Warriors Of Kagolania

According to the rules, he should be alone but decided to take Kalena with him. However, she could not touch him or approach him less than ten steps. Nor could she speak unless he asked her something first.

Earlier that day Kalena was accepted into the Silver Guard, so she was officially present there to protect the prince.

The girl found it funny because she knew how well Galaspiael could fight and she was sure that he could defeat all his guardians alone. For now, she only met three other: Captain Jun, Luko, his deputy, and Zei - the archer. Captain Jun was accepted in the guard when he was about the same age as her. He attacked Kalena when she was introduced to him. The surprised girl barely managed to defend herself, but Jun seemed to like her. He praised her and promised to continue her training.

"How much left?" Galaspiael asked with hope.

"Almost half the time," Kalena responded and sat down, embracing her knees with her arms. "Have you felt anything magical yet?"

"My leg hurts. And I"m hungry."

"From what I"ve heard, the feast will be great."

Galaspiael smiled. He sat turned back to her and could not change the position until the end of meditation. To see Kalena he looked at the mirror where she reflected.

"I hope so. You can go home now, you need some rest. Luko will replace you and you will come back for the ceremony."

Kalena hasn"t got used to the fact that Galaspiael"s house is now her home. She moved back to the room she had occupied before. Prince"s bedroom was cleaned and all personal belongings were moved to the palace. However, the girl decided not to make any changes in this room. It belonged only to him.

When she was about to leave the temple, she suddenly turned back remembering something important. It took her a moment to realize that she couldn"t say anything to Galaspiael.

She had to wait.

*

"What smells so bad?" Mei asked, gently cutting Zarkin"s hair. "Is there a fire somewhere?"

"I got a message from the palace," Zarkin replied calmly. "I set it on fire in Rikken"s bedroom. Probably it"s burning out."

"Why did you do that? What was this message?"

"It wasn"t important. Galaspiael would like to put me in the shackles of the Silver Guard, no more, no less. However, when I burned this card, I started to add others. My old calligraphy a.s.signments, some unnecessary notes. I have a lot of this. If you want, we can go outside and make a fire. Will you help me?"

"His Highness accepted you into his guard?" The girl clapped her hands and hugged him in joy. "That"s wonderful, my lord! You should enjoy such a great distinction."

"I"m not interested in it," he muttered, breaking free from her embrace. "I told you. I"ve been fighting for freedom all my life. After all, I"m independent why should I give it to serve in the guard? I have other plans for my future."

"Can I ask what plans my lord has?"

Zarkin opened his mouth abruptly but closed it immediately and stood up, gently tilting his head from side to side.

"There are a lot of people who would gladly hire someone to take care of their enemies. They pay a lot for it, " he said and brushed the hair from his forehead. "Cut more in front."

Mei dipped her fingers into his hair and chose a strand falling to the center of her forehead. She moved her thumb and forefinger halfway.

"How much?"

"Cut more, they will grow back in a few days. Okay, that"s good."

She worked carefully and combed his hair for a long time, gently ma.s.saging the scalp.

"You have such beautiful hair, my lord," she said finally, "you should grow them, you would look like a king."

"Having long hair is uncomfortable. The king also has the short hair," Zarkin noted, "maybe not like mine, but tradition requires that he not cut them, and he does it often."

"With all due respect, but lord Galaspiael has nothing to brag about. Everyone here has such dark hair like him… If you agreed to join the guard, maybe some high-born lady would fall in love with you?"

"Another one? I don"t need."

"Why "another"?" Mei picked up.

"I"m talking about you. You have a surname, Mei Thiro, you must be from a n.o.ble family. The fact that you were sold into slavery does not change that."

"My family was not very wealthy," she replied calmly. "Well, they often gave loans to various people, so they got rich quickly. But they were never invited to the palace."

"Either way, it must be weird for you to serve a former slave."

"Not at all, I feel very good. Once you marry some rich Okianesa, will there be a spare corner for me in your beautiful home?"

"I won"t have a wife," Zarkin replied immediately, "you are enough for me. Once I become the best archer in the world, I"ll plan to work as a contract a.s.sa.s.sin. I intend to travel the world offering my services. Will you be my companion?"

"I"ll go with you wherever you want, my lord. But are you really so reluctant to work in a palace? I heard that some velikanian maids will come with the queen, and they are said to be the most beautiful ladies. And in the guard, you would have many opportunities to practice archery."

"Why do you want me to go there so badly?"

"`Because I think you can be happy there. You are the best lord I"ve ever had, you deserve a good life."

The boy refrains from smiling brightly. He turned for a moment to look Mei in the eye.

"You"re making up!"

"No, I am completely honest. You are a very good man. You have never whipped me or punished me in any other way."

Zarkin brushed away hair from his forehead.

"So I"m a good man because I"m not beating you?"

Not only because of this. You mean a lot to me, " Mei pulled away and looked at her work. "Can it stay like this?"

"Yes," Zarkin got up and hesitated for a moment "thank you."

"Maybe I will clean that hearth now?"

"As you wish." He threw up his arms. "And I will wait with the guard. I just didn"t like the fact that they wrote to me like a job offer for a bollard. I want Galaspiael to ask me personally, then I will know that he cares. He could also offer a little more money, he can afford to pay me more. He came over and embraced her waist. "Whatever I decide will be for my sake and yours." You know that, right?

*

"What took you so long?" Luko nudged Kalena in the shoulder as she came running out of breath. "Don"t stand here like stupid there is no time!"

