The Illuminated Maiden

Chapter IV

Lakhanat, thought Siti, as she went upstream on a makeshift raft made from the debris of a shipwreck and a bamboo pole, once used as the vessel's outrigger, as paddle. Caught by the Menangese. What luck. What joyful luck. Those bastards of mine, why didn't they fight harder? Those pox-riddled idiots dying without much of a fight. Damn everything. Damn it all!

The currents weren't too strong, allowing Siti to move up the Galang River from the Halas Strait. Even then, she struggled, knowing the raft could capsize any moment. Lakhanat, she thought. She eyed her reflection in the water, revealing a woman with eyes surrounded by smooth, puffed-up skin around the sockets and full maroon lips. Her face, with a base of yellow, had tanned over the years. It had traces of crusted blood and soot. Her hair, black but turned rust by the sun's rays, she tied into a bun.

She wrapped her body with dark purple fabric and constricted her legs with earth-colored wax-resisted cloth, featuring floral prints, which flowed down right below her knees. On her waist, attached to a white piece of fabric embroidered with cream floral patterns as well, was an asymmetrical dirk, a keris, made of steel and brass inside its ivory sheath, which she wore behind. On her back was a quiver filled with arrows and a bow attached.

Those idiots, she thought. They went down with the ship. Was that how they repay me for protecting them like they were my brothers? Damn it, I wasn't paying and feeding them to die like that. I should have taught them to fight harder, but who could have expected a Menangese warship? We knew nothing at all. Years sailing through the strait, and only now have I encountered a warship as such.

The sound of water flowing, monkeys howling, and crickets chirping from the jungles near the banks resonated as Siti rowed. The fog had opened up, but the clouds, even in the morning, blotted out the sun. Ther was an outpost serving as a settlement for many by the banks. She needed to reach it. She was out of supplies, and it would be an ideal place to restock.

Lakhanat, I forgot that I'm out of rupians, she thought. No matter. I can stay for a day before venturing to the nearest city. That was her plan. She had to get away from the seas. The riverbanks were safer for Siti.

She recalled how it all happened, the encounter with the Menangese warship. She conjured an image of her own ship, a vessel of white, accented with gold, red, and yellow, featuring a carving of a mythical humanoid bird, the Garuda, on its bowsprit. She remembered there were only a handful of oarsmen who maneuvered the ship in the evening, as the rest of Siti's men slept beneath the roof in the middle of the vessel. They even covered the sole brass cannon (the lantaka) of the ship and set the black powder and ammunition aside.

Of course, thought Siti. Those cowards attacked us while we were at rest. We planned on moving near a shoreline where we'd drop the anchor. Those Menangese bastards. I've never failed my men, but the Menangese finished them off.

Siti recalled how fortunate she was for having been able to hold her breath underwater beneath the debris that had caught on fire. She remembered the enemy's own lantaka fire on them while they rested. Cowardice, cowardice, cowardice! The Menangese warship sank her own vessel with ease. She was not, after all, a leader of a military fleet; she led a group of corsairs sent by various realms across the Halas Strait to conduct discreet raids on merchant boats and diplomat ships.

Setting their eyes upon petty pirate vessels. A great Western Empire indeed. Wait till I get my hands on those Menangese cunts!

She grunted as she drove the bamboo deep into the river where she dug into sand and mud turning the water murky. For a moment, the bamboo became lodged in the mud, but Siti was able to pull it out. She went on rowing, striking the river bed and pushing the raft forward as she stood upright. She eyed her surroundings, sniffing out things amiss. The river before her disappeared into the horizon, even as the fog cleared up. She inhaled deep, closing her eyes to feel her nerves ease up.