NYX: ENCOUNTER WITH THE PIRATES

Today is the day of the Harvest festival. The people of the Evergurd are up early preparing their harvest things for the sales fair later in the day. Today is going to be a grand celebration because yesterday, just before night fell, the town crier had announced that instead of three days of celebration as usual for the festivities we'll be using only one day because of some unforeseen circumstances and because of that everyone is going all out today preparing to sell all of their harvest produce before the end of the day which is putting a lot of pressure on me, I blended a lot of flour for my baking today and I'm worried I wouldn't get to use them all.

"Nyx, how is your preparation coming along?" Teresa inquires from her side of the fence. I can see Mr. Harrison packing up lots of fire woods and placing it on a horse's back. The Harrisons harvest festival sells would be roasted meats, a specialty of Mr. Harrison himself.

"Good so far, thank the heavens I got more butter yesterday. It turned out Mrs. Oswald was all sold out before night," I report, shaking my head in amazement "and usually she has butter leftovers she couldn't sell."

"It's the harvest miracle," Teresa quipps before we both burst out laugh "what's left to do?" she ask.

"The flour I blended is still at Mr. James's shop. He asked me to come pick it up today." Teresa gives me a lopsided smile, something she does when she's amused by something. "What?"

"You know he likes you, Nyx. It's obvious to anyone with eyes and he's just withholding the flour as an opportunity to see you again." she says.

"That's not true, Mr. James doesn't see me like that. We are just friends." I deny. which is the truth. Sure Mr. James is quite handsome I'll admit, with his dark long hair and eyes, his sculpted jawlines and body structure… but I don't see him as such. And I'm sure he doesn't see me in that way either, he has a lot of options to choose from with both the rich and local women swooning over him, he wouldn't choose a woman like me who has three children and who's heart is closed off from men.

"But he does. You can ask anyone they'd tell you." she argues and I only shake my head at her words.

"Sure, sure, Teresa, just like how the village bailiff likes me and also how the village black smith Mr. Johnathan likes me, your such a romantic. You see romance in everything." I say with sarcasm, pointing out the other times she had said something similar.

"Yeah I'm a romantic, but they really do." I roll my eyes at her. "and they would have approached you if the boys hadn't pranked them."

I frown at her words as I haven't heard about them pranking those two and I'm pretty up to date about all their mischieves. You see, my children, specifically the boys have quite the reputation of being pranksters. They are known as the imp twins or triplets of Meadows hill's. They go about pranking people they deem to be mean or nosey and nobody is safe from their pranks not even the village lord Mr. Estienne who got his horses freed from the stable after Gennieve had told the boys that the animals weren't probably taken cared of. It took days to find all the horses and return them to the stables. Many pointed fingers at them but thankfully no one could prove it was them who did it.

They also pranked the village priest for exploitation of offerings which got them the name imps by him and it quickly stuck but it turned out they were right and the priest was disciplined. Mrs. Harrison and I have tried to get them to stop this habit of theirs but they never listen, they claim to be starving 'justice' since the moment they started their little shenanigans. My plans to keep a low profile was flung out the window, and I was immediately put under the spot light. Everyone knows about me. Sigh…

"What? When was this?" She opens her mouth to answer but then the door to my house opens distracting me and one by one my children step out of the door yawing and stretching their arms while rubbing at their eyes as they walk towards me. "What are you guys doing awake so early?" They respond by embracing me. I use my hands to smoothen their errant curly hair

"We wanted to help you set up before the festival begins," Marcellus says and his siblings nod in agreement.

"Tsk. Aww, that's so sweet of you guys." I give them a quick kiss on the cheeks and they reache to do the same but just as they bring their lips closer the smell hits me and I scrunch up my nose "morning breath" I murmur holding my breath as they place a kiss on my cheeks "thanks my babies but before you can help me with anything you have to clean up first, your mouths are smelling," I tell them using my hand to fan my nose to emphasize on it.

