Chapter Four

        "Report!" a voice echoed throughout the royal hall.

       "Your majesty! The southern part of Belkoln Town is under attack! We need more men to defend it and its people." An exhausted soldier hurriedly came in.

       "Alright. I will send aid right away," King Astius answered without hesitation.

       "Yes, your majesty." The soldier bowed and left.

        The royal adviser beat the cup-sized bell with an iron rod. After it echoed everywhere, a sound of a ringing bell answered from afar. It came nearer and nearer. At last, a blue-eyed, black owl with a small bell hanging on its neck came in flying. It landed at the back of the caller's hand then left after a rolled piece of paper was put on its claws.

         Just as the king was about to leave the royal hall to his chamber, another person came in. Both of them met at the middle of the royal hall's aisle. It was the youngest general of his.

       "Your majesty." He took a bow. " I have something to show you," he said to the king.

      "What is it, General Kapono?" The king asked.

       The general took something from his back and showed it to the king.

       "This dropped off from its body while we're chasing it."

        The moment the king saw it, he tightly clenched his fists in anger and disappointment.

       "Get him out of there! Now!" King Astius furiously yelled that left the young general astounded. Never in his whole life had his majesty raised his voice on him.

        As soon as General Kapono went back to Belkoln Town, cries of helpless people and lifeless bodies laid everywhere, soldiers, civilians—and even innocent children. Thick smokes that were emitted from the burning houses blurred his way. He barely saw anyone except the clanging of the swords and the crashing sound of establishments surrounding him.

        "Mother! Where are you? Mother, I'm scared!" General Kapono heard a little girl's voice crying towards his direction. He felt his heart crushed, as memories of him as a child flooded in his mind. The feeling that he had buried deep down was alive again.

       "Mother! Help me! I'm here! Where are you?" the voice continued and a small silhouette behind the smoke managed to catch his sight.

        General Kapono stormed towards the girl. But the moment he took a step forward, the little girl seemed to become farther, the fact that she was still walking towards him. He tried taking long strides to make his pace faster but still, the girl only got farther and farther.

      'This is imposible!' his thought exclaimed.

      Taken a back, he was nailed on the ground where he was standing. A feeling that he didn't knew held him back. His instincts had grown stronger, like it was telling him to embrace it—that something was off. And for a smart person like him, he must choose wisely!

       He was brought back to his senses when a cold, spine-chilling wind brushed his freezing, exposed skin. Before he knew it, the once chaotic town had fallen into a deafening silence. Not even a faint breath could be heard. Not even a single shadow could be seen. He felt like he was all alone now, right in the middle of a silent chaos—with the little girl who kept on crying, calling for her mother's name.

      'I must be careful. Forgive me, little girl or whatever you are,' he whispered in the air.

       "May the heavens forgive me." General Kapono had made his decision and took a few steps back. But to his amazement, he saw a pair of fiery green eyes swiftly coming towards the little girl.

      In no time, all of his doubts were nowhere to be found. He found himself running back to save her.

       "No! Leave her alone!" he shouted with all his might, unsheathing his reputedly magical sword.

       Just as he was about to grab the girl's arms, someone pushed him away from her.

      "No!"—was the only word that escaped from his mouth.

      His body flew in the air and saw the little girl turned into a black smoke. The bell rang at the impact of strong collision with his body. The moment he fell to the ground, he spat blood  and his vision swirled.

        And was right. Embracing the will of his instincts made meant embracing with his stupidity, too! How foolish he was!

        And that someone—that someone who was selfless enough to  gave up his life for him, was one of his soldiers. As a brave general he was, tears still fell from his eyes.

     Just then those fiery eyes appeared in front of him and the ground grumbled as it made its way towards him.

      "I...I was right..." A disappointed smile formed on his blood painted lips, "but...how could I just ignore my heart?" The young general slowly closed his eyes, bravely accepting his end, humbly clutching his sword near his chest.

     "Attack!" a sonorous scream aped in the air. His shut eyes opened deliberately.

      Thousands of flaming arrows showered in the atmosphere towards the monster who was already on the verge to strike him. In a split second, it was already on its way to the newly arrived troops of reinforcement, leaving him from behind.

      "When will they ever come on time?" He took a deep sigh of dismay while slowly helping himself up with the help of his sword.

       The moment he took small frail steps, he heard something whistling from the night sky. When he looked up, he saw an extraordinarily sized flaming arrow which came from the castle. His mind split into two upon the sight of it. He didn't want to be a deserter in the midst of a catastrophe, but he must do what he's told to.

