FARHAYVEN: VENGEANCE

by S. K. Ng

  “No, I shall wait for him. Show him my loyalty. He will love me even more for this. He will reward me. He will spoil me with gifts and all manner of luxury. I will become queen. I… I will become queen!” Verbena said in a delusional state.

  Ray decided to try a different angle. Instead of preying on Verbena’s desperation, he decided to attack her pride instead.

  “Feel _ does he do of this in the same way for you?” Ray asked.

  “Of course he does, who can resist my looks? I conquered him with my smile and charm. Melted his heart with my flirting. Enslaved him with my seductions. He is mine! All mine!” Verbena stated in a smug manner.

  “Old _ what if you are of this and your looks fade; and your smile and charm withers and your flirtations and seductions falter, do you think he will still love you?” asked Ray, hoping to go in for the kill.

  “How dare he not love me!? I have given so much! Sacrificed so much! Endured so much! Why, I shall have him killed! I shall have him poisoned and disposed off! I am queen! I can do whatever I want!” expressed Verbena angrily.

  “Command _ do of this then, my queen, tell us who he is so that we can poison him; dispose of him, as how you wished,” Clover said, playing along with Ray’s plan.

  “Poison him, yes! Poison him, but not before he makes me queen, Ha! Ha! Ha! But be careful. He has many bodyguards. Suspicious men. Cautious men. You must be stealthy. But do not stab him! Do not kill him with the knife or shoot him with an arrow! Do not stain his clothes. He does not like that! Let him die looking elegant. It would have been his dying wish, yes, let him die in his elegant clothes,” said Verbena like a mad woman.

  Ray was getting excited. Verbena was close to disclosing Lord Destiny’s identity.

  “Elegant _ he will be of this when he dies, we promise you this, but tell us now who he is so that we can poison him,” encouraged Ray.

  “He is…. He is…. He …. My love, my Lord Destiny,” Verbena said as she passed out and slumped her body on the desk.

  Ray slammed his fist on the desk in frustration. Clover covered her face with her hands and shook her head. They were so close to exposing Lord Destiny’s identity. So close! But it mattered not. In a few hours they would try again.

  A flash of lightning streaked across the darkening, cloud-covered late-evening sky. The sound of nature’s anger followed suit like an explosion from the heavens. Cold liquid pearls dropped from the sky above. Then it poured. And on the soggy ground below, the lonely and weak figure of Dawn Breven sat shivering with her back against the trunk of a large tree. Her horse was tethered to one of the branches. Dawn had entered Tower Forest two nights prior. Tower Forest was the border between North-western Falls and Eastern Falls. She had constructed a simple and wide raft that carried her and her horse across the river that separated this forest from Shadow Forest. After the crossing, she had dismantled the raft and scattered the bamboo that she had used to construct it so that they looked just like random debris.

  Dawn looked up at the pouring sky, unsure whether to curse the heavens above or thank them. The rain not only made her cold and wet, but forced upon her a difficult decision. Her horse would be leaving clear footprints in the wet, muddy ground and this would be detrimental to her escape. She would have to abandon it. She would have to set it loose to run wildly so as to misguide her pursuers, while she made her way by jumping from tree root to tree root so as not to leave any footprints of her own. If her plan fails, she would have lost an excellent mode of transport. But if her plan succeeds, she would be totally free of her pursuers.

  Dawn reached for a canvas bag that was attached to the saddle and removed it, and then set her horse free to run off wildly. Dawn looked at the canvas bag in her hand. It had a strap with which she could sling over her shoulder for carrying. She sat back down against the trunk of the giant tree and examined the bag’s content, which up until now; she could not manage to do properly as she was so preoccupied with evading capture. She knew there were slices of bread wrapped tightly with long, waxy leaves because she ate a few of them over the past week in addition to the few wild fruits that she had managed to find.

  Dawn’s detailed examination revealed a hunter’s knife sheathed in a wooden scabbard, a bamboo water container, a small rectangular cooking pot, and two small canvas pouches, the first containing rice grains and the second containing a flint rod, fishing hooks, needles, threads, bandages and a bottle of salt. There was also a neatly folded, small, thin canvas blanket.

