The Journey: The Ultimate Power Book 1

by Shadahyah Elizabeth

  “Yes, your majesty,” Hugo replied through shallow breaths of pain.

  “Good, now get up,” Ramos ordered.

  Hugo slowly rose up, taking in a deep breath to help dull the pain.

  “Now Hugo, could you explain to me how you were able to capture my brother, but allowed THEM to escape!!” His words were sharp as a razor as if every word he spoke cut deeper than the first. If anything, Ramos would have preferred that his younger brother had never been found, but lived in fear and regret of what would happen if he were caught.

  Hugo’s eyes widened. He never expected his ace to be seen as nothing more than a two. If anything, he would have thought the capture of James would have brought him one step closer to his goal of having his own kingdom with Lenilla at his side, as the king had promised years ago. Have I really underestimated the love the king has for his brother? Hugo shook his head no, and then spoke, “They had been warned your majesty, and when we got there, Prince James was the only one left. I just assumed they were with the other group of girls,” Hugo explained. His words were shaken, he knew the moment he said the word assumed, it was over, the king would not take that as an excuse. Assumed was never a word that one should said in the king’s presence, unless desiring death.

  “ASSUMED!!” Ramos asked. His eyes narrowed as he balled up his fist and punched Hugo again, this time in the jaw, causing the latter to fall over to the floor. “Have you always been this stupid? Even Caleb knew to look into the forest. Maybe I should give him your job and demote you to stable boy,” Ramos yelled.

  Hugo got on all fours and kneeled before the king, his head was placed firmly on the floor while his hands were placed firmly around the king’s ankles. It was a humiliating position, and he felt as if he were a child begging for forgiveness from his father, but at that moment, Hugo didn’t care. All that matter was finding a way to redeem himself in the eyes of his king—a man he had respected since they were children. “Please your Highness, give me another chance. It was a careless mistake, but I sent men into the forest…”

  “You mean Caleb sent men into the forest. He was probably the one who told you about his father and you didn’t believe him,” Ramos said, interrupting him. He then pulled his foot away from Hugo, accidentally kicking him in the face in the process; nevertheless, this time, Hugo ignored it.

  The impact of the pain from Ramos’s blows coursing down Hugo’s body was intense; still, at that moment, the only thing that matters to him was getting the king to believe in him. He knew the king was right, Caleb was the one who pointed out everything: from finding out that there was actually more people in the village than expected, to following his father’s tracks and finally to sending men after the ones who had escaped. Not only had Caleb out rightly insulted him, but he had also made him look worthless in front of the king, and that was something that Hugo could not live with. Caleb had to pay for what he did to him, but first, Hugo had to escape his current predicament with only a warning—something that seemed harder and harder to do as the conversation went on.

  “Answer me. Damn it,” Ramos ordered, kicking Hugo in the side, this time, more forceful and knocking him off balances.

  Hugo crawled back over towards the king and grabbed his leg again. “Please, forgive me, your majesty. I will do better, I promise,” Hugo begged. His body felt like it was on fire, and he could barely keep himself together. It was so bad that the room had begun to spin. Still Hugo was determined, he needed Ramos on his side—needed him to believe in him or else there was no point in planning.

  Ramos took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his entire demeanor had changed. His eyes had softened and his fist unclenched. “I will give you one more chance, because of your loyalty and commitment that you have towards me and my goal,” Ramos said softly.

  “Thank you, your highness, I promise I won’t let you down,” Hugo said, bowing over and over again, each time touching his head to the ground.

  “But know this,” Ramos said, interrupting him. His demeanor now changed back to that of a giant looking at an expendable ant. “If you fail again, you will join my brother in the torture chamber, and Hugo, I will make sure that your pain is so intensified you’ll wish you were dead. Do you understand me?” Ramos warned.

  “Yes, Sire. Thank you, Sire. I promise I’ll find them, even if it takes the rest of my life,” Hugo declared. His head was still bowed and eyes still closed.

  “The girls are no longer your concern,” Ramos said coldly.

