Chapter 2 - The beautiful Liling
The humid heat made the prisoners sweat, but it was better to stay outside than in their cells where the air and spaces were suffocating.
Hearing that threatening voice, Kaj lowered his fist and turned to the guardian.
«We haven't done anything wrong. We were trying our strength in a fight match.»
The One-eye had taken advantage of the guardian's arrival to slip away and get to safety near the overseer to complain.
«That pearl fisherman's dog lied!» he shouted «He wanted to kill me, accusing me of being a spy».
«Buffoon!» shouted the white man «You are more cowardly than a jackal».
«Shut up, Blake», the guardian said roughly «You have no more right to talk than others and I haven't questioned you».
«Yes, One-eye lied!» the spectators shouted in chorus.
«And why is Kaj's nose bleeding then?» asked the overseer.
«Because I fell» Kaj replied angrily.
«That's not true» shouted One-eyed «He attacked me and to defend myself I punched him, this is also saw from the white man. I advise you to keep an eye on them, Mr. Dek, because I caught them plotting their escape. That's why the pearl fisherman attacked me!».
A great shout of anger greeted his words and all the prisoners stretched their fists towards him, coming forward threatening, ready to strike him, but the overseer promptly threw himself in front of One-eye, then drew the sword he was carrying hanging from his belt, while holding the pistol with his left hand.
«Stop, rascals!» he shouted «The first one to come near is a dead man!».
Then he began to whistle, a long whistle, the whistle of alarm and call of the other guards. Four of them came armed with rifles and others came out, placing themselves on either side of their companion.
The prisoners, who were ready to lash out at One-eyed man and his protector, seeing that reinforcement arrive stopped. Only the white man took a few steps forward, saying in a dark voice:
«I hope, Mr. Dek, you won't believe what that wretched One-eyed guy said. Nobody attacked him, you can believe the loyal word of a seaman.»
«You are a prisoner like the others and your word is of no greater value than theirs, even if you are an Englishman» replied the overseer.
A bright flame flashed in Blake's eyes, while a deadly pallor covered his face.
«One day», he said in an altered voice, quivering with anger and indignation «I was a man of honor. If I killed my sergeant in arms, I did it because I was forced and pushed in a moment of madness, and you know it. They sentenced me, but this sentence did not spoil the loyalty of the former naval officer of the Golden Hind».
With the hard expression on the face of the guardian, latter replied:
«I believe you, but I am forced to lock all three of you in the penalty cell, until the facts are clarified. I cannot transgress the regulations».
«Go ahead», the former officer replied dryly, holding out his wrists «Handcuff me».
The overseer made a sign to his men, who hastened to chain the arms of the white man, Kaj and One-eye.
«To the depot» he ordered «and shoot those who try to escape».
Then turning to the other prisoners, he added in a tone that did not allow for a reply:
«At work you, the hour of rest is over.»
And while the galley's ax blows resounded in the forest and the resinous trunks crashed to the ground with a great crash, the three prisoners, were escorted by two guardians inside the Port-Capuyan penitentiary.
The Port-Capuyan penitentiary was called "The Cemetery", due to the hot and humid climate for the great and continuous rains and the immense forests that covered those islands, but the natives had been affected and deformed by the epidemics
brought by the new arrivals and they united in small and silent groups to kill the inmates.
The penitentiary included a few walls, where the prisoners slept crowded together, a large hospital room and the guardians' dormitory. It had been built on the shore of a deep and safe bay, where a port had been built to allow the loading of precious timber, but the monsoons made it difficult for the Governorate to land.
The prisoners' work was divided between the clearing of forests for the timber trade and the construction of new parts of the penitentiary, using the rocks of the land cleared in the forest that covered the island.
The natives, with their faces and bodies deformed by the Black Plague, advancing on their bodies, rotting the skin, were always with their weapons ready.
Blake, the former officer of the Golden Hind, and Kaj, found themselves locked together in a cell, where you could not even lie down, which the sun had already transformed into a real oven, chained next to each other on the floor of land.
The guardians, after placing a pitcher full of water and two pieces of almost moldy bread next to the wall, greeted them by closing the wooden door.
«Have a good rest, young men!»
