Oracle in the Mist (10 page)

“Eh, come back ‘ere you kids. Who are you anyway and how did you get on my boat? Get back here. You can't take my life raft …” and with that he pushed one of the grunts over the edge of the ship and said, “Go on, go and get ‘em and bring ‘em back.”

“Yes sir, shall do Captain,” said the orc from the water, and everyone watched as he dogpaddled in the water but did not swim.

“Eh, don't tell me you can't swim? Oh flipperty jibbert, just my luck! Who here can swim, then?” he demanded of his crew and all of them looked downcast as if embarrassed to admit it.

“So, what, we jus' gonna let those kids get away?” he screamed at his crew, “I don' believe this.”

“Why don' you jump in then, Captain?” came a voice from the crowd.

“Who said that, who said that then? I'll find out who you are and I swear by the time I'm through with you …” and he held up his fist in a fury at the crowd.

The children could hear all of this as they rowed away and they couldn't help having a little giggle to themselves, especially when it became clear that not one of the orcs could swim and chase them. They began to feel sure that they would indeed escape.

“I'm sorry, Captain,” Henry shouted back across the swell. “I'll have you know that I'm not a thief but this is the only option available to me.”

All of the orcs looked at one another and shrugged their shoulders, including the captain. The children could see that they could not hear what Henry had said at all. There was too much distance between them now, but at least Henry had done the right thing and apologised.

It wasn't long and the ship was a blur in the distance behind them. The children became mesmerised by the ship and could still see the orcs just standing there on the deck, as if in disbelief at what had just happened. But then the ship disappeared from view behind the swell and the children's attention came back to the fact that they were adrift in an unknown ocean and heading to goodness knows where with no water and food.

“This is the best adventure that I've ever had,” said Johnny, who was nine and was always talking about wanting to travel the world, having fun and fighting pirates and dragons and finding buried treasures. “Do you think we'll see pirates soon?” was his next question.

“Well, what do you think those were?” answered Teresa who was six and very sensible and thought that wanting to have adventures was very silly and boyish.

“Ina, I'm thirsty and hungry,” Teresa said and looked about herself in the raft and in the ocean. Not much chance of anything to eat or drink out here. All of the rest of the children remained quiet but they stared at Henry and Ina with big, questioning eyes.

“Now, don't worry,” answered Ina, “because we're going to be all right. We've been all right so far, haven't we? And we're going to keep being all right but you have to be patient.”

Right at that moment, Johnny, who had been standing up at the end of the raft with his hands joined together and curled over to form a pretend eyeglass to look towards the horizon, shouted, “Hey, is that land I see over there, Henry?” All of the children craned their necks in the direction that he had pointed and squinted into the bright sunlight.

“Good lord,” said Henry, “I believe he's right. Good spotting Johnny,” and he turned the raft around and started to head towards the land on the horizon.

“Land ahoy, land ahoy,” the children all squealed with delight, for once able to imitate the famous line from the many children's stories that had been read to them.

“Can I take over with the rowing for a while?” asked Ina, wanting to be of help.

“No, that's fine, I've got it,” answered Henry.

It's true; he is quite capable, Ina thought to herself. He'd been rowing for all of this time and yet he didn't seem even a little tired. Ina marvelled at Henry's strength. Being born and raised on a farm where even the toddlers were expected to help with the chores Henry had become a very lean, strong and capable fourteenyearold boy. Ina felt puny and weak in contrast to Henry. She thought about her own upbringing. She had never had to worry about chores as there were always servants to do everything and she only had her studies, piano lessons, her horse and tea parties with friends to think about. She had to admit, even though she didn't like boys in general, she quite admired Henry.

It wasn't long before the land became bigger and bigger as the children drew closer. They became quite excited, all except for Ina who was worried that there might be danger lurking on the island. But then, it wasn't long before even she became swept up in their enthusiasm as well. She hoped that there would be food and water available for them.

