Chapter Eighteen.
Nara’s mouth dropped with shock as she took everything in. The sentinels sprawled on the floor disarmed and knocked out by Finn. The General pinned on the wall with his feet dangling from the floor as the female elf hand tightly wringed his throat, his features and neck ruddy while the lady elf’s other hand pointed the sharp tip of the blade at the hollow of Barra’s throat, who harshly glowered back at his capture. Nara shifted her eyes to the other two elves, they had disarmed Risa and the three guards who flanked the king. Her gaze moved to the prince who hadn’t moved from where he was standing. The mage stood two feet away from the prince, wedged, the hood hiding soulless eyes staring at the ground lifelessly.
Nara had never seen such violence in anyone eyes as the one she was now seeing on the prince’s; it made her shudder to the core. His skin was taut making his face more sharp and harsh. His green eyes darkly vibrant and sinister. A wringed sob had Nara shifting her gaze to the high end of the table. Real terror kicked in when she beheld the king and queen. The queen held one of the carving forks that was on the table prodding the king’s throat whereas the king had the fillet knife pressed to the center of her left breast inching closer and closer to tear the beautiful garments she wore and pierce her flesh straight to her heart. Tears profusely fell from the queens redden eyes, trailed and run over flushed cheeks. The hand which she held the fork trembled.
What in the gods did he do to them?
Fear gripped her. She searched for her family.
Her father and mother had gone stone cold, clear dread displayed on their features at the same time Ingrid was quietly sobbing with her eyes squeezed shut. She noted they were holding each other's hand, wishing she was not separated by the paled lord who sat between them. She was slightly relieved when she ran her gaze over them for any sign of injury and found none, afraid they had also been harmed. Apart from the king, queen, mage, Risa, the guards, Barra and the General no other person appeared to have been physically hurt in some way. Lest the elves tried to hurt her family or her, she would not allow it. Daring herself even though she was terrified, her fingers reached out for the steak knife she had placed earlier on the silver round plate with meat delicacies. She would fight to her last breath against the elves if it promised and gave her family a chance to leave this room alive. Her steady hand faltered and almost dropped the knife when she heard the prince’s voice.
“Now we are going to do this my way.” The prince said in a matter of fact tone. “Tell your mage here to unveil the well, and we will be on our merry way.” Calemir regarded the distraught king, who had turned deathly pale and was sweating with each passing second as the fork dug and needled deeper into his neck threatening to cut his jugular. Luckily it elicited no drop of blood and his wife’s sobs assaulting his ears were the only things keeping him from fainting.
“Huh…” the king croaked, his face twisted painfully as if he was struggling hard against something before looking at the prince dead in the eye. “No.”
Calemir’s mouth thinned.
“Kill me if you have to, but that won’t change a thing” the king choked, holding his chin high and still as he felt a trickle of blood from the small puncture the sharp inch of the fork just made on his throat.
No one dared to move, guards remained frozen where they stood and did nothing to help the king. Fear had grounded everyone. As if recovering from a trance, the mage’s head snapped up.
“Reveal the well” the prince commanded the mage.
“I cannot” the mage shook his head.
Growling, the prince inched closer to the mage.
“Don’t bother threatening him, the half breed is bounded by oath not to reveal it unless I say so. You know what happens when one goes behind their given word elf?” the king taunted.
Furious, Calemir ripped the hood hiding the mage’s face back and stared at the creature. Half human and half elf. It bared similarities with his kind eerily, features nearly beautiful as the pure ones except for the tip of its ears were much shorter and pointed outward, its form less tall and leaner. Nara watched the prince study the mage. She couldn’t help feeling a tremor of fear for his life. A half breed elf was considered an abomination by the elves. They were not taken kindly by their kin. Instead, the prince scoffed and ignored the mage by returning his attention back to the table. Looking at the king, she felt something she never thought he could make her feel. Admiration. For once in his life, king Lorenz kept his life forward for his people. He had the elf where he wanted him, it didn’t matter if he got killed, the elves couldn’t get to the well. A terrific plan. What he lacked in strength he made up with his diabolical mind.
“Care to renegotiate prince of Forod?” the king asked smugly. The room startled when the queen’s hand which held the fork slumped above the table, dropping the fork at the same time the king’s knife clattered to the floor. The prince had released them from whatever spell he had cursed them with earlier. The other elves did the same, releasing their hostages.
