Daughter of the Dragon Tree by Susanne Aernecke

Author:Susanne Aernecke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Personal Growth/Fiction
Publisher: Inner Traditions/Bear & Company
Published: 2018-10-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

There was not much they took with them. After Iriomé helped Ibn Said bury his mother behind the house, they left after dark.

Silently they followed a narrow path along the city wall until they came to a mighty gate that was guarded by several men. They wore the armor that Iriomé recognized from Joaquín. Ibn Said spoke with one of them and gave him a vial of medicine.

“He’s the father of the leper girl,” he whispered to Iriomé. “He is letting us leave the town, without anybody knowing. We need to wait until midnight, when the guards change. For a brief moment the gate will be unmanned. That is our chance.”

Although Iriomé did not understand every word, she understood enough that she was able to guess the meaning. She crouched beside Ibn Said in a corner of the city wall to wait. What had happened in the last hours reminded her painfully of the battle that had been fought on Benahoare. It was pure hatred that drove the leader of the Spaniards to commit such crimes. How could a man harbor so much destructive power?

It must be an evil demon giving him the strength for his misdeeds. But demons were beatable; she knew that from Tichiname. You only had to seize the right moment. And such a moment would come. Iriomé was not out for revenge; despite all, she still believed in the victory of good over evil.

Ibn Said looked at her thoughtfully and covered her caringly with a sheepskin that he untied from his suitcase. What a friend he was! She had destroyed his life, and still he protected her, as if she were his own flesh and blood. Had the spirits sent him to help her? For a moment she was struck by the terrible thought that he would even give his life for her one day.

The moon hid behind a cloud at exactly the right time to give the two fugitives the opportunity to escape through the city gate unseen. With quick steps Ibn Said turned north. Iriomé followed, puzzled about how agile and fast he was despite his advanced age. He must have seen more than fifty summers. He also slightly dragged his right leg, an injury that he had suffered early in his life during the defense of his native village against the Christians. She knew now that the Moors had just as little value in the eyes of the conquerors as her own people— something she had difficulty understanding. She had grown up with the idea that all people were equal before Tara. Each one had a particular gift, but none felt superior to the other or had the urge to brag about it through words or deeds all the time.

In the early morning light, a larger homestead could be seen on the horizon; only then did the médico slow his pace.

Even from a distance Iriomé could smell the long-legged animals she now knew to be horses grazing on lush meadows all around who welcomed them with a loud whinnies.

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