Chapter Three: Changing Fortunes
I awoke the next morning with the sun beaming in my face and my body a little sore from sleeping on straw. As I rubbed my eyes, the clinking of the chains reminded me of where I was and the mess I was in. I looked around and found that the cell had not changed. I knew full well that morning that it was not all a terrible dream. I truly was in this strange place that I knew little about and yet had been drawn to. Already I knew that it was far different than any place I had seen. I mean, to have female guards was a strange and unheard of thing anywhere I had been, a rarity of extreme measure. I had not even heard of such a thing being done even in the darkest, most desperate of times. In this place I had not seen a male guard once. Come to think of it I had not seen any men at all yet, another strange oddity of this place called Tania.
I stood up and looked out the door and when I saw female guards again I thought that Jealile and Yeoline were still out there.
"Good morning ladies." I said with a chipper tone and a smile on my face as I remembered the night before.
"Good Afternoon." Came a monotone chorus of two strange female voices in reply. I watched as the guards took a brief glance into the room and otherwise paid me no mind.
"He's up. Fetch the healer." One guard said to someone I couldn't see and I heard the scurrying of feet disappearing.
Moments later I heard a group of people returning and moments after that the door opened up and three people entered the room. Herulia the healer, Shelea her assistant and one of the Guards all entered the room.
The Guard stood at attention by the door and seemed to look past me. She had a stern look about her and seemed to look through me, keeping an ever-watchful eye on everything in the room at once. She had a beautiful face and long black hair pulled back in a single braid. She wore the same uniform of armor that Jealile and Yeoline had worn. Her slender limbs sticking out of that armor made it clear that she too was in fine shape, as one would expect of a guard.
Herulia stood in the centre of the room and I rose to greet her as one would if any lady entered the room. Shelea flashed me a smile quietly from her place beside and behind Herulia but otherwise remained quiet. Herulia didn't say anything for the moment as she examined me. I finally got the chance to examine her; the last time we met I was still not all together.
Herulia was a pleasant looking older woman and carried a bit of extra weight around with her, as one would expect of a woman her age. All in all I would say that she was a well-rounded woman or pleasantly plump, but not excessively overweight by any means. Her silver hair was cut short and did not pass her shoulders. Her breasts were in proportion to her plump body and did droop a little bit. All in all she was a pleasant woman to look at and her face did know how to smile although up until now she was all business.
"How do you feel today?" Herulia asked with the barest hint of a smile, but sounding genuinely interested in what I had to say.
"Better ma'm. It is amazing what a good meal and a decent night's rest can do." I replied with a smile of my own, trying to be pleasant.
"I see the guards last night took good care of you." Herulia asked with just the hint of a raised eyebrow. I got the impression that she knew something about what had happened last night, but for the moment she said nothing.
"Yes they did. They took pity on me I guess and decided to clean me up a bit." I replied pleasantly, ignoring the inference of Herulia's comment.
"Is that all?" Herulia added with a more pronounced lifted eyebrow and a look that demanded that I 'come clean'.
"Yes of course that's all! I was still quite scruffy looking if you remember and I felt dreadfully awful with all that muck on me. They were kind enough, or were sick of looking at the scruffy man in the cell and cleaned me up and gave me these clothes." I replied in an innocent tone but sounding a little perturbed. I was not about to get Jealile and Yeoline in trouble, if I could help it. After all I liked those ladies and as strange as it seamed they almost seemed like friends to me, and you protect your friends.
"I see." Herulia sighed with an unimpressed look and then continued. "Well, in any event you seemed to have made an impression on them. It just strikes me as odd that they would come to your defense so strongly, so quickly if nothing happened."
"I don't know what to tell you." I shrugged.
"Well they're not the only ones that feel you are sincere about your claim not to pose a threat to us." Herulia said and glanced obviously over her shoulder to Shelea. Shelea blushed and looked away not able to look Herulia or me in the eye. "I for one don't know what to make of you though for your sake it would be so much easier if you were just one of our sailors who washed ashore. That's why I'm here, to find out the truth about you." Herulia finished and stepped closer to take a better look at me.
"I don't know what to do to make you see that I am what I say I am: a man washed upon your shores. I don't want anything but your mercy and the chance to prove myself." I said and looked her in the eyes with the most sincere look I could muster.
"I take it that by now you know that you are to be executed in a few days." Herulia said plainly.
"I do." I replied swallowing hard.
"Normally you would have been executed already. Until now all of our invaders have been easier to spot. Never before has one so familiar in appearance and tongue arrived. I must say that I wish to believe you, as I am curious about this England of yours. However, you must understand that the safety of Tania must come first!" Herulia finished with conviction, she made a fist and struck the air.
"I do understand. I do not wish you or your people any harm. If the people I have met so far is any indication then you are a friendly people, a little untrusting of strangers but nice all the same." I said as politely as possible with a warm smile.
