“The other villages come to say goodbye.”
And indeed they did. Not just by walking, as the canoes started to come until they were black on the water, the rowers singing as they came and full of flower-garlanded girls.
The entire crew started to draw up on the beach on parade, the soldiers beginning to form up earlier than anyone else, something Pat understood when Little was nowhere to be found. Grey Fox went searching and he appeared moments before the sailors started to form up, his uniform looking surprisingly good despite his bloodshot eyes and white face, his short hair still dripping where Grey Fox had persuaded half a dozen kai Viti to throw him in the sea to wake him up.
Pat put on his uniform, looking smarter than ever before as kai Viti girls insisted on looking after him, something he was very uncomfortable with but unable to stop. The girls had washed and cleaned his uniform and insisted on dressing him in it, which took longer than usual as they kept putting bits on the wrong place. Hinatea did not help by laughing all the way through the operation. Domestic duties were not part of her skill set. Her uniform was a brief tunic which she would pull off at the first opportunity.
As he ran up the beach towards the crew, he realised his coat was buttoned up wrong and he slowed to sort it out, and felt the sweat streaming down his body.
“Where the hell have you been?” Sara snapped at him, glaring. “Go and get the second watch sorted.”
“Second watch? That’s Suzanne’s. I’ve got the archers.”
“There’s no sign of Suzanne. The Captain is worried she is going to stay behind. Rat’s looking after the archers.”
Pat closed his mouth, and went uncertainly towards the second watch. No wonder Sara was mad, perhaps it’s not me she is mad at, he thought. He looked at the second watch and wondered if they were correct on parade. Panic rose in him for no good reason and the Bosun strolled up.
“All in order, laddie. Just inspect them, make sure they are correctly turned out.”
He nodded and she went off. He walked slowly down the rank, looking at each person’s uniform and kit. Remembering what normally happened, he asked Billy to show him his knife and looked at it. Immaculate. The next sailor was Rosie, and as he started to look at her, he noticed her tunic was undone. He hadn’t realised her bust was so big, and told her to do up her buttons.
“But it’s so hot, sir, and don’t I look better with them undone?” She looked at him directly out of big eyes and he felt himself blushing to the roots of his hair. He realised she was sticking her chest out and was conscious of a slight movement down the ranks.
“Regulations say to do them up, so do them up.” He spoke with difficulty and hurried on to the next sailor who was not so difficult, but getting to the next caused his colour to rise again, and he saw all the girls in the front row had undone their buttons and were sticking out their chests, all trying hard not to laugh.
Bitterly, he knew he was going to be held responsible, and wished he knew what to say. Why wasn’t Rat in charge? He would say something. Turning hurriedly into the second row, he stopped short, as the girls here had all undone their buttons further, pulled their tops down and exposed more of their breasts. He saw Hinatea and her girls were in the line, having joined his watch as soon as he was appointed. As he goggled at them, the whole line turned to him, bent forward and smiled. The nearest, Katie, said, “This is better, isn’t it Lieutenant? Perfect for this climate!”
“Umm, I’m not a Lieutenant,” he said, and heard Brian call out to him. “Carry on Edgar,” he cried to the Boatswains Mate, the person really in charge of the watch and fled to Brian with a burst of laughter chasing him.
Brian glared at him. “The Captain’s on his way. Is your watch ready?”
“I think so, sir.”
“Why are they laughing?”
“Err, they’re teasing me sir. I don’t think I am suited for this, Mr Michaels.”
“Neither do I, Connorson, if this is the best you can do. For God’s sake man, get Edgar to sort them out and stand in front of them. Stay away from them or you’ll ruin the whole thing and the Captain will hold me responsible! Where is the damn woman anyway?”
Recognising a rhetorical question, Pat fled back to the watch where Edgar told him they were all present and correct. Pat made the mistake of looking at them, and the girls in the back row shrugged their shoulders so their breasts popped out again. Quickly, he turned and took up position in front. Immediately, he felt a hand on his bottom, squeezing. Realising his mistake, he took three fast steps forward and stood at attention, or what he thought was attention, and adjusted his stance as he looked at the soldiers. He ignored the giggles behind him and dreaded what they would do next.