Calemir
Foolish of him to have expected King Lorenz could be reasonable after he had a reluctantly decided to approach him respectably in his court and revealed his purpose of what had brought him here. He had done it out of respect, but as it has always been with most of their predecessor kings, they were men whose greediness and arrogance ruled them. He knew someone close whose greed cost him everything in his life.
And he dared insult his brother. Dead or not, no one had the right disrespect his brother Tarron, even his people don’t dare to speak of him carelessly. To hear the king speak negligently caused his anger to spread like wildfire from his head to his toes, making his mind see nothing but a mist of red. And now, he had decided to teach them a valuable lesson, using the king and his men as examples. A simple task it was, to sift over the king’s and queen’s emotions and find that little hate which everyone harbored for another just hidden beneath the surface. A clear message for every human to understand they couldn’t enslave him or his people. Best they remembered where their place was because next time he wouldn’t be so merciful.
Calemir glanced over at Leena and then at Finn, he was no longer the winsome person he played, a warrior stood before him. Loyal, his comrades had acted the same as he had, taking the offence seriously.
How did this king know they would be coming? Calemir contemplated. Had they spotted lady Leena when she had first been searching for the well or was it the half breed who had sensed them coming? A muscle on his jaw jumped. Indeed, he was slightly surprised when he saw the half breed. He shouldn’t be alive, yet he was. The half breed lived long past the age of humans but not so many years as the pure blood. If alive then he should be looking old and not so youthful. Calemir wondered if some of his kind still carried relation relations with humans in secret even after it being strictly forbidden since the end of the Dark War. It was that reason, or the half breed drank the water of Var.
Still, slaves to kings Calemir ruefully thought of the mage. The sentiment hit close to home than he wanted.
“The deal is the same with a minor change. Ready to renegotiate prince of Forod?” the king repeated.
“Speak” Calemir clipped.
Although they had the upper hand over the elves, the room still didn’t breathe an inch. The tension didn’t ease a bit. Like everyone else, Nara waited to hear this new change that had been added to the deal.
“Marriage to seal the agreement.”
What! was the thought echoed in each person in the room except the prince who looked unaffected with the outrageous request. “That can be arranged” the prince replied directly.
“No” the king rose one arm up and ringed one finger in the air. “I’ve already decided who is going to marry who. You, my prince, will be the groom” he paused.
Brows knitting, eyes churning to the darkest color of green forest and feature twisting harshly, Calemir’s whole body turned sinister. “You dare command me?” power rode his voice and filled the whole room.
**
“He insults you. Let me kill him!” hissed the lady elf, her sword drawn up as she started forward for the king.
“Don’t!” the prince ordered the charging female before she got to the king. The lady elf cocked her head to the prince and spoke to him. The angry expression on her face told she was asking the prince why she shouldn’t but Nara couldn’t be sure. The prince reply had the lady snapping her teeth at the king as she backed away slowly.
“Well would you like me to continue?” the king asked arrogantly.
“Who is she?” the three death words left the prince’s mouth. Nara could almost see the pride swell inside the king’s chest. She could only imagine how he would boast to the ends of the earth how mighty he was before the prince of Forod, how he commanded him to his will. His ego would grow to new heights if his plan ended successfully. The kingdom would never hear the end of this.
Shifting his eyes to the members sitting around the table, Lorenz let them rake one face to the next. Every lady including the king’s own married daughters shrunk tightly back and tried to fold into the chair as his finger travelled across with his gaze until it paused. On her. It curled as if plucking her from the masses. “Her, Nara, daughter of Jae Thani.”
“I refuse” Nara hissed at the same time her father stood and called, “Your, Majesty.”
“Please reconsider, Your Majesty” her father begged. The rest of the room sighed in relief, glad it wasn’t them nor their children were chosen. The elves might be the wealthiest, powerful and beautiful beings to walk the world. Still, it wasn’t enough to flutter and convert the frailest and greediest heart to marry one of them even if it was the prince himself. The fear of death, terrifying and uncertain future in foreign land kept them from throwing themselves at the opportunity.
“Your daughter is unwed Thani, she’s at the right age to be a married woman” the king raked his eyes over her conspiratorially. It made Nara’s skin crawl.
