31 Betrayed

  When the morning came, Sara woke up and was confused. For a moment, she didn't remember where she was, but quickly everything came back. Today, there would be no dragon calling for her to serve him, no David offering to train her, and she was a part of a family now. She was part of the village, and she needed to find out how to do to help, and also where she could get information so that she could eventually prepare to leave.

  As sweet as Abba-Avi was and as accepting as Bat-Avi seemed to be, Sara knew this was not where she was supposed to stay. She needed to find her home, but to get home she needed to know where she was now.

  As she thought about where she could be, she couldn’t help but question if the princess who ruled this kingdom knew what was going on. Truly, she couldn't be as bad as this lord. But Sara didn't know. And Sara assumed that no one could be. No real leader could be, no leader of a nation could be as bad as this lord seems to be.

  Maybe I should try to find out more, Sara considered. Not knowing, means, anything I do could be wrong. Sara remembered not knowing what Draco wanted or would do two weeks earlier. It caused a shiver to go down her back. She decided that it might be better to wait to see what she could find out about this kingdom, this princess, or this lord. A lord who refused to allow his name to even be spoken on penalty of death.

  Sara pushed these things aside, knowing that for now she had to figure out what she had to do today. She got up, climbed down the ladder, and found that Ava-Avi was already sitting at a table with two cups in front of him and something cooking in the pot on the fire.

  "Well, my girl?" Abba-Avi said. "Would you be in the mood for some tea before the day starts?"

  Sara smiled. "Yes, sir, I would greatly appreciate that. There are also some questions I want to ask. Like, what can I do to help around here today? I want to contribute."

  Abba-Avi nodded, "Soon enough, soon enough, sit and have some tea. The porridge will be ready soon."

  Sara sat down and took a sip of the tea and sighed. It was real tea, not just mint leaves, but this was real tea. Sara looked up and asked, "Where did you get this?"

  Abba-Avi smiled. "There are some benefits to having a daughter who makes the lord's bread."

  Sara smiled.

  "I don't get much," Abba-Avi said. "But this seemed like a special occasion. We won't be able to have this often, maybe a few times a year, but I thought it would be a good start for our new relationship."

  Sara turned her head to the side and wondered if he was meaning something different than just being an extended part of the family?

  Abba-Avi laughed, "Oh, nothing crazy, daughter, this is the first day that you will be a part of this family. If what Dov says is true. You’re alone out here, without a family or a patron to defend you.”

  Sara bristled a little, that he might think she was defenseless.

  Sara saw a change in the old man’s face and added. “Not that you wouldn’t be able to defend yourself at least from most men, but you don’t want to be alone in this kingdom or even here in the village. The young men around here are decent enough, but an unattached young lady with no family?"

  Abba-Avi shook his head. "It would not be safe for your…"

  "I understand." Sara nodded, not wanting to think about this subject any further.

  “Well, it's not just that you might be attacked; there is your reputation,” Abba-Avi said.

  “My reputation?” Sara questioned.

  “It might not be fair, but women unattached to a family are thought suspicious,” Abba-Avi explained. “Before the plague, we had several women living alone, but it was with the blessing of their families. A young woman or even a young man without a family is considered trouble.”

  Sara thought she understood, “If their family threw them out, why would you want them around?”

  “Yes, you understand, and outside of this village, the dangers can be even worse. But for today, for now, I am glad to have you here. I have great hopes that you can be part of this village, and who knows, maybe eventually you will think of us as your family."

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  Sara smiled, but she knew where she belonged. She sipped a little more tea when an insistent knock came to the door.

  Sara thought it must be Bat-Avi who would be willing to bang on Abba-Avi's door this way. Sara started to get up to answer, but Abba-Avi waved to her to stay seated and got up from his chair. He walked over to the door a little faster than he normally walked and said, "I wonder who this time of morning would be here." On reaching the door, he opened it.

  Standing outside the door was the Abba-Jabez with a look that Sara didn’t recognize, but which brought fear into her heart.

  "Ah, Jabez, come in, come in,” Abba-Avi said, standing aside and waving the elder in. “What's on your mind? You look troubled."

  “Avi,” the man sputtered.

  Sara looked at the two men and understood that they weren't calling themselves by their proper names. She didn't understand what it meant, but she held her tongue and waited.

  "Something must be really upsetting you," Abba-Avi asked, the smile now gone from his face.

  "Yes! It’s that fool of a son-in-law, Nabal!” Abba-Jabez said the man’s name as if it were a curse. He took a deep breath and continued, “I found he was missing this morning.” He shook his head and said again, “He’s missing!”

  “Why would he be missing?" Abba-Avi said slowly, as if he already knew the answer but was hoping he was wrong.

