“The king awaits.”

Chapter 9 – Eloiya

Eloiya's POV

We gathered at the city square half a mile from the palace. There were people who stopped and greeted us upon seeing Lord Sainde. We stopped at a small stall and paid for a small snack. Eten leaned on a barrel with his arm holding an apple on another. He threw it in the air and caught it in one hand with a swift motion. “I think we should let Alan tour Roh for a bit before we bring him to visit the king.” He took a bite of his apple, “And, get him changed.” He gestured to Alan’s blood-soaked shirt that has long become dead brown.

I nodded, agreeing with him and looked over at Sainde, “Bern gave us a sheller as a gift for the king. A red one.”

“That’s very modest of him,” Sainde took the sheller as I hand it to him. The sheller was warped inside a clean black cloth with a purple orb glowing in the center of the sheller. He opened to check the contents before glancing at Eten. “We will be leaving in a minute, tell the knights to get ready.”

Eten scratched his arms then shuffled his hair, “I can’t wait to eat mulsan after we get this done. Thinking about it makes me hungry.” He grinned at me, showing off his boyish smirk. “But, Eloiya’s mulsan is the best.”

Shaking my head with a smile, I walked over to Alan and handed him a linking gadget. The gadget fitted into the palm of his hand. He held up and inspected its peculiar color. Its gray-purple surface glared back at the sun, like an eclipse swallowing the sun whole. The gadget has an oval shape with small magic inscriptions at the back. The magic allows the users to communicate through a wide distance.

“I’ll give this to you temporarily.” Alan has the most bizarre expression as he stared at the gadget. I lifted my eyebrows in curiosity, “What’s the matter?”

He shrugged and passed back the gadget with a quizzical look, pointing at the object as if he was looking at a foreign thing. I blinked in surprise. It didn’t occur to me that he might not know what a linking gadget was until Eten joked about it. “Holy, he must have come from the past. You got to be older than my grandparents!”

“You don’t know what a linking gadget is?” I confirmed. Others looked at him, a sort of bemused expression settling over them.

“Not really…” Alan shrugged it off while Eten and I exchanged glances. I always thought linking gadgets was common among commoners nowadays. Or, at least heard of one. Maybe I thought wrong. I clucked my tongue.

Ignoring the laughing Eten, I took the gadget from Alan and pointed out its function to him slowly. “You see here, if you slide an X shape on the surface, it means mind-linking to my gadget. There’s other functions to this.” Alan had an amazed look plastered on his face, his mouth turned into a surprised ‘O’ shape when I mention about mind-linking. I slid my hand into my backpack and took out the same gadget to show him.

“If you open the map in this way, you’ll see the City of Roh. And this,” I pointed at the red dot, “is where I’m at. The gadget links two people at the same time. We should be back in about two hours. Then we will come and find you, okay?”

For the third time today, he gazed up at me with those uplifting smiles and spoke with his awkward speech. Running his tongue to go over the words. Upon seeing this, I chuckled a little. For all I know, he might not have spoken our language before. I was starting to get used to his awkward speech. “Food, hare? Hungery…” He winced slightly. His awkwardness was totally obvious. And, to my surprise, his stomach grumbled loudly for the entire team to hear. As though, the stomach was singing with high and low pitches at the same time.

Alan stumbled to his feet. Eten laughed. The rest followed as if they were tickled at their sides. They bent over to grasp their stomach. Alan gazed us with an unamused face. With great effort, I choked out a cough to stop myself. But, a snort came out instead. “Sorry…”

I could see a smile tugged at the corner of Sainde’s lip. He was just as affected as I was knowing full well how Eten wouldn’t let Alan go after his display of a singing performance.

“Here, big boy. Turn to the left and when you reach the far end corner from here, you’ll see a restaurant called Midnight Diner.” I explained.

There were many people passing by. Out of the corner of my eyes, I caught sight of a black figure peeking at our direction. It was showing outlines of its head hiding behind the wall to an alleyway. I frowned, suddenly cautious of the anonymous figure. When I lifted my head, the shadow hid itself completely.

“Wait here,” I mumbled to Alan. Sprinting at that direction, I ran past stalls almost reaching the alleyway and readied my bow. I crossed the street, passing by stalls and skipping through the crowd. Sliding down to the ground, I snapped back the bowstring and eyed over my target. But instead, I was greeted by the squeaking of mouse, and some empty crates laying on the dumpster. No evidence someone had been here watching us. I let down my guard and stepped around some bags running over them---there were scratched, torn, and rotten food, reeking the air. I shook my head, and thought I was just imagining things.

“What’s wrong?” Sainde came over and asked.

“Thought I saw someone watching,” With one final glance to make sure no one was watching, I walked back to my group, disarming my arrow from my bow. I was not entirely convinced.