Before long they were on the shores of what seemed to be a beautiful, tropical island, not unlike the one they had talked about the night before. They disembarked in the shallows and helped Henry to pull the raft up on to the sand. They stood there in a little huddle, staring about when all of a sudden a huge lion came out of the forest and walked towards them. Henry ordered all of them back into the raft and he grabbed an oar to defend himself. All of the children sat holding their breath as the lion walked towards them. Ina felt as if her heart had dropped into her stomach but at the same time she had an incredible feeling of peace, as if there was really nothing to worry about at all.

The lion got within six feet of Henry and then stood quite still and let out an almighty, earsplitting roar.

It then nodded its head up and down as if to convey some kind of message and with that turned and walked back into the forest.

“Do you believe it?” shouted Johnny. “Oh my God, I've never seen anything like that before. This must be some kind of magical land where everything is friendly and nothing can …”

Right then came a blood curdling cry from Teresa and she sat pointing to the jungle. The children all looked to where she was pointing only to see the most incredible spectacle, one which almost defied description. They all drew in their breath sharply and stared at one another in utter amazement.

There before them were all manner of animals and other creatures too — the likes of which they'd never seen before but looking most prehistoric — all coming out of the forest and wandering about totally oblivious to the children as if all going on their hurried way to previous engagements.

The children stood and sat, mouths agape at the picture before them. Not one of them uttered a word. And then an even more peculiar thing happened. A monkey came bounding out of the forest and came right up to them and said, “Orr, orr, orr, screech.” Ina and Henry looked at each other blankly. Clearly the monkey was trying to say something to them but they had no idea what.

“Orr, orr, orr, screech,” it repeated, but this time he took a few steps towards the forest and then turned back to them and motioned to them, as if they should follow him. Then he did the same thing again and nodded his head as if to say, it's okay, you can follow me.

“Well, I don't see that we have any choice but to follow him, do you?” Henry asked Ina. Ina was too shocked to answer. She looked at him blankly and shrugged her shoulders. Meanwhile Johnny was already off and running and calling to them all, “Come on. He's going to get us something to eat and drink,” as if that was their most important priority.

“How do you know that? Come back! It's too dangerous,” Henry shouted to him.

“I don't know,” answered Johnny, “I just know somehow that it's okay.”

Ina took Teresa's hand in hers and altogether the children made their way to the forest. Snakes slithered by as they walked along and spiders scurried about too, which made all of the children give little shouts of surprise each time but after a while, once the children realised that the creatures meant them no harm they stopped even noticing their presence.

“I feel as though I'm dreaming,” Ina said to Henry as they walked along. “It's too bizarre to be true. It's almost as if what we talked about last night has come true.”

“I know,” answered Henry shaking his head. “If that's the case, then there will be fresh food and drinking water here and we'll come to no harm.”

“Yes, I suppose,” Ina agreed.

Off into the distance the children could hear a waterfall cascading. That would be their fresh water. The monkey took them along a narrow, sandy path and through a lush fern glade that had a carpet of soft moss underfoot. And then they began to climb up tiny stairs that eventually led to a plateau on which they found themselves standing under a massive house held up by bamboo stilts.

“Orr, orr, orr, screech,” said the monkey and pointed behind them. They all turned at the same time and what they saw completely took their breath away. Ina and Henry lifted the younger ones so that they could see. A sparkling ocean with every sea creature imaginable and also unimagined, playing about in the ocean and a sky full of birds of all descriptions, even a prehistoric variety just playing about in the sky, as if floating on the breeze.

“It's just like in my dream,” said Teresa. “This is what we talked about last night and this is what I dreamed about during the night too.” She was very excited.

Ina looked at Henry who just looked puzzled. He was looking behind them and then pointing to the left of them as if trying to ascertain which direction they were facing.

“I can't understand how we didn't see all of this when we were out on the ocean,” he said to Ina.

“Well, we must have been on the other side of the island,” she answered.

