CHAPTER 6

The King’s absentmindedness was seen by not just the Queen but everybody around him. The days were slow and he found himself often looking out into the horizon wondering where Mahnu would be.

How could someone become so dear to me in such a short amount of time…And then leave me!

He knew that he was mad at her and that he missed her, at the same time, but he couldn"t do anything about it.

As much as I want to lock her in my chambers, I know I can"t! King Richard sighs loudly.

The rumour of a concubine coming into the palace was brought up in front of the King by the Queen’s father, as he visited the capital the next day. But, King Richard flatly refused the rumours coldly, saying that the subject of having a concubine was final.

With that being said, confusion fell onto the Queen, her servants and her father.

“Rumours are called that for a reason, My Queen.” Valtac said to his daughter.

They were by themselves in a meeting but he had spoken softly.

“I am sure it was no lie, father! It was seen!”

Valtac sighed, to believe it true would be against his wishes but he was becoming old and frail as the time went on. “I want to believe that it is what the King says…But if otherwise…Be prepared! I haven’t worked this hard for nothing! I will take my leave!”

The Queen flinched to his words, they hadn’t changed since she had become the fiancé of the Crowned Prince all that time ago. Then, what am I supposed to do now? She wondered.

Mahnu had decided to travel west. After leaving the King, the suffering, she realized, started to grow two days later, louder and then louder again.

Was it always this loud? She thought with impatience.

Mahnu tried hard not to think of King Richard, it was nearly impossible to stop thinking of how she felt while she was with him and she had never missed someone so much in her entire existence. Being apart from him was quite different, she never knew the habits she had started while being with him and watching.

For a start, her nights were much longer. As she would walk or even sit in a tree for a break, she found that she had liked being indoors. The crickets, frogs and owls were too loud now!

She also missed the Princess. Had it been that much fun playing with her? Mahnu laughed, it all seemed so ridicules!

After so long being alone, it was all changed within weeks!

I won’t be able to hear Richard’s sarcastic att.i.tude that he tends to hide from everyone. I won’t be able to touch him while he sleeps.

Mahnu sighed. She already knew her answer and wanted to go back to his side. His power of silencing the sufferings was something that she yearned for now. It was also something that she wanted to take advantage of...Especially when she was immortal and that this was the first time it has happened to her!

Mahnu had made up her mind. I’m going back but I’ll just check to make sure there’s nothing too important that I shouldn’t miss.

She heard about one of the Loyal Royal Knights going missing and thought that this would be a good thing to help Richard. Being able to report back to the leader of the Loyal Royal Knights when she returned sounded like a great idea! She then ventured to Havlish already excited to return to Conrella.

***

After her horseback ride, unable to walk now that Mahnu wanted to rush back to Conrella, she hid in amongst the trees at Havlish. As she tried to get closer, to what she thought was the centre of the secret town, she could see that their security got tighter and made it harder for her to move around without getting caught.

Finally, close to headquarters, she could hear the thoughts of those in charge and got information that the leader was on his way and, also the King, but they were arriving separately. It seemed close to the time that they gather and give their secret reports about all the towns.

Mahnu was still as she felt emotion run through her. It had been about two weeks since she last saw him and just the thought that she was going to see him again soon made her remember his touch. Excitement ran through her body and she was angry that she was unable to stop it.

As she stayed in hiding, by jumping from tree to tree, she continued to hear the thoughts of those close by.

It seemed that one of the knights had either been taken or left about two months earlier and a week ago a tablet that the prophets had left, from a long time ago, was stolen.

She wanted to know what was written on the tablet but those who thought about it didn"t seem to know.

The leader of the Loyal Royal Knights arrived in a rush, and that was when Mahnu was shocked into disbelief.

“I came as soon as I heard!” The leader Marcus said, forging in. “Is it confirmed, is the tablet gone?”

“Yes, Sir. And Knight Peter is still missing.”

Marcus sighed and thought about the contents of the tablet.

Mahnu gasped. It was everything that happened at The Siege and…

At his next thought, she appeared before him in anger. How stupid, she thought, the prophets wrote down the location of The Chest of the G.o.d’s before they lost their future sight because of it.