“Please…” her father begged. Her mother hissed. “My daughter would not do your nasty biddings!”
“I won’t marry him, choose another girl,” Nara said defiantly. Over her dead body would she agree to marry an elf. Although it happened a long time ago, she couldn’t just ignore the history and evilness the elves did to her people. Thinking of marrying him, had her feeling guilty. She would be betraying the lost ones by being betrothed to their foe. A dishonor to the people who fought so the next generation could live.
“I’m bestowing mercy over your family indiscretions, and yet you defy my command” the king snapped.
“My family has done no wrong!” she retorted, feeling anger, which made her want to lash out crawl up in her chest. Ten, nine, eight, seven… Nara began to count in her head. Counting backward helped to distract her from being overwhelmed especially she was more than just irritated. The slow of the count also slowed the fast beating of her heart.
“Your Majesty, marriage is unnecessary, the prince is a man of his word. We should trust him he will keep it that he will provide an army to fight for us” her father tried to reason.
At her mother’s side, Ingrid began to cry, her mother murmured softly and worked soothing her little sister.
Lorenz looked at Nara. “You are a soldier of Murisa, and your loyalties are to the king?” he inquired expectantly.
“Yes, I am, and my loyalties lie to my kingdom” she replied. The king brushed off her disguised insult although a muscle on his temple ticked angrily to burst a blood vessel.
“Therefore, your sworn to protect its people regardless of the circumstances, yes?”
Nara nodded stiffly, knowing where his words were heading.
“Then you understand this is a grave responsibility that I am entrusting you with” he gave her that sleazy look again.
Nara glowered at him in reply.
“If you care for your family and wish them no harm, you will go now and do as I command.” He threatened. Nara’s face fell, pure disdain and hatred etched on her features. Her muscles became taut with anger, she dug her heels into the floor to quench the inferno rage. “If you hurt them I swear I will kill you!” Nara envisioned a hundred ways to kill him slowly and fast as she watched him. She let him know she meant what she said by looking at him squarely in the eye briefly before shifting hers at the space between his brows.
---
“Of course, not. I wouldn’t think of harming them when their daughter is sacrificing herself for the safety of whole of us” the king said innocently. The king patted himself, his eyes gleaming. He had chosen the perfect victim to his plan. The girl’s patriotism made him relax a little from the anxiety that had wrapped itself around him the last several days. He had never known a loyal soldier like her. He had heard of his niece enlistment to the military and her climbing of ranks and becoming a member of the Elite. His gossiping daughters couldn’t shut up about the girl. Lorenz never thought he would have a use of the strange girl until now. He smirked, glad he remembered such details about her. He knew the girl would do anything for her family, for she already risked her life countless times for people she barely knows by being an Elite.
The girl turned and gazed at her family with a resolute look.
“No, Nara you can’t go.” her mother cried pulling her to her. The girl had already made up her mind. Her family came first, would always come first above all else. She snatched her hand away, and averted her gaze to the younger sister and kissed her forehead who in turn clung to her and sobbed in her dress and begged her not to go. Pulling and stepping back the girl looked his way, looking at him in that freaky way she looked at everybody by having shy eye contact. “Your word is my command,” she said softly.
King Lorenz grinned.
“Then we leave tonight” the prince declared.
He hadn’t forgotten of the prince, Lorenz just pretended his looming presence was nonexistent when he’d been speaking to his cousin’s family. “When will your men come. Abasi might be marching upon us as we speak?” the king asked sounding impatient already.
“These three men would deliver my message to Abasi,” the prince said, cocking his head to the three youngest elves on his side and spoke in elvish. The three elves nodded sharply in unison. “What did you say to them?” Lorenz asked, his gaze moving between the prince and the elves.
“Halt lest ye want the army elves upon you” Calemir stated.
Lorenz swallowed, and grinned widely, looking very pleased. He wanted more, but the elf’s words had to do for now and resisted milking his luck. He had another hand to move if trouble arose. He would just threaten the girl, and she would do anything to bring the army of elves to his side. After all, she had her family as leverage, one word sent to her, she would do her best to convince the prince. A boisterous laugh itched his throat. Not just Abasi, but the rest of his lesser foes and kings who were once allies were going to feel his wrath for standing against him.