CHAPTER 4: CAPTIVE OF EMOTIONS
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Ayuthay Palace
"Well, I might as well see you off, then…" said Chafko.
Rief felt a sense of unease, like he was forgetting something important. Oh, yes… Amiti's parentage. For some reason, he felt there was something important he didn't know. Perhaps it was because Amiti had been acting so weird after talking about that earlier.
"Prince Chafko… about Amiti's birth…" Rief said, his voice trailing off at the end. He felt awkward talking about these sorts of "family matters", especially with royalty.
"Oh yes, that…" Chafko said, smiling bemusedly. "We are supposed to believe that by my aunt Veriti's magical powers, she conceived my cousin without losing her virginity," he said quietly, with a tinge of mockery in his voice. Rief could feel his cheeks growing red.
"You don't believe that?" Kraden asked.
"Why do you ask?" Chafko asked in response.
Everyone was silent for a time. This situation was awkward on so many levels. Rief couldn't help but remember Chafko was Amiti's rival to the throne.
"You know it's not true, don't you, boy?" Chafko inquired, his voice full of the darkness brought by maturity.
Neither Rief nor Kraden said anything.
"I know it's not true," Chafko stated, pausing as if to draw out a response.
Rief wasn't familiar with royalty. He hated talking about these things to begin with, and he didn't know if Chafko might seek to use Amiti's illegitimate birth to delegitimize Amiti's – his rival's – claim to the. Perhaps Chafko is as awkward about how to talk about this as we are, Rief pondered.
"I don't think many people ever believed that, except for some peasants who admired to their beloved prince, and that prince himself, who used it as a safety pillow and a shield against the dirt the nobles' children hurled at him," Chafko mused.
"I don't think Amiti ever believed it…" Rief muttered.
"But he certainly tried to. He had pretty strong emotions on the matter, I think," Chafko replied.
Yes, he did, Rief agreed silently.
"Who was Amiti's father, I wonder? He certainly wasn't from Ayuthay. There needs to be an explanation for Amiti's appearance. No Ayuthayan has blue hair…" Chafko mused. "His father was probably therefore from Lemuria, or…" Chafko stopped looking straight at Rief's own blue hair. "Where are you from?"
"I'm from Imil."
"I was just thinking… Lemurians rarely leave their isle. So it'd be unlikely his father was Lemurian. Do many people in Imil have hair like yours?"
"Well… people of Imil have yellow, orange, sandy and, yes, blue hair… but who from Imil could possibly be Amiti's father?" Rief replied. Judging from how foreigners were treated here, Rief didn't think any foreigner could ever seduce Ayuthay's princess, let alone get away with it.
"The people of Imil are also like those of Lemuria, in that they never leave their home," Kraden added. "They are committed to the sacred duty of managing their village's springs and lighthouse," he explained.
Everyone was silent for a time. Rief felt that he was missing something, something he should be realizing, but couldn't grasp it. He was too tired.
"And what of his Majesty, King Paithos?" inquired Kraden.
"Paithos… tried to fill the role. But it was hard for him to be both king and father," answered Chafko. "It was hard… for him to be my father, too. Especially after my mother, Queen Zanfina, died."
Rief wondered what that was like, not only to lack a father but also a mother, or anyone able to play the role of a parent.
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Forest outside of Ayuthay, evening
"So, Myalkni, my son," said Arcanus, "tomorrow, you shall meet a new friend."
Myalkni bristled, hating the patronizing tone of the man's voice.
"Look forward to it," Arcanus ordered as he walked off. "I have business. I will see you in a couple hours."
And he was gone.
Myalkni wasn't usually heavily affected by hunger, but now he was starving. He hadn't eaten for a day. He thoroughly hated this man who claimed to be his father.
One thing was for sure now: if he was going to murder Arcanus, it would have to be before tomorrow, before this 'friend' he would meet appeared. He wanted no witnesses and no interference.
But how would he do it? He didn't think he could best Arcanus in a fight… No, I need to either cripple him quickly or kill him in one stroke. He needed to get Arcanus when the latter was as vulnerable as possible.
Myalkni remembered how vulnerable he had been when Arcanus had broken into his room the previous night to kidnap him. I was unarmed, cornered and unprepared. He may not be unarmed, but he may be asleep, which is even better…
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Ayuthay Palace, evening
The letter having been (finally) sent to Sveta, Rief was on his way back from the Ayuthay palace when he heard a voices talking in suspicious, conspiratorial tones that alerted him. The sound was coming through the cracks in the thin stone wall of a villa beside him.
"Well, it's for-sure great that that blue-haired twit is gone," Rief heard a voice saying. Is he talking about me?
"Hah. That little Lemurian-spawned whelp was always an eyesore…" said another voice. He recognized this as the right-side guard from earlier, Dhikshe.
