“Your name is the Kingly Salamander,” the Creator Fire called to the red amphibian with black spots.
Before time began, flames burned in caves beneath the Earth, churning and creating all living creatures. For seven years, the fire burned in the hidden caves, until the flames perfected the fantastic lizard-like animal.
“When time meets the horizon in the northern sky, your blood will save the life of Aliza Lazarus,” the Creator’s voice said. “You will save her from death through fire, so she can marry the prince of her village. Until then, you will crawl across the earth, as one who came from fire and cannot be destroyed by it,” the Creator said, forming two front legs on the salamander with four toes each, and two back legs on its body with five toes each. Its red leather skin, which felt like wool, was incombustible, and its slender body and tail would be regenerated any time fire touched it.
“I will submit to my Creator,” the Kingly Salamander said, crawling from the fire into the dirt and climbing on the rocks. As the fire disappeared, the Salamander travelled thousands of years until it came across a girl in the Village of Adar.
The people of Adar had been involved in a brutal and inhumane war for precious diamonds from neighboring people. The King of Adar had slaughtered many people in the nearby villages for the jewels and showed mercy to no one. The Village, which was once a place of upright people who loved its neighbors, had become a dark and violent place.
“I must be a princess one day,” said Aliza, a beautiful, young girl who was collecting flowers in the field for her hair. “I’d rather have flowers than diamonds! Flowers are free, and no one wants to kill anyone for a flower . . .”
Remembering his Creator’s words, the Kingly Salamander followed the girl back to her mud hut in the village. The Kingly Salamander, who could slither his way into anywhere he wanted, crawled into the girl’s home in the night. Through the night, he watched her from a distance, admiring the girl that he would one day die for.
“She seems a curious creature, quite lovely, and pure in heart,” the Kingly Salamander said, looking at her parents. “Her parents have no idea who she is and that she will one day marry a prince that saves her people.”
In the morning, a young boy arrived on a white horse with a silver and golden bridle and saddle. The Salamander slipped into Aliza’s dress pocket, as she was unaware of his existence or deliberate protection.
“Aliza, do you want to ride through the canyon?” Prince Gabor called to Aliza at the break of dawn. “It’s almost as if time met the horizon in the northern sky,” he said, pulling her up onto the back of his horse.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t tell my parents that your father is King Ephram. They would forbid our friendship!” she said.
“It’s our secret! I didn’t tell my father that I love you. He would force me to marry a nobleman’s daughter,” Gabor said.
Although Aliza was beautiful and rare, she was not of noble birth, and Gabor’s evil father would insist he marry nobility. Because of Aliza’s fancy, the two met in private when no one noticed and became closer than most at a young age.
Not only did she love Gabor, but she loved nature. “I could spend all day watching the clouds move,” she told Gabor as they walked through the fields. “Did you notice that you have to stand still to see the clouds move?”
Gabor kissed her, knowing that most people took the clouds for granted, much like the common man did any good king. As months turned into years, the Kingly Salamander also became very fond of Aliza, who eventually noticed his presence.
“Where do you come from?” she asked him during an early morning cup of tea and bowl of berries.
“Fire that’s deep within the Earth,” he said, enjoying a berry of his own, although it took him longer to eat it than Aliza.
“Why are you here?” she asked, wondering how she became so fortunate that the Salamander was enchanted with her.
“I can’t tell you. I have a mission that I need to complete,” the Kingly Salamander said, hiding his true intentions.
“A mission! Why, that sounds quite serious. I do like to think about serious things,” she said. “If I were Queen, our village would be run differently. I would find a way to make peace with our neighbors, and everyone would love each other.”
“You would make the most wonderful Queen,” the amphibian said. “I hope you get to rule Adar one day.”
The Salamander actually began to question that he would ever have to give his life for her to become a princess. She didn’t get into much trouble, and she hardly ever went anywhere without her parents or Prince Gabor.
The worst thing that ever happened did nothing terrible. The candle by her bed caught his tail on fire, but his tail grew back in moments. Then one night, the Prince arrived with a gust of wind on his horse, whispering for Aliza with panic.