  Hugo raised his head and looked up at the king, who was looking back at him with a dagger-like eye. His posture was so large, that it felt as if it would fill the entire room; making Hugo feel small and insignificant. There was blood dripping from Hugo’s mouth and a puddle of blood where Hugo’s mouth had been, not to mention the pain he felt on his side and jaw as if he were being beaten all over again. Likewise, Hugo ignored it. All he could think about was what Ramos had just said. “But Sire…” Hugo began.

  Ramos raised his hand up towards Hugo. “The men Caleb sent should be more than enough to bring them here, but if they fail, I have a backup plan. Your assignment, Hugo is to train the soldiers for this pending war with the Hibugill,” Ramos explained, his tone was softer but sharp, telling Hugo that he meant business, and there was no changing his mind.

  “Yes, your majesty. I will follow your orders exactly,” Hugo said dryly, and feeling defeated.

  “Good. You’re dismissed, Hugo,” Ramos ordered, turning his back towards Hugo and walking back towards his throne.

  Hugo slowly rose to his feet, holding his left side and breathing as slowly as possible. The more he moved, the more pain he felt, but he knew he had to get out of there as soon as possible before the king changed his mind. In spite of this, something kept eating at him. Why did the king use Lenilla to get at James? If anything, he would have thought to use Caleb? What was their relationship anyway? Instead of asking, Hugo just bowed and limped out the room.

  Ramos watched as he left, then called for a guard. “Clean up this mess,” he ordered them and they obeyed.

  8

  “Did that just happen?” Joshua asked Caleb, as he tried to wrap his head around the events that had just occurred in the throne room. In all his life, he had never seen his mother talk back to his father, let alone put her hands on him.

  “Yes,” Caleb said, just as shocked as his cousin.

  “Okay, I just wanted to make sure that we were watching the same thing,” Joshua explained.

  “We saw the same thing. I just can’t believe it happened,” Caleb replied. His eyes were focused on the scene in front of him as they both haltingly made their way down the castle hall. It was brightly lit with guards posted at every other door, and under their feet was a red carpet that lead from one end of the building to the next.

  “Exactly. So since we are both sure that we saw the same thing, can you tell me, what the hell we just saw?” Joshua asked, trying to keep pace with Caleb, who was almost sprinting down the hall. It was almost like there were fireworks attached to him and he couldn’t slow down.

  “Nope, that’s why we’re going to the source,” Caleb replied.

  “Yeah, but wouldn’t the source be your father?” Joshua asked, confused as to why they were heading in the direction of Lady Lenilla’s room and not the dungeon.

  “Yes, but since mine is preoccupied at the moment, and your dad is, well your dad, Lady Lenilla or Aunt Amira are our only options,” Caleb reminded him.

  “True,” Joshua said as they approached Amira’s door. There were no guards posted outside the door which never happened and the door was cracked opened. Voices could be heard from inside the room. They were soft but Caleb and Joshua recognized them immediately—it was Amira and Lenilla. They were talking about something and it sounded like Lenilla was crying. The young princes had originally planned to go inside but at the last second, they both decided to stand outside the door and listen, hoping that they would hear som
ething useful that could explain the abnormal behavior of their parents.

  “I can’t believe he did that to you,” they heard Amira say. They could still hear the anger in her voice with every word she spoke. It was bitter and full of hate for her husband, a tone they had never heard from the queen. Her normal demeanor was soft and gentle like a flower, but this was something else, almost like she had become a different person or maybe this was who she was from the beginning.

  “I can,” Lenilla admitted. Her voice was soft and dry, as if she had been defeated in a great war of some kind. Caleb could see her sitting on Amira’s bed through the crack in the door. Her head was down and her eyes were red. It was clear to them that she had been crying, only they weren’t sure if it was because of what the king had done, or something else entirely. “Why would he use Caleb?” She continued, “he loves him too much. I’m an easy target.”

  “That’s true, but still, that was unacceptable,” Amira said, bitterly.