  The bottle of salt was immediately useful. She had some cuts on her face, arms and legs and applying some salt to the wounds, although it would sting, would help them heal faster due to the salt’s antiseptic qualities. She covered herself with the blanket to keep from the rain and applied generous amounts of salt to her wounds. Her face cringed as she held back her screams from the pain of the sting. She also discovered that she had picked up quite a few passengers on her, for when she rolled up her pants, there were a number of leeches on both her legs. A generous dab of salt dealt fatality to these parasitic creatures. Then she closed her eyes and went to sleep for the first time in a week. Her mind shut down immediately and she was drawn into a temporary blackness where neither the cold nor the wetness bothered her.

  As the sun rose again from the horizon on the 17th Day of Fourth Month of Dry Season, a runner approached Ray in his office to deliver a message. Ray, Clover and Serene were summoned to the king’s private study immediately. The trio made their way with haste. They walked through the open door of the study, bowed to King Patrum and took their seats when offered. The king was seated on his favourite chair and wore a worried expression.

  “Matter _ of this, why are we summoned, Your Highness?” asked Ray, breaking the silence.

  “This is regarding Verbena Romar. Her solicitor had approached me with a request. Hah! Request! More like an ultimatum! We must set a date for her trial and the date must be before the 22nd of this month, or we shall be required to release her,” said the king.

  “Reason _ of this, why is it so, Your Highness?” asked Ray.

  “We are required by law to try the criminal within 15 days of her initial arrest, and in failing to do so, we are required to release her. Forget not, she is a civilian. She is not military. So the laws which she falls under are different from that of your friend, Thorn Sayvion,” explained the king.

  “Delay _ surely, Your Highness, you can command that the trial be done of this, after all, you are the king,” said Serene.

  “Possible _ I do not think it is of this, cousin,” interjected Clover.

  “Your cousin is right, Minvian Genox. The law is the law and as king, if I do not conform to the law, then what sort of example am I setting for the people? Even kings are subject to law, lest we be seen as tyrants and cause an uprising against ourselves,” King Patrum pointed out.

  Ray and Clover understood that the king’s hands were tied. It took Serene slightly longer to accept the fact. But finally, she realised that kingship is a form of leadership and all forms of leadership is practised by the setting of examples. So, the king’s hands were indeed tied.

  “Information _ Your Highness, we are close to getting of this of what we seek, but we need more time; so is there any way to delay the trial?” Ray asked.

  “No. There is no way. The law on this issue is clear. I have ordered the trial to be conducted on the 19th. All three of you will act as prosecutors. Minvian Sky Proest of the Royal Guards will be assigned to you as your legal advisor and co-prosecutor, but Minvian Iddell; you will be the primary prosecutor for the case. I am sorry I cannot buy you more time. The eyes of the whole kingdom are upon us,” explained King Patrum.

  “Understand _ we do of this, Your Highness!” said Ray.

  “What is the latest information that you have managed to get out of her, Ray?” King Patrum asked.

  “Information _ of this, we have found out that indeed there is a mastermind and that he is a very rich and powerful man; and that he dr
esses in elegant clothes and is always surrounded by bodyguards. Lord Destiny _ he calls himself of this,” Ray answered briefly.

  “Information _ additional of this is that Lord Destiny is after the throne of the kingdom, Your Highness, and he believes that he has such rights so as to claim it or take it by force,” Clover added.

  King Patrum’s jaw dropped in surprise. For a short moment he was lost for words.

  “But that is ridiculous. I ascended to the throne without any challenge whatsoever. There was not even a single objection or doubt. I was the elder of my father’s two children and my brother had made it clear he had no intentions whatsoever to become king. My uncle had died 50 years ago in the Alliance War along with all his sons. There is no one left in this bloodline but me and my brother. So who could this mastermind be?” King Fulmar said disbelievingly.

