Kai-Ila
The Village Secret
Reyna leaned out the back window of the little stone house to check on Grandma.
Grandma was asleep on the wooden bench against the back wall of the house. Her sewing project lay on her lap, barely touched. Their dog was flopped over her feet, asleep as well. In fact he was so still he looked dead; adding to that effect, flies crawled all over his face, searching for any moisture that could be found on that dry evening.
Reyna could not blame Grandma for not getting any work done. It was too hot to do anything useful, or even to think straight. The only sound to be heard in the village was the cry of cicadas in the brush; all the people were either in their houses taking naps or digging deeper irrigation ditches out in the fields by the stream.
She looked over to the horizon and saw cumulus clouds brewing in the distance. As formidable as they looked, she knew rain was unlikely. The storms always drifted on to east, giving the village little more than a distant rumble of thunder.
Truth be told, little ever happened in the village.
Keeheran was in a desert on the southern-most outskirts of the great Empire, and very remote. The people in it often forgot they belonged to another lordship. Reyna herself knew very little about the Empire, or even of the next village. Nor did she care. The "world of Keeheran" was plenty big enough for her.
She was fourteen years old, but seemed older. So much responsibility lay on her young shoulders. Her parents had died of sickness when she was only seven, and Grandma had cared for her until she became too old for hard work. Now it was up to Reyna to take care of them both, which gave her little time for childish frivolity.
She was about to return to her weaving, when she noticed the dog moving his ears. His head popped up, disturbing the flies on his face. He stared intently down the road, let out a growl, and then started barking obnoxiously.
Reyna left the window and came out the back door, just as he took off running toward the front of the house. "Stupid dog," she muttered, "Always barking at nothing." She went after him anyway. Perhaps someone's ox got loose; it would be wise to check.
When she reached the front of the house, she found the dog standing nearly still as a statue, sniffing the wind with a front leg lifted high into a perfect hunter point. She took that took that moment to seize his rope collar and pull him back. He started barking again, straining against her hold. To prevent him from charging down the slope toward the road, she straddled him, nearly putting all her weight onto him. "Hush! What is it, boy?" she asked, wrapping her hand around his muzzle to muffle him.
A terrifying rumbling sound was coming from down the road.
In her whole life, she had never heard anything like it. Adrenaline rushed through her veins as the rumbling became accentuated with many clanks of metal. "Grandma! Grandma! Wake up!" she shouted. "Something BIG is coming down the road!"
Her black eyes scanned the bend in the road, but couldn't find anything, even as the sound grew louder. Then a flash of gold appeared above one of the high ridges that went along the road. It was a banner of solid gold cloth, with the Imperial Seal on it, rippling gloriously in the wind. Reyna did not know what it was. She'd never seen anything like it before.
"What in the blazes is going on?" Grandma demanded, approaching from behind. Grandma was moving awfully fast, despite having left her cane behind.
"I-I don't know."
More banners appeared over the ridge as dozens of riders on horseback came around the bend in the road. They were riding at a fast canter. "Well I'll be." Grandma muttered under her breath, "An Imperial entourage."
An endless ocean of horses poured down the road, setting off every dog in the village. People ran out of their homes to see what was happening. The air became filled with the sound of excited voices; the deafening roar of hooves; the nervous snorts and whinnies of horses; the clanking of metal; the creaking of leather; the flapping of banners; and the smell of hot horses mixed with incense.
Among the riders was a regal-looking woman wearing a bright red tunic. Her trappings were very rich, and her sun-kissed hair had been plaited into hundreds of tiny braids. The braids went all the way down to her horse's rump; Reyna could not fathom how many people it would have taken to braid all that hair. The woman was riding a hot-tempered little chestnut stallion of desert breeding. On each side of her rode formidable-looking bodyguards. Their bare biceps gleamed in the sun. Attendants of all kinds crowded around her, and everyone seemed to be taking their cues from her. When she slowed to a trot, so did they.
Reyna was mesmerized. The little horse's trot was beautiful. He sprung lightly from foot to foot, as if in defiance of the heat and gravity. His rider stayed with him as though she were a fluid part of him, not detracting from his gracefulness in any way. She cued him to an abrupt stop and dismounted in the middle of the road. After tugging the bottom of her tunic, she gazed up at the houses, looking a little tired. Her face was freckled from long hours under the sun.
Reyna let out a little gasp. She had never seen a person with blue eyes before.
Strong glues and a few stitches held it together. The front of the pommel and the back of the cantle were accentuated with brass studs as well as gold trimming. The saddle's rider-friendly design (and suede surface) did a good job of keeping Kai-Ila on the horse.