  “Since when does Ramos care about that. Besides, he wasn’t going to kill me,” Lenilla assure her. “He would have tried but it wouldn’t have happened.” Lenilla put her hands on her head.

  “True, but I still can’t forgive him for what he did to you,” Amira said, bitterly. “How are you doing anyway?”

  Lenilla shook her head. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’m just confused right now,” She said, removing her veil and exposing the rest of her face. Caleb and Joshua’s mouth’s fell opened as they stared at her through the door. As long as they had known her, they had never seen Lenilla without her veil and now they knew why—she was beautiful. Even more beautiful than the queen. Caleb thought. Her face was perfectly rounded and smooth. She had high cheek bones with naturally plumped lips. From what they could tell, she had no flaws.

  “Wow!” they both exclaimed softly, forgetting for a moment why they were there in the first place, until they heard Amira speak.

  “Of course you are, this has been a crazy day.”

  “Do you think they would let me see him?” Lenilla asked suddenly. “Maybe I could get him to tell the king whatever it is that he wants to know, so that he doesn’t have to die, or they could stop torturing him,” she said, as tears flowed down her cheeks. Amira hugged her tight and whispered something in her ear that neither Caleb nor Joshua could make out.

  “I could make that happen for you, but today will not be a good idea.” Amira reminded her friend. Since it was the first day of his torture, Amira knew that it would be impossible for anyone to see him, if he was coherent at all, after the abuse in store for him by her husband.

  Lenilla pulled away from Amira, then brought her legs up to her chest. She then wrapped her arms around them and placed her head on her knee. “I know,” she said dryly. Her eyes were out of focus as if she were looking right through time and space into another world.

  “Would you like to see him tomorrow?” Amira asked, shaking her head. Lenilla was the only one out of her sisters that could get Amira to do whatever she wanted just by doing exactly what she was then. Amira’s father was the same way. Neither liked to see her upset, mostly because she was the youngest and had been through so much in her short life.

  “Thank you,” Lenilla said softly.

  “Don’t thank me yet, my husband still has to agree,” Amira warned.

  “He tried to kill me; he’ll agree to anything as long as he can get back on your good side,” Lenilla reminded her.

  Amira rolled her eyes. “True, but you know how he feels about those who betray him and his brother…” Lenilla gave her this look and Amira stopped talking. “Fine, I’ll do it. Is there anything else you would like your majesty to do?”

  Lenilla placed her veil back over her face and stood up. “Yes, but as things are right now, I don’t think that’s possible, so I’ll wait,” She said sternly.

  It was something about the way she said the word that convinced Caleb that she was hiding something. What was it that she wanted? Why was his aunt so quick to give it to her and what was the secret she had with his father? He needed to know more.

  “I can’t help you with that one. I wish I could,” Amira said with an apologetic smile. It reminded Caleb the look his father had given Lenilla earlier when he was dragged out of the room to be tortured.

  “I know. Thanks for doing this much,” Lenilla said with a weak smile. Amira hugged her friend.

  “Everything will be okay, I promise,” Amira assured her.

  “Thank you, Amira. I feel a little better now,” Lenilla assured her.

  “Good, now go and rest. I’ll make the arrangements for tomorrow afternoon.”

  Lenilla smiled, then started towards the door. Both Caleb and Joshua moved away from the door as quickly as possible. Once Lenilla came out the room, both princes walked towards her as if they were just passing by.

  “Are you okay?” Joshua asked seemly concerned. Though her well-being was important to him, Joshua was more interested in the secret she was keeping from them.

  “Yes, I just need to rest,” Lenilla replied with her usual warm smile. “I’ll see you boys later.” She started to walk away but stopped the moment Caleb called out to her.

  “Can I ask you a question?” he asked as if he were afraid to know the answer. As if knowing the secret will shatter everything that he believed, but he needed to ask that question because it was too important. Taking a deep breath, Caleb allowed himself to ask, “What’s your relationship with my father?” He said it. The words actually came out, there was no way for him to take back that question no matter how much he wanted to.