Waving a goodbye at Alan, I rode on the leaf together with the rest of the troops.

“See you later, Alan. Stay out of trouble and be careful.” I said. I didn’t mention my wariness to him; I figured it would only cause unwanted worry. Besides, the linking gadget will get us in touch with each other.

We rode out a 10-minutes trip to the palace---Eten, Sainde and I. The other knights went on their separate ways to their respective class division leaders to report back. Although all of us serves the king, our personal guardians gave us our mission individually. The three of us have our guardians residing in the palace. They were generals and experts in the magic and combat field. One that is highly respected by the kingdoms.

Up ahead, the palace stood tall on the hill piercing the view of the sky. We walked down the hall, away from the guards. Only our breathing and footsteps silently echoed in the hall. When we were sure no one could hear us, Eten and I exchanged glances, nodding to him. Sainde cleared his throat and demanded, “Eten, give me your report on Black Cult attack.”

His easygoing face went serious; his smile replaced by a grim look. “There is something I can’t quite put my finger to. I’m afraid…” Eten started. “The dragons had no reaction to pain, otherwise they would have retreated when they were severely injured. Unlike the dragon tribe I know, they would have gotten furious when they were under a threat from us. It was as if…” He paused for a moment, there was no need to say any further. We all understood.

I could see it in his eyes what he was trying to say. I gulped, and recalled the fight. It was what I was afraid of, an undying army. Only if you break them limb by limb, where they would not be able to reattach their body, you may even consider them invincible. If not, taking a whole army down is consider suicide.

Sainde closed his eyes, his eyebrows scrunched. Many thoughts going through his head. “How far did you think they went with reviving the heart?”

“The heart?” Eten scoffed, but his shivering voice gave him away. He was clearly flustered. Straightening his face, he spoke flatly, “It’s unlikely. Can’t imagine Saireah controlling the heart of Arcturus. Not now, not ever.”

I wasn’t as convinced, but I kept it to myself nonetheless. It occurred to me if Saireah had get hold of the heart, humanity would have been finished by now.

The kingdom was far more elaborated on its decorations than the urban areas of the city. The chandeliers were specifically made out of crystal orbs to produce pure mana specks, which supplies air into a part of the palace. While some may just be decorated for visual purpose, most brought out the colorful luminosity of the palace. As we entered the throne room, we were greeted by the presence of the palace’s maid, who were putting our weapons and defensive items aside, at the table beside the coat tree.

Guards lined up at the edge of the carpet, as stiff and formal as statues. My guardian was among them, and a weird feeling twisted in my stomach as I recalled his warning: If your mission fails this time, there will be consequences. His eyes stared straight ahead, as if focusing on nothing and everything in the room at once.

As we arrived at a close distance to the king, we knelt respectfully on our knee and each gave our introductions to the king. I recognized a few guardians standing at the king’s side. The king was seated on a red velvet chair with gold wood finishing throne chair and antique brass tacks. The king was a wise-looking man in his early fifties, with his dark blue hair tied up in a neat style laid on his shoulder. His coat was a more formal type of suit that has red tie with a golden clip around it. Upon seeing Sainde, he nodded and smile, showing his acknowledgement.

Sainde was the first to speak up, “Your majesty, my troop has returned to your side from Ghamp Village. I apologize for our delayed visit as we have encountered several obstructions.”

The king did not seem angered nor surprised by our late report. I kept my silence and my head bowed down as Sainde began explaining about Alan and the attack with the Black Cult.

The king said, “I am curious with two things about this man. What do you see in Alan? And where did he come from?”

I glanced over at Sainde, not enough to move my head while bowed down. Sainde replied politely, “There is a possibility he is a spy, we met him outside Ghamp village just after the mana crystal replenished itself.”

My head shot up. Surprise coursed through my face at the statement. Unlike Sainde, I have personally spoke to Alan and that thought had not occurred to me. I willed myself not to interrupt as I push out the thought.

Sainde continued, “And more so, he was not willing to give out his family name. He tends to avoid the question and acted uncomfortable when we try to pry. I can guarantee he is hiding something from us.”

“A man of secrets is a sign of disaster,” a guide who was standing at the side came over to the front, “We trust your judgement to hold an unbiased opinion.” He paused for a moment, “How do you think Saireah knew of your location?”

I let the weight of his words sink in. Did he suspect Alan was part of the Black Cult? I could feel my mood changing, as well as Eten’s. His face has turned slightly ugly.

This time, I spoke up, “If you would let me---“

Sainde turned his head sharply and glared me to stop. I snapped back my mouth and pursed my lips. Head bowed, muttering an apology.

