Chapter 24

The next day, Galaspiael woke Kalena early in the morning. The girl protested, but he pulled her hard, and finally, she had to get up.

"We're leaving," he said, "pack up!"

"What?" She asked rubbing her eyes. "Why?"

"Those people who were chasing Zarkin and Mei yesterday... they looked for us." Although Galaspiael was nervous, he sat down next to Kalena and began to calmly explain. "They were ordered to look for a young man and a woman whom they had previously seen with a weapon they should not have access to."

"They spotted us on the beach." It was obvious. He didn't have to confirm, she read it from his eyes.

"It's my fault. I should have foreseen that the Righteous Conspiracy will have their people here. I exposed the entire Association!"

"What should we do now?"

"You'll go with Rikken and I'm going to join you later. It will be better this way" he added, seeing that the girl wants to protest. "Our presence is a threat to others. There may be more spies; we don't know how many people are looking for us, it is better not to think that this time they will also mistake us for someone else."

"I want to go with you! So many dangerous people are hiding in these mountains if something happens to you..."

"If something happens to me," he interrupted, "then you will save what we were working on. And when we would go together and die, all is lost. You have no idea how much this invention is worth. Much more than one man's life, even mine." He hugged Kalena soothingly. "But this won't happen. For sure we will both safely reach Kagolania. I won't be alone, I'll get my escort."

Kalena walked outside the house shaking both from cold and nervousness. She didn't want to sleep anymore, even though the sun had not risen yet.

She felt bad about such responsibility. If she had known earlier that his experiments would bring such results, she would never have agreed to help them. She was holding her bundle of things and wondering if she had taken everything she needed. Rikken, Tessale, Aymon, and two unknown Sekanians were waiting for them. Kalena also noticed Mizar, who came running late and winced at seeing the master scold him.

"I could guess who you got into it," Tessale was brisk and smiling as if he didn't feel nervous or tired. "Do you have your bombs or that something you were supposed to take?"

"There are several prototypes left. Kalena knows how to use them, so if the need arises... „The prince fell silent, seeing a boundless confusion in her eyes. "But it's not said she'll have to."

"We can do it," one of the Sekanian women replied. "I would prefer to go different road and not drive through the valley."

"It's better to get to Kagolania as soon as possible," Galaspiael mounted his horse. "I'm worried about those thug bands in the mountains, but I hope we'll get some of them on ourselves."

*

After leaving Astinia, they went into a trot and did not stop at all for a long time. Kalena was constantly thinking about Galaspiael's words.

If something happens, then you will save everything we have worked on. This black scenario seemed completely impossible. Although she accompanied him from the very beginning, she never did anything on her own. She could not recreate dynamite.

The clouds cleared up. Other students were preparing for the next day of hard work. Kalena envied them a lot. She'd rather go to class than back to Yagn-Sho, paralyzed by fear for herself and her master.

They slowed their pace, and her escort was still silent. The silence became overwhelming. They rode and rode as if this road would never end.

Suddenly something slammed past Kalena's ear. An arrow. Four riders rushed after them. They were robbers, but better organized than those she and Galaspiael had encountered before. The woman who escorted her responded to the attack. Instinctively, Kalena reached into the bag of dynamite but stopped. Using this weapon could give another signal to the Conspiracy. She should only do it when necessary.

Aymon and Mizar attacked from the other side. For the first time in her life, Kalena was genuinely happy to see her all-time rival. She drove closer to help the fighters, but then the boy came to meet her.

"Turn back!" He commanded.

"We have to help them," Kalena protested, trying to get through, but Mizar didn't let her.

"They'll manage to do it. They will cut off their path and we will run away. You have a task to do", he reminded. "This should be the most important for you."

Mizar was right, but it was still hard for Kalena to go on. She turned her head back, even when the fighters were out of sight. The feel of guilt only diminished when Aymon caught up with them and said that nothing serious had happened and the robbers were defeated.

After entering the forest, they stopped for a short break. Mizar took out his lunch and sat down next to Kalena.

"Have you nothing to eat?" He asked with his mouth full, which sounded funny.

"I think I lost my food while escaping," she confessed. "It must not have been secured well."

