Warriors Of Kagolania

Alissa approached the window cautiously and then immediately headed for her husband"s room.

"I don"t know why he came here, but I don"t like it," she whispered as Washar descended to the ground floor.

"Maybe it"s about Shao Tien," Washar replied, trying to remain calm, but when he was about to leave he pursed his lips. "Maybe he was found dead and I was the last person to see him. They would take me to interrogation."

"Again?"

"Last one time," he a.s.sured, "stay inside. I"ll handle it quickly."

He went outside and carefully looked at his brother and guard, then let the breath out loudly and smiled.

"What happened? Is it serious?"

"Very much serious. Someone stole your recipe."

In one second, the younger prince felt cold sweat pouring over him.

"That"s impossible," he replied quietly.

"I"d like it to be impossible too. However, we have recently received information that unidentified explosions have occurred on the Sekanian beach, which no one from the Righteous Conspiracy caused."

"Someone could just steal a piece of dynamite, not a recipe," Washar defended himself. His brother gave him a cold, emotionless look.

"Dynamite from Sekania is not a copy of ours, but it was undoubtedly made on its basis. The council agreed that this would not be possible, without having explicit instructions. The thief had to get a recipe from somewhere."

"We can go to the vault now. A fresh roll of parchment with the recipe written on it rests securely in the crate. If the Sekanians have dynamite, this is their invention, and I have nothing to do with it."

"And what about the old one?"

"What?"

"An old copy," Sujin repeated emphatically. "Where is it? Brother, how can I understand your silence?!"

"The old copy fell apart."

"You were supposed to destroy it as soon as you made a new copy. Have you done it?"

"Yes," he lied, "How can you be so sure that it is my fault!"

"You would tell our father everything and he will decide if you are guilty or not. But in my opinion, you are," Sujin added with a s.a.d.i.s.tic smile. "Your task was to watch over the recipes, if it fell into foreign hands, you are responsible for it."

"Even if someone found a single stick of dynamite and based on it created his version?" Washar asked, but didn"t get an answer. He followed Sujin, guarded like a criminal, dreaming to use his power. To kill. Right now. His brother was an easy target, but Washar doubted that he would have enough strength to fight the guards. The prince did not know how strong he was. He suspected that if he had the right conditions and could train regularly, the power could increase. All his life, however, he had limited the use of it.

The road blurred before his eyes. He had the impression that the high wall, the gate in which four carts could fit going side by side, the palace guard, gold-plated corridors and everything on which he stopped his eyes would be a figment of his imagination.

At one point, he couldn"t quite determine if he was awake or if it was a nightmare of a dream he would wake up from.

The emperor was waiting in the golden throne room. He gave Washar an angry look and motioned for everyone to go out into the corridor. They were alone.

"There is no excuse for such a serious oversight," he began. "You have covered yourself in eternal shame and you will never be able to clear your name again."

"Father…"

"Silence! Because of you, the nation has lost its heritage! You are responsible for this, as the leader of the imperial guards!" The emperor stood up and Washar sank to his knees. He looked at his father"s unshakable statuesque face, though he knew that it was forbidden to do so.

"I know what your problem is. I"ve always been against the idea of you starting a family, it"s stupid. Love is distracting, my son. You can"t focus on the work entrusted to you because you are still thinking about your wife and child."

"You also had children, father," Washar defended himself, "and two wives."

"How dare you lecture me? Having children was my duty! And yours was to guard the recipe. Only because everyone knew their duty, the Huangjin family survived the Great War and ruled Madegald for five thousand years! You will have to get rid of the people who led you to fail."

"Well! As you wish, Your Majesty," Washar said with a heavy heart. "I will send Alissa and our child as soon as I get home."

"I"ve already had the right people to take care of it. This girl has to die, only then can you be able to focus on work again."

Washar felt a particle of his soul die.

"Father no!" He jumped up abruptly. "Please, don"t punish Alissa for my mistakes! Let"s just send her back! Only I am guilty of this! Give me a penalty..."

"That"s what I"m doing," Emperor replied. "Go away and don"t come back until I call you. When they would clean the ashes, move to the palace, I forbid you to go back to that street. Learn to live for one purpose and don"t try to question it again!"

It was like a nightmare. As in a trance, the prince came to the big window and looked through the gla.s.s. From behind the walls separating the palace from the city, clouds of black smoke could be seen rising from the place where his house had once been. Washar leaned his head helplessly against the gla.s.s, and hot tears ran down his cheeks.

"I didn"t even say goodbye to them..." he said quietly and turned toward the throne decorated with precious stones. His face was grimaced with wild hatred. "You didn"t let me say goodbye to them!"

Before he realized what he was doing, the wave of rage and regret he felt turned into dark energy. For the first time in his life, he saw his father fall back in terror. The emperor called for the guards, but it was too late. Darkness filled the entire throne room and there was so much of death inside that it could successfully kill all the people present in the palace. Instead, Washar focused on one goal.

"May the demons in h.e.l.l rip your miserable soul to shreds!" He hissed and let the darkness take control.

*

"Yes! I have it!" Kalena"s voice echoed in the Yagn-Sho corridors as she ran into her room. She vigorously opened the door and jumped onto the bed next to Galaspiael. "They are finally here!" saying this, she handed him the doc.u.ments confirming her preparation for the calligraphy, math, and Sekanian exam.

