Chapter 26

Naimoor thought Washar was drunk when he first saw him.

He bumped into his brother as he left the palace. One look at him was enough to guess that some tragedy had taken place. Washar looked around with madness in his wide and empty eyes.

"What happened?" Naimoor asked quietly, though, in reality, he knew everything, just like every other citizen.

Washar stopped for a moment and a barely noticeable grimace run across his face.

"I killed our father," he confessed as calmly as if he were talking about daily activities. "The guards have seen it. I tried to catch them, but I ran out of strength and... they told everyone. Now people know that I'm an enchanter." He gave his brother a hateful glance. "It's all you fault. You pulled me and my family into your intrigue. You'll regret it!"

"If you had agreed to help me, it wouldn't have happened," Naimoor replied calmly. "It's your fault that you didn't listen to me. However, I offer you another deal and you better accept it. Everyone knows about your interesting gift and believe me that this message will quickly reach the Righteous Conspiracy. And when they set a reward for your head, how much our subjects loved you would not matter anymore. They'll be begging me for your public execution."

"I can too report you to the Conspiracy" Washar threatened.

"Oh, yes do it," Naimoor encouraged, "they will ask you for evidence and what will you tell them? That you saw me enchanting? You're a killer, nobody will believe you until I use my power and I'm not going to do it unless you attack me. However, attacking the heir to the throne when there are guards around will not end up good for you."

"I'm not afraid of you or your power," Washar shouted and began to gather dark energy around him. Lots of energy. He noticed that the leaves on the trees turned black and the branches were getting dry and dead. He could barely see, but he didn't care about getting hurt. He wanted to make sure Naimoor would not survive.

"Your emperor orders you to stop!" When his brother said the words, the prince felt all the energy he had gathered eluding him and escaping. He froze when Naimoor put a hand on his shoulder. At that moment he felt something breaking into his mind. He wanted to step back, but the mysterious force also forbade him. He felt completely deprived of his will and did not want to experience it any longer.

"How do you do that?" Washar drawled through his teeth. "Get out! Get out of my head!"

"I didn't kill your wife," said Naimoor calmly. "Nor did I tell anyone to get rid of Shao Tien. Of course, you are right, I stole the old copy of the recipe, but the fact that it went to Sekania is just a coincidence. You should focus your hatred on the inventor who created the second dynamite on its basis. But even if you fail to take revenge on him, I think we can reverse these few unfortunate events to make things better. Help me kill Vishimon and I will not hand you over to the Righteous Conspiracy in return. I do not support the murder of those endowed with power. I will send you to a place where I practiced my force. And you'll never try to come back and kill me because you can't do it. Not after I studied the cursed Kagolanian emperor book. I will always be one step ahead of you. Remember, however, that we are a family. If you follow all my orders, everything will work out."

*

"Why did you cry?" asked Galaspiael, noticing Lin-Si left the room with red and swollen eyes. Hearing his question, she flinched and snorted maliciously.

"Who told you I was crying?"

"I noticed it myself."

"The new powder irritates my skin," she stated, "I washed my face with water, and now I'm going to ventilate."

"Great idea! I will accompany you." The prince nodded at the maid, who stepped away nervously. "Leave us alone. I can take care of my wife myself."

For the first time, he called her so without a hint of malice. They went out into the courtyard and then she jerked away.

"Get yourself your girl to tease!" She snapped. "I'm not interested in spending time with you!"

"I guess you're not. Are you worried about that?"

The grimace on her face had changed cautious uncertainty.

"I can bare my wedding night somehow."

"I'm not going to force you to do anything," he said seriously. "Unless you want to, but I doubt it."

"You give me a choice?"

"Are you surprised? We should not make our lives harder than necessary." Galaspiael sat down on the well and began tapping his knees. He managed to surprise her. Finally, the princess grabbed his sleeve and forced him to rise.

"In Velikania they treat this tradition very seriously..."

"Lin," he interrupted, "I know all traditions perfectly, and you know well what I think of most of them. You would never give yourself to me voluntarily, I understand that. Nobody will eavesdrop on us, let alone watch. When I put the guard under the chamber, no one dares even go down the hall."

Her lips twitched as if she were holding back a smile. Galaspiael looked around and glanced disapprovingly at the red-haired servant who, despite his order, followed them.

"I did not expect this from you."

"We'll spend a lot of time together. We need to change our attitude towards each other, otherwise, we will go crazy." He looked at her and smiled. "You're not red anymore. This powder wasn't so bad."

*

In the evening, all the way from the main Yagn-Sho pavilion to the training room was lit by decorative lanterns, specially bought for the occasion. All students headed to the exam that way.

