Hello! How're you all? I'm fine...hehehe...*nervously smiles*

Here it remains! The 16th chapter of the prehistoric regal novel (I don't know what this really is, I think I've mixed fantasy, magic, history and all the nonsense things together in this fic :P)

Thanks a lot to MagicalPhoneix12, best mermaid (By the way, why do you hate it? Please tell me how I can please you T_T), TLP, Neha, Rock the road, 1etnp and all the reviewers. Also thanks to those who have added it to their favorite and following list :D

Enjoy!

The inner portion of the cave was obscure. Two torches attached to the wall-clinging torch holders were discreetly burning. Their flames were trying to eradicate the darkness from the cave. Then again, they were barely successful in performing their duty. In their pellucid glow, the blackish gray-shaded gravelly walls of the cave were looking mysterious. Little by little, their jiggery surface was absorbing the heat. At its entrance, a bald elderly person was standing, perhaps waiting for someone. His gray eyebrows were screwed as the person for whom he was waiting hadn't arrived yet. One of his hands was holding a steel-rimmed candle-holder. On it, an almost-eroded candle was still burning. Its motionless flash was peeping here and there while avoiding the eyes of its master, being much curious.

"Tink tink! Tink tink!"

Backing to his consciousness, the soon-to-be impatient man looked at the source of the noise. Seeing him sitting on the back of his horse which was coming forward, a bright smile spread all over the face of the waiting one. In front of him, the horse-rider got down from his steed. Taking the rope, he tied the dumb animal with a broad leafless tree whose bald and lifeless branches were trying to touch the full moon in the sky.

Tying the horse, he approached the awaiting person. Nodding and greeting him, the Chinese man asserted, "I'm sorry for making you wait. Have you had any trouble?"

"No, not at all," The other man shook his head, "Actually, it's been a while since we met last, Master Tao."

"Sarcasm intended," Tao chuckled, "Anyway, have you remembered for what I've come to you?"

Hearing that, a chilled current passed through the backbone of the listener. Gulping, he lowered his gazes.

"What happened, Zhang?" Furrowing his brows, the legendary master queried, "Are you nervous?"

"No, not really," The man named Zhang shook his head, "Actually, pardon me, I cannot speak to our king about your plan."

"Why?" Tao cocked an eyebrow, "Neither my plan is against the king, nor is it against our kingdom. Rather, it will help us confront the upcoming risks."

"Actually, you know our king very well, Tao," Zhang slightly raised his head, "His ruling system is not democratic. He is an autocratic monster. He will never listen to us. If we try to insist, he'll put us into prison! He will drive me out of my job and home. Where will I go with my wife and children? How'll I take care of them?"

"You're being afraid without any reason, my friend," The great master tried to assure his comrade, "I admit that the king is very cruel and selfish. But for the sake of his throne, he'll do anything. This is not only the question of our safety and security but also a question of the power of our king. Driger is very important for him and his subjects. If Boris and his gang steal our precious white tiger, we will be completely powerless. Other countries will attack us. Possibly, we may lose our independence and sovereignty. To protect his chair and power, he has to understand this plan. So, I'm sure that he won't reject us."

"I don't know anything of his mood and character," The scared chancellor again looked down, "If you want to convince him in this regard, you may go ahead, I won't stop you. But remember, don't dare do anything stupid. He is a monster, he can do anything with you."

"Don't worry," Tao's teeth were flashed, "I'll try my best to convince him in the politest way. By the grace of Almighty and Mother China, he'll be soft hearing my words and knowing of my thoughts."

"Good luck!" Smiling, the chancellor showed his thumb. Waving his hand, Tao moved back and speeded towards his horse. Unfastening it, he got on its back. As he pulled the rein, the steed neighed. Then, it started running, disappearing in the opened mouth of shadows, creating a sandstorm behind it.

Staring at his trajectories, Zhang heaved a sigh.

'I hope you will be successful in reaching your goal, Tao,' He slurred, 'But I'm being afraid of the king. Will he really listen to your words? Will he pay respect to your thoughts? The chance is very low, my dear friend, really very low.'

The mere was huge, both in area and depth. Its crystal clear water was looking like transparent mirrors. The rays of sunshine were falling on it and getting reflected. Even the ground inside the water could easily be seen by everyone. Students were taking bath in the lake. While cleaning themselves, they were impishly sprinkling water to one another. Only the members from the royal clan of Russia were silently having bath, not disturbing anyone. At a corner, three pairs of white lotuses were floating, sitting on circular green leaves. A pair of milky white geese and a couple of gold-colored goslings were swimming at another corner of the pond.

"You know, Ian," A child spoke up at the time of pouring water on his head, "A crocodile lives here."

