“wait here. a wagon will come by to pick you up,“ the woman in red had told leander.
the young goatherd did not have long to wait. a wagon drawn by two hulking yaks and driven by a shapeless creature covered by a green blanket appeared on the horizon.
leander stepped up boldly to meet it. “are you from the lady in red?” he shouted as soon as he thought the wagon was in hearing distance.
“we are here for you,” a voice announced, though leander could not be sure if it issued from the blanketed driver or from the interior of the wagon.
“get in,” the voice commanded as the wagon grew level with the boy, “and be quick about it.”
leander scrambled into the back of the wagon easily enough.
it was not too dark inside the wagon and he quickly noticed that it was piled with boxes and baskets and that there were three other occupants.
a really old woman, almost surely a witch, huddled between two piles of boxes and paying leander no mind.
a man with no face was leaning back against a bare spot on the side of the wagon. he had no eyes or nose, but a mouth in which a short pipe was clenched. despite his lack of eyes, the boy felt the man was staring at him intently.
and a young girl - his own age! the first one the young goatherd had ever seen. he gaped at her in astonishment, ignoring the witch and the faceless man.
“what is your name?” he asked the girl.
“my name is hero,” she replied in no friendly matter.
“that is a strange name for a girl.”
“what do you know about names? or about girls? i am probably the first one you have ever seen.”
“that may be,” leander replied with a smile.
“you were a goatherd,” the girl continued.
“yes, i was. and may still be, if that is what i am told to do.”
the man with no face took his pipe out of his mouth and laughed.
“i do not think queen jen needs you to chase any goats” said the girl. “you are to be a monkey.”
“if you say so,” leander replied. he remembered the woman in red saying something about a monkey being what she wanted.
“but i am the number one monkey - even though you look like a monkey and i do not. you are only to be kept in reserve in case i fail, which i will not do.”
“so be it,” the boy agreed. he had no idea what the girl was talking about, but his brief lifetime of chasing after goats had left him with a philosophical cast of mind, and not inclined to argue about trifles, or that which he did not understand.
“this queen jen you refer to you - is that the lady in the long red cloak?” he asked the girl.
“yes, of course.”
“she told me she was not a queen.”
“we call her that,” said the man wth no face. “even though she does not presently have a kingdom to call her own.” he gestured with his pipe. “but have a seat, young fellow, and make yourself comfortable. we have a long journey ahead of us.”
“a very long journey,” added the girl.
“and you,” the faceless man addressed the girl, “a little silence would become you. you talk too much. jen can tell the boy what he is to do, if she pleases.”
the girl scowled but did not reply.
leander took a seat not quite directly opposite the girl.
they all lapsed into silence as the wagon trudged along.
night fell.
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