XIV

Sohee had lain awake waiting. She'd known Bongun was coming since she heard the first shrill screams that afternoon. She had her favorite nightdress on and had her hair done up with messy ribbons. Innocent, but captivating, was what her servants had all said. She couldn't stop her heart from pounding, and she stared at the screen, waiting to see his shadow.

Finally, something moved outside the screen, then someone knocked softly. A servant rose and slid open the door, and he entered. She frowned. He hadn't even taken off his hat or shoes. She sat up a bit, moving so the moonlight fell over her and he'd see her. "Lord Bongun, my love, you're finally here.."

He strode across the room, lighting a few lamps. The servants roused themselves, or hid under the blankets to eavesdrop. Sohee winced and blinked, her eyes stinging from the brightness. When she finally could see properly again, she realized that her future husband was soaking wet and shivering, his shirt rumpled and messy, and he was holding a scroll. Upon closer inspection, he seemed to also be holding a blood-stained white ribbon and a ment. "Princess Sohee, what's this?" he asked, shoving the scroll in her face.

She blinked and drew back, bringing up her arm to hide her face demurely behind a sleeve. "I don't know, I know nothing about plants."

He opened the scroll and tapped the end of it. "Your name is signed here. This is presumably your handwriting. You mention Munak and myself in it. So why don't you know anything about it?"

The princess laughed lightly. "It's a trick, of course. Someone must've written it and said it was from me. I know nothing about such things, beloved."

He growled, and her smile died. He didn't even look sexy like this, the way he had the night her father had announced their engagement. He just looked angry and a little scary. Finally, he reached over and grabbed the ribbons on her nightdress, yanking the knot apart. She gasped and let her arm fall away a bit, inwardly smiling at her conquest. So it was true, that angry men always changed their minds in the presence of a beautiful woman..

But his expression didn't change. He just looked at her coldly, then slapped her across the face with the ment. "You stupid witch.. you certainly like the innocent act, but deep down, you're just a desperate harlot. Consider this forced engagement ended. Munak would never act the way you do, and for that, I love her even more. You're just a pathetic desperate little girl. Find one of your servants to seduce, and leave me alone." He said, turning away and leaving. Before he stepped out onto the veranda, though, he turned and smelled the ment, then threw it at her. "Perhaps you'd benefit from this more than anyone else."

Sohee watched him jump off the veranda and disappear into the night. Her servants sat like statues, looking at each other uneasily, not knowing what to do. They'd never seen anything like it. The princess had never been rejected, especially like that. Finally, one servant shut the screen and another brought a blanket to her. Sohee curled up in the blanket, then buried her face in it and screamed, agony overcoming her.

She'd lost again.

XV

Marisol clutched the railing tightly, waves of nausea making her stomach lurch. She was less than a day away from the forest where her makeshift fortress awaited. The Peco carriage had left Glast Heim just a day previous and hadn't stopped once; her business was a matter of life or death for the kingdom.

So this is the Payon Plague, she thought. The demon certainly had chosen the most painful and horrible avenues to use. Vomiting, blinding headaches, dizziness, high fevers and sudden chills, and finally blood, so much blood. Father Aden's last message out of the Church had been on paper drenched in blood, presumably from coughing. All her retainers and guards were sick as well; even the Pecos seemed delirious, getting spooked at the littlest things.

Everything came to a violent and sudden stop, and she moaned, her head pounding from the shaking carriage. She stuck her head out the curtains, wincing from the bright sunlight. "What is it?"

A crusader on a Peco sat at the head of the party, looking out into the distance. "We've come to the Sograt Gorge, my lady. On the other side is the fortress, and the Payon Forest. We'll have to be careful; there have been reports of hideous monsters here."

Marisol nodded and retreated into the darkness of the carriage. "Alright. Get everyone across the gorge and into the fortress, and hurry. We only have two days."

She sighed. What a lousy time to get sick, she mused. A lousy time indeed. Worthless animals, she'd be certain to get rid of them all. Curling up on her cushions, she fell into uneasy slumber.

XVI

Bongun awoke hearing a soft rasping noise. Munak's room had been cleaned and scrubbed again, so much so that he barely recalled the events the day before. His angry confrontation with the princess had haunted him, though. "Damn it all, I should've kept that ment for myself.."

"What do you mean?"

He glanced over at Munak. She sat on her bed, looking much better than she had in a good week. Her hair had been braided up, and she wore her normal clothes again. She sat cradling a heavy stone on her lap, and sharpening a long knife on it. He blinked, confused. "What's the knife for?" he asked, and she wordlessly handed him a scroll with a maroon ribbon on it, and a thin leaf of poison ivy entwined on it. Carefully, he opened it and read the writing, recognizing it immediately -

~Lady Munak and Lord Bongun,

It pains me that you both have chosen to challenge the throne. Very well, then, I accept your challenge. Tomorrow evening, fifteen minutes before sunset, in the sacred garden of warriors, near the temple. I shall only fight Lady Munak; Lord Bongun may only sit and observe. If you are more than five minutes late, the duel is mine and I shall reclaim Lord Bongun for my own.

Princess Sohee~

"She's gone mad. I told her to stop this nonsense completely last night. She really is desperate," murmured Bongun, rolling the scroll back up.

Munak smiled. "She's finally agreeing to get off her cloud and fight fairly. She can't possibly win; it's not ladylike to learn fighting skills." She said, blowing dust off her knife.

Bongun glanced up at her. "Then again, you've never been terribly ladylike. She'll probably cheat, you know. She'll order one of the archer soldiers to hide behind a tree and snipe you when you're focused on her."

She shrugged. "I have a plan, don't worry. She won't cheat, and she won't win. What'd you do last night, anyway? You kept making noises in your sleep."

He blushed and looked away. "I put her in her rightful place, is all. I told her to leave us alone."

Munak shrugged and smiled, scratching her fingernail with the edge. "Perfect, nice and sharp, ready to go." She said, then turned and looked at Bongun, her face grim. "You should go outside and practice shielding against stuff. It won't be safe there. Like you said, she'll probably cheat."

Bongun blinked. He'd never seen her look so serious. Her face was set in simple determination, nothing else. Her cheeks were still flushed from the fever, and she seemed both tired and very alert at the same time. He couldn't help but wonder how much she'd grown up just in the past week or so; she seemed to have lost almost all of her childlike innocence and sweetness, replaced instead by strategy and determination and anger. He felt terrible for dragging her into all of this; if she'd never found the scroll, he could deal with it himself and she wouldn't have changed. Reaching up, he took the knife out of her hand and pushed the stone off her legs, pulling her off her bed and hugging her tightly. She squirmed a bit, protesting silently, but he just sighed and petted her hair, holding her close and rubbing her back. She finally relaxed and looked up at him, and he smiled, tapping her nose. "After the duel, everything will go back to exactly as it was before, right? Please?"

She smiled and nodded, hugging him tightly. "Of course. We can be happy and never have to worry again."

He closed his eyes, kissing her hair and relaxing, praying for the best. He still felt a little worried, but he was sure things would work out.