by Kim Fedyk
With a few more pleasantries, King Absalom disengaged himself from Bella and turned his attention to her son.
“And you Kiran, I can see that your mother’s good looks were passed on to you. You are a fine and handsome young man, you must have to beat the girls off with a stick.”
Psht! Arleth thought, the only girls he beat off with a stick were her and the other female servants that he loved to torment. Kiran was staring at the king with a blank look; he was too dumb to even understand what he was saying.
“Hehe yes, sticks,” muttered Kiran stupidly.
King Absalom looked dumfounded for a moment at Kiran’s utter incomprehension, but quickly recovered.
“Yes, well I guess you needn’t worry about that anymore since you have such a beautiful fiancée,” King Absalom said turning to Arleth.
Fiancée Arleth thought. Ha! What sort of bad luck must you have to end up with an idiot like him.... her thoughts broke off in mid sentence...Why was the King staring and smiling at her? She looked around and noticed that Bella and Kiran were also staring at her. Kiran with that all too familiar blank expression and Bella with anger and horror just beginning to register. The other servants had also turned their attention to her. In fact, as she looked around, she saw that she was the center of attention. What had she missed?
The king had now turned towards her and reached for her hand. The King of Oherra was holding her hand!
“I am afraid I don’t know who you are my dear; my foreign ambassador did not tell me about you.” He looked behind him with a slightly frustrated look, then shook his head, smiled, and returned to look at Arleth. “Well no matter, it is clear that you must be Kiran’s fiancée. Your beauty casts a shadow on the other young women here. I must admit, I am enchanted. If I wasn’t twice your age I’m afraid I would have to fight Kiran for you.”
Arleth felt her cheeks redden in embarrassment and she had to admit, with pleasure. The king of Oherra thought she was beautiful! She was probably smiling stupidly she realized, perhaps she even looked as funny as Bella. She gave a quick look over at Bella who was literally blowing smoke from her ears in anger. No, she didn’t think it was possible to look that bad, at least she hoped so anyways. All of a sudden she felt herself being propelled violently forward. It was lucky that the king had let go of her hand and stepped back a few paces, otherwise she would have fallen into him. As it was, she was shoved so hard that by the time she had regained her balance, she was practically standing on his toes.
“You can take her! She is not my fiancée,” Kiran said with disdain. “She is just a stupid servant girl. I wouldn’t marry something like that!” He spat on the sand by her feet, spraying the back of her calves with his saliva. Arleth could feel the spittle dripping down her legs. But as disgusted as she was, she was more pre-occupied with the gravity of the situation. She stepped back a few steps so that she was standing a bit behind Kiran, but far enough away that he couldn’t strike out at her.
Arleth glanced furtively around her. Everyone had gone deathly silent and were staring at the scene in front of them, alternating their glances between her, the king and Kiran. They were all wondering the same thing, what would king Absalom do? It was embarrassing enough that he had made the mistake of thinking a servant was Kiran’s fiancée and that he had given her such high compliments. Indeed he had even said he would want to marry her if he were younger. This in itself was bad enough, but Kiran, in his idiocy had made the whole situation that much worse. Instead of humbly correcting the king’s error, Kiran had been condescending and disdainful. In not so many words, he had implied that the king was an idiot for complimenting Arleth. Diplomacy between the Sneels and the king could be broken because of this, in fact, it could even cause diplomacy between the two worlds to suffer. Did Kiran not realize that the king of Oherra was the most powerful person in the universe and he had just insulted him?
King Absalom’s face clouded over in anger and he took a menacing step towards Kiran. Arleth held her breath, not daring to exhale. What would happen? From the look on Kiran’s chubby face he still didn’t know what he had done and was completely oblivious to the angry king in front of him. Should she say something? Should she apologize to the king for allowing him to think she was Kiran’s fiancée? Maybe, but she didn’t want to make the situation worse or make Bella any more angry at her. She already knew she would pay for this mistake later; Bella was too jealous for her not to retaliate. Arleth was still mulling this over in her head when Bella, with surprising astuteness, stepped between Kiran and the smouldering King. With a meaty hand she pushed Kiran behind her and turned to face the king.