Blake, the former officer of the Golden Hind, and Kaj, were closed «Too bad we couldn't kill him» said Kaj, as soon as he heard the guards at the end of the corridor escape «That man will stop our escape, for us is now impossible. I have to get out of this hell, it is necessary, if I didn't have the hope of leaving, I would kill myself by smashing my head against some rocks.
«It would seem that you have more urgency than me» replied the former officer «yet I have observed that those of your race try to escape less and resign themselves to their fate».
«True, Mr. Blake, but perhaps they lack an urgent reason like mine.»
The white man turned his head looking fixedly at the pearl fisherman, and was surprised by the intense pain that the face of that young man who seemed invincible showed in that instant. and asked him:
«Is it the ardent desire to return to be a pearl fisherman who breathe the free sea breeze, or is some more serious reason pushing you to try to escape? You never told me.»
«I would have told you, Mr. Blake, if that damned one eyed hadn't interrupted our conversation».
��They told me they kicked you into this penitentiary because you killed a priest in Palawa Bay. Is it true?»
«It's true» said Kaj in a sad voice «I killed him on the steps of the temple with three blows of a knife and, if I have one regret, it is that of not having been able to give him fifty, because that man deserved death fifty times».
«I guess a painful story in your life» said Blake «Some terrible drama must have poisoned life at this point».
«Sure, sir» the pearl fisherman pointed out «dreaming of her, always seeing her, always hearing her cry, and being here in this hell!» It is impossible that I can resist! It's too much! I must go!».
A hoarse sobbing drowned out the pearl fisherman last words as his eyes filled with tears. It was clear that immense pain tore the heart of the unfortunate prisoner. «Oh my Liling! My Liling!» He then exclaimed with a burst of tears. And not being able to have freedom and the red pearl!».
«Calm down boy» said the former officer, who seemed deeply moved by the young pearl fisherman's pain «Who is that Liling? What is that red pearl? What terrible drama is there in your life? Although you are Malaysian and I am English, you can consider me as your brother. I proved it to you when eight days ago I tore you from the jaws of the crocodile that was about to cut off your legs».
«Yes, it's true, you are too good, Mr. Blake» replied the pearl fisherman «I owe you my life, you are like really like a brother to me and therefore I must tell you everything, but you must promise me to combine your efforts with mine to flee from this infamous place».
«I have no less desire than you to leave, my poor Kaj. Seamen do not adapt to living in penitentiaries and I have had enough of this existence that I have dragged on for thirteen months. I too am thirsty for freedom, pure air and I can't wait to go back to the sea».
«Then listen to me, Mr. Blake, even though we have only known each other for eight days, I have faith in you and I am sure you will not betray my secret. There is no shortage of Malaysians here and they would be able to inform the priests of the Governorate of my secret».
The former officer was intrigued by that story.
«Don't think I'm just a pearl fisherman. My fathers were once the kings of Pahang, whom the Eastern Governorate won and ousted, because they did not want to accept its protectorate, which deprived the people of all freedom. They were robbed of their fortunes and possessions, rolling down the last steps of their greatness, until the last prince, who was my father, had to become a poor pearl fisherman to live».
Blake listened to the young man's sad story, but he knew this was not his reason for running away.
«So you learned from your father to be a pearl fisherman. I realized that you must have belonged to another caste, by your manner and features. Go on».
«When my father died, broken in two by a shark while collecting pearls in the State of Kanaar, I took command of his boat, moving to the coasts of Ceylon, where it was said that the most beautiful pearls were found and there was that the famous red pearl, stolen years ago in the great temple of Palawan, where it was set as a third eye in the gigantic mask in front of the altar of sacrifices».
«A blood red pearl!» Blake exclaimed.
«Yes, red as the blood spilled in his name, but I'll tell you about that later» said Kaj. «It was in Palawan that I first met Liling, while I was exploring those pearl banks».
«Who was this girl?»
«The most beautiful girl I had ever seen, so beautiful that everyone envied her and wanted for themselves. Her father was also a pearl fisherman and when he realized that our hearts had understood each other and that they were beating together, he did not oppose obstacles and let her become my future wife, as long as I committed myself to paying him two hundred coins as the price of the wedding».
«It was a very high compensation.»
«I had already scrapped the sum, selling my mother's necklace on the black market, the last jewel of my family and I thought I was now close to the realization of my dream, but..."