She mumbled an apology and followed him into the coronation room. Halfway down the long corridor, they came across the Silver Guard captain, Jun. He gave them a sharp look and snorted angrily.

"If we were in Madegald, you would be beheaded for such lateness! What an example of useless guards! The king would have been killed four times before you even arrived."

"I could be here earlier" Luko defended himself, "but you made me wait for her."

"Come on! Jun shouted, ignoring his words. "Be late once again and I swear I will lock you in the dungeon for a month!"

They went inside the coronation hall, located on the top floor of the palace. Large windows stood out of the others, decorated with ornaments depicting a fire-breathing dragon and a serpent, that is, the coats of arms of Kagolania and Velikania. The ballroom wasn"t very big, and It was decorated more modestly.

The view from there was great, but Kalena did not pay much attention to it. She followed Captain Jun closely, with seriousness and concentration, and stared at the Okiani whom she could not even look in the eye in the past.

They looked at her curiously, and some even smiled. The Silver Guards in festive black and red costumes were impressive. There were mirrors in the corridor, and Kalena admired her reflection in them. For the first time in forever, she found herself pretty.

The wedding ceremony of the royal couple took place earlier, according to the Kaitan tradition, which did not allow witnesses. At one point the door opened and everyone in the room held their breaths, then bowed deeply and stiffly. The guards immediately formed an array around the king and queen.

Lin-Si was one step behind Galaspiael. She no longer looked as confident as before. She was beautiful, but her expression revealed that she was completely lost and depressed, although she tried to mask it under a smile.

Samin came forward and greeted them with a gesture. Then he turned to face the gathered crowd. In an instant, there was such a complete and deep silence that Kalena felt a shiver running across her spine.

"After the death of His Majesty Kanmael the fifth, I was responsible for fulfilling his oath. The long-awaited day came when his son entered adulthood. His ancestors gave him special favors and he is ready to take over." Samin paused and took a deep breath. "It is time for his rightful heir to sit on the throne of Kagolania."

After these words, Samin took the crown and put it on Galaspiael"s head. It was only then that Kalena noticed how tense and nervous her master was, but if someone didn"t know him well, it was practically impossible to notice. Then Lin-Si received her, smaller and more feminine tiara. She glanced at Galaspiael, and he said something in a whisper, which she smiled weakly.

"Long live His Royal Highness Galaspiael, of Namanya dynasty, the sixth of his name, endowed with power by his ancestors, King of Kagolania! Long live Her Royal Highness queen Lin from the great house Si" Jun exclaimed, and the whole hall followed him. Then everyone knelt, and Kalena felt someone kicking her hard under her right knee. She completely forgot when to change a position and noticed how Galaspiael"s lips tightened when he refrained himself from laughing."

"Stand up, my friends," he said "forgive me that I will not celebrate with you long, but I have my reasons for this. Following my father"s will, I did not spend my youth in the palace, but among the subjects. At first, I did not understand this decision, but now I can see how much I"ve learned about the people I"ll govern. I know what to do to restore Kagolania to its former glory, but I can"t do it alone, that"s why I count on your loyalty and help..."

The girl listened intently to him when she suddenly felt Luko poking her again.

"Can you stop? It hurts!" she whispered

"Jun told me to wake you up because we are going to the terrace in a moment. You will need to focus all your attention on what is happening around. It will be up to you to look after everything that the king will drink tonight. If anyone from the outside would like to give him a drink, react firmly."

"Jun behaves as if everyone around would want to kill Gal... the king."

Luko nodded.

"The captain is always like this, you have to get used to it. But he will teach you to fight better than anyone. If you spend enough time with him, you"ll also start looking at everyone as a potential killer or poisoner."

"Speaking of poisoners, do you know if Zarkin has not been accepted into the guard?"

"I don"t know who you are talking about, you should rather ask the captain. However, don"t do it now because he"ll shout at you for wasting his time. You"d better wait until everything calms down." Luko wanted to leave but stopped and turned back. "Wait, you mean this archer? Do you know that he is a liberated slave?" He snorted contemptuously. "There is already an archer in the guard. A poison specialist too. We don"t need someone like that here."

So he didn"t know. Galaspiael hid her descent from everyone. n.o.body asked about anything because she was close to him and they did not guess what the story was behind their friendship. Only a stigma could expose Kalena, but she promised herself that she would do her best to hide it.

*

The king went down into the courtyard, surrounded by guards.

The huge gate opened slowly and Kalena froze seeing the crowd that gathered in front of the palace. She had a lot of trouble concentrating, and if someone tried to attack them, for example, throw something on the terrace, she would not notice it fast enough.

A gong sounded and everyone knelt in an instant. Galaspiael looked calmly, with a slight smile. He no longer seemed as upset as before. He caught Kalena"s eye as they returned.

"You look beautiful in this outfit," he praised. "I hope I can slip away, we must discuss something important."

"What is it, my lord?" Kalena barely managed to p.r.o.nounce the last two words. They used to be so obvious, and now they sounded just unnatural to her. But she knew she couldn"t address him as before. She could even be punished for that.

"You won"t stay here too long. I have an important task for you. Choose yourself the most trusted people and when everything calms down, I will send you away."

"Your Highness," Lin-si turned and took his hand. Galaspiael smiled and nodded at her, but quickly turned to Kalena.

"We"ll talk later," he whispered, "it"s really important."