Captain Larroche arrived and started inspecting the soldiers. Brian led him on to Sara’s immaculate watch, then Stephen’s, finally to his. He turned to the Captain, knuckled his forehead and reported.
“Second Watch all present and correct, Sir! Would you care to inspect them?”
“Not quite present, I believe Midshipman, or should I say Lieutenant now? Congratulations on your sudden promotion.”
Pat blushed again. “No sir. Thank you, sir. I don’t really want it, sir.”
“We all do things we don’t want, young man. Now, show me your watch.”
Pat turned and led the Captain to the front row, seeing with relief the girls were modest again and looking impeccable. The Captain went down the row half-heartedly, nodded to Pat and walked on to inspect the Bosun’s people before going out to take up a position in front of the three watches, accompanied by Brian and a Boatswains Mate with pipes. The soldiers arrayed to his left, with the Spakka resplendent in kilts on the far side of them and the various other departments under the Bosun to the right. Pat noticed for the first time Sam was there with his boar, impeccably clean and garlanded in flowers. Mot laughed at him from beside them, also with flowers, her tongue hanging out. She was noticeably fat, he thought as they waited. Exactly the same as Pahipi, the kai Viti had overcome their initial fear and fallen in love with her, feeding her constantly wherever she went and the children were always playing with her.
On either side of the Harrheinians the beach filled up with kai Viti, women and children. They left a broad pathway down from the town, at least a hundred yards wide. As Captain Larroche took up his position, there was a loud “Hau! Hau!” and a shield wall ninety yards wide strode out of the village, perfectly aligned. It stopped at the top of the beach, the warriors thumped their shields on the ground and slammed their axes against the shields, raising a wall of sound that crashed down the beach and sent the seabirds screaming into the air in a whirling cloud.
The warriors started to sing, the farewell song, of the paddlers fatigue as they sailed into the setting sun. They advanced slowly, using the song to keep in step and the shields as drums, thumping them into the ground. As the song came to a mournful end, the shield wall stopped in front of the Captain. It parted and the Great Ratu strode forth, bedecked in his finest regalia and towering high over the Captain.
As he approached the Captain, his eyes flicked to Pat, and he missed step as he realised Suzanne wasn’t there. Pat was close enough to see the question in his eyes, and the way his eyes scanned the crew. Pat knew damn well Suzanne had created the protocol for the farewell and dictated what was going to happen, so prepared himself for a surprise. He was fascinated to realise the Ratu had no idea what was happening.
Captain Larroche started speaking, in Belada, thanking the Great Ratu for his hospitality, to which the Ratu replied in kind, and then presented him with a Royal Guard, who strode out of the village, marched down and through the gap in the shield wall and took up position beside the soldiers.
As the Great Ratu and Captain Larroche turned back to each other, both hesitated, not certain what was supposed to happen now as it was Suzanne’s turn to speak. Pat knew that and saw Sara take a step forward, clearly intending to take Suzanne’s place.
As she did so, a shriek rose from a hut some way to one side of the pathway. Immediately, every woman in the crowd started screaming and wailing and pulling at their hair. Everyone stared in astonishment, this was unexpected and only Sara and Mactravis had the court experience to continue as if nothing was happening - however Sara did stop her step.
A ghostly white figure appeared from the hut, and an unearthly scream came from it. The women continued to ululate and rend their hair, the children adding to the noise by screaming with laughter and excitement. Pat noticed the Ratu take an involuntary step back, and the shield wall lose its discipline. Not surprising, this figure appeared to be some ghastly spectre, some unknown god of the island, or the ghost of somebody eaten long ago.
A path appeared between the women as they moved aside, leading straight up to the Great Ratu. The figure started down the path, and Pat’s keen eyes saw it was female, with huge breasts and his eyes focused on the face and he smiled.
