Chương 2: Chapter 2
It was a day like any other day. A gentle breeze flowed from the sea to the island's northern heights. Serene clouds drifted into the horizon, obscuring the rest of the world. Clear waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea reflected the blue shade sky and distant clouds like a mirror.
Jetties lined with colorful boats stretched into the shallows. Tiny ripples of waves gently foamed along the shore of smooth grey and white pebbles.
A red-brick armory stood guard. A few soldiers carrying round shields and javelins trained in the sand. Behind them, white, yellow, orange, and pink houses climbed the hills and scattered through the canyons.
It's known as a subtropical Eden. A meeting place of peoples and cultures, and foremost resistor of the Roman Empire. This is Tyndaris, Sicily.
From a rock ledge, a guitar-like melody played, carried by the wind. Combined with the view, the music inspired complete tranquility. The source of the tune, Niccolo the musician, sat with his legs dangling over the edge, as he skillfully picked the strings on his lute. He wore a red-plumed hat over his curly hair. A gold ring on his pinky finger flashed in the sunlight.
Behind him, hairy toes in a faded leather sandal rose and fell with the harmony. Bright blue eyes and a toothy smile peeked out from behind a cascading flow of frizzled blonde hair hanging low in matted bushels. The young rabbi, Luca.
"We're waiting, Prince Niccolo."
Niccolo rolled his eyes to Luca, whose curt mocking voice made everything he ever said sound like a joke. Niccolo breathed deeply. Luca's eyebrows rose.
Niccolo pushed himself up and followed Luca to the main road. The castle Pallas framed the hill on their walk. With its white-grey sandstone and domed portico pushing a hundred feet toward the sky, Pallas sat perched at the top of a hill like a prized gem on a stand. Niccolo marveled at its beauty. Luca swung an arm around Niccolo's shoulder.
"And just what are you hoping to see?"
"Only the clouds."
Luca pondered the blue sky behind Pallas. "I don't believe you."
"That is your burden."
"More likely a young lady."
"Don't say her—"
"—Named Ellisa."
Niccolo watched his feet trudge over the road. "Hmm."
"Sounds like somebody's alone in the world and hates it," Luca sang.
"All right, Luca!"
Luca's cackle cut through the humid air, reaching into the honey marble walls of Pallas itself, where the floors were tinged with amber cypress woodwork and paintings of the sea and desert flowers lined the halls. Purple-streaked white morning glories bloomed in crystal vases. A small lizard relaxed halfway up a white stone column.
A cithara, the virtuoso's form of the lyre, rested in a corner. Ellisa, the general's daughter, looked in a mirror. Her dark hair was perfect and long. A dress, white on top and blue on the bottom, flattered her figure.
Her young attendant, Brigette, clasped an iron starfish-shaped brooch around her neck. Reaching for a tiara, Brigette glanced out the open-air window. She shivered. "There goes that singing hyena."
Ellisa spun like a wildcat. "Where?" She leaned into the window and watched Niccolo and Luca. "What is his name?"
"Niccolo," Brigette curtly replied.
Ellisa grinned craftily. "I'm sure he's fascinating."
"A troubled soul more like."
"Family trouble?"
"He doesn't have a family."
"There lies the trouble."
"Not everyone has your advantages," Brigette taunted.
Ellisa's father, Josef, came in from the hall. He was enormous, taking up most of the space in the entryway. Ellisa mischievously looked at Josef.
"Today the soldiers caught a Roman near the barracks."
"What were you doing at the barracks?" Josef billowed.
Ignoring the question, Ellisa went on, "They ordered him thrown into a sack full of vipers and tossed into the ocean! I saw it myself." Ellisa looked at Josef, satisfied.
"Did I raise you to enjoy such things?" Josef sternly turned to Brigette with a look that seemed to catch her off balance. "And you! Letting her out of your sight again."
Ellisa almost shouted. "I don't need to be watched."
A calm came over Josef. "You are late, little swan."
"I don't care."
"Alvise came from Syracuse to play for you."
"I'd rather hear the singing hyena."
"What singing hyena?"
"Now do you see what I must put up with? I don't wish to contend with her every day," Brigette interjected.
"She never was one for birthdays." Josef put his hand on Ellisa's shoulder. "You're eighteen now."
"I feel no different."
"But you are. At least, we wish you'd be."
Ellisa leaned back and dangled a grape over her mouth. "Is something wrong with me?"
"We've discussed this," Josef groaned.
"Deeply wrong?"
"Deeper than I can see."
"What kind of talk is that on my birthday?"
"If we only knew how to help you."
Ellisa laughed.
Josef already appeared exhausted. "What is it?"
Ellisa swallowed the grape. "Would you laugh if someone wanted to change you?"
She padded to her cithara and strummed. It was a simple tune, but emotion permeated the quiet castle. Humming along, she pulled Josef and Brigette back to her side. No one could resist her song.
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