the dark water. His whole body was tense as he smoothly glided through the waves despite his fading strength. The stormy sea made it difficult to get forward, and it took him an eternity to get to the sandy beach. Exhausted, he fell to the ground, clutching his clammy fingers into the fine sand of the beach. He was so cold that he could not feel his body anymore.

Many others like him crawled around half dead, moaning. Some of them would be dying on that beach because they were too weak to move on. Each one of them was fighting his own battle glad to have escaped from drowning in the dark sea but afraid to freeze to death. Ourday scrambled to his feet, and his strong, muscular body shivered in the cold night. He had to find his sisters. They were in this disastrous situation because of him. They had followed him on board of -The Majorana -, and he was the only one to blame if they died.

After a terrible dispute with his father Abooksigun, Ourday had left the village. He wanted to get away from it all and see the world. Sail away with one of these big ships he had seen in the harbor. Find out for himself if one truly fell over the edge on the horizon. He did not care to become a chief, or to be like his father. He probably was a rebel, as his father had called him in anger and he would bring shame to his Onenda clan. Ourday did not believe him back then and left on a moonlit night, just like tonight. Now, he stood shivering on the coast of an unknown land. His father was right he had brought shame to the people of Onenda, taking away his two sisters to a foreign land.

The coast was not far away from his village. He had been eager to reach the big vessel with its white sails before it disappeared once again on the horizon as he had watched so many of them leave before. This time, he would be on the ship when it left the harbor, no one could stop him. He managed to get to the anchor point early enough where dangerous looking men, smelling of sweat and blood hired him. Having seen the muscles on his powerful build body, they decided that he was strong enough to do hard labor on board. They said that savages were agile like monkeys, which made perfect sense to set the sail. Ourday did not know what they meant, but he was happy having found a way to get on board.

But, life on board was hard, and he had to toil from morning till late night. The crew members made constant fun of him when the opportunity rose. Ourday swallowed his anger because it did not matter. Finally, he would see the world as he wished. No matter what those smelly men said about him. At night when he had some sparse free time, he sewed a shirt and pants made of old fabrics. All of the crewmembers kept themselves busy at night sewing, as they had little clothing. After some days, Ourday managed to make friends with the ship's cook "Smud," who under his hard shell and the uncouth appearance had a soft core. On the evening of the 5th day, Smud took him aside to tell him that food had disappeared with some drinking water. He asked him if he had noticed anything suspicious. Food and water were scarce on ships such as the Majorana. Ourday promised to investigate the matter and to keep his eyes open. He searched the ship for the culprit and found his two sisters Chiana and Alawa hid behind some barrels of rum in a dark chamber. Ourday was horrified, they had followed him when he left the village in anger, and they hid on the ship. What had he done?

His father and with him, his whole clan would never forgive him. Instead, of seeing the world, he had unwittingly destroyed the lives of his two sisters. They would never be able to return to the clan of Onendas because of his selfishness, and he had no idea what to do. If the crew found out, they would kill the two girls, and this would be their best option. Worse than death, itself was what the white conquerors were doing to young squaws when they got the opportunity. Ourday's mind raced like wild Mustangs in his head. There was only one way to protect them. He had to talk to Smud about their being on board of the ship, which was not an easy task to do. He was not able to express himself well enough in Smud's language. But, Ourday did his best to make Smud understand, his two sisters had followed him without his knowing.

It was a difficult thing to do, and Smud got angry, least at first. He even hit him with a foul-smelling fish. Ourday promised Smud to share his sparse food with his sisters so that nobody would suspect anything. No food would be missing from now on, at the end Smud's soft heart took over, and he agreed to keep quiet about Ourday's sisters. He even gave him some leftovers from time to time for them. Everything seemed to work out just fine until tonight when that big storm rose and hit the ship. The ship would sink quickly with no chance to get through the storm. Ourday hoped that Smud had made it ashore. Possibly his sisters, as well as Smud were stranded on a different beach. He prayed asking the Great Spirit to, save them. But, would the Great Spirit answer him? He had lost his tribute and his sisters, and he was no longer worthy to be a proud Onenda. Slowly, he walked away from the beach, and he found a rocky landscape on the left side. Searchingly he walked around until he found a suitable spot to spend the night. In a rock niche that would protect him during his sleep, he found trees with big leaves, looking like a fan. He grabbed a drooping branch and was able to tear some leaves from the tree using all of his remaining strength.

Exhausted he almost fainted, he felt dizzy when he finally lay down on the rock. Spreading the leaves like a blanket over him, he would try to get some sleep, no point to search for his sisters tonight. He first needed to gather his strength back. Hours later, Ourday was torn from his troubled sleep and heard voices. The morning dawned, and the sun was rising in a cloudless blue sky. He peered out his rocky hiding place to see who was passing. A group of people was apparently on their way going up-country. They were all dressed in rags, like himself. He quickly got down from his hiding place to join the group. They were all young people like himself and some girls were among the group, but he couldn't see his sisters anywhere. A girl had noticed him, and she looked back at him smiling. Then she turned back again walking. Ourday was thunderstruck by her beauty. He had never seen such a beautiful creature. Her long hair looked like spun gold, and her eyes shone in a bright blue. He couldn’t help but walk behind her, admiring her long slender neck, her white skin, and her graceful figure. Captured by the spell of this heavenly vision, he did not pay attention anymore to where they were heading.