“Yes, but …”

The monkey spoke to them again and they began their ascent to the house. On entering the house the children found a spotlessly clean, open plan and scarcely furnished inside area. The kitchen was fully stocked with all kinds of foods that they would normally enjoy at home. There were freshly grown corn still in their husks, eggs, cheese, homemade bread, biscuits and cakes, lettuces, tomatoes, cucumbers, and lovely looking freshly caught salmon.

The children started to salivate just looking at all of the delicious food. Ina set about preparing a meal for them all and it wasn't long before they were all sitting down and eating to their hearts' content and taking in the lovely view from the window looking out over the forest and to the ocean. It really was like a dream come true.

Luckily the children hadn't realised that they were being watched by the natives of the island, a gentle and yet fierce people who wished to remain anonymous and hidden away from their view. For a very long time, only the animals knew of their existence.

T
he children found the accommodation within the lodge quite comfortable. They were able to bed down the boys on one side of the lodge and the girls on the other with a curtain drawn between them so they all had some privacy. It felt most peculiar at first to be away from their homes and parents and little Teresa and some of the other young children complained fearfully at first about missing their mothers, fathers, favourite teddies and dollies or brothers and sisters. Henry and Ina had to gently explain to the younger children that they would have returned home if they could but that it was impossible. The children wept bitterly at first but after a time they came to accept their new surroundings and before long they thought of it as home.

Gradually the days slipped into weeks and then the weeks into months and the children became accustomed to the island and its strange inhabitants. No day was ever without an adventure as the children made friends with all of the island's animals and taught themselves skills such as how to catch fish with a homemade spear from the sea and recognising which berries could be eaten and would taste delicious and sweet.

None of them questioned the fact that every now and then a donkey would appear from nowhere laden with provisions for them that would last some weeks.

After a while, all of the children, even Henry, stopped questioning every little miracle that occurred.

Johnny developed a talent for communicating with the animals. It wasn't in any obvious, verbal way but he always seemed to know the message they were trying to convey and he would talk to them in his own plain English and somehow a link was established between them.

The island was a place of good tidings and the children found that they never had to worry about sickness, not even a sniffle or injuries or accidents. In fact they didn't even have to worry about becoming too hot or too cold either. The days were warm and balmy and the nights were pleasantly cool. It really was the ideal location.

A close bond formed between all of the children and eventually it was as if the children were a family with familial ties.

Henry and Ina became the natural leaders of the group and it was obvious that there was a great affection between them for on this island all of the differences of their upbringing faded into insignificance.

The months became years and the children had almost completely forgotten about their other lives. Henry celebrated his twentieth birthday and Ina her nineteenth birthday when something most extraordinary happened.

A native man with extremely dark skin appeared out of nowhere and spoke to the children in their own language. “Welcome to our island, we would like to meet all of you. The leader of my tribe wishes for you to come tonight to our celebrations and also wishes for you to know that you will come to no harm,” and with that he thumped himself hard on his own chest and disappeared the same magical way that he had come.

“I can't believe we didn't know they were here all of this time,” Ina said to Henry.

“This is incredible,” Henry agreed. “That must be where all of the food's been coming from all of these years. How have they remained hidden for all of this time?”

“Maybe we haven't been here for that long at all,” said Johnny and they all looked at him incredulously.

“Well, you heard him. He said, ‘Welcome to the island.' To him we only just got here,” Johnny made a very valid point.

“What are we going to do?” asked Ina, not feeling very sure about meeting the whole tribe.

“Well, I don't see that we have any choice but to go,” answered Henry, logical as always. “If nothing else we have to go and thank them for sharing their food and this island with us for all of these years.” Ina could see that Henry was convinced and she knew him well enough to know that there was no point trying to change his mind. Her mind immediately went to the appalling state of their clothing. They had all outgrown their one set of clothes each and so had fashioned them into comfortable attire by cutting the legs off pants and sleeves off jumpers and shirts.

