"Antalasia come quickly. Popo and Jojo are hitting each other," shouted Bella, one of the village girls.

Popo and Jojo were rolling on the ground, from one end to the other. Punching, kicking and wrestling, they made the dust fly everywhere.

They rolled a little further this time and Popo almost hit his head against a rock. "Stop. Stop that right now," shouted Antalasia with her hands on her hips.

Michaelo pulled the boys apart and stood between them, stopping them from launching at each other.

"Now, what is going on here and one at a time," said Antalasia, a bit calmer now that the boys had stopped fighting.

"He broke my cart." "He broke my Rhazaqat." The boys shouted, pointing fingers at each other.

"Enough. What's happened has happened. Let's fix them together," mediated Antalasia.

"Really? Can we fix it? I was going to throw it away," asked the boys surprised.

Rolling her eyes, Lizzy responded, "We built a swing and a see-saw from scratch. Why can't we fix toys?"

While the children mended their toys, Lizzy sat on a rock, singing to her heart's content. Enamored, a few other village children joined her singing. 

Soon, the toys were fixed and Popo squealed as he dragged his wooden cart. Jojo ran around making grunting noises and swinging the wooden Rhazaqat, pretending to be one himself.

"Now that it's over, let's go play the battle game. I'll defend the castle over here. You can defend that one," shouted Michaelo excitedly.

Everyone agreed and split into teams. They were about to take their positions when one of the village children shouted, "Look, the Karas are here again! The Karas are here!"

Dwarf-sized donkeys were pulling little carts filled with goods. The adults followed herding a tribe of goats. A few young children sat in the carts while others ran along with the caravan. They soon made their way to the village and began setting up camp in a practiced, orderly fashion. 

Six Karas tribesmen began setting up a makeshift pen for the goats. Two tribesmen quickly unbridled the donkeys and began rubbing them down. A few others made quick work of pitching small flat-roofed tents. They fixed the wooden poles and tied them tightly with rope and then draped a yellow-pumpkin material that seemed to be animal's skin. The material fell to the ground on all sides with a flap on one that could be lifted to enter. The edges were further strengthened by tying them to heavy rocks.

However, the most attractive sight were the dome-shaped colorful tents - in stripes of yellow and red, blue and orange, and green and pink. These were open on all sides and the Karas began setting up their wares which they had collected from all over the kingdom.

One of the tents had fish skin hanging from the roof and the tables were covered with bottles filled with blue liquids, orange pastes, and grey powders. The young tribeswoman selling them looked equally bright, wearing a red patterned skirt and top. Her curly brown hair was covered in a similar red bandana that made her pale-grey eyes pop. She showed no signs of discomfort as she gracefully stacked colorful bottles, despite her neck being completely covered with white chokers and arms filled with white bangles made of bones.

Seeing Antalasia and the other children, the tribeswoman shouted in excitement, "Haiyiti, over here. Would you like to try this ointment? It will heal the wound on your hand by tomorrow. No? Would you like to try this powder? It will make you fairer. All these are made by the fishermen, the Gemmas. They are the best quality. Come and try!"

The children explored in fascination and made their way to another tent. On one side, were stone and metal figurines of different animals. The Rhazaqats and dragons especially were intricately carved, almost life-like making it seem they were ready to battle but frozen in time. Short, long, thick, thin, curved, straight daggers and swords covered the other tables. A young tribesman wearing a long white robe with a broad red border and a maroon turban, invited the children, "Come but be careful. Even a touch of the blade will slice your skin. After all, these have been made by the Boras, from Baka mountain, the best weapon-makers."

At the same time, another young tribesman with a wicked scar across his face shouted, "Come here Haiyiti. Look at these bottles. They may look small but they are very powerful. These are the poisons made by the Scavas, from the foothills of the Baka mountain. Drinking one drop of this red odorless liquid will paralyze a man for life and eating two teaspoons of this blue paste will kill a man."

Creeped out, the children made their way to the last tent. This was the most colorful of all. "See these Haiyiti. These are the products that we made ourselves. Here are some jewelry and these are some of the clothes we made," said an old tribesman proudly.

The old tribesman continued with a mischievous glint in his eye, "Haiyiti, do you like someone? You can use this love potion to make him fall in love with you. He will serve you for eternity."

Blushing, Antalasia excused herself and made her way out of the market.

The children loved spending time with the Karas and explored their market with enthusiasm. The food was strange with spicy curries that had everyone running for water. Yet, none could resist the aromatic, tasty and spicy food.

__________

One day, Lehrer walked to the playground with a one-eyed old man in tow.

Lehrer announced, "Children, this is Arthur, an exemplary warrior. Respect him. Listen to him. He will teach you a great many things."

