It was clear that some of the people in the crowd were a little stunned by my short speech, but soon everyone was sorted into separate groups where it would be easier for us to watch each person. Splitting my guards up among the groups I knew that they would be much better at seeing fighting talent then I would. Once they had narrowed the selection down then I would join them and begin watching to see if any of the remaining people had the right disposition to be in our group. A commotion coming from one of the groups caught my attention a while later. I guided myself and Darius over to it to see what was happening. It appeared that two men were arguing with each other and then next thing I knew one of them was lifting the other up into the air without even touching him. Spotting his violet eyes I knew that this could end really badly. Letting go of Darius in order to sprint towards the two men, I wasn’t completely sure what I was going to do, but I knew that I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. When the man with violet eyes suddenly dropped his hand I knew that the man in the air was going to fall. Lunging through people in order to get there faster I suddenly knew what I was going to do. Leaping up into the air in order to tackle the guy falling from a fatal height before he hit the ground, I used my presence and allowed us to fall through the ground.

The man in my arms was screaming, but I couldn’t focus on that right now. We were literally falling through the ground right now and I was not sure what would happen if I stopped using my presence. Knowing that I didn’t really have a choice, we were dead if we just kept falling, I took a deep breath and stopped using my presence. All of a sudden we were shooting up and I closed my eyes in order to not get sick from this unnatural occurrence. The man in my arms had appeared to pass out from fright and I wasn’t planning on waking him up until we were safe back on top of the ground. Shooting back up to the surface I barely kept myself from throwing up. Taking deep breaths I staggered when the man’s weight finally registered. Before we had just been at the mercy of my presence and I had just been making sure we weren’t separated. Now I was trying to hold him up while he was unconscious and it was a little too weight for me. Thankfully Casey was close enough to me to grab the man when he fell from my grip. Hearing complete silence around me I stood up straight and looked at everyone around me.

Seemed like everyone was just in too much shock at what had just happened to talk. “Well now I guess that everyone knows what my presence is. I can pass through solid objects. To be honest though, I have never actually passed through the ground before now so that was a new thing for me too.” I laughed until I realized that no one was laughing with me. My guards, maids, and Darius just looked really concerned and the rest all seemed to still be in shock. “Look everyone, I am fine and managed to save him.” I pointed to where Casey was still holding up the man who was now starting to wake up. Shaking away Casey’s arms to stand up on his own, someone else finally broke the silence.

“What just happened? Did we go through the ground?” I only gave a sheepish smile in response to his questions. “That was incredible.” The man came closer to me and dropped to his knees before me. “Thank you. You saved my life and I am now in your debt. Anything that you ask from me, I will make it happen.”

Touched by his words I said, “Thank you for that offer. I might take you up on that.” Now my brow furrowed as I realized that something still needed to be resolved. “Tyler.” He immediately came to my side. “Find the man who dropped this man using his presence and bring him to me.” As Tyler ran off I held my hand down to the man still kneeling and pulled him to his feet. “There is no need to bow to me. Anyone who could have helped you would have.” He shook his head with a smile, but didn’t contradict me like I knew he wanted to. Tyler came back after only a few minutes with both Alex and another man. I recognized the man as the one who had tried to kill the man by my side. From the way that Alex and Tyler were manhandling him I guessed that he had tried to run. That would only make this worse for him because he was never going to get away from those two. The instant that he was standing in front of me I asked, “What is your name?” The only answer I got was him spitting in my direction. Sighing in disappointment at his rebellious nature I gestured for Casey to take Alex’s place and then took Alex aside.

“I don’t think that I can pass judgement on this man.” Alex tried to interrupt me, probably to say that I am stronger than I think for something like that. “Not because of my confidence level or anything. Because this is not my kingdom.” Alex’s eyes went wide at this realization.

“You are right. Technically you are not able to pass judgement without permission from the King and Queen of this kingdom.”

“Right now I am thinking that I will just let Valeria and Jonas deal with him. Both people involved are citizens of their kingdom afterall.” A nod from Alex let me know that he agreed with my plan. Turning back around I looked at the violet eyed man and proclaimed, “Since both men involved in this fight are citizens of King Jonas and Queen Valeria, I won’t pass judgement. Instead I will bring both of them to their rulers and let them decide what to do with these two.” Unfortunately that means that we will have to delay this competition for another time. You are all dismissed until a later date.” Pivoting on my heels to lead the way back into the castle I tried to hide how relieved I was that this whole ordeal was nearing its end. Asking several servants and guards where the King and Queen were, I finally found them in their throne room. It seemed that they had just finished a meeting and I thanked my good luck. Pointing to a spot near the door I told my guards to stay there with the two men. I wanted to explain things to them first before everyone was there. “Jonas, Valeria.” When they turned and saw me I asked if they had some time to help me with something.

