Chapter VIII of Lands Beyond

     My glorified imprisonment might have lasted indefinitely if not for an unusual occurrence that earned the gratitude of the ruler, whose name was Sialkot. It seemed that he had a daughter who was always running away and throwing tantrums. Leuven was the only one who could reason with her, but he was not always successful.

     On this particular day, he had been sent on a short mission and I was confined to the palace grounds. I had never met the young princess, only heard about her, so I did not recognize the little brat when I saw her.

     She was dressed plainly and even had dirt on her face. I would not have paid any attention to her if she had not been bullying two little children. She was laughing at their fright and was waving a stick to frighten them even more.

     I might have let it be and gone on my way if she had not involved me. I was passing rather close by and she moved quickly. Hitting me squarely on the back with her stick, she began to yell and scream, berating me for ignoring her.

     I continued on my way, but she jammed the stick between my legs, tripping me. I landed hard, for it was unexpected. The ensuing attack was also unexpected.

     Raising my arms to protect my head, I shoved off of my knees, ramming her in the middle. I can only describe what happened next as a cat fight. She used her teeth and nails and had no inhibitions about fighting dirty.

     With my face and shoulders scratched up and several places sore where she had hit me with rocks, I decided that enough was enough. She was not going to get away with this!

     Pinning her arms to her sides, I picked her up and sat down on a barrel, where I laid her across my knees and removed my belt. She was still screaming angrily, unaware of what was about to happen. She found that out with no further delay.

     After giving her ten solid whacks, I set her on her feet and stood up. She immediately ran to three guards who had just come up, demanding shrilly that they arrest me. One of them I knew, for I had whipped him aboard ship. He took one look at me and backed up a step.

     With a start, I realized that I was still holding my belt, and that I was tapping my leg with it. Knowing me as he did, he knew that I was mad clear through, and that I could hold my own in an altercation. He wisely decided that he wanted no part of it.

     Turning to the girl, he said, “I think that you will not get your way this time. If I were you, I would leave this lady alone. You are no match for her, and you know it.”

      Astonished at this blunt refusal, the girl stared at him, and then at me. I gave the belt a little shake and her eyes grew round. Without another word, she turned and ran. Without really meaning to, I laughed. The guard stared at me. I shook my head and slipped the belt back around my waist.

     It happened that Leuven was delayed in getting back by several days and Sialkot left suddenly on urgent business. Therefore, neither of them knew about the fight. The girl involved me in several more such fights, and she always came out on the losing end, with a solid spanking to top it off.

     With a healthy dose of newfound fear after the last one, she obeyed me promptly when I ordered her to clean herself up. She presented herself to me an hour later wearing a clean and neat dress, her hair combed, and her face and hands scrubbed. Realizing that I could now influence her, I praised her for cleaning up and complimented her on her choice of dress.

     Deciding to test her, I invited her to eat with me. I was pleasantly surprised to find that she had good table manners. Finding that I was not completely overbearing, she pushed it a little to find out how much she could get away with. I promptly put her in her place with a move towards my belt.

     By the time Sialkot and Leuven returned, I had the girl acting like a perfect lady. She still tried to act like her old self whenever she was away from me, but since I had nothing else to do, I trailed her. Consequently, I knew whenever she did something and confronted her about it later. She found that she could hide nothing from me and gave in to my leadership.

     Her name was Daniela, and she had just turned thirteen. Leuven arrived home before Sialkot did. He noticed the difference in Daniela, and was surprised, but made no comment. By this time, I had learned of her relation to Sialkot, but I did not let that change my behavior towards her. Both Daniela and Leuven noticed this fact, although it seemed to irritate him for some reason. Maybe I wasn’t showing her enough respect or something. I don’t know, but I ignored it.

     The day that Sialkot returned, Leuven was teaching us to dance. Their style of dancing was much different than the basic waltz that I knew. It included several leaps and spins that required careful timing. As a result, I found myself tripping and falling into Leuven on more than one occasion.

     He was not amused with my lack of coordination and ordered me to sit on the sidelines while he taught Daniela. She was not much better at it than I was. He did not seem to mind this however, and kept on patiently explaining the steps to her. To my surprise, it was Daniela who scolded him for being more patient with her than he was with me.

     Unbeknownst to all of us, Sialkot had been watching us the entire time. He now strode forward, a stern line slashed across his mouth. “What is this?” He demanded. “What have you done to my daughter?”

     Daniela, her eyes wide, grabbed my hand and pressed close to me. “Please father, do not be angry with her.”

     Sialkot stopped, shock flitting across his face briefly before he smiled gently at her. “Of course not, darling. Whatever she has done has improved you greatly. I dare not be angry about that.”

     After dismissing Leuven and I, Sialkot led his daughter away, speaking quietly and listening intently to whatever she had to say. Once they were out of earshot, Leuven whirled around and glared at me, his golden brown eyes flashing.

     Growling angrily, he said, “Do not think that you can get away with throwing yourself at me. It won’t work.”

     This accusation astonished and confused me. “What do you mean? Why would I want to throw myself at you?”

     “Don’t play innocent with me, Brunhilda. I know better than that.”

     Giving me no time to reply, he stalked away, his back rigid. I stared after him. I had begun to like him, and even considered him a friend, the first and only one that I had ever had. Now however, I began to think that I had made a very poor choice.