The carrot-nosed boy was slowly rubbing his arms with the paste of sandalwood. Hearing his mate, he stopped rasping. In fear, his eyes became widened. Biting his inner lip and gulping, he looked at his elder brothers.

"What happened, Ian?" The same boy showed his teeth, "Are you afraid? Aren't you one of the mightiest grandsons of the late king, Voltaire Hiwatari?"

As those words entered into his ears, blood became visible under his skin. Somehow, shaking his head, he sternly remonstrated, "No, no! I'm not afraid of such crocodiles at all. Besides, I don't believe that any crocodile can live here. If any resided in this pond, how would we be supposed to take our bath here?"

"This is a secret plan of our teacher," Lowering his voice, the frightener muttered, "They have chosen the better one for bathing."

"I don't believe that for a single moment, Kasper!" Ian tightened his jaw, "Our teachers can never do such wrong things with us. They take care of us like their own children. How can a person harm his or her own children?"

"We are like their own children, Ian," Kasper smiled a sly smile, "But we aren't their own children. Now, we have nothing to protect ourselves. We are dependent on them. In fact, we all have become their puppets. They can do anything with us. They can make us laugh, cry, dance, sing, hop like rabbits, steal milk like cats at night from the kitchen, bark like dogs for food and….."

No sooner had the wicked boy finished his words than he felt a painful blow on his neck. That almost made him see yellow stars in front of his eyes…..

"Stop scaring our little brother, got it?" The redhead punched in the air.

"Along with badmouthing our respectable teachers," The whale crossed his arms on his chest.

It was the turn of the frightener to be frightened. Rubbing his neck, he looked at three of the blitzkrieg cousins. His eyes became dilated in fear. His feet started trembling.

"Having so fun, aren't you?" Smirking, the lavender-haired grasped his shoulders, "Let me call Kai. He'll teach you a lesson which will be perfect for you."

The dilated eyes of Kasper got more amplified at that moment. At the same time, they were occupied with tears. Joining his hands, he almost knelt down. Feeling that he would drown if he knelt down, he again stood up.

"Please, Bryan, please," His voice seemed slobbery, "Kindly don't tell this to Kai. If he knows that I've annoyed Ian, he will surely send to me heaven."

"Correction number one," The redhead toothily grinned, "Don't call them Bryan and Kai. Call them Prince Bryan and Prince Kai."

"What about me, brother Tala?" Tenderly pulling the shirt of his elder brother, the youngest prince asked, "Am I not a prince?"

"Of course," Spencer caressed the hair of his younger brother, "That makes the correction number two."

"Besides," The falcon rubbed the palms of his hands against each other, "You're a bad kid. A bad kid can never go to heaven. Kai will send you to hell. Do you know what happens in hell?"

Before only a few days, Kasper had learnt about heaven and hell in the class of religion and spiritualism. Recalling the terrifying description of hell explained by Master Matvei, his trembling increased. His throat dried. He wanted a lot to drink water. There was only water and water around him but those regal children didn't let him satisfy his thirst.

"Looks like you have forgotten the lecture of Master Matvei," Spencer patted the head of the poor boy, "Hell is a place where there is nothing without fire and fire. The Satan is called the emperor of hell. Seeing you, he'll be very pleased. He'll drop you in the pond of flames. He'll grill you like chicken. Slicing you into pieces, he'll taste you along with his disciples. Then, he'll resurrect you once again..."

"….And the cycle will be being repeated," For the first time, the carrot-nosed grimaced. As his cousins were by his side, he was not scared anymore. Instead of fear, devilish smirk could be seen all over his face and gazes.

The nervousness of the mischievous toddler crossed its limit. Gulping, he started crying loudly. Not caring at all, the four boys looked back to call their cousin. But when they turned their gazes from Kasper, they couldn't believe their eyes. Leaving him, they ran across the loch and screamed, "Kai!"

Nobody named Kai was there at that period. All children were happily taking bath, playing with one another or each other. But the inlet was feeling the absence of a certain dual-haired boy.

"Where has Kai gone?" The tallest Russian inquired, keeping his eyes in search of their cousin.

"I don't know," Ian's voice was shivering, "Brother Kai came with us for having a bath. Has he completed taking bath?"

"He was supposed to accompany us," Tala raised his ocean-blue eyes, "What does he think of himself? The most special of all?"

"Stop badmouthing Kai, Tala!" The lavender-haired poked him, "We should search for him. Boys, let's go!"

With drenched cloths and droplets of water oozing from their wet body and hair, they all ascended on the shore of the lagoon. Without thinking of changing their wet outfits, they started running. Before accompanying his cousins, the redhead threw his death glares at Kasper. In a furious tone, he spoke, "You're lucky, boy. You've survived today. If you dare do such things with any of us anymore, swearing by God, you'll be finished by all of us!"