All of their clothes were in tatters and very stained and stiff and faded like old cardboard due to being washed in sea water for so long. Oh well, the natives would just have to accept them even though they looked so bedraggled.

That night the children made their way to meet the tribe as the man had returned to show them the way. The most astonishing thing about all of this was the fact that an entire village of natives existed right here where all of the children had been playing and frolicking for many years. It was as if a veil, which had now come down, had existed between the children's and the natives' world. But the children didn't question it because by now they were used to all kinds of strange things happening.

The elder of the tribe turned out to be an old toothless crone who was wearing virtually nothing and was shrunken with age and covered in necklaces of animal teeth. She was very much revered by the other natives. What she said was obeyed and the crowds parted so that she could come forth.

“Henry and Ina?” she said when she saw them and she pointed her stick made of an old bone at them.

“Yes, that's right,” they said in unison.

“What do you think?” she asked, using her stick to swirl around her as if referring to the island.

“Excuse me?” asked Henry.

“I say, what do you think, child? Do you like what you have created?” she asked, smiling at them.

Henry and Ina looked at one another puzzled.

“Oh, do you mean the island?” answered Ina, “Oh yes, we really do like living here and thank you so much for giving us all of that food all through the years and I'm terribly sorry for the way we look. We haven't been able to locate more clothes …”

“Clothes don't matter because now you wear what we wear. You came recently, did you know that?” the old Crone was still smiling at them as if she was the keeper of some incredible secret of which they had no idea. But, by now the children were used to feeling this way, as if they were living through some kind of constant mysterious miracle that always had them in a state of continual obliviousness, with all questions remaining unanswered.

They had felt this way for so many years now that they had almost forgotten how to feel any other way.

“And now, we join you together,” said the Crone and she stepped forward and took the hands of Henry and Ina and placed them together. She started to laugh.

“What?” spluttered Ina, “Join us together? Oh no, you can't do that! What do you mean? You don't understand — where we come from you need a priest to perform a task such as that and besides we can't do something like that because where we come from, we're actually quite young, aren't we Henry?” she said looking over to Henry. But for some strange reason he was smiling as well as if he had already known of the Crone's plan and he took her hand firmly in his and stared deeply into her eyes in the most loving way.

Before Ina knew what was happening or could protest at all, a bunch of beautiful, young native women came and took her hand and led her to a hut. She looked back and was about to ask Henry to rescue her but found that he was being led into another hut by a group of young men.

Ina talked incessantly to the young women who were dressing her as she really was quite nervous about what was about to take place. Were they talking about a marriage?

Surely she'd misunderstood. The women tore at the scant clothes that she wore. They seemed to have no idea of modesty and she cried out several times and attempted to cover herself back up again. They ignored her and replaced her clothes with a costume more like their own: a long grass skirt and a long piece of fabric wrapped around her bosom in the fashion of a bikini. They put up her long, frizzy hair with shell combs and painted her face with ochre to make it look more like theirs. They layered jewels and draped exquisitelooking fabric around her shoulders and arms.

It soon became evident that they were preparing her for something quite special as by the end of it all, her outfit was far more elaborate than any of theirs. They left her feet bare.

When she was taken out of the hut, she came face to face with Henry, who had also been done up in the native attire. All of her nervousness melted away when they locked eyes and they giggled and pointed at one another like little children. The other children took one look at them and laughed uproariously. The Crone took Henry and Ina by their hands and led them to a place under an arbour made of tropical flowers. She put their hands together and stood before them.

“Ina, I know you love this man, yes?” she asked.

Ina looked at Henry and started to blush. They had never spoken of their feelings for one another prior to this but before Ina could stop herself she heard herself say, “Yes, I do.”

“And Henry, I know you love this woman, yes?”

“Yes, I do,” he answered.