All fourteen ate their last meal together, and later there was only waiting, fear, uncertainty and silent repetition of all the formulas and words they tried to remember.

Galaspiael kept his word and was present in the hall to watch the presentation of his student. Master Rikken mentioned it, thinking it would calm her down, but Kalena became even more nervous.

She crossed the road quickly, praying to her ancestors, deities, spirits and all beings who could hear her so that she would not have to spell "invented" in Sekanian. She couldn't remember this word.

Kalena stopped in front of the entrance gate to the training hall. She saw the dim blue light inside. Zarkin once explained to her how to get it, but she forgot.

What if she would be asked about this?

A particularly unpleasant feeling swept over her. She clutched her stomach and jumped involuntarily, feeling someone's hand on her shoulder.

"Are you ready?"

"I'm not sure, master."

Rikken patted her comfortingly on the back.

"So that means you're ready. When you enter, you have to bow. From experience I will tell you that this is the most stressful moment, then it gets better. You must also kneel for a moment before Galaspiael."

"For a long or short moment?"

"Count to three and then get up. You won't notice when it's over."Rikken smiled and gently pushed her forward. Kalena took a deep breath and plunged into the blue light.

It was warmer inside that room than before. The girl couldn't see the faces of the people gathered there, but she knew they all were looking straight at her. Among them were not only Scribes from Kagolania but also Sekania, Velikania and even a few from Madegald.

Galaspiael sat in a special place, slightly higher than the others. Kalena saw him well, even before entering the round platform. The coronation was yet to take place, but the Scribes from the Silver Guard came with him. There were only three of them. The guard was supposed to have more people, but most probably the rest were not from the Association, so they could not enter Yagn-Sho.

When Kalena stood in the middle, surrounded by people, the same fear seized her again, but this time it was much more intense. Something gripped her throat. The light did not reach all places in the training room. Impenetrable darkness hung from the ceiling, into which all air escaped. In the end, it got so stuffy that Kalena felt as if she was about to faint.

She looked at her master and knelt. She tried unsuccessfully to control her legs shaking. Then she stood up after three seconds and noticed that he smiled at her and immediately put two strongly clenched fists to his lips.

"Kalena," mistress Bimala called out, "come over here, you have everything set up."

The first task was a test of the Sekanian language. She got a text in Kagolanian, which she had to immediately translate into a second language.

It would not be difficult at all, if not for the fact that it was not to be written on a piece of paper, but on a specially prepared black wooden board. Kalena was sure that even Galaspiael could see from his seat how her hand was shaking. Up close everything looked fairly legible, but when the girl took a few steps back to look at her work, she thought that even if she passed the Sekanian test, she would fail calligraphy for sure. Fortunately, attention was paid only to the correctness of sentences, not to the aesthetics of writing. After that, she had the calligraphy test next. She was given one Kagolanian text and two sheets of paper. Another student was called inside at that time. After finishing the task Kalena stood in front of the blackboard again, this time to pass the Madegalese test.

She did not think that she could convince Master Aymon to admit her to the exam. She only went there because of Galaspiael and now she regretted it. Failure to pass one language could have crossed her entire exam result.

With every minute she manages to breathe more easily and better. It was not that bad. After some time she got through the last test before the presentation.

During the math test, she turned to Galaspiael several times. He shook his head once and began to show something on his fingers, but she couldn't see what. When she looked at her calculations, she couldn't tell where she had made the mistake.

Finally, it was time to show off her fighting skills; the last and the most difficult stage of the exam, which students had to prepare themselves.

They had at their disposal all the props they could find in Yagn-Sho and a maximum of five people who could pretend to be opponents. The techniques and choreography were up to them.

Kalena asked Mei to help by playing the flute. They had previously prepared the right melody. She decided to make a dance show for her presentation. The girl acquired the script used by the actors who starred in the Light Festival performances. Kalena intended to play the last scene of the performance she had once watched with Galaspiael.

When she heard the song begins, she stiffly walked toward the stairs leading to the stage. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Mei tapped the metal shield, signaling the performance begins. Even without that, Kalena would notice the change in melody, but she told her to do it, fearing that she could forget when to move out of stress.

Kalena turned and slowly took out the am-shen. Her legs were not trembling anymore. The melody became more and more disturbing. They especially chose this instrument to get the right mood. Kalena swung her right hand hard, slamming the air. She didn't know if the people watching her could hear it at all, but she tried to make it whistle to the rhythm.

