by W. C. Jasper
The moment they had stepped into the compound of the house, buckets of water were brought and placed ready for them to wash their feet as was the custom in all of Jerudia. Thaymas was shocked when they entered the house to see his mother waiting for them. She was quite a protective mother, who had become even more reserved ever since her daughter had deserted the Kingdom. Lady Hesaai Riasmas was 5 feet 6 inches tall, with moderately brown skin and mildly greying hair. Thaymas hurried over to her at once and embraced her as she smiled gently.
“How?” asked Thaymas, surprised and confused.
“I wasn’t going to let my son leave without seeing him off, was I? You might have wanted to desert your mother without even seeing her one last time, but I am not the kind of mother to allow you to do that.”
“Amma…” said Thaymas in a tone that requested her to not be so unfair.
She kissed his forehead and said, “It’s fine.”
General Thayman came forward and hugged her, “Lovely to see you again, My Lady. You grow more beautiful every day!”
Clearly unimpressed, Lady Hesaai replied, kissing his cheek, “And your flattery remains better than your regularity in visiting your home.”
He wanted to reply, “I did invite you to live with us, My Lady, and I still beg you all the time.” But he was too scared of her to even say that much, and too prudent to have such a conversation in front of people.
Akini’s parents - Rohini Swaasam, and Levi Chapman ran to her and her father lifted her in an embrace. Akini was overjoyed and could not stop grinning and giggling as her parents drowned her in their affection. Her father was 5 feet 5 inches tall and her mother was 5 feet 6 inches tall. Her father was the one who had always encouraged her passion for combat and warfare. He was, in fact, the one who had sent her to the tournament that landed her under the Prince’s tutelage against her mother’s profuse opposition and contention. Prince Jared got along with him extremely well, and they had developed a very close friendship.
There were plenty of embraces and kisses, and the entire house was flooding with loud sounds of all kinds. Even a house as huge as Lady Vallarasi’s was almost filled to capacity that day. Almost everything that was required for the feast and celebration that day was brought as gifts, but she did not accept any of those without paying for them more than what they were worth. These gifts were brought not only by people from the village, but even from the neighbouring city of Clover. Clover city, the hub of commerce in Jerudia, was also Lady Hesaai’s birthplace and hometown.
Princess Jeniah darted all around the house like a bolt of lightning ricocheting off each wall of the house, exploring each and every nook and cranny and establishing her dominion over every section of the house. Such a crowded place was not suitable for someone like her who needed an obscene amount of freedom and space to spread her gigantic wings and fly all around the visible land. So Prince Jared allowed her to explore the village with Kareema. Lunch was served extremely late that day - a little while into the fifteenth hour of the day. Prince Jared refrained from eating and waited for the Princess to return so he could eat with her. The entire day was an extremely busy one with endless conversations on account of the upcoming farewell the next morning.
Lady Hesaai stole Prince Jared away into a room for a private conversation. She wasted no time and started speaking as soon as she locked the door, “Your father took my firstborn under his wing with the intent of making her one of the greatest warriors the world will ever see.” Her voice grew gradually more and more intense and her pace grew faster with every few words she spoke, “Everyone keeps boasting about how he got her to such a level that she would have become the youngest General. I myself was ecstatic about it, so proud of my firstborn. And then suddenly…” Her angry rant had now come to an end. She held him by his collar, looked into his eyes with fury and continued in an inhibited, softer voice, “She abandoned us!”
She shoved him away and turned away. Pacing back and forth, she continued, “My husband and your father might not be lying when they say they had nothing to do with it, but we all,” her voice grew louder again as she continued turning towards him and pointing at him, “including you, know this! That it is because of the influence that your father and my husband had on her that made her think like you people! It gave her this notion that she has to be a hero and go off on ridiculous adventures and dangerous missions!” Once again, her rant had come to a pause. She held him by his collars once again and spoke in a restrained voice again, “Now you have taken my son as your protege! I swear to you by the Holy Scriptures, if anything happens to my boy, I will have your head on a platter! And no one! Not even the Dragon of Jerudia will be able to save you from me!”
