Retrieving the jewel from the tree
The village is empty
Sophia surrendering to the slave traders
Click the puzzle piece to work a jigsaw puzzle
The Indigo Jewel
Chapter 3 - The Attack
Intro,
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17,
Epilogue,
Afterward
The jewel will protect me. - Sophia (491-442 BC)
We have a wonderful straw mattress to sleep on each night. Last year I traded some of my jewelry for heavy cloth and made it. I sewed the cloth together and stuffed it with soft straw I gathered from the field. Alec made a short wooden platform for it and now we sleep in comfort. We also have pillows I filled with goose feathers. It's really a proper bed like rich people in the cities have. If only we were rich.
"Good morning, beautiful," Alec says, looking over at me. A ray of sunshine peeks through our window, bathing the room in golden light, illuminating the floating dust. The dust that is only visible in this special light.
"Did you sleep well?" I ask. I should be listening for his response but my mind is suddenly distracted and I think of the jewel I have hidden in a tree near the river. I often sense that the jewel is reaching out to me even when I am not holding it. Now it is urging me to retrieve it before the sun goes down. Why? Is there going to be a flood? The jewel knows things before they happen.
Alec looks into my eyes and smiles. "I always sleep well when I'm with you. We are so blessed, Sophia! We have each other. It rained and our wheat is growing tall. We are at peace with the other villages and have this wonderful bed to sleep on! What more could we want?"
"What more? What more?? How about a baby girl???" I blurt out, poking at his ribs.
"Or a baby boy!" Alec counters immediately and starts tickling me.
I laugh and roll off the bed to escape his playful hands. "That's enough of that. Tickling doesn't get breakfast ready or help our wheat grow, and we don't have time right now. We have a lot to do today!"
"Aw, you're no fun," he says, mocking me, but I am already across the room making breakfast. Soon we are out the door and headed for the field where our friends are already hard at work. Alec works with the other men clearing ground for a new field while I pull weeds from the wheat. No one wants to go hungry this winter.
We have been hungry before. Some years the rain doesn't come. Sometimes there is too much rain, drowning the wheat. We are at the mercy of the sky. We till the soil, plant the seeds and pull the weeds, but if the sky does not cooperate, the harvest will be meager. When this happens we have to do more foraging and hunting. It helps, but we can still go hungry. This is our fate. Joy and celebration in the good years. Hunger and suffering in the bad ones. There must be a better way to live.
Later in the afternoon I leave the field and walk down to the river with my water jug. The water is high and moving quickly, almost reaching the tree where I have hidden the Indigo Jewel. Above me there is a huge branch reaching out over the river. This is a very old tree with bark that is gnarled and rough. Just below my eye level there is a small hole where I have hidden the jewel. First I look around to make sure no one is watching. Then I reach in and pull out the jewel. I have it wrapped in a soft cloth and tied with a string. Holding it in my hand I can feel the panoply of voices speaking to me. I put the jewel in my pocket and set out for home.
When I arrive at my village it is clear: something is terribly wrong. There is no one in sight and the door to every house is wide open. What happened and where is everyone? My own house is in the same perplexing state. Alec is gone and our possessions are scattered across the floor. It looks like there has been a struggle.
In a complete panic my mind is racing as I try to understand what happened and figure out what I should do next. Instinctively, I put my hand in my pocket and squeeze the jewel.
A voice in my mind speaks sharply, "Sophia! Stop and listen carefully."
"Who is this?" I reply, cutting off the voice. No one has ever spoken directly into my mind like this before.
"This is your grandmother Maria. I am here to help you. The Indigo Jewel sent me. Don't ask questions, just listen. You don't have much time. A band of slave traders has captured your village and taken everyone. Everyone but you. They are moving south. Alec is safe and you must join him. You must become a slave too."
"But I don't want to be a slave!"
"I know, but I have determined that if you stay here alone you will die, and so will Alec. He needs you. Follow the slave traders and join them. They will tie you up with the other women. Don't fight them or try to escape. The jewel has a plan to save you. Just trust that everything will work out."
"Really? Just walk in and let them tie me up? You can't be serious!"
"It is your only choice if you want to survive." Maria is so matter of fact that I have no response, and she IS my grandmother. I remember her face clearly from my childhood.
I'm still squeezing the jewel but it has nothing more to reveal. No voices. No visions. Just silence. I look around the room and pick up a few clothes, then leave the house and head south. What else can I do? I can't abandon Alec. I can't let him die.
I walk for several hours with the sun beating down on me. The land is hilly, so I can’t see into the distance. But I can hear so I listen for sounds to guide me. Eventually, off to my left over the next hill I hear voices in the distance; men barking orders and other people moaning and complaining. I follow the sounds and standing at the top of the hill I see a group of people tied together with five men urging them forward with shouts and sticks.
“The jewel will protect me,” I mumble to myself and head down the hill.
Everyone looks surprised to see me. I see Alec motioning me away but I continue walking, right into the hands of the slave traders who tie me up with the rest of the women.
Copyright © 2025 Elton Smith