She made all the moves calmly, then switched to more energetic ones. She imagined that she was a wild animal hunting a prey hiding in the dark. The audience reacted spontaneously as her movements began to become more complicated. She ran, bent her legs slightly, and jump up with all her strength. Salto practiced twisting in the air for a long time and finally managed to it them stably.

Choosing these dozens of moves and learning them in the right order was not too much trouble. It was worse with a smooth transition from one to the other to get the effect of dancing or at least fighting with shadows, not a dry show. Kalena made a mistake a few times but was comforted by the fact that the audience didn't know her choreography.

The last move was the hardest and she couldn't master it for a long time. She ran to the edge of the landing and tossed her am-shen as hard as she could. Then she knelt and bent forward. The blades dropped with a sinister flash. She grabbed both handles at the same time and straightened up. She heard muffled screams of fear, then applause.

Her master got up from his seat. She rose slowly, and with her face turned toward him, she bowed, folding her weapon.

*

As soon as Kalena entered the crowd, one of the prince's guards approached her and told her that Galaspiael requests to see her.

She entered the guardsmen circle uncertainly and sat on the floor. Galaspiael greeted her with a smile and took her hand. He looked dazzling in elegant robes and with carefully combed hair.

"You scared me!" He said sharply, but then he smiled cheerfully. "I thought these swords got stuck in your neck! A very ingenious presentation. You did everything right.:

"I got one math task it wrong, I know for sure." Kalena lowered her head sadly as if she were telling him she didn't pass the exam. "And this task from Madegaldese was simply unfair! I recognized a few old signs that are no longer in any books. If I didn't help you with the recipe, I wouldn't pass it. I'm also a bit afraid of the presentation. I've seen the rehearsals of the other students and you won't believe what they are going to do here!"

"Sometimes simple solutions can make the biggest impression. They would have to be blind to fail you. Do you want something to drink?"

"I don't know if I'll be able to swallow anything until I get my result." Kalena stood up, but he stopped her with a gesture.

"Stay, someone else will go. It's your big day, enjoy it in peace."

It was Zarkin's turn next. His presentation gave everyone an accelerated heartbeat. Even without the burning arrows, he would have managed to complete the whole. His skills were no joke, everyone knew that in a few years this boy would become an extremely capable archer.

Galaspiael no longer devoted as much attention to anyone as his student. During the last show, he was clearly bored and suggestively glanced toward the exit.

At the graduation ceremony, Kalena and Galaspiael attracted most of the attention. To be specific - he attracted because everyone thought that Kalena would be alone.

From that moment, all the students became full members of the Scribes' Association. Kalena was smiling all the time, and Galaspiael couldn't keep a serious expression on either.

"Will you stay long?" these were the first words he said to her as they went to the solemn reception on the occasion of passing the exam.

Kalena shrugged her shoulders.

"It depends on how much time do I have."

"I don't want to rush you. However, if you are late, you will have to go to the palace alone. But don't feel pressured."

"I'll just go to congratulate others and we can go," Kalena decided."

*

"Congratulations on your presentation my lord"

Zarkin sighed heavily. He didn't notice when Mei approached him.

"Where were you?" He muttered.

"In the bedroom. Why do you ask my lord, did you miss me?"

"I was dying of longing."

"I had to give Nemina the flute back because I would probably lose it," she explained. "I could also help you somehow."

"Music wouldn't suit me. I would have to change everything." He pointed ahead. "Take yourself something to eat and sit here."

Mei leaned over him carefully.

"You're drunk," she noticed.

"Oh really?" Zarkin snorted with a stupid smile, but immediately grabbed the girl by the shoulders and hugged her. "I won't drink anymore."

Jin-Si brought with herself a very powerful Velikanian herbal drink that she offered to everyone. Zarkin drank two glasses and immediately knew that after the next one he would lose consciousness. Although the drink was not on alcohol, the boy felt dizzy. And he wanted to laugh at everything. He had an exceptionally good mood.

Mei sat down next to her and began to stroke his head.

"Lady Kalena will become a member of the Silver Guard."

"It is obvious she will."

"Why don't you too? In my opinion, you would be perfect."

"I don't want to. I'll never serve anyone again. I don't need a master or a king," Zarkin stood up and staggered slightly. He grabbed Mei's wrists and then pulled toward him violently. "Don't you think Kagolanian parties are boring? You just sit, eat and drink. We do not have such good food and nice decorations, but people have fun, they do not look at the walls."

He put one hand on his shoulder and smiled. They danced slowly with each other. Without music and any rhythm. He laughed when she almost fell and then hugged her tightly.

"Promise you won't leave me," he said suddenly quite seriously. "Never leave me!"

"I promise, my lord," Mei whispered. "Whatever you decide to do, I'll stay by your side."