While she had the blood of the House of Rash-Yaph in her, she was nothing like a warrior and had no interest in any of it either. But that had no bearing on the fear it struck into people who were part of the family. And Prince Jared too, knew her well enough to be scared of her. Being a parent, he understood that all her rage and fury was more than justified and nodded silently with respectful eyes. As she exited the room, she put her hands on the lock and stopped to speak, “I am trusting my son with you. I will not lose another child. And if I do, yours will lose her father.” As soon as she finished her sentence, she opened the door and walked away. Prince Jared stood speechless for a while, stewing in his thoughts. After a while of thoughtful silence, he mumbled as he stared out the window, “I’m pretty sure that the wrong Riasmas got the title of Dragon…”
That night, Prince Jared and Princess Jeniah lay on the terrace floor with the Princess, as usual, lying on top of him. And Prince Jared (as usual), shirtless. With both of them staring into the sky in identical fashion and their hands behind their heads, the Princess asked, “What if you don’t leave me, but someone steals me away?”
“No one can steal you from me, and neither will anyone ever dare,” answered the Prince immediately with a tone as that of stating an axiomatic truth.
“What if you don’t leave me, and no one steals me, and I am still separated from you? What will you do then?” she asked with her matchlessly adorable voice.
Prince Jared smiled softly, staring at the sky and answered with a sure and steady voice like making a vow, “I will tear apart that sky… I will spill the oceans off the surface of the Earth… I will push the mountains away from their standing place, I will pulverise and destroy all the lands on this Earth to reunite my beloved with me.”
Princess Jeniah said nothing and continued staring at the sky that was overflowing with stars. A white oval ring that looked to be spinning at a great speed was visible behind the stars. A great deal of other celestial bodies shining with changing colours were also parading the sky. She did not speak another word that night, but tossed around and lay belly to belly on her father as she fell asleep. Prince Jared, who did not much possess faith in Sathyam, did always still pray as taught by his father. He put his hand on the back of her head and prayed as she slept, “May her spirit, soul, and body be blessed and prosper greater than anyone else’s. May she always be the most joyful and blessed person. May only things that are good for her happen to her.”
Why he chose to use those exact words is something that perhaps no one apart from him will ever know.
The next morning too, was extremely busy, just as the day before. Breakfast was grand, with Prince Jared’s favourite foods such as fancy renditions of egg dishes, creamed beef, and an overabundant amount of seafood. And while such food would never have been served at any other breakfast; even chicken and pork appetizers were served specially for Prince Jared. Prince Jared was someone who ate whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted; he had no concept of breakfast food, lunch food, or supper food. He just knew food. Lady Vallarasi, who knew this, and had great affection for him, had arranged the breakfast for him along with special delicacies of the land. She had also made with her own hands, one of his personal favourites, a dish somewhat similar to today’s French-toast. It was made with sl
ices of bread dipped in a mixture of eggs and milk with savoury and hot spices and salt, deep-fried in oil.
After the grand breakfast, everyone started bidding their farewells and wishing good fortune. The elders blessed everyone that was going away on the mission. Lady Vallarasi also packed a second and third breakfast for the Prince, knowing well that he kept sending new supplies to his belly pretty much every other hour.
Lady Hesaai cried softly as she bid farewell to Thaymas, “I have already lost too much… I do not intend on losing you. If anything happens to you, I will kill that wretched teacher of yours!”
Thaymas chuckled softly as he hugged her, “I will be fine. And I assure you, there is no chance of anything happening to me. I am Akini’s primary source of entertainment, and for that reason alone, she will protect me with her life.”
Akini stared at him in mild anger, letting him know she was not amused by his joke.
