A Party of One
Ishvi sat at the table, drinking his beer. His Wife was visiting her parent’s house in the city, this last night before first seventh, and then embarkation. He had several of his friends over, and they were drinking and talking. But Ishvi wasn’t having the fun time he had envisioned.
He couldn’t believe how much he missed his Wife. Here he hadn’t even known her three months ago and now he couldn’t spend an evening with the lads without pining after her.
“I can’t believe this crazy scheme,” one of his young friends said.
“Yea, poor Ishvi, off on a long sea voyage with nothing at the other end.”
“It’s not like my prospects were all that great before all this started,”
Ishvi responded glumly. “There was no land left for us anyway.”
“All because of those Heroiini,” the young Lord continued. “That’s what we should be doing instead of this crazy colonizing thing. We have tons of land right here. We just need to settle it.”
This was still so close to Ishvi’s own thinking that he didn’t say anything.
In many ways he admired Seth. He was an excellent teacher, and had organized this whole thing really well. But this whole other thing… His feelings about the Horsemen had changed some since his transformation into one himself. And nowadays his friends seemed so − shallow. They had never felt what he had felt. They hadn’t done what he had done.
“And poor Ishvi. Getting stuck with that lass…”
Ishvi rose to his feet and faced the speaker, red-faced and trembling: “You are speaking of my Wife.”
The room suddenly went still, everyone realizing that this last comment had been − ill advised. Everyone except the speaker, that is, who tried to continue − “But she’s one of those northern…”
Caleb, Ishvi’s friend, held his arm, and said, “Perhaps it would be best if our young friend left now.”
“But I don’t understand…” the young man babbled as his friends hustled him out the door. Caleb sat Ishvi back down and no one said anything for several long minutes.
“So, who are you now?” Caleb asked. “You aren’t who you used to be.”
Ishvi looked at him. “No, I’m not. I don’t know who I am. You know how I felt about becoming a Hostage. My idiot Uncle gets involved in this treason, and so I get sent off as a Hostage. Then I find out about this whole stupid ‘Come the Day’ thing.” He was silent for a while, and drank down the rest of his beer.
“Then − then I spent all that time with those other Hostages. They were excited. All of our lives were disjointed by our hostage status, and all of the southern Hostages started out most irate.”
“But then we began language learning. That gave us something to do, a work to accomplish. It was weird, and seemingly pointless, but at least it was a challenge.”
“You can imagine my feelings when the first lad received his Wife; then one after another of my comrades received a Wife.”
Caleb grinned at him, “And then you did!”
Ishvi grinned sheepishly, “It concentrated my mind wonderfully. You, my poor unmarried Friend, have no idea of the power of a Wife!” He flopped back on to the chair, “But before that I transformed into a Horseman. You have no idea − you can have no concept, my Friend, of the incredible wealth of emotions, the overwhelming feelings, that such a transformation entails. I became a different creature − almost.
Caleb sat back, “Did that alter your view of the King’s new plan?” he asked.
“No,” Ishvi said. “How could it? It’s all crazy. Here we have all of this land, ours for the taking.”
“Horseman land. Land they don’t use.”
“Aye,” Ishvi paused, a faraway look on his face, “except they do.”
“What do you mean?”
“It is difficult to explain. I have been a Horseman. I know how they feel about the land, how they feel about their life. I know what it is like to ride out on the plains, to ride free with my Wife. I was tempted, we were all tempted.”
“Tempted to stay? To just ride around and do nothing? What do they accomplish? What do they do?”
“They live. I am not an expert theologian. I cannot tell what purpose they serve in the intentions of He Who Is. But − do they not multiply and replenish the earth? They neither plant nor harvest but…”
“But you came back.”
“Yes. I had sworn an oath.” The two sat together in silence, “Want another beer?”
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Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
Island People
Island People is a young adult fantasy book centring on a young prince. The book starts with his kidnapping and follows his adventures as he not only escapes from his kidnapper but gains critical allies and friends.
The entire book is scheduled on Substack, and there are several sequels. This is a book I wrote years ago, so it is in a bit of a rough form. Critiques and comments are more than welcome, they are requested.