Marcus reached for his sword and went to strike her. She was that angry that she stopped it with her hand and held it tight so he couldn’t get it back.

Blood spilt onto the floor and she sneered. Humans!

Closing her eyes, she breathed in, knowing she needed to calm down. She let go of the sword and it fell to the floor.

He was staring at her. She listened to his thoughts as he put them all together.

She is strong and angry about something…The tablet? Perhaps she knows something but how? I know more than anyone except…

“Mahnu?” He asked wide eyed. “Is that you?”

“You know of me?” She asked, which confirmed his theory.

He bowed before her, the G.o.ddess, the Betrayer, the Saviour of Mankind! He had never thought his grandfather’s wish to meet her would come true in his time!

“Tell me, who has the tablet?”

Marcus lifted his head and nodded to his man standing by the entrance, who answered for him. “We are uncertain…We don’t even know the direction they travelled in. We didn’t even know of its importance straight away…We still don’t…Sir, am I to get people to look for it?”

Marcus looked at Mahnu apologetically. He wondered if he should have told the rest of the loyal Royal Knights, maybe then the tablet would have been properly protected.

“The tablet should have never been written in the first place!” Mahnu yelled, startling herself, as she hadn’t raised her voice in a very, very, long time. “But it is done and I can understand why they did it.”

The prophets knew that they would lose their gift of foresight, so they left something proving they used to have it.

Mahnu sighed and wondered if there was another reason. What could be gained from someone finding this tablet?

She needed to find it! No answers she had come up with, regarding the tablet, had been good ones.

If The Chest of the G.o.d’s is found, then could a way to open it be found too…Just like a way was to use it to trap the G.o.d’s inside it?

“I need a horse...Now!” Mahnu yelled. She didn’t want to take her time to find this. Her reunion with the King, she already knew, would have to be postponed.

“I will travel with you.” Marcus said, standing up.

Mahnu looked at him and knew he just felt guilty.

He admired her and just as he first met her, he had let her down.

Mahnu thought that it didn’t sound like a bad idea but she preferred to be alone. Besides, he was the leader of the loyal Royal Knights…

“Do not worry yourself. The King is on his way here. Did you not want to be here on his arrival?” Marcus had learnt about Mahnu and her talents when he had become the leader. Her knowing that the King was arriving soon should have been easy when she can read minds.

He was the one that knew the most in his village, he should be the one to inform the King, Mahnu thought.

“Stay.” Was all she said as she walked out to the horses.

“Then take one of my men with you. William!” Marcus waited till William was standing in front of him. “Stay close to Mahnu. Be as loyal to her as you are to me, understand?”

“Yes, Sir!”

Mahnu put a saddle on a horse and said, “I prefer to work alone.”

Marcus stopped her, “If you find something, send him back to me.”

Mahnu looked at William and knew it was a wise choice to agree at a time like this. She nodded back at Marcus and left in haste, William quickly trying to follow.

In their haste to leave, Mahnu could tell that the King was due to come on an expected path and veered down another path. The swift, fast action confused William, who asked why they are travelling down a longer road. Mahnu didn’t answer him, instead made the horse go faster, it wasn’t time to chit chat, she thought.

Her companion got confused again when they stopped suddenly, but, when he went to ask this time, Mahnu shushed him before disappearing into the bushes.

After Mahnu left, William wondered if he should have followed. She had just given him the reins to her horse and left without a word. Who was she to have the same level loyalty as the leader of the Loyal Royal Knights? It seemed stranger still that he had not much of an idea why they were in such a rush and why they had to be quiet. What is going on? He wondered.

After they started off again, she stopped suddenly, again, and said, “You’ll find an a.s.sa.s.sin after the King to the Northeast of here, tied up. Take him into custody. Do not untie him!”

And they left.

William looked behind him to see someone come down from a tree and run towards where Mahnu had said. How did she know that person was there? He is a secret lookout, yet, how could she know where he had been, even if she knew of him?

They continued to travel east in silence, William wondering if they were going to Cental.

The King arrived in Havlish and then greeted Marcus, who wonders if he should even tell the King, when there was nothing they could do and already waiting on Mahnu’s news.

The King asks if things are alright because he had rushed off to get here earlier.

“We are having some…Difficulties.”

