CRUEL KING

A Husband from the Same Village

Chapter 8:

A Husband from the Same Village

The rest of the morning truly matched its beginning: disastrous. Since that impromptu visit, nothing had gone as Anisha wanted. The full baskets she'd hoped to bring back were empty, the sea was unmanageable, and to top it all off, an icy rain had fallen upon the island.

"With these opposing currents, it's better not to insist," Rio called out to her, packing up his equipment.

"The water is really too murky, Pesta Ani," she said, surfacing with the help of the rope that tied her to the rock and secured her.

"The weather's definitely not with us today. Come on, grab your things and go warm up. It's not worth getting sick."

Then, realizing he'd made a blunder, he vigorously scratched his salt-and-pepper hair, sporting a regretful grimace. "What I mean is…"

"Don't worry, Rio, I know what you meant."

"I'll stop by to bring you some butter at the end of the day," the man warned her as she gathered her ropes. "My wife's brother gave us a whole churn; it's far too much for just the two of us."

"Thank you for what you do for us."

"Come now, you and your sister are the daughters of my oldest friend. And besides, I watched you grow into very pretty young ladies…"

"Are you talking about Dali? Because I don't think that description applies to me," Anisha interrupted, laughing, thus preventing him from making her cry with such kindness.

"It's true you're quite ugly," Rio feigned acknowledging. "So much so that one of the city's handsomest boys did nothing but court you for years."

"Lori isn't…"

She stopped her sentence there. Why would this poor man need to learn the truth? It was better to just cut off his hopes without further hesitation.

"There was never anything of that nature with Lori."

"You won't make me believe something like that, Ani."

"And yet…" she assured him with a smile. "Besides, as my guardian, I was planning to ask you to help me find someone to marry. I'd like him to be from the village, like my parents. Of course, I'll work hard to quickly build up a dowry."

The old man listened without a word, but his gaze openly betrayed what he thought. He must have been wondering if she was in her right mind.

"But really, Ani…"

"What, you don't want to?"

Rio placed his gear at his feet and approached her. "Of course, I want to honor the promise I made to your father, but he envisioned you married to Lori."

Anisha sighed deeply before lowering her head. "Father had ideas about Lori and me. We're just friends, that's all."

Disconcerted by what he heard, Rio looked at Anisha. She smiled at him as if to reassure him that she was aware of her choice and that it was well-thought-out. The man placed a hand on the young girl's shoulder and nodded.

"Well, if you say so, then it's true…"

The days had passed as quickly as hours for Ani and her sister. It had already been almost a month since their father had left them, and Lori hadn't appeared before Ani again. This initially relieved the young girl, but deep down, she experienced it as another loss. And contrary to what she would have thought, she was truly attached to her old friend.

Fishing becoming their sole means of subsistence, Ani devoted as much time to it as the season allowed, losing count of her hours, stopping only when the sea became rough or the winds unstable.

That day, she had prepared as usual to go down to the beach. Not seeing her sister get up, she went back to their room.

"Dali, aren't you getting up?" she called out, knocking on the door.

Her sister was curled up under the blanket and didn't respond.

"Hey, sleepyhead, you need to get moving. There's a lot to do in the house. Dalia?"

Worry quickly overtook the young girl. Her sister wasn't an early riser, but she wasn't lazy either. With one hand, Anisha lifted the blanket, and with the other, she touched Dali's sweat-beaded forehead.

"You're burning up…"

"It's nothing," she sighed, almost inaudibly.

"You need to see the doctor," Ani worried. "I'll ask Rio if he can go to town and call him."

Anisha walked at a brisk pace, bundled in her large black coat, her hood pulled down over her head. She was heading towards the city gates, which weren't far now. After going to Rio's house to ask for his help, the neighbors told her he had gone to the village of Pitfurk to see family. Remembering that she'd heard the doctor who had treated her father was not far from the city entrance, she decided she could go alone. She asked passersby for directions, and after a few minutes, she arrived in front of the indicated dwelling.

The large, studded wooden door opened as soon as she knocked a few times. The young girl pushed her hood back and respectfully greeted the middle-aged woman who opened it.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but my sister is feverish, and I would have liked to see the doc…"

"I'm sorry, my dear," the mistress of the house interrupted her. "My husband is away. I'm afraid he won't be back until this evening."

Anisha's distress must have been evident in her amber eyes, because immediately, the woman directed her to a colleague further into town who wasn't very expensive. With their meager means, the village folk couldn't afford to see just any doctor.

"Ask for directions once you get near the port; they'll guide you to him."

"Thank you again, madam."

After a small curtsy, the young girl resumed her journey. In her haste, she forgot to put her hood back up. It was only after a long while, and once she felt insistent gazes on her, that she realized it.

As she remedied this, she approached the canal that ran through the city. Ani thought that by following it, she would surely find the port and the docks. She had been walking for a few minutes when the surrounding scenery changed. The bright, well-built buildings gave way to dark, completely ruined structures. The windows were devoid of glass, and simple wooden slats served as doors. The crowd was no longer the same either. Passersby here were rare, and when she did cross paths with someone, they behaved strangely and looked at her with contempt.

"Asking for directions isn't going to be easy," she muttered to herself, grimacing.

And as she hastened her steps to get out of this isolated and dismal area, she felt a hand clamp over her mouth, pulling her into an alley so narrow and dark that one might have wondered if it wasn't already night…