  “Why do you ask?” She asked softly. Her tone had not changed neither had her eyes; in fact, she seemed more relaxed than she was in earlier in the queen’s room.

  “Well…” Caleb began.

  “Earlier,” Joshua said, trying to finish his sentence.

  “Oh,” Lenilla said, as if it were an afterthought and she hadn’t been crying over it moments earlier. “I’ve known your father for years, Caleb. We were best friends. Besides your mother, I was the closet to him,” she explained.

  Although there was something about her explanation that felt off. It was clear that she was in control of the conversation and it was a strong possibility that he would never get his answer, at least not asking her flat out.

  “Is that why my father hurt you?” Joshua asked. He wasn’t buying her explanation either; however, like his cousin, he figured she wouldn’t answer them truthfully. Whatever the secret was, she would take it to her grave, Joshua thought.

  Lenilla shook her head in support. “It doesn’t pay to have a friend that’s a criminal.” Her words were soft and distant, almost like she had been talking to someone in a dream, but her eyes had grown cold and they could sense the hatred in them—only they weren’t sure who that hatred was geared towards.

  “Are you going to visit him?” Caleb asked.

  “If I can. I’m hoping that maybe I could talk him into given your uncle what he wants so he doesn’t have to be tortured. I know it won’t make up for his mistakes; however,” she paused.

  “You don’t have to explain, we understand,” Joshua assured her.

  “Would you boys like to come? I’m sure if we all…”

  “No, thank you,” Caleb said coldly. He really wanted to see his father, but he wasn’t ready. He needed more time before he could see him again—especially since he knew that the next time he saw his father; James would be almost unrecognizable.

  “Of course. What was I thinking?” Lenilla said, disappointed. “Well, if you two would excuse me, I need to get some rest.” With that, she turned around and walked away.

  “Did you believe that?” Joshua asked.

  “Not a word,” Caleb admitted.

  “Whatever this secret is, I’m sure they have their reasons,” Joshua assured his cousin.

  Caleb bit his bottom lip and thought about it. The only thing he could think of was them being lovers, only he wasn’t sure if it
was before or while his parents were together; both outcomes made Caleb’s blood boil.

  “We’ll figure it out,” Joshua assured him. “Let’s go train, you look like you need to hit something.”

  “True,” Caleb admitted.

  As they made their way towards the training room, they saw Lenilla who’s armed pinned to the wall by Hugo. He was looking at her like a wild animal during feeding time. She was trying to push him away but he was too strong for her. He was angry. Like Caleb and Joshua, he was also interested in the relationship Lenilla had with James; however, unlike the princes, he was willing to hurt her to get his answer. “Tell me,” He ordered.

  “Hey!” Joshua shouted. The sound of his voice made Hugo turn his head away from Lenilla and towards the princes. Joshua had his arms folded tightly across his chest. His eyes were locked on Hugo as if Joshua were a cannon and Hugo was his target. “Is there a problem here, Hugo?” His voice was sharp and unnerving. If it was one thing he hated most, it was when a man took out his aggression on a helpless woman, especially one he considered family.

  Hugo bowed his head slightly, “My apologies, your highnesses.” He then lifted his head back up and turned his attention back towards Lenilla who was looking at him as if she were an innocent lamb who had been caught by the hunter. “But this is personal,” he said bitterly.

  “Personal?” Joshua repeated as if he didn’t understand the word. “You put your hands on my mother’s trusted friend as if she were your servant and you dare say it’s personal.” Joshua began to pace the floor and wave his finger at Hugo while Caleb leaned back against the wall with his arms crossed, taking it all in and smiling. One of his favorite past times was watching Hugo’s squeal, mostly because Hugo was so arrogant and evil. “The way I see it,” Joshua continued, “not only have you violated my mother’s law, but my father’s as well, so if I were you I would let her go and continue on my way towards my room, you look like you need to rest anyway,” Joshua said, noticing the bruises on Hugo’s face and the favoring of his left side.