“I apologize on my son’s behalf,” she began. “It was the fault of this stupid servant, she is always causing trouble. Very stubborn you see. She is always playing at being better than she is. Your Excellency would have course thought she was Kiran’s fiancée because she was standing right beside him, when her place is behind and out of sight.” Bella said the last word with added emphasis and turned to glare at Arleth with undisguised hatred. “I will make sure that she is suitably punished for causing this incident.”
Surprisingly, the king had stopped walking towards Kiran when Bella had began her speech. His face now seemed to be lightening. He didn’t seem to be angry anymore, just annoyed. “Your son should learn his place in the universe,” he growled at Bella. “But I accept your apology, there is no need to upset diplomacy because of such a small matter.” Arleth let out her breath in relief. “And you don’t need to punish this servant, what sort of king would I be if I let others suffer for my mistakes?” He smiled again at Arleth.
“That is wonderful,” said Bella in a tight tone. She was angry that the king had stood up for Arleth, but she wasn’t as stupid as her son to let it show. “Let’s continue to the mansion, there is a banquet being prepared in your honour.”
“Splendid,” said the King, gesturing to his retinue to follow him. As he turned to do so, Bella glared at Arleth. Despite the king’s admonition, she knew she was going to be punished. But at the moment, Arleth didn’t really care. She was in shock at how charitable and kind the king had been. With such a great man as king, Oherra must be a wondrous place she thought to herself. King Absalom had turned out to be everything she had dreamed him to be and much more. Deep in her thoughts, she followed behind Bella, Kiran and the king as they made their way back to the mansion. Among other things, she was imagining what Flora would have said if she were here to witness this. At times like this, despite all the time that had passed, she missed her friend even more. Engrossed in such thoughts, and with her back to the portal, she didn’t notice the rest of the king’s retinue emerge. She was unaware that eight more serpent guards had now joined the original two, or that dozens of beautiful scantily-clad women and a handful of other normal looking persons had also appeared from out of the portal.
And she certainly didn’t notice the hooded figure that emerged after everyone else, just as the portal was closing. The man whose face was barely visible but whose eyes gleamed all too brightly with murderous venom. The man who stared fixedly in their direction and stroked his long wicked-looking dagger affectionately.
Chapter 5
Val Odane watched the king as he walked away, striding confidently; the crystal on his robe swaying back and forth with each step. He felt nothing but hatred for this man, wanted nothing more than to see him dead. Almost two decades of warfare had solidified this feeling, a feeling he knew could never go away. He grasped his dagger even tighter, his powerful forearms flexing from the effort. His father had given him this blade when he was just a child. The stern man had taught him how to use it, drilling him tirelessly in the caves around Iridian Castle. Now, at age 28 fighting was second nature to him, this dagger a normal attachment to his arm.
Val looked once again at the retreating figure of the king. How easy it would be to throw his dagger at the man`s unprotected back. To kill him here, on this distant planet. But he knew it was not that simpl
e. His ability was not in question; he had no doubt that he could aim his weapon effectively for a kill even at this distance. The problem were the Grekens, the king`s personal guards. They had a magical bond to the king which required them to protect him to their very last breath. Any weapon aimed at the king, be it arrow, dagger or magical spell would divert off course, hitting one of the Grekens instead of the king. Thus it was not even possible for an assassin to get close to the king until all of the Grekens were dead. And even if someone managed to kill all the creatures, the king himself was a formidable opponent. No, it was not possible to kill King Absalom without an army.
Val shook his head to clear his thoughts, killing the king wasn’t why he was here. He needed to stay focused. He had an important mission to accomplish, one that if he failed could mean the loss of the war. But if he succeeded, he looked again at the retreating form of the king, could finally spell the end for that man. For the time being he put thoughts of murder out of his head; he needed to make a plan.
