"Your mother?" Khufu was surprised to hear the words.
Miso smiled, looking at the sword. Khufu felt a stabbing pain in his heart, looking at the girl"s sad smile.
"Yes! My traits are inherited from her, it will travel in all the girls of the family, now me being the only one." Miso wiped her tears and handed back the sword to him. "You are the righful owner of this." She smiled at him, as if giving away her most precious possession.
Khufu did not know what to say!
"But why me? Why do I have this sword? Why did the old priest give it to me, rather than you or your brother?"
"I am not the person to answer this. All I know is as soon as an enchantress decides, the rightful owner of her ashes and the kind of weapon to be made out of it, she informs the old priest. It is my mother"s decision to hand over this sword to you! She trusts you!" Miso smiled at him, tears again falling down her eyes.
"But? But...Why? I don"t think I have ever seen or met your mother."
Khufu thought about it for a few minutes. The old priest, the highest ranking priest of all nations, choses the swords of all the kings. As soon as Khufu was chosen as the king, the old priest himself gave him the sword. "You have to save many lives. Make good use of this sword." He had handed over the sword, with great pride.
"Maybe you have to do something great with this sword and my mother wants to tell you, that she will always protect you. This sword will be your biggest strength. If the enchantress dies untimely, it is her way to protect and help the people she wanted to protect during her lifetime. The instrument will remain with the righful owner, in every birth."
The more Miso explained, the more Khufu was surprised. Does he have a connection with the enchantress? "But, I don"t understand! Who could have killed an enchantress? Who could be strong enough to kill her?"
"We don"t know that! My brother found her dead when he returned home one night. n.o.body can fight an enchantress, but her heart is pure and weak. The only way to kill her is by decieving her heart. So all we know is, that it has to be somebody she trusted a lot. But my brother was scared for me so he trained me to fight. I was also trained by the old priest to make myself stronger." Miso narrated the story, as if in a long, lost trance.
Khufu could not help but feel her pain in his own heart. "Your father?"
Miso sighed deeply. "My father died fighting for Qing dynasty, while I was two years old and my brother was seventeen years old."
Khufu wanted to console the sad girl. He looked at his sword and handed it over to the girl. "You can take this. It is rightfully yours."
Miso smiled at his kind gesture. "I appreciate this, but it is of no use to me. The sword works only for the rightful owner, according to the wish of the enchantress. That is you!" Miso handed back the sword to him, with great courage. Though, she so much wanted to keep her mother"s remnants, but she knew it will be against her mother"s wish.
Khufu looked at the sword. He had often wondered why his sword was different from other rulers. The multicolored stones embedded on its handle and various inscriptions engraved on it, always made him curious. Now he knew the answer!
"I have some important work. I shall leave for now." Miso quickly wiped off her tears with her hands and smiled at him.
"Ok." Khufu sighed, looking at the retreating figure of the girl.
"Miso!!!" Khufu shouted her name, halting the girl instantly. This was the first time he had called her by her name. Miso turned to look at him in curiosity.
"I will never break your trust!" Khufu shouted out loud, for the girl to hear.
"I trust you!" Miso shouted back, smiling at him and left the castle.
Miso reached back her home and quickly changed into her travelling robe. "Brother! I have to see the old priest immediately. I am leaving and will be back by tomorrow morning."
"Sister! What"s the urgency?"
"I have decided the rightful owner of my ashes!"