  “Identity _ whatsoever is his of this, this Lord Destiny person is well-placed within the government, otherwise he would not have the money, power or even opportunity to come up with and execute such plans, Your Highness,” expressed Serene.

  “You are right, Minvian Genox. It could only be someone well-placed in our government,” agreed the king.

  King Fulmar tapped his fingers on the armrest of his chair. Ray leaned back on his chair and stroked his goatee. Clover and Serene, as usual, sat upright in perfect attention.

  “How is it going with the hunt for Dawn Breven?” the king asked.

  “Posts _ none of our observation of these have reported any sightings of the assassin yet, Your Highness, but perhaps it is still too early to judge. Informants _ of these, I have recruited a fair number in all the villages and towns that we expect she would be travelling through, so I am quite confident that sooner or later we would be able to track and recapture her, Your Highness!” assured Serene.

  “And what about this Shadow Deathmerchant Clan? When do you think they will strike again, Serene?” enquired King Patrum.

  “Strike _ they probably would not be able to do of this anytime soon, Your Highness, since they have lost a significant number of their assassins. Months _ it will probably be a few of these before they can be strong enough to strike again, Your Highness!” answered Serene.

  “I hope you are right, Minvian Genox. These assassins are a thorn in our sides. We have much bigger problems to deal with. The latest intelligence points to the Serpentians trying for another raid soon. The Aridytes, meanwhile, have begun attacking villages along our western borders again. I need all my soldiers focussed on addressing these two issues, but this Shadow Deathmerchant Clan and the Verbena Romar affair are too serious to just push aside at the moment,” expressed King Fulmar.

  The issues of Serpentians and Aridytes were never of much concern to Ray, but seeing as he was for that moment already a soldier, these issues have become too important for him to disregard.

  “Intelligence _ how reliable is it of this, Your Highness, concerning the Serpentians?” asked Ray.

  “Very reliable. I have lost almost a dozen of my best scouts getting this information. Infiltrating Serpentian strongholds is not easy. And kidnapping highly-ranked Serpentians for interrogation is not easy also. I have just made the children of 11 families, orphans. Sometimes I wonder; is this crown on my head a gift or a curse?” answered the king.

  “Neither _ it is of this, Your Highness, just a heavy responsibility, that is all,” said Ray in consolation.

  There Serene and Rod were, back again at Courthouse Fallsene on the 19th Morning of Fourth Month of Dry Season. But this time Serene left Rod at the observer section and walked on to the prosecution desk where Ray, Clover and Sky were seated. All four minvians sat themselves down and began cross-checking each other’s notes. Serene looked around. All the furniture in the courtroom were properly repaired and repainted, leaving no clue as to the chaos that she, Rod and their comrades had created on the 16th.

  Ray was a little nervous. He scanned the courtroom from front to back and took in the chaos that it was in. Journalists had gathered at the observation section, writing out secret notes on their pads while soldiers, Elementhars and Royal Guards alike, eyed them with distaste. It was no secret that the journalists took a very sympathetic view of Verbena Romar, citing that she was just a scape goat and that she was framed by power-hungry soldiers to cover up their incompetence. But the soldiers saw Verbena as the instrument that contributed to the deaths of many of their friends and colleagues; a willing instrument of evil who of her own right was as dangerous an enemy as any Serpentian or Aridyte warrior.

  Ray’s eyes shifted to the defendant’s desk. Ray could see a team of serious and sophisticated-looking gentlemen in their mid-thirties and early forties, to which he had no doubt, were experts in their chosen field. And that was the nature of the problem, the true cause of Ray’s nervousness, actually. This, the practice of law, was their chosen field, not his. Two days of tutoring by Sky were hardly enough to even cover the basics of courtroom protocols, let alone to win a case. Sky kept assuring Ray that it was all about the evidence but somehow Ray was still sceptical. Evidence needed to be interpreted and it was the interpretation of the evidence where a legal solicitor’s skills was applied. Not to mention the ever irritating loop-holes and hidden clauses in the law that seemed to pop up out of nowhere to send the best of intentions to hell. The courtroom was a battlefield Ray was unfamiliar with and the defendant’s solicitors were opponents that Ray had no prior experience battling.