Both Ina and Henry could hear the children giggling and saying all kinds of things behind them such as “Lovebirds” and “Ooh Henry loves Ina” and so on pretending to taunt them. But Henry and Ina took no offence. They were too busy grinning madly at each other.

“Yes, that's good, because now Henry you are going to be the husband of this young Ina. You are not children anymore and it is now time to become as one. So, as the elder of this tribe I ask you, will you always love one another and stand by one another no matter what problems you have and will you always be there for one another?”

“I will,” they both said in unison, their smiles going from ear to ear.

“That's good, because now you are man and wife and you can have a kiss,” the Crone said.

Henry took Ina's shoulders and pulled her closer to him and they kissed lightly and then turned to look at the children who were all saying things like: “Oooh, kissy, kissy, smooch, smooch” and kissing the backs of their own hands and making squeaking sounds, to fully stir up the occasion.

“Good,” said the Crone, “now we have the party. I love parties.”

All of the children were taken to another area of the village where they came upon massive tables all fully laden with a banquet of deliciouslooking food. They all ate and then the natives entertained them by playing drums and singing and dancing in their own fashion. They insisted that the children join in on the fun and so by the end of the night all of the children had learnt a new form of dance. They couldn't remember the last time they'd had this much fun. At around midnight the old Crone came to Henry and Ina and putting their hands together once more said, “And now it is time …” and she lead them away to a lone hut on the edge of the village and motioned for them to go inside and then she closed the door. “See you in the morning, husband and wife,” she said with a hearty laugh.

The rest of the children were taken back to the house on stilts and slept there without Henry and Ina for the first time since coming to the island.

The next day all of the children were given the clothing of the natives and the natives started to teach the children their own ways. It wasn't long before all of the people became united as one, spending all of their time together and learning each other's customs.

After some time, it became evident that Ina would have a baby. Everyone was thrilled about it.

The thought of having another little baby on the island to play with the native children made them very happy. Ina was happy as well but she was also concerned. She spoke to the Crone about the fact that she had no one there to help her birth the baby.

She didn't have the slightest notion of such things and the thought of it made her frightened. But the Crone told her not to worry. “It's the most natural thing in the world Ina, don't be worried. You'll be fine. I will have women helping you who have delivered dozens of babies. Look at all of our lovely children here. There's nothing wrong with them, is there?”

That was true, Ina thought to herself. The children of the natives really were most adorable and they all had mothers that had obviously survived the births. It was probably nothing to worry about but still, she couldn't help wishing to herself that she would have her very own private doctor.

Within a few days of making her wish, it was granted. An Englishman by the name of Professor Lambert strolled into the village, quite by magic of course and looking as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

“Obstetrics is my qualification but you know, I have to say that I really rather like the idea of being a botanist. That's where my special interest lies. Still, at your service I am, Ina Fairweather. And have no fear, I have delivered many babies and never had a problem with one.”

Ina was so relieved to hear this and it was lovely to have another person come to the island. He was able to teach the children about many things to do with plant life and even knew a lot about the animals as well. But when asked from where he had come, a cloud would come over his face.

“Well, you know, I'm really quite embarrassed to say this but I have absolutely no idea. I know that I've read a great many books but I don't know where they are. I remember conversations that I've had with colleagues and that my father was a most refined and learned gentleman but I don't know where in the world he is or where I was before coming to this island. I have to tell you, I'm just as alarmed as you are at my sudden appearance here and yet I'm very happy to be able to offer my assistance and I know that in time the explanation we are all looking for will come to light. We just have to be patient.”

Ina thought him to be a very nice person to be so accepting of being taken from his own world and placed here and she was very grateful at having a qualified doctor in her midst, especially now that there was a baby coming.

When Ina's time came to have the baby, the doctor and native midwives were all prepared and before they knew it they were all celebrating the birth of a healthy baby boy. Henry and Ina were ecstatic with the safe arrival of their baby and thanked the professor profusely. Henry didn't leave the side of his wife and baby for some days.