“We suspected the Black Cult was related to the event in Ghamp Village. Alan may have saved us to gain our trust so they can keep track of our location. The situation seems direr than we have thought. I suggest a throughout inspection of the Black Cult’s movement these past months.”

The king waved his guide over and whispered into his ears. The guide returned with a few words as he took a quick glance at us. The king looked at us and replied in a grim face, “Bring the corpse of the resurrected dragon to the magic researchers. They shall be inspected upon. Meanwhile, Captain Sainde and his troop, you will be guarding Calson to the Kingdom of Kaishoire.”

The guide further explained, “Calson will be retrieving information from neighboring kingdom to look for similar occurrence in two days. He will be there as a presentative of Roh City. Keep Calson safe from any assassination attacks that will cause disruption on his way to Kaishoire.”

The knights complied to the king’s orders and bowed down once more before they were dismissed.

When we were out of the room, I couldn’t stop myself. “God, Sainde! How could talk about Alan like that?” The knights stopped in their track and looked at me in surprise.

Sainde didn’t answer or even look at me. Instead, the knights equipped themselves with their weapons as they were handed back. Eten came over at me and tried to soothe me, “Calm down, calm down, Eloiya. Sainde was just stating his opinion. He can’t help it when the events were linked together. They’re not going to arrest him over this.”

I gave him a onceover look, sighing in defeat. “I just don’t like this. Suspecting him behind his back while smiling to him upfront.”

When we were back at the coat tree, where our weapons were handled, I noticed my missing bow. The table that was holding my bow was now empty. Worry and other troubled emotions coursed through me. My breathing became uneven as I started rummaging the table, hoping to see my bow. Perhaps it dropped to the side of the table.

“It’s not here.” I whispered.

A maid came to my side and asked, “Is there something wrong?”

I put on a worried face, the bow was an important inheritance passed down to promising talent. It was a bow my family treasured when they handed over to me after I was promoted to a royal elite. The maid with a ribbon band walked to us with a polite manner, bowing. “Lady Reiheim?”

“I did not find my bow where it is supposed to be.” I inquired the maid who took our weapons when we headed inside the throne room. I felt my stomach sink. “It was definitely here before I went in.”

“That’s odd. I was sure I left it with the guards, it should have been on the table.” She took a quick look at the table, confused. She was a little shorter than I am where we were standing next to each other. “My apologies, the other servants may have misplaced it. I will bring them to you in a moment.” She bowed again.

Eten and Sainde dragged their concerned eyes to me. I shook my head and waved down at them.

“Allow me to go with you, I wish for us to find it as quickly as possible.”

She nodded and thanked me, “Please follow me, we will go to the weapon cellar where we keep most of our prestige guest’s weapon.”

The maid turned on her heels, I was about to follow along side with her when I picked up a voice behind me.

“Are you making yourself busy with a lowly servant? I hope not, it would be unpleasant for someone of our status.” I flinched. A familiar voice put a stop on my track. Sickened, yet unable to turn away, my body went stiff and I forced before turning around. The sound of heels slapping the floor was sharp and loud, as if the floor was crying in pain.

It didn’t take me long for my stomach to twist from those vile words coming from a serpent’s tongue.

It was Lady Remisyore, the daughter of a rich duke. The maid stepped aside, instantly bowing showing her respect. She was making herself small from her judgmental eyes, sweat breaking from her forehead. Keeping up my appearance, I smiled at her and held a hand over my chest. A respectful sign to a noble as a knight.

“Always submissive, playing the good knight, are we?” She smirked. I had the greatest urge to slap her across the face. My hands curled into a fist and I quickly hid them at the side.

A twisted feeling settled in my stomach. Why did she have to make others feel bad about themselves? To flaunt their superiority and fame? My smile became contorted. She had a veil to cover her face with patterns around her eyelashes. Her dress was particularly long that metered from the hallway. Her servant walked several steps behind her to look after her long train. Her face made me feel ill to the household, but one has to keep up the appearance if the other decide to make you lose face. I did not agree with her treatment with the poor. Without a choice, she had been one of the powerhouses of Roh City whose wealth maintains the security. If only it wasn’t for her venomous tongue, there would be no need to force a respect, despite my middle-class profile.

I ridded my face of any expressions that could give away my annoyance. As I stared at her, I kept reminding myself of my knight status. Patience, Eloiya. “It is a surprise seeing you here, Lady Remisyore. What could have brought you here if I may inquire?”

She glared at the maid behind me before her attention turned towards me, her expression shocked. As if, surprised I could talk. My tolerance ticked a little. “I was told about the little ambush with the Cult leader, and how your troops failed to capture her? We all know how well the Cult leader hides herself and it’s nearly impossible to find her.”