"You must have a curse on yourself I swear! You should wear an amulet."

Kalena replied with a weak half-smile and began nervously shuffling her shoes against the ground.

"If nothing happened, why have they not arrived yet?"

"They captured the people who attacked you and returned you to Astinia," Aymon replied. "This wasn't the first attack of this group. The Sekanian Scribes know a few men who would be happy to help bring these bandits to trial."

They rested a bit and started on their journey. Mizar was exceptionally kind to Kalena all the time. She didn't hear a single word from him. On the contrary, he even praised her several times.

They arrived in Yagn-Sho late at night. Kalena looked at the familiar building and sighed. Here her escort was to leave her.

"I wish I could stay in Sekania longer," she confessed.

"Each of us must perform our duties," Mizar replied. "Yours is not learning in the Sekania, but helping the prince in his work. But look, you'll have all the quarters just for yourself! You can do whatever you want, go into the pantry, and even look into our bedrooms. I envy you. I would love to stay with you; I don't want to come back."

"I will spend my time studying so I can finally beat you."

"It was hard to get back to the first position and now I have difficulties to keep it." Mizar nodded at her.  "Training with you is one of the hardest. I didn't like you because I thought Galaspiael would make your training easier, no matter how poor your abilities are. I was wrong. I admire how hard you work."

"Still, I wouldn't be able to get here today without your and master Aymon's help."

"After all, you weren't attacked by some no-names, only the best mountain robbers! If you could beat them alone, I would be really scared of you." Mizar put a hand on her shoulder. "See you soon! And don't worry, Galaspiael will arrive here in a few hours."

*

Finally, the last day of student exchange in Sekania has passed.

Special precautions were taken after Kalena and Galaspiael's departure. The rest of the training went smoothly. No spies and no fights other than in classes.

Zarkin rubbed his face with the hands and lied on the bed. He struggled with himself not to close his eyes because he knew that he would fall asleep immediately. He was exhausted and desperately wanted to return to Kagolania. To the quarters he knew, where there was no risk of attack by masked killers. He and Mei were allowed to stay until the end, but he couldn't go out into the city or move too far.

Everything was ready for return. The bundles were packed, Mei even prepared food.

The boy glanced at the carefully tied, smallest package and wanted to open it at least for a moment to look at his prey; almost fifty sheets of paper rolled into cramped balls, on which he wrote down recipes for various mixtures. Not only poisons, but he also got a recipe for a sleeping pill.

"Mei..." Zarkin began but immediately realized that the girl is not around. When he entered the house, he heard a splash of water in the bathroom. She took a long bath.

On the floor lay her dirty clothes, which were previously his clothes. In addition to the dress in which he saw her for the first time, she had two shirts and two pairs of pants. Not much, but she never complained. He had not yet rewarded her for saving his life.

Suddenly the door opened. Mei came in with wet hair, almost naked, only partly covered with a towel. She jumped when she saw him.

"My lord! I forgot you would come back so soon!" She exclaimed. Holding the towel with one hand, she began to put on a clean shirt with the other. Zarkin took a deep breath and sat down on the bed. He felt a pleasant shiver when he saw her body.

"Classes usually ended at this time. If you lived alone, would you walk without clothes all the time?"

"Forgive me, I should wrap it around..."

Zarkin laughed at her embarrassment.

"Am I forbidding you something? It does not bother me…" he stopped, because the towel fell, revealing her right breast. "Is this a stigma? Why in such a strange place?"

"Ah." Mei quickly buttoned the shirt and put on her pants. "Why do you think this is a strange place?"

"The stigma should be visible," he explained, "that's why they burn them. People want to see that they are dealing with a slave. You must wear a collar or have a visible stigma, preferably both. Women probably reveal their arms more often than breasts?"

"When the trader tried to burn me a stigma, I struggled so much that finally the man entrusted with this task got angry and marked me in this way. Later I had problems at the slave market, due to the lack of a mark on my arm. Someone even considered burning another one. And it would have been done if not for the fact that I barely survived the first stigma. My first owner said it could stay like this but I have to wear a collar."