  Clover, on the other hand, was calm and focussed. Her mind was diving deep into the notes and law manuals in front of her. The whole realm of Farhayven was lost to her. Nothing existed except for the laws and by-laws, rules and regulations and also rights and privileges. This case was important to her personally, for it was an opportunity for her to impress her father, to prove to him that she too can afford serious contributions to Free Falls just like the rest of the Genoxes.

  A side door to the courtroom opened and five female Royal Guards marched in with Verbena Romar in the middle. Immediately there were loud jeering voices from the small crowd of soldiers who sat on the prosecution side. There were quite a few wolf whistles as well, for Verbena looked quite attractive in her grey formal dress, though all of them came from civilian men seated on the defendant’s side. Verbena took her time to sit down gracefully. Her face exuded calmness and confidence, and also a dash of arrogance.

  The jeering becomes louder. A Royal Guard shouts out for silence and order. Thud! Verbena’s eyes open wide. Her eyes turn dazed and unfocussed. Blood flows from her lips. After a simple exhale of breath, she slumps forward and her upper body falls flat on the desk in front of her. There is a handle of a dagger protruding from her back. Someone shouts the shocking words ‘She is dead! Somebody killed her!’ The jeering ceases immediately. All eyes fall on Verbena’s slumped body. The feeling of shock engulfs the courtroom. Eyes open wide. Jaws drop. Every one seems frozen in time.

  Ray’s eyes jump from Verbena’s dead body to a well-built man dressed in an elegant brown long-coat who is seated several rows behind her. Something seems odd about this man. He is not frozen in shock like the others. He is calm and composed; much too calm and composed in this prevailing circumstance. Instinctively, Ray stands up, shouts the word ‘assassin!’ and points to him. All eyes fall on the man with the brown long-coat. All the soldiers in the courtroom stand up and draw out their daggers. The man in the brown long-coat smiles. He returns Ray’s stare, pulls out a dagger and sends it flying towards Ray. Ray thrust his hand forward, and sends out a portion of soul energy that wraps itself around the dagger in mid flight, forming an encasement of hardened earth. The dagger falls harmlessly to the ground. Ray’s instinct is to return the favour with a Pebble Dart Spell, but decides against it as he may miss his target and hit an innocent bystander. Clover, Serene and Sky get up off their seats and draw out their daggers. The soldiers close in on the man in the brown long-coat. The man in the brown long-coat stands up, bows courteously, affords a sly, fake-lookin
g smile and then disintegrates into a pile of dust before their very eyes. Then the pile of dust swirls and flies out of every opening that the courtroom has. Every one freezes in shock once again.

  Several moments later, the courtroom was abuzz again with chatter. Everyone looked at each other with the same confused expression on their faces.

  “What? How? He just...,” said one of the Royal Guards.

  “That is impossible!” shouted another.

  “Possible _ is it of this to do that?” both Clover and Serene asked simultaneously as they turned to look at Ray.

  “Possible _ of this, I… I… I am not sure!” replied an equally confused Ray.

  “Elemental Sorcery _ is it a new type of this, one that has yet to be discovered?” asked Clover.

  “Know _ I do not of this,” replied Ray.

  “Assassins _ of this, how many groups are there? Skill _ perhaps this is a new of this that the Shadow Deathmerchant Clan has developed?” speculated Serene.

  “Know _ I do not of this,” replied Ray again.

  “Assassin _ of him, what happened and where did he go?” asked a limping Rod Sayson as he joined Ray and the others.

  “Know _ I just do not of this!” replied Ray in a loud, frustrated tone.

  Everyone became silent. Somehow Ray’s frustration triggered a sense of disappointment in everyone. Of all who were present in the courtroom, Ray was the most knowledgeable in Elemental Sorcery, or sorcery of any kind, as a matter of fact. So when the ‘expert’ said that he did not know, it killed everybody’s sense of security and hope. But the fact remained! Ray just did not know!