"A brilliant result!" Galaspiael praised. "But you have probably forgotten something?"

"I didn"t forget. I came to change and immediately go to Rikken."

"What about Aymon?"

"I don"t want to," she said, looking for comfortable workout pants. "When you told me that only one language is enough to pa.s.s the exam, I completely gave up on Madegaldian. I would not pa.s.s the preparation test."

"Why don"t you try? I can imagine how Aymon would have enjoyed not allowing you to take the exam... or how annoyed he would be if he"d have to allow you to go" Galaspiael seized Kalena in his arms with joy and gave her a big hug. "I"m so proud of you that you can"t even imagine! I knew you could do it."

"I yet have to find out how the others did."

"For sure they did well."

"Li had some problems. He didn"t pa.s.s the Sekanian test.

"But nothing is lost!

"I told him the same thing," Kalena glanced at his things, carefully folded and packed. "When do you plan to leave?"

"In the afternoon. Coronation is scheduled two days after your exam, so I have no time. Samin thinks I"ve been here too long. But even if the palace would collapse without me, I will come here for your presentation."

"What about experiments?"

"We"re done," he replied and handed her a large metal key. "We successfully managed to create Kagolanian dynamite. I will teach you the recipe and production method soon. And please, take care of the house well. I trust you won"t blow it up."

The girl was stunned. She glanced at the key, then back at Galaspiael.

"You can"t give me your house!"

"What else should I do with it? I will not be able to live there anymore and I cannot sell it because of what is under it. I need someone trusted and you must have your place after training. I hope that once you become a famous and respected Scribe, will you sometimes invite your old master for tea?"

"I don"t have to invite you to your own home. You will come alone if you feel like it."

"But you won"t encourage me to come?" He finished playfully.

Kalena helped him pack the rest of the stuff. There were many more than they brought. Galaspiael took all signs of his presence from Yagn-Sho

"You can"t carry it alone," she said.

"The servants should come in the evening." The boy pursed his lips, but then he smiled. "All members of the silver guard should be present at the coronation. You must leave immediately after the exam."

"Ah," she nodded. "I"ll be there."

"Great. Oh, dear ancestors don"t let me do anything stupid! I have everything under control and I think that I will do well, but I"m worried anyway. This wedding... I don"t even want to think about it."

Kalena completely forgot that Galaspiael"s wedding with Lin-Si was also planned on the day of the coronation.

She had already forgotten that this moment would come.

*

The prince left much earlier than he announced.

When Kalena got alone, she craved for the company of her peers.

She spoke to all those who took preparatory tests that day. They shared their experience and supported each other like never before.

Kalena talked with Li for a long time. He wasn"t her close friend, but she felt something was wrong with him. He was extremely stressed by the exam because although he was admitted, his result was mediocre. His parents, extremely respected in the a.s.sociation, placed great hopes on their son, which he, unfortunately, could not meet. He was not very capable, neither in science, nor in combat, nor any other subject. Compared to the rest of the group, he did very poorly. He stopped talking to Mizar and Kete when he learned that they had excellently pa.s.sed all exams.

When Kalena told him that her master - the prince had been trained for two years, Li only replied that he did not believe her. They both began practicing their presentations, which were to be part of the test. In the evening Li said goodbye to her and seemed to be much more uplifted. He asked not to follow him. He thanked Kalena for her time and said that he was going to take a long walk.

In the morning he was found dead.

Mizar noticed him first when he went to morning training. He ran for help as quickly as he could and the first person he came across was Zarkin.

The rope tied to the metal corner of the roof broke when shot with an arrow. Li"s body fell to the ground with a deafening thump. Mizar ran over and began to cut the loop tightened around Li"s neck.

"You know what to do, right?" He asked, looking at Zarkin pleadingly. "Give him some potion!"

"It won"t do anything."

"Please, it"s my friend!"

"He"s been dead for several hours!" Shouted the blonde boy. "Stay here and I"ll go tell the masters."

The news spread quickly across Yagn-Sho and also reached to Kalena.

An investigation has been started. While searching the Li"s room the masters came across a letter he had received from his mother. The message was overwhelmed with grief because of his poor results, and the last paragraph was about the exam and what would happen if the boy didn"t pa.s.s it. It was pointed as a reason for his suicide.

The death of one of the students shocked everyone, but it was Li"s master who was affected by it the most. He handed Li this message and blamed himself for not checking it earlier.

Kalena wanted to contact Galaspiael very much, but Rikken strongly advised her against this idea.

"You shouldn"t disturb him now," he argued, "he has just left, he has a lot of his worries. I know you are used to always having him for yourself, but it"s over."

"I know," she murmured and reluctantly crumpled the letter she had with her. "But I don"t know who else I can talk to."

"You were the last person to talk to Li before it happened."

"I didn"t know him well. But... He was here all the time. I"ve never exchanged more than a few sentences with him, but... " She shook her head. "He was here yesterday and now he"s dead."

"Before my exam, we had four suicides. I remember feeling as desperate and helpless as you. It is not bad here anyway. This is much more common in the Conspiracy."

The girl turned and stood up.

"Is Zarkin in his room?"

"He left with Mei to prepare the presentation. You will find them in the training room."