The King looks at him and Marcus asks about what he knows about The Siege that happened in the year 423. Marcus is surprised that the King knows nothing of it, just like the previous King.

“What has this Siege got to do with what you hurried back for? And why am I only hearing of this now?”

As Marcus tried to find an answer, a tied-up a.s.sa.s.sin came in, stopping the conversation.

“He was already tied up when we found him.” The scout said.

“And no one was with him?” The King asked.

“No, Your Majesty. William’s companion told me where he was before they left.”

The King takes a second look at how the a.s.sa.s.sin was roped and remembered some time ago when he had seen it similar.

Both Marcus and the King said, “Mahnu.” At the same time. Then they looked at each other in confusion.

“You know of Mahnu, Your Majesty?” Marcus asked.

“She was here?” He asked back, instead of answering the question. “She keeps running away from me!”

Marcus remembered Mahnu’s anger and said, “Yes, Mahnu left not long before you got here.”

“Dammit! Then she would have known I was coming too!”

The King was angry at Mahnu? Why? Marcus wanted to defend her, as she was the Saviour of Mankind. “It is my fault that she isn’t here. Your Majesty.”

“Why did she leave?” The King asks.

Again, Marcus questions himself whether to tell the King or not about the history that had been told through generations of leaders of the Royal Guards of his Majesty. “She heard that a tablet belonging to us has gone missing, Your Majesty…And she volunteered to try and retrieve it.”

The King was silent for a moment. “Why? Is it very important?”

“The contents that the tablet holds is what happened back in the year 423. How and where The Siege took place…And where something is hidden.”

Marcus didn’t know where to start to tell the King the whole story.

“Is it that big? This…Siege?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. It was a fight to save mankind. I am also surprised that you and the previous King has no knowledge of it.”

The King was dumbfounded. How could he not have known of such a drastic event?

“I only know of the stories from previous leaders and what is written on the tablet. But there is someone who could tell you all about it from personal experience.”

“What do you mean? That makes absolutely no sense…”

“The Betrayer of G.o.d’s, a G.o.d herself, who was present in Kralaide when The Siege took place.”

“A…G.o.d?” The King swallowed and repeated the word ‘herself’ in his head. Female.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Mahnu knows about everything.”

The King fell into a chair and looked at Marcus wide eyed. “Mahnu…?”

He was surprised, but as he held onto the chair tighter, he found himself thinking about all his encounters with her.

He didn’t hear Marcus talking to him or the other attendants wanting to help.

She didn’t age, she was strong and she had admitted to reading the thoughts of others. She even seemed traumatized which made more sense to the King now. The fact that she didn’t speak and stayed away from people just all clicked together inside the King’s head.

For someone who is immortal, what could they have gone through? Those eyes of hers...

And what did Marcus say, a Betrayer? What has she endured all this time!? The King felt desperately sad for her.

Yet, after all this time, after all that has happened...she still looks like she wants to help us...Why?

The King felt himself a little crazy because he could believe it! The first thing that came to his mind after that thought was that he had fallen for a G.o.d!  Utterly and deeply, fallen for this G.o.d!

It was all becoming easier to accept. Even the war that had happened seemed strangely familiar…or right.

But why do I feel like this?

It was a question he could not answer...But he wanted answers to the other questions at the very least. What...is The Siege?

“Marcus!” The King looked up to find everyone go silent and still, waiting for him to continue. “Tell me everything you know!”

Marcus nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

As the past was finally being told to the King of Kralaide, Mahnu and William continued to travel east.

They pa.s.sed a third person with only one thing in their mind...To find the tablet.

There was nothing else their and Mahnu started to get a bad feeling. They are like the humans who were slaves to the G.o.d’s back before The Siege...Time was of the essence!

Faster, Mahnu thought, as she made her horse gallop at full speed.

William continued to follow Mahnu but after another half a day of venturing east, he asked her if they could stop so that they could eat and give the horses a rest.

Her startled look made him worried.

If she wasn"t thinking of food, he pondered, this might be a more important matter then I thought.

Even though he could have used some time to rest as well, William got ready to leave straight after eating.

Her silent nod looked like a small thank you and he was glad to have pleased her.

Without another word the two set off again.

***