They immediately nodded their heads and I could tell that they were thinking that I had picked a new guard and was coming to introduce them. As I thought about it more and more, I wasn’t sure that they were wrong. Stepping closer to them I quickly explained the situation and why I had brought the two men before them. Their faces darkened after I had finished my story and I knew that they were not going to be kind to the almost murderer. “Bring them both here. We will hear their sides of the story and then decide what to do with both of them.” Bowing my head to them, right now they were acting like the rulers they were so I was going to treat them as such, I gestured for my guards to bring the two men over to us. “Which one of you was the one who was almost killed?” The man whose life I had saved raised his hand into the air slightly, but didn’t say anything. It was clear that they were unsure what to say or do now that they were standing in front of their King and Queen. “Please tell us your side of the story first.”

He nodded his head several times. “Of course Your Majesties. I was in the courtyard hoping to be picked to be Princess Ariana’s new guard when we were separated into groups. Soon after that had occurred I heard this man,” Here he pointed to the man that Casey and Tyler were holding, “Talking about how he was only here to kill Princess Ariana. He also said something about how people from other lands should not be allowed into Raetis. I went over to him and told him that she was a guest here and that he should probably leave. I was worried that he would actually kill Princess Ariana the second that he could. His eyes made him seem completely serious. That was when we started arguing and then he used his presence to lift me high up into the air. So high that I knew when I hit the ground I was going to die.” He shuddered here and I knew he was thinking of what would have happened if I hadn’t intervened. After taking a deep breath he then continued. “Then he dropped me and I closed my eyes and just waited for impact. I was stunned when someone slammed into me a couple seconds later. Opening my eyes I saw that it was Princess Ariana who had jumped into me and then we were falling through the ground. I panicked a little when I saw that we were underground. Especially since it felt like we were falling through air still.

“The Princess looked like she was thinking really hard so I hoped that she knew what she was doing, but to be honest I doubted you.” Looking straight at me with guilt in his eyes I knew that he felt really bad about doubting me.

“Don’t even worry about it. I doubted myself.” This made him smile, however I knew that it also made the experience that we had both experienced even more scary because now he knew that we both could have truly died.

“Okay back to the story. When we started shooting back up to the surface I am ashamed to admit that I passed out. So I don’t remember what happened for a little while after that.” Everyone looked at me and I knew that they wanted me to finish the story.

“Not much happened after he passed out. In fact nothing that would pertain to this story.” Nodding to show their understanding, Jonas and Valeria now turned to the other man to hear his side of the story. He was too angry at us to say anything however. In fact he kept straining against Tyler and Casey's holds to try and get to me. So basically all he did was confirm the fact that he wanted to kill me. Giving him another chance Valeria said, “Do you want to share your side of the story or should we just take this man’s word for what happened?” All she got in return was a growl and another attempt to attack me. Finally the thing that I had been dreading happened. Tyler was yanked up into the air and was thrown against a nearby wall. There was a sickening thud and when he fell he didn’t get back up. The instant that Casey began to rise into the air, something confusing happened. He just fell to the ground even though he wasn’t high enough for the fall to even hurt him. As he scrambled back up to his feet, Valeria sighed. “I guess that proves that you are too dangerous to be around people. So your sentence is that you will be put in the deepest cell in our dungeon and you won’t be allowed out until you show a change of heart.” Speaking now to her guards she ordered, “Put a blindfold around his eyes and then take him away.”

Once the man was blindfolded and out of our sight all of us stared openmouthed at Valeria. A groan from Tyler though forestalled any talking between us for a moment however. Running over to him we helped him to his feet and asked him if he was alright. When he was able to stand without our help and could answer all of our questions we knew he was going to be alright. He led us back over to where Valeria was standing. Valeria smiled. “Before I answer your questions I must ask my own. Jonas, do you agree with his sentence?” He laughed and hugged her.

“Of course I agree with his sentence.” Keeping his arm around her he told her to now answer our question.

“Your questions are all probably the same thing. What just happened. Am I right?” We all nodded enthusiastically. After giving us a warm smile Valeria started walking away and curled her finger at us to tell us to follow her. As we hurried after her I realized that someone was missing. Turning back around I spotted the man I had saved walking in the opposite direction with his shoulders slumped.

