Kaiden VI, Gamila X

PA 2 – July

Kaiden

Kaiden had been in the Oasis Capital for a week now, and he was growing increasingly sure Cui was trying to hide something from him.

The man flipped wildly between an almost aggressively kind cheerfulness and an aloof, dismissive persona, with the latter cropping up more and more as the days went on. At first Kaiden had worried that he might have done something to piss him off, but if he did he was uncertain as what that could have been.

A part of him wanted to call the whole thing off, and just head back to Sun’s Rest and forget this whole frustrating endeavor. But the other, larger part of him refused. This was the first real responsibility Joseph had given him, and damnit if he wasn’t going to mess it up!

If he hadn’t messed everything up already, at least.

It felt like each day Cui grew more and more distant, leaving Kaiden to his own devices.

It felt a bit like he was back in Sun’s Rest, only this time he had no idea why the King refused to speak to him. It wasn’t like he was that busy! He’d watched the man hold court—it lasted an hour, at most, and then he disappeared for the rest of the day doing who knows what!

It was frustrating, in a way that was wholly different from what he was used to back in Sun’s Rest or Canada. He had a plan—he had a goal—which was more than he had before, but nothing he did got him anywhere close to completing that goal.

Still, he told himself. Today would be different. He’d get something out of the King today, mark his words!

He met with Cui that evening for dinner, sitting down next to him in the dining hall. The room was massive, with a long table far too large for just the two of them taking up the center of the room. Servants stood off to the sides, waiting quietly for one of them to call on them.

The room was a bit too big, really. That seemed to be a running theme for the palace as a whole—a lot of big, empty rooms that had no purpose but to make the palace look bigger.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, no sound but the scraping of knifes against meat and the breaking of bread.

Eventually though, Kaiden couldn’t take it anymore and broke the silence.

“Did anything interesting happen today?”

A while ago, Cui would have started the conversation, saying something like, ‘How are you enjoying your meal?’ or something equally benign. Now it was up to Kaiden to carry the conversation, and all he got for it was an odd look and a quiet grunt.

God if this wasn’t awkward. But his job was to talk with the King, and so talk he would.

“I heard from my guards that a festival was being planned for next week. What’s it about? I know there’s a harvest festival planned for next month back home—is it something like that?”

Cui glanced up at him briefly, before grunting out a quick, “No.”

Kaiden waited to see if he’d add onto that, but apparently that was all he was getting out of him.

He clenched his fist, surreptitiously digging his fingers into his thigh in frustration. So this was one of those days, huh?

“What about Aniruddha?” he continued, a fake smile plastered on his face. “Is he coming to visit during the festival? I’d like to meet him then, if possible. I’m surprised I haven’t yet. Is what he’s doing back in his capital really so important?”

Come on. Say something. What’s the festival about? What’s going on with the other king? Why are your people unhappy? What’s the economy like? Grain prices!? Favorite color!? Come on man, say something.

Cui grunted, before placing his cutlery to the side. “I believe I will be retiring for the night,” he said suddenly, standing from his seat. “If you’ll excuse me,” he added on like an afterthought.

Kaiden stared after his retreating back, eyebrows twitching and fake smile still plastered on his face.

Something was up with Cui—it didn’t take someone like Gamila to figure that out—but the man was just giving him nothing to work with!

He shook his head, excusing himself from the table as well. He couldn’t deal with being in this damn palace anymore.

He retreated to his room, Gamila silently slipping behind and following him at some point. Once they were back in his room they sat down on his bed, ready to begin their nightly information sharing.

Except he had nothing to share.

“He’s really said nothing? Really?” Gamila asked him incredulously. Kaiden flushed as she did so, staring down at him lap. It wasn’t his fault Cui was so closed off, damn it! He’d like to see her get anything from the empty fucking conversations they shared!

…He bet she probably could. Probably already had. Damnit, why was he even here?

“…Hey,” Gamila said softly. She slowly wrapped her arm around his shoulder, giving him an awkward side-hug. “It’s okay. You’re just—you weren’t trained for this. Well, this was supposed to be your training, actually. Joseph wanted you to learn diplomacy on a soft target like Cui. We just didn’t expect him to be so, uh…”

“Obstinate?”