“Pardon me, we were ambushed by a whole unit of dragons---“

She interrupted, “And you called yourself the dragon huntress. Pft! No wonder the king began to doubt your ability. Don’t be surprised to get demoted if you don’t keep up your fighting ability. I will always be ready to replace you, any second.” She showed a wicked smile, emphasizing on the last part. My body became rigid, she knew how to play at other’s weakness. Don’t get provoked by her. I convinced myself. I took a deep breath and calmed myself.

Suppressing a sneer, I replied in a reasonable tone, “Do not be worried. I am sure my fighting potential will have an equal match against yours when it comes to actual combat.”

Two years back, we met in an election for the position of royal elite mage archer. Through many struggles, Remisyore and I was the last of the finalists. There were situational struggles, especially on a rescue match where we would have to choose our life over others. When the judge found out Remisyore was unable to see her own blood shed, she was instantly eliminated. Humiliated and prideful, she was caught bribing the powerful voters to turn down my qualification. Her revenge did not end here. She influenced the guide of the king to throw in unlawful rumors about me beating commoners. Slandering my reputation and throwing it down the drain where I had to allow myself not more than two sentences with the king.

She seemed amused by my answer. She fawned over her veil eyeing me at my outfits, tongue smoldering over her lips, “I heard you lost against a corcorn? And apparently, an amateur fighter happened to save you. Are you sure you are a knight, not a lowly guard?”

I glared at her. Insulted by her mockery. “You don’t know anything, yet you blabber as if you were there.”

A maid passed by and exchanged worried looks at one another. Lady Remisyore smirked evilly, as if waiting for the right moment to issue a challenge, she glanced over my shoulder onto the maid. The maid bowed lower, trying to shy out from the woman’s glare. She continued on a daring smile, her voice uncharacteristically sharp, “How about I lent you my bow? Surely, its quality won’t lose much compared to your bow.”

I said in a flat tone, suddenly feeling turned down by the suggestion. Sighing, I made sure my face showed my enthusiasm, “At least that bow is slightly better than a wooden stick.” Honestly, there was no reason to play nice. Mannerliness has its limit. Her smile became rigid. You could literally see fumes boiling over her head.

She turned on her heels and disappeared.

We arrived at the archer’s arena, one of the biggest competitive arenas for archery in Roh city. To begin with, they have a nicely cut grass used as the field for competitions ranging over 7,000 square meters. The target goes as long as 50 meters in length surrounded by magic defense barrier to prevent any loose arrows from overstepping the borders. The maid ran over to the side to collect a quiver of arrows, passing behind us. Before starting the match, we have a few arrows placed in front of the field as practice shots.

As soon as we positioned ourselves, I remembered my promise with Alan. I stepped aside to excuse myself, which earned me a mock from Remisyore. “You are not running away, are you? We have not begun playing yet,” said a smug Remisyore. I disliked how she made me sounded like a coward, and yet again, I forced myself not take her insult to heart. I thought about her snarky tongue, her desire to do anything to make her opponent feel inferior. She suggested the match so, making her wait at the side gave me a small sense of satisfaction.

Meeting Remisyore was not within my calculations. “Let me contact a friend that I will be late,” I exclaimed. “If you will excuse me.”

I proceeded to swipe an X on the linking gadget. Noting her stiff posture, she clearly did not like the idea of remaining at the back. A soft whimper came from the other end.

“Alan, are you there?” I muttered a surprise.

A groan came back. There was no reply and I was starting to get worried. I frowned a bit, it was unusual to not reply unless Alan lost the device I gave him. But, there were voices---a small shuffling, and most frighteningly, was the disturbed sound of wheels turning.

I tried again. My breath hitching, “Alan?”

Then I felt my blood turned cold. Through the mind link, I could hear snickers. I wanted to hear Alan’s voice, not a maniac laughter. Swallowing, I dragged the linking gadget close to my heart. The thought of Alan in danger scared me. “Your queen called.”

“Alan?” I panicked. “Who’s there?”

Lady Remisyore poked in, “Are you done?” she asked impatiently.

I did not have the heart to play with her, not anymore. I snapped back, “Quiet!”

Then the most dreaded thing happened. A voice I knew too well picked up my call, laughing. The voice full of menace sending a shiver down my spine. I felt my nose flared and my eyes widen.

“Sorry princess, I will need your prince for a bit.”

“Leave him alone! I swear if you hurt him…” Clenching my teeth, I muttered in a low tone, “I will find you.” Why did she want Alan? All those thoughts rushed to me, then the incident somehow came together. The shadow at the alleyway and the missing bow. How did she get into Roh City? It was all planned from the moment we came back to Roh.

The other end replied in a sickly wicked tone, “Nope.” before the link forcefully shut off, throwing me into a wave of dizziness.

“When you scream at danger, danger screams back at you.”

Chapter 10 – Caught in the red light