He reviewed what he knew and realized it wasn’t very much. Their spy in the castle had only been able to tell them what Absalom had discovered was hiding on Tocarra. They had all been shocked at the news. Most of them had been too young to remember. How King Absalom had found out was unclear, but the how was unimportant. Val's mission was to get to the target before the king did. The fact that Absalom likely already knew exactly what he was looking for, and might even have found them, only made matters even worse. For what must have been the thousandth time, Val cursed that all the artefacts were locked up in Iridian Castle. If he had access to one, he could have beaten the king here and already be back on Oherra. Involuntarily his hand closed on a circular object in his pocket.
A concealing spell.
The first one he had used had worked perfectly allowing him to sneak undetected through the portal behind the king's retinue. This next one.. well.... to call it a long shot would be putting too much of a positive spin on it. All he had to do was hope the king would led him to the target or at least give him a clue to who it was. Then beat him there, grab them undetected, convince them to follow a complete stranger AND somehow sneak them and himself back into the portal behind Absalom's retinue quietly so they would be undetected when they returned to Oherra. That is assuming Absalom even opened up the portal to go back home if had failed and didn't wait on Tocarra as long as it took until he succeeded.
Easy Right?
Val huffed to himself. "Well it's not like you have much choice." He knew quite well this was the best (only) plan they had and he had to try everything in his power to make it work.
Ok so what is my plan? Val gathered his thoughts.
Tonight, he knew, there was going to be a banquet in the king’s honour. Thus the king would be tied up and wouldn't be leading him anywhere. Val’s stomach grumbled, he looked past the mansion where the king had disappeared to the nearby town of Sonohan. He would spend the night in a tavern, get a hot meal and try to gather some information. If anyone knew anything, nothing opened lips and "refreshed" memories better than a few pints of ale and some tavern air. Tomorrow morning, rested and hopefully more informed, he would be in a better position to snatch up the target and bring her back to Oherra. With a small smile he turned and walked toward the town. He would worry about getting back to Oherra later.
* * *
Arleth looked at the designs she had drawn in the sand and made a face. She was trying to draw a picture of the Greken that was standing several paces in front of her. But no matter how hard she tried she could not make her drawing anything more than disconnected squiggles. With frustration she wiped her hand across her drawing, covering it in a layer of sand; she was certainly no artist.
At the banquet last night, she had learned that the snake-like creatures that served as the king’s personal guards were called Grekens. After learning about the special bond between them and the king, she was no longer afraid that one would spontaneously hurt her. But she was even more curious than before. She was amazed that a creature could be magically bonded to a human. She wondered if other Oherran creatures were bonded in this way as well, or if it was just something the king was able to do. She looked up at the Greken again, it was standing perfectly still, feet slightly apart, its wicked-looking axe resting in the sand. It was paying her no attention, constantly moving its eyes back and forth scanning its surroundings for danger. Arleth certainly didn’t envy anything that got in its way. She bent her head down and attempted to draw the creature again.
She was sitting on the sand, at the back of the mansion’s grounds just outside the lynstone mines. Bella had indeed been jealous of the attention that the king had shown to her. After the banquet had ended, she had brought Arleth into her room, yelled at her for a while and punched her a few times in the stomach. The beating wasn’t very bad, Arleth assumed so as not show any visible signs; the king had expressly advocated against punishing her after all. But that wasn’t the end of Bella’s revenge. While she, the king, many of the other servants, most of the king’s retinue and all but one of his Grekens went into the mines, Bella had ordered Arleth to stay here. So here Arleth was, sitting on the sand in the scorching heat, trying to make the best of her situation. She guessed that they would probably be at the mines for the better part of the day, and she was terribly disappointed that she wouldn’t get to see the king for that whole time. Her only consolation was that Kiran had been told to wait with her. Bella had not trusted Arleth to stay where she was and wanted to prevent her from escaping while everyone else was down in the mines. Kiran’s company was far from enjoyable, but at least he was stuck out here as well. King Absalom had suggested leaving one of his Grekens for added security in case Arleth managed to slip away from Kiran.