Kasper didn't mind. Gulping, he closed his eyes for thanking the Almighty. If He hadn't been with the little boy, he would surely have been no more at that second.

The forest was very dense. A single ray of sunshine couldn't enter into the jungle outsmarting the thorny bushes and tall trees. A small view of the blue sky could be seen if someone looked above. Underneath the feet of the boys, dry and colorless leaves were being crunched. The bodies of the boys from the Hiwatari clan were still wet. Globules of water were still trickling down on the sand from their body. Mixing with the water, the sand was turning into mud. The soil particles were clinging to the soaked soles of the Russian boys. Yet, they weren't stopping. They were continuously running here and there in order to find the slate-haired toddler.

"Kai!" Spencer yelled, "Where are you?"

His voice echoed in the whole woodland. However, nobody responded at all to his call. Only a few birds flew over their heads.

"Brother Spencer….." Ian sniffed, "I'm scared. What if any ghost lives here?"

"Duh, you fool!" Bryan gently slapped on his head, "Ghosts can't do anything with us. Don't you know that they are weaker than us? If they come, we all will attack them. See, we all will beat them so much that they will never dare disturb us."

Hearing the encouraging speech of his brother, the kid felt somewhat relieved. Yet, his heart was beating fast. After all, he was searching for his most trustworthy cousin but failing to find him. Where was he by the way?

"I don't know whether any ghost lives here or not," The wolf slowed down, "But I've heard that this forest is not a good place at all."

"What?" Ian's relief disappeared within a moment. He quickly gave a tight hug to Spencer.

"Yes," Tala didn't care, "A lot of ferocious animals live here. They often come out for hunting so that they can get some foods. They don't like human beings. They have an unquenchable thirst for human blood."

"A liar you are!" Bryan quivered, "Stop lying and scaring us, Tala! No ferocious animal lives here."

"I've also heard that this jungle is a sanctuary for poisonous snakes and reptiles," The redhead chewed the air inside his mouth, "We cannot see them because it's a camouflage of them. The color of their skin can easily get mixed with the color of trees and sand. I'm wondering why they haven't attacked us yet…."

"If they attacked us, would you be happy?" The tallest of them asked.

"No, not really," Tala retorted, "All I wanted to say that we must be careful."

"Brother Kai!" Suddenly, the youngest of them shouted. Hearing him, all surrounded him.

"What happened, Ian?" Spencer knelt down, squeezing the shoulders of the carrot-nosed, "Are you alright? Have you seen Kai? Where's he?"

Not opening his mouth, Ian raised the index finger of his left hand, pointing at someone. Following his finger, all looked at the person at whom he was directing. There was a large tree whose roots entered into the deepest portion of the earth. Its branches were full of green and colorless leaves. Spreading them in a huge circumference, the great friend of the human beings was giving shade to the young boy. He was sitting under the tree in a lotus position. His palms were kept on his knees and his eyes were closed. His breaths were deep. He wasn't listening to anyone or looking at anything. In short, he was absorbed in deep meditation.

"Kai!" Everyone rejoiced. Rushing towards him, they all surrounded the phoenix-prince. Unfortunately, neither he could hear his cousins, nor did he open his eyes.

"Brother, why isn't brother Kai opening his eyes or talking to us?" Ian curiously interrogated, "Isn't he listening to us?"

"I don't know," Spencer shrugged, "Actually, breaking his meditation is not easy at all. Even though a tiger comes here and eats him, yet he won't open his eyes or try to run away."

"What will happen now?" Bryan worriedly asked, while dusting the sands that were clinging to his wet body.

Biting his inner lips, the tallest of them looked at the sky. Suddenly, his eyes glittered as he hit upon an idea.

"I've an idea, boys!" He exclaimed, "Tala, Bryan, you wait here and guard Kai. I and Ian will go to our learning center and call Sir Alexandrov."

"What? You'll call our teacher?" The red-haired Russian gulped, "What if he chides us?"

"No, he won't," Spencer lightly smiled, "Don't forget that we are still in the area of our learning center. If we crossed it, he would rebuke us. We are permitted to visit every portion of our institution, aren't we?"

"You're right, Brother Spencer!" The shortest of them leaped in joy, "Our teachers are the best of all! Let's go to Sir Alexandrov, he'll surely help us!"

"Okay then," The whale glanced at the wolf and the falcon, "Bryan, Tala, be careful. This forest is full of ferocious animals and poisonous reptiles, isn't it?"

Gritting his teeth, Tala whispered something unpleasant. Not paying any heed to him, taking the youngest one, the eldest one began to run towards their hermitage.

I know my writing skill committed suicide before a long time :P

Do read and review. Pardon all the grammatical and the spelling errors XD

-Misty ^_^