CHAPTER 1 (Part 1)
In the year 1618 the King was Richard Demetri Alexander Johnson, Blood of King Maximus "Who fought for Mankind"s Freedom". Through the ages though, The Siege had been totally forgotten, leaving very few that knew the t.i.tle of King Maximus. King Richard was now 25 but already known as a mature ruler that has ideas to help the people of Kralaide so that it could become a more peaceful and prosperous land.
His marriage to his Queen had taken place two years beforehand, and an heir was born the year after. He was also gaining the loyalty of his governors who helped him rule the land in different respectful areas.
It was this year he came across Mahnu for the second time, not even knowing that she had helped to give him this life of the present.
The land of Kralaide consisted of nine towns that were all connected by dirt roads, except one. In the middle of the land was the capital, Conrella, popular for the royal lineage and there was nothing that you could not find there.
Most of the rice was transported from the south east, the wheat and grain was from the north, most of the rare and common herbs came from the south west and meat came from the north east. A great library, the biggest in Kralaide, was also in Conrella, which had many people go there to either teach or to study.
With trade being brought to the capital it was also giving the outside towns more money to help with their own population. Without the aid of trade to the west and east towns the King implemented to help them by sending resources to them to try to prevent starvation and sickness.
All types of lands surrounded the busy districts of the capital and to get to any of them from Conrella was a week"s ride of horseback.
Having a river going through from the north-east town of Brackan, through Conrella and down to the south-east town of Bena, made the animals and rice bountiful.
East of the river was the town of Nowell which was surrounded by marsh land and has no connected road to the capital. This was a main reason used that others did not enter and in return this made Nowell a solitary place.
The north town of Cental was dry with some small hills, where as the south west town, Dragvie, largely consisted of desert.
To the north west was a lush green forest, which was perfect for the secret town of Havlish.
The south town of Harval was of green land that the children ventured out into happily and the west town of Anddin was a rocky mountain range that was quite windy.
It was on the north skirt of the rocky mountains that Mahnu was currently. Wind blew through her hair as she looked out to the horizon, the sun was setting far to the east.
The land before her looked as it did all the other times she had come to this high place, even though that had occurred over a thousand years.
It looked...peaceful...But Mahnu could feel the sufferings of the humans as she closed her eyes.
No matter what era, humans have the talent to get themselves into trouble. Mahnu was thinking about the unchanging ways of humans. There was still poverty, still skirmishes and still greed.
Why did I save them? She asked herself again.
Did they deserve to be saved when they can"t even help themselves? There are no G.o.d"s now and they are still suffering, I just want the voices and feelings in my head to go away. If they went away, then I could sleep. Sleep like a bear and go into hibernation where even thousands of years will pa.s.s by and I do not awaken.
Then would I wake with a different perspective? Would I want to smile at the humans? Mahnu sighed.
She knew asking questions leads to wanting answers and asking the same questions repeatedly changed absolutely nothing.
Breathing in and closing her eyes, she tried to focus and get rid of some urgent need to clear her head so that she could...Could what?
Eternity was a long time, she thought, opening her eyes. All the hunger she felt was because of them, all the thirst was because of them, all the physical abuse and fear.
Mahnu had thought many times if she had done the right thing. If all the humans had disappeared, she wouldn’t feel this way.
But, she knew that the G.o.d’s were abusing and killing them, how could she have not betrayed and saved the humans?
Mahnu sighed, what she hadn’t thought of, was that the suffering would continue and so did she in return…
It was done…There was no turning back…And she wasn’t going to kill all the humans to make herself feel better. She may have attacked humans before but it was through defence and she had never killed anyone before, she wasn’t going to start now…She knew that if she had killed someone, then she would suffer because their loved ones would suffer.
…Why...Why am I stuck like this?
What does it matter? She resigned, she had travelled further down the path of questions before. It was time to stop and help without thinking! Don"t think about anything anymore. Nothing!
My selfish desire is to eliminate the cries for help, to put an end to the suffering, even though the war is long past over and even forgotten.
Yes, she thought, it"s time to move on...Again.
Mahnu wonders which place is suffering the most to know where to travel to next. She decides to head north, as she already knows about the secret town of Havlish and the King’s Loyal Royal Knights. The King"s a.s.sa.s.sination attempts, she finds, is the most crucial matter now as she wanted this King to continue his reign. He was looking after the west and east towns more as, she knew that they suffered the most, were as the previous King looked after the north and south towns, which in her opinion hadn’t needed it! So, her point of view was that without the King of today, the more of the people and land would suffer.
It was a selfish desire, she thought as she set off to the north, knowing that an a.s.sa.s.sin was already waiting for the King"s arrival.
***
In the north flourishing town of Cental, the governor was Gregory and he wanted the throne, as Mahnu had heard it. He was in his secret hideout, in a cave amongst the many hills, looking at his a.s.sa.s.sins. He was telling them that if the others don"t succeed in killing the King in the north west, they are to try when the King returns. Then Gregory leaves for his humble abode, which was a big house, on a big hill, overlooking the town that he was very proud of.
Cental was the second most popular town in Kralaide, never able to compete with the capital Conrella.
Gregory"s brother, Zachary, was the governor of the north-eastern town Brackan and he had come to visit.
Gregory greeted his younger brother in annoyance and in reply Zachary snidely remarked of taking his beautiful town away from him one day while he was gone.
After a short silence, Zachary tells him that he was going into the capital to confer to His Majesty and to trade, and wonders if he"ll met the governor of the south-eastern town of Bena.
"That fox always has a plan up his sleeve!" Zachary said in relation to his secret enemy.
"I just wished I cared more for other things besides the seat with power!" Gregory said smirking at his brother.
He looks so old, Zachary thought, older than his 50 years.
It was Zachary’s opinion that his older brother didn’t look at all trustworthy and wondered why he was still a governor.
Zachary shook his head and thought he made a wasted journey. Us brothers have never been close and it looks like we will never be.
He looked at his selfish, greedy brother and wondered if he could get his help in any way. What was happening in Bracken was something different and he needed advice. There was something rising amongst the people that Zachary hadn"t kept an eye on and now he feels overrun and even unable to lead his own town!
It was even quite embarra.s.sing, he thought as he put his head in his hands.
Zachary sighed in frustrated, I"m a governor, I must take control!
He left his brother"s estate for the week-long journey south to the capital.
***
Mahnu had reached her destination and went to find a safe high place to watch, as she rarely showed herself to others. She looked out at the horizon from the high vantage point of one of the trees, in the lush forest, and listens silently to the cries of the suffering humans as she waited for the King and the planned attack. She could hear him coming, as he sees more of his loyal guards who met up with him close by.
Strangely, the leader of the Loyal Royal Knights, Marcus, wasn"t there. She had yet to see him in person but as it was, she spent very little time with the humans, especially the royals.
Through other’s thoughts, Mahnu could know what the King looked like. He seemed mature looking, with a small clean cut beard and athletic build. He even looked somewhat familiar.
Surprising her, he sees her as she is looking out over the horizon. Getting up and getting down from the tree, so she could get away, she remembers that they had met once before.