"It's not my mouth that stinks mother it's the boys," Gennieve points out and the boys scowl at her before cupping their hands in front of their mouth blowing into it and then sniffing, they scrunch up their nose at the smell and their expressions makes me giggle.

"It's not only ours, your mouth stinks too, l gennie," Malachi retorts.

"That's not true." gennie says confidently lifting her chin up. "I'm a lady, I don't stink. Boys do." she flips her disheveled hair behind her back.

"How is that true? Boys are way cleaner than girls," Marcel counters

"And if your so sure, then why don't you prove it?" Malachi chips in and Gennieve accepts the challenge. She cups her palms in front of her mouth and blows into it and then sniffs. She tries not to react but she's always been an open book and the boys begin to laugh.

"Hahaha, who's the stinky one now?" Marcelle teases and gennie cheeks heat up in embarrassment as she turns to me to complain.

"Mother, see what they are saying?"

I sigh. It's yet another day of their little siblings squabbling and it's always Gennieve against her brothers for some reasons. I know Marcel and Mali like to tease her a lot about how she's a spoilt princess, which isn't far from the truth. She is a princess after all they just don't know it, yet. But under all the teasing and bickering I know they care about her a lot and she knows it too, prove being how they protect and care for her and if anything they are her biggest spoilers.

"Now, now, children everyone stinks if they don't clean themselves, so hurry along now, it's going to be a long day ahead." I say shooing them away and they begin to move towards the door lightly shoving into each other, "Stop that. Oh, don't stay in the bath too long, especially you Malachi you just recovered from a cold due to playing in the lake to much" I warn.

"Ok, mother. "

"And be careful not to fall!" I yell after them but they are already gone. "These kids," I mumble under my breath. I hear Teresa chuckle from behind me and I turn to regard get with a tired smile.

"They are the most adorable little imps ever," she says amusedly and I can't help but agree. They really are imps, the whole village knows about them and their mischievousness. I return back to the matter at hand but Teresa beats me to it.

"Did you hear that soldiers from another kingdom were sent to our kingdom yesterday?" she questions and I shake my head in response.

"Well they were and Papa told me it's to help take down the outlanders who's been disturbing the flow of trade between our kingdom and theirs. No wonder the harvest festival was shortened."

"Good, those bandits are the worst. I had an encounter with them when I was coming to Evergurd eight years ago, it was scary." A shudder goes down my spine just thinking about it. It really was a terrifying event for me. A lady who's never heard or seen anything like that. It was after I ran away from the Hawthorne palace and boarded a small ship which wouldn't even pass for one. It was the one usually used by the peasants for their travel. I spent about three weeks on sea and finally the 'ship' was drawing near to the docks of Evergurd when the bandits came out of nowhere. They attacked the ship that wasn't far ahead of us, threw some passengers off board and stole their belongings and anything they found of value. The captain of our ship tried to quickly stir pass them.

"Hold on to something everyone, less you want to get thrown over board," a crew member warned "and keep all ye valuables, though I doubt ye have any, but better safe than sorry," he said in broken English and we all scrambled to find where to hide our things. If anyone in this ship had anything of value it would be me. I reached for my bags, thank the heavens I dressed the peasants part down to my bags I carried a worn out bag and it blended in. I kept looking for where I could hide my bag to no avail. There wasn't really anywhere to hide anything. The ship was small and cramped and it wouldn't even be an exaggeration if I said we were stacked together to fit in because most passengers had to lap the other. With no where to hide my bag and with little time before the pirates attacked us, I lifted my gown and tied my bag containing the valuables around my stomach before arranging my gown back in place. It looked like an awkward baby bump with the shape unusual but I had no time to fix it.

Soon, the pirates sailed their ship which was much, much, much bigger than ours to block out advance forward, and they invaded ours.

