THE STORY OF LADY SABAYNA

From one of his stories

   
     The first years of my childhood I spent in Bazi, with my sister Kareen and her family, now grown up, I made the decision to travel to the city of Nadira, I wanted to go there to recover and rest after suffering from being kidnapped.

     We left at dawn at high tide, I stayed on the deck until everything disappeared, the coast, the mountains and my beloved city, I woke up the next morning, I went out on the bridge and a thick fog enveloped everything and a damp cold that was felt in the bones.
     Suddenly out of nowhere emerged a ship that almost rammed us if it were not for the readiness of the helmsman who with reckless maneuvers managed to avoid it, but the ship despite us screaming to make us hear, without any answer disappeared into thin air, as it had disappeared in the direction of Bazi, ghostly scene, shortly thereafter the fog disappeared and a warm sun illuminated the Thassa in its majesty.

    In Telnus, a city of the archipelago of Cos, I left the ship and boarded another that I took to Lydius, the navigation was quiet, the sea calm, a light breeze pushed us slowly,

Finally we arrived in sight of the port of Lidio at the mouth of the Laurius.

But as soon as they docked at the dock of the port, the Praetor with guards boarded, as the practice dictates to ask for the documents of the passangers and goods, together with them there was also a Healer named Dahny, who with a stern voice said: is there anyone from Bazi? I with my naivety came forward, immediately the guards with their spears pushed me to the side of the ship, I frightened shouted what was happening, the Healer said that an epidemic had broken out in Bazi, and before getting off the ship she had to visit me.

    I was out of this world, I couldn't believe what he said. while the guards very abruptly told me: let yourself visit otherwise we will throw you into the Thassa. Then with some reluctance I took off my veils and I uncovered my arms. She looked carefully, first in the eyes that were not yellow, then if on the body I had signs of bubbole, pustules or spots that could be proof of smallpox; Typhoid, Cholera, the Healer after realizing that there were no visible signs told me to follow her to the infirmary, she would visit me completely, it meant stripping naked and lying on the bed.

    She made the visit, took blood samples and withdrew to examine them. After two hours of trembling and worried waiting, she arrived saying you are negative, I burst into tears I thought I was going to die, but Lady Dahny told me calm if you are negative and for that you are healthy, you have no sign of disease. We had news yesterday that in Bazi the plague and the people die. The praetor ordered that travelers from Bazi be thrown directly into the Thassa or the pits of Dar Kosis, but the Healer with her authority managed to make the visits in advance and I was saved.

    Lady Dahny asked me what I wanted to do., I told her that I wanted to go to Nadyra, where my sister and her partner were waiting for me and she advised me to leave immediately, so that if they had known in the city that I came from Bazi she did not know what could happen. People were very busy and in a panic, so I took the land route rather that the ship otherwise at the port would have checked me again.

(Later I would have learned from the survivors of Bazi who took refuge at the mountains of Sardar, that a ship arrived in the port ramming the quay. The guards boarded but did not find anyone alive, all dead. My father the Praetor with the Healer Maria investigated, then gave orders to burn the ship, but by now the guards who had boarded had become infected, They went to report to my father and the healer, infecting them in turn, my father died immediately, while the healer fights like a tiger to defeat the disease that was said to be smallpox, but too many people died, it was later known to be the Plague).

     The nearby cities, Genesian Port, Port Schendi and, Kamras, made the naval and land blockade and ordered the archers to kill anyone who approached the walls or the  port. The cities near Bazi installed catapults to send food into the closed city, now in the grip of famine and hunger and death. But only a few food arrived others were plundered by Pirates, Brigands and Savages. There was only the possibility of escaping at night in the forest but few survived.

     After eighteen months finally the plague ended, the survivors of the jungle returned to the city, after two years a delegation of international healers entered Bazi and announced the end of the disease, declaring it was smallpox, by now the ship was burned with its dead and documents, but I never believed it was smallpox, It doesn't bring so much death.

     I talked to the people who took refuge at the Sardar mountains and the  symptoms were not of smallpox, (they said that their eyes and skin turned yellow and their body was filled with spots and bubbles the temperature was normal, but they had trouble breathing and an itch that tore their skin) after three more years, There was a second report attesting that it was indeed the plague, and for this I do not give myself peace, I will study this disease, soon I will hold a seminar in the city of Isfahan on infectious diseases and the plague.

     I resume from my trip to Nadira, where my sister Kareen was waiting for me with her partner Aiax with their two sons Alex and Bresi and  their Kajira  Silvi. They ran a small bakery in the city. When I arrived, Brianna,  the head of the merchants assigned to me a perfumery in the central square of the city, near I had one of our nieces, she had the shop as a seamstress. Chellie is her name, I also made friends with Lady Malin a Healer. Together we tried to investigate on Bazi without coming to any conclusions. I lived in the house of Aiax who became my protector, being my closest relative.

     My southern perfumes were not well accepted by the noses of the ladies of Nadira (near the Gulf  of Cardonicus, southeast  of Lydius and north by Ko-Ro-Ba). Fortunately a short distance away there was a bathhouse and I could earn coins by selling scented oils for the body. I also wanted to make soaps but there was already another producer and did not want to compete, When I had earned enough, I could afford a house, and at that time the builders built the new white city with lime walls. I took a house where in the evening I sat on the terrace listening to the music of the musician Gireaux, thinking of my beloved Bazi.

     The chief merchant Brianna was very active and always organized big fairs and markets and many people came from Belnend, from lydius, from Kasra, from En-Kara and even from the Oasis of the Four Palms, I remember Gireaux playing at every market, people gathered for dances. Sometimes I went out into the forest to make agreements with the Wild to have petals for my perfumes, but the suspicious Panthers did not believe my offer to exchange their petals and bottles.

   I got along very well with the people of Nadira, with the exception of Commander Anatisti, he always looked at me with suspicion for that I did not want to swear on the Home Stone, I always stayed in my heart in the town of Bazi. Fortunately his slave Fire loved perfumes and often put a good word for me, Even though he knew that I was protected by Aiax his sergeant, but still I tried not to make him an enemy.  Then it happened that the companion of Anatist escaped with his two children into the desert to the Oasis of the Four Palms, and all of us were close to him even in the trial that was held at the Oasis, We were there to cheer for him, but the Emir after the long and great trial declared that the children could stay with their mother. Anatisti returned to Nadira sad and disconsolate. And so understood that he was right in wanting me to swear on the Home Stone.

    The first merchant Brianna, advised me to change the caste, becoming a candle maker, (better than perfumes) and to swear in the new Home Stone of Nadira, Tt seemed to me a betrayal but I did it by changing my life.

    By now I was twenty-four years old. All the Goreans go in this age to the mountains of Sardar for the pilgrimage. A holy man named Dupie offered my brother-in-law Aiax a gold tarn as soon as I left, and he not having much income as a Sergeant agreed, and I left for the Sardar blessed by Dupie, leaving my sister Kareen my brother-in-law Aiax and my nephews, and here I am.





 

released for Darianelnairad