"To think we could actually have to call him our king…" said the other voice.
This is what Chafko was talking about earlier, Rief thought excitedly. He was both worried and insatiably curious. He motioned to Kraden and they pressed their ears against the wall to eavesdrop.
"That reminds me. Well, it turns out he actually isn't some scummy Lemurian-spawn. Get this- I've finally learned where Amiti came from!" the other voice said.
They were talking in a way that reminded Rief of excited children sharing gossip, except that this was much, much more serious.
"Tell me, Tsaksido," urged Dhikshe.
"Well, last night, my father was with the king when an unexpected guest appeared," explained Tsaksido. Tsaksido then told Dhikshe all that his father, the advisor Count Genvalis, had heard last night when the mysterious adept had showed up in the bath chambers. Apparently, due to being knocked out at the end, Genvalis had lost his memory of large parts of their conversation, but what remained was still major news.
"That's… wild, man," Dhikshe said slowly.
"…that's all you have to say? You know what this means, right?"
"Uhhhh….. what does it mean, man?" Dhikshe asked. Rief was getting the impression he wasn't too sharp.
"That whole thing about Princess Veriti being an adept who saved Ayuthay from desertification- LIES! And now we have PROOF that Prince Amiti was an illegitimate child, rather than the result of Veriti's fake magical powers," exclaimed Tsaksido.
"My father," Tsaksido continued animatedly, "was furious he had never been informed of this. He works so hard to help the king, but the king leaves my father in the dark about critical issues… he doesn't give a thought about us mere nobles. None of them do."
"The whole royal family is a ton of rotten tyrants," agreed Dhikshe.
"They trample all over us, not letting us enjoy what is rightly ours… It'd be great to be rid of them…," argued Tsaksido. "By the way, Ankyala has reported back to me already," he continued.
"What's the deal? Did she find the ring in Amiti's chambers?" Dhikshe asked excitedly.
Kraden raised his eyebrows, surprised. Rief couldn't believe what he was hearing. They broke into Amiti's chambers?!
"Unfortunately, it seems that wherever he disappeared, he took the ring with him. I paid Ankyala a pretty penny and dismissed her, let her go back to her normal maid duties. Hopefully she won't give us away."
"Why do you need the ring anyways, man?" inquired Dhikshe.
"The Heirloom Ring symbolizes the continuity of the royal family's regime. Without it, by tradition, a new king cannot be crowned… without it, they would lack legitimacy among the populace," explained Tsaksido.
Rief was certain that Dhikshe was staring dumbly, not understanding a word Tsaksido had said.
"Wow, sounds important."
"But thankfully, there's little threat of him succeeding Paithos anytime soon. However, if Amiti's location is discovered and it looks like he may return, we might need to act preemptively…to make sure he is not crowned. We must seize the ring…"
"Yeah."
"If Amiti is crowned, we will be abused, and he will infringe on our freedoms and rights…" Tsaksido was arguing angrily, when Rief saw Kraden signaling for Rief to follow him back to the inn. Rief looked at the sky and saw that the sun had almost finished setting. He reluctantly followed Kraden back. He felt he was hearing important information, but he didn't want to end up getting caught eavesdropping.
Somehow there had been something terribly ominous about that conversation.
"Well, that's a bit… extraordinary, to bribe a maid to infiltrate and search a Prince's chambers," Kraden thought aloud.
"And to try to steal such a valuable item," Rief added, agreeing. "Do you remember Amiti ever mentioning the ring?"
"Well, I recall him returning with a ring when we visited Ayuthay en route from Champa during the eclipse," Kraden answered.
"Paithos must've thought he was terminally ill, and wanted to pass on the ring so he could be succeeded," Rief mused.
"I think he may have given it away though," Kraden said.
"To who?" inquired Rief.
"I… can't seem to remember," said Kraden apologetically.
Kraden always remembered these details that others completely missed, but then forgot major things that everyone else remembered.
But who did Amiti give the ring to?
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Forest outside of Ayuthay, early night
Myalkni was lying down on the forest bed, on a spot he had chosen, where there were few plants in his way. There would be no sound if he were to get up. He kept his eyes closed, feigning sleep, peeking occasionally to check if Arcanus was returning.
Eventually, Arcanus did return.
"Awake, my son," he bellowed.
Will he ever stop calling me that?! I hate it so much, Myalkni thought, as he got up, slowly and painfully, acting like he had actually been sleeping.
"This forest, as we both know, is full of monsters which could attack us as we sleep," Arcanus explained.
"For that reason, my son, you will keep watch, while I catch some sleep tonight," he commanded.
"As you wish, father."