Running over to him I grabbed his shoulder. “Where are you going? Aren’t you coming?”

He looked startled. “Isn’t that meeting just for you, your guards, and the King and Queen?”

I grinned. “Well yes, so are you coming?” It took him some time to process what I had just said.

With his mouth gaping open he stammered, “Ar… Are you saying what I think you are saying?”

“I believe that I am. Do you accept the position?” My face got serious now. He could very well refuse the position. Afterall, he had already saved my life once and it had almost gotten him killed.

I didn’t need to worry. “Of course I accept! When do I start?” He sounded so excited that it almost made me laugh.

I raised my eyebrows a little. “Now.” Walking to where the others were all watching us with both amusement and consideration I asked him another question. “What is your name by the way? It was very rude of me to not ask until now I apologize.”

He gaped at me again and I wondered if this was going to be a constant thing. “My name is Zoran, Princess.”

Giving him a side eye I sighed. “Unless your name is Zoran Princess, then you must have just called me Princess. All of my guards,” Tilting my head to the side I considered for a second and then revised my words. “Actually everyone calls me Ari. So that is what you will call me as well. Got it?”

He nodded frantically. “I completely understand Pri… Ari.” Knowing that I would have to talk to him later seeing as my guards were wanting to interview him I went up to where Valeria was leading us.

“I know that you are probably leading us to a place where we can talk privately, but I wanted to let you know that I know how you did that to him.” Smiling brightly at her I then went to where my maids were walking. Valeria hadn’t seemed surprised by my words and I knew that as soon as she had done what she had done to that man, she knew that I would have figured it out. “Sophia.” She looked up from her conversation with Hazel and met my eyes expectantly. I had a feeling that she already knew what I was going to say. “I am sorry that I didn’t speak with you first. It was more of a spontaneous hiring. I should have warned you though that I had decided on someone to fill the hole in my guards. However, you should know that Liam can never be replaced. Not in skill, friendship, or in any other way.” Tears filled my eyes for a moment before I angrily wiped them away. “He was all of our friends and that will never change. No matter how close we get to Zoran.” She cut me off here while I was taking a deep breath.

“Now it is your turn to listen to me, Ari. I know that you were going to fill the hole in your guards. I even encouraged you to. So don’t be sorry for anything.” Tears welled up in her eyes, but I was stunned to see that she was smiling. These weren’t just sad tears. These were also hopeful tears. This more than anything else told me that my friend was going to be alright. “Now let's get to where Valeria is leading us so we can hear her tell us what happened with that man.” Grabbing the hands of Hazel and Sophia we skipped on down the halls in pursuit of Valeria and Jonas. My guards all watched me with amusement in their eyes, including Zoran, and I knew that he was going to fit in just fine. From the way that all my guards were talking to him I could tell that they approved of my choice. He had the right attitude and wasn’t afraid to say when he got scared. Honestly that was the main thing that made me hire him. He had admitted freely to his King and Queen that he had passed out from fear when we were shooting up through the ground. When Valeria and Jonas finally stepped into a room all three of us grinned at each other. We had reached where they were going to explain things to us. Skipping in right behind them we went farther into the room so that my guards could enter after us.

As soon as the door closed after the last person was in, Valeria started speaking. “I know that some of you have already guessed as to what happened to that man. However it is my secret to tell so I will tell you before they spoil the surprise for everyone else.” Her eyes went straight to me as she said this and I grinned unabashed at her. “When that man started to use his presence I knew that if nothing was done then he was going to kill both Ari and everyone who tried to protect her. That was when I knew I had to reveal my secret.” Here she took a deep breath like she was afraid to say the words. “My presence is that I can take away other people’s presences.” She now started speaking fasters as if she thought we were going to stop or interrupt her. “It only lasts as long as I can see them in my field of vision and it has a terrible consequence. If I use it for too long then I go blind.” Spotting the concern in all of our eyes she elaborated. “Not permanently. I just go blind for double the amount of time that I used my presence for and it only starts if I use my presence for more then five minutes in a day.”

“So after five minutes you go blind for ten and then go blind every time you use your presence after that? So after five minutes you basically can’t use your presence anymore?”

She shook her head. “No. While I am using my presence I don’t go blind. It is after I stop using my presence that the blindness kicks in. If I try using my presence again while I am blind then my blindness goes away and I am free to take people’s presences away. The time adds up though.” Understanding flooded into all of our eyes. I am pretty sure that all of us were super confused until she answered Casey’s questions.

