Unbound

It has been three days since they had set course back to Newland Mansion and every night has been the same thing for me. Lei will enter my chambers, do what he needs to with me, sleep the night and leave at first light. A redundant and mundane repetition of life. I wonder how long I can live this way in this pretentious life.

In the short span of a few months, so much had taken place in my life, swaying me away from my norm that the thought of going back to live in that mansion mortifies me.

I can't imagine myself as Lei's wife, living a life of wealth and luxury with nothing to do but "learn to play piano" or "have tea outside on the terrace" all while I await him to "do his business" with me in the night. Nothing to do, even nurses will watch my babies for me as I…

*thump~ thump~ thump~

"My lady!" a female voice came from behind my door along with her loud knocking. "My lady, sorry to interrupt your resting but I have urgent news. May I please enter?"

"Urgent news? Uh, YES do enter." I responded.

A crew member opened the door and popped in. Standing before me was a young lad, probably the same age as me. "My lady, we will be heading to the shore soon. King Leifae Arkson is assembling a team to leave first and gather supplies. He wants you to grab all of your necessities. He will be in shortly to retrieve you."

"Wait, wait, wait…what's the hurry? Why the sudden…"

"My lady!" he interrupted, "We have rats. Not the cute and kind ones, but the ones that will spread illness. There's been two cases of the black death onboard already. To ensure you and the King's safety, you must leave the ship. Now, gather your things." He leaves in a rush, slamming the door behind him.

Not a minute afterwards another knock came on my door as it opened .

"Lei, I'm not quite ready yet. I've just received the news about leaving and…"

"My lady?" An older male voice spoke softly with a tinge of slow vibrato. "I'm Emmitt, I was told you sought a jeweler? I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long."

"Emmitt, yes. Uh, no, you haven't kept me waiting long at all. And, yes, I didn't request for a jeweler…Umm, you see I have this pendant and it's been smashed. I was wondering if you can turn this into little charms or trinkets for a bracelet?" I show Emmitt to the vanity table where I had recently smashed the pendant with a wooden leg from the end table.

"Let's see here." Emmitt said as he set his carrier box onto the floor and opened it. After much digging around, he pulled out a silver size adjustable bracelet. "This may take a few minutes, my lady."

"Emmitt, we might not have enough time, but I will try to stall as long as I can."

Emmitt quickly goes to work, putting the various shapes and sizes of the broken pendant together to fit the slots within the bracelet. I grabbed a satin pillowcase off one of the pillows on the bed and began to stuff everything I needed inside it.

I put Mother's picture into the teddy and threw it into my new bag. I was sure to grab extra clothes and even a blanket, just in case I ended up naked and cold again. Most importantly, I grabbed a small dagger knife and sheathed it with a leather string from Lei's boots, then stuck it into the side of my garter.

Afterwards, I just waited on the edge of my bed for Lei's summons, as Emmit worked on my new bracelet.

And I start to hatch a plan for my escape.

*

I was awakened by Emmitt's nudging. Apparently, I had fallen asleep right where I was sitting. "My lady, it is complete. Please take a look."

I quickly rose up onto my feet and in Emmitt's old shriveled hand was a beautiful bracelet. He slips the bracelet down my wrist. The silver double looped around my wrist like a spring. Beautifully arranged in an odd sequence was the dark blue shards of the pendant. On one end of the bracelet was a cobra snakehead with its hood winged out fiercely. On the other end was a snaketail that shrunk down into a sharp point.

It was a perfect bracelet for a powerful pendant. "Thank you so much, Emmitt. It is lovely! You may go now."

Emmitt was already all packed up and ready to go. He grabbed his box and headed towards the door.

"Oh, Emmitt, I just wanted you to know that this work of art that you made, I will treasure forever."

Emmitt nods, "Thanks, my lady. I knew you'd like that bracelet that is why it chose you. You see, that bracelet was given to me by an old Chinaman a while ago. He was searching for his sister who had eloped with an Englishman. He wanted to give it to her, for, it was meant for her. I remember him asking me to find her in his stead on his dying bed…but at that time I was just a young lad, learning the arts of trade. That bracelet brought me great luck and great business, indeed. But my time here is almost over and by the look of you, it seems you are more deserving of this luck than I." Emmitt opens the door and as he walks out he says, " Plus, I would like to assume that the bracelet has finally found its owner, for no gem has ever fit it so perfectly." Then he gently closed the door behind him.