       'The king's whistling arrow of flame...I hope they will forgive me...' he said in his mind while looking at the gloomy sky before he took a glimpse of his men struggling in the battlefield.

        "Your highness, would you like to try our freshly-brewed grape wine?" an amiable young servant of the royal inn's simple yet exquisite teahouse asked the prince hospitably.

         "Hmm, sure. Please," he answered with a smile and a quick glimpse to the young servant.

         "Right away, your highness," the young servant said and went on his way to take his highness' order.

         While waiting, he was enjoying the place's amusing atmosphere and ambiance. Lanterns of yellow and beige hanged alternately. Pots of fresh lily flowers adorned the entrance pathways. The teahouse was of typical ancient style but it managed to attract customers of different status. Dancers were gracefully performing at the mini stage designed with red and white curtains on each sides, as the sultry music played by a group of virtuosos was playing perpetually. He's a pure music lover.

      Everything was already relaxing except for the mixture of laughters from the other customers.

       

        "Zae, come—" Keir appeared in front of the prince from nowhere, like a mushroom but was shut with a deadly glare from him.

      "Uhm, your highness," Keir gulped a lump forming on his throat  upon realizing his mistake. His eyes simply took a glimpse to everyone who was giving him the same glare as embarrassment crawled on his face. "Come with me," his voice turned sluggish while busily playing his fingers, a habit that he had whenever he's nervous or shy or hesitant.

       "Not now, Keir. I—" Before the prince could finish talking, he was already grabbed by Keir in the wrists.

      Numerous gasps and gazes followed as they walked out of the teahouse's door. If only gaze could kill, Keir's a hundred percent sure that he's already been buried six feet under the ground.

      "Your highness! Your order's here!" the young servant called the prince from behind but Keir was this devil who always ruin most of his time. So, he just raised his hand to apologize for such dismaying act that he caused.

       After a few minutes, they arrived at the room where the 'patient' was staying. They found her uncomfortably lying down with her eyes shut. It seemed like she's having a nightmare. Side to side, her head shook. Glistening sweats were running down her forehead. Something caught their attention, something red— slowly forming from her stitched wound, the one on the side of her stomach. Even though how thick the blanket that covered her, it still got soaked. Everytime she moved, blood kept gushing forth. But to their horror, the girl started to hurt herself on the wounded areas of her body.

        "Hey, hey! Wake up. Hey! Can you hear me?" Keir's voice sounded tensed, trying to hold the girl's arms to stop what she's doing. "Come on. Put a powdered sedative on the incense burner. I think her wounds had burst out," he told the prince who was already in a panic state.

        "What the?! Where is it?" The prince hurried to the table of medicines from behind him. His hands anxiously hovered over the bottles of medicines leaving some of it displaced and scattered.

       "The one in the white box. Hurry!" Keir ordered, forgetting who he was telling that to. But the question was, when did he ever treated his friend as a prince?

      "Alright! Alright! Calm down!" Prince Zaeius quickly took the white box and took a full teaspoon then poured it to the incense burner but no smoke came out.

     He took the nearby fan and fanned it as fast as he could and realized something.

       "Will this affect us, too?" he asked and stopped what he's doing. Hell, he's never tried being sedated before!

       "Don't worry, the sedative only work for the medicine that I fed on her, therefore it only reacts to the person who had taken it," Keir answered to clear his doubts, "See?" he added, pointing at the girl who has calmed down now.

       Prince Zaeius sighed out of relief. "I'll call the innkeeper's wife to change her clothes," he said and walked out of the room.

      When he came back, a middle-aged lady dressed in a silk, beige dress finely embroidered with lilies along in its hemlines was with him. Keir immediately stood up and walked towards the door. Then both of them went out of the room.

      However, Keir felt a strange feeling about the lady the moment they passed each other even though he had seen her too many times whenever he came here with the prince. But he just shook that thought, telling himself that it might be just a 'jamais vu' feeling.

       Soon as the door opened, the lady told them that she's done changing her clothes. Now, it's Keir's turn to check her wounds and treat it. Keir's teeth chattered upon seeing such horrible image of her wounds. They've gotten worse! Prince Zaeius couldn't stand the sight and quickly turned his face away.

      "About her situation, I wanted to help her but this is out of my grasp," Keir broke the silence that made the prince easily tilted his head back to him.

       "I see. Then I guess we don't have a choice anymore." Prince Zaeius crossed his arms, letting out a heavy sigh.

       "I'm sorry. I really wanted to. If she'll stay here, the worst might happen to her," Keir wasn't done explaining yet.

       "I know." The prince laid his back on the wall. "Tomorrow. We'll send her to the shelter. For real."