The boy looked at her, tilting his head like a curious child. He ran a hand over her face with his fingers. He once saw Galaspiael do this to Kalena and this gesture stuck in his mind.

"Why did you stop rebelling?"

"I don't know, my lord." Mei smiled extortion. "I accepted the slave's life and I will tell you that I am good with it."

"Really?" Zarkin shook his head incredulously and looked at her. "I wonder who managed to break you like this and how. Even if you capture an animal and lock it in a cage, it wants to get out of it, and you want to tell me that man can accept slavery?

"I will make tea, okay my lord?" the girl tried to change the subject, but Zarkin persisted. When she got up, he followed her and sat down in the chair.

"Take me as an example. I was born a slave. I didn't know another life, and yet from the beginning, my only dream was freedom. The older I got, the worse I rebelled, until the free people my family served, began to fear me. And you were born free, you were sold and... you don't mind slavery. I can't understand it."

"It's something else," she said calmly, "there's a difference between me and you. It is obvious you wanted freedom. It is only natural for me that you could not be a slave."

"And you?"

- And I couldn't be a free person. I don't deserve it. And I am good to be someone else.

"You're weird," he said. She did not answer, only in silence put a few tea leaves into two cups. "I don't understand why you think so badly about yourself. You help me, yet you don't have to do anything more than what I command you. You saved my life lately. In my opinion, a bad and worthless person would not do such a thing."

It got so quiet that they both heard the bubbling of boiling water. Mei froze for a moment.

"Thank you, my lord," she responded softly. "It means a lot to me that you think I'm a good person."

"You have to start thinking about it yourself." Zarkin came over and took her by the shoulders, turning toward him. "If you won't start noticing your value, no one will see it in you. Don't cry," he added, seeing tears gather in her eyes and hugged her tightly.

They sat over tea for a long time. She managed to drink hers and almost nothing left his cup.

When Mei noticed it, she switched chairs to be next to her owner and this time she began to ask.

"What's going on my lord? Are you nervous?"

"Me? No, I'm glad we're finally coming back." Zarkin raised his head, but quickly lowered it. "I will start preparing for the exam in Yagn-Sho. Everyone is far ahead, I have to try hard to overtake them."

"In my opinion, most students have to try to overtake you," she smiled, meeting his gaze. "You trained long and hard, it has to give some results."

"I don't think I trained enough… and this presentation! I have not come up with anything, and some students have prepared the whole thing already!" Zarkin meant Mizar, and they both knew it.

"Maybe I can help you relax somehow? She asked tilting her head so that she could look him in the eye, but she looked away.

"No," he said gently, "probably not now."

"I don't like when you're upset."

"You've already helped save me. If it wasn't for you... thanks for the tea, by the way. It's tastier when you brew it. He paused for a moment. "Would you like to sleep on my bed today? You don't have to sit on the ground at night."

"It will be a great honor for me, sir," she said.

"It's just an uncomfortable bed. No honor," he murmured, "but it's cold at night and you have wet hair. I don't want you to catch flu."

"Nice of you," said the girl, watching as he pulled off his T-shirt, and when he glanced at her, she pretended to be interested in the empty mug.

"Are you going?"

Mei nodded and quickly lay down next to him. Zarkin closed his eyes but immediately stated that he would not fall asleep easily. Having her so close effectively drove his sleep away and the warmth of her body triggered another wave of unknown feelings.

She lay on her back, also with her eyes open, and looked straight ahead. He slowly ran his fingers over her cheeks and lips. He felt her parting them gently and leaned on his elbows to look at her.

In the dim light of the candle and from such a close distance, the girl looked different than during the day. There was a glow in her eyes that Zarkin hadn't been able to see before. She was beautiful.

He smiled and she smiled back. As he moved closer, he began to see more and more: how slowly she breathed, how her eyes narrowed when his finger was close to the eyelid.

Zarkin held his breath as she raised her head to kiss him. She quickly lied back and looked uncertainly watching his reaction, but he moved her back to him.

"I love you, my lord," she whispered, "do you know?"

"Let's not tell Rikken about anything"

He bit his lip when she laughed softly and glanced at her uncertainly.

"I won't tell anyone."