"Everyone on board should hand over their valuables without struggle and we'll be nice." A man in raggedy clothes that seemed to be done purposefully for the character he was, said in a jolly voice as if he was announcing some grand celebration "and if you don't mind form a single file, and have your bags in hand," another with an eye patch and rotten teethes added and immediately we all stood to form a straight line as they ushered us a towards a man with a long cape and a hat that had a single red feather, an eye patch and a stick for his left leg and an hook for his right hand stood in front of the line. He was the one collecting the bags and searching for any valuables. He appeared to be the captain of the pirates ship.

While on the line, I discreetly adjusted my bag tied to my stomach to look more believable. It was nearly my turn. They checked the lady that was before me and found what seemed to be a hair pin made of gold and he snatched it. She cried in protest reaching to grab it back, "please no, that is from my late mother, it's the only thing I have left of her please don't take it," she pleaded trying to reach for it again and the pirate put it away from her. He wore a wide grin on his face as he used it to tease her the more she tried to reach for the hair pin the higher he raised it away from her reach but then his smiling face dropped, "Ok enough joking around go sit down before I make you regret it." He warned but she still didn't listen and tried to reach for it again, and the pirate captain fed up delivered a sharp slap to her left cheek that had me wince.

She still didn't give up with tears streaming down her face. She reached for it again trying to attack the Captain to get back her mother's hair pin and at that point the pirate captain had, had enough. He grabbed her by her neck and backed her to the edge of the ship bending her over the wooden edge. She clawed at his hand trying to free herself and the brute of a man laughed at her attempt.

"Let me go please," she cried, the pirate captain only laughed harder.

"if you say so," he said before letting her fall into the water with a splash. She came up a again flailing her arms and screaming but her screams kept getting cut off by the water that kept rushing into her open mouth, and everyone on bored all froze holding their breaths in fear. If they breath they'd be next and in anticipation to see if she'll make it, but soon the water splashing ceased an indication she drowned and the pirates cheered as if it were something joyous a lone tear ran down my left cheek.

"Sorry for the little distraction, now where were we?" the Captain of the Pirate asked coming to stand in front of me as if he hadn't just killed someone. I was shaking to bones as he reached for my bag, the one that contained my peasant clothes. He gave me a once over his eyes stopping at my fake baby bump "You don't look like a peasant." he noticed while assessing me. "You look well off lady."

His eyes roam around my body and I felt a sheen of sweat start to form on my forehead, my heartbeat picked up pace more than before as he looked at me. "Your quite a beauty, I would have considered taking you but that will be a problem," He said, indicating to my fake baby bump and I couldn't have thank the heavens enough for my quick wittedness. He searched my bag finding nothing. He moved on to the next person, throwing some more over board before they finally left our 'ship' the rest of the ride to Evergurd was quiet as everyone was too spooked to speak. That experience has never left me even after eight years.

"We also had an encounter with them when we were coming to Evergurd too, they took most of our belongings we would have been penniless had Papa not had this house he inherited from grandpapa and some valuables were stored inside too," She explains with a heavy sigh and her eyes dull but not a second later they brighten "have you seen the soldiers? Heavens they are handsome!" She says with a dreamy look on her face. "I think I saw my future husband there."

Teresa is twenty one years old now and ripe for marriage. She's had both young and older men swarm in with marriage proposals since she's reached a marriageable age and I can't blame them, Teresa is very gorgeous woman with her golden brown skin, beautiful black eyes straight black hair which she inherited from her father Mr. Harrison while her brother Isaac took Mrs. Harrisons curly black hair and warm chocolate eyes and she has a very cheerful character which pulls people in. but she's turned them all down saying she wanted to marry for love and I admire her for her resolve. I've thought several times if I had stood my grounds and told my parents I would only marry Dominic if we shared mutual feelings, but I had been so deluded thinking over time it would work out, this is where that delusion got me. Sigh…..

The door opens again and Marcel, Malachi and Gennieve step out and walk over to where I was. "Mom we're ready," Marcel says.

"Mm-mm I can see that my little prince's and princess," I say smoothening their now combed hair.