     He started to close his eyes trying to shake the feeling off his chest.

       "But are you sure you're free tomo—" Keir suddenly lost his voice.

      A cracking sound interrupted the prince before he could fully shut his eyes. He bolted in his seat, only to find Keir shocked with his other hand frozen in the air.

      "What happened?" he asked Keir with confusion written all over his face. Upon checking the situation, a broken glass bottle of medicine on the floor caught his attention. His sight flew to where Keir was fixing his eyes at.

       Keir wasn't able to speak so he walked to him and held his shoulder, shaking it lightly. "What happened?" he repeated.

        Still he got no response but Keir's hand slowly pointed at her...knee? "What?" confused as he was, all he could say was ask and ask.

       "Her..." Keir finally spoke a word, paused for a second to swallow a lump forming on his throat, "wounds..." he continued with an airy voice.

      Keir was already aware about it— actually, both of them were. This wasn't the first time they had noticed it. But for Keir, witnessing it happen right front of his eyes made him fell out of his mind. It was completely hair-raising.

       Before he could ask him again, the door opened, with its hinges making a rusty sound. A weakened man who was just their age went in, almost dragging his other foot and only depending his posture on the sword that he's holding as a walking cane. A scent of blood followed and filled the room. Soon the man dropped unto his knees, barely breathing with face as pale as a corpse.

       "Your father wants you to go home..." The man said. His expressionless face matched his tone regardless of his current state. He didn't even took a glimpse of his highness.

       Prince Zaeius was flustered by the moment he saw how miserable the man was. His eyes hinted a heavy weight of worry but he just let it slip away, scolding himself that he shouldn't feel worried for a person like him.

       "Tell him I'll go home whenever I want to," Prince Zaeius walked past with the man and stopped a few steps, making their backs face each other.

       The man coughed a couple of times before answering him, "Your mother's situation has worsened. She...she wanted to see you before she—"

       "Are you sure you're saying the truth?" Prince Zaeius interrupted him, absolutely not amused with what the man had said. "I remember the last time you told me to go home, I was almost killed by your traps on the way. In fact, it happened to me several times, in different ways. You're always the culprit behind it, with or without further investigation," he sarcastically added with a sense of bitterness in his voice.

      The man could only look down at his faint reflection on the smooth floor. His fist balled tightly as blood fell from it,tinting the floor with red dots. The moment he exerted a force, his breath felt like it won't hold him any longer.

      "I know I don't have the right to say this. But just...just this once. I want you to believe me." The man's knees felt numb after gathering all of his strength to speak and fell to the ice cold floor.

       After hearing those words, Prince Zaeius thought again. Both sides of his mind fought. What if this was just a part of his show, again? What if he's really telling the truth?

      "Next time you think of doing the same thing, make sure to kill me, General," Prince Zaeius warned him and left the room, forgetting about everything from behind. He has made up his mind. He's going back to the palace.

        His highness rushed out of the room that made the wooden door bang loudly.

       "Zae! Wait! Where are you going?!" Keir who seemed to have brought his senses back after the commotion, called the prince but it was already too late, "General Kapono, what are you doing...here?" he got baffled when he noticed the young general in front of him, kneeling. But, before the general could answer, he already fell on the floor with a sword on his blood-soaked hand.

      "General!" Keir exclaimed, leaving the patient behind after covering her with a blanket and took long steps towards the unconscious general.

      Before he could lift his hand to check the young general, there were chaotic screams outside. He peeked at the window and could see nothing but houses being pulverized and people fleeing for their safety. His eyes doubled in size upon seeing the same 'thing' again, ravaging it's way towards the helpless people. Then, a group of soldiers and armed brave townsmen followed, aiming to kill it.

       "Shit," he muttered, letting himself slide down the wall when he failed to control his knees from trembling and palmed his watering face.

      Keir didn't know where all of his strength has gone. After just seeing it, he felt like he's going to faint. He tried to crawl to towards the door to lock it when a sudden, strong force hit the roof part. In a second, he was already standing inside a roofless room. He could clearly see the moon at its fullest shape and the twinkling of the stars  like countless diamonds floating in the night sky. If this was in a different situation, he's sure he would totally be over delighted with such bewildering scene. Instead, he gathered all his strength even though how imposible it was. Like a miracle it was, he managed to hide  the two unconscious people under the big table behind him. He's going to protect them whatever happens.

      And he was right. An enormous figure towered over them, hissing with its fiery green eyes. Keir was astounded as hell. His eyes hastily scanned the room for a weapon or something he could have to protect himself against it. But luck seemed to have turned its back against him—he could only find nothing but a wooden washing paddle!