Chapter 7

The following new character appears in this and other chapters:

Phara Hemsamahan,

Governor of Korat Province, Sonsri's father, 5'-7'' tall, 165 pounds, 45 years old, Black hair, brown eyes

Keofeh

house owner, Amulet devotee, an older woman about 5'- 0'' tall and rather thin. Black hair and brown eyes

"You cannot do that! She is dedicated to the Amulets and is also my friend," Sonsri told him in a loud voice. On hearing this, the new guards shrank back in fear of touching one consecrated to the Amulets.

"I am in charge of your security, and I will determine who is a danger to you. We have no proof that she is dedicated to the Amulets. It is only a trick so she and that large Fa-rung can kidnap you," the Captain replied in a haughty but sober voice.

"And I am the Governor's daughter, and I demand that you return my original guards and allow Chanthra and her Guardian to accompany me," Sonsri demanded back in just as loud but a harsher voice. "My father will hear about this otherwise, and you won't be in charge of anything then," she finished.

The second officer, who was the one in charge of the new guards, looked very confused by this exchange.

"You will do as I have directed," the Captain told him in a command voice.

I had been listening from the side of the building where I had been with our two horses since just after this started. I was prepared to intervene and had checked both of my pistols, but I never got the chance to do anything. I was suddenly grabbed from behind by several men who had snuck up behind me. While a number of them held me, one removed the two pistols from their holsters, and I was forced around the corner of the building leaving our two horses behind.

"Bring those pistols to me!" the Captain demanded in glee on seeing them in one of the new men's hands.

I could see that Chanthra was standing beside Sonsri and had her head tipped to the left as if she were listening to something. I could also see that her amulet, which was normally kept out of sight in her blouse, was now visible on the outside of her blouse. A red light flickered on from the amulet for a few seconds and painted the Captain, the surrounding area and the new guards before flicking off. No one said anything about this occurrence, though I had seen it quite clearly, and I had to wonder if it had been visible to them.

I was given no time to think about it however, as less than three seconds after the light went out, there was a huge crash of thunder following a bright flash of lightening, and the Captain fell from his horse dead just before the men holding me also slumped to the ground. My pistols left the hands of the one who had removed them and flew to my now open hands.

Chanthra's amulet was now glowing with a bright gold colored light. The second Siam Army officer and his remaining men were frozen in place and staring at the new scene in shocked disbelief.

"He is quite dead!" Chanthra announced in a loud voice pointing to the Captain on the ground. "Your other men will recover shortly. They have not displeased the Amulets as much as the late Captain did. Perhaps now you will believe that I am consecrated to the Amulets," she finished. Her amulet had faded back to its normal color and had returned inside of her blouse.

"Where are my regular escort and driver?" Sonsri demanded of the remaining officer, immediately after that.

"They are being held at the garrison by the Captain's orders," the officer replied, coming out of the frozen state and his shock.

"You will have them brought here quickly so that I may continue to Korat, or my father will have questions about why I was delayed," Sonsri told him in a very serious voice.

"Yes, Pee! Certainly!" the remaining officer answered, but Chanthra also had orders for him.

"Bring a wagon or cart for your remaining men. They will not have recovered sufficiently to ride or walk back to the garrison."

"Yes, Pee!" the officer answered before he and his remaining men rode off in the direction of the local garrison. I returned the pistols to their holsters and went to get our horses. The Captain lay in the street as no one had bothered to check on him or move his body.

"How ... how did you do that?" a rather nervous Sonsri was asking Chanthra as I approached them with our horses.

"It was not my doing. The Amulets acted to correct a situation of which they did not approve. I am but their humble servant," Chanthra told her with a bow. "I will explain what happened to your father when we reach Korat. The Captain was a poor officer who drank too much and was impressed with his own importance," she finished. Sonsri and her maid seemed relieved on hearing her words.

The regular guards and the driver soon arrived. They were shocked to see the Captain lying dead in the street. The new driver had remained until they arrived, but he now hastily left his seat and moved away from us. The Sergeant had quickly dismounted and approached Sonsri.

"We are sorry for being late, Pee, but the Captain had us locked up this morning," he told her after a Wai and a bow but before turning to look at the Captain.

"What happened to him?" he asked, while his men stared in dismay at the Captains body.

"His behavior was displeasing to the Amulets, and they made a permanent correction," Chanthra told him.

"What shall we do with the body?" the Sergeant asked.

"Search his clothing and secure his horse to take with us. He had charge of the traveling money and some papers for my father," Sonsri told him just as a wagon arrived with several soldiers to remove the unconscious men.

"Shall we remove the dead officer also?" their Sergeant asked.

"Yes, please see that he receives a good funeral," Sonsri told him. Our guard Sergeant had finished searching the Captain's body and brought a bag with money in it over to Sonsri.

"There were no papers on his person, Pee. Perhaps they are in his saddlebags, I will check," he told her before turning to check on that. Sonsri removed a few baht from the bag and gave them to the garrison Sergeant for the funeral. Chanthra had moved over to stand with me during all of this, and I had questions for her that I didn't want the others to hear.

"How did the Amulets do that?" I whispered to her in English.

"I have no idea, they only told me that they would handle the situation," she replied just as quietly.

"Did you see the light that came from your amulet?" I asked.

"I saw a red light flash several times, but that was all," she replied.

"I don't think that the others saw the red light," I told her. Sonsri had been counting the remaining money while we were having our discussion.

"That tightfisted pig!" she murmured when she had finished, "He told me that we were nearly out of money, and he had all of this left. It's nearly three hundred Baht," she finished before turning to her maid and giving her instructions in a very quiet voice before turning to the Sergeant who was holding out papers from the late Captains saddle bags. Sonsri had instructions for him.