General Thayman entered the conversation and painfully convinced her that he will personally take responsibility for his safety and got reminded by her of how he was the one who lost their daughter. It took a long while for that conversation to end. But it eventually ended on a relatively positive note.
The party departed from the house with exhaustingly long farewells. The party now wore very sober clothes, since they would be in disguise in Devaar. They travelled at a moderate pace through the village, and just as they were about to reach the border walls, they happened upon a group of pre-adolescent children playing in a canal.
The canal was 30 feet wide; and with a structure that gradually deepened from both sides, it was only about seven feet deep at the centre. 25 feet above it ran a nine feet wide bridge, from which the children were diving into the canal and playing. The sight of those children diving and playing like cubs in the wild without any rules or any care in the world reminded the King and Prince of their own shenanigans from their childhood. They both looked at each other, reminiscing the fond old memories of their childhood. Every splash made from every dive, every stray drop flying through the air and glinting the sunlight off of it took them back in time. The lemongrass-green water, the stairs on the sides where a woman sat and washed clothes with her two little children bathing themselves in the safety of shallow waters on the stairs, children slamming each other into the water, children learning and teaching others to swim; all of it teleported them to a simpler time.
Prince Jared started to smile as King Jeraash understood what he was going to propose and took a head start and dashed towards the railing on the bridge. Prince Jared rushed behind him, trying to make up for the head start he had lost and reached the railing a fraction of a second after his brother. Prince Jared dove without touching the railing, performing four front flips and just as he was about to land, turned around and crashed into the water on his back in a flat, sleeping posture. Right behind him, his elder brother put one foot on the railing and took off with his hands to his side like an eagle and after descending four feet, started flipping forwards, and after three front flips, entered the water at a 25-degree angle below ground level with his hands pointing at the canal floor.
The children in the water gasped and marvelled with dropped jaws as Queen Maomi smiled over them in peaceful bliss and joy. As they both rose out of the water and pulled back their hair, they laughed loud and heartily and heard another splash and turned back to see Princess Jeniah rising out of the water. As they turned to look at her, Princess Jeniah yelled out, “I am the GREATEST!!!!” and everyone burst out into joyous laughter.
Akini and Thaymas rushed to join them in the water as Akini came down like a missile aimed at the water and Thaymas performed five gorgeous backflips and landed in the water masterfully like a gifted acrobat. As they both rose out of the water, they felt massive talons bury them back into the water as General Thayman came crashing on them and took them back into the water with him. They all played like a group of adolescent children as Queen Maomi and General Hana watched them from their horses and smiled like two mother-wolves watching their cubs play. Watching them play, one had to wonder who was more child-like - was it the actual pre-adolescent children there? Or these faux-adults playing with them? Kareema smiled and watched over Princess Jeniah with concern, sitting at the stairs of the canal.
After over an hour of child-play, King Jeraash, Prince Jared, and Princess Jeniah were forcibly dragged out of the water. The journey was resumed with the visible displeasure of Prince Jared and his mini clone. As they reached the border wall, all the soldiers saluted in honour of the King and Queen as the King asked them to get back to their regular duties.
Queen Maomi’s eyes searched for someone and finally found her old friend who had helped her when she was a child. This was the soldier to whom Queen Maomi used to serve as an informant when she had run away from home and lived as an orphan. Her name was Shanthi Parimalam, and she was 5 feet 6 inches tall with whitish-peach coloured skin and moderately long, amber hair. At 94 years old, she was past her physical prime, but still combat worthy. Queen Maomi ran to her and embraced her tightly and exchanged greetings as old friends would.
After exchanging greetings and regards, Shanthi spoke, “You seem to be all-set with your disguises.”
“Yes,” answered Queen Maomi, “All that remains now, is to march into these lands and confront the demons I once witnessed…” she stared at the wall as if peering through it to the other side and continued, “I wonder what is the current… condition there…”
Shanthi chuckled and replied, taking her hands in hers, “Given what the adolescent girl who trained herself was capable of; I can be sure that after becoming the revered Queen, she can bring that entire country to its knees all by herself… all alone.”