"What can we help you with mama?" gennie ask.

"Umm.. how about…. you help take the baking pans and utensils from the bakery to my tent at the market square," I say and she nods. "And Marcel and Mali please help retrieve the flour from the Mr. James's shop." I say and they nod and saluted as if they were soldiers taking commands from their commander before sprinting off and I giggle. "be careful not to drop it it's quite heavy," I yelled after them, hopefully they heard.

Later in day I'm heading to my tent at the market square with Marcellus, Malachi and Gennieve trailing behind me.

"Mother can we go play now, we're done with our task?" Marcellus ask and his siblings look up at me with pleading doe eyes. They're just so cute. "Sure you can go, just make sure you stay out of trouble and away from the waters, you just recovered from a cold Malachi!" I yell after them but they already sprinting off. "Gennieve keep an eye on the boys" she nods and chase after them "Malachi, Marcellus wait up" she yells after them.

Getting to the market square it's bustling with vendors and customers trying to purchase their goods shoveling and bumping into each other in order to maneuver their way through to their next tent I quickly make my way to my small red tent apologizing as I bump into people.

"Excuse me, sorry, sorry, excuse me, sorry." I'm late as I see the crowd is already a lot. Inside the tent I quickly get to backing my pastries and making dessert. Strawberry cakes, fruit tarts, muffins, breads, pudding etc are on sale.

"Hello Nyx, happy harvest day!" Mrs. Smith aunty Evelyn the midwife's daughter stops by my shop.

"Hello and happy harvest day to you too Mrs. Smith how's aunty doing?" I ask politely.

"She's fine though lately she complains a lot about wanting more grand children" She says with a small chuckle and I smile fondly.

"Give her more then," I add teasingly with a wink and she laughs out. "I'm done, six is enough" waving her hand in front of her "I hope things aren't too high?" I ask and she nods.

"Yes dear, the prices are fine, I'd like eighteen loafs of bread, my sister and her children are coming over today, it's going to be a full house" she chuckles and I join in too. I hand her the bread exchange a few more words before she Heads on her way and another customer replaces her. All the while I'm selling I have this itching feeling someone is watching me I turn to discreetly look around me but I don't find anyone openly staring at me, everyone's minding their business buying and selling, I go back to work and the eyes returns I let out a quit sigh as a giddy feeling settles on my lower belly.

By the time I'm done selling my pastries and dessert it's well into the evenings and I gingerly pack up ready to head home and away from this eyes that's been on me for the past several hours.

On my way home I stop by my bakery to drop off the pans and still I feel the eyes. I look back every now and then but still nothing. I'm beginning to think I'm just being paranoid. The harvest festival is not over if anything it's just starting at night we gather at the meadows with bound fire set and the villagers party with drinks, music and dance it's one of the best highlights of the festival here. After I'm dropping everything off I then head home still under the scrutiny of the eyes I quickly enter and close the door then inhale before exhaling again, I walk around the room putting things away I have to quickly clean the house and prepare dinner before the kids get home. A few minutes into the cleaning I hear a knock on the door and again the feeling of uneasiness settles in the pit of my stomach. I walk to the door but hesitate when I'm about to pull on the door handle.

'There's nothing wrong Nyx your just being ridiculous' I mentally coax my self before pulling the door open. I Immediately regret the decision. I'm frozen in fear, my legs tremble and threatens to give way beneath me, I gulp down saliva. Standing in front of me is the man I left eight years ago, the father of my kids and husband. His silver hair longer and In a bun his gray eyes stare at me unblinkingly with emotions I can't decipher he doesn't look like he's aged a day his physique as sturdy as ever. This couldn't be real it has to be something out of my imagination I blink a couple of times to dispel the image I see in front of me but it won't go away, he won't go away, and at the realization that this is real an not a dream panic begins to settle in, 'no, no, no, no, no this can't be real.

"Hello Nyx," he greeted in a hoarse voice and my throat runs dry.