louder, holding tightly on to me. I raised my face up to heaven. It seemed to me that all that was up there was an empty vastness. I broke down and wept with my son.
FOUR
We gathered a few of our most precious belongings into two small bags in the dead of night, and we were ready to leave the village. When we stepped out of the house, a cold, dark wind blew angrily against us, as if to prevent us from escaping.
I carried both bags on my head, took Noah’s hand, and we sneaked away in the dark. The whole world appeared to be asleep; only the wind and the chirp of insects disturbed the night. I had instructed Noah to walk quietly, but he was soon dragging his feet behind me.
‘Mother,’ I heard him whisper.
‘Shh,’ I whispered back to him, holding him firmly by the hand.
‘Where are we going?’ His voice was cold with fear.
‘Shh.’
A handful of stars in the sky cast a weak glow that seemed to hide the houses we passed rather than illuminate them. All the houses were asleep, with no sign of lanterns. The silence that followed us was surreptitious. Above the silence, the dark wind swallowed the sound of our feet as we walked along an uneven path that threatened to trip us at every step. And as we passed through Main Street, a shiver ran through me. The stalls had taken ghostly forms, and I thought that many eyes were watching our progress.
I increased my pace. ‘Walk faster!’ I whispered to Noah, pulling him after me. Soon, we left the market behind us, and we were on the road that led to the outer limits of the village.
‘Where are we going, Mother?’ Noah asked, beginning to pant for breath.
‘Shh,’ I whispered. I had not thought of where to go. I wanted us to get far away from the village, then I would think of the next step. ‘We’re going where no one can ever take you away from me.’
‘Can we take a rest?’
‘Let’s go a little further, then we can take a rest.’
As we neared the dwelling of the orphans, a faint light suddenly appeared ahead of us. I stopped and pulled Noah to me. ‘Be still!’ I whispered to him.
We stayed rooted to the spot. Soon, I could make out dark figures walking in our direction, and I could hear their voices in the quiet night. I dropped to the ground and pulled Noah down with me. Leaving the bags by the roadside, we crawled behind a tree nearby. ‘Don’t say a word,’ I urged.
In my ears, the sound of my laboured breathing had become as loud as a drum. I placed a hand on my chest to suppress the sound. Squinting into the darkness, I could make out three or four figures now, one bearing a lantern and leading the way, the others walking behind. They had gone past the tree behind which we were hiding when one of them stumbled over the bags and let out a loud exclamation.
‘What happened?’ someone shouted.
‘Give me the light,’ another said.
‘See, bags!’
‘Maybe they belong to the orphans.’
‘Let’s open them.’
‘No! They might contain something dangerous.’
‘They are ordinary bags. I say we open them.’
The men squatted around the bags.
And then Noah began to cry.
*
The men identified themselves as royal guards. They seized us and took us back to the village and brought us before the Chief, who had to be awakened. Suddenly, there were bright lanterns and guards everywhere, as if the village had come under a state of emergency in the dead of night.
‘We found them in the outskirts, trying to escape from the village,’ one of the guards explained to the Chief.
The Chief instructed that we should be kept under house arrest until the case against me was decided by the priests. ‘Not for one second are you to take your eyes off them,’ he warned. He did not bother to address me, and I saw no point in trying to speak to him.
The guards took us back home and threw a security cordon around our compound. I took Noah into my room, where he promptly fell asleep. He looked so exhausted, and my heart wept for him. I lay beside him on the bed, but I found sleep impossible. I blamed myself for our arrest. All I wanted to do was cry. Without making any sound, so as not to disturb Noah, I allowed my tears to roll freely, and I hid my face against the pillow.
‘Mother,’ I heard Noah calling to me in the morning, ‘it is daybreak.’ His voice seemed to tug at me.
I realised that I had fallen asleep at some point during the night. The sun of a new day pierced the bedroom through the gaps in the curtains. I raised myself on one arm and threw the window open. Noah was sitting up in bed, his back against the wall, the blanket drawn up to his chin. He was looking at me with round eyes. For a moment, I was lost. And then it all came to me, and I felt myself choking with tears. We were trapped; there was no way out.
I drew Noah into my arms, hiding my face behind him so that he would not see my tears. We stayed like that until I composed myself. And then I looked into his face and smiled hopefully at him.
‘Good morning, Mother,’ he mumbled.
‘Good morning, my son,’ I replied. ‘Did you sleep well?’
‘Yes, but I’m sorry that I cried last night.’
‘Never mind,’ I said, ruffling his hair. ‘You must have been very tired.’
‘What are they going to do to us now? Are we going to run away again?’
‘Don’t worry. In a few days, when this is all over, we will go somewhere far away and live happily ever after.’
‘Where is this place, Mother?’
‘You’ll see when we get there.’ I smiled to brighten his mood.
*
The royal guards assigned to watch us would not allow Noah to go out to play. Our movement was limited to our compound and farm. Noah wanted to know why the guards were loitering outside and why he could not go out. I told him not to mind their presence, that in a few days he would be free to go out again. I made up my mind to do a deal with Chair-Lady. We needed each other. In return for going back to Main Street, she must get the Chief to relax the law. With her on my side, the law could be set aside temporarily. Hopefully, the merchants would come back and then I would take my time to escape with Noah. For now, I had to buy time.
I spoke with one of the guards, requesting an audience with Chair-Lady.
‘Why do you need to see her?’ he asked.
‘I want her to take an important message to the Chief,’ I replied.
He looked uncertain.
‘A while ago she visited me to discuss a serious matter that concerns the whole village,’ I explained. ‘If you tell her that I have good news for her, she will understand. I would have gone to see her myself, but as you know, I’m under house arrest. And surely, the Chief’s order does not prevent anyone from coming to visit me.’
‘Okay, I’ll get your message across to her,’ he said reluctantly and walked away.
‘Thank you,’ I said after him.
Chair-Lady came to see me that evening. She was cold and detached.
‘Thank you for coming,’ I said to her with a smile.
‘Why have you asked to see me?’
‘The last time you came I could not give you the news you wanted to hear. That’s why I have asked to see you, to discuss the possibility of reviving Main Street.’
‘Are you