She was stark naked, and a ghastly white, the colour of mourning and death, even her hair which was done up to twice the size achieved in the past. Her lips were stained a horrible blue, like a corpse washed up from the sea, and her skin appeared to be shedding, bits trailing behind her in the wind, and pouring from her hair in a steady cloud. Her eyes were black pits, huge, staring and quite terrifying. She swayed down the path, moaning, gibbering and letting out an occasional unearthly scream.
Pat looked around; he was the only one to recognise her. Many of the warriors looked on the point of fleeing. Every pair of eyes locked on the spectre as she undulated down the path, coming closer and closer to the Ratu. He recognised Suzanne at the last moment, and appeared to think she had been murdered in the night. The supernatural was one thing he wasn’t prepared to face.
Suzanne timed it with perfection. Another step and he would have broken, leading the warriors in a race for the middle distance.
She stopped and her voice rose, soaring over the multitudes on the beach, speaking first in perfectly accented Vituan, then in Belada.
“Oh Great Ratu, see my despair and grief at this parting! You are my world, my star and my hero, leaving you turns this life to ashes. You are the mighty one, who conquers all the islands and my love for you is as wide as the great sea. Aaaaaah!” She cried again, despair and agony echoing with the scream, and the whole crowd, entranced, moaned with her.
“Duty! What a cruel burden that drags me from your side, for today I must go! My place is beside my Princess.”
The Ratu recovered brilliantly and leapt into the drama with both feet. He ripped off his headdress, throwing it dramatically to the floor, the other hand going to his necklaces which broke, scattering shells and flowers in all directions. Suzanne watched him, eyes bright with anticipation. He bellowed like a wounded leviathan as he stripped his grass skirt away to leave himself equally naked and jumped forward to scoop her up, high in the air and turned in a circle that spread ashes over the nearest warriors, then hugged her to his chest.
“Ah, my Golden Queen! How will I survive without you by my side! Your beauty is without equal, you give me the will and strength to rule and conquer. NO! I cannot let you go!”
There was a surge from the women, who rose up, led by his seven wives, and gently but firmly pried his arms from around her and pulled them apart. The Ratu made no struggle, but fell to his knees, spread his arms apart and watched events mutely and whitely as the ashes from Suzanne’s body now covered him as well.
The women lifted Suzanne to their heads and held her above them as they walked slowly to the sea, Suzanne lying flat like a stranded starfish with her head trailing down, looking back at the Ratu. Now the women sang their own farewell song, remembering the dead, and the women left alone by the fire pit. They took her down to the jolly boat and placed her in the end.
The Bosun snapped an order as soon as she saw the direction in which they headed, and was waiting in the bow, 6 female sailors at the oars, six brawny men ready to push the boat out, which they did while Suzanne stood in the stern, arms raised to the heavens. The boat rowed terribly slowly out to sea.
Pat thought fast and spoke sharply. “Edgar! Get them in the boats. We must make the ship before her!” In a trice the Second Watch were afloat and rowing fast back to the ship. The rest of the crew flowed after them and it seemed the entire Vitu Nation took to the canoes and followed until the water was black and seething from the paddle strokes.
Pat’s keen eye noted the Ratu’s wives produce a container and empty it over the Ratu, more ashes, so he was also white as he climbed into the Royal Barge. He wasn’t alone, as many of the women, accomplices all, brought their own ash and now covered themselves as well, while the soldiers did their best, scooping up white sand and pouring it into their hair so it streamed down steadily as they rowed.
Brian was proud of the speed with which the crew vacated the beach and climbed aboard, stowing the boats rapidly. The only one to give trouble was the pig, and Mot soon had him under control, though he squealed loudly all the way to the ship.
The capstan turned, pulling the ship slowly towards the open sea, while the sails shook out and the canoes raced about in front of them, laying a fragrant carpet of hibiscus and frangipani flowers through which she sailed majestically. A massed choir of over a thousand kai Viti in their canoes sang battle hymns as the Queen Rose sailed away from the sunset.