Chapter 1- continued

This restriction, however, by no means diminished

Ramella's unquenchable curiosity.  Like any eleven

year-old girl, she was enthralled by everything in the

world around her.   Moreover, like most of the folks

in the area, she knew by heart all the legends and

stories, so-called myths by some, of the mysterious

lands beyond the Eastern Sea.  The fishermen and

sailors never ventured more than a short distance

offshore to cast their nets, never out of sight of land. 

To be sure, some of the boldest among them sailed

along the coast from north to south, while yet others

went around the southern cape to travel to ports in the

far west of the continent.  No one knew exactly what

was beyond the Eastern Sea, if in fact, there was anything

there at all besides endless sea.   The continent was their

world, and for the inhabitants, nothing else mattered. 

Ramella, on the other hand, with her youthful zeal, 

thought quite differently.


   Having no intention of obeying her mother, she

carried out her chores by watering the plants, then

asked herself introspectively:  "what if were to go

down to the beach just this once?  I'll be quick, no one

will even know I'm gone.  I don't see any harm in that." 

Determined to carry out her bold expedition, she made

sure she was out of sight of the kitchen window, where

she knew her mother enjoyed keeping watch.  Taking the

sand path half overrun with grass and nettles, she managed

to make it onto the beach.  Halfway across, she lost her

footing and slipped on a dune, tumbling to the ground. 

She carefully wiped the bottom of her dress which was

now covered with sand, and continued on her way.  

"Mom's going to have a fit", she thought.  "Still, it's too

late to turn back now."

  Finally on the beach proper, Ramella immediately

felt her anxiety slip away, and headed for the waterline.  

Oh, how long she had dreamed of soaking her feet

in the surf!  "Yet", she thought for a moment, "If I

do that, Mom will know for sure that I went down to

the beach despite her warning!"

  So she abandoned that idea, choosing instead to take a

short walk on the sand, hoping to find some pretty shells. 

After more than a half hour of feverishly looking, she was

disappointed to not have found one single unusual shell. 

Upon heading back to the path which would take her back

to the house,  to quite her surprise, mixed with great fear,

she saw two figures moving toward her.   Terror so took

hold of her that she failed to notice that the duo was walking

at an even rather than a hurried pace. 

  Already thinking about hurrying on, there were still a

few hundred metres between Ramella and the path.   She

would never manage to outrun the two strangers.  Never-

theless determined to not be so easily caught, she broke

into a sprint towards the edge of the beach.   While

running, it seemed to her that she could hear her

heartbeat pounding in her ears, and she was breathing

so hard that she thought her lungs would burst.  To

make matters worse, her frenzied pace and her

pounding the sand with her feet sent it flying into her

eyes, making them sting horribly.   With tears streaming

down her cheeks, her heart pounded wildly, and her feet

caught several times in her skirt.    (stay tuned, reader,

for the next installment of this story,

which is coming soon!)