“I was going to say quiet, but sure, that works.”

They sat there quietly for a moment, stewing in their own thoughts.

“Should we…?” he began slowly, before shaking his head fervently. “Uh, never mind.”

Gamila raised an eyebrow at him, her lips twitching slightly. “No, I don’t think we need to call on Joseph quite yet,” she told him calmly. “Cui’s obviously hiding something. But I doubt it’s serious enough that Joseph needs to personally get involved. Or, rather, getting Joseph involved will make it that serious. I’ll be sending out a report tomorrow, though, if that helps you feel better.”

It did, a bit. But he was embarrassed enough by his failures already that he wasn’t going to say it out loud.

Gamila gave him another smile and ruffled his hair, before standing up from the bed. “Don’t worry about it,” she told him softly. “We’ll get to the bottom of this soon enough, ‘kay?”

Kaiden let out a quiet breath. “Yeah. Okay.”

--

Gamila

Gamila woke up the next morning to a loud banging on her door.

Waking up wasn’t anywhere near as arduous a task these days, now that sleep was more for pleasure then any real physical need. But it still took her mind a few minutes to register the loud banging sound she was hearing as someone knocking on her door.

Shoving herself off the bed, she glanced out the window, noting with some alarm that it wasn’t even morning yet—just the barest hints of sunrise rising over the horizon.

Suddenly much more alert, he grabbed her knife before she got to the door, wondering what emergency would cause her to be woken up at this hour.

It turned out she’d get the answer to that question far earlier then she expected, as before she could take another step the door exploded off its hinges, flying into the room. She barely had a second to react before it fell to the ground, missing her by bare inches.

Before anything else could happen the room was flooded with soldiers, their leather armor bearing the symbol of the Oasis.

The Oasis soldiers surrounded her, spears held at the ready, storming into formation around her and cutting off any escape route. They came to a stop with their spears pointed in her face, giving her barely an inch to move or risk getting skewered.

“Gamila of the Sunset Kingdom,” the man in the center of the formation called out to her. “You are under arrest for unlawful trespassing, selling salt without a license, and treason against the crown. Surrender now, or die quickly.”

Gamila stared at them with wide eyes, a thousand and one thoughts running through her mind as she worked through her shock. What was going on? She was being arrested for what!? And how the hell did they know her name!? “You do realize,” she began slowly, projecting an aura of calm that she did not feel, “that I am not a subject of your King, yes? If you kill me here, that could mean war with the Sunset Kingdom, you know.”

“That is where you are wrong,” the soldier shot back firmly. “When he discovered your crimes, the King demanded your arrest to the Sunset Pharaoh. The Pharaoh naturally acquiesced. He has no need for traitors in his court.”

Her heart skipped a beat. A shot of fear-betrayal-anger ran through her veins, before she forced herself to think rationally. Joseph wouldn’t throw her away without a fight—beyond just being stupidly impractical, this was also the same man who had fought a war—a war that he won—against two superior powers at once just to protect a stranger. He was a man incapable of abandoning his allies.

And even if he was, Meixiu would certainly kill him if he even considered betrayal.

So, there was no way Joseph would have agreed to her capture, meaning that they—or at least the King—were lying.

And if they were threatening to kill her, that meant they probably did not know she was a God-King.

With that in mind, she could probably overpower them. It wouldn’t be that hard from there to find Kaiden and escape.

But that would mean revealing her own status as an immortal, irrevocably destroying their alliance with the Oasis’, and likely leaving the servants they brought with them to die.

So, there was only one option, then.

She slowly raised her arms in the air. “I hope you realize that this will have consequences,” she told them calmly, her eyes boring a hole in the leader’s helmet. “However, if it’s come to this, then fine. I surrender.”

“Smart girl.” With that they grabbed her roughly, spears still pointed threateningly at her as they dragged her away.

And as they dragged her into the city dungeons, she wondered what Cui was hoping to achieve from this stunt.

Well. She’d find out soon enough.

9,863 God-Kings Remain