"Sergeant, send one of your men with my maid. She will purchase some things for us to eat when we stop later today. The greedy Captain had plenty of money, but always told me that we were close to having nothing left," she told the Sergeant who dispatched a man to go with the maid.

The regular driver and one of the soldiers had been checking the coach and the team to insure that they were ready to finish the trip today. The wagon had already departed with the dead Captain and the still barely conscious soldiers who had seized me. The maid and her escort soon returned with a large basket of fruit and other things, and we were ready to leave shortly after that, if a bit later than we had planned.

We had covered about half of the twenty-eight miles or so between Si Khiu and Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat) before we stopped for lunch. The coach and the road had combined to make it a rather slow journey. The guards brought out the rice and some vegetables that they had received at the Army garrison. Chanthra added the things that she had purchased, and Sonsri's maid added the vegetables, rice, and fruit that she had purchased.

As a special surprise there was also fish to add to the meal. These were dried catfish, and while not the most appetizing looking of meals, they were a welcome addition to the often dull and complacent food served by the Army. After an hour's rest, we set out again on the final stage of our journey to Korat. It was nearing 16:30 hrs. when we approached the city from the west.

Korat was an old city even in this time period (1855). It had been ordered to be built by King Narai the Great of Ayutthaya in the mid-seventeenth century to serve as a stronghold on the country's northeast frontier. King Taksin of the Thonburi Kingdom sent the Chakri Brothers to take control of the city from other contenders for power in 1768.

During the Lao Rebellion of 1826, Chao Ano, the King of Vientiene, captured the city. Lady Mo, wife of the Deputy Governor, organized those captured by Lao forces, who were being sent to Vientiane, and led a revolt that defeated their Lao captors, and returned many of the people and seized goods to Korat.

In 1855, Korat was still a walled city with a moat around it. There were originally four gates to the city. However even in Chanthra's time (1935) the walls and gates were mostly gone, all but a part of the west wall and gate, the Pratu Chum Phon Gate. It had been constructed of large stones and bricks and then covered with plaster. There was a wooden watch house at the top of the wall with a tile roof done in typical Thai style. While the walls were mostly gone in 1935, the moat around the original city area remained in most places, and this was how I knew Korat in 1965 also.

As we approached the city, two things were apparent. First the walls, moat, and gates were still intact, and second the town had grown and spread out beyond the original city area. Something else was also apparent to me. It was the absence of the statue of Thao Suranari (Lady Mo) or Ya Mo, Grandmother Mo, as she is fondly remembered, in front of the west gate. It wasn't installed until 1934, so even Chanthra wouldn't have seen it since she was in Bangkok at the Amulets Wat at the time.

"Since this is 2398 (1855 AD), Ya Mo died three years ago, and her remains have been enshrined in a Chedi at Wat Sala Loi. We shall go there later to venerate her," Chanthra told me, as we neared the entry gate.

Our procession did not however, enter the city proper but turned right just before reaching the wall and its moat, turning onto Ratchadamneon Road which ran beside the moat. We proceeded well past the end of the city wall and the moat to the entrance of a large piece of property with a house on it on the right. There was a sign over the entrance gate proclaiming that it was the residence of the Governor of Nakhon Ratchasima. The coach pulled in there, and we followed.

The house, which was two stories, sat well back from the road with a large lawn in front of it with hedges of flowering plants along the roadway. The entry road turned into a circular driveway before arriving at the front entrance. The house was quite large being some seventy plus feet long. The facade had a projecting two story gabled entry centered on it. The entry appeared to be at least eighteen feet wide and to project about five feet. There were four long narrow windows on the second floor of the entry way above the doorway. Later we learned that there were ponds, gardens, and other areas behind the house.

The coach pulled around the circular driveway and stopped in front of the entryway at the center of the house. A number of people rapidly emerged from the house, as Sonsri and her maid exited the coach. There were greetings and much merriment on seeing her again from those gathered there. Shortly, an older man emerged from the house and all of those there fell silent.

In the meantime, the guards plus Chanthra and I had dismounted. The guards stood at attention beside their horses while Chanthra and I moved up to stand near the coach.

"Welcome home, daughter," the older man said in greeting after all of the Sawat dees, wais, and bows had been completed. I could see that the man was looking rather strangely at Chanthra and especially at me.

"Where is the Captain?" he demanded on not seeing him with her escort.

"The Captain has gone to his next life, father," Sonsri told him in a quiet voice.

"Was the journey that dangerous?" he demanded in a sharp tone of voice.

"The Captain left us this morning in Si Khiu," she told him before adding, "It would be better to speak of it later when we have more privacy."

"Who are these other people?" her father demanded in a stern voice.

"Father, this is Chanthra and her Champion. She is a teacher and dedicated to the Amulets. We met them on the road when the Champion drove off bandits who had attacked us," Sonsri informed her father before turning to Chanthra.

"Chanthra, this is Phara Hemsamahan, the Governor of Nakhon Ratchasima and my father," Sonsri informed her. There were renewed greetings following that before Chanthra addressed the Governor.

"Chao Khun Hemsamahan, when Sonsri has rested from her trip, I will return when it is convenient to explain what happened with the bandits and also the Captain. He did not come to a good ending," she finished. (Chanthra had used the proper Thai form of address for someone of his rank.)

"We have not had the pleasure of an active teacher of the Amulets here in sometime. I am sure that you will be quite busy. Return in a few days, and we will discuss what happened on the trip," the Governor told us, however he didn't appear to be a man who was anxious to wait several days for an explanation. He turned to another man and told him to release the guards and the coach. Chanthra and I also took our leave with Sawat dees, wais, and bows. We followed the guards and the coach out of the residence as the others there withdrew into the house.