Queen Maomi turned to her and smilingly responded, “But I am never alone.” She looked over at the party standing a few feet away from them and added, “I have been blessed with the greatest and the most loving and… the most beautiful people.”
It was now finally time to exit the borders, to exit the gate in the walls and venture outside Jerudia. As the gate opened, King Jeraash reminded everyone once again, “Remember, keeping our identities secret is of utmost importance. I will remind you all once again, outside of Jerudia, warriors of our calibre are a rarity. Strength, speed, and skills such as ours are developed only by a very few. Hence, any warrior from Jerudia is assumed to be a monster. Which, in comparison to the world out there, we truly are. When the world calls us ‘one-person armies’, it is not a hyperbole. It is a very real fact. Bear all of this in mind, and make sure your identity remains completely hidden. Remember your false names, and remember that we are travellers from Gessold looking to buy artefacts.” Everyone nodded yes as they peered out the gate with grave eyes.
The wolf pack and the lion pride stood on both sides of the party, and all the civilians, as usual, stared at them in awe. Even though the wolves and lions roamed the country at their own free will, it was not often that they walked within the cities and villages. So, even though everyone knew about the wolves and the lions, not everyone had the fortune to behold them with their own eyes. The sadness could be seen in the eyes of the wolves and the lions as they prepared themselves to bid farewell. Queen Maomi’s companion wolf, Izumi was 6 feet 6 inches tall with white fur and brown crooked stripes with shining golden eyes, and looked like a queen herself. And her companion lion, Boqor was 6 feet 11 inches tall with the most elegant mane as if it were brushed by maidens every day, and a glorious and intimidating visage, and looked as kingly as Reagan. His shining golden eyes with brown pupils and single thin white rings within projected the might of a thousand suns. General Hana’s companion wolf, Erza was 6 feet 11 inches tall with golden fur almost shining in the sun. With silver-white sparkling eyes with sleek scarlet rings, she looked as dignified as she looked fearsome. Her companion lioness, Mira was the tallest in the pride, standing at 7 feet 5 inches; and her fierce, ever burning eyes were shining silver with duller tiny green patches in them. Gen
eral Thayman’s companion wolf, Strauss was 7 feet 1-inch tall, powerful, burly wolf with thick and heavy brown fur and glossy black eyes with dim silver rings that had the steadfastness of a mountain. His companion lioness, Biskit, standing at 6 feet 9 inches tall with yellow eyes that housed many tiny amber shards. Her muscular and intimidating visage was a balance of fearsomeness and mischief just like General Thayman himself. The entire pack and pride showered their affection, and so did the party, as the civilians and the guards stood frozen in awe. King Jeraash and Prince Jared shed quite a few tears, and so did Jiraai and Rorin.
As everyone proceeded to bid farewell to Princess Jeniah and Kareema, Prince Jared started to shed tears, as any parent would have. Princess Jeniah hung on his neck as he held her tight and kissed her innumerable times all over her face, trying to make up for all the time he would be spending without her. Princess Jeniah’s face showed great sorrow too, but she did not cry. Prince Jared produced the ring he had had custom-made for her and presented it to her. Her face lit up like an exploding star as she marvelled at its beauty. After a few seconds of amazement, she quickly pulled out a chain hanging around her neck and asked the Prince, showing it to him, “What will I do with this?” This was also the standard family signet that she had worn until now. Prince Jared smiled and said, “This was originally Amma’s, remember? It was only a place-holder, Love. We will keep Amma’s safely tucked away now, okay? You see, this new one was crafted by Papa-Jur himself! And I have added something special for Jeni-ma inside it!” She quickly flipped it open as her face froze in a pleasant surprise. Her eyes started welling up as she quickly wiped it away and hugged him tightly.