Slave Of Destiny (11 page)

They prepared for battle; eyeing each other and judging each
other’s skills.

“Well, kill me then!” Snake shouted; slashing at his enemy.

Snake was dressed in rough baggy trousers and he was
bare-chested, but he possessed far less skills than his opponent. Within a few
minutes he was mortally wounded and he dropped to the floor; blood gushing out
of several wounds.

“Why?” he asked weakly. “Why?”

“I’m doing it for a friend. Remember a boy you left behind
when you kidnapped Sally? Well, he’s part of my crew now and he wanted
revenge….” He said as he watched the life drain away from his victim.

“Have a look in that room, Dayang” he ordered, when his mate
joined him on the veranda.

“Ayee” cried the older woman, cringing with fear when Dayang
opened the door.

“Please don’t hurt her again” cried the younger one.

“We’re here to help you” he said as he advanced over to
Sally.

“I don’t believe you” she spat as she cowered away.

“Will you believe me then?” Vijendra asked calmly. “We’ve
come here to free you, because Michael asked us to.”

“Michael? Is he still alive?” she questioned him, calming
down.

“Dayang go and get the other two and bring them here” he
ordered.

“I’m going to release you, so don’t do anything rash” he
said. “Then you can release the other woman.”

“Ok” she replied, feeling slightly confused.

“Sally!” Michael cried as he rushed into the room.

“Michael. I’m so happy to see you AND Constance too” she
whispered with tears in her eyes as she hugged him first then Connie.

Sally untied the older woman and whispered to her, “It’s ok,
they’re friends.”

“They gang raped her repeatedly, after they murdered her
husband and son” she mentioned.

“We have to leave now, the other men could be back at any
time” urged Vijendra.

“This is Dayang and Vijendra” Michael said, introducing them.

The woman was a mess and covered with dried blood. She had
cuts and bruises everywhere and she could hardly walk, so Connie and Sally
helped her down the steps and along the path. There were deep rumblings beneath
their feet as the six of them started back on the main trail back to Wologai.

“The volcano’s woken up” Michael said.

“We had better hurry then” added Vijendra. “The other eight
crew members won’t be too far behind us.”

A loud boom like an explosion followed by an endless deep
rumbling made them turn around quickly. They could see orange-red boulders
being ejected from the crater, before crashing into the side of the mountain
and rolling further down. Flocks of birds took flight; trying to escape the
volcanic ash cloud which would soon follow, so they turned and tried to walk as
quickly as they could.

“Ahee” the woman screamed, pointing the way to go.

Two more explosions sounded in the background followed by
deeper louder rumblings.

“We really have to move; it’s going to blow” Michael shouted.

All The residents of Wologai were wandering haphazardly in
the street, but Vijendra found two women the older woman knew. She hugged Sally
and bowed to us as if to say ‘thank you’, before being taken away. The five of
them didn’t want to wait around, so they ran as hard as they could, back
towards the schooner.  Vijendra knew they would be tailed by the crew off the
Vega
,
if they were still alive.

* * *

The group had just made it to the beach and they were pushing
out the longboat when they heard people somewhere behind them. There were only
five crew members off the Vega left alive and they were mad.

“We’ll have to fight our way out of this” announced Vijendra,
his mind racing furiously trying to work a way out of this.

The men came closer and then stopped; just observing them
standing there with their captive.

“Do you recognize me?” Vijendra asked them, hoping his name
would put fear into their opponents.

“The White Ghost!” tall baldy shouted. “Why are you here?”

“We came here to take back one of my crew. You don’t disagree
with me, do you?” he said with conviction.

“Er…No” he stuttered, knowing the legendary Vijendra could
wipe them all out. “You can leave safely.”

“No, after YOU” he stressed.

The five of them watched the pirates push their longboat out
of the creek and into deeper water where they jumped in and started rowing. Vijendra
followed in his longboat, but the four of them rowed tiredly and they were
overjoyed to reach the
Mabuhay
in one piece.

“Get the longboat up on the davits; raise the anchor and the
sails. We have to leave straight away. The volcano’s going to blow” he stressed
to George.

“Yes sir” he said with glee; just happy to be sailing again.

“Whatever happened to Marcus?” Michael asked.

“They just murdered him when he refused to go along with
their plans. I think all he really wanted in the end was to get me back as his
wife” she sadly mentioned to him and Connie. “He wasn’t really that bad.

After surviving 30
knot winds from the south-west and high seas for seven hours, the schooner
finally stopped in an exposed bay on Pulau Besar. The winds had begun to die
down and this place appeared to be the best anchorage around here. The captain
knew that plenty of locals would want to sell them fruits and vegetables,
shells and carvings and they needed to get some more fresh water, but that
would have to wait until tomorrow, or even their next destination, Bali. The
moon was almost full and it lit its path across the water, but as the crew was
looking at it they noticed a strange sight just to its left. The stars were red
and it looked like the tail of a dragon behind them. The crew thought it might
be a comet, but Michael knew it was either the lava flow or fires burning on
the side of the Kelimutu volcano. Constance, Sally and Michael worked furiously
trying to get things back in order in the kitchen as well as cooking dinner,
but the boat’s motion changed from easy over to very rolly. As the evening progressed,
the winds picked up again to 25-30 knots from the west.

Mabuhay
left Lombok at 5:30 am the next morning and for the
first few hours the schooner had fantastic winds of 25 knots and the current
with it, but just before midday the wind died and
Mabuhay
was almost becalmed. Unfortunately, they
spent the rest of the day with very little wind and a counter current, but they
had a great beginning. Gunung Agung, Bali’s ‘highest and most revered
mountain’, has a perfect volcanic cone, which is more than 10,000 feet high and
quite imposing. As night fell, the almost full moon provided backlighting for
this magnificent mountain.

“Did you know that
all of Bali's mountains are volcanoes, some long dormant and some still
active? At 10,308 feet, magnificent Mount Agung dominates the landscape
of East Bali. Much more active is Mount Batur, which permanently lets off
steam and periodically produces a large bang and plumes of ashy smoke as pressure
is released from within” Michael mentioned to Sally as they sat together.

“No” she whispered
as she looked me in the eyes and held his hand. “How do you know all these
facts, Michael?”

“I seem to remember
everything I’ve been taught at school” he replied.

* * *

Just after dawn the crew had another
surprise, literally hundreds of local outriggers came racing home from sea
after a night of fishing. What a colourful sight. The lateen sails on these
little boats look like brightly colored spinnakers. It was another very special
moment, but the wind was up again and
Mabuhay
finally made it to Lovina Beach by 4 pm. It was a
great day and a great feeling to finally reach Bali and the captain ordered the
anchor be lowered in 25 feet of water. Bali
was,
of course, a must-stop destination for every sailor. The predominantly Hindu culture,
landscape, and vibrant economy are so different from the rest of Indonesia.

The Hindu temples of Bali are just
beautiful. They are everywhere and their beauty is hard to describe and they
were first on
Vijendra
list
of places to visit.
The
group found out they had to be appropriately dressed with a sarong and sash to
enter any temple. Generally the entrance is always on the kelod axis point of
the compound and is usually a gateway of some nature. This leads into the jaba which
is the domain of humans and all things earthly. The jaba contains only minor
shrines and it’s where some celebratory dance performances take place, during
special ceremonies.
Vijendra,
Constance,
Sally and Michael were allowed to visit this part of a temple. A gateway called
a candi bentar, leads into the central courtyard which is called the jaba
tengah. This is the intermediary point between our earthly domain and the realm
of the Gods, and this is where daily offerings are prepared in an open pavilion
called a paon. The jaba tengah also usually contains a large pavilion called a wantilan,
which is used for special dance performances. The kori agung gate leads into
the jeroan - the inner sacred area. This houses the most important shrines to
different Hindu gods and deities and is where serious rituals and prayers take
place. Shrines are many and varied but usually include a padmasana, the throne
of the supreme deity Sanghyang Widi Wasa. The large pavilion in this section is
called a gedong pariman, which is always left completely empty to allow the
gods to visit during ceremonies.