“There’s a growing fire in the hills, and it’s bound to be here by morning. The people who survived from one of the neighboring villages that my father slaughtered started the blaze. Come with me now. I might be able to save both of us,” Prince Gabor said, gazing at Aliza’s sleeping parents. “But I can’t take your family with us! I’m so sorry. There’s just not room for all of us on my horse.”
She quickly slid the King Salamander into her dress pocket, and he was ready to go back to the fire from which he came.
“What about my family? Will they die?” Aliza said, crying and holding onto Gabor tighter than she should.
“I don’t know, but if we don’t leave now, we’ll surely die as well,” the prince said. “I packed a bit of food and water. We can hide by the ocean, until the fire passes, if we can get there in time. We’ll float and swim until the flames disappear. I take you as my princess, and I will defend you with my life, even if you are not of noble birth. I love you.”
Crying silently, Aliza left with Gabor in the night, devastated that her family would most likely die in the flames.
“At least I can save you, my friend,” Aliza whispered to the Kingly Salamander that rested in her pocket.
“Yes, my dear,” he said, in a quiet voice. “Take me with you everywhere. I would miss you terribly otherwise.”
“My father’s house is taking a different route to the ocean,” Prince Gabor said. “If they make it, we’ll meet in the brush.”
Her only hope was that she would live to carry on the seed of her village, bringing her family into the next generation.
As she rode with Gabor over the old rickety village bridge, it collapsed behind them. Looking over her shoulder in tears as they travelled further, she saw the smoke and flames consume her village and the mud hut where her parents slept.
The Kingly Salamander, who hid in her pocket for days, still saw no need for him to give his life, since Gabor loved her.
Still, the Salamander refused to leave her side, knowing that his life would one day bleed into hers and her family. Three days later, Gabor and Aliza arrived in the brush alongside the ocean. No one but the two were found in the brush.
“I’m sure your father will be here by nightfall,” Aliza said, praying that somehow her family would survive the fire as well.
“Darling, I hope so. Maybe he has learned his lesson,” Gabor said, spying through his looking glass at the smoking hills.
As Aliza fell asleep on Gabor’s shoulder, a huge gust of wind appeared over the mountains, blowing the fire to the sea. The two were so tired that they didn’t notice the growing flames coming toward them, devouring anything in their path.
The Kingly Salamander, however, watched the fire coming closer, realizing that Aliza had no way to escape the blaze. With tears welling up in his eyes, the Salamander looked at Aliza one last time, knowing his fate at hand.
“I love you, and I will now give my life for you, Aliza, my lovely child. You will be a remarkable queen, and I sacrifice myself for my friend and the future of your civilization,” the Kingly Salamander said, throwing himself on a nearby rock.
His blood splattered on not only Aliza, but also Gabor. When the fires reached the sea, they burned through the brush—the same brush where Aliza and Gabor slept, but the flames didn’t touch the two, because they were covered in the blood of the Kingly Salamander, who had been created in flames, and gave his life so the children of Adar had a second chance.
“What happened?” Aliza said, waking up to ashes and dust all around her. “My love, Gabor, are you alive?” She wiped the blood of the Kingly Salamander from Gabor’s face as he smiled at her. “Yes, my princess.”
By noon that day, Aliza and Gabor realized that the fires had destroyed not only the people of the Village of Adar, but also his father’s noble household. As the two sat in the ashes, Aliza and Gabor cried, knowing that they would start over alone.
“Look, it’s the body of a salamander,” Gabor said, picking up the ashes of the amphibian, not realizing Aliza loved him.
“We should have a son and call him Salamander and declare that neither war nor fire will ever again destroy the people of Adar,” she cried, holding the body of her friend in her hands. Then, she buried him in the earth from which he came.
As the decades passed, the Village of Adar was restored: King Gabor and Queen Aliza lived long and happy lives, reaching out to the neighboring kingdoms in peace, and their son Prince Salamander was kind and strong, and fire never singed him or his kin.
Of course, the Kingly Salamander knew this all along, which is why he sacrificed himself for a lovely peasant girl that wanted her people and others to love each other. The Creator returned the Salamander to the eternal fire, and his image burns in the flames for the rest of time for everyone who is looking for him.
Copyright 2019 Jennifer Waters
https://soundcloud.com/jen-waters/the-kingly-salamander-narrated-by-jen-waters
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