[stylist] Trials of an honorary Dragon. Chapter 17 (new chapter)

[helene ryles]

Chapter 17:
Shell Shock by Nadia Murat.
6/1997

I saw a small timid man with a wooden leg approach me.  He was waiting
for me at Keraina railway station.  He had a sad ruffled look about
him.  I saw my father so rarely that it took me a while to remember
who he was.  The fact that he had now grown a beard didn’t help
either.
 I saw mother exchange a few frosty words with my father.  My father
looked very concerned by something mother said.  If only I knew what?
  She had put on her concerned parent face, which she used whenever
there was someone about that she wanted to impress.  I saw a police
officer approaching her.  So that must be it.
I shrunk back when mother approached me again, but she was just giving
me a departing hug.
Where were we going?  I would have liked to ask my father but my
breathing still came in ragged gasps.  I could just about hear my
father talking to me with my remaining hearing aid, but I was in no
state to concentrate on lip-reading.  Beside which, His beard got in
the way.  When I failed to understand his speech he pulled out a note
pad and thick pen and began to write his message down for me:
“What’s wrong Nadir? I hear that you slipped and fell into Stilosarka
underground railway station? It’s amazing that you survived a drop
like that.”   At this point I wanted to tell father that I didn’t slip
at all.  That I had been pushed, but somehow I couldn’t put the words
together. I was still in too much shock, so I simply carried on
reading his note:
“Your mother has finally agreed to let you stay with me for a while.
It’s just a shame she didn’t give me any advanced notice.  Now I’ll
just have to taken you to North Nazdonia with me.  I hope you don’t
mind travelling with me.   I would cancel but I have several goods
with me, that need to be sold, and money is running short again.”

A few yards later, we crossed the border into Nazdonia.  The guards
signalled for us to stop.  They took father aside into a small
building.   I was about to follow but a guard signalled for me to
stop.
I waited for what seemed an age.   Wondering what was happening.
After a long wait Father came out looking more sad and ruffled then
ever.  He was shaking slightly as he led me to his camel.  He hoisted
me onto the back of his camel before leading us into the desert.
“Did your mother give you any packages,” he wrote on his notepad,
looking surreptitiously round.
I nodded.  Handing him the small package that mother had slipped into
my pocket.  He sighed with relief.  Then he tore the page out of his
notebook and set fire to it.
“What is it?” I asked.
“This is just your mother’s dirty work.  I would not have got involved
but she made it clear that I wouldn’t ever see you again if I didn’t
comply with this enterprise.  It would be safer if you didn’t know any
more then that,” he wrote back.


                 ***  ***  ***


I screamed as father pulled me towards the side of the cliff.  I
remembered how I had fallen last time... Were my parents in league
with each other?  Was my father going to make another attempt at
killing me?
We had been walking for days, through the desert landscape.  I lost
count of how long for.   My nights were filled with too many bad
dreams.
"What is the matter Nadia?" my father wrote.
I made no response. I just sat huddled on the ground. This place smelt
so much like Druzil.  It made me think of Aunt Liza.  Would I ever see
Aunt Liza again?"
"Don‘t you want to go to the beach?  I realise there is a steep climb
going down, but I was going to help you.  I won’t force you, if you
would rather not go.    I just thought all children liked going to the
beach," my father wrote.
I made no response.  I just sat huddled on the ground.
"This is Sakami bay.  We are on the same coastline as Druzil where
your aunt Liza lives, about 150 miles north.  You can get ferry from
here that will take you all the way down to Druzil.  If I had the
money we would take a boat up to Port Nisea where we're heading for.
It wouldn't take so long as walking..."
"What about a flying carpet?" I asked at long last. This was the first
time I had spoken to my father since the start of the journey.
I was remembering the little lady selling the carpet.  I had a sudden
inspiration of maybe father and I doing something like this.  Then he
wouldn't complain so much about lack of funds.
"I don't do magic…" My father claimed.
"Yes you do! Why do you keep pretending father, I know you can, but
you keep claiming you can't" I shouted, my temper flaring up.  I was
so angry that I didn’t even bother to finish reading my father’s
message.
A few villagers gathered round to watch us.  I heard a man arguing
with my father.  My father was just trying to placate him.
“Please stop talking about witchcraft.  It’s not done round here…” my
father wrote.
“Won’t, I’m sick of you denying your witchcraft,” I cried.  By that
point I was overcome with rage.   An unpleasantly loud noise from my
hearing aid caused me to pull it off and stamp on it.
Why did you do that for?   If only you had told me you didn't want
your hearing aid.  We could have sold it and we would have made a lot
of money out of it too.  Deafness is quite common here in Nazdonia,
but modern technology such as your hearing aids, are extremely rare,"
my father wrote.  His hand trembled slightly, as he wrote this note.
"Is money the only thing you ever think of," I snapped.  I saw several
more people join the circle of people hovering round me.
"You would too if you really needed it, like I do.  I'm in dept right now.”
"You don’t need to be.   You could make money far more easily if only
you would work magic, instead of pretending you couldn't.  I don't
know any poor witches..." I insisted. The crowd that gathered had
become more hostile at the mention of witchcraft.
I was further enraged when my father picked me up.  He carried me
kicking and screaming, through the throng of people. I saw him point
to me and tap his head sadly.
After that he fled to his camel.  Instead of reloading the camel with
our luggage he put me on the camels back before climbing on himself.
He wasted no time in urging his camel to a gallop.