Alex, Casey, and Tyler all now fell to one knee before her and Zoran followed suit as soon as he saw what they were doing. “Thank you for protecting Ari. You saved our Princess and that is a debt that we can never repay.” Bowing their heads now they waited for her response.

Smiling gently at them she told them to stand. “It was my honor to protect Ari. She is worthy of protection. As to your debt, you owe me nothing. Since it was my honor and pleasure to protect Ari, there is no debt owed.” They huddled together and spoke in hushed tones to see if they accepted her answer. Valeria actually seemed a little nervous and I knew she was trying to think of another way to make them not in her debt if they didn't accept her answer. I could have told her not to worry. I already knew they were going to accept her answer. Afterall, this way they would fulfill their debt even if they acknowledged that they owed her one. They would be making her happy and not making her do as much work by making her think of a new way to get them out of her debt. When they turned back to Valeria and accepted her words she sighed in relief.

This made me curious about something. “Why do you not like having people in your debt?”

Looking sheepishly at me she hesitated for a moment before speaking. “I never feel like what I did to make those people in my debt was that big. In this case all I had to do was use my presence for a quick second. I wasn’t even fast enough to save everyone from harm so you should all definitely not be in my debt.” Looking to where Tyler was leaning against the wall she asked, “Can you forgive me for being too slow to save you from injury?” There was real pain in her voice and we all knew that she felt really bad about not being fast enough.

“Of course you are forgiven. I never even blamed you in the slightest. My injury is not that severe and I will heal very quickly.” Relief crossed Valeria’s face.

“Thank you.” He nodded quickly and then, the instant Valeria wasn’t looking at him anymore, he winced in pain and grabbed his head. We really needed to get him to Aeson to see if something was seriously wrong with his head. Not until we were allowed to leave here without alerting Jonas and Valeria to why we were leaving. An idea came to my mind and I held back a smile at my genius.

“I am so sorry to cut this visit short but we really must assess Zoran’s fighting skills and see how much we need to work with him. We will come to visit on happier terms later though.”

Jonas nodded. “A very smart idea. You never know when an attack will come even in a kingdom as safe as this one. Please feel free to use anything you need.” We all thanked him and Valeria before taking our leave.

“Before we head to the training area we need to take Tyler to Aeson.” I looked concernedly at where he was leaning slightly on Alex for support. Seeing my look and hearing my words he straightened so he wasn’t touching Alex anymore. His steps became all wobbly however and he had to grab onto Alex’s shoulder quickly in order to not trip or fall over. “Exactly my point.” The glare he directed at me only served to make me more determined to take him to Aeson. After all, it looked more like a wince than a glare. Some of his steps, even while holding onto Alex’s shoulder, were still unsteady so I gestured for Zoran to take his other side. He was closer than Casey was and I wanted to make him feel like he was part of the group. That meant treating him exactly like I would treat any of my other guards. Putting one of his arms around each of their shoulders they took on quite a bit of his weight and I knew that they were ready to carry him if he should get worse before we reach our destination. I walked a little faster in order to reach Aeson before the others and have him be read for Tyler before he even arrived. Alex gestured with his head for Casey to stay close to me and be ready since the others wouldn’t be by me. My shoulder slumped a tiny bit when that happened.

“You realize that it is not that far of a walk from here to Aeson and there is the smallest chance that I will get attacked on the way there. Also I have a sword again so I am not helpless.” I thought all of my points were very solid and might make Casey back off a little.

Unfortunately he was about to make some very good points as well. “Someone just tried to kill you not that long ago. He could have friends who are waiting to attack you now that they know their friend is in jail for attempting to kill you. Plus everytime we feel like we are safe something happens that makes us realize that danger follows you everywhere so you are never truly safe.” Opening my mouth to counter I waited for my mind to think of something to say, but it couldn't think of anything. Casey saw me close my mouth and smiled in triumph.

“Don’t get too excited. The second that my mind comes up with something to beat your argument you are going to be forced back by common sense.” I huffed with frustration because I knew that probably wasn’t going to happen. His argument was pretty good. A couple of hallways and staircases later we had reached Aeson’s door. Knocking hard I hoped that he was there because otherwise it could take us forever to find him. Footsteps walking towards the door made me sigh in relief. When the door opened to reveal Aeson I almost hugged him. “Tyler got hurt fighting someone with a presence. He is on his way with my other guards since we were hoping you would be able to help him.” My words spilled out quickly and I hoped that he knew enough to start getting ready for when Tyler arrived.

