Chapter One - Richard Lewis

"It was a day of low clouds and west winds. The middle of the rainy season, when
sickness and misfortunes stalk the land. The PKI were powerful and getting more
powerful. It seemed possible that they would overcome the nationalists and control the
country. And it wasn't that I had any great affection for the palace."
Dharma held up his two forefingers, pressed tightly together. "But in this Mantera
and I were one. I looked out at the courtyard where the women were assembling the
offerings. We were Balinese. The PKI taught a foreign ideology. If they came to power,
they would give us no choice, they would strip us of our culture and identity. They would
reverse the natural order.
"I bowed before Mantera and said, I am your servant. I became the leader of the
nationalists, with the palace as my patron.
"Nah, after Moung Agung erupted, the famine spread and tensions grew. You
need to understand something, Tina. It is easy to have sympathy for losers. But the
Communists were not going to show any mercy. Cadres marched with hammer and sickle
banners saying Death to Capitalist Dogs. Effigies were hung and burned. This wasn't just
propaganda. They meant it. They were the first to create death lists and to make plans to
cleanse the country.
"Here in Batu Gede the Communists wanted our rice fields. One late afternoon
they caught us unawares and raided a field belonging to the palace, ready with their own
scythes to harvest the crop. The tenant was there. He tried to stop them. They killed him,
cut him down like he was a dog. Everyone was hungry for revenge but I knew the PKI
were looking for excuses so I calmed everybody down. I told them to keep cool heads
and colder steel at the ready. I told them, our day would come. And our day did come,"
Dharma said. He turned to look at Mantera, still buried in the sand. "Do you see that cane
with the silver handle? It's ironwood. It is very hard. It will break bone. Do you
remember those skulls? The fractures in the back of the head?"
Tina stared at the cane. "Oh dear God," she said softly.
"There's our boat driver. Time to go."
As Tina paid the bill, Putu trotted up the beach, a broken surfboard under his arm,
blood dripping from his forearm, where coral had gashed the skin. Zoe clucked with
alarm. "That looks nasty."
On the back wall of the café was a first aid box with some bandages and
disinfectant. Wulandri got out a roll and the small bottle of Betadine. "Let me put some
on," she said.
Zoe took them from her. "I'll do that."
The smile Wulandri gave Putu was as small and concise as her shrug. "And you'd
better pray at your family shrines," she said. "Spilling your blood before your tooth filing
is not a good omen."
The speedboat's twin outboards zippered a wake in the glassy blue sea. With a
tattered life jacket tied around her, Tina clung bucket seat. Beside her, Dharma held to his
offering basket. The boat swooped close to the curve of coast. A few miles along the
black sand beach, the driver throttled back into idle, the engines burping a cloud of white
exhaust.
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