The Book of Jasmine

The Book of Jasmine - Part 1

Her thick hooded cloak kept the biting night air off her frail body. She had done this journey a thousand times. But never alone, and at midnight.

She knew exactly where to find him. Where he always was. Singing sad songs of days gone by and of a life that never was.

The sky was clear and the stars illuminated a clear path to the mouth of the river. As she approached, a cloud of blue smoke drifted in on the breeze. The stench of lamp fuel mixed in with the scent of the blowing willow trees.

She crept through the long grass, trying not to make a noise that would draw attention from a passing soldier. He sat facing the river but the pause of his singing told her he knew she was there.

A wheezy voice began to speak in place of the singing. "I can only imagine you need my help? Or is it my songs that you gravitate to?"

She closed her eyes and took a silent breath.

You have to do this. This is for everyone.

"I- I"

The hunched figure held out a long bony arm. He slowly uncurled a fist of blue fingers, each with long, yellow nails that had curled into spirals. A ragged shawl fell to reveal a twisted spine, with bones poking out from the tired body.

"Don't. Ask. For. Help."

"Please, I beg of you" she whispered as she dropped to her knees. She held her shaking hands out to the faceless figure.

"But you put me here! Now leave me be!"

She waited, a few seconds of silence hung in the hot midnight air.

"If you help me...I will set you free"

He delicately folded his arm back under the shawl and turned, his bones clicking and creaking. Something tucked under his other arm glinted in the moonlight.

He still has the lamp.

"Lies. Lies. I have heard these tales more times than I care to remember, and look at me, after all these lies" he hissed, empathising the last three words.

"No! This is not lies, I swear on the lives of all in this Kingdom before us, you shall be free. Please, grace me with your powers one more time, and we shall turn this Kingdom upside down, and bring it back to life..."

Boney fingers rose at a painful pace, and rubbed the sharp chin. His wrinkled eyes squinted as he calculated the old woman before him.

A breathy grunt escaped the thin lips as he spoke once more;

"You. Have. One. Chance"

~

"Oh Jasmine! Not again! How many more are going to suffer at the jaws of Raja?"

Raja paraded round his Princess, circling slowly, pleased with another day's work.

"How is any man ever going to get near you?" cried her rotund Father. He had removed his turban to reveal silvery strands that clung to his clammy forehead.

Raja let out a low growl before stretching his muscular limbs. His work for the day was done and had earned him another leg of raw meat.

"Jasmine! Please just choose one!"

Charcoal eyes rolled beneath thick, fluffy lashes. This last suitor was the cherry on the cake of Pompous Princes. She knew it wasn't her Father's doing, it was years of tradition. His nervous nature blurred his powers to change things. He wanted an easy life, and living with Jasmine was anything but.