I found myself surrounded. I didn't know what to do. I was petrified, with a knife against my throat.
"This girl looks so delicious," said one of the men.
"We saw them go into various inns," said another man. "How much money do you have with you?" He asked me.
"Please ... I don't have a penny ...," I said in a brittle voice.
"Yeah right. We'll see."
The man approached me. I winced, but the old woman pressed her knife harder against my skin as if warning me not to move.
"If you don't have money, you can pay us in another way," said the man, clutching his crotch.
They all laughed. Even the toothless old woman.
"Great, you fell in a trap AGAIN," Queen Catherine appeared next to me. "When are you going to learn?"
"Please… don't do anything to me…," I begged through tears.
"You have no escape, dark skin," Her Majesty said. "You'll have to let yourself do what this guy wants."
Did she really say that? The very idea of… It was horrible!
Suddenly, I heard the same melody again that made me shudder. The men and the old woman looked around, fear in their eyes.
What was happening?
The men began to shake their clothes and scream like crazy.
"Take it away from me! Take it away from me!" They screamed.
Two of them tumbled on the ground.
The old woman broke into a run, shaking her hair.
Had they all gone insane?
The men also fled amid screams of terror. I was speechless, I didn't understand what had happened.
The Queen fell to her knees with her hands on her head, as if she was going to explode.
Can ghosts feel pain?
"Your Majesty? Are you alright? "
"That melody ... I've heard it before ..."
"You hear it too?"
Suddenly silence.
The queen released her hands from her head, took a quiet breath, and stood up. It was weird to see her like that. She didn't look like a spirit, but a person of flesh and bones with her own physical ailments.
I heard footsteps approaching, I turned around and got ready to run, I thought the men had returned, but no. I saw a young man with light skin. With neat green velvet robes, long brown hair, and a stringed musical instrument in his arms.
A bard?
"Hello, miss!"
"Hello?" I answered with doubt.
"Do not be afraid. I am a friend."
"Yeah right ... like the ones who just fled."
"You are learning," said the Queen.
"I know a song about a woman who only trusted her shadow," the man said as he played some strings on his instrument. "A sad song, I must admit. Only suitable for gray, cold, and rainy days. "
And then I understood.
"You were the one with the melody?"
"What melody, miss?"
"One that ... is difficult to explain."
"I know hundreds of songs, miss. To all hearts," the man struck the strings of his instrument and a fast melody rumbled in my chest, "songs for the brave," then a soft melody caressed my hatreds, "songs for the melancholic," then, I heard a melody that made me think of Delilah, "songs for lovers."
He stopped playing his instrument and looked me in the eye. He smiled at me and I smiled back. I don't know why I did it. I just felt like it.
"Bachué!" Someone called my name.
I turned around and found Delilah, fire in her eyes.
"What are you doing?" She asked her with a suppressed anger.
"Um ... I ...," I looked at the bard. He just smiled.
"Who is this?" Delilah asked.
"Nice to meet you, my lady, my name is Pitar Loriente," the man introduced himself with a little bow, "but my friends call me Veny. I am the best bard Alba Terra has ever known. "
"I told you not to trust anyone," Delilah chided me.
Then she tightly grabbed my left arm and she might as well drag me for how hard she pulled me.
"We are in trouble," she said. "The Duke's troops are already in Porto Razza. They are checking all the inns. "
"That? How did they find us? "
"I don't know, but I already found a ship. We must set sail as soon as possible; they will soon find us."
We meandered through the damp streets of the port until we saw a wall of soldiers from the South in the distance, blocking the entrance to one of the ships and checking others.
"Saints! That is our ship! " Snarled Delilah.
We ran to hide behind some barrels.
"What are we going to do?" I asked.
"I do not know…"
Delilah hesitated for a second and then said:
"Do you trust me?"
"With my life," I replied.
"What we are going to do will be crazy."
"I would not expect less."
Delilah and I came out of hiding and walked in the direction of the group of soldiers.
"Delilah… what are we doing? They are going to see us. "
"You said you trust me."
I gulped.
It wasn't long before one of the soldiers discovered us.
"There they are!" She screamed herself.
The group of soldiers ran in our direction.
"Run!" Delilah exclaimed.
So I did it. We ran as fast as we could between the wooden piers of the harbor.
And then I understood, Delilah's idea was to get them away from our ship. But it didn't take long for us to be stuck in the middle of a dock. Behind us, a group of soldiers, in front of us, another group.
On the left, the sea, on the right, even more sea.
Two men who I knew quite well made their way through the group in front: the son of Duke Al-Thule and… Marco Derderián.
"Bachué…," Marco said.
"Your Grace," I replied.
"I am Lord Derderián now."
"Oh, my condolences, My Lord."
"In the name of the guardian Duke of the South, you are under arrest," young Al-Thule said.
Suddenly Delilah pushed me to the side and I fell crashing into the water.
"Swim!" Yelled Delilah.
I looked at her with fear.
I saw the confusion in the eyes of Marco and young Al-Thule. They and their soldiers were wearing heavy metal armor, there was no way they could swim without sinking. It was my chance to escape.
"Go, Bachué!"
"I will not leave without you!"
"THINK OF YOUR SISTER!"
And I did. I remembered why I was doing all that. Why I had put my life at risk.
Marco drew his sword and threw himself at Delilah, she blocked the slash and they collided their steel.
I started crying, but the seawater hid my tears quite well.
"GO AWAY!" Delilah yelled at me again as she blocked Lord Derderián's attacks.
"I love you!" I yelled at the love of my life before starting to swim towards our ship. I did it as fast as my legs and arms allowed.
Several soldiers ran across the docks to try to catch up with me, but swimming in a straight line, I was going to get there faster than them.
"Catch her!" Young Al-Thule exclaimed to the nearby sailors.
None responded to the order. They all shrugged. A couple of them blocked the way for the soldiers who were running along the dock trying to catch me. The rebellion of those men and the disdain of the orders to the nobility saved me.
I reached the dock of our ship and a fat man with a long black beard helped me up.
"We have to set sail now!" said the man.
It seemed to me that he was some sailor in the crew of the ship.
I got on the ship, the sails were hoisted and the ship began to move.
I ran to the stern where I witnessed how Delilah did her best to contain the soldiers while sailed away safely.