She looked over at Kiran now. He, like the Greken was utterly ignoring her. He was engrossed in tormenting the worms that lived under the sand. He would dig into the sand, pull them out and then throw them as far away as he could. It would have been quite easy to run away if it was only Kiran watching her. She could have easily out-run the chubby boy. Her grapel would have gone off as soon as she reached the outskirts of Bella’s property. But it would have been a gamble whether or not Kiran could have gone down into the mines, gotten Bella and come back to find her before she had reached the relative safety of Sonohan. She might have made it. If she could have gotten the grapel off in the town she might have been able to hide for a couple of days until some traders left to go to one of the border towns across the heat band. She might have been able to sneak aboard one of their wagons, and once across she would have been free. It would have been extremely risky and she would have had a slim chance of succeeding. But she knew she would have risked it.
But the Greken stopped all of that. There was no way she could escape with the Greken there. The king had specifically ordered the Greken to make sure Arleth stayed where she was, and Grekens obeyed their king to their last breath. Even though it wasn’t paying attention to her she knew that it would be alerted the moment she made an escape attempt. She would much rather stay a slave than have that creature after her. So she sat in the sand, legs curled up under her, drawing pictures like a little girl to pass the time.
She tried drawing the Greken again. Maybe if she looked more closely at the beast she would be able to make a better drawing. She concentrated on its head, squinting her eyes to see every detail. Doing so she noticed for the first time the oblong shape of the scales and the way they slightly overlapped with the ones beside. Ha! She had missed that the first time. She might just get the hang of this after all! Painstakingly she drew the creature’s head in the sand with her forefinger, outlining each individual scale. She was determined to draw the Greken well and besides, she had all day.
Arleth, her head bent down in concentration, didn’t notice that Kiran was silently approaching her. He had lost interest in his game and had come to see if tormenting her could ease his boredom for a time. He was standing practically over top of her and she still
hadn’t noticed him. He leaned over to see what she was doing and seeing that she was in the middle of drawing he grinned maliciously. With a surprisingly swift motion he kicked a pile of sand over her artwork and laughed at the anger in her face.
What a creep! Arleth thought. What a terrible, good-for-nothing, fat bozo. Still on her knees in the sand, she looked up at Kiran’s chubby, gloating face with loathing.
Kiran snickered. “What a little girl, drawing pictures in the sand. What kind of a... baby....” He trailed off in mid-sentence, his eyes fixated on something behind Arleth’s head. From the look in Kiran’s eyes, he was clearly frightened of whatever it was that he saw there. Arleth slowly turned around.
Immediately she saw what had caught Kiran’s attention. Not fifty paces from where she sat, a large hooded man was running directly at them. In his hand he was holding a long dagger. Behind her, Kiran let out a strangled sort of scream and ran off in the opposite direction. Arleth cursed him under her breath; she hadn’t expected any bravery from the chubby boy, but at least he might have served as a diversion so she could run away. You don't have to outrun the bear, just outrun the person you are with. For an instant she regretted thinking such a cruel thought, but it went away when she realized that Kiran had done the same thing without a moment’s hesitation.
As quickly as she could on shaking legs, Arleth got to her feet. The man was coming at her fast, dagger held in front of him. Trembling, Arleth appraised her situation as rationally as she could. Kiran had ran off in the direction of the lynstone mines, but the man would be upon her before Kiran could even reach Bella and the king let alone them coming back for her. She could expect no help from there. She herself wouldn’t be able to run away, she had already waited too long and the man was running at her too fast: he would overtake her in moments. So what was she going to do? She felt the bile rise in her throat. She was terrified. She had no way to defend herself, nothing she could do to avoid what was coming.