  "I was a fool, Abba-Avi. I was a fool. I mentioned to him that you got at this," he waved over Sara, "this blessing that the dragon gave you, this child.” Abba-Jabez shook his head. “And Nabal, he, he..." Abba-Jabez dropped his eyes to the floor. Sara could see that he felt that he had betrayed them.

  Abba-Avi’s head dropped, and Sara knew she was in trouble.

  "No, not Nabal," Abb-Avi said, as if saying it made what they feared untrue.

  Abba-Jabez nodded, grief written all over his face. "I'm sorry, if I would have known.” Abba-Jabez repeated, “If I had known that he was the one, I wouldn't have said anything to him.” Pleading, he said, “I didn't know."

  Abba-Avi shook his head, "I understand, we'll do what we need to do. Does anybody else in the village know?"

  Abba-Jabez shook his head. "No, I came here as soon as I found Nabal and my horse missing.”

  Abba-Abi reached out and placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. "It's okay, my friend. No one suspected Nabal. I'll do what I have to. You need to go back, pretend like you didn't tell me anything, or that you noticed Nabal was gone."

  "Actually,” Abba-Avi looked over at Sara, "Sara, would you walk outside the back door for a minute?"

  Sara nodded and walked right outside the door. She wanted to know why he wanted her to do this.

  Abba-Avi pointed at Sara and said to Abba-Jabez, "You saw her leaving."

  Abba-Jabez laughed. "You know that's not going to work."

  Sara agreed but didn’t say anything. If these soldiers were as bad as she thought, the truth wouldn’t save them. They would believe what they thought was the truth, and that the villagers were hiding her.

  "You will be answering honestly?"

  "Yes, sir, I will be, but.”

  “That's all you can do. Let me take care of the rest."

  Abba-Jabez sobbed, "I'm sorry, my friend."

  Abba-Avi guided Abba-Jabez to the door, and even before it was closed, Sara saw the man running. Sara wondered if she should run.

  Sara noticed Abb-Avi did not lock the door as he turned toward her and waved her back into the room.

  "Sari, I'm sorry about this. But you will have to hide and maybe leave. The soldiers will be coming. We knew one of our own was letting the soldiers know who might be disloyal or hiding supplies. Now I'm afraid we know who it is, because he ran off the moment, he heard the reason I gave for why the dragon was here. I would bet my farm that the soldiers will be here by the end of the day, if not sooner.”

  Sara shook her head. The thought that she had just escaped the dragon and now she might be captured by someone even worse made her angry.

  This isn’t fair! She thought, but as quickly heard Mistress Carmarthen’s voice say in her memory, Life is never fair, my princess, never.

  Sara had heard someone say, “out of the frying pan into the fire,” and now that she had done some cooking, she knew what that meant. Now she was living it.

  “What will they do if they capture me?” Sara asked, afraid of the answer.

  “If they believe you are connected to that dragon, they will at once take you to the lord. If they allowed you to get away and the lord found out about it, he would probably have them killed.” Abba-Avi said, looking into Sara's face. “The only good thing is that they wouldn’t hurt you unless their lord told them to.

  She was afraid. A lord of a strange territory, a strange place. This could be bad, especially if they found out who she really was. If this were a nation that meant evil against Rishona. Sara knew that she couldn’t allow herself to be captured or held for ransom.

  "It's okay," Sara said. "I'll leave."

  "No," Abba-Avi said, "they will find you. They'll be searching the area; you need to hide here." Abb-Avi pointed to the corner of the room. He had told her about this before and explained, “When the time comes, you hide, and I will deal with this.”

  Sara shook her head, knowing this was a bad idea. “But they'll know I’m hiding.”

  "I will tell them the same thing that Abba-Jabez will, we saw you leave."

  "But I didn't leave, I just walked to the back door."

  "Well, you will leave this room and go into the cellar."

  Sara shook her head. "They won't believe you."

  "I will not have someone under my protection taken again."

  That last word struck a chord in Sara's heart. She understood without hearing the story that Abba-Avi had lost family to the lord.

  Whoever this lord was, Sara wanted nothing to do with him. She never wanted to meet him, except at the end of a sword. Just one day with these people told her, this place was ruled by a tyrant, that this nation, wherever it was, was horrible. And its rulers needed to make things right.

  The time to escape to Rishona, to her home and her people, needed to be soon, but, for now, Sara knew she was going to have to hide. She was going to have to trust Abba-Avi and the people to keep her safe.

  Perhaps as the Princess of Rishona, I can help people, but right now, I need their help. Sara thought as she moved to hide any evidence she had been in the house.