Cairo thought she was going to be ill as she perched in the bow of the boat. The boat rose up onto a wave and then fell with a spray of water into the trough only to be thrust violently up again. Every rise and fall served to jar her spine and make her teeth rattle. As she watched the ten, dark squat men labor over their oars, arms and back muscles straining, she didn’t dare say anything.
Initially when they’d first started out to pay tribute to the dying island king, the waves had been a mere chop. But before they’d gotten halfway across the bay, the wind had shifted violently sending gigantic rollers their direction. For each oar stroke the waves seemed to send them back two. The area they rowed through was dangerous and they’d nearly been pummeled against Rock Two. That scare had encouraged the men to row harder. She began to fear that they’d never make it across the Lake.
She’d faced her back against the cold wind. The men didn’t have that benefit. Despite the coolness of the strong breeze, sweat dampened the brow of each man, and their faces were taut with fear. Like her, most of these men couldn’t swim, but they’d valiantly done as their king requested. These men were no longer rowing for her father but for their lives. A haunting sense of desperation echoed across their expressions.
Cairo glanced at her father. Never a selfish king, he’d ruled fairly. She suspected if he’d known the trip would come to this he would never have asked his men to take them across the Lake. Even now, he’d taken a spot beside his men and rowed with fierce determination. He tried to appear calm, but she heard the warning in his voice as he ordered her to turn around, face the front of the boat, and be on the lookout for rocks. The Lake was notorious for its depths and just as notorious for its rocks that could rise out of nowhere to hook the bottom of an unsuspecting boat. With the rise and fall of waves an unsuspecting boat could come crashing down on a rock hidden just below the surface.
Cairo scanned the water’s surface. Her fingers were numb where she clung to the edge of the boat until her knuckles were white. Water continually sloshed into her face. One particular wave crested over the top of her, drenching her completely. She quickly released her precarious hold on the boat to swipe at her swath of dark hair that crossed her vision.
When she opened her eyes she blinked and blinked again for sure thinking she was seeing things. Fifty feet in front of them a rock rose like a point out of the water. She could just make it out, but in the next blink she saw a man was standing on the edge of it.
“F-Father!” Her teeth chattered as she pointed. Cairo scanned the area for a boat or a peninsula that might explain the man’s sudden appearance, but she couldn’t see one. As they got closer Cairo could see the man more clearly. He was tanned an incredible sun kissed golden brown. His hair was slicked back from his broad forehead. His chest and stomach were taut and thick with muscle. He wore a breechcloth of sorts and his long golden legs were braced on the rock. Gigantic waves slapped at his calves as the savage water tried to knock him from his perch, but the man didn’t appear to notice.
Cairo’s father rallied the men and kept them aimed at the man. The man on the rock placed his hands on his hips and shook his head. Swiftly disapproval changed into alarm as he waved his hands at them. In a fraction of a second he raised his hands over his head and dived into the water disappearing into the waves.
Alarmed, Cairo searched the water where the man had disappeared. Where had he gone? They could’ve given him a ride in their boat. Mere seconds later, she gasped as he rose from the water beside the boat. He held onto the boat and was mere inches from her face. He tried to speak to her but she didn’t understand his guttural speech. Frustrated he pushed away from the boat then stroked down the side until he came to her father.
With a quick speech and rapid gestures to the sky and then to a small group of islands across the bay but slightly behind them, he made it clear they were to head in that direction. Her father rose to sit beside her and then with concise directions to his men they managed to slowly turn the boat in that direction. There was one point where they were sideways on the wave and Cairo thought for sure they were going to roll, but their god must’ve been with them to assure their safety.
They were going to seek the protection and safety of the islands. The waves no carried them along instead of fighting directly into them.
“Father, what about the man?”
Her father smiled for the first time since they began this journey. “He’s one of the island people, child. This water and that swim are nothing to him.
Cairo’s father was right. From time to time they would see the man’s blond head bobbing out in front of them. Each time he’d disappear and reappear he’d open the gap in between them.
She saw when he reached the shoreline. She could make out the form of three women who came out to greet him. She saw each one bow and then in turn hug him. They stood together and watched them glide closer on the waves. When they were close, he waved them in. Her father’s men rowed hard into shore than leaped out of the boat to drag it in.
The big blond man waylaid them. He reached out and physically lifted Cairo from the boat. Then he directed the men to take the boat along the shore to the far side of the island where they could tuck the boat neatly into a small cut in the rock island.
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