Meanwhile, they had almost reached a dusty village on a hill and a big white church came into sight. Behind him, he heard loud, harsh voices. Although he did not speak the language, he understood that they should move on their way. After a long sweaty walk uphill, the group reached the village located on the cliffs. Traveling a deserted dusty road, they arrived in the village square. From the cliffs, Ourday looked into the distance, and the view was fantastic, just an endless blue ocean. No reminders of the shipwreck and the storm that had been raging in the night. The girl with the golden hair looked over her shoulder, and her deep blue eyes met his almost black eyes. She smiled, and that puzzled Ourday for a moment.

He forgot everything around him until suddenly distracted by the noise of a horse vehicle carrying several men. The men wore clean clothes and looked well-fed. The two men with the harsh voices were walking behind, this time, Ourday understood, even in their foreign language. He clearly knew that the voices were giving orders. He was aware of this authoritarian tone from his father, the chief. They all moved forward in silence to a platform in the middle of the village square. As Ourday looked up, his blood froze in his veins. His two sisters Chiana and Alawa were standing on the platform. Chiana stood defending in front of her younger sister, staring in disgust at the men on the horse-drawn carriage. Her long black hair fell around her face like a dark flame, and her golden eyes were watchful. She had not seen Ourday yet, who climbed the platform together with the other castaways. He wanted to call out for his sisters, but he felt it probably best to act normal without attracting unnecessary attention. He glanced at the men on the carriage and saw that a young dark-haired, tall individual measured his sister with interest. Ourday’s protecting instinct did not make it possible for him to hold back any longer. Nimbly and smooth like a panther he got on the platform, standing up for his sisters, one of the guards followed him ready to knock him down. He got the order to step back from the dark-haired young man, who had been measuring his sister previously. "Giovanni leave him in peace, the three of them belong together." Lively he rose off the cart and came up to Ourday, who immediately stepped back. The young man with an encouraging nod indicated to him with his hand movement that he had nothing to fear.

A grey-haired old man with sharp, hard features stepped up beside him, staring disapprovingly at the young man. "Cesare, son, what are you doing? Since when do you put yourself out for some savages? Remember where you are coming from my son." His voice had taken a sharp tone. The young man turned around to face his father. His bright green eyes met the hard stare of his father’s nearly black relentless eyes. Matteo Maltese was one of the leading Gabellotti in Sicily. The Gabellotti administered the farmland of the aristocrats for horrendous prices, which involved mostly wheeling and dealing. Matteo Maltese was known as one of the cruelest of the Gabellotti, particularly when it came to recruiting new staff for the estates. He provided only the strongest hands and offered the worst pay if the workers were to receive pay at all. Occasionally if some of them tried to revolt against the abuse, their life soon would be over.

His son Cesare, however, had a gentle mind. Violence was appalling and unacceptable to him, and the pretty girl with the long black hair and the defiant look made him wanting to protect her. Matteo stepped forward having a look at both girls and Ourday. "Well, son at the second thought you might be right. The three of them look rather strong. It seems they don’t understand a word we are saying. Which is an advantage, at least they won’t cause difficulties," his roaring laughter sounded mean. "Well, then we will take them with us to Catania, they can help on our property in the house doing some housekeeping. The boy can work in the stable or the vineyard." Then, he barked at the two wardens, “Bring the others to the surrounding courts, and I am counting on you to bring back a decent fee. Finally, they all look healthy," as he glanced at the ragged shapes. Ourday saw that his eyes remained on the girl with the golden hair. He looked at her like Ourday would look at a deer if he were starving, just before he aimed at it with his arrow from a distance.

The look scared him, and he felt torn apart. He had to protect his two sisters, but at the same time, he also felt like he had to protect the girl with the golden hair. The mean looking man said, "Maybe we should take Blondie with us too, one can never have enough maids around, I guess." His laugh had a cruel sound, the loud voice of one of the wardens, ordering them to move. The girl with the golden hair took long steps past Ourday, tilting her head to make him understand that he and his sisters should follow her. He told his sisters to follow him, and together they climbed on to the wooden horse carriage.

The journey took them almost a day and was weary on the rough and rocky streets. The open carriage offered no protection from the hot sun. No one offered them some water. Ourday and his sisters were tough and knew life in wild nature, but the girl with the golden hair was laying weak and half-fainting in the carriage. Ourday had found a few blankets inside the carriage and put them over the girl's body to protect her from the burning heat of the sun. Cesare kept trying to glimpse back from time to time and to catch a look at the black-haired beauty. He was not a warrior or one of the Gabellotti. He was a poet, and he hated violence. In his head, he already began to rhyme poems about the beauty of the girl. But, the beautiful girl gave him a most disturbing look full of anger that had him turn back around disenchanted.

His father carried a canteen of wine from their vineyards of Mount Etna and a bottle of water along, which he brought alternating to his lips. Cesare coughed slightly to get his attention. "Please excuse my rudeness father, but wouldn't it be useful if our future laborers would still be alive when we reach our property? Just think of our vineyards, the young and strong man would certainly be a great help during the grape harvest. "Matteo Maltese looked disgusted at his son." Sometimes I ask myself why your mother, God rest her soul." He quickly made the sign of the cross and continued, "Wasn't able to educate you. Teaching you the way to becoming the man who I wished for. Instead, of such a tender-hearted wimp." He slapped Cesare's shoulder hard making him wince but, brought the horse carriage to a halt with a loud Brrr ... He took a sip from his canteen. "Go on and bring them some water before I change my mind. Would be a shame if we had to bury them before they can show us their thankfulness through hard labor, which we no doubt merit. "He looked back while Cesare hastily followed the invitation and handed Ourday a couple of canteens in the back of the carriage. He heard his father's condescending voice "Son, give some water to Blondie first, with the child-bearing hips, she will certainly bring me much joy if she survives." The savages will somehow survive, though the little one with the tangled black hair could be a wildcat given the right circumstances, no doubt."