Stepping back into his room he said, “Come on in. Can you tell me what happened and what his symptoms are? It will help me know what to prepare for.”

“He was forced up into the air and then was thrown against a wall and hit his head really hard. Now he has a huge headache, bad balance, has a hard time thinking, and is quite dizzy.” Nodding he seemed to know what was wrong with Tyler and I hoped he would be able to heal him quickly. Preparing the bed in the middle of the room he told Casey and me to sit in chairs on the sides of the room. When Zoran and Alex walked in supporting Tyler between them he had them put Tyler on the bed. Putting his hands on Tyler’s shoulders he helped him lay on his back and then began putting him through some tests like following his finger with his eyes and saying a sentence and having Tyler repeat it back to him. Let’s just say that Tyler did not do very well at any of them.

“You have a bad head injury. It isn’t permanent, but it will cause you quite a bit of pain, confusion, and make it hard for you to do much. In order for you to become better faster you need to stay in bed and not do much. In fact you should try to avoid doing anything for the next week or so.” Tyler groaned and I had a feeling it wasn’t because of the pain he was in.

“How am I going to survive doing that?” I laughed scornfully.

“Yes, how will you ever survive? It isn’t like I did the same thing after we first arrived here.” Sending a sheepish look my way he had no answer to that. Softening my tone I said, “Don’t worry. We will try to include you in most things and can have beds setup all over so we can carry you to and from them so you don’t miss out on too much. Aeson nodded approvingly and I knew that this plan was going to help Tyler do what he needs to in order to get better faster. Thinking it over for a while and trying to see a better solution, he eventually nodded his head in agreement.

“Thank you. Honestly that is way better than anything I would have been able to think up.” His voice sounded resigned and I knew that he hated to admit that someone was better than him. However he was enough of a man to know when that happened and could admit to friends that they were better than him. Other than friends though, he would never admit that anyone was better than him. I was pretty sure that was the same for everyone in the room we were in. Including me. Nodding my head to him in acknowledgement of his words I restrained myself so I wouldn’t gloat about how good I was. Then they would just bring up all the times they were better than me in order to make me humble again. Instead I thought about those words in my head.

“We should probably move a bed to the training area right now so that we can start testing Zoran.” A nervous look came over Zoran’s face and I knew that he was wondering what would happen if he didn't pass the tests. Honestly this was something that had been weighing on my mind since I had realized that none of us had ever seen him fight before. I hate to even think it, but if he was a terrible fighter then I might have to release him from his position on my guards and find someone else. I was really hoping that wouldn’t be necessary though. Gesturing for Alex to start with finding and moving a bed I knew that he would organize the rest of my guards in order to have enough help to move the bed and to still leave someone here with me. Looking up a couple seconds later wondering who Alex had thought was stronger, Zoran or Casey, I wasn’t surprised to see Zoran still in the room. Not that he didn’t look strong or anything, but he was looking so nervous and pale that Alex probably thought he would pass out while carrying the bed. That fear had also been present in my mind so I was glad that Alex had been on the same page as me. Tyler glanced up at Zoran and I could almost see the wheels turning in his head.

“You better be ready for anything right now Zoran. If someone were to come in here to attack Ari you are the only thing standing in their way. I am too incapacitated right now to be of much help and Ari is too concentrated on me right now to be able to fend for herself properly.” A quick glance at Tyler told me to play along. He knew that I would do fine defending myself and that I was definitely not too concentrated on him. Knowing what he was playing at, I resigned myself to acting like a hopeless royal.

“Yes, please be ready Zoran. I fear that my reflexes would be too slow if someone were to attack me right now.” The eye roll that I got from Tyler after saying those things made me think that my voice had sounded too fake. Thankfully Zoran didn’t seem to think so because he fell into a ready position with his sword drawn. His eyes were trained on the door and I hoped that he wouldn't attack Alex and Casey when they returned from their errand. His focus was that intense. Several minutes passed and his gaze on the door never faltered. I was a little impressed by his dedication to the job we had given him. Even if his fighting skills weren’t the best at least I knew that once we gave him a job he would do it, and do it well. Meeting Tyler’s eyes I knew that he had reached the same conclusion. Hopefully his fighting skills were good enough to let him stay on as my guard because I was really starting to like him. The door suddenly opened and Zoran’s whole body went super tense. The instant he saw who had opened it though he relaxed and put his weapon away. Alex shot me a questioning look and I smiled. Convinced that I knew what I was doing he told Tyler that they were ready with the bed. All that they needed to do was choose someone to carry Tyler and carry him to it.