Arcanus looked mildly surprised at how quickly Myalkni had agreed. He quickly set himself down and became still. He hadn't slept in two days, and for all he was, he was still human, after all.
Still, Myalkni was hesitant to make his move. He just waited, longer and longer. He justified it to himself. I don't know he's really asleep. And wasn't it true that one was more likely to be awakened when they had just recently fallen asleep?
Just get up, already.
Myalkni wasn't sure how much time was passing, but he was starting to get a distinct fear that he would either be ambushed by monsters, or worse, wait until morning came and lose his chance. He would be under Arcanus' control forever. That second fear drove him to arise.
He gingerly walked towards Arcanus' sleeping body. Arcanus' corpse.
Just do it.
But something was stopping him. Now is your ONLY chance, he yelled at himself silently. DO IT. It's for the good of all.
Yet, something still held back. He felt a deep, bottomless emptiness in his chest. He knew that feeling. He told it to go away, that it was only making things complicated. It didn't, of course. And on top of that, he was incredibly nervous. Do I really know what I'm doing?
Now or never, he reminded himself.
He drew his rapier from its scabbard. But as he did so, the tip of the blade rattled on the edges of the scabbard, creating a sharp clinking sound, because of how much his hands were trembling.
He heard rustling around him. Panic set in. Was someone else here? Did Arcanus just twitch? Did I just wake him up? Or is a monster stalking me? Or is it my imagination.
In any case, I'd better get on with it.
Myalkni slowly moved his rapier forward to the area right above Arcanus' neck. He didn't want to slash – that would be too hideous to get himself to do. He didn't want to attack the heart, for fear of missing. The neck, it was.
But still he couldn't follow through.
Amiti was never a killer. He had never enjoyed the sport of hunting, and when he was forced into it, he had always looked for excuses to shorten the trip. For this reason, the nobles' children criticized him for being a coward or "sissy", but he preferred to think he was simply more civilized. Myalkni still disliked using the bow because he associated it with hunting. When Kaocho invaded, Amiti had been terrified of having to fight in the war, but at least that would be morally preferable to killing the defenseless, as he planned to do now.
When I was with the children of the Warriors of Vale, I didn't have as much of a problem, he reminded himself. But that's not really true, nor is it the same, another voice in his mind replied. He had fought without complaint because he cared more of what the adepts thought of him than what the nobles the thought. And it wasn't the same because when he slain monsters fighting by their sides, it was in self-defense, and he was by the side of mighty warriors who would protect him.
Now, I am killing my own father in cold blood when he is completely defenseless. And if I mess up, I will have to deal with one of the strongest warriors in Weyard without anyone by my side.
Myalkni reminded himself of the likely consequences if he kept hesitating and Arcanus woke up. He cocked back his wrist, bracing himself for the not-so-pretty sight after he had completed the stab…
"So, are you going to actually strike this time?" whispered a female voice behind him.
Myalkni was so frightened that he jumped back- into her grasp. He felt a hand hit his back, and then suddenly, the blade of a scythe whipped around and stopped right in front of his throat.
"Resist, and you die," she threatened. Her voice was icy, without emotion.
I'm done for.
"I didn't think you'd arrive this early. Myalkni, meet Latakia, your… new friend," said Arcanus as he got up.
Myalkni was furious at himself. He had blown his only opportunity.
"And by the way, son," Arcanus continued, "I was able to read your mind this whole time. Any plot you conceive against me will be useless. But you certainly do take a long time to strike."
Blast…Could it get even worse? Please let me wake up from this nightmare, Myalkni pleaded silently. But it didn't end. Latakia grabbed his arms and began tying his hands together.
"Latakia, I think my son will need to be… tamed," Arcanus instructed.
"Yes, milord… the Tuaparang airship is ready, not far from here," she replied. "And yes, I shall, as you say… tame him."
It just got worse.
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Next: Chapter 5- Land of the White Doe
AUTHORS NOTES:
1. The naming of Ayuthayans follows the old scheme:
*Zanfina is an Albanian girl's name
*Tsaksido is from Turkish sehzade, meaning prince.
*Ankyala is from Latin ancilla, meaning girl-slave.
2. Latakia's name, meanwhile, comes from the Syrian coastal city Latakia, which is the center of the Alawite region, where the ruling family in Syria, the Assads, hail from. The canon uses Hama, so why not Latakia?
3. I like feedback a lot. Don't hesitate to review : ).
4. The next chapter will be in Morgal, and, yes, will feature more of the main cast.
go to the top of my profile and take the poll about who you think got the Heirloom Ring. I'm curious to know. If you're lazy, here's the url: /u/1681403/Yalens# (attach that to the fanfiction-dot-net url that I can't post) EDIT: The poll is now closed, but you can still tell me what you thought in a review of course.