I couldn't help but stare at the exquisite details on the snake. The way he had placed the shards of the pendant was made to look like reptile skin on the snake. In the snake's eye sockets were the smallest of the pendant shards lodged inside.

I rubbed my tired eyes and pulled my bracelet to the sunlight. It shined from every angle magnificently.

"Wow, just wow." I said to myself and then I realized the angle of the sun. It must by midday already, where is Lei?

It took another two hours before Lei came knocking at the door. "Lady Sereen, please, I'm sure my staff had notified you of our leaving, yes?"

"Yes, they did… about four hours ago." I said to him, annoyed.

"Very well, let's go now. Everything is all prepared for our arrival on the shore. Is this all you're taking with you?" Lei points at the pillowcase bag in my hand.

"Yes, I didn't want to carry too much, in case we had to flee for survival."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that. I am here now. I will protect you. We also have an army with us, so there shouldn't be any issues here." Lei reassured me. "By the way, I've also made sure that you will never ever see him ever again. His head is probably rotting on a spike as we speak."

"Bjork is dead? You killed him?" I stuttered.

"I didn't kill him myself, but I have my most trusted men do the work."

"How would you know it's done then? Did you see it with your own eyes?"

"No, I didn't." he mumbled.

"Then there is a chance that he is alive." I said as fear poured out of me.

"No, trust me Lady Sereen. You've got to trust me." Lei tried to calm me. "Remember how you helped me? How you had led us to safety and found Riverway for us? I need you to calm down, close your eyes and look. Look with your inner sight to see that Bjork can no longer hurt you. I know you can see it."

I closed my eyes and I thought about the only thing that I can think of at that very moment, Bjork's death. My breathing shallows and I see it, but I don't see Bjork. Instead, I see a painted man. They glistening oil of charcoal pigmentation shone nicely as it reflected the sunlight.

(Who is this man?)

It was as though my astrally projected out of my body and am walking around him, examining him.

(He looks like Giken, but not quite.)

I move in closer to study his face then I hear Niiganii's voice yelling, "Aaniisha, if I hear anymore lies from you…"

The man suddenly changed his form into a wolf and dashed over towards Niiganii's voice, but I've already seen what I needed to see and it frightened me a little, for I have seen it before. I quickly followed it thinking to myself, "I need to know who this is…."

Those bright yellow eyes on a giant black wolf means Giken may be in danger.

*

"We will attack at night, when they least expect it." Manji-manidoo announced. "We surround them so that there is no way out. Then Jeko, Aamoo, Bizikaw, and Jiiga will all take each side of the perimeter. We snip the guards and work our way in. Asin," he pauses for a moment before speaking again. "Asin, will guard the river. Anyone fleeing will be hunted down. Everyone, understand?" Everyone but Asin nodded.

"Asin, do you understand your duty?" Manji-manidoo asked Asin firmly.

"Oshiimeyan… cousin, have you already forgotten? My father had made an oath to protect you, because you were a vulnerable person under his care. But now, look at you. You are so strong and so powerful now…Oh, and we can't forget, you're also leading the Ma'iingan. Oshiimeyan, the oath is completed. I am free from your demands, I can feel the God's release of the chains that once bound me." Asin said with dacity.

"How DARE YOU!" Manji-manidoo yelled, right before the couch took over and the blood squirted out between his fingers as he tried to suppress his choking.

"Good-bye, oshiimeyan. I've always been on the wrong side of my people, but I think now is the best time for me to transition." Asin said as he began to leave.

Manji-manidoo changed form into an orange wolf to attack Asin from behind, but Asin was one step ahead and had already changed his form into a white wolf with black patches on all four of his paws and on one of his ears, ready for combat. The two wolves stumbled back and forth, one trying to outdo the other.

Blood squirts out of the orange wolf that is Manji-manidoo, and he falls backwards as the Asin maws him down, heavily onto the ground. Asin's fangs flared out as he growled angrily downward onto Manji-manidoo.

Manji-manidoo's form slowly changes back to human and so Asin changes his form back as well.

Still wrestled on top of Manji-manidoo, Asin says, "See, cousin, I can now hurt you. The oath is over. I am no longer your DOG. I am a free wolf… free to choose who I want to follow." Asin removes himself from Manji-manidoo and stands to leave. "Oshiimeyan, greed and pride is like water; we can never get enough of it when enough is already plenty. Blood is not always thicker than water, especially when blood has been diluted with greed. May karma find its way to you, cousin."

Asin dashes off into the woods, heading back to the Ma'iingan campground.