Chapter Five
Kalil Kingdom
Nikolas
Nikolas was waiting under the tavern’s shade for the rain to let a little when he saw a beautiful young woman hurry along the street. She held a black veil over her head, shielding herself from the pouring rain. Even as her steps quickened, she moved with grace. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. His heart beat faster as she came near. Her beauty was captivating. Doe eyes, skin white as snow and hair the colour of the red sun. Nikolas wanted her to look at him. He desperately hoped she spared a glance at him, making him feel undeserving and lowly at the same time. She didn’t cast a single eye his way, nor turned them to other men. The mysterious beauty kept her head straight. Nikolas let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding after she passed him.
“Something, isn’t she?” Gittan said beside him. Nikolas wasn’t surprised to know his companion was also caught by her. He guaranteed other men in the street also watched her.
“Rumour has it she’s the prettiest girl in the city” Gittan took the hat off his head, wringing the water from it. Nikolas agreed silently, he had never seen such a woman. Someone could say she was the prettiest in the whole of Kalil and he would believe it. She tugged at him.
“What do you know about her?” Nikolas asked.
“No much, just she lives with her sick mother,” Gittan replied.
“And?” Nikolas asked, knowing his friend knew more than he was saying.
“She entertains at a brothel.” It was as if Gittan had kicked him hard in the stomach. Nikolas mouth soured. He couldn’t believe she was a whore. She was young and looked to be pure to be one. Still, Nikolas heard the truth in Gittan’s word. Gittan wouldn’t lie. He frowned as a profound truth lingered his mind.
“Has she ever entertained you?” Nikolas looked at Gittan straight in the eyes.
“No, she has never”, Gittan admitted. “I went once to the brothel she works, but she hadn’t been working that night. I never went back, too expensive and there were a lot of Muri people. She only services the wealthy.”
Nikolas eyes darkened. “The rain has lessened, let’s go back,” Nikolas said tersely instead, already stepping back under the drizzling sky. Nikolas didn’t say a word as they walked back up the street. His mood seemed to darken with each step he took to where they headed.
****
Murisa Kingdom
It has been over two and a half months since Isabel left and still she hadn’t returned. No word came from her either. It made Nara slightly worried and wonder if she was alright. The spring season was ending as summer prepared to arrive. Life at the military quarters remained the same. Training day in and training day out. The first days without Isabel made the atmosphere between Nara and Risa awkward, to say the least. Both girls could feel the void their friend had left with her absence. They still sat together during breakfast, lunch and dinner hours yet spoke little to each other. Nara committed herself to focus on becoming the best soldier there ever was by working hard through the practice times even after when they were done for the day. With it, her body didn’t stop accumulating a few bruises here and there. When Nara looked at herself in the mirror, she saw someone new from the reflection. Her body was not only hardening but her mind too.
When the sun began to burn the sky for long hours so did the rigorous work she and other recruits performed. They learned to make traps. Their bodies were pushed to the limits through brutal activities that span from patrolling all day and night, scaling walls, facsimile activities. The real test came one night she had been patrolling the small village just outside the capital city’s gates. Nara had just come out from taking a piss in the smelly public latrine when she had heard the commotion. Head snapping, she stared into the dark woods and listened carefully to the rustlings that came from it. Brows creasing, she slowly drew near. The rustling in the woods also increased. Someone yelled loudly, the clang sounds of swords followed. Her left hand reached for the short sword on her side, her fingers ghosting over its hilt. Nara withdrew it when a man in dark clothes jumped out, his back to her as he fought Lady Astrid. Not a second passed when two other people in similar dark clothing as the man came out too. Her eyes widened when the captain also emerged on the heels of the two strangers. He fought fiercely against them as did his opponents. Nara quickly came to conclusion they weren’t fooling around when the captain cut one of the two on the shoulder and blood started to drip down his arm to the ground. Assassins! She surmised.
Out of nowhere, a fourth assassin appeared behind the captain, but this one had been limping. He had an arrow sticking out his leg.
She knew rightly what his intentions were before he had the chance to act. She did not think, she just threw the dagger she keeps nicely tucked on her waist. The knife found a home on the man’s skull, blood coating the small blade as the man dropped dead on the ground. Looking unaffected of what she just did, she made use of the sword in her hand effectively. It wasn’t until much later after all laid dead and where one had plunged the captain's sword intentionally into his own chest rather than reveal who had sent them, did the realisation hit her hard in the gut. I killed a man. Nausea rolled from her stomach to her throat and made her feel ill.
“I just killed…” Nara didn’t get to finish, she abruptly bent over and vomited until there wasn’t anything left to puke other than the bitter taste left on her tongue. It was Captain Barra who walked toward her, stood over her trembling body and clipped. “Get it together. Congratulation on becoming an Elite.”