The one-eyed old warrior was fascinating. He taught the children how to make arrows. "First, you peel the bark off with your fingers. You then shave the tip with a knife like this. We'll now glue this metal piece to the tip and feathers to the other end."

Yet another day, the warrior taught the intricacies of dueling with different types of swords. "This here is a Szabla. Notice, the blade. It is curved which makes the opponent's blade slip instead of stopping when you parry. This allows you to respond faster. But remember, you cannot thrust with this sword. Instead, you need to thrust around."

The children were fascinated and practiced in earnest.

Lehrer then introduced Antalasia to the art of unconventional warfare, namely guerrilla warfare. He also gave her various books detailing the intricacies involved in ruling a kingdom.

"Michaelo, please read something other than conventional war strategies and Lizzy, you must explore everything, not just music and art," urged Lehrer.

"Yes, Yes," promised the two children but ended up reading whatever they wanted to.

"Ugh, if I had known I could escape that way even I would have not read all those books," groused Antalasia mildly, though she was secretly beginning to enjoy the various subjects Lehrer was introducing her to.

"Haiyiti, you must be setting an example," admonished Lehrer.

During this entire period, within the castle, the adults were busy arguing and quarreling all the time.

As the children made their way back to the castle from the village each day, they began seeing more and more carriages and new soldiers.

On a cool evening, as the children made their way back to the castle, they found a handsome young man standing at the entrance.

On seeing the three children, he bobbed and introduced himself, "Hello. I'm Albert, the Army General's grandson."

"Oh Albert, forget them. They may be the prince and princesses, but they are not worth anyone's concern. They go and roll about like pigs with those commoners," mocked Clara, Queen Eliza Rose's niece, pulling Albert away.

The noble families and generals stationed in other villages had begun shifting into the town by the castle. The highest members were moving into the castle. The children who moved in looked down on Antalasia, Michaelo and Lizzy for spending time with the villagers. They favored Prince John and did their best to avoid the three children.

Antalasia, Michaelo and Lizzy ignored the newcomers and went about their own way.

__________

One hot summer day, as the children made their way to the playground, they found one of the village girls crying heartbrokenly.

"Why are you crying Abigail," asked Lizzy.

"The lake has dried up. There is no water. My parents are angry all the time. We don't have food because there's no water to grow the crops. I'm hungry," cried Abigail.

The other village children joined her, "I'm hungry as well. Me too."

Antalasia looked at the children worriedly. She decided enough was enough.

On reaching the castle, Antalasia skipped past the soldiers guarding the King and addressed him, "Father, the lake has dried up and..."

Interrupting her, King Charles snapped, "Enough Antalasia. Can't you see I'm busy? How many times do I need to tell you?"

Antalasia waited late into the night. But, the King remained busy in long discussions with his men.

The next day, Antalasia went to Lehrer, "Lehrer, the lake had dried up and the villagers are distressed. What can we do?"

"A great many things, but what will be done is up to you," said Lehrer mysteriously and disappeared into the library.

Placing a number of books and maps on the table, Lehrer continued, "Look through these books. They involve geography, town planning, history of various civilizations and maps of the local area. If there is anything else that you wish to ask, come back after you go through all of these."

Antalasia religiously poured over the books and maps for the next few weeks. After deep contemplation, she decided that diverting the river would be the best option.

The very next day, Antalasia went into the village and ordered, "You there, I need all ten of you to come with me. Bring shovels and buckets with you. Yohan, you are the brick-maker, right? I want you to come with me and build the structure as I tell you too."

The villagers looked at Antalasia in surprise.

"Let's do it. Otherwise, the King will behead us," whispered the villagers.

With great reluctance, the villagers followed Antalasia's orders. Time flew and before anyone could grasp what was going on, the canal was completed.

"Look. Look. The water is coming," screamed one of the villagers.

The villagers watched with tears of joy in their eyes. They hugged each other and cried in happiness.

Thereafter, whenever Antalasia went into the village, the villagers greeted her with great enthusiasm, "Princess, try my bread. Princess, see this house I've built."

The older villagers soon began to seek counsel with Antalasia on their grievances. Majority of the instances, she addressed them herself. Whenever she was confused, she would go to Lehrer who would either provide her with books or give sage advice.

Oblivious to the impending danger, the three children flourished under Lehrer's guidance. Michaelo was always up to mischief and ready for a fight. Lizzy enjoyed music and art. She could always be found singing or teaching other children folklore. Over time, Antalasia turned into a little ruler with the villagers as her subjects, Michaelo became the muscle and Lizzy morphed into an encouraging teacher.

Thank you for reading.

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