Away from the
coast, Bali is largely lush, green and fertile, and rice paddies are the
dominant agricultural feature of the island. In some areas, paddies take the
form of dramatic sculpted terraces which efficiently utilize every available
acre of land for cultivation. Especially beautiful examples of terraced paddies
can be found in the centre of the island north of
Ubud
and in east Bali around
Tirta Gangga
.
Elsewhere, gently rolling rice fields make for very pleasing rural scenery
.
The graceful hand movements of beautiful Balinese
dancers with long black hair and costumes of woven gold silk mixed with other
vibrant colors was another vision that Michael would carry with him forever, as
well as the intricate masks and costumes of other dancers. Bali is certainly a
place like no other that he had visited and, as the
Mabuhay
sailed further and further away, he wondered
if he would ever visit another place so surreal and beautiful.

The schooner was
making great time this morning and they would be passing between two islands
and into the Java Sea by late afternoon.
 Mabuhay
will continue to sail all night and all
day tomorrow to reach Bawean Island. After staying a day in Bawean, they will
head on to the Karimunjawa Islands north of Java.
Vijendra
was hoping to spend about four days there
before traveling on to Sumatra. The Captain had fully stocked the larder with
fresh produce, dried foods, rice and fresh water, while they were at Bali.

The seas and winds
settled with the setting sun, but that is also the same time that
Mabuhay
passed between some
islands about 70 miles from Bali and entered the Java Sea. So
Vijendra
didn’t know if the change
has caused the seas to settle and the winds to die down. The schooner sailed  reasonably
fast, but then the wind changed to be directly behind them and dropped to about
7 knots.
Vijendra
decided to
alter the sails to a gull-wing style. They were sailing now with one main sail
out one side and another one out the other side, but there was a half knot of
current against them. The schooner was averaging about five and half knots and
if
Mabuhay
could keep
that up overnight, they would arrive at Baweana Island before noon tomorrow.

* * *

Mabuhay
finally made it! They arrived at Bawean Island, after
sailing the 212 miles from Bali, just after 4pm that afternoon. After dinner
Sally and Michael sat on the top deck, away from the rest of the crew, and
gazed up towards the heavens.

“Can I be honest
with you?” she asked, looking deeply into my eyes and reaching out to hold my
hands.

“Ok” he whispered,
a little unsure of what she was going to say.

“I hate to say
this, but I felt I had to say something. Over the last few days I’ve seen you
laughing and you have had a good time, but your eyes still appear to be sad. I
suppose, what I really mean to say is I’m your friend. If anything has happened
to you, no matter what, you can tell me, ok?” she whispered.

“I…I’m fine” he
replied. “It’s just that I remember things sometimes; from my past. Do I really
look sad?”

“It’s not really a
big deal, but just remember, you can talk to me about anything and I’ll listen to
you. I might think you’re a little weird or crazy, but I’ll still listen to
you; like a friend.”

She left him to go
to her bunk and sleep, but Michael stayed there to ponder his thoughts.

“So…Um, Michael,
How are things going with you and Sally?” Constance asked him when she noticed
he was sitting alone.

“Fine!” he replied.

“I’m your friend
too and you can trust me to keep a secret” she suggested.

“It’s alright
between us. Sally was just tired, that’s all, but I just wanted to stay out
here a little bit longer. I appreciate your concern, but there’s nothing wrong”
he mentioned.

“Ok, but I’m here
to help if you need help; please don’t forget that I’m here” she added, before
she left for her bed in the captain’s cabin.

Michael could
understand their concerns because they were more mature than he was and, being
both women, their maternal instincts would kick in, but Michael couldn’t help
but wonder what’s going to happen to him. He’s known them both for a while now
and it almost seems too long. Good friends are hard to come by at the best of
times, but should he take the next step with Sally and is she ready to love
him? He’s really only seventeen years old and she has explained to him that
she’s seventeen as well. He’s never really had a steady girlfriend and Michael
didn’t really want to take their relationship to the next level just yet, but
something clicked between them. She is and always will be a friend, no a girlfriend
and it’s probably for the best it remains like that. Someone like her, the
Maharaja’s daughter, would never ever be allowed to love a person like him.