 We got off, several hours later.   He kept trying to contact someone
on his mobile.  After that he pulled out pen and paper again.
“Please don‘t talk about magic in public like that.  You nearly got us
burnt as witches back then.  Now I have to get in contact with Snyder
Slyrake and change our meeting point. We also have to make do without
any bedding tonight, as we had to leave it behind,” My father wrote.
“I’m sorry,” I wrote back.   My throat felt sore after losing my
temper earlier, so I decided to go back to being mute.
“It’s ok, just don’t do it again.  The people here hate witches.   My
mother was advised to have me burnt as a witch, when it was discovered
that I could work magic.  In fact we were driven out of many villages
because of my magic.  My mother begged me to hide my witchcraft, but
sometimes things just seemed to happen…”
“Why do they act like that?” I asked.
“They have bad experiences with witches like your mother, who misuse
their magic.  They treat non witches like animals.”
 “You aren’t like that.” I argued.
“But my magic causes nothing but trouble.”
"How can that possibly be when you don‘t even use it?” I demanded.
“Once in Darthrila, a man tried to mug me.  We were on the top of a
high rise building.  I really couldn't help what happened after that.
He just bounced off my shielding charm and fell off the balcony into
the street below.  I tried to call an ambulance for him, but it was
too late.  I vowed never to use my magic again after that." My father
confessed.  I saw him wipe away a tear.

                  ***  *** ***






Later we stopped at a café where I had some humus filled Pita bread
and salad.   We were still eating when an elderly, shifty looking man
approached us.
I saw him and father discussing something, probably me.
“This is your old speech processor.   If you don’t want to wear it,
just hand it back. Please don’t stamp on it whatever you do as it cost
a lot of money,” my father wrote.
The old man handed me an old bodily worn model that Aunt Liza had kept
in case of emergencies.  I wondered where my Aunt Liza was now.
The noise from my speech processor startled me at first, yet I still
had to strain to hear anything.   Once I got used to the noise I found
the sound this speech processor made was quite comfortable on the ear.
 Not jarringly loud like my previous mapping had been or my hearing
aid either.
I could still fit into the old harness, even though several years had
elapsed since then.  In fact I’d only been about six or seven when I
last used this bodily worn speech processor and I was now over twelve
years old.
I would never see my silver behind-the-ear speech processor since we
had left   the smashed remains on the platform of Stilosarka
underground railway station. Thank goodness it wasn’t my body smashed
on the pavement like that.  The thought of what could happen still
filled me with dread.

“I am your mother’s step father Snyder.  I am taking you to your aunt
Liza,” the old man announced.  His voice startled me out of my gloomy
thoughts.  I should have been glad by the prospect of seeing my aunt,
but there was something about this man that I just didn’t trust.
I looked uncertainly from my father to this other man.
“Sorry Nadir, I wanted to take you with me, but it’s too dangerous up
north, especially when you seem to attract so much attention.  I‘ll
come back as soon as I can,” my father wrote.
I was going to argue, but my father turned and left me.



               ***  ***  ***


After several hours on a flying carpet, we landed in a town.
Snyder led me into a small pokey little dwelling.  It was cluttered
with all sorts of odds and ends.  Aunt Liza was there talking to an
elderly woman, using finger spelling.   I rushed to hug my aunt.   I
was really overjoyed to see her at last.
“Hello Nadia.  It’s really wonderful to see you again,” my Aunt Liza
signed, “I’ve been really frantic with worry these last three years.
Did you get any of my letters? Why didn’t you write back?”
“What letters?” I asked in some confusion.  I had never received any
letters from Liza.
“I kept writing to you and trying to visit you at NIRC, but they
wouldn‘t let me in.  So they didn’t pass on any of my letters at all?”
I shook my head.
“Poor Nadia, You must have thought I’ve forgotten all about you.” my
aunt commented stroking my hair.
“What’s happening?” the old woman asked.  Her eyes were motionless and
there was an air of discontentment about her.  She was very different
from my sister Zaina.
“This is mother,” Liza told me, putting my small skinny hand unto my
grandmother’s larger one.  I shook hands with the elderly woman who
had a somewhat bemused expression on her face.
“This is Nadia, my niece” Liza spelt out, very slowly, on the old
woman‘s hand.
The old woman smiled and nodded in an absent sort of way.  Liza sighed.
“My mother has problems communicating.  Father uses the Tadoma
approach with her, but she’s not much good at that either.  I don’t
think she gets enough people to talk to.  Father doesn’t really treat
her very well.  He insists on doing everything for her, and she spends
most of her days confined to an armchair.  It’s quite a dreary
existence for her.  If only father would teach her a few necessary
skills. Instead He either treats her like a china doll or a punch bag
depending on his mood.”
“Why does your father treat her like that?”
“Who knows? Let’s just say we don’t get on and leave it at that.  He’s
very sexist, and he’s even more of an audist then your mother is.
Talking about your mother, my colleagues told me Madrella tried to
kill you by pushing you off a sheer drop into Stilosarka underground
railway station.  I’d have liked to see her behind bars for that but
it’s amazing what she can get away with.    When the police questioned
her at Keraina railway station she claims that you slipped.  That it
had all been a very tragic accident.   She even managed to shed a few
crocodile tears. They actually believed her too.  Madrella is such a
slippery customer, I just can’t pin anything on her.”
"Well Nadia could have slipped you know.  After all Fiona is
notoriously liberal with the truth.  I remember when her son called
the fire brigade without due cause.  She fabricated several yarns to
try and claim her son’s innocence in the matter," Beria briskly
announced.
"Were you pushed or did you slip?" Liza asked me directly.
"I was pushed," I told her wondering who Fiona was and whether she was
related to the woman who had saved my life.
"There you go.  I knew it!" My aunt cried.
"Her word is only slightly more credible then Fiona‘s.  Children do
tell lies,” Beria claimed.
"So what has Madrella got to do before you people see what a cold
hearted monster she is? Just look at Nadia.  She has obviously lost
weight, and she‘s not grown since we last met.  It just isn‘t right,"
my aunt demanded.  She looked angry and upset.
“Nonsense Liza, The child looks ok to me.  I know the teachers at
NIRC.   They are all very dedicated in their approach,” Beria
disagreed.
“They are not dedicated; they are depriving the deaf of their natural
language,” My aunt shot back.
"Not at all, why indulge a few idle deaf people, in their own little
world, with their own little language.  They should be forced to learn
how to speak like everybody else."
"Exactly, I just won't have my wife or children communicate with those
monkey-like movements,” Liza’s father agreed.
"And I suppose you think the blind should be forced to read print?"
Liza asked Beria. She ignored her father.
"No, Braille is different.  My mother finds reading braille very
beneficial," Beria announced.
"She would find tactile sign language even more beneficial if you gave
her the chance to learn it," My aunt stated.
"How dare you make such insulting assumptions about my mother?   My
mother is very happy to use the Tadoma approach.    Come along now
Liza.  We have to go." Beria snapped.
"I won't leave Nadia again,” Liza cried.  She clung to me as tightly
as I was clinging to her.
"You will if you want to keep your job..." Beria threatened.
"Curse my job.  I was never on the beat the way I wanted to be. You
just used me... I've had enough of that.  I'm going to talk to the
other dragons to see if they can help me get Nadia back," Liza argued.
"I’m sure you will, you shameless trollop.  It won’t work with the
Darth.    Now come on!" Beria snarled.
My aunt just shook her head.  There were tears rolling down her
cheeks.   We clung together until Beria angrily jerked us apart.  She
grabbed my aunt and dragged her roughly out of the door.  I wanted to
rush out after them but I found myself rooted to the spot.  By the odd
angle that Liza was poised at I could tell that the same spell had
been cast on her.