Beginnings... by way of an Ending - Part 4 Live on The Pulse 94.7 at 10am
By Brett J Cole
Previous Episodes
‘You’re quite refreshing, you know?’ the cloaked figure told her. ‘Most anyone and everyone – especially their king, I must say – made a very fine point of firstly wanting to know who I truly am beneath any such cloak or hood.’
‘Well, I hardly find that important,’ the girl said. ‘And certainly not in regards with why I’ve been sent here. You’re… you, and whoever you may be wouldn’t change even if you were to remove your hood. I didn’t even think to ask. And… nor will I,’ the girl added quietly, looking intently at the nearby phoenix. ‘If you desired me to know I imagine you’d have lowered it already.’
‘Oh, you are indeed a thoughtful one,’ the cloaked figure said softly. They didn’t laugh, but somehow a laugh was held in these words. ‘I imagine had all else beyond those trees known this, they’d have sent someone else in your stead.’
The girl said nothing to this but gave a small nod of agreement. Both she and the cloaked figure had noticed her glance towards the trees, ensuring that those she’d arrived with weren’t privy to such a thing.
‘They won’t hurt you. I promise,’ the cloaked figure said.
‘They aim to hurt you, though,’ the girl replied.
‘They’re not as strong as they believe themselves,’ the cloaked figure laughed, as did the trees which rustled their leaves in vigorous agreement. ‘The fact that you’d even care shows more strength than all of them held together. Why, the strongest and fiercest among them saw fit to hide themselves behind you… You!’ they exclaimed. ‘They hide behind you as much as their king would hide behind them in turn.’
The girl didn’t seem comforted by this at all, and the sigh she gave was heavy. ‘I may be brave and… thoughtful, as you say,’ she said quietly. ‘But I am in fact afraid. They said that you were to return with me, along with the phoenix, and if not, then –’
‘Oh, I know quite well what they would have said,’ the cloaked figure shrugged. ‘I shall indeed return with you, so let that fear not be yours. As for the phoenix… as I told that man who’d declare himself king, the choice of the phoenix is not at all mine to ever make.’
Again, the girl showed no sign of comfort in this. The nod she gave was sad, and the sigh she gave was greater than before with the beginning of her intent to ask a question.
‘Oh, I’m quite sure!’ the cloaked figure said loudly, already knowing the question. They then gave an even louder clap of their hands. ‘First, however, you… You! I must fetch you water and food.’
Before the girl could even voice her concern, the cloaked figure was in and out of the cottage, suddenly holding forth a flask of water and a large piece of bread. For the first time in their entire encounter – and although their face remained hidden – the girl’s obvious concern inspired the defiance she’d first expected.
‘No!’ the cloaked figure said loudly. ‘And don’t you feel at all that you should hide what you’ve been given. They sent a child – a child! – to do what they would not. They can eat dust as they deserve, and if they thirst, well… they can just spit into each other’s mouths.’
The girl couldn’t help but laugh at such a suggestion, and she took the water and bread.
‘And there it is again,’ the cloaked figure said. ‘And such a laugh it is, as all children should have! Now…’ they then said, waving a small, canvas bag that the girl hadn’t even seen until now, ‘shall we depart?’
‘Will the phoenix –’ the girl began to ask when it suddenly took to the air.
‘It shall,’ the cloaked figure told the girl. 'But only by choice its own. Its decision, it seems, has been made.’
And with that, as the phoenix circled above them, the cloaked figure and the girl returned to those many others in waiting, stepping past but one single tree.
Suddenly bold, while not at all earlier, several people stepped forth to place the shackles they’d brought upon the cloaked figure. Even this was not quite as expected, for the cloaked figure asked the girl very politely to kindly hold the bag they had while those shackles might be set in place. The shackles, however, just would not take. No matter how tight they would have them, they’d each time fall to ground.
‘Well, that’s that, I suppose,’ the cloaked figure laughed, taking their bag back from the girl. ‘Shall we keep your king waiting any longer than I imagine he would like? I’ve only met him the once, but patience didn’t at all seem his nature.’
The mere suggestion of any such thing had those people in their hundreds suddenly make haste to leave, but not before the cloaked figure and the girl had taken the lead.
The girl – much to the delight of the cloaked figure – happily ate her bread as they walked. And what’s more, she’d laugh every time some murmur of hungry discontent came from behind them. For the cloaked figure would loudly spit, suggesting those others might do the same.
The phoenix, which flew overhead, had no mouth to display such a thing, but many among that tired throng later swore that they’d seen it smirk at this jest they did not understand.
Come their journey’s end upon returning to the kingdom, the girl had long been asleep, carried by the cloaked figure with that bag nestling the child’s head. Aside from her being watered and fed, this only gave rise to all others regarding the girl with yet more disdain, even her parents, sadly. Much as their king would have done, they regarded any such act of kindness with nothing but condemnation, all for the fact that this kindness had not been bestowed upon them.
Finally entering through the kingdom’s gates, the girl stirred in the arms of the cloaked figure, awoken by the sudden noise of all those she’d set out with so many days prior to this. Their subdued whispers and mutterings, so timid away from their king, now became a thrumming din as all involved now shouted their victory.
‘This is the dust they would eat and the very spit that they would choke on,’ the cloaked figure told the child.
It was said very softly yet the child heard those words clearly because that cheering crowd had grown quiet and parted, for the king was already approaching.
Setting the girl down, the cloaked figure crouched low beside her, gently taking her hands in their own.
‘I assure you that I shall be well,’ they told the girl, answering the question that sat behind the tears that gathered in the child’s eyes. ‘And I’m so truly glad to have met you. Even though it was not your choice, I’m truly happy that their choice was… you. This wonderful you.’
Whether or not the girl smiled or wept at this was not to be seen. The king had roughly pushed the young girl aside and now stood in her place, glaring with indignation at the cloaked figure before him. He, of course, took a step back when they soon rose to their full height, taller than he as they were.
‘To your stage, I assume,’ they told the king simply, pushing past him to make their way there as roughly as he’d pushed past the child. The phoenix, high above them, loudly beat a flap of its wings with each step the cloaked figure took.
Step, flap, step, flap… until standing alone on the stage, the cloaked figure awaited the king who was red in the face and clearly enraged at having to walk behind them.
Try as he might to outpace them, the king had been met with that ever-yet-never distance he’d endured amongst those trees.
Gathering his tired breath upon that stage, he made a point of trying to appear contemplative, his lips drawn tight and downward as he’d so often do when thinking.
Several advisors, who stood by the stage – those privy to private counsel when he’d see fit to hear them out – actually wondered if he may have fallen asleep, for the face he wore echoed that also. His booming voice soon assured them